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Post by Darko on Apr 7, 2014 9:54:35 GMT
Adeptus Astartes Chapter: Raven Guard 10th company, 3rd squad Attached to 5th company under shadow-captain Korvin Thrace Roster: - Veteran Sergeant Sevran Valar - Specialist Solaro Fereni - Korbin Ingram - Heavy Gunner Moradius - Lorgan Scatha Thought for the day: An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded. - The Emperor Protects -
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Chapter I: The Cleansing of Vozkern Prime [040.M42]
The Vozkern system has been plunged into chaos. On the once-loyal capital world, renegade militia have forsaken the God-Emperor. Alongside hordes of cultists, they easily overran the few who remained true to their duty. Lord-Governor Martin Giovanni von Quinnilanté managed to transmit an Astropathic distress message before he was murdered by the servants of the Great Enemy.
The Raven Guard answer that call. Victorus Aut Mortis.
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Mission brief:
You have been deployed 5km outside the city of Sovereign. Over 50 million loyal Imperial citizens called this place home. Their current status is unknown.
Objective I: Approach the city under cover of night and eliminate sentry posts. 14 hours until dawn. Terrain conditions: Forestland. Sovereign is located within a gargantuan ravine, unapproachable on two sides due to treacherous mountain ranges.
Mission specific equipment: - Teleport homer (1) - Detpacks (12) - Las cutter (1) - Grapnels (5) - Camo cloaks (5) - Meltabombs (5)
There is a sentry outpost 50 meters from your current position, in a clearing. There is a search light on the top and two guards are visible from this range. The Emperor protects.
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Post by Warork on Apr 8, 2014 3:49:54 GMT
Character: Sgt Valar Location: City outskirts Situation: Infiltrating the defenses
Eyes watched the treeline. The white light passed over it again, casting long shadows far into the forest around the sentry post. All was quiet except for the sonorous symphony of the native fauna at dusk. Off in the west, the planet's star had almost disappeared under the horizon, the last gasps of orange and yellow color in the clouds above marking its passing. The bright light continued its scan for a few moments, stopped, then turned back to scan its worn out trail once more, slowly rotating once every minute or so to cast its illumination across a wide semi circle around it. The watching sentries had yet to spot any danger in the forest around them. That did not mean, however, that there was no danger.
Sevran Valar crouched motionless behind the great root of an ancient tree. Its tangle of thick, gnarly roots gave him a perfect spot to conceal most of his body behind, all except his head which peeked over in only the most necessary of fractions. It was just enough to look out of the forest into the clearing ahead of him and see the sentry post. He had been here, motionless in this spot for the past fifteen minutes now. That was the blink of an eye to a scout who could wait hours or even days not moving, waiting for the perfect moment to break their statue like trance. The light came back towards him. Sevran very slowly ducked his head so that his goggles would not reflect some sort of glare in the direction of the post and compromise his position. A few seconds passed and the shadows once again were cast over him slowly until they faded and he was left in total darkness. Ages ago, when he was a child perhaps, this all-consuming darkness would have petrified him. Today though, he was a space marine of the Raven Guard. Darkness was his friend and the bane of his enemies. It was his sword and shield. The priests of the Imperial church always droned on about the light of the Emperor's love but Sevran would take a good shadow over the light any day.
Finally after a few more moments of looking, Sevran was satisfied that he had seen everything that his enhanced sight would allow him to detect from this angle and decided he'd better start making his way back to the rally point. Flippantly, he mused that his students were probably wondering where he was and why he hadn't gotten back yet. Well, there was a lesson in everything, Sevran had learned over the years, and right now his scouts would have to learn patience.
It took him another five minutes of intermittent movement timed to be halted as the searchlight passed over his area to get back to the dry creek bed he had left his squad to defend while he went forward himself to examine their first objective. They had been dropped off some kilometers away earlier in the day and had made their way slowly to this point as the sun went down. Sevran was satisfied that they had made it somewhat ahead of schedule; none of them slacking or making any beginner mistakes on their trek through the woods. He was even more satisfied to see that the squad he had left had formed a defensive perimeter with no blind spots. Earlier in training, Sevran had plenty of fun pointing out the flaws in some of their earlier defensive positioning. After successfully approaching undetected from an unwatched quarter, the Sergeant would reward the scouts' lax position with a flick on the back of the head or ear, signalling that the scout in question was "dead" for that exercise. Sevran almost laughed recalling the expressions they wore after their "deaths."
"I'm returning to the rally point, squad. Confirm you can see me." Valar said in a muted whisper into his vox link. In a moment, one of the figures poking their weapon above the creek bed below turned slightly at the sight of his sergeant waving his hand slowly and confirmed it over the vox. As Valar approached, he gave the hand signal for his squad to regroup on him. There was some slight noise as the scouts shifted their positions down from where they had been prone into the slope of the creek bed. Even with his advanced powers of sight and low light goggles, Sevran could only just make out each of his men such was the darkness around him.
"Listen up." He said quickly, clutching his scoped bolter to his chest so as to leave one hand free. "There's a sentry post about fifty meters beyond the treeline with a search light." He pointed his free gloved hand in the direction he had just come from. "No visible hostiles except for two at the top. I want Fereni and Scatha with me. There's a blind spot around on the east side of the sentry post that we can sneak through and find a way to breach the post."
He turned to the one of their number holding the long rifle with the heavy scope attached to it. "Ingram, I want you to find a good spot to set up an observation post. Give me a signal when you have a bead on those sentries and I'll give you one to engage when we're in position. Moradius, cover Ingram in case of trouble. If all goes well you wont even need that bolter until we move up. Simple and quiet. Any questions?"
None of them spoke. Sevran nodded.
"Move out, remember your training." He said as he climbed back up the creek bed and began to advance.
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coolyo294
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Slayer of Demons
Posts: 1,169
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Post by coolyo294 on Apr 8, 2014 5:34:45 GMT
Character: Korbin Ingram Location: City outskirts Situation: Taking position
Korbin nodded his acknowledgement to Sergeant Valar's orders. He clutched his rifle tighter as he moved out towards the treeline that marked the beginning of the clearing that housed the sentry post. He froze as the spotlight passed over him, concealing himself in the foliage and shadows. When the light passed, he laid prone and began to move again. Inching forward on his belly to avoid being detected by the sentries, the sniper carefully identified the ideal observation post. It was the root system of an ancient silverbark tree, so gnarled and twisted that they formed a natural hollow large enough for him to fit in. The roots also provided maximum concealment while still allowing him enough space to use his rifle.
As soon as he was nestled down in the hollow, Korbin readied his rifle. The rangefinder in his scope read precisely 76.18 meters as he placed the crosshairs over his first target. As soon as he was satisfied with his aim, he clicked open a channel to Sergeant Valar and spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper.
"Target sighted, sergeant. Just give the word."
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Castiel
Rising Legend
Lord of the West
Forth Eorlingas!
Posts: 644
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Post by Castiel on Apr 8, 2014 8:40:33 GMT
Character: Solaro Fereni Location: Following Sgt Valar Situation: Positioning for attack on outpost
Fereni eased through the bushes towards the outpost, the dim shape of Sgt Valar moving before and to the left of him with Scatha to his right. The plasma gun he had been issued with for the mission lay dormant, powered down so that the light from its coils wouldn't give them away. A flick of a switch and it would be ready to fire within 5 seconds, bringing righteous punishment to those who would dare defy the Emperor's will. The plasma gun is a delicate weapon, it has immense power, but if fired for too long and not allowed to cool it has a tendency to overheat and explode. Fereni fervently prayed that it would not happen today.
He froze, his carefully arranged camo cloak flowing around to conceal him, two seconds before the spotlight passed over them. The light passed and they began to move again, silently slipping round the outpost and its guards. The traitor filth had no idea the wrath that was about to descend upon them.
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Post by TheBrobotLol on Apr 9, 2014 3:17:24 GMT
Scatha let out a long, rattling breath as the watchful searchlight passed over the trio momentarily, a great baleful eye combing the undergrowth for any sign of intruders. Their training had taught them well though, the shade of their muddied-black armour combined with the effects of the camo-cloaks served to make them near-invisible, little more than a deeper shade of dark amongst the shadows. Soon the enemy would know fear when the shadows themselves rise up to tear them apart. He noted the vague figures of Valar and Fereni to his left, moving deliberately through the thicket, then turned back to the looming tower.
With one hand he clutched the bulky form of his Raven-pattern shotgun to his chest, while the other gently brushed aside the thick foliage. The weapon was large and bulky, especially so when compared to its more mundane cousin, wielded by mere arbites or guardsmen, and carried with it a far more fearsome force. He had seen its grisly effects up close many times, a lone shot was capable of tearing through armour, bone and organs with sickening ease. The Raven guard were amongst, if not the best, of the many and varied chapters in all realms of stealth tactics, and their equipment had been made accordingly. The weapon could fire in near total silence, though still at close range. Anything more than a litle while away, he would rely on the rest of the team to kill.
They moved in, the only sounds to be heard by his superhuman senses were the clicking and chirping of the strange native fauna, the tender rustling of a chill wind though the thick trees, and the thundering boom of a pulse in his ears. He was ready to massacre the corrupt scum. He was eager to.
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Post by Darko on Apr 9, 2014 16:30:06 GMT
The trio of Astartes stealthily approached the sentry post, unspotted by those on watch. Fifty meters or so away at the tree-line, Korbin and Moradius vigilantly awaited for the action to begin. Sighting the two exposed sentries on the top, Korbin watched as the pair opened a hatch into the top floor. A moment later and a lumin-globe was activated, illuminating the room.
The Astartes' enhanced vision meant that they were able to see what transpired within effortlessly. One of the sentries appeared to be shouting down a flight of stairs and a moment later three more guards were in the room. Two of the new arrivals ascended to the roof, one manning the search light and the other lazily resting on a pintle-mounted heavy stubber. There was one on each facing, however it appeared the guards didn't care to man them all simultaneously.
Even as the sniper and heavy gunner observed the two other guards milling around in the observation room, one appearing to activate a vox unit and speak into it briefly, the other three had reached the front entrance. The large building was composed of dark brick and although it had high windows, metallic shutters covered them securely. They took up positions either side of the tall double door, ready to breach it, for although made of some alloy, it didn't appear particularly sturdy - at least not to an Astartes.
Almost surprisingly, the two doors swung open outwards, almost hitting Valar and Scatha in the face. A trio of guards walked out, they idly held lasguns and were discussing various trivial matters in the local cant. It was some form of Low Gothic of course and the scouts could make out a few bits. The next sentence stood out in particular - one of them was waving his hand a lot and complaining that following the Dark Gods might not have been a good idea, something about losing two of his friends in the fighting. The first man, clearly a grizzled and scarred veteran, had a lho stick lit and promptly grabbed the other man, pushing the lho stick into the side of his face.
Inside there was some commotion, the Astartes noting at least six different people, whether through their different voices or indeed scents. The leader and the other man beside him stood over the one who had spoken out and proceeded to kick him repeatedly. They had yet to notice the Raven Guard in the pitch black of night. They had no idea that three lethal warriors were barely three feet away from them, engrossed in their disciplining of their erstwhile comrade as they were.
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Post by Warork on Apr 10, 2014 7:33:15 GMT
Character: Sgt Valar Location: City outskirts Situation: Breaching and Clearing
It took them several painfully slow minutes of quiet circumnavigation to get through the watch post's blind spot. All the while, Valar was content to hear no missteps from his proteges behind him. Walking through thick brush could be tricky, especially in such low light conditions, even for veterans like himself. One wrong step could snap a twig or worse, trip one of them up to send them crashing to the earth, alerting anyone within earshot in this clear night to their presence.
They were about to enter the clearing when Ingram's voice came through his vox bead earpiece telling him that he was in position. Valar spared a glance up to the roof of the post again to see that the number had not changed but more interestingly one of the guards was now at a heavy gunner's position near the searchlight.
"Understood," He voxed back in a similarly muted whisper. "Standby for engagement, prioritize high threat targets." With that done, he half turned his head to address his two subordinates. With only hand signs, he communicated to them the plan. They were to advance in formation and take positions on either side of the ground level door. Fortunately for them, the moon was rising on the side of the post opposite to them, casting their advance in the darkest shadow of the night. Under their camo cloaks, their advance would be virtually undetectable.
Weapons at the ready, they made it just ten meters from the door, hugging the edge of the building's armored side, when it opened unexpectedly. The development was so sudden that for a fleeting moment, Valar feared they had been compromised. But that notion was quashed when the three figures stepped out, heedless of the equal number of near invisible phantoms looking on from just meters away. Sevran quickly crouched low and held up his left hand, curling it into a fist for the his team to halt and lowered the hand, palm to the ground, to indicate that they should crouch like him and remain silent. The three hostiles, clad in their military garb dubbed with crude and foul runes of the dark powers of their own making, were busy conversing in the local tongue when one of them apparently said something offensive. Sevran watched as the offender was forced to the ground by the guard that appeared to be of higher rank while the other trooper of their number helped him in beating the trooper. Sevran would have been amused if the sight was not so pitiful.
He made a decision in his mind then, a snap choice on how they would take this floor of the watch post. These three would be easy enough, two of them were distracted and one of them was currently being beaten hapless. Sevran trusted the two scouts behind him to properly breach the door next to them. Scatha especially, would enjoy such a venture in close combat. The scout reminded Sevran of himself in that; when he was younger, the thrill of seeing the enemy in the great detail that only blade work could give was a tempting one with the hot blood of youth. Sevran gave his scouts a few more hand signs indicating that they would breach the door and that he would take care of the three guards now outside with them before moving up the height of the watch post with them once the ground floor had been cleared. Once they nodded their understanding and began inching towards the door, Sevran took action.
Taking slow steps towards the three men, he reached up to his right shoulder where the hilt of the power sword strapped to his back was. He carefully drew the blade from its sheathe, holding it in one hand as he stowed his bolter away on its sling in order to move more easily. He crept to within five meters of the three hostiles; he could hear their cursing and grunting as they continued to beat their comrade who whimpered and groaned on the ground. He could smell their unwashed bodies and their sweat and the scent of smoke that clung to them like clouds. With the flick of his finger, he activated the power sword. There was a slight humming.
The first hostile didn't even know who killed him. Sevran stuck the sword clean through his back so its tip busted out of the chest plate of his flak armor. The soldier made a quick, audible intake of breath, going rigid for a moment before becoming limp. Just as his comrade saw this happen, Sevran pulled the sword free of its bloody sheath. The soldier didn't have the chance to cry out or pull his weapon before one neat slice separated his head from his shoulders, his body crumpling in a heap. Sevran nearly pitied the last one, lying on his back, not even having the luxury of standing on his own two feet as he died. Sevran gave him but a mere moment to behold the pale white face and black eyes of his killer; a vengeful spirit, striking out of the blackness of his darkest nightmares. Sevran plunged the slender blade through the man's heart, releasing him from his pain. Behind him, he heard his scouts breaching the door and knew things would be getting loud in a few seconds.
"Ingram," He said as he pulled his bolt pistol from its mag strip at his side and turned towards the watch post. "Engage at will, all viable targets."
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coolyo294
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Slayer of Demons
Posts: 1,169
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Post by coolyo294 on Apr 11, 2014 1:36:32 GMT
"Aye, sergeant." Korbin said.
He pulled the rifle tighter into his shoulder as he prepared to fire. The crosshairs were already sighted on the head of the guard manning the spotlight. Korbin watched as the man light a lho stick, the glowing red tip clearly marking out the position of his head against the darkness. Even without the benefit of Korbin's enhanced body and eyesight the shot would've been an easy one to make. The short distance combined with the sentry's sloppiness made it almost as easy as shooting targets on a range. But Korbin didn't care. He certainly enjoyed the challenge of a long shot, but if the enemy wanted to make it easy for him, then more power to them.
Korbin breathed in and squeezed the trigger.
There was a muffled cough as the Astartes-pattern sniper rifle spat out a bullet. The rifle was heavily modified by the chapter's techmarines and neither sight nor sound of the firing reached the target's ears. He died instantly as the high caliber round entered through his jaw and exited out the back of his head. The floodlight's illumination was tinted red as blood splattered across the lens. Now missing most of its head, the corpse slumped over.
The second guard scarcely had time to react to his partner's sudden death before Korbin's second shot took him out. His head snapped back and he collapsed backwards. Both men had been taken out quickly and quietly. Panning the scope down, it didn't even look like the two men in the observation post had noticed. Large windows mounted on all four sides offered the two sentries a good view of the surrounding area, but also offered little protection against a sniper. Inside Korbin watched as the vox-operator picked up his headset and began to dial something in on his panel. He would have to take that one out first.
His bullet easily punched through the reinforced glass of the observation post. The vox-operator toppled over in his chair, spraying his vox panel with blood and brain matter. To the other sentry's credit, he threw himself down before Korbin could get his second shot off. Korbin swore quietly as he waited for the human to show himself again.
Korbin spotted him a few moments later. The guard was crawling on his belly as quickly as he could towards the hatch that lead to the floor below. He had almost reached it when the scout's fourth bullet slammed into the back of his skull and splattered gore across the dull metal floor.
He clicked open the channel to Sergeant Valar again.
"Scratch four. The sentry tower and observation post are clear."
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Castiel
Rising Legend
Lord of the West
Forth Eorlingas!
Posts: 644
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Post by Castiel on Apr 12, 2014 22:44:26 GMT
Character: Solaro Fereni Location: Objective 1 Situation: Kicking arse and taking names
Solaro flicked his plasma gun to active as the Sergeant signalled the attack and moved to deal with the squabbling cultists. The weapon powered up with a low hum and the coils began to blow a dull blue. He positioned himself by the door and nodded to Scatha, who in turn signalled his readiness. After three seconds Fereni spun, kicking in the flimsy door and Scatha lead the way inside, immediately heading right and opening fire with his shotgun and blasting a chaos worshipper back into two of his fellows, a hole where his chest used to be.
Solaro followed him through the door and turned left, the plasma gun growing warm in his hands as it reached full readiness. His first shot hit one of the guards square in the chest, melting his flesh, weapon and armour into one steaming mess, the heat from the blast flash cooking his internal organs. His second shot hit a cultist high on the shoulder, vapourising the flesh and bone it came into contact with as he fell screaming to the floor. The last cultist turned to run, but was sent pitching face first to the floor by the last bolt of plasma, dropping soundlessly as it destroyed his ribcage. The plasma gun shuddered and grew warmer with each shot, as the deadly plasma held within it was superheated and forced out through the barrel by electromagnetic fields.
Fereni turned from his work, seeing Scatha standing over the bodies of the men on his side of the room, cleaning blood from his combat knife. Evidently he had managed to get up close and personal, as was his wont, but there was no denying the effectiveness of his methods. Solaro pressed the vent switch on his weapon, releasing the excess heat from the weapon and cooling it to prevent overheating, which often had explosive and sometimes deadly consequences. He moved towards the screaming worshipper of the Dark Gods on the floor, casually breaking the man's neck to silence his cries as the Sergeant stepped into the room.
"This floors clear, Sergeant. Do we sweep the higher levels?" he reported, as Scatha fell in beside him, awaiting orders.
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Post by Darko on Apr 21, 2014 16:43:33 GMT
With the sentry post scoured of all but one enemy, who was then 'convinced' to set up a repeating signal that would most likely fool anyone attempting to check in with the post's guards. After that he was, of course, promptly executed for heresy.
Following this, the scout team swiftly departed back into the undergrowth. A secondary squad operating in the southern hemisphere of Vozkern Prime had recovered an old data-file, which included the location of an ancient sewer system running right underneath the capital city, and beyond. It took less than ten minutes to reach the location of the nearest entrance - a storm train completely obscured by centuries of plant life growing over it.
After several minutes of concentrated hacking at the obstructing undergrowth with their combat blades, as well as more or less uprooting a strange small tree with their combined strength, there was a clear passage way into the sewers.
Entering, it was pitch black and smelled worse than the rear end of an Alpha Grox in the summer heat. Fortunately, the enhanced senses of an Astartes allowed them to both see through the darkness with perfect clarity and also filter out the stench assailing their olfactory nerves.
Although there was a stone pathway which they were able to follow for a time, many parts had crumbled and were lost. In fact, the route that they had originally planned to follow as per the map was entirely collapsed (as of course, the blueprints of the sewers pre-dated its closure) and an alternate route had to be located. Much to the scouts' dismay, this involved crawling through a filthy side tunnel, which was both cramped and uphill - difficult for an Astartes and impossible to traverse had they been in full suits of power armour.
Having circumnavigated the collapsed tunnel, it seemed the journey was now unobstructed but a good deal longer. Nonetheless, they could easily keep to their schedule if they moved fast.
Then one of them muttered something - a faint noise in the dark - and they stopped. A few moments passed and they all heard it. Footsteps. Many. Then a scream, a cry out for help and the Emperor's salvation, if their understanding of the local dialect was correct. Cautiously but quickly advancing down the tunnel, they came around a corner into a large chamber where, in an age past, waste would coalesce from across the city before being filtered out down different tunnels.
Ahead, perhaps half a dozen people were trapped now, encircled by a veritable horde of mutants. No, not just mutants - for in fact it seemed the people themselves all sported some form of mutation. But their attackers unmistakeably were aberrations far more vile: plague zombies. A shambling mass of undead creatures, their putrid flesh the mark of Nurgle. They continued to pour in from a dozen different entrances. Already, the living mutants were being set upon, their flesh torn apart. A few frantically swung primitive clubs or stones in an effort to protect themselves but it could only be a mere matter of seconds before they would all be torn apart.
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