Beauty and the Beast

[Decoy]

Setting: Urban Warfare.

Metagame: 13th Company and Space Wolves versus Sisters of Battle, Dark Angels, and Khorne

Hook:

 

Sisters, having decided that a company of Dark Angels has gone too far in their particular search for ... SOMEthing (Quip: Chaos)... have decided to put a stop to it. Upon arrival in orbit, a brief smattering of Warp-spawned energy permeates the airspace above the planet... Something has definately gone wrong. There was something on that planet, and they were determined to find out.

 

Canoness Angelinia left the bridge of the Dark Angels Battlebarge Imperius Wing scowling, her retinue in tow, and with the hissing hydraulics of her power armor covering the soft string of epithets slipping from her lips. These Astartes were just that, free of the taint of Chaos, but their psychic manifestations were showing rampant degeneration. The librarians attached to the company were reporting disturbing visions that told of unchecked mayhem and slaughter. That alone would be enough to declare the entire company in need of a purge, but there was something else, something that the Canoness could not decipher. It was thus that, upon her return to the bridge of her ship, that Angelinia swiftly dispatched a message to Inquisitor Perphon, begging his company. The astropath wasted no time sending the message, and within a month, the reply was received, sucinct and brief. "I am coming. Hold until further orders."

 

A detachment of the Dark Angels First Company, the Deathwing, had been dispatched to the agro-world of Karsinus IV, upon rumors of a massive Chaos incursion, involving Cultists engaged in bizzare rituals and blood-orgies, where skulls were heaped high and blood flowed as a river through the undercity of the capital. Moreover, they were, or so the rumors said, led by a black-armored Marine, stoic and taciturn , bearing the heraldry of the Dark Angels upon his power armor. It is no surprise, then, that the Angels arrived in swift order, bringing their heaviest armor and materiel, to take the leader of the cults alive, if possible, and dead, if not.

 

 

Dawn of War: Segment One.

 

Angelinia sat in the ad-hoc command post in the city center. They had been waiting on the Inquisitor for almost two years on this blasted rock, and there was no sign of him showing, despite frequent reassurances that he was on his way. The growing cultist influence in the city was hard to deny, that much was certain; Seven months ago, the entire planet split down the center in a brutal civil war, with one side obviously influlenced by the Dark Powers. As such, the combined efforts of the Dark Angels and the Sisters had resulted in not only the elimination of the Cultist incursion over the course of a brutal but lopsided six-month guerilla war, but also the culmination of the local clergy's attempt to bring about an Emperor's Dominion Day. The local PDF had fought well but sustained massive casualties, resulting in the forced conscription of what little population there was on the planet to fill their ranks. Angelinia sighed softly. "Emperor's Grace... I'm bored."

 

Stepping into the cool night air on the roof of the empty building that used to be a tavern, Angelinia nodded a curt greeting to Imperitus Squad, stationed upon the roof on sentry duty. With a chorus of lax "Hail"s, the squad went about it's business, most blessing their weapons, save for Sisters Sarissa and Nikira, who were playing a covert game of cards. Angelinia understood the rather lackluster attitude; After the thrill of battle, the lull was unbearable. They were specially trained soldiers, to be finding and purging the Emperor's realm of witch activity, and here they were, stuck doing next to nothing on a planet where "next to nothing" was the most exciting thing to do, all on the say-so of an Inquisitor with a broken chronometer. She was nothing if not loyal, however, and if the Lord Inquisitor told her to hold her position and any investigation, so she would.

 

Moving to the edge of the two-story building, Angelinia caught a glimpse of movement in the building opposite her, a one-level butcher's shop that had been cleaned out when most of the Captial had been brought into the PDF, and reassigned to a harsh training regimen on the far side of the planet. Peering into the inky depths, only by the light of the moon was she able to see the glint of... power armor. Stained a deep crimson, and bearing the marks of Chaos. The Great Enemy was suddenly here.

 

Subvocalizing, Angelinia voxed to the entire coven her find, and then sent the same message to orbit, informing the Deathwing Dark Angels of her finding. On her optical uplink, Angelinia noted the two Penitent engines and the squad of Flagellants coming up from a block away. Nodding satisfactorily, she signaled to the sentry squad to take positions, and wait for her signal.

 

"We shall flush out the Chaos scum, Canoness. Stay where you are. Do not interfere." The voice of Brother-Captain Interminus voxed through her ear, almost sending her off the roof in startlement. Scowling, but maintaining her silence, Angelinia waited.

 

 

Dawn of War: Segment Two

 

Wolf Lord T'lash picked at his teeth after a hearty bite of grox-steak. While this world was relatively boring, it provided a good stockpile, as over half of the cities they'd entered were vacant. Sure, there were corpses all around, some obviously marked with the taint of Chaos, while others had died in their homes, arms wrapped about bundles of cloth that, at one point, might have been younglings. The dust from those battles had long since settled before the D'koi got there, however. It was not their concern.

 

Rune Priest Hjald had foretold that the Great Sorceror and his minions would land upon this world two local weeks from now.

 

Wolf Priest Kordir was out with the Wulfen, letting them run a bit, allowing them their brief freedoms to expend their ravenous energy and desire for carnage.

 

Pack Leader Hoare was instructing the Storm Claws in the same drills they'd been running for the past ten thousand years.

 

Long Fang Squad "Long Fangs of Russ", chewed upon some grox-bone and sighted their weapons for the twenty third time in the past six hours.

 

Thus it was that the 13th Company sat and stewed, for now, simply surviving, though maintaining their guard. For now, they did what they did best.

 

The D'koi lived.

 

 

Dawn of War: Segment Three.

 

 

Brother Captain Interminus glanced at the teleport picter. How had the Sisters let any contact so close to them? Amateurs. He and four squads of his finest Deathwing stepped onto their teleporters, and waited.

 

The enemy would die.

 

 

Wulftide

 

Wolf Priest Kordir sat, as much as one could, leisurely upon a large cutting table, the Wulfen around him eagerly licking up what few spatters of blood had stained the rest of the room. The concentration of twenty of the beasts, kitted in full power armor, was enough to make the floor creak and the cheap duralin splinter underfoot. Kordir chuckled. With their ravenous hunger sated by enough meat to possibly fill even Father Russ, the Wulfen were now skulking around the room, looking for anything of interest. Five of them meandered out to the front of the butcher's place, standing at the windows, heads tilted slightly, their noses twitching. Kordir caught a faint grin slipping over his features. To be so interested by the most mundane things, the most simple smells... He almost envied the Wulfen in their play-and-kill existence.

 

There was a faintly audible sound outside in the street, and Kordir slipped off the table and coming around to the front. Just as he rounded the corner, however, the sound of a battery of unknown weaponry mixed with storm bolter fire ripped through the air, and the front of the shop imploded, sending Kordir reeling. Gathering his footing, his warrior's instincts honed over the course of ten thousand years, Kordir brought his thunderhammer around, and it was only then that he noticed the corpses at his feet.

 

Five bloodstained wulfen, their armor compromised with dozens of holes, lay upon the ground. They had been pressed to the windows, curious, almost to a fault, looking out at the ones who murdered them. It was they that stopped the rest of the squad from dying, them and their inherrent, innocent curiosity, their affection, however brutal. They were still breathing, if you could call it that, blood gurgling in their throats, but as Kordir knelt alongside them all, they smiled their toothy smiles, attempting to get closer, despite their wounds, to the one whom they considered a father figure. One reached out with an arm that was no longer there to try to touch him, for his affection and attention.

 

Administering what poultices he could, Kordir inhaled, stifling down his emotion with practiced ease, before he brought his head up to look out of the shattered storefront, into the street.

 

 

 

Sergeant Archondrion surveyed the gaping rubble of the butcher's shop. His optics filtered through the settling debris, and with a satisfied nod, he lowered his storm bolter. "Well done, Brothers. The threat is neutrali..."

 

Cut off mid-sentence, Archondrion stared into the rubble. A black shape, blacker than the shadow of night itself, had formed from within the settling dust. Eyes, glaring red, stared into his own. The sound of fracturing glass, or... breaking ice? slipped through the night air, and the outline of a long, crescent blade grasped in the hand of the figure sprang to life. Irregularly spaced teeth the size of daggers had been placed haphazardly along the length of the blade, and it glowed with an inner light, runes of electric blue written along the side of the blade. A split second later, a blinding flash precluded a deep crecendo of rolling thunder, and a hammer of pure blazing fire lit in the figure's other hand, the haft massive, the head as big as his torso. With one step, the black-armored figure strode into view, and it was a vision of hell; the skull of a wolf stood where that of a man was absent, carrying the blessed weapons of the Imperium, wearing a Rosarius. There could be only one answer.

 

"Word Bearer scum!"

 

Archondrion and his squad opened fire, sending a hailstorm of bolt shells and assault cannon fire directly into this spectre. Bolts impacted to no effect upon the hellforged plate, and even the sheer torrent of firepower of the assault cannon could not breach the foe's defense. Even as the bolts fired, glowing green embers of light struck from the night behind the black-armored demon, and canines glinted with the touch of saliva in the moonlight. Thirty eyes looked out from the rubble, and uncounted fangs dripped foul drool onto the dust-coated floor. The black-armored figure threw his head back, and unleashed an unearthly howl that rose over the blasts of gunfire and exploding ammunition, but it was no howl of inflicted pain.

 

This was the howl of loss, of anguish. Of perished brethren. Fifteen voices echoed the call, and in the depths of the night, countless more answered.

 

 

 

 

PROLOGUE

 

It's been a while since I've entered the narrative batrep scene, so I'm trying this out, though I'm not sure where it will go or if I'll make a habit of it. In any case, C&C is not only welcome and encouraged, but DEMANDED! For Russ, critique me! Especially as I'm not as well-versed in the Dark Angels or Sisters habits or mannerisms... Any help is welcome.

 

 

Thank you for reading, and I'll expand on this in the next installment, written up tomorrow night at the earliest, and the night after at the latest. Thank you, as always.

[hendrik]

and obey we shall!!

i like it but im' not that sure about the sisters, them playing carts seems a bit weird for me

it mad eme luagh though, especially this line:

Angelinia sighed softly. "Emperor's Grace... I'm bored."

 

decoy, how could you think this :lol: i was suspecting something heric or such, and then read "I'm bored" :D

it nearly killed me=p

[Decoy]

Well, I'm unsure as to the nature of the Sisters. It's not unheard of for a sister to play cards, or to engage in the more carnal of activities, as per Ciaphus Cain, but then again, that series is on a more lighthearted note. That was the one point I wasn't sure about throwing in.

 

Thanks for the input, Hendrik. Trust me when I say that the next installment will have no such cardplaying. <_<

[hendrik]

ah ok, i've only got a pdf witchhunter codex to get my sister fluff from and there they come over rather serious;)

on a sidenote:

you're back from the warp :lol: ???

[Grimtooth]

I am really digging your portrayal of the Wulfen in this story.