Trial of an Inquisitor Lord

[BrokenWing]

Punch, Counter Punch...

The various armies on world had exchanged blows against one another for several months after their initial landings. So far, only the Orks had any significant momentum and an attempted Chaos Incursion had been halted before it could spread terribly far.

Having regained the initiative after defeating the Rainbow Warrior/Thousand Son alliance at the Battle of Blood Bowl Ridge (So named because it was fought on the lip of a huge crater which was filling with warp spawned blood as the god Khorne turned his attention to the Corbalus System. Thus, the landscape had the effect of appearing like a bowl filling with blood.) the Mortifactors sent a call for aide to the only force that seemed likely to help...and launched a major offensive against the rapidly spreading Ork Waaagggghhhh!!!!

Little did the Mortifactors know, but the Orks were on the verge of a major discovery. Defeat here would stunt the Ork momentum and their discovery would be delayed, or even slip from their grasp entirely.

Mortarion gathered the greater part of a full Company for his assault and sent a message to the one force in the Corbalus System that remained a mystery, the huge fleet that hovered mid system like a lurking predator, waiting for a meal to pass within reach. He received no response until the eve of battle, as his Marines prepared for their initial assault. The response came as it always did with the Carcharadon Astra, in the form of actions, rather than words. The Space Sharks landed in silence and gathered their forces to fight alongside the Mortifactors. All without uttering a word.

Scenario:

The Battle of Broken Fields.

12,000 points.

Victory Conditions:

The Mortifactors must succeed in pushing the Orks out of this territory. In order to do so, they must capture the Chasm Bridges, the main roads leading into the ruined town, and the center of town. (This provides a total of 5 Objectives) Capturing a majority of these objectives will win either side the game.


Special Rules:

Don't look at me, I didn't break it: Something is terribly wrong, all the vehicles in the battle are losing power, as if something were sucking the power from their reactors/engines/whirlygigs/glowy things. In fact, something *is* sucking the power out of them. All vehicles move 2 inches slower than normal. If they move at all, they are considered to have moved at cruising speed for the purposes of firing weapons.


You ever get that bad feeling?: Everyone on both sides is filled with a lingering sense of dread, the source of which they can't quite put their finger on. Any units that flee roll 3d6 and choose the two highest (things that already roll 3d6 will roll 4d6 and choose the 3 highest) because it feels as if something truly awful is going to happen soon, and they'd rather not stick around to find out what it is.

10% to each player on the winning side.


oc: is it wrong to get pleasure from scaring your players with portents of doom?

[BrokenWing]

The Prison Cracks...

The Mortifactors and Space Sharks tried valiantly to throw back a combined alliance of Orks, Thousand Sons and Rainbow Warriors, but were ultimately unable to secure enough of their objectives. Few understood what had drained their machines so, but near the end of the battle, the power drain suddenly intensified. Had it not, the Orks and their allies may have been able to press their advantage, or turn the initiative in their favor...but instead as the battle ended and the marines began to fall back to their previous positions...all the vehicles on the battlefield lost nearly all power. It was all anyone could do to coax their vehicles away from the battle, let alone shoot with them. Even power armor began to lose power and guns that relied on energy began to falter and die.

Fortunately, all of this drain did not last terribly long, for just as the two sides had fully vacated the field of battle, the power drain disappeared entirely. Many thought this was a good thing, but they were wrong.

The ancient Null Field Network had been trying to draw in enough power from outside sources to keep itself functional, but ultimately, it was fighting a losing battle. After considerable effort, the system decided to shift its efforts to Fail-safe B. It was not a great plan, but it was better than the entire system failing at once. Following a strict set of pre-programmed instructions, the network ran a scan of all of its systems and identified the least functional Null Field Generator on Corbalus Four...and shut it off. It was then able to re-route the power to other generators in the Network, temporarily boosting their strength and preventing total Network collapse.

Above ground, the sense of dread lingered and grew. This feeling of unease continued for days on end and soon, psykers on both sides began to feel as if the Warp itself were anticipating some great event...but could not identify what. Even Carrion Mourn, the most powerful mortal psyker on Corbalus Four, was at a loss to identify what his psychic senses were telling him.

A full week after the failed Mortifactors/Space Sharks assault, the first Null Field Generator was shut down by the network. The shutdown occurred during an attack by the White Scars on a position held by the Rainbow Warriors, under the direction of Kasarro Khan. The White Scars were forced into temporary alliance with the Rainbow Warriors when both forces fell under sudden attack by the Orks of Gork Mork The Ork. The alliance was, of course, more of a decision to shoot at the greater threat than any sort of agreed upon alliance and handshake.

As the battle raged, the failure of the first generator caused two sudden events. The first event occurred as a part of Fail-safe B. The dying generator instantly drew power from the greatest source it could find to feed into the remaining network before it was shutdown. Relying on ancient technology, it found its source in a portion of the Webway that overlapped with the battlefield. As clumsy as the system was, it simply ripped open a temporary hole in the Webway, causing the second portion of the dire prophecy to be fullfilled.

Fleeing pursuit in the Webway, Jaghatati Khan and his Primarch Honor Guard came roaring out of the webway on their bikes, right in front of the White Scar lines. The Lost Rider had returned...but the prophecy was two fold, and the second portion was considerably worse than the first.

A force of constructs rose from underground tunnels, spilling out onto the battlefield in ordered columns. At first glance, the participants in the battle believed them to be Necrons...had they been, the dark feeling still filling the minds of all those on Corbalus Four might have passed...but they were not Necrons. They were far worse than Necrons. They were the Men of Iron. The prison walls had cracked. The first Null Field Generator that shut down had unleashed a small force of the machines.

The force that emerged from the ground might have been enough to chill anyone's soul, but there was worse to come, far worse. The participants in the battle just didn't know it yet.

The Prison hadn't failed...it was failing. Worse remained in the Null Fields, much, much worse...


Scenario:

6,000 Points.

Victory Conditions: Kill Points. (All Men of Iron Units count for double Kill Points)

Special Rules:

We come in peace (shoot to kill): The Men of Iron are too few in number to destroy everyone in the battle, so they have chosen to ally themselves with the nearest force, which happens to be the Orks. This won't change during the battle, but if Men of Iron remain afterwards, it is no guarantee of future good will.

The Lost Rider Returns: Jaghatati Khan has returned and will take his rightful place leading the White Scars. The Great Khan knows precisely what the Men of Iron are (unlike everyone else, who thinks they're just some sort of weird Necron). As a result, he must attempt to destroy the Men of Iron. Any unit led by The Khan that fights the Men of Iron gains preferred enemy, Men of Iron.

The End of Days: This is the End of Days. All Imperial forces feel this inevitable truth in their souls, like no man has ever felt it before. This is not another campaign out of thousands, this is the first battle for the souls of men. Some of the Primarchs seem to be returning and the veil between The Warp and Real Space has thinned...and worse, contact with the rest of the Imperium has become difficult and the Warp grows ever more tumultuous, growing to levels of power not seen since the Horus Heresy. Any player fielding demons may deploy 1d3 Demon Units as if they were normal units. They have pierced the veil. In addition to this, the numbers of all psychic powers are increased by 1 (strength, ap, etc) and all psychic power ranges are increased by 6 inches. Perils of the Warp now inflicts d3 wounds instead of just one. The End of Days rules are in place for the rest of the Campaign, though they may be further modified, depending on how things go.


oc: As a group, we have decided to move things along in the direction GW is already taking them. The campaign only gets darker from here.

Edit: a link to the Men of Iron rules, for those interested- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=409729 You will find them under Dark Age of Technology.

[BrokenWing]

Escalation...


The Men of Iron proved difficult to deal with, but a brilliant ambush by Jaghatai Khan so a majority of the Men of Iron host cut down before it could do too much damage. The problem was containing the rest and dealing with the Orks.

In the end, it was proven that they could not deal with both problems at the same time and the hastily fabricated alliance was forced to quit the field. The remaining Men of Iron disappeared in the confusion, no longer numerous enough to stab the Orks in the back. Instead they seemed to melt away, led by their Cataphract Conclave, the Men of Iron left to deal with a task of their own.

For the losing side, one good thing did come of the battle. They had received reinforcements from the Ultramarines, who had sent an investigating force to the Corbalus System along with reinforcements to other portions of the Felmortis Line.

The Ultramarines immediately set to work contacting the other marine factions after the battle, seeking to bring the disparate armies together into a single command structure, if at all possible. Their signals to both The Sentinels and Space Sharks went unanswered. They were, however, able to contact The Mortifactors and Blood Knights. The Blood Knights were scattered and dealing with a problem of their own, the nature of which they refused to indicate. So instead, The Ultramarines gathered a force with the Mortifactors with the aim at striking back at the Ork Horde. As they gathered their force, a contingent of the Sentinels Seventh Circle arrived to reinforce their combined force.

It looked as if the Forces of Disorder were beginning to become drastically out numbered...but so far it had not set the Orks back in any considerable way and the Rainbow Warriors were ever threatening to break containment as well. The difficult was that the forces of the Imperium were not at all organized, even after the arrival of the Ultramarines. The Sentinels seemed ready to fight just about anyone and were more agitated and irritable than ever. The Space Sharks were being mysterious, showing up only when it suited them, sometimes launching raids of their own without contacting anyone else and not returning messages. Whatever purpose the Carcharadon Astra had in being in the Corbalus System, it did not seem to include being particularly open and easy to work with.

The Dagger's Point..

Since gathering large forces in concentrated areas hadn't worked before, the alliance of Marines decided on something different. They each brought a small, quick force to the battle with the intent of rapidly breaking the Ork and Chaos lines. A quick, decisive push could easily send the Orks fleeing from the targeted territory and give the Mortifactors some much needed new ground to fortify. Though no one knew it, the Orks were getting dangerously close to their objective. Long gone were pieces of maps...they were now finding things the map was pointing to. The Weird Boyz were all excited, sensing they were near the location of Gharkul's legendary armor. In truth, they'd already found a piece...the massive Gob the Warboss had once worn. It was huge, easily large enough for a full sized Ork Boy to stand in.


The armor hadn't been dumped in one spot, as it turned out, but scattered in many different locations. The next on their list was the right side of the torso. Everyone expected to need at least ten Nobz just to dig it out of the ground when they found it.



Scenario:

Seize Ground

Points: 4,500

Non-Apocalpyse.



oc: I have high hopes for an Imperial victory in this one...if for no other reason than we might have an issue if only one player ever actually wins games.

[BrokenWing]

oc: UGH. Two weeks in a row where certain players couldn't make it. Next week should be a go.

[BrokenWing]

OC: Was forced to discard the above scenario when the Ultramarine player failed to show again and another player arrived.

ic:

Trail of an Inquisitor Lord and the Walls Come Falling Down...

The attack had come from utterly unexpected quarters. While the White Scars and Orks were about to meet in combat, they were assaulted by the Rainbow Warriors in the ruins of an old city. The Rainbow Warriors brought with them allies from the Thousands Sons, led by a mysterious and powerful sorcerer. Forced into swift alliance with the Orks, the White Scars gathered their forces and prepared to ambush their attacks from the flanks. The most unexpected of attacks came moments after the first, when elements of the Sentinels Nineth Circle, led by none other than Carrion Mourn, joined the fray. They did not mingle with the forces of Chaos, nor did they directly aide them, but they did sweep away every White Scar attempt at taking the strange metal pylon that the Sentinels had seized. The pylon was one of many strange pylons on the planet, but it was not one of the ones that had unleashed the Men of Iron. The Sentinels protected it with their lives as if it were a Chapter artifact, even going so far as to route eight White Scar Terminators attempting to assault the forces of Chaos from that direction. They stayed their hand when given the chance however, allowing the surviving Terminators to flee with their lives when they could have mowed them down.

The only aide the Sentinels appeared to give to Chaos was when Carrion Mourn and has body guard swept the Orks off of a critical objective they were holding, allowing the Chaos forces to close in behind them and take it for themselves. Carrion Mourn did not dally long though...

As the smoke and rage of combat swirled around him, Carrion Mourn saw more clearly than most. He tore his stave from the corpse of an Ork and gazed over at another squad of Orks, lingering behind hastily erected barricades. They looked torn, as if trying to decide if assaulting Tenth Circle Terminators and Carrion Mourn was the best idea. Carrion Mourn answered the question for them, launching an assault across the baricades. He smashed an Ork aside with a simple gesture of his hand, crushing his skull with psychic might. As the Orks reeled under their assault, Carrion Mourn grabbed their Nob by the throat and lifted him into the air with one hand. He gazed into the eyes of the Ork, who looked quite surprised. Carrion Mourn extended his mind, joining his psychic will with the mind of the Ork, easily breaking its defenses and reading its thoughts like a book. He probed deeper, searching for answers to his question. At last he realized the Nob, and none of the other Orks, had any information the Sentinels needed...at least not at this time. He dropped the Nob back onto his feet without killing him and withdrew from the field with his body guard.

The Nob and his fellow Orks looked around, looking extremely confused. After awhile, deciding bravado was the better part of Valor, the Ork raised his Klaw in the air and shook it, shouting at Carrion Mourn. "And stay out!"

The Orks, battered and beaten by the three armies assaulting their lines, eventually fell back to better positions, leaving the field to the forces of Chaos. Seeing the end of the battle was at hand and having suffered heavy losses, the White Scars also withdrew. Despite their victory, the Rainbow Warriors and Thousand Sons had lost a vast majority of their forces. When they turned to assault the Sentinels, they found that the mysterious Chapter had vanished as mysteriously as it had arrived and they had taken the pylon with them.


Later, the Null Field Network at last gasped its final breath. The computer simply had no more power to draw on. Determining that the best it could do was send its power to the main part of its network on the Hive World that was its neighbor, the system shunted its last remaining power via a system of pylons and shut down. The walls of the prison had fallen. The common most prisoners began awaking and escaping. The Men of Iron were now awake on this world in full...but the Prison itself had not completely failed. There was another portion of it...the isolation wing...that was active on the other world. The worst of the worst remained in their cages...for now...

[BrokenWing]

oc: Finally got time to write an update. There will be more fluff after this further detailing the temporary alliance and the presence of the Primarch. This is the last of the Primarchs we are introducing.


They're Back...


They came from all over the planet, rising from long forgotten stasis chambers and assaulting right across the planet. Surprise attacks in areas once thought secure threatened every race fighting over the world. Bases thought well behind enemy lines became battlefields or simply fell to assault over night. In the first day of the offensive, the Men of Iron managed to threaten the entire surface of the planet. Some of their assaults were thrown back, others were bogged down in excellent defenses...but what had been a multi-directional war was now pure chaos.

This state of affairs lasted for over a month before someone stepped in. There was only one man in the galaxy capable of organizing the mess, capable of recruiting the desperate forces into a single fighting alliance to throw back the Men of Iron. No doubt if they defeated the Men of Iron the various forces would once again find themselves in conflict.

Sadly, there was much that happened in that month of time before the arrival of the one man who could save them all. Just before the Men of Iron launched their massive assault the various forces vying for the planet met in combat over several strange objects that had fallen from the sky. The Sentinels managed to seize one of the objects in the confusion of battle and made off with it. When the containers were opened, they were found to contain members of The Fallen who had begun traveling to Corbalus for unknown reasons. Even under intense interrogation The Fallen would not reveal the reason for their arrival...and more pods were detected falling all over the planet. When the other pods were discovered, they were found empty.


One Man to Rule Them All...

This was the beginning of the end of days. Already some of the Primarchs had returned, but one, the one the Imperium needed more than any other, remained in stasis on Ultramar. He had been healing slowly for millennia since his "death" at the hands of Fulgrim. Some had refused to believe in the Miracle of the Primarch, others had viewed it with skepticism and some had believed. Even Marneus Calgar had not believed in the stories, though he had ventured to gaze upon the Primarch perhaps hundreds of times. Calgar was not there to see the proof of the miracle.

He was there, however, when an Ultramarines ship arrived in the Corbalus system containing the better part of the Honor Guard. The man who stepped off of the landing Thunder Hawks was Roboute Guilliman. He was not completely healed and though he walked with the power and confidence of a Primarch, his skin was pale. When he saw his Primarch in the flesh, Calgar bowed to one knee immediately.

Gulliman motioned for him to rise. "Marenus Augustus Calgar." He said. "I have read your file, you have done my Legion great honor and your place is at my right hand."

"Your Gauntlets my Primarch, I should give them to.." He cut Calgar off with the gesture of a hand. "Keep them, they have served you well." Gulliman wore his ancient suit of armor and he was flanked by over twenty Honor Guard that he stood a full shoulder above. "Gather the leaders of the forces on this world. I hear you have an iron problem."


Scenario Rules:

10,000 points. 5 Players vs 1.


Force Organization:

The allied army, brought together by the Primarch of the Ultramarines, is one organized for the task at hand. Each of the five players may choose one Force Organization slot and make their entire army out of that slot. Super Heavies count as Heavy Support. Up to two people may choose the same force slot (so two players can be troops, two elites and so on). Each player may also take up to two units from a slot other than the one they chose (So a player can take Heavy Support, but also take a pair of HQ units) to support their selection.


Objective: The alliance must control two out of the three objectives *and* kill all of the Men of Iron HQ units. Success will disrupt the Men of Iron and scatter their forces.

[BrokenWing]

oc: Quick update. No write up yet because there's a bunch of stuff I need to update in it. There will be one coming though.

[BrokenWing]

OC: this is way over due, but it's taken me a long time to get all my thoughts together on it. There's another half of this to go, which I'll hopefully finish tonight or tomorrow.


The Oldest Prison...


The heavy armored boot falls of Broken Wing and Cypher echoed across hollow chambers in ever expanding darkness. Neither man bothered with a light, for both could see in darkness just as well as they could in day light. Their booted feet fell upon dark marble floors with every step as they crossed a great causeway. On either side the two huge men were dwarfed by mighty statutes to long forgotten gods and a great floor mural depicting the war between the Old Ones and the Necrontyr spread out before them.

"What is this place?" Broken Wing asked eventually of his guide.

"The last hall of the Old Ones." Cypher stated. "And the gateway to the oldest prison in the universe."

Broken Wing wondered what one might keep in the oldest prison in the universe..and decided he was better off not knowing.

"All that is." Cypher began. "Has come to pass because of machinations set in motion ten thousand years ago. You may have heard the old comparison of Humanity's war against Chaos as a giant Chess game, with the Emperor king on one side and the Chaos Gods king on the other. Of course, the problem with this is the failure by whoever came up with the concept to understand that even the king moves at the commands of another. The Emperor is no king, he is the Chess Grand Master on one side. In the other chair sits Tzeentch." Cypher paused as they arrived at an enormous circular gate made of adamantium, or something considerably stronger.

"Beyond this gateway sits the one piece banned from the board entirely." Cypher said. He pressed several touchstones on a nearby podium, which activated a huge holographic projection of the Corbalus System's sun.

"Why are you showing me the sun Cypher?" Broken Wing asked.

"That's not a sun."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Da Biggest Armor Ever!

It took the Orks of Ullyman Da Uge's Eye Choppa Tribe weeks after the defeat of the Men of Iron to dig up the armor they had finally found. Gharkul's armor was enormous and like all big things, the Orks wanted to see it stand up. So they spend another week figuring out how to achieve that goal, crushing several hundred grots in the process.

At the end of this time, Ullyman and his famous tiny Mek Boy Small n Runty stood admiring the enormous armor of the once all powerful Warboss.

"DAT IS DA BIGGEST ARMOR EVER!" Ullyman exclaimed. "Da Boss is gonna be real appy with dis one! He'll have to grow ten feet just to try it on!"

Small n Runty adjusted his goggles. "Yes I think so."

"It's missin a piece." Ullyman said, pointing to where Gharkul's great hammer should have been connected.

Small n Runty sighed. Another great search to go on, he was certain.

"Oi! We'ze gonna ave to find dat right quick!" Ullyman said.

"I'll get Da Submarines on it" Small N Runty said, thinking that might be a bit faster.

"Da Orky Submerisa...Submersi...underwater tingys?! NAH! Gotta do dis da old fashioned way!" Ullyman grinned.

Small n Runty frowned.

"WIT DA BOYZ!" Ullyman shouted and slapped the small Big Mek on the back, nearly bowling him over.

"Boss." Small n Runty said, standing up and rubbing his aching back. "Shouldn't we tell Da Boss about dis?"

Ullyman frowned, suddenly realizing the very important thing he'd been forgetting for a month now.

"Oh yeah!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Game

"That's the prison." Cypher said.

Broken Wing stared at the holographic image of the sun. "By the Emperor.."

"I fear that the game we play now will ultimately open the prison gate and the entire board will be scattered and tossed asunder." Cypher said. Both men turned when they heard shockingly loud slow clapping.

The enormous form of Magnus the Red stepped out from the shadows. "Now you understand the game Cypher." He said in a booming voice.

"You!" Cypher said, drawing his pistols. Brokenwing drew his sword and pulled his shield off his back.

"All the forces fighting here have unleashed the Men of Iron, which the Imperial forces will feel inclined to destroy. They will chase them here, where the battle will breach the gateway and all these past ten thousand years will be meaningless. There will be a new game." Magnus said bitterly. The sting of the past ten thousand years had never left his mind. He hated the Emperor, he hated Tzeentch, he hated Ahriman...he hated them all.

"Enough talk!" Broken Wing shouted, his golden sword glowing with a nimbus of power. He set his feet and charged the massive Demon Primarch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Meeting of Minds

As the battle had turned rapidly against the Men of Iron, the last remaining Cataphracts had conversed among st themselves. After a few moments, they had reached a decision and activated an Emergency Teleport for the remains of their entire army. Without warning, the entire army vanished from the battlefield. They arrived on the other major Corbalus world, plying deep into the catacombs beneath and searching for all the controls and towers that kept that prison active. It wasn't long before that prison fell too and the Men of Iron found what they were looking for.

A hulking machine stepped forward out of the darkness of his prison cell, his eyes sweeping over the Cataphracts before him, who promptly knelt down. The Alpha Class strode forward, grabbing his weapons as his systems continued to come back online, one at a time...


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

oc: more to come later.

[BrokenWing]

Continued:


Better Angels...


As Broken Wing charged Cypher drew his pistols and began to run for cover while firing them rapidly. Bolt pistol round and plasma blast alike simply fizzled or bounced off of the huge Primarch's ornate armor. Magnus dared not use his psychic powers so near to the gateway, but he was more than enough for both warriors physically. Broken Wing charged as the reports of Cypher's bolt pistol echoed through the chamber and swung with his golden blade. Magnus shifted out of reach of the swing however and slammed a massive fist into Broken Wing's raised tower shield.

The Inquisitor cried out as pain shot through his arm. Despite the shield not breaking, his arm broke from the pure force of the impact. Magnus knocked the shield from his shattered arm with his other hand and grabbed the Inquisitor, throwing him into a support column.

Broken Wing felt the wind knocked out of him and pain shoot through his back as he slammed into the stone column and fell to the ground. Fortunately, his armor prevented any permanent damage to his back and he was able to slowly drag himself to his feet. Cypher moved out from behind a column, distracting Magnus with a few well placed shots that very nearly hit the cyclopian Primarch in the head.

Magnus was about to rush Cypher and put an end to him when the balance of forces suddenly shifted. A lone man in ancient grey and black Terminator armor stepped out of the shadows, making the Primarch pause a moment. The man held out a metal rod and extended it in both directions with the press of another button. Chain blades unfolded from within the rod on either side of both ends and began whirring. The man twirled the weapon and dropped into a defensive stance, the Charcaradon Astra symbol on his shoulders gleaming in the half light of the chamber. Magnus reached out and tore a support column in half, hurling the debris at Broken Wing to put him out of the fight. A huge piece of the column struck the inquisitor, sending him flying backward. He slammed into the floor and his world went black.

Magnus now focused on Cypher, who had once again vanished behind a column, and the new arrival. Magnus suddenly side stepped as a set of long, thin lightning claws shot slashed out from behind him...only his latent senses saved the Primarch from a potentially devastating blow. Magnus swung around and stood staring down at Corax with his one great eye. Corax did not look well, he was pale, more so than even he had once been, but he was still a Primarch. Given the balances of forces now in the chamber and his inability to use his psychic powers, Magnus realized now might be a good time to retreat...Still, he might have continued the fight a bit longer, if not for an entire company of Carcharadons walking out of the shadows...

"You can't stop this now Corax." Magnus said with a thunderous laugh.

"And you.." He said, turning his gaze to the lone Terminator in the room, the man with the strange weapon. "Will you stand to defend this prison against the fellow lap dogs of the Emperor?"

The man didn't answer, he simply walked to the circular gateway and stood in front of it with his weapon at the ready. It was answer enough. Magnus laughed again. "What hope a thousand marines against two Primarchs and others besides?" He asked the assembled company. His response was silence.

"Magnus." Corax started. "The time for judgment is near at hand. You are so bitter, with all that has befallen you, I do not blame you for your bitterness. I do however, assure you that these men will stand against the wrath of Khorne himself if that is what is asked of them." He glanced over at the Space Sharks. "Perhaps in some ways, this is no longer our Galaxy, or our war. Better men now stand at the Emperor's side than those who failed him first."

"You're refusing to play the Game aren't you Corax?" Magnus asked, amused.

"I have a part to play, but it is not in this system, nor in this battle. What fate befalls this place I do not know. Perhaps your wish will be granted, perhaps the Game will change for all time. I do not know this, I only know that which I have sworn to do. I only know my part." Corax replied.

"Yet you refuse to fight me." Magnus said. "On fair terms."

"I refuse to fight you at all." Corax said. "Your death will come at the hands of a better man than I."

"Don't say his name!" Magnus shouted in fury.

"I need not say it. You know it in your heart. He beat you once, he burned your world around you. He comes for you, as he has always come for you Magnus. You have seen it." Corax replied.

Magnus slammed his fist into a nearby column, knocking it asunder in his anger. Still, he was not a fool, he would not fight Corax here with so many of his allies. "I will flay your skin from your bones one day Corax."

"No you won't." Corax said simply as Magnus teleported from the room.


Cypher walked over to Broken Wing, finding he was alive, but brutally injured. His arm would need replacing with bionic parts, as would his ribcage. Cypher turned to look at Corax, but the Primarch had vanished.



oc: Those of you who have paid close attention will know that Corax was introduced one other time in this campaign, though he was not named.

[BrokenWing]

Shark Attack...

Guilliman had come up with a plan to cripple the Forces of Disorder that were preparing to leave Corbalus Four for Corbalus Three. The plan called for a series of powerful hit and run raids on their major supply bases that would leave them without a reliable chain of supply once they arrived on Corbalus Three. Generally, plans worked only until they made contact with the enemy, but in this case, the plan worked only until it made contact with the Carcharadon Astra.

The Carcharadons had planned an assault of their own, one that would hit the major starports of every army across the planet at the same time. For their plan to work, they needed the bulk of each army to be occupied, so they seized the moment and came to the "aide" of the allied forces attacking the primary supply depot of the Rainbow Warriors. The sudden swelling of allied forces garnered the full attention of the Rainbow Warriors command structure, which came to believe that what had appeared to be a raid was a full on invasion of their territory. Seeking to halt the invasion before it could really begin, the Rainbow Warriors drew upon their reserve forces and their allied Orks and dramatically reinforced the supply depot.

The battle for Supply Depot 314 drew on for hours with the slow, grinding advance of the allies steadily pushing the Forces of Disorder out of their defensive positions and away from their fortified gun emplacements. The Chapter Master of the Carcharadon's tore a gaping hole in the Ork line, ripping apart Ork Dreads and then Khorne Berserkers in turn. When the smoke of the battle cleared and the Rainbow Warriors and their Ork Allies were forced to abandon the supply station, the allied forces believed they had gained a major victory. The Rainbow Warriors would be fighting off depleted supplies and had taken high casualties in their attempt to defend the Depot. Many of the Ork Dreads were out of action either permanently for a long duration after the battle and would not see the front for some time.

When the allies returned to their own bases however, they discovered their major victory was short lived. Every starport had been destroyed with large quantities of Melta Charges that had been placed at critical positions and brought their landing platforms crashing to the ground, exploded their supply tanks and set their fuel reserves on fire. Fortunately, this happened to the Rainbow Warriors and Orks as well and it took both sides two months to get their starports in working order again.

Despite another attempt to cripple the Rainbow Warriors once the starports were back online, no lasting victory was won on Corbalus Four. The time had come however, for the Forces of Disorder to leave Corbalus Four. The Orks had discovered information leading them to believe the hammer that went with their rediscovered armor was on Corbalus Three. The Rainbow Warriors on the other hand had received visions from Tzeentch of a powerful artifact residing on world that would somehow give them complete control over the Men of Iron, a clearly invaluable resource. When word of this reached the allied forces, the Ultramarines, White Scars and Sentinels all prepared to give chase.

The Mortifactors, however, remained behind, determined to turn Corbalus Four into their new Chapter Homeworld and cleanse it of any remaining Orks or Chaos taint.

For their part, the Carchardon Astra had gained valuable time in the two months it took the various forces on Corbalus Four to rebuild their starports. With the two months, they were able to call greater numbers of their Chapter into the campaign and place them at key strategic positions on both Corbalus Three and in the Gateway Room itself. They would not allow the last prisoner of Corbalus to be set free.

[BrokenWing]

Corbalus Three...Ghost World

The first of the armies from Corbalus Four to arrive on Corbalus Three was the Ultramarines. Under their Primarch, they had been able to rebuild their starport faster than any of the other forces and had improved upon it in the process. Guilliman was wary however, Corbalus Three looked and felt wrong, so he sent a series of drop pods plunging through the thick atmosphere to investigate a potential base of operations. Drop Pod Four Seven Three broke through the cloud layer and slammed into a huge city structure, smashing through it like a bullet through glass and continuing on course. On the virtual display built into each marine's helmet, Corbalus Three looked deserted. Corbalus Three had been a Hive World at one time, though there were no records suggesting it was ever part of the Imperium. In the baleful glow of the Corbalus "sun" each marine could see that Hive World might have been an understatement. Everywhere the marines could "see" with their displays was a vast city scape, massive city structures that vied for dominance of the sky line and huge undergrowth and entanglements of smaller buildings, layer upon layer upon layer of housing and industrial complexes. That wasn't the part that disturbed the marines of Drop Pod Four Seven Three. What disturbed them was that in all that vast sea of buildings and habitats. Nothing moved. Nothing at all. Even worse, the surface of the world didn't look like a city scape that had been abandoned for millennia with collapsing buildings and jungle regrowth...it looked like everyone had just packed up and left yesterday.

When the drop pod finally impacted with a city street the squad inside disembarked from it in perfect formation.

When another squad from another drop pod found their position later that day, they found the horribly mutilated and desiccated corpses of ten marines in perfect formation...no bolter shells lay on the ground, no knives had been drawn. There were no tracks for the new arrivals to follow and there was no sign that anything had approached the marines, or left their position. They were simply dead, as if the world itself had reached out and cut them down. Guilliman made the decision then and there to remain in orbit, and only land his marines when they needed to do battle. The Ultramarines would not lose their brothers to...thin air.

[BrokenWing]

Descent into Madness...

It was not long before the major forces engaged in the Corbalus System came to blows in the upper spires of Corbalus Three. Buildings untouched by war were soon torn asunder by battle as the forces of order, led this time by the White Scars, assaulted a combined Necron, Rainbow Warrior and Ork force that was attempting to move deeper into the Upper Hive of what seemed to be the primary Hive Cluster on Corbalus Three. The Forces of Disorder were in search of something, clearing the city one hab block at a time.

The Forces of Disorder had been getting intermittent psychic feedback from deep within the Hive Cluster and were determined to sweep through the complex of Hive Cities and discover its source. When they were suddenly assaulted by elements of the White Scars Second Company, the Ultramarines and the Sentinels 10th Circle led by the now infamous Carrion Mourn they turned to fight immediately. What the Rainbow Warriors and their allies quickly discovered was that fighting in the open expanse of the Upper Hive was just as dangerous as fighting these same forces on open ground. In an attempt to hold off the assault entirely, the Orks launched themselves screaming into the lines of the White Scars and Ultramarines, only to be utterly crushed in close assault. Although the sacrifice of the Orks bought the Rainbow Warriors and Necrons some time by destroying a majority of the Ultramarine and White Scar transports, the undeniable advance of the Sentinels proved difficult to deal with. Ultimately, the Forces of Disorder discovered that the White Scars force was much larger than it had appeared, when Korsaro Khan and twenty bikers appeared on their flanks and began to squeeze the Disorder line in upon itself. The timely arrival of the White Scars reinforcements ultimately turned the battle against the Forces of Disorder, buying the Sentinels and Ultramarines time to engage the main line and forcing Dominitus to order the withdraw.

Once the Forces of Disorder had departed, the White Scars, Sentinels and Ultramarines performed the same sweep the forces of Disorder had been undergoing. They found nothing, not even a single corpse of the former inhabitants of the world. Deeply disturbed by the lack of bodies, they began making preparations to descend deeper into the madness of Corbalus Three. As minutes dragged into hours after the fight, the men of each force began experiencing....strange happenings. Objects near them would suddenly fall over without reason, doors would slam shut, they would feel a sudden chil in the air. It was not long before the Chaplains of each force were out in full...

[BrokenWing]

The Guard Tower of Corbalus Three...

As the forces that had landed on Corbalus Three began to spread out through the upper hive structures of the primary Hive Cluster they came across a hive spire that was taller and larger than many of the others around it. This spire was unlike any of the others around it, but the critical difference was only visible at night. As night fell on the first day, all on Corbalus Three could clearly see a glowing light emanating from the top of the spire. The light seemed to intensify as the night went on and then, at the darkest hour of night, the light erupted into the sky and disappeared, leaving a faintly glowing spire behind it. Things only got more disturbing from there. As the forces on Corbalus Three began to draw nearer to the Spire out of pure curiosity, drawn to it like moths to a flame, they could make out strange forms swirling around the spire like a vortex. The forms appeared to be ethereal, but were too far away for anyone to identify.

When night passed once more into day, the various forces began moving in on the strange spire, determined to learn its secrets and keep them from the enemy.

Scenario Rules:

There's something strange, and it don't look good:

Something is moving in the shadows. Dangerous terrain rolls are failed on a 2 or a 1, not just a one. Something is grasping at your soul from the corners of this ruin...


Death to the Enemy!:

This game is won via Kill Points. Tied Kill Points results in a tie.

Deployment: This game uses Dawn of War deployment, but without the 2 troops 1 hq deployment restriction.

Points: 2,000

[BrokenWing]

Crossing Over...

After the initial series of skirmishes and battles between the forces of order and forces of disorder, the Forces of Order had a slight advantage. With the Sentinels now openly cooperating with the other Forces of Order, they made quick progress and arrived at the strange ghost tower everyone had seen previously. It was the determination of two Primarchs that the Forces of Disorder not be allowed access to the tower and whatever secrets it may contain. Guilliman surveyed the only upper level approach to the tower, crossing his arms over his massive chest as he did so. Carrion Mourn of the Sentinels was standing next to him, watching the tower in silence. Guilliman did not know what to think of Carrion Mourn and the Sentinels, they seemed loyal enough, but their dogma was strange and their Chapter organization something to get used to. The enigmatic Librarian was a powerful psyker however, and a valuable asset in Guilliman's survey of the tower and it's single approach.

The only way across was a massive bridge that connected the tower with the primary hive structure they were currently occupying. The bridge was enormous, easily large enough to march an entire regiment of guard across. Upon studying the gates on the other side however, Guilliman believed he understood why it was so large. The gates were wide enough for two Warlord Titans to stride through shoulder to shoulder...exactly wide enough. Which meant this building had originally been designed to store and repair Titans. Whatever it's purpose now however, he did not know.

The plan Guilliman came up with was a simple masterpiece. The Ultramarines and Sentinels would station themselves at the gate control and defense buldings on the gate side of the bridge. In truth however, Guilliman planned to use the zeal of the Sentinel Purifiers to his advantage. He would have them charge across the bridge in their Land Raider Redeemers and lock the majority of the approaching Disorder alliance in the heart of the bridge, in perfect weapons range for the weapons of the Ultramarines and for the Shadow Sword the Sentinels had deployed to the fighting. He planned to have the White Scars enter the fighting from behind the forces of disorder once they were locked in and destroy the alliance between the two sides of the bridge.

Even a Primarch's battle plans didn't always work once combat started. When the battle engaged, the Sentinels took an immediate and bloody toll on the Rainbow Warriors and their Necron allies, obliterating a Monolith and the transports of the Rainbow Warriors within moments of engaging them. Their Land Raiders lined up across the bridge, blocking the center and forcing the Forces of Disorder to try to go around the Sentinel forces and drive through narrow lanes of fire. At the same time however, the White Scars initiated a plan of their own. A loud roar accompanied two White Scar Thunderhawks as they flew in, one on either flank of the bridge. The Thunderhawks lined up their front ramp with the bridge and lowered it...and the white scars road out on their bikes screaming an ancient battle cry, lead by their Primarch. The bikes thundered down the ramps jumped the distance between the ramp and the bridge, landing harshly on the bridge surface and gunning the throttles, their twin-linked bolters blazing as they slammed into the flanks of the Disorder forces and crushed their hopes of going around the Sentinel blockade.

Guilliman had wanted them to block the retreat of the Disorder alliance, not crush their flanks...but the White Scars liked doing things their own way. He watched battle unfolding from his position in the defensive tower. He expected the Disorder armies to be able to retreat with minimal casualties now, but he was surprised for the second time that day. The 9th Circle of the Sentinels had been deployed elsewhere, but their Storm Ravens were fast and their pilots eager to engage the enemy in combat. Three of the Ninth Circle's Storm Ravens came screaming into the battle from the opposite side of the bridge, cutting off the DIsorder retreat and laying down a withering storm of assault cannon and multi-melta fire. It wasn't a perfect blockade, but it was enough to help cause severe damage to the Disorder forces by the time they were able to break contact with the badly mauled Sentinel Purifiers and flee to the far side of the bridge and regroup. Guilliman let them go, charging across the bridge could put his forces in their own trap. Unfortunately, the Purifiers opened the gates when the Forces of Disorder retreated and crossed the threshold into the unknown. The other Marine Chapters followed them, determining to cover their rear and help cleanse the building of evil, rather than allow their brother marines to die.

The Forces of Disorder took their time, but eventually followed after them, hoping to sneak past their forces and claim the secrets of the tower for themselves.

Darkness fell and the tower began to glow again, once more surrounded by the cursed spirits of the damned.