40K RPG Chaos Side: Act 2

[Ossai]

Lowed Welcome to the Second Act of the Chaos side for The Battle of Vunificus Secundus RPG. In this act you will be sent forward to take the final Bastion of defence on the surface of the city – The Imperial Palace. There are three targets, all heavily defended by the different factions. Firstly there is the Arbite Courthouse. This will have the Basic Heavy Bolter and Autocannon emplacements, as well as plenty of hand held weapons like mortars and such. Then there is the Administratum. This is where the surviving members of the PDF retreated to when the lines were overrun. Finally there is the palace itself. The Royal Guard of the Governor that didn’t escape with their charge are left here; some of the servants also being left behind. You will be attacking either the Courthouse or the Administratum building, PDF or Arbite judges.


“I was Chosen! The gods spoke to me!” Corius screamed at Filkow’s face, blood leaked from wounds on both warriors. The duel for leadership of the Chaos forces on the planet had been swift, but both marines had got numerous good blows in with their weapons. Corius was now on his knees, staring the Word Bearer in the face.

“You are correct, you were chosen, to become the first worthy soul to enter my weapon,” Filkow replied, swinging his chainsword in an arc that severed the Iron Warrior’s head. Lifting it up he held it high, declaring his victory to all assembled. “I am now the leader,” he declared to them, “For too long have we stalled finishing this planet off. Tomorrow we attack the last surviving sector of Imperial defence in the city; The Imperial Palace!” A roar erupted from the warriors around him, “We kill the Arbites and the PDF stragglers first, and the Governor second!”

Filkow strode into the command tent and looked at the maps and charts on the table. One word stuck out at him and pointed to a section of the planet directly under the city. It read “STC”. Ah, so that is what you were after, he thought to himself, once the city is mine, I shall collect it myself. Lorgar will be pleased.

There were many familiar faces in the front lines, the daemon Nypha, who was now a part of Filkow’s entourage after the battle for the frontlines being the first he saw. “Well, we attack today; the starships in orbit will blow a hole in the wall big enough for us to swarm through. Let the Corpse Emperor’s followers Tremble!” The roar from the throng was huge, they were eager to kill proper enemies, not just the pitiful humans that didn’t escape.
Most of the Chaos army was unaccounted for, still pillaging their way across the city, killing any civilians that hadn’t managed to escape. Several were also assigned to strategically important locations around the city; many of these had corrupted cogitators within them. The army here was only those that had distinguished themselves, and most of the Chaos marines.

Filkow drew his corrupted Chainsword and held it high, “There will be many enemies, possibly even a few Astartes. They will all die beneath the might of Chaos,” He slashed downwards, at the same time as the ships in orbit fired. Lance strikes fried the power field protecting the palace and smashed into the concrete wall. A hole a mile wide was annihilated in one strike.
“Now, go, kill everything in that wall. Leave no followers of the Imperial Creed alive,” he screamed. The line broke as every soldier ran for the breach, hoping to be the first on in. Filkow merely turned, and sprinted forwards himself. He had his own agenda within the walls. The start of it was to kill every loyalist marine he came across. He was sure he would be granted the honour of becoming a Dark Apostle at the end of this crusade.

[Inquisitor023]

(( Watching with interest. Do me proud Ossai! ))

[Inquisitor Alex]

Skaiyelt had watched the two Chaos Marines fight, grinning as the Wordbearer struck the Iron Warrior's head from his shoulders. Now finally, the true battle was to begin ! The seige of the loyalist palace !

As fire fell from the sky and the Wordbearer Fikow bellowed orders, the horde surged forward toward the devastated ruins of the city's fortifications. Skaiyelt and his scalpers charged toward the breach, howling mad battle cries for Khorne.

His new arm pulsed with dark energy, the demon weapon now bonded to his body. It was hungry, Skaiyelt could feel it as clearly as if it were his own stomach grumbling. As he scrambled and leapt over the blasted ruins of the palace's outer walls, he saw the two objectives Fikow had spoken of - the Administratum and the Courthouse. Both were equally tempting targets, but Skaiyelt harbored a hatred for the Arbitrators from his youth as a hive ganger. Grinning a savage grin, he flexed his great taloned hand and pointed toward the Arbites courthouse.

"It is you who shall be judged today !" he roared "Judged by Khorne !!", and he rushed toward the building, Scalpers and cultist rabble following him in a frenzied wave.

[Teh_Frm4terer]

Nypha smiled as the Word Bearer finished his speech. Filkow had a certain way with words, this was obvious. The Dark Prince would be impressed. The rallying of the troops to burn the Imperial Creed had been almost successful, although she could sense that some of the Iron Warrior stragglers were still alarmed at their Warsmith's sudden upheaval. Casting her mind towards the heavens, she observed the mutiny on the main ship in orbit. The meager Iron Warrior forces left on their ship had been no match for the champions of Lorgar and the countless allies they had convinced to side with them.

Smiling, she brought her focus back to Filkow. She let her essence slide in beside him, matching his speed with effortless grace. His entourage followed a few steps behind, struggling to match their speed.

"Well, that was relatively painless." she smirked, noting his various injuries at the hands of the bastard Corius.

"Do not be coy with me, Nypha." His face was set in stone, but his eyes betrayed the embarrasment. He could've lost that fight. Playing with his feelings was her first instinct, and yet surprisingly she found him quite bearble for a mortal.

"I meant no offence, my lord" she replied, stressing his new title, "After all, he was the insufferable little rat who got me on this spit of a world. Speaking of which..." she turned to face him, "What part of this forsaken city are we now headed? This is not the way to the Palace..."

[Ossai]

"Quite, we are heading to a secret escape route from the palace that drops you off outside the barracks nearby. After all, the Governor needs to escape should he be surrounded no?" Filkow grinned, "I have some business within the palace, and I would rather not have the followers of Khorne ruin everything in there before I have a chance to find what I am after. They will provide a nice distraction though."

He continued towards the barracks, to find this escape route. "You never know, we may be able to pick up some new people to cause havoc from within as well," he commented.

The sound coming from the palace grounds was nigh deafening. The roar of autocannons and heavy bolters and the “Thud” of Leman Russ shells as the Arbites and PDF remnants engaged the Chaos army. Many of his new followers would die, but Filkow cared little. As long as he got the ultimate prize he didn’t worry about how many of his followers had to die. He would do whatever it takes to get his hands on the STC.

“Whatever it takes?” a small voice whispered inside his head and he looked at his chainsword. He had been hearing the voice ever since he had bound the daemon to it.

“I will not release you into the mortal realm, you will take all of my glory,” he thought back.

“I do not want your glory, just allow me to feed. Feed!” it screamed into his mind.

“Soon enough, you will feed soon enough,” he said out loud at it, startling those nearby, “I am sure you must be a daemon from the Blood Gods realm, well, you will not take control over me.”

Such was the dangers of using weapons created with the warp entities, they always wanted more; of everything, including the bearer himself. Filkow knew he could control it though, he had to or else he would never become a Dark Apostle.

[Rider]

"Room for one more, Word Bearer?" Rider said as he fell in beside them. His missing arm had been completely replaced by a bionic, and with the hastily destroyed remains of the Imperial Aquila seen on the armour plates it seemed the arm once belonged to an Imperial marine. He had watched the duel with interest as the Word Bearer slaughtered his opponent and severed his skull... An offering to Almighty Khorne, perhaps? Had the Word Bearer fallen prey to his masters whisperings?

Rider had immediately recognised him as the Marine for the breach earlier that day, and from the encounter with the Leman Russ - speaking of which, that was where his reccollection of that fight ceased. The next thing he knew he had awoken with no arm, resting on some sandbags... and the rest, they say, is history.

"I take it we won at the breach earlier then?"

[Ossai]

"You are welcome to join us, could always use another champion of the real Gods," he said to the World Eater. It was then that he realised this was the same one that he had fought alongside earlier in the battle.

"Of course," Filkow replied with a grin, "did you ever doubt the powers of Chaos? These Imperials are weak, we will have this world soon, and all the wonders it contains," he said trailing off at the end.

There was a large explosion from behind them, where the walls were and Filkow saw another section of the wall collapse in an avalanche of rubble and imperial defences. He grinned as he saw cultists and other Chaos Space Marines swarming over the rubble and charging into the parade grounds on the other side.

"Soon," he thought, "soon I will have the information I need, and then we will move towards the ultimate objective."

"Ah, but what if there is no information," the daemon within his blade whispered at him.

"Then it will take longer, but it will still be mine," he snapped back, "the will of the Dark Gods cannot be defied, and always wins in the end."

With that they entered a small bunker in the abandoned Imperial defence lines. "And here, my friends, is our secret entrance," he grinned pulling open a door in the chamber, which lead into a tunnel. "This is how we get into the palace ahead of our own forces."

[Inquisitor023]

"A Dark Delight from the Prince of Pleasure himself!" a voice giggled slightly behind Filkow. Cado stood behind him, grinning, his Lightning Claws pointed towards the heavens. "Yes, a treat, a treat, he has given you such a gift, he has, he has!"

Caro's bone coloured armour had black skeleton iconography printed over it, detailed where his own bones would be. His purple eyes seemed to glisten without any other light and flickered between various shades. If he was doing this himself, if he was even aware, he showed no sign. His eyes fell on Nypha and he seemed honestly surprised and pleased. "A Mistress of the Prince!" he exclaimed, "I am honoured, I am, I am! Well... I would love to stay and discuss things with you, I swear it would be an utter pleasure, but there is a better pleasure elsewhere! The False Emperor's Arbite Lapdogs still linger and I am sure that our Lord Slaanesh has... ideas, in mind for them." With that, he ran off to find the Arbites.

( Hope that's okay Ossai. Lemme know if this needs changed. )

[Ossai]

"Well now, that was interesting," Filkow muttered moving on.

The three of them emerged into the moonlight and came across a scene of utter carnage. "Khorne would be proud," Filkow grinned, then he spotted a glimmer of white amoung the brown and grey dust. Walking over to ivestigate he came across a girl, no more than sixteen years old. "What have we here?" he asked

Just kill her and be done with it.

"No," he replied spying an axe sticking out of the wall next to him, a hand of a chaos cultist holding it and dead PDF soldiers all around, the power of the warp could be sensed from it, "I have a better idea."

He grabbed the axe and pulled it out of the wall. It was in deep and had almost gone through the wall.

"Come here little girl, I wont hurt you," Filkow said, approaching her, "I know you are scared, but I have an idea. Why don't you take control, find those that abandoned you and left you here do die, and kill them. Don't worry, this axe is a powerful artifact, it will guide you in battle so that you will win," he told her, offering the axe to the girl, "when you are done, search out a captain of the guard and tell him I sent you, he will know what needs done."

Just as he finished the Administratum building exploded behind them, flames reaching high into the sky. Filkow grinned, "It is a lovely sight," he muttered then he looked serious and turned to his companions, "we will need to hurry, the stuff I want is in the palace, over there," he pointed towards the palace. It was not too far away, the secret entrance having taken them into some buildings nestling amoung the palace's protective shadow.

Turning back to the girl handed her the axe and walked off.

Why didn't you just kill her?

"Because if the axe doesn't, then she will be a useful tool. That axe is possessed by another being of the warp, and has killed all of its previous bearers. She may last long enough to kill someone important and make our job easier," he thought back to the chainsword daemon.

[Trygon]

Every hour of every day was filled with disappointment. Everyone resisted, and everyone died. None of them understanding that the moment they laid their hands upon the haft of the Daemon Weapon that contained the dread Tartaruchus, they were doomed no matter what they did. For a long time now, the Iron Warrior Corius had been sending the daemon into battle by the hands of cultists. Every time they resisted Tartaruchus' will, they wore down their soul until they finally dropped dead. Cultists barely lasted an hour. This infuriated the Tartaruchus for it needed someone to wield it that would give in to its will and allow it into his mind and body. The daemon required a host, and for what seemed like thousands of years, it was simply not happening.

Until a Word Bearer called Filkow came along. He pulled Tartaruchus from its current resting place. And for some strange reason, the daemon decided not to bind itself to the Chaos Marine. Instead, it waited. Until it ended up in the hands of a human. A human child.

Now for Tartaruchus, this was a break through. Free of the same arrogance and strong will most military men had, she would prove a willing host if the demon played its cards right. Filkow appeared to also work the advantage towards it, convincing her there was one way out of the situation she was in. To fight and to kill.

~~~~~

Annabella Elizabeth Williams stood quivering on the stone pathway, gripping the axe she had been given by the Space Marine. In such a short space of time, her world as she knew it had been destroyed. Her father had betrayed her and escaped the planet his fellow noblemen, and her home had been burnt out in the fires that raged across the city. When she ran across the courtyard, none of the Imperial soldiers were there to help her. She barely made it to the palace only to have the Arbites refuse her entry. They had orders to let no one in and no one out at the passage they were standing guard. So she was stuck here to die. When the Word Bearer came upon her, she thought it was the end. But she didn't set on foot backwards when she saw him. Her situation was hopeless, so she didn't see any point.

However, the Chaos Marine had given Annabella something to do other then death in the mud. And right now, it was all she had. She gazed down at the weapon she had been given. It had shrunk in the minute she had been holding onto it, as if it wanted her to use it. She could tell it was watching her at least. On each side of the axe head, it had a disturbingly human eye gazing out, glaring at her when it had the chance. It was a hideous thing, but right now it was all she had. She wouldn’t part with it.

“Annabella, are you cold?” asks a voice and seemed to echo inside her head.

The girl looked around. No one was there. She would normally call out to see if she had any company, but that would be dangerous.

“You know, those men inside that palace? I know they wouldn’t let you in. I can get you in. Then we can both be out of the cold, and that man from earlier will shower us with offerings and praise. We could become heroes you and I”.

The voice was like a gentle whisper, sweet and devoid of any obvious gender or age. But Annabella did not care where it was coming from and how it sounded. She just wanted her ordeal to be over. “What do you want me to do?” she called out into the emptiness of her wreaked surroundings.

“Take me to those that would seek to stand in your way. Then I will make them go away and you will be saved. Allow me to take over your worries”.

“Why should I trust you?” Annabella asked the voice. It seemed too good to be true. It couldn’t be this easy.

“What choice do you have?” it asked, “And besides. I am merely a weapon. A tool. Without you, I am worthless. If anything I should be asking whether or not I can trust you”.

Annabella paused. Upon recognising that the weapon she had been given was the one doing the talking, the voice’s argument made a lot of sense to her. And it was right. She had no choice. There was no one else here to put trust in. Not even the Emperor. Just herself, alone, with this talking axe.

“What do you want of me?” she asked the Daemon.

“As I said, just take me to your enemy, and allow me to take control. Do that and you will survive. Fail and it will cost you your life. The choice is yours Miss Williams”.


~~~~~

Quite quickly, the girl managed to catch up with the Word Bearer, running as fast as her legs could take her just to keep in pace with him. With Tartaruchus in her grip, she was a little confident about the outcome of what was about to happen. She was putting a lot of her faith in the daemon pulling through for her. Her life balanced on whether or not it could do everything it said it could do. But all there was to do now was simply find her betrayers and allow the axe to cut her an entrance.

[Rider]

Rider looked down as the girl joined them, power-jogging alongside the other Marines. She was small. 16 at most? She looked weak, scared and alone... But when he looked at the axe she was carrying, the axe looked back. He grinned and nodded to the axe before looking back to the girl. "Word Bearer!" He said without taking his eyes off of Annabella. "We seem to have... aquired... a local... And an axe..."

[Ossai]

"I know. Brilliant isn't it?" Filkow replied with a grin. Humans, they were so easy to turn to the path of Chaos. Just give them something worth fighting for. "We are almost there," he told his companions, "get ready, I expect the palace guard will fight to the death rather than realize their folly."

Filkow continued on his path to the servants entrance to the palace. It was right ahead and outside it was undefended. It seemed the main distraction had worked, it would only take this small group to penetrate into the Governer's chambers and get the information he needed. Then all they needed to do was break out and rejoin the rest of the army for the slaughter ahead. The thought of the bloodshed to come excited Filkow, and his imprisoned daemon sensed it.

Why don't you give into your inner cravings? Start the slaughter here, you will enjoy it.

"No. Much as I want to it would comprimise the plan, and if their is one things Lorgar does not like, it is failure," he thought back to it,

Lorgar need not know.

"Daemon, what you say is impossible. Lorgar is a being of the warp, higher than a mere lesser daemon such as you, and as such is more privvy to knowledge than a pitiful creature as yourself. Mindless slaughter is for the followers of Khorne, not one who knows more than death, now shut up."

Or you will what?

Ignoring this last taunt Filkow reached the door. Drawing his possessed chainsword he turned to Rider,

"If you will, honoured World Eater," he said, gesturing to the door.

Why do you let the other one take all the glory?

"If there is a trap I would rather it not be me, and besides, he is a follower of Khorne, and will kill indescriminately. Chances are he will split up from us and cause another distraction within the palace so we are left to do as we please. Besides, there will be lots of enemies to come."