A Knocking Afar (IC Thread)

[Trokair]

It’s been almost a week so I am going to move us on. Given the Rough Riders in your midst I’ll assume that Kelman and Venkaryn both open fire, hard to outran cavalry if they are on top of you. Between the average damage from that and the damage already taken the Rough Riders need to take a break test with a -10 penalty. d100: 26, Fail, just. Scatter.  

 

End of structure light time.

 

Players may narratively make their way to the webway gate in the lake, ending any narration somewhere around steping into the shallows to wadeding all the wya to the gate. You can assume that your armour will provide a few minutes of Air (or just superior Eldar biology), so just like when you came ashore the water will slow you down, but not present an immediate problem. There are some scattered rough riders around that you can take on narratively if you want, and one or two Dark Eldar as well. However for the moment this part of the area is relatively quiet, but that won’t last, so don’t dawdle.  (Edit: Saoirse has probably regained conciousness, but is very week and being helped alogn by Sial, so Mazer fell free to post as well) 

 

 

 

 

As the humans road past the Reaper and the Dragon one looked at the other, they knew that only good fortune had saved them from lance to the back, and that outrunning the foe was not an option. Good old fashioned firepower however might turn the tide, and the spider and Avenger clearly thought the same.

 

The ridden beast withered under their attention, the humans died. Some scattered, beast unridden, humans on foot scrambling for cover.

 

To the south you could hear the rumble of crude human engines as several troop carries rolled in, smoke belching. Gun turrets with heavier armaments duelled with the Venoms while troops spilled out, engaging some few remaining Dark Kin and descending on their encampment. Elsewhere the mounted troops fanned out, trying to catch strugglers; soon their attention would turn northwards, expecting to join up with their comrades.    

Edited May 23 by Trokair

[A.T.]

Ialandranth Veilseeker

 

As the others made for the water Ialandranth remained jumping from cover to cover just exposed enough for the humans to see, to draw their attention away and to suggest that their path of retreat was along the waters edge and not into it.

 

But there was little that could be done for their tracks unless the bombardment itself hid them. The webway entrance was already a precarious one with the presence of the dark kin and now perhaps would be forever lost. It must be hoped that the last messages of the guardian would make more sense to those on the craftworld for what had happened here was yet unresolved and the dark kins intentions here could not be good.

[Akylas]

Kelman Orach

 

The Reaper was slow to join his companions. As he carefully picked his way past Eldar and Monkeigh corpses he felt as if he was slowly waking from a dream, the horrors of battle only lightly imprinting upon him, blending with his memories of past battles and the day to day living of his Craftworld. Dead Monkeigh's rictus grins and the faces of friends superimposed over each other. His wounds must be catching up to him, causing cracks in his war mask.

 

A fleeing Dark Eldar stumbled upon Kelman's path, but the Reaper ignored them and trudged on. The portal was near, and the team's discoveries had to be relayed to the Craftworld.

[Mike Zulu]

Ialathial Duskstrider

 

Duskstrider allowed the mon’keigh riders to flee, holding position to cover their own withdrawal. Ialandranth flickered about the battlefield, rightly surmising that their escape should be obfuscated. Only when Venkarryn and the encumbered Kelman were well ahead did Duskstrider continue their path of return.

 

As he entered the shallows upon approach to the webway, the Avenger peered back at the blasted beach one final time. Once he was convinced they were not being watched, he submerged.

[Trokair]

As you enter the shallows the last of the venoms speed off across the lake, following the Raiders that had already departed in the one direction that the human could not easily pursue.  The resultant waves and ripples easily disguised your own passage from land to deeper waters.

 

Now submersed the coolness of the water makes itself felt, even through the water proof aspect armour. Visibility is low, sunlight scattered by the surface, shimmering. As you wade, walking along the bottom, mindful of the soft and treacherous footing you may come across a body or two. Half decomposed or fresh, so many had died here in recent days that some had found a watery grave.

 

Further in and a good measure down you arrive at the gate, now listing even more than before, the foundation it had been anchored to steadily eroded and washed away. The webway gate machinery is slow to waken, and reluctant to let you through.  Even with an invocation from Saoirse, drawing on the remnants of the key the Farseer had imparted, the gate was churlish in its response, especily towards the Ranger Sial, who had not travelled this way before. Perhaps the gate mechanism had sensed the Dark Kin up above, or the bloodshed, perhaps it had been damaged by the slow collapse of the foundation in the real, it was impossible to tell.

 

Stepping through, the shift in apparent gravity and the direction of down is unsettling, stumble inducing. You splash down in muddy stick sludge, the smell all permeating of decay. What had been lake water scant days earlier when the gat had been unsealed and some had come through was now just a residue peppered with debris and deceased fish. Your armour immediately alert you to low levels of radiation, but less then what it had been.

 

As you walk along the narrow webway branch the lake sludge dissipates, having only reached so far. At the connecting point to the larger webway passage the radiation meters spike slightly but settle to a new level in short order. To your right the way you had come originally, to the left the webway structure is off-colour, bruised.

 

If any of you chose to venture that way:

Spoiler

The radiation alerts ring, again and again, more fraught each time. A little further you can make out some slag and melted debris. Further still the webway superstructure is frayed, immaterial leaking in and corpses of Dark Elder and daemons are scattered, some fused, other melted into the ground. Imateriaum bubbles float about, wrapping things they touch.  

It would be wise to retreat to safety and rejoin the others.

 

Retracing your steps is easy enough for a while, but the walk to Dandrame would take a long time. Luck however is on your side, or at least coincidence, for only a few hours into your march the sound of an engine reaches you, and moments later a Waveserpent flashes past. Your glimpse is brief but the Craftworld heraldry recognisable.

 

A change in pitch, a rebound echo, the Serpent has turned and his heading back towards you, slower now, coming to a standstill a few meters away.  As the ramp lowers Kemedra Llyn steps down, the Scorpion is all recovered and waves to you.

 

From the cockpit you can hear Asmicim.

 

“Reaper, the deal was not a scratch, what did you do to my Featherflight?” There is no scorn in the voice, just relive, and perhaps a little mischievousness.                                                                          

                                                                        

                              

                     

End of the Story ... For Now.

 

 

 

Thank you for playing. I hope it was entertaining.