The sweetest of tragedy

[The sweetest of tragedy]

  The mansion has been swept clean of all life, as the Hive Tyrant has chosen her residence with a display of flare that is unprecedented for the Tyrranid. After devastating the last perimeter defences, the battle brothers set upon the mansion with the vigour that only the engineered Astartes possess. The power grid shattered long before the arrival of the kill team, light floods upon the cavernous entrance hall as the opulent front doors are torn from their hinges. As the sunlight pierces the shadow within, it falls upon the faces of foes that have waited with unexpected patience for their enemies challenge. Light gleams from the silent ranks of minions and warriors, fangs, mandibles, and chitinous scales glint as the anticipation strikes its crescendo.
A soul splitting shriek of inhuman magnitude shatters the reverie of the moment, like steel raked across dry stone a thousand times all at once, as the master Tyrant unleashes her forces upon the besiegers. En-mass the tyrannid sweep towards the battle brothers as they clear the doorway and find defendable purchase within the hall. Cries from Astartes throats hold bay over the screeches of the hordes upon them. Not fear, but the shredding of lingering thoughts of failure, all expulsed from deep within each of the battle brothers as they in turn raise bolters and advance dauntlessly upon their foe. For the emperor these brothers accept any fate beset within these walls. Moving smoothly in coordination that comes only from the sense of duty and honour within their esteemed ranks, the Deathwatch advance, pouring rounds of puncturing death upon the lines of their foes until at last the opposing lines fall upon each other. Thunderous waves collide and crush to a halt as the battle breaks into a furious melee.
 Ezekiel bathes himself in the energies of the warp to erect a field of protection that holds back the onslaught as he delivers punishment of his will focussed through his force sword.
 Haakon pumps round after round upon the enemy masses, his blessed bolter nothing less than an extension of the emperors will as he pounds concentrated destruction upon his sworn enemies.
 Hector retracts the life giving narthecium within its protective housing and wades into the swarm, his chainsword answering each snarl, claw, and fang that sights his direction. He is no longer a healer amongst his squads ranks, but a brother standing shoulder to shoulder set in grim determination.
 The room ignites in flame as the vengeance of Alacarde is unleashed through fiery pain. Screams of pain rise above the slaughter as the horde is held at bay by his manipulations of volatile powers.
 Octavius allows his weapon to sing the glory of Ultramar as he rends upon these xenos filth in an hour that could be his final. His kill team has made the impossible exist, brought the innumerable enemy to a stand-still, challenged the might of a creature of unbridled hunger within her own layer and answered her call to battle with the iron will each holds deep within their heart.
 But the wounds grow too great, the enemies too numerous, the blood of their enemies strew upon the floor now mingles with their own. The mass of their bulbous foe threatens to crush them in numbers. As the seconds tick by each brother is dragged down and overwhelmed, their emergency beacons activating as their life signs slip beyond the veil of the living.
 In his final preparations, the heroic Naclavian calls to battle the Hive Tyrant, filling her with the rage of a monarch defied. Her judgement is brutal and callous as she flails upon the doomed terminator, venting her frustrations of thwarted plans. He holds his ground until his blood flows freely through breaches in the revered armour and his soul begins to slip free of the steely clutches of his mind, now holding his failing body in place through honour bound discipline. His body sags to the ground mercifully as his final breath is upon him. As his teleport transponder begins to carry him away into the safety of the heavens, he rolls his head to set eyes upon Tacitus once more as his brother terminator of so many missions and decades of service manually deactivates his transponder.
 “Peace and rest be upon you brother. Let go now, I will see you again.” floated through Naclavians vox as Tacitus offered a soothing farewell, his storm bolter searing into the ranks of filth once more.

 

 Tacitus paused once in silent prayer as the forms of his battle brothers were collected by their overseer battle-captain, taken from the maw of death to hold the line elsewhere for the emperor once more. The sober reflection of his lives decisions that brought him to this moment crystallized before him as calmly emptied the remainders of his storm bolter into the horde before him. His attentions were no longer centred there, as each round pulped deep within the mass and shredded the shrieking bodies. He eyes were held within as he clenched his power fist with a singular might. Power pumped greedily through the capacitor into the charging fields as he ignored the safeties within his mind as the ancient suit warned of his intended outcome. Pulling with all the strength gifted to him, he dislocated his shoulder, tendons and muscle shearing away from bone while pain flooded his body, as he wrenched his power fist behind his back. He spared one fleeting look into the eyes of the hideous Tyrant as she rushed forward, enveloped by her horde and warriors to finish this foolish little soldier quickly. As smile met his lips as he tore the power fist deep into the power pack of the suit, breaching the containment field and unleashing the centuries contained fusion lifeblood of the suit.

 The world stopped for a heart beat as the promethium fuelled halo of power clothed the marine in a shimmering shroud. As the fusion reacted with the molecules in the air, it expanded outward, offering the same cleansing warmth to the next, then the next. Tacitus saw clearly his desire as he was consumed in the holy fires of vengeance that tore through the rabble about him and subjected the Hive Tyrant to his eternal decision. The air tore apart, carrying with it the Tyrant, her swarm, the building, and all life within a kilometre.
 When the light faded from this grounded star, and the acrid smoke subsided, a calm, eerie, quiet fell upon the world.
 Captain Thadius Grail watched the data screen aboard the Dark Hunter in silence, his fist held tightly to his chest before his beating hearts in a final, silent, salute to the fallen heroes in a moment of tender farewell for two of the emperors finest.
 They fought like brothers.
 They died like space marines.

 

[Mission Summary (Part3): Shadow of Madness]

I wrote these re-caps mostly to keep all of the group informed on what happened last time we played. It is rare for us to get the whole group together in a session. Just spiced it up a bit for them to read and enjoy in hopes that they would be able to make it out to the next game. Shadow of Madness took a long time to play out. We were just learning the game at that time as well and were a little slower in combat and with the richness of the rules found ourselves searching through the book for answers when a question was raised. I ended up re-writing the ending to wrap it up sooner and left it up to the players to decide how they would finish it. In the end the assasinated the captured general as he was being led up the ramp to the Tau ship with, what I have to admit, was a VERY difficult and impressive shot. They bugged out after that and returned to the point. I am not sure if I wrote a final brief for Shadow of madness. I have since handed the game off to another friend and have started to actually play. I will post the finale of the second and final mission I ran before that though.

 Thank you for your response.

 Stormson, Canada

[Mission Summary (Part3): Shadow of Madness]

 Acheron held the archeotech illuminator in one hand waiving the ancient lamp before the wall of xenos tech which melted from its translucent sheath into stark reality anywhere the eerie blue light fell upon its surface, only to fade away once more as the lamp passed further. The device slept soundly as the first they had discovered. In the other he held his auspex, primed to gleam the coveted data that he knew would reveal to him the past, as well as the key to the terminated future, of this particular Delirium Trellis. All he needed find was the control box...
 

 Lucien waited with his usual suppressed energy. Patience was his personal form of torture. He knew this planet was simply waiting to bring the onslaught of pain and brutality to them, a form of retribution for opposing the legendary ghosts of Baraban, he just wished it would hurry up and do it. His hand reflexively tested the ignition handle of his chainsword. Others felt that he was jumpy and nervous because of this repetitious habit, his own smirk spread across his helmet encased face, he just enjoyed the sound of it. His attentions caught on movement at the perimeter of the clearing. The giant trees had relinquished the forest in this area ever so slightly, as if it was recoiling from the presence of the ancient device of terror within its midst. His mind focussed upon the threat, his fist brought the chainsword to a barking life, and his vox perked with his single word of caution and intent.
 

 “Contacts.”
 

 Haakon and Octavius each awaited within the Landspeeder Storm, manning each a weapon system that was trained upon the encroaching canopy of the forest. Octavius reviewed the over-all progress of his Kill-team. As squad leader for this outing, he squandered no moment of respite to enhance their position, or status, on this hostile world. The ghosts of Baraban could not harm he or his team, but there were plenty of brutally hostile xenos on planet which would if given the opportunity. He swung the massive assault cannon across the rare clearing in the dense forest to ensure that he was covering those of his team which were now deployed out in the open. Alerted by the slightest motion of the canopy above, he reflexively racked a round into the cored chamber of the mighty cannon, swinging the barrel skyward and just as he heard the summons form Lucien over the vox....
 

 “Contacts.” ..... he suppressed the trigger and unleashed the static hell that growled with the heart of the assault weapon. His docile reply of tactical simplicity within the explosion of onset combat crossed the vox towards the rest of his kill team.
 

 “Contacts confirmed. Target and pacify....” as the misty rain of gore and detritus fell upon he and Haakon within the open landspeeder. Haakon, spinning from his heavy bolter station to bring the chainsword bayonet of his personal bolter to bare upon the foul menace which landed solidly behind him within the speeder, drove the blessed and screaming weapon into the side of the cursed head of the misguided Kroot now before him. His lips no doubt pulled back to expose his fangs behind his armoured face plate, proving his contempt for the xenos that claim this planet as Octavius’ words soothed him into the stride of battle.
 

 “........ in the name of the father Emperor, brothers.”
 

[Mission Summary (part 2): Shadow of Madness]

Here is a re-cap of one of our first adventures of Deathwatch. This is the second session from the GM Kit adventure "Shadow of Madness"

Receiving key topographical data from Lt. Drayle, the Kill-team boarded the supplied Land Speeder Storm and set off in search of the mysterious glade, the local fabled refuge from the ghosts of Baraban and source of the disconcerting intel that brought the Kill team planet-side from the beginning. After a few short hours, they broke free of the encapsulating underbrush and canopy as Tactical Marine Haakon piloted the Storm into the tranquil setting of the glade. Though the sight of numerous battles, the evidence of which still stained the surrounding vegetation and ground, the glade held an eerie emptiness, all save for the monstrous shadow that sat, unwavering, in the center of the clearing. The source unknown to any, like the air itself battled with the rays of the local sun.
The team set forth immediately combing the area for intel and clues. Acheron tuned his Auspex and noted key patterns of wavelength displacement in the area that should contain the shadows source. He caught upon the idea to use the archeotech illuminator and uncovered both secrets at once. Lucien was intent upon the perimeter as he noted movement to the west and leapt into action, igniting jets of plasma flame to carry him aloft into the soft underbrush surrounding the glade, his prey had escaped for the time being, but he knew he would find them. Haakon awaited the Tech-marines analysis with the Speeder, wondering why he had never read any intel regarding the native wolves of Baraban as he heard their cries on the wind. Were there wolves on Baraban? Acheron, with the help of team leader Octavius, scoured the face of the xenos device as it was revealed by the ancient illuminators, coming startlingly upon his own, helmetless, reflection upon the face of the device, staring back into his own eyes with a dismal, haggard, gaze.
Ezekial, his mind focussed and set upon the xenos artefact brushed away any attempts it may make upon him. He saw through the images dangled before the others eyes and touched the centre of the xenos device. He felt cold, malice, alien emanations. Like the device was asleep and merely dreamt of the terrifying duties it would unleash when awoken. He informed his kill team and quieted his mind once more, falling back through his life to a time when he stood before the dark cloaked Librarians of his chapter, reciting the complex mnemonics that would preserve the forbidden secrets within him, allowing him to recall, and protect those secrets when necessary. His mind caught upon what he searched, and with a rush of sound like a grand battlecruiser emerging from the warp, his mind returned to the present, opened his heavy lidded eyes and whispered.
“I know what this is”
As the fates were cruel to all clinging to hope on Baraban, that was the moment the Tau strike team open fire. Filling the glade with hundreds of fragments of focussed plasma as they attempted to box the kill team in, and eliminate their interference. The battle was quick and gruesome. The battle brothers, called by Octavius, held formation and moved systematically towards the first pair of Tau whom presented themselves. Bolter rounds softened the enemy as Octavius snapped of a missile into the doomed pair, wreathing them in fragment shrapnel. Their cloaking suits malfunctioning, the Tau pair fell quickly to combined melee and range focus.
The battle turned to the east when the second Tau pair struck, and was answered by the searing blast of warp fuelled destruction unleashed upon them by Ezekiel. Their reply was gruesome. Half a dozen rounds punctured Ezekiels power armour, calling forth his blood and rendering him injuries that would have felled dozens of lesser men.
Haakon, pumped round after round into the fray, pulping one previously unknown enemy to the north as he walked bolts through the area like a brush stroke. The geyser of blood and halo of ignited promethium was a reward that held a disturbing sweetness that nourishes all Astartes. The final enemy faded away, his whereabouts indeterminate. Another ghost vanished from within the hellish soul of Baraban.
Lucien continued to remain en-guard for the rogue assailant, while Octavius summoned aid and munitions from Drayle at outpost 420. It was for nought as Ezekiel was able to recover himself from the wounds he undertook upon the battlefield as the surgeon stood by monitoring him, amazed once again by the marvel which were the Adeptus Astartes. Acheron oversaw the engineers ring the “Delirium Trellis” with potent charges. As the ignition caused the structure to shatter and collapse, tainting the surrounding area with a dark and bitter ash, Octavius, dwelt upon his last conversation with Lt. Drayle.
“What you are telling me is amazing, yet not unbelievable. I have felt that there must have been a reason for the glade to be a refuge. However, it is not the only refuge from the ghosts that I have heard of...... Lord Astartes, do you believe there might be more of these devices here on Baraban? Would the Tau know of them as well?”
 

[Deathwatch - choose your own adventure]

That was great, when did you say you started that?