Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tales of the Rancid Blade: Part Thirty: Death Bed

There are vaults in places where darkness has never strayed from. These vaults are secured in the dark by wards and hexes and locks and keys. Barred by the curses and traps of those who have lost the will to do anything but curse and trap. To enter here one must pass through a knot of old wood and down the passages of the Eldar. One must walk in the ways of long dead races. The names of those Old Ones are long lost. Those that knew the names wanted nothing else but to loose the names and they cast their minds out so that the names might be gone too. Most, but not all.

Some called him Confessor (those who have confessed). Some called him a Missionary (they whom he has lead). Others called him father (she whom he had sired). She knows his names. His daughter, Sylvie, knows these places too. She knows who made these walls. She had once been an Acolyte of the Sisters of the Cloistered Heart. In her youth She had toiled in the sands on Mordia along side her sisters. Bringing grapes from the dry earth. Making the wine. Then, as she had come of age, she had fled with her lover. A dark vixen of the dark cults. A vixen that had been brought via the schemes of Sylax. That had been long ago. There had been many years and many battles since. Her sisters, she had joined them then, had fought with the armies of the Imperium. The Confessor had lead the Mordian regiments in war, their crimson uniforms like dark gore against the mud of a hundred battlefields. Their long war against the Tyranids. And she had been there, the Rhinos carrying her through the fields toward the foes of Sylax. SYlax's long struggle with the fool Dolgoth~ the last in a long line of hunters. All this time her lover had lived in the dark passageways with her dark father waiting, visiting. All this time he had been planning and plotting. Sometimes he knew what his purpose was for but other times it was as though he were driven toward a purpose he did not know. It was as though some hand were at work within him. Some dark hand.

She now stood at his bedside and sought to rescue him from the peril that all mortals must eventually meet. Sylax lay on his death bed. He had been struck by a human's blade on the field of conflict and laid low. Sylax had schemed that Ozzymadius would fall but had not foreseen his own fate. She fled the field with his body. The dark vixen Yanaloo had taken Ozzymadius' body through another way. Sylvie fled through the knot of wood, past the traps, opening the locks, and she spoke the riddles that untied the hexes. As she carried him through the webway, his life dripping on the cobblestones of those passages, all his plans ground to a halt. His plans had come to a halt at the end of soldier's bayonet. As she carried him he spoke, clinging to life, he spoke of all his plans. He spoke of all his machinations. He told her of the twelve keys and six dreams. He spoke about the great Maw of the Unknowing and the Great Scheme that he had started all those years ago when he had set out across the great deserts of Mordia. The scheme that had driven him across that world. The scheme that had driven him to find the sisters cloistered there. To find her mother. It had driven him and drove him now. The great scheme that had lead him to bring together the Dark Eldar, and the Tau, and his old foe in the forge of battle... She had laid him on his bed. His very heart cloven in two. He spoke to her of things that she must do. He grasped her hand tightly. His broken and torn face gnashing. "Take me back to Mordia!"

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Tales of the Rancid Blade: Part 29: Gifts

Anemos walked into the seeing chamber. It was a broad circular room with sloped and curving walls. It was perched high above the body of the ship and a wide viewing window gave an aspect of the planet below. She was dressed in the robes of her office. Long red and orange vestments. She walked cautiously across the chamber. The lights were dim and only lit by the illumination of a thousand star that cast their will into the room. Standing to one side, in the shadows, stood the form of Ari'Ashi. He wore a hood and his face seemed to shrink inside the vale. His wide dull eyes peered from the gloom that seemed to surround him. As she approached she could hear the sound of her bare feet padding on the cool surface of the floor. She swallowed hard as she approached. She had faced down the guns of the Humans and stared down their most evil perversions dragged from the warp. She had shown little fear to them but now as she approached her god she felt hesitation. When she saw his dark and lonesome eyes she became afraid. She saw his face was now littered with tattoos. Curved lines and bizarre features. She had seen many of the same illustrations appearing in blue throughout her fleet. Painted onto gunships and the Crisis suits. The Fire Warriors and Earth Cast brethren had begun mimicking their god. As he drew tattoos on his skin so too did they adorn the weapons of war. He spoke.
"You look at me with fear, my beloved" his voice seemed frail "Are you afraid?"
"I fear disrespecting you my master. Beyond your will there can only be chaos". She knelt before the hooded figure.
"This is true". The Etherial's hand arrived on her shoulder "I have gifts for you". He spoke in an almost imperceptible tone. He walked past her and she turned to see the form of a battle suit illuminated in the opposite corner of the room. She rose and followed her god professor to the suit. It was much smaller than her Crisis Suit. Much more like the stealth suits. It had a harness behind it that held a variety of weapon options that could be fitted to the suit depending on the occasion. The harness hovered over the suit ready to deploy support systems and weapons at a moment's notice. "It is a newly crafted suit of my own concept. I made it for you. You are my warrior, my strong arm, my devotee". She stepped forward approaching the suit as if it were someone new she were meeting for the first time. As she neared the breastplate arched up and opened, ready to receive her. She could see that within the suit the same intuitive system was ready to read her intentions.
"It is beautiful" she said.
"With it you will lead the Fire to victory on the planet below". She nodded in silence.
A new voice came from the silence. It intruded from the dark "I have a gift for you too".
Anemos cursed herself as she turned toward a silky shadow that we emerging. She too reliant on her suit's sensors and had missed a third presence in the room. It was unlike her to have missed something so simple. Now that it approached she felt the malice and evil consume her. She heard the footfalls of long heels. The slow creek of leather. The saunter of evil. The Lady Hosphel approached. The Wych Queen of the Rancid Blade drew near and with her the darkness followed.
Anemos gasped at the appearance of one so evil in the presence of her god. She had witnessed something so foul on the planet below, when the Archon had walked from the web portal. To see this horror here now aboard the flagship of the fleet was almost too much for. She glared at the fiend as it approached. Hosphel was dressed in the combat armor of the Dark Eldar. Orange and black and sickly crimson. Blades and brabs and hateful whips. For a moment Anemos thought she would have to fight this thing. She was totally unprepared.
"I too bring you a beautiful gift" the eldar said. Anemos looked to the Etherial.
"Take it" he said. The Eldar held out along silver blade with gold and red symbols etched into the edges. It was large. Almost as tall as Anemos herself. Yet it looked small in the hands of the elf. She obeyed. Her first thought when taking it was that it was so light in her hands. So light. He second thought was that of someone else. It was a thought on far off wind. Like someone calling through the windy passes of Fre'Ash. She couldn't hear what it was saying.
"Is this of your making?" she asked of the Wyche "Did you craft this for me?"
"No." The dark one spoke. "It was forged a long time ago. When the Eldar themselves were young. Forged in the fires of the night. When your world didn't even exist".
"Why do you give it to me?"
"Because you do not believe that we are now kin".
"You must welcome this gift" Ari'Ashi said in the slow silence. "It too will drive the humans before us. It will hew them as wheat is cast by the Scythe.
"I do welcome it, if you command me" she said watching the light play on the symbols. Hosphel grinned slowly.
"It will strengthen your arm in combat as never before. It will guide you in your path" said the wyche. "Take this gift from your new friends". Anemos held the blade and it felt good in her hand.

Monday, May 10, 2010

THE BATTLE FOR MOON BASE ALPHA

THE BATTLE FOR MOON BASE ALPHA

INTRODUCTION

The Tao, having lost their beach-head in New Boston, retreated in well order to their expeditionary ships which had been deftly dodging the Imperial naval forces in the system, refusing to engage their foe until the bulk of the Tao fleet arrived. Unfortunately, the Tao vanguard now found themselves in a rather more difficult situation. Without a secure landing zone the Tao could not execute an invasion without risk of significant losses; however, their Ethereal leader did not lack foresight and had a contingency plan. The Imperials, on the other hand, having won the battle for New Boston were still largely unprepared for the alien assault, as reinforcements were not due for several months, long after the anticipated Tao main force was expected to arrive. Although Inquisitor Lord Dolgath, the de-facto Imperial commander of the Trachis defense, had expended the majority of his resources in the battle for New Boston, his ally Inquisitor Nelthas of the Ordo Xenos, had only begun to reveal the resources at her command. Furthermore, Arch Confessor Sylax and his Dark Eldar allies still lurked in the system, capable of attacking anywhere at anytime… Indeed, the succulent Dark Eldar Witch Queen who had taken Archon Actev Nu’s place whispered the secrets of an ancient warp gate, hidden on the nearby Trachis moon, into the Tao Ethereal’s ear (among other things…). And Inquisitor Nelthas revealed to Dolgath the presence of the Horrus-era emplacements held in stasis concealed on the Trachis moon of Alpha Prime. The second great battle for the control of the Trachis system would be fought for Moon Base Alpha.

CAMPAIGN RULES

  1. Limited Resources
    1. Each force has a pool of 5000 points for their core army.
      1. The points for any destroyed vehicles or troop units taking 75% casualties are lost.
    2. Each force can call upon 2000 points of allies made up of units from a codex other than that of the core army.
      1. The points lost for destroyed allied units or vehicles cannot be recovered.
  2. Space Superiority
    1. Each force has a 2000 point BFG fleet.
      1. Half the points for destroyed ships are recovered.
    2. Any force wishing to assault the moon base must fight a BFG battle.
    3. The winner of a BFG battle has the choice of hexes to attack as well as deployment zones for the subsequent 40k battle.
    4. Once a force has control of a moon hex they no longer need to fight a BFG battle if assaulting an adjacent hex although they have the option to do so.
  3. Escalation
    1. The campaign lasts 5 turns plus a D3 turns rolled at the end of turn 5.
    2. The first 40k battle starts at 1500 points. Each subsequent battle increases by 500 points.

  1. Assets
    1. Each force starts with 4+D3 stratagems for the campaign.
    2. Each hex has a specific stratagem associated with it that can be utilized for any battle by the force controlling that hex.
    3. Each hex controlled by a force generates a 2D6X10 point resource bonus per turn (not to exceed 5000 points).

  1. Missions
    1. Each hex has a specific mission associated with it. (See the Territories section).

  1. Victory Conditions
    1. Each hex controlled by a player is worth 1 VP.
    2. Hidden Garrison/Warp Gate
      1. The locations of the hidden Imperial Garrison and Warp Gate are unknown. At the end of each battle for control of a hex, a D6 is rolled, on a 1 the hex contains the hidden Garrison and on a 6 the hex contains the Warp Gate.
      2. The Garrison is worth 3 VP if controlled by the Imperial forces, but only 1 if controlled by Xenos.
      3. The Warp Gate is worth 3 VP is controlled by Xenos forces, but only 1 if controlled by Imperials.

TERATORIES

  1. Refinery – This facility tapped subterranean pools of liquid methane as a hydrocarbon source for producing promethium. Some of the rusting storage tanks still contain small quantities of usable fuel.
    1. This area has numerous active gas geyser wellheads erupting from the liquid methane pools deep underground. Although an important source of fuel, these wellheads often spontaneously erupt in flame, or smolder with noxious fumes. Forces wishing to control this hex must fight the Scorched Earth Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Fuel Dump Stratagem.

  1. Power Station – The power for Moon Base Alpha was provided by a simple yet reliable thermo-core reactor. However, many of the remote outposts were not connected to central grid and utilized portable micro-fusion generators for their power. Some of those generators are stored here and are still in working condition.
    1. Fuel components for the micro-fusion generators lay scattered throughout this area. Forces wishing to control this hex must fight the Pillage Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Power Generator Stratagem.

  1. Manufactorum – One of the key industries for Moon Base Alpha was weapon production. The weapon production machinery was long ago decommissioned, yet a few small stockpiles of ammunition remain in dusty storerooms.
    1. The manufactorum complex was built with defense in mind. Forces wishing to control this hex must first fight the Trench Warfare Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Ammunition Store Stratagem.

  1. Com-tower – The central command station for Moon Base Alpha was long ago stripped of its cogitators and auspex engines, but a redundant automated monitoring system was left in place. Those with knowledge of such systems may tap into the semi-functioning sensor-net allowing them to anticipate and prepare for enemy attacks.
    1. The Com-tower is a soaring reinforced adamantine structure that dominates the landscape. The force wishing to control this hex must fight the All-round Defense Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Fortifications Stratagem.

  1. Research Facility – Reports deny that certain restricted biological experiments may have been conducted on Moon Base Alpha long ago. What is certain is that a triple-airlock clean-room laboratory still exists stocked with dormant surgical servitors.
    1. The surgical servitors of facility require wounded, but living, subjects to dissect. No moral leader would subject one of his own troops for such a grisly duty, thus the force wishing to control this hex must fight the Slave Raid Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Medicae Facility Stratagem.

  1. Defense Silo – Although the larger and more lethal defense laser and macro canon batteries were long ago destroyed or removed, a single sub-orbital weapons emplacement is known to still exists on Moon Base Alpha.
    1. The automated tactical systems of the defense Silo sense the presence of enemies and launch strikes against them; unfortunately the cogitator systems have grown unstable. Forces wishing to control this hex must fight the Prepared Assault Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Preliminary Bombardment Stratagem.

  1. Warehouse – Damaged by tectonic instability this old warehouse was abandoned long ago. It contains an assortment of expired dry goods, miscellaneous mechanical parts and random electronic components that never-the-less may prove useful.
    1. This region is tectonically unstable making any terrain hazardous. Forces wishing to control this hex must fight the Infestation Mission.
    2. The force controlling this hex gains the Booby Traps Stratagem.

The Dolgath Legacy ~ Part 12: Checkmate!

Relaxation, it was a strange concept to Inquisitor Lord Dolgath. Settled into the cushions of his ancient chair, seated before his equally ancient desk, he was beholden to the legacy of his masters who sat there before him. Yet seated opposite him, across the playing surface of his antique Regicide set, sat Inquisitor Nelthas. Strangely, she inspired relaxation. As always, “sitting” was a relative term for her. She assumed an aspect of sitting, having reduced her towering height to something more demure. On this day her pychomorphic mask was pink – nearly the pink of a human infant’s flesh. In contrast to the blacks and dark grays she usually wore, today she wore a billowing lace dress of off-white that in her current posture formed a mass of rumpled fabric around her, making her look like a babe floating in a shoal of sea foam. In one of her tinny lace-gloved hands she held a red rose, as dark and crimson as blood. Dolgath knew this rose, as he had plucked it himself from an abandoned garden on New Boston as he was preparing to depart from the last pivotal battle. He had given it to her as a passing fancy, yet she had flash-frozen it in a crystal matrix, a process that would have cost tens of thousands of credits.

He regarded the regicide table laid out before him. The pieces were arrayed in a classic Marcharious pattern. He leisurely moved a minor ephemera into a semi-dominant position. She immediately moved a major ephemera to a crux position. Dolgath feigned to take interest in the table, yet his thoughts were focused on Inquisitor Nelthas. He had to admit, he was quite smitten with her. His thoughts were often preoccupied with imaginings of what she looked like beneath her façade. His rational self informed him that the reality was likely something grotesque, yet even that was enticing to him…

“Your thoughts are not on the game,” Nelthas said as she moved her Count to take his Cardinal. Dolgath countered with a clumsy blocking gambit.

“These Tau perplex me,” Dolgath replied.

“Really,” Nelthas said as she moved her piece into a cornice formation. “The Tau are a simple race, their tactics are prescribe and immutable.”

Dolgath moved a major ephemera in a dispersal pattern. “It’s not the Tau in general that confound me, it’s these particular Tau… There is something aberrant about them, they move tangentially, non-geometrically… I suspect they have been influence by Sylax and his ilk!”

“I think you are overreacting,” she said as she moved a Royal piece into a trump configuration. “Check!” she said with enthusiasm.

Dolgath paused to observe the board, and then sat back to gaze upon Nelthas. She had moved forward, poised in excitement above the gaming table. A sliver of her pale flesh was visible behind her flushed mask… Smooth and immaculate like a baby’s…

“Checkmate!” He said as he moved a minor ephemera behind the cornice formation into a assassination crux.

Nelthas suddenly rose up like a towering thunderstorm her pink mask suddenly bleaching white. She hovered there for a moment like a vast mountain ready to fall, and then, unexpectedly, she laughed. Like the pure crystalline chimes of a waterfall, she laughed. If Dolgath was standing his legs would have broken beneath him, so pure and wonderful was that sound.

“Well done,” she said as she subsided once again to a frothy pool of foamy lace. “The Tau would have never taken such a gambit.”

“Indeed, we cannot assume they will retreat from this system, in fact I anticipate an offensive soon and from an entirely unexpected direction,” Dolgath replied.

Nelthas was silent for a long moment. “The next attack will be close, I think. A dagger in the dark,” she said as she brushed the crimson rose against her porcelain cheek.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Tales of the Rancid Blade: Part twenty eight: Comfort didn't enter into my mind

The evening had drawn in close and as the last of the darkness lingered in the western sky the camp seemed so alone. The gathering consisted of a column of mounted Fire Warriors. Eight or nine Devilfish gunships were in a rock strewn field, their rear hatches open and casting teardrops of light into the dark. Gatherings of warriors could be seen sitting on makeshift chairs or on the ramps from the ships. The flickering glow of light bollards that had been scattered around the camp illuminated the faces of warriors as they moved about in the dark. Their faces portrayed a grim reality. A truth about the campaign that few could shake. Around the perimeter sentinel drones kept a vigilant watch over the camp. Their robotic green eyes scanned the darkness for movement. Their klaxons were poised and ready to sound. Their long range scanners sought out signs of infiltration.

Obolis sat within the confines of one of the Pathfinder team's Devilfish. His suit waited obediently outside like a faithful pet. He sat at a makeshift table. Across from him sat Maturm, of the Water Caste, his friend. Between them a table stood with an old Tau game. Play peices on triangular shaped board. This was one of their favorite pastimes during the quiet of a campaign. They were fairly equally matched, each utilizing their own skills, but something tipped the favor toward Maturm this night.

"It still eats at you doesn't it?" Maturn asked his old friend after a period of long silence.
"I admit that it does. I am torn." Obolis issued a sigh looking toward the door. "To have a god walk among us and show us the way is something few Tau ever benefit from." Obolis shook his head in disapproval as he spoke "I can't believe that now I have my mentor and my god showing me the way I do not want to follow. I fear the dark places Ari'Ashi will take us..." his voice trailed off into the silence.
Maturum moved one of his pieces breaking a stalemate on the board. "Do you believe our ill fortunes of late in this campaign are due to Ari'Ashi's faulted leadership?".
"No" Olbolis responded staring toward the game "I would have made the same choices as he has made. I would have taken the same steps. His strategy is sound."
"Then what?"
"It is almost as though fate is against us, the dice are not cast in our favor."
"You believe that Ari-Ashi is cursed? His plans are doomed to fail no matter how good they are?" This time Maturim shook his head as he continued "I don't believe in curses."
"Nor do I. But how shall I explain our decline?"
"You believe it began when we partnered ourselves with the Dark Kin?"
"Before that, the signal of tragedy was the Human and his dark retinue. They opened the door to the dark kin. I blame Ari-Ashi for letting them in."
"But the Eldar are dead. Slew by the very humans who have chased us around this world. Surely the Eldar out us on the back foot and damaged our advance but the Archon himself fell. How could they still be influencing us?" Maturm took another move. Obolis was off his game.
"I do not know. But it can not continue. We have to break this string of defeats or the Cemephon expansion will be over before it begins." With this sentence it seemed to Obolis had had an idea. "It all leads back to Ari-Ashi" he said.
Maturim looked to his friend. "What idea do you have?". Obolis was silent for a moment.
"I am going to reassign you".
Maturim raised his eyebrow. "alright?"
"You will be placed on advisory status to Ari-Ashi. You will provide him field data on the campaign. I think he has been secured in the fleet since we departed New Boston"
"That's right".
"You will provide him with information about the campaign and..." Maturm, perceiving the plan already, cut off his friend in mid sentence.
"...provide information about the Etherial to you" Obolis swallowed hard while nodding. He knew that spying on Ari'Ashi was tantamount to treason.
"Are you comfortable with that?" he asked.
"Comfort didn't enter into my mind."