The Hunters
#161
Posted 15 February 2012 - 09:18 PM
#164
Posted 20 February 2012 - 10:37 PM
"I am a Night Lord." He said through clenched teeth. "I denounce faith." It was taking every bit of his strength to utter the words. Tightly he clenched his eyes, causing shooting pain and turning his vision a pulsing white. A roar escaped his lips and he leaped to his feet viciously attacking the wall and pummeling it with his blood stained fists. Each blow was relentless and furious. The metal rang out with each strike, like a hammer upon an anvil.
Suddenly the door slid open with a hiss and an armored form entered. In a flash Joker pounced back, ready to assault the unidentified figure. No, there were no enemies here. Everyone was his enemy, flesh and bone were for the Blood God.
"Joker." Nosk said calmly, seeing the savagery on his brother's face. Joker took a step forward, then backwards, shaking his head to try and clear it. Nosk braced himself for an attack. Joker hesitated for several more moments before letting out a scream. He ripped the mangled cot from the wall and tossed it to across the room before standing still heaving.
"Joker?" Nosk asked again.
"Yes, sergeant." Joker rasped, collapsing to the ground. Every word seemed to be an effort to say. Nosk paused looking at the tormented Night Lord before doing a quick survey of the room. It was a ruin. There was no way Joker was lucid enough to purloin Legion supplies.
"Nothing, Joker." Nosk was disappointed with how far the once noble Night Lord had fallen. A small part of him hoped that Joker would kick this taint and become the capable, thinking soldier he once was, but the more pragmatic aspect told him it was far more likely that Joker would meet his end a slavering beast. If all went well it would be at the hands of their enemies rather than theirs. Nosk turned and departed, letting the door slide shut and plunging Joker and the room once more into shadowy darkness.
************************************************
Nosk could not help but feel unsettled by the growing amount of corruption he was seeing aboard Silent Shadow. It was like a virus that was growing no matter how steadfast he and his brothers were. Joker's fall had been the first sign, and truly unexpected, but they had persevered. Now the Word Bearer and the fallen Night Lord Spuds roamed the decks, a blight of perverted faith upon their name.
He could see one of the fallen slinking down the hallway towards him as he left Joker's chambers. A sunken shadow of a figure wearing deep red armor the color of blood in the ship's low light.
"Priest, I would have words with you." Nosk called. Priest stopped and watched Nosk, tilting his head awkwardly to the side like a bird. Hunched low as though at any moment he might scrabble on all fours Priest approached. As he drew closer Nosk saw that the Word Bearer had changed much since they brought him aboard.
Priest's skin was a pale almost translucent, and the myriad blue veins could be easily seen forming webwork designs across his face. Protruding from his mouth and snaking eerily about was his tongue, a long forked protuberance oozing a noxious fluid. Nosk fought down his disgust and horror at what Priest had become.
"Words? Words are meaningless." Priest hissed. "No words. Only souls. Souls and darkness. The choir of damnation calls, and we must answer. One has already answered, struggling to come back. Trapped in iron, but it cannot resist."
"Make sense you abomination." Nosk chastised the Word Bearer.
"Can you not see the sense? Sense the seeing? All around. Answers are all around to questions not yet asked." Priest began to laugh, his foul spittle sprinkling the floor with a sizzle. Nosk went to reach for the raving warp touched marine, when a black edged blade appeared from seeemingly nowhere and was at his throat. "You cannot touch. You are not like us. You are not... right." Priest licked his lips again. "Search futile. Answers found where non are sought. Death is without end. Cycles turn in the eternal sea of souls. None escape. None." Priest bounded away then, cackling as he went, leaving Nosk standing alone and very worried.
"Talon Lord, this is Nosk." He voxed.
"Reporting in on your investigation Sergeant?" Othrim asked tiredly.
"No lord, one of our new brothers is becoming something wholly foul."
"The Word Bearer?" Came the reply.
"Yes Lord."
"Should have expected as much. Very well, we shall keep an eye on him and perhaps opportunity will arise that we can hand him back to his foul brethren." The Talon Lord voxed. "Anything else, sergeant?"
"No, Lord."
"Then make ready. I foresee our arrival at Quarred IV being a turbulent one."
"Ave Dominus Nox." Nosk responded before the line went dead. Priest's words lingered in his mind. Certainly it was the rambling of a madman. One who was wholly corrupted by the warp. He should leave superstition to Nox. Reassured he strode off, activating the vox.
"Night Lords, ready your gear. Convene in bay 2. The hunt begins soon." His message was greeted with a series of responses, as he expected. Where had the missing supplies gone then? Nosk's mind could not help but drift back to Priest's words,
'Answers are all around to questions not yet asked'
'The choir of damnation calls, and we must answer. One has already answered, struggling to come back'
But what did any of it really mean?
Nolo mihi libet sis multo felis.
#165
Posted 20 February 2012 - 10:55 PM
#166
Posted 20 February 2012 - 11:07 PM
Great mystery has been added, yeay!
I really love the choir of the damn, maybe I should make it my new sig?
Sent from the Realm of Madness
Burning, Stabbing, Devouring, Changing, Resurrecting and creating in Sanctuary
We have such sights to show you...
#167
Posted 21 February 2012 - 04:59 AM
"Where is Nox?" Nosk asked calmly, believing the other Night Lord was absent just to spite him.
"He will be taking alternate means to the surface." The whisper was immediately recognizable as the Talon Lord. Nosk smacked his arm across his breastplate in salute.
"Talon Lord, why was I not informed of this?"
"You are told what you need to know, Sergeant. Do no assume you are above your station." Othrim said as he advanced. "Another change is that I shall accompany you to the surface."
"I am honored, Lord." Nosk said.
"Do not be." Othrim spat. "Too many of these sorties have met with complication, and so I shall oversee this personally."
"Understood." Nosk said, nodding his assent with a hard set jaw. The ship shuddered as it made the transition from the warp back into real space. Once all was stable Othrim made his way to a viewer and activated the display of Quarred IV. What they saw was not what they expected.
***************************************************
"Sire, new entry into the Quarred system." A robotic voice chimed from the bridge. "Strike Cruiser, identification marks it as the Silent Shadow."
"Night Lords." Was the low rumble from the massive figure dominating the bridge from the command throne. His deep green armor was decorated with incredible detail. Gold filigree was etched along most surfaces depicting phrases of import and commemorating great deeds this mighty warrior had accomplished. "It would seem this situation is more virulent than expected. Distance?"
"Two hundred thousand kilometers, maintaining cruising speed. No transmissions detected to the other vessels." Ticked the servitors manning the primary systems.
"Prepare a firing solution. Continue firing on Golden Chalice and Aquila Primus. Has Steel Resolve recovered from our initial salvo?" The genehanced warrior asked, monitoring various readouts.
"Negative, energy signals are at minimum. Expectations of recovery are minimal."
"Excellent." He opened a com-channel. "Warriors of the Dark Angels, prepare to descend to the surface. The Fallen await justice at our hands. Be strong, fight hard, cleanse our shame, and bring honor to the chapter."
"On your command, Lord Dern."
"Launch drop pods." Commander Dern of the Dark Angels ordered. It was a shame that Imperial lives had been taken at his hands. They were only mortals though, and through blood and silence they served the Imperium better.
************************************************
"I knew this was a mistake." Siddicus called over the vox as he braced himself for a near explosion. Shrapnel bounced off the midnight blue of his armor adorned with spikes and skulls now scored and broken from constant battle.
"When exactly did you know?" Hunko asked as he fired off several bolt rounds at an Imperial position. "When the Iron Warriors picked us up? When we landed on this accursed rock? Or when the Imperial's reinforcements arrived?"
"Would you two shut up?" Pork snapped, as he ducked under a plasma blast that slammed into a makeshift fortification. They had been on the surface for several weeks. When they had been picked up by the Iron Warriors they had been promised spoils and victory over an Imperial world. The Iron Warriors had failed to mention the world was a major Imperial training hub. The Night Lords had also been less then impressed with the more direct methods of war their brothers had employed.
"I would pick the day you two were interred into the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes." A fourth speaker interjected. He hefted a heavy bolter, and unleashed a torrent of death into the imperial lines. The muzzle flash shone on his black armor. Upon his left shoulder was a winged sword, the emblem had been ritually scarred and defaced.
"Bold words from one of your ilk, Spiny." Siddicus scoffed.
"One of your ilk? Seriously? I forgot you had renewed your oaths of fealty to the corpse Emperor the other day." Hunko chided, as a las blast glanced off his armored pauldron. He fired off a few more rounds and was rewarded with the puff of red as a distant head exploded.
"I meant of the First Legion." Siddicus added.
"By the father!" Pork shouted interrupting. "I do not know what could be worse then being stuck on this mud ball with you idiots."
"Perhaps that." Spiny said as he halted his firing and pointed to the sky. Following his digit the others saw the sky filling with dark green drop pods plummeting earthward.
Nolo mihi libet sis multo felis.
#168
Posted 21 February 2012 - 05:02 AM
I am the Night!!!!!!!
#IllumiGothic
#170
Posted 21 February 2012 - 05:15 AM
Here take this
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#172
Posted 22 February 2012 - 09:05 PM
Ave Dominus Nox!
#173
Posted 15 March 2012 - 03:52 AM
"Lord?" Nosk asked.
"The Dark Angels seem intent on the ground, and in light of previous mishaps I think it best I go along." Othrim responded to the sergeant who then just slapped a salute.
"Of course Talon Lord." Nosk replied as he went back about his duties. Othrim scanned his Night Lords and was less then impressed. Three of them were very clearly touched by the powers of Chaos. Baek at least seemed to be holding strong to the teachings of the Primarch. As he watched Joker was rocking back and forth mumbling, perhaps growling, low over the vox. Priest's forked tongue danced out at his blade, and Spuds odor seeped about the Stormbird. Othrim activated his vox.
"Nox, are you prepared for land fall? By all readings we will be coming down in the thick of it."
"A chance to face the first Legion once more. I am ready." Nox's voice sounded as though it bore a smile.
"See you on the ground."
"Ave Dominus Nox." Nox replied before cutting out the vox.
"Sergeant." The Talon Lord called. "Get this craft on the ground. We have the blood of our misguided brothers to spill upon the ground." All except for Priest saluted crisply in reply.
"As you command, Talon Lord." Nosk answered. With that the Stormbird took to flight, streaking out of the hanger and towards the planet's surface.
**************************************************
"So I was thinking, the Angels only seem to be here for Spiny." Hunko chimed in from where he was hunkered behind a heavy dirt mound. "So if we just hand them over, they should leave. They already killed most of the Imperial forces, we could just leave."
"I am honored to have you fighting by my side, Hunko." Spiny commented sarcastically. "Though I regret to inform you my former brothers will kill everyone on this planet."
"And they called our father blood thirsty." Pork chuckles as bolt rounds pound into the dirt mound. Pork pops up and fires off several rounds in reply. "Has there been any word from the Iron Warriors?"
"None." Siddicus chimed in. "From the number of pods that came down I would say there are around four hundred Angels on the planet."
"The scales are tipping against us." Pork observed. "We need an exit strategy."
"That is what you are good at, Night Lord." Spiny said with a smirk, rolling to the side and unleashing a torrent of bolt rounds. He was rewarded by a green armored figure falling to the ground, his armor mangled.
"Watch it, or you may get left behind." Hunko said.
"By the Night Haunter I will shoot you both myself." Pork bellowed and stood up just a bit too far. A bolt round slammed into his helmet and made him stagger, but did not breach the ceramite. Growling in response he turned and unleashed a furious barrage. He was rewarded with a cry of pain as a Dark Angel fell. "At this rate they will overwhelm our position."
As if on cue two black bikes leaped the dirt mound at full throttle. Coming to ground a few meters behind the surprised Night Lords the bikes came about in a whirl of dirt and exhaust. Before they could respond to the new threat their position was rocked again as a dark blue drop pod slammed to ground obliterating the two bikers and leaving a small crater.
"That is a Night Lord drop pod." Siddicus said amazed, and proceeded to look for more, but the sky was bare. With a hiss air jets fired out as the doors on the pod released, before the great panels slammed down. From inside pod a figure emerged.
"Brothers, how fare you? I am Nox of the Silent Shadow." The Night Lord said. Then another larger figure emerged from the clearing dust and sudden released air. "And this is brother Yapay." A giant metal piston slammed down onto the ground. Attached to it was a large metal plate bearing an expertly crafted skull surrounded with scroll work. The dreadnaught flexed a massive power claw left arm and twin linked lascannons charged to life on its right.
"I am here to bring death to my enemies." Yapay bellowed in a deep mechanically modified voice.
Nolo mihi libet sis multo felis.
#174
Posted 15 March 2012 - 04:02 AM
I am the Night!!!!!!!
#IllumiGothic
#175
Posted 15 March 2012 - 02:28 PM
#177
Posted 16 March 2012 - 06:56 PM
Ave Dominus Nox!
#178
Posted 17 March 2012 - 10:52 AM