Curse of the Wulfen : Blood Drunk and Bedfellows

[Lord Blackwood]

Prologue

Mineriea  Segementum Obscurus 

Year 12 of the Marked Wulf Crusade


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Players

The 14th Great  Company , the Deathmarked
Wolf Lord: Bjorn Crushclaw the Marked Wolf  Kinslayer 
Wolf Guard Battle Leader:  Stybjorn Crushclaw  blood brother to Bjorn

Black Templar 
Marshal: Marcus  , The Warden of the Marked Wulf , Marshall of the Marked Wulf Crusade

The Wolfsworn Freeblades
Several Freeblade Imperial Knights Honor Bound to the 14th Great Company

The Order of the Splintered Shield
Approx 80 Battle Sisters all that remains of their order ,traveling with the 14th  and the Black Templar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bjorn  could barely see through the blood that caked his long hair across his face.  A testament to how hard he had hit his head when he was thrown from Lagar's back.  He had fought his way back to the thunderwolf  as he and his wolfguard butchered the demons that populated the square. Leagues away the Wolfsworn , the imperial knights honor bound to him had silenced the war engines and artillery of the foul warpspawn leaving the majority of the wetwork to Bjorn and his wolves. The Templar's had made planetfall further north and had worked their way down the peninsula  attacking in the most direct way  they could. Where Bjorn and his wolves could make effectively lightning raids ,  Marcus and his Templar's instead had made a successful armored spearhead push  the resulting battles had simply meant the two of them meeting in the middle , while the sisters of the splintered shield had  seen  to it that what remained of the populace were  protected and what remained of the PDF were  returned to the fight.

Coordinating such a war effort had been draining. The marked wolf Breathed out a long growl as he brought his wolf claw into the gut of a demon its crimson belly opened as he tore the weapon out of its side using the momentum his powerfist slammed into the skull of another the impact rich for a moment before the creature seemed to utterly shatter dissipating into the nothingness and ichor that they were known to.  The rumbling of war engines was near now. The great command land raider bearing the crusaders cross was in view along with predators  and other war engines but something was very wrong. They were firing not forward into the oncoming ranks of demons but behind them.

It only took Bjorn a moment to understand why  they were being pursued. A great tide of demonic flesh  chasing after the tanks , rhinos and land raiders. If it was enough to make all that armor shift it was enough to turn the tide of this battle.  With the Freeblades on the other side of the continent  and the sisters no closer It would be a grim prospect indeed unless action was taking.  Bjorn did not actively climb back on Lagar's back so much as he dove onto it righting himself  quickly he whistled over the vox  and then  Howled  he heard the howls of his warriors less than he would have liked as they began to form up. The play was obvious , they needed to cover the advance of the Armor and protect the rear of it in order for the Templars to bring their guns to bare on  the Horde of Demons . The stampeding tread of thunderwolves   as they wheeled to the right and charged at the onrushing  Templar Armor column was deafening.

Bjorn , despite himself  was smiling. His cold voice almost trembled with fury as he spoke over the vox. 

" A PITY WE ARE THE SAGALESS !  HOW GLORIOUS A STORY THIS WOULD MAKE FOR THE FANG "

The howls of his kinsmen  answered him  somewhere among them the howl of his own blood brother was still there , always pitched every so slightly uniquely to his ear.  They were passing the Black hulled tanks of the Templars now  thunderwolves passing between  tanks with knife like precision riding close and tight through the gaps before immediately fanning out for a charge. The true scope of what they were facing was incredible out of the overgrown forests came a teeming mass of demonic Riders and hounds it became immediately apparent they were riding to their deaths , the Templars hadant been running from this force , they had been charging the nearest thing they could. Bjorn bared his fangs in a broad smile. This would be his end , the end for his great company , the experiment of Ulrik and Grimnar to send him and the outcasts away  to wage war in the name of Russ and the Allfather , to do the jobs that the other great companies could not be sullied by.  It was soon to be all over.  

He heard the Templar Armor line stopping and the familiar slamming open of rhino hatches and land raider doors.

" INTO THE JAWS OF MORKAI  WITHOUT REGRET , WITHOUT REMORSE , WITHOUT PITY  "

The sound of the vox was suddenly flooded by the reply not just of his fellow wolves but this time of the Templars as well  their voices as stern  and full of fury as ever.

" WITHOUT FEAR"

************************************************************

The slaughter  was seemingly endless  Lagar felled bloodcrusher while Bjorn tore Rider from  saddle the counter charge of the wolves into the demonic cavalry had been effective even if they were horribly out numbered . From the sounds of it the Templar's charge into the infantry of the demons had been just as effective if not more so . The Demonic Cavalry were being led by  the largest of their kind his mount as tall as Lagar and Bjorn combined the blade he carried so great it  was almost comical the screaming faces of the slain  writhing in the massive blood groove.

Bjorn saw as one sweep of its weapon  tore two rides off their thunderwolves flinging them  clean into the air , one most certainly was dead before he hit the ground , the other was set upon by the many flesh hounds as his thunderwolf tried to reach him.  Bjorn growled and flexed the fingers of his powerfist. He whistled into the vox of the first pack again.  And his wolf guard formed up with him almost immediately. Stybjorn 's calm  laugh  reached his ears. 

" Youve ruined your claws brother "

Stybjorn was making mention of the wolf claw on his right hand Bjorn had only just noticed that two of the four blades had broken.  Of course it would be his brother to find humor where there was none.

" If we can kill that ...."

Bjorn didint finish the sentence even if they did kill the herald it was unlikely they would be able to wheel through back to the Templar's but it didint matter if he was going to die he planned on doing so in the most glorious way possible.

Bjorn spurred  Lagar on , the thunderwolf was bleeding and his jaw was mangled yet still he charged Bjorn and  his First pack did not need to prepare to sell their lives  they had been ready the moment they had donned the black heraldry of the 14th.

" WARPSPAWN !  SLAYER OF MY KIN ,  YOUR HORNS WILL  ADORN MY WALL !" 

The creature's gaze shifted to him and he turned raising his  great cleaver and bellowing.   Bjorn felt it then the purity of it  he raised his ruined wolf claw as Lagar thundered forwards.  Darting from  side to side  as he loped forward Bjorn felt  pure he would die as any wolf  should , slaying a hated enemy. In that moment he knew he would kill the creature  as his packmates cleared the way  for him  brutally laying low the demons between him  and the herald.  Leaping from Lagars back  he drove his claw into the blood crushers  skull  finding purchase even with only half the blades he met the great cleaver with his powerfist  shattering it as well as breaking his arm  the creatures blade shattered  it prepared to bring it around for a sudden stab. Bjorn didint close his eyes his  confidence in his kill  gone but no less pleased with his impending death he wouldnt look away.  But the Stab never came  the sound of  a throat being torn open  and the sudden musky bestial scent of something old and strangely...familar filled his senses.  The shape that passed infront of him was huge , larger than what should have been possible. The hulking creature threw the mangled body of the herald into the  writhing melee below before turning to  face him.  The features were more lupine than  human  different to his own the way his own were different to a humans.  It was him , but something much more.

" Kin ....s ....m..en "

The sound came out as something.... not human  it sounded like what a thunderwolf would sound like if it could talk.  Then it leaned its head back and howled  the returning howl was not of his warriors but he only knew that for sure because of how different it sounded.  The vox came alive in  his ear.  The Templar Marshal sounded furious. 

" What Reinforcements are these !?  ARE THESE REINFORCEMENTS  MARKED WULF ?  ANSWER ME!"

Bjorn calmly looked into the face of the creature that stood before him.

" Do Not! ,  harm them  Marcus .... they are my reinforcements , my kith and kin."

***********************************************************

The battle hopeless as it had been  seemed to shift on a dime. The creature was not alone ,  his pack numbered in 10  and another 10  had went to aid the Templar. The purge was not only swift but brutal in its nature. The Deathmarked fought with renewed vigor and a savagery that was uncommon even for their ranks they broke the charge of the demons and wheeled back into the Templar lines  the routing of the enemy forces was complete  and while the losses for the Templar and for the Deathmarked were higher than Bjorn  or Marcus would have liked , it had not been the utter catastrophe that Bjorn had imagined.  The clearing where they gathered gave Bjorn his first true look at these creatures ... no they werent creatures they were kinsmen their armor mostly destroyed due to the shape of their forms  but no less astartes plate. The weapons they carried crude but incredibly effective.  The one who had saved Bjorn's life stood at the head of the rest.

Across from  them  the Templar stood no less battle ready blades still  drawn Marcus himself was standing without his helm his tabard scorched the ancient artificer plate he wore scarred by  the week long battle he had been waging  on the outskirts of the forests and the flats.  With his helmet off Marcus' dark skin  and striking slicked back white hair marked him out. As far as Bjorn understood he had been from a world of islands his people had lived fighting on the sea  and under a hot burning sun. Though Marcus like most Templar rarely ever spoke of his life or himself. To him  there was only duty. Though right now he appeared as livid as  Bjorn had ever seen him but before he addressed that he needed to address whatever these ancient kin were.

Bjorn stood before the largest beast feeling suddenly the chemical reaction of challenge  he felt his inner beast never sated  stir as he peered into the eyes of the dark haired warrior infront of him. It was then that the wulfen and its kin lowered their gaze they did not kneel but that accepted that  Bjorn was indeed the Alpha here.

" You are thirteenth ..... "

Bjorns voice was quiet  half in disbelief half in  just amazement.

" How long have you  been ... "

The lead wulfen looked back at him  and shook his head.

" Dont ....remember .... Long.... I .... Orin..... we weregeld  .... Loyal to Russ"

Bjorn nodded. 

" Then you are my kinsmen .... and you are coming with me.

The ice cold finality had returned to Bjorn's tone and when  he looked from Orin to his packmates he knew no more needed to be said , Bjorn turned and walked toward  Marcus and his Sword brothers. The Templars still had their blades drawn and Marcus himself held his tighter as Bjorn ad  Orin approached.

" The creatures  are mutants .... have you been hiding them from us for these past ten years  just to make use of them now?"

Marcus did not sound betrayed so much as he sounded angry. The Templar were known to be quite strict and Bjorn had imagined this would cause issue.  He looked at the Marshall  with the same icy determined look he always gave him when he knew they were were going to dissagree.

" These are kinsmen of the 13th , we thought them lost ....  They are brothers of my chapter and they saved our lives. "

Marcus glared daggers at Bjorn.

" I endured your lies when you spoke them to the eternal crusader.  My lord helbrecht knew that you were not who you said you were when you  told him you were the 13th , the only reason I did not kill you  when you decided it prudent to speak the truth to me is because I  understood why you  needed to operate the way you do. Now you  will me to believe that these ... creatures are somehow your kin , lost to the warp  for thousands of years. This is too much , you  throw open your arms for these mutant beas- "

Orin pointed a clawed finger at the mailed fist insignia that adorned  Marcus' left pauldron and growled out words as best he can.

" Dorn ..Son....Protector .... Temp...lar "

Marcus' protest seemed to die in his throat there was a long moment of silence and then Marcus Sheathed his sword.  His Sword brethren did the same and he looked from Orin to Bjorn before replacing his helmet.

" We need to regroup , and attack again before the blood shed here becomes wasted.  I  would imagine we will discuss this later. "

Bjorn nodded.

" Aye ...we shall ."   

Hurrah for new unit hype.