It begins: Initial battle with the Black Legion Log

[blacklegion]

Who: The Black Legion, any PC who wants to participate
What: The first assault of the Black Legion
When: 5 August, late morning, throughout the day
Where: All over dagaria


Across Dagaria, as Summer court ends, the morning light does not come. Only darkness, seemingly seeping out of the Rift, can be seen, and hundreds of warriors in battle plate with strange, mad symbols cut into them storm out of it, slaying, burning, and taking slaves. They have come for Zeon, for Amestris, for all the countries of Dagaria. Cities, towns, cathedrals, castles, any structure that stands is being struck at by raving cultists, or the grim, cold precision of corrupt Astartes. They are the Fallen, the traitors, pouring forth from the mouth of hell to howl this phrase with one voice, as their bolters roar, and chainswords grind, "DEATH TO LIFE! DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR."

Dagaria, the Black Legion has come for you, respond as you will.

(Ooc This is all initial attacks, and if you want to individually thread or group thread thats just fine, just let me know in your initial tag so I know how many people I'll be tagging. Feel free to group up or solo fight, but be aware these foes are DEADLY. Mind, this is the initial attack, they haven't engulfed the land. You can fight or escape as you will, and the warbands are fairly small and can be engaged by equal or superior numbers of local troops in any place you choose to fight. Please indicate in your tags to this entry as well WHERE you are fighting, as that will dictate what kind of foes come after you.)

Comments

[thirdtimesthechar]

"And that would be their attention," Char says. "Raise altitude and perform evasive maneuvers, we don't want to get hit with those things."

Char notes the archaically powerful weaponry. He's used to seeing unusual weapons in the hands of Riftspawn, but not ones that had quite so much of a kick as the ones that carve grazing grooves into the bottom of his ship at this altitude. Then again, maybe they picked them up from fallen Crusade Company members...

Char stops his musing and strings his longbow. Muskets are good, and rifles are even better, but for efficient long-range sniping, especially from this high up, sometimes the classics are best. He rushes up to the forecastle and sights along the ground for any Riftspawn big enough to spot. He draws back the string with a Crystal-tipped arrow and fires downward, hoping to arc a shot into one of the monsters and get them to rethink shooting at his ship.

[blacklegion]

The arrow punches clean through the neck of one of the corrupted Astartes, laying him out on the ground drowning in his own blood, and one of the others nearby steals his banner from his spasming hands, yelling something that sounds like obscenity, sounds like the very language of hell itself, and behind the black-armored brutes lines of lame can be seen. Raptors, firing their jump packs, they look like they're trying to board the Rewoola, and murder Char and his men with hungry daemon blades.

[thirdtimesthechar]

"Men, I want one of those. Try to kill them cleanly," Char orders, firing off another two arrows before stepping back and drawing his saber. The marines on board the Rewloola muster to the deck and draw their own anti-Riftspawn weapons to try and thin the monsters' ranks and then finish them when they hit the deck.

[blacklegion]

Marines are punches off their feet or outright exploded by the blazing bolt pistols of the incoming raptors, who land with heavy ceramite crunches, taking more of a toll, but their countercharge bites into the tainted armor and flesh, crystal weapons ever the bane of the corrupt. The shriek feral cries, and choke on their own blood, even as others of them wade in with lightning-sparking claws on their arm and rip ropy intestines out of the nearby marines, a huge, brutal melee begins to whirl on the decks of the Rewloola.

The two shot at by Char plummet, transfixed by the arrows which punched through their armor, detonating messily on the ground below.

[thirdtimesthechar]

Char is in his element, dancing around the insane weapons as his men fall back into tight groups to fend off the monstrous boarding action. Captain Char - in this element, he is assuredly in his soldier persona and not his monarch one - ducks under claws and fires magical blades into the stomachs of the Chaos soldiers, only to follow up with the physical blade of his saber until each opponent falls.

[blacklegion]

The Raptors continue to tear into the marines, until Char's assaults with his magical blades, and his own saber, slowly but surely turns the tide, and they begin dropping off the side, doing controlled descents with their shrieking jump packs, leaving only large metal cylinders and spheres in their place. Apparently, these foes prefer hit and run.

[thirdtimesthechar]

"There, that wasn't so--"

Char's precognitive magic hits him harder than it has in decades, almost, as he suddenly senses the real danger around him.

"Get those hunks of metal overboard!" he shouts in order to his entire crew. "They're bombs!"

The remaining marines and the crew immediately scramble - when your king is known for seeing the future in battle, you pay attention to him when he's yelling. Spheres and cylinders are rolled overboard with haste, though several still explode on deck, punching holes in the topdeck, starting fires, and killing more crew. Char himself is only a second from having his leg blown off as he desperately kicks one of the grenades over the rail and out to a safe distance.

[blacklegion]

Crew are pulped or sent hurtling end over the end to their deaths by the exploding krak-grenades and melta charges, but only a few of them manage to detonate onboard causing the ship to list from the damage. On the ground, the Black Legion begins to withdraw, whatever their initial goal apparently completed. Many corpses are left in their wake, defiled tributes to the dark gods, and even more slaves have been taken.

[thirdtimesthechar]

"Watch where they go, if not back to the Rift," Char says quietly to a lookout as the Rewloola's crew hastily triages the wounded and dead aboard. "Do that while we keep southward. This looks like something that'll demand a full campaign..."

[blacklegion]

The Legion seems to be scattering into smaller warbands, rather than retreating directly into the rift.