Secrets of Cenaroun [40K Freeform]

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva crouched, flattening herself against the floor. The slight static tingling had returned. As if a wave of gentle ionisation - funnelled by the dense matter of the tunnel walls - had washed over the oncoming vehicles, each member of the oncoming group felt subtle changes of pressure and matter in the air, in their vehicles, in their own bodies.

Down to the molecular level, matter shifted. Nothing noticeable of course; the alignment they fell into, the cohesion of their electrons, the geometries of their superstructure - were on a nigh-insignificant level. But they were there. They had heard Aviva's psychic call. And they were ready to go to war.

Spoiler

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Invocation/concentration. Essentially, Aviva's chargin' her laser.

[RandomLunatic]

Everybody find cover and wait for them all to get closer-then we all fire together and kill as many as possible in the opening volley, Cynthia says quietly, moving into one of the holes in the walls and taking a knee, trying to keep as inobtrusive as possible while still having a shot.

[Warpfire]

Lirius follows Cynthia's advice, looking for some good cover to hide in.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Xuan Xuan

Swinging his pack back onto his shoulders, lasgun in hand, Xuan moved up to a better position, nearer to Lirius. He crouched, getting as much of himself behind rock and dirt as he could and proped the lasgun up.

"Sounds bad," he said, ensuring the charge pack was tightly in place and quietly performing the little rites the weapon's spirit required of him before battle.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

Still crouched against the rock wall, he reached out with his mind in an attempt to feel for any presences which may be approaching them. While doing so, his grip on his stubbler tightened.

[Ms.Malbolge]

Lirius finds the nearest cover to be the drop ship as does Xuan. Cynthia and Calk manage to squeeze themselves partially into the small openings on the side of the cave which provide cover but are too small for them to squeeze into completely, leaving them partially exposed. Aviva stands before the drop ship, her few hairs raised on end as she seems to concentrate on the noise which is rapidly getting closer, she is brazenly without cover.

Soon you are able to see them in the dim light, trikes of crude construction rushing forward, their tires kicking up dust and debris even as their engines produce a thick acrid smoke that does well to hide whatever drives behind them. It is hard to see who or what drives the trike's due to crudely welded slabs of steel welded at the front of the bikes broken only by view slits cut so that the rider's can see where they're going. The design proves crude but affective at their long range and even the most perceptive of you feels it only a waste of ammo to fire until they get a bit closer. The metal is covered in paintings and symbols and it is clearly evident to the Hive born that these are simple scavenger gangers no doubt searching the cave when they heard Lirius' gunshot.

You can see six of the trike's at the front but you can make out things behind them, like what appears to be a large crudely armored transport of some kind coming in right behind the trikes, and there no doubt is a few more trikes in the obscuring smoke and debris of the for runners. They are within your long firing range and if they have autoguns you are within theirs though they seem to hold off on firing for the time being, perhaps waiting until they get a bit closer so as to get better shots.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva, having drawn power into herself, feels something pop in her head. It's as if all of the symmetry, the closely drawn patterns in her head stretching all the way out to the bikes, suddenly crack, splintering. It doesn't have to be a big disturbance of the pattern - but it's almost worse that it's small.

This worries her. It shouldn't be this way. She wants it to stop, to cease this state of brokeness. Throwing out her hand, and shouting for the raiders, the asymmetry, for anything, to stop, she lets fly with her power.

Spoiler

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Using Machine Empathy, or the equivalent, to damage or otherwise impinge upon the systems and primitive machine spirits of the lead trike. Essentially, she's trying to cause it to crash & careen, hopefully taking some others with it.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

Recognising the patterns changing in the very air around themselves; being manipulated by his psyker companion. He could feel the force being directed at those incoming, though nto they bodies but the machines themselves. Although his power was not comparable, to Aviva, he motioned his own force of will at the drivers, each one a different comamnd from <Stop> to <Speed Up> to <Turn sharply>, attempting to add disorder to the chaos he hoped Aviva could casue.

Spoiler

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Enforce Will: basically only using minor commands, just to try and get them to act a bit more erratically.

[Warpfire]

This isn't good...

Lirius takes aim at the the leading trike, preparing for when the shot is actually possible.

[RandomLunatic]

If getting shots through form the front was impossible, Cynthia was going to get them in from behind. She draws one of the frag grenades, and hefts it a few times to estimate how far she can throw it.

[Ms.Malbolge]

Aviva boldly stands before the ruined drop craft and channels the power of the Warp. Her few remaining hairs stand on end and it's as if a great wind begins to build around her. Suddenly in a flash of violet lightning the whole area is thrown into chaos. A great howling wind fills the the air, tugging at your clothes even as you start to feel something warm and wet begin to rain down from nowhere. In great torrents the warm rain falls and after only a cursory glance you realize that the rain is fresh blood, which already begins to soak through your clothing. Aviva herself stands in the eye of the storm, a halo of pure Chaos circling her head as lighting strikes down in great pillars around her. Suddenly in the distance there is a great grating sound as three of the trikes' engines explode, throwing their riders from their armored mounts and onto the ground where their fellow gangers don't even bother to avoid running them over.

Spoiler

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Peril of the Warp triggered: Blood Rain.

Calk summons his power, reaching out to the minds of gangers but with the sudden appearance of the bloody storm his power is thrown out of control. Instead of reaching out toward the gangers it's as if his mind turns in on itself and as his own power grips him Calk is raised a few meters into the air. A great burst of psychic power explodes from Calk's mind and the priest is cast back down to the ground violently enough to disorient him. His gun is no longer in his hand and he must now take the time to stand up lest he make himself easy prey for the gangers.

Spoiler

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Peril of the Warp triggered (Thanks to Blood Rain): Psy-Blast.

Cynthia waits for them to get closer, taking a measure of how far she can throw the grenade but she can't help but grimace as she realizes she can't throw it as far as she probably hoped. She waits for them to get closer but suddenly the storm around Aviva erupts, causing no small amount of distraction, and perhaps confusion, to the situation.

Spoiler

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You can throw the grenade 6 meters, it has a 4 meter blast radius.

Lirius' takes aim, awaiting that perfect shot when suddenly all hell breaks loose around Aviva. The wind and the howling wind do a great deal to distract the hardened assassin and he must force himself to steady his scope and await the shot he craves. The trikes and the transport stop in the distance, the fact they are no longer moving making them slightly easier targets. Shortly after they stop however, right as Lirius is no doubt lining up a shot, a bright flash is seen from atop the transport an instant before a dull roar is barely heard over the sound of Aviva's storm.

You all recognize the flash and the dull roar for you've no doubt experienced it before. They have a heavy stubber.

The world around you becomes even more chaotic as the stubber adds its own steel rain to that off the blood and those of you behind cover no doubt hide behind it. The air is filled with sparks as the rounds hit the strike craft and it becomes clear to anyone paying attention that the primary target is the one drawing the most attention to herself: Aviva. Bullets whiz past Aviva's head as she begins to grasp what she has unleashed upon herself and her fellow Acolytes. Bits of rock and metal fill the air as the bullets rip into the earth, tearing great rents from the solid rock. Aviva's hearing seems to be gone, no doubt from the thunderous wind that erupted from her and it's as if the Psyker is in a haze. So much blood feels the air, so much painful howling...

It takes Aviva a long moment to realize that some of the blood is her own.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

His mind rolling, with the painful realisation that....he...s.he....what the hell was going on? Desperately trying to steady his head, he reaches to the nearest wall and recognises that his gun had gone missing, though when in doubt, his sword is draw. Using it as a crutch, he hobbles over to the wall, from there, sees the hell which had been brought forth in front of him. The raging cyclone in from of him, with both phyical and warp death, spurring around them.

He desperately searches for his fallen weapon.

Spoiler

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Also is there anything i can do to help nullify that storm, or is it too far out of control?

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva

The psyker looks, if anything, mildly confused and affronted by what she has unleashed. It wasn't the first time. Oh no, it wasn't the first time by a long way. She was glad that the tricycles had been so kind and stopped for her. But this was ... well, this was new. They were indoors, for the Emperor's sake! What was ha-

She looks down. There's a strange freedom in her midsection. All the tension is draining out of it - no pain, as if it is lighter than air. It's a blissful, calming, peaceful sensation - as if somehow there's nothing to worry about, that she was one with the air ...

Through a drunken haze, it dawns on her that she is bleeding.

Looking more closely, she sees that she is hemorrhaging freely from a pair of long cuts in her abdomen, as if she had been neatly scored by an artisan's knife. Some force - exhaustion, delayed shock from the abortive descent through the corona of planet defence fire, or simply something about her forces her down. Her limbs go slack under her, like a puppet with strings cut, and she collapses into the cover of some of the rocks of the cavern's edge. Suspiciously so, in fact. Almost as if said puppeteer - some unfathomable controlling intelligence - had drawn her out of immediate harm's way.

[Warpfire]

Lirius ducks behind cover and begins to assess the situation. Things were not going well, between the wind and the blood, and the fire of the heavy stubber. As there was little he could do about the first couple of problems, Lirius decides to try and do something about the heavy stubber. As soon as there is a lull in the firing, he looks out and tries to locate the weapon and see if it has a visible wielder. He doesn't try and line up a shot, yet.

[RandomLunatic]

Blood falls, the Stubber barks, and Cynthia swears. Hide an let them get close, I said. Why was that so hard? Keeping low and against the wall, she was at least grateful for the concealment, if not the other effects of the rain. She moves quickly back towards where the shuttle crashed and gets out of the line of fire as fast as possible. She pushes blood-saoked bags out of her eys and casts around for another hiding spot.

[Ms.Malbolge]

Calk finds himself on his back and once he stands, drawing his sword to use as a crutch, he makes it to the wall. Bullets rush near him, cracking through the air as they do so but Calk makes it to the wall whole. Taking a moment to examine the cyclone and look for his fallen stubber he realizes that the warp storm cannot be calmed by one of his lesser skills, if it could be calmed at all. His eyes now roaming the floor which is now covered in several small rivers of blood it almost seems an impossible task. Calk just isn't perceptive enough to find his stubber amidst all the blood and chaos. Perhaps when the storm dies but for now, the gun is lost.

Aviva collapses as if some great puppeteer had indeed cut her strings. When she hits the ground it's as if her whole world becomes one of pain, the pain of her wounds, the bright lightning paining her eyes even as the thundering threatens to tear asunder her ears. It's hard to see exactly how much of her blood is running freely from her wounds but the sensation they bring is as if one is forcibly ramming hot pokers into her middle.

Once the firing starts Lirius ducks behind the drop craft an instant before the whole front of the craft is peppered with stubber fire. He awaits a lull in the firing but it doesn't come though he can hear the sounds of the trikes now, apparently getting ready to approach it becomes obvious to the assassin, and perhaps anyone else who has seen combat, that the stubber will pin them down until the trikes close enough to do the knife work.

Cynthia rushes through the bloody storm, counting on the chaos to hide her movements from the enemy's guns. Darting across the ground as if the hounds of Great Powers were on her tail she manages to make it to the drop craft intact. The drop craft makes excellent cover though with only three fire points it will limit how many of the group can fire towards the enemy if everyone rushes behind it. Cynthia no doubt uses the point closest to her, the edge of the craft nearest the wall where she can take cover and turn around the edge to fire. Opposite Lirius, who holds the other corner of the drop ship the only other fire point is the door into the craft, where one can hide in the craft and fire out the door in need be.

The trikes are indeed beginning to move at the outer edges of the massive cavern, staying well away from the heavy stubber fire which pins most of the group. It's hard to see how many of the crudely armored bikes are coming towards the group, with the lightning and the blood rain doing much to obscure your vision, even the most perceptive of you will be unable to get an accurate shot off until the rain abides or they get much closer. You can now hear the whooping and yelling of the scavengers as they seem to whip themselves up into a frenzy though they remain cautious in their approach.

Spoiler

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Blood Rain, like a heavy rain is obscuring your vision greatly and the stubber is maintaining a constant stream of fire, effectively pinning you to your cover unless you wish to risk being shot. Three fire points on the downed craft, two occupied, one free. Xuan is behind the craft, Lirius is to the craft's left most corner and Cynthia is at the right most. Calk is on the wall not far from Cynthia and Aviva is about six meters in front of the craft, collapsed in a heap but it's hard to see if anything is wrong with her.

Nearest three trikes are now 85 meters out. You can take shots as the nearest trikes are within the close ranges of Autoguns, Lasguns, and Hunting Rifles. You can hear them coming and vaguely see them but due to the rain taking precise shots is out of the question. It's down to 'point the noisy end of the gun at the enemy and pray',

[RandomLunatic]

Still muttering invective under her breath, Cynthia keeps her head down.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva crawls slowly along the ground, the pain from her thorax getting worse, if anything else. There was so much blood everywhere. In fact, she is quite startled that her body contained this much. Whipping out her mercy blade, whose cold, clinical light is of great comfort in the middle of all this organic chaos, she begins hauling herself towards the bulk of the other acolytes, desperate purpose in her eyes.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

By the time he had managed to regain his senses, "s*** storm" was an inadequate discription. His sword managed to pentrate through the blood, and into the hard earth. Whether it was just the damage and mental trauma he had just sustained, or whether because he was ridiculously confident, he dived out of cover, hurrying to where Aviva now lay. Grabbing her as best he could through blood, he began the longest journey of his life, the few meters to the dropship...

[Illiterate Scribe]

She was moving, for sure, but ... not in the direction that she was crawling. Why? Craning her neck at an uncomfortable angle, she sees Calk pulling her back towards the dropship. Seeing the intermixed vacancy and hauntedness in his eyes, she realises the psychic trauma that her invocation had caused in her fellow psyker.

Barely suppressing a giggle, she mouths a single word, around the threads keeping her mouth closed:

Sorry.

[Warpfire]

Lirius, after long enough waiting for a break in the firing that doesn't come, realizes what's going on. Deciding to go ahead and risk it, he attempts to take a quick shot at one of the leading trikes.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

The strain from carrying the limp psyker must have been taking its toll as calk was covered in sweat, red, dark, sticky sweat...

Yet his 'luggage' had the audacity to mock him. He returned one of those parent looks of 'you'll be the death of me'...

He imagined that he was already at the ship, bullets were still wizzing past but atleast he had a nice wall to lean against, and sit behind...

[Ms.Malbolge]

Cynthia remains hidden as the heavy stubborn rains fire down upon the drop ship even as Calk bravely wanders out into the maelstrom of battle. He grabs hold of Aviva and manages to drag her most of the way to the drop ship unharmed. However, shortly after he gives Aviva a reproachful stare, the bullets come too close and Calk is near deafened from their thundering. He drops Aviva, no longer able to carry her weight and suddenly if feels as if his entire left arm is on fire. Darting his head to look at the source of the pain he Calk finds his left shoulder ripped asunder, the once whole shoulder now a mess of shredded flesh and visible bone, definitely a grievous wound but not enough to take Calk out of the fight. His left shoulder quickly becomes numb and if Calk tries to move it he will find it quite useless. Summon his stamina he manages to drag Aviva the rest of the way using only his right hand and only when Calk enters the drop ship does he realize his throat is hoarse from screaming.

Lirius ducks his head out and lines up a shot with his great Hunting Rifle. It is no easy feat to line up a shot with the moving trikes as they sway left to right in an attempt to be difficult targets, and attempt that works fairly well. Lirius' chance comes when the stubber seems occupied with the fore of the ship and he finds himself unmolested. Quickly before the stubber turns it's attention back towards pinning them behind their cover Lirius squeezes the trigger. Immediately he see's sparks as the bullet slams into one of the crude armored plates protecting the driver and no doubt sighs in annoyance. The trike suddenly veers sharply to the left however and slams into the cave wall where it comes to a rather smokey stop. It is clearly obvious that the crude armor is no match for more powerful weapons, for Lirius' shot seemed to strike the driver beyond.

The trikes driver ever onward.

Spoiler

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Trikes are now 55 yards out and seem to be slowing. Calk can't use his left arm and is bleeding rather profusely.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva Deschan

Seeing Calk's scowl, Aviva understands, a toxic fog of endorphins notwithstanding. Poor priest ...

She shakes her head vehemently, or at least as vehemently as she can (tiny sparks of Æthyric light still leap the bridge between her and the dropship wall, earthing themselves in safe, dead, matter), then nods with a serious look on her face. That misunderstanding cleared up (enough for her, at any rate), Aviva drops her gaze to her wounds. Peeking under her coat, she saw -

What was

that?

There was fire all around her for a moment, but then it was gone. Calk's blood. Screaming, felt through the contact with the one dragging her, more than anything else.

When they reach the safety of the ship, exhausted and bleeding, the sanctionate takes a long look at the arm of her comrade. It's ... well, it's a bad wound. Seizing it in a vague approximation of applying pressure, she takes a closer look. Was that bullet still in there ...

[RandomLunatic]

Hearing the gunshot and crash, Cytnhia grap Xuan's attention and waves hi over. Talking in norma voice, which may as well be a whisper over the the grwol of the approaching engines and the bullets slamming into the dropship, she says When that gunner turns away, take that lasgun and plug 'im.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

It was a nice wall, it was a wall, and it was nice, therfore, a nice wall, and that was all the rationale Calk needed right about now. He (assuming he still has it) placed his sword gently by his side and began to reach for his stubbler, absent of course. His brain had seemed to lagged behind a few minutes and as he looked around for where he might have left it, he noticed Aviva.

"Pretty hair, put a pretty flower it it", obviously blood loss didnt bode well for the active imagination. "Flowers are pretty, not pretty flowers here though..."
It was almost as if the minds delay had finally synced-up, and the bullets wizzing through the area had become a necessary threat again.

Looking out to an imamginary figure, he reached out his hand, "gun, now", with as much authority as could be managed for one in these circumstances.

(OOC: anyone willing to give him a weapon? His track record with "holding on to items" isnt too good but he'll try extra hard!)

[Illiterate Scribe]

Aviva

Looking quizzically at the priest - someone making less sense than her? Unthinkable! - Aviva unholsters her laspistol, and underhands it to Calk, before returning to attend to his wounds, tearing a strip of cloth from a sleeve to soak up some of the precious vitae now adding a hint of colour to the dropship floor.

She hoped he wouldn't shoot her.

[king.com]

Calk Wadous

Appearing quiet bemused that Aviva had handed him her weapon, he reached out to grab, the now dead guardsman las rifle and las pistol, returning Aviva her gun. He looked at her, the child-like stupor now passed.

"See, as i figure it, were dead, least we can do is make sure they waste their bullets on US, may aswll, give the other guys a fighting chance..."

His words trailed off, as did his train of thought. With his one good arm, he held it over the wall and pulled the trigger wildly, without even raising his body or moving. The laspistol bursts (hopefully), streamed in the general direction of the bikers. He motioned for Aviva to do the same.

Now to take the returning fire.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Not dead.

Yet.

Writing with one hand, she continued to stuff the wound with cloth, to soak up the blood.

[Warpfire]

That is an interesting development.

So the shields apparently weren't going to be that much of a problem. Well, no reason to screw around then. Waiting for the perfect opportunity, Lirius takes aim at the person manning the heavy stubber. If the shot is possible, he fires. Otherwise he switches targets with a sense of mild dissatisfaction and tries to take out another trike.