“Hush, young child…” the marine hunching over her beckoned… “This will only hurt for a moment.”
Adera winced as yet another stimulant injector was forced into her. Her vision was blurred, and the light around her faded. She didn’t know she was screaming; only that something terrible had happened to her. The Marines that had seemed so calm only hours earlier while they had questioned her now had a sense of rage. Never in her life had she imagined a fight so furious as the one she had just witnessed, as Power armoured Chaos worshipers had smashed into her fathers house, wreaking havoc and burning her with a near fatal plasma blast before disappearing as quickly as they had arrived.
The stoic form of Sergeant Theon entered the room – Adera winced at the look on his face; not one of mercy, but rage.
“It was no stray round… Sergeant,” the medic tending to her spoke, “This was a tactical hit… and the girl was the target.”
“She should be killed.” spoke the shadowy figure from behind her – no doubt one of the Eldar that had been making periodic visits to the Space Marine sergeant. “She is an abomination.”
Theon sighed, and then spoke to the Marine medic, “Will she live?”
“Yes, though we won’t be able to extract any more information out of her.”
“Where is her father?”
“He is dead.”
Adera’s eyes widened as she struggled to comprehend the words slurring in front of her. Everything seemed so distant now… so blurry and far away from the reality she had known only hours ago…
“Burn the body, and this house. Leave no trace of what went on here – we are moving out tonight.”
Adera’s world went black.
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Chapter 2: Nurgles Rot
Sergeant Theon grimaced at the news. Communication relays around the world had been going offline intermittently throughout the past few days, and now it seemed they had abruptly began to fail outright. That meant, with the added loss of their drop pod, communication with the rest of the chapter – wherever they may be – would be impossible.
For now, they were on their own. During the past few nights, the Eldar Harlequins had all but disappeared Theon expected little further cooperation out of them; not since it had become apparent that Adera possessed latent psychic ‘gifts’, which they abhorred. Why they had shown up in the first place had initially baffled Theon, but he was sure they had their reasons… and the advent of the Chaos Marines and the much more sinister Dark Eldar had caused the Sergeant to give up his attempts to understand the situation.
Nevertheless, with his refusal to execute the girl, they had vanished. What was more, the Ultramarine squad stationed on the planet – the same one that had tracked the Chaos forces to Adera’s (former) home and come so valiantly to its defense, had balked at the idea that they should lay down their lives for the life of one obviously corrupted girl. They were angered at Theon for speaking with Eldar beings, and demanded he submit to their orders and chain of command, since the planet fell under the jurisdiction of the Ultramarine Expeditionary force in the area. Such submission was not possible. The girl lived, for now, and thus Theon still had a mission on this desolate world… and even more, he had a new destination.
The Andrean Library of the Imperium. Theon stood at the entrance to the giant cathedral shaped building. It’s golden statues of the Adeptas Soristas that once made refuge here shone gleaming against the cities dreary backdrop, arching over the buildings mammoth wooden doors and acted as a warning ; only those with a pure mind shall enter this hallowed hall.
Theon pushed open the thick, sturdy door, and it gave a low moan as it swung back into darkness. This building was abandoned, perhaps for years… and despite possessing a vast archive of Imperial history and engineering books it had fallen into ruin, left to decay by the indifferent, squabbling populace. Nevertheless, as Theon stared at the high arching ceileng above him, he smiled.
The Portrait of the Imperium ; a painted mural famed throughout this system, depicting the Holy Emperor and his armies defending the last bastion of the Imperial Palace on Terra… covered the entirety of the roof of the enormous building in which he stood. It was rumoured to have taken a half century to produce, and utilized the collected talent of hundreds of Imperial artists. Nevertheless, Theon was not here to take in the arts.
Adera had been unconscious, but had been mumbling to herself constantly. In her sleep, she spoke cryptically of a building that matched the description of the Andrean Library. She seemed terrified of the place… festering an even deeper fear of something that sounded to Theon like the “Tower of Lies”.
The Marines had set out for the Library, leaving Adera at a makeshift medical camp. Now that he was here, Theon had no doubt they had come to the right place. The walls were drenched in fluid… the ground stained with blood… the air thick with the stench of decay…
The place was a bastion of the Chaos God Nurgle. As they descended further into the complex, Theon readied his Marines for combat. The ground was littered with smashed statues, fallen pieces of roofing, walls were collapsed. The further they went, the more foul things became… until finally they reached the outer set of doors to the main study chamber ; the largest and most important room in the Library. He could hear movement inside.
Without a second thought, he positioned his Marines at various entrances to the room, and with a silent flick of his hand, they crashed inside.
In an instant, he understood that it was not a Tower of Lies they were after… but a Tower of Flies…
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Each player will square off against one opponent listed in the following scenarios. As such, each game will effect another so be sure to read each scenario carefully even if you are not playing it!
SCENERIO 1: The Tower of Flies (Marshall vs. Rhys)
Sent to an abandoned Library by the ailing Adena, Sergeant Theon and his Marines have stumbled upon a massive Chaos icon – the Tower of Flies. It appears to be nothing more than a rotting pile of history books and parchment… and yet its foul, stinking figure is pulsing with the power of the God Nurgle. Clearly this monument to decay must be eradicated, and the Scarlett Rose Marines are happy to do so.
OBJECTIVE: Destroy the Tower of Flies
The Tower must be destroyed by the Scarlett Rose. It counts as a 4 wound model with toughness 5. If it loses its last wound, it is destroyed.
TOWER OF FLIES
WS 2, BS 0, S5, T5, I2, W4, A*, Ld10
Special Rules:
Lash Whip – Each Assault phase the Tower of Flies does d3 attacks to EVERY model within 2” of it. These attacks automatically hit but roll to wound as normal, armour saves may be taken.
Cloud of Flies – The area surrounding the Tower of Flies is thick with large bodied flies and as such obscure all vision. The Tower of Flies is treated as having defensive grenades as well as a 5+ invulnerable representing the difficulty in striking a solid blow.
Repair – The Plague Marines may repair the tower by heaping bloated carcasses, vile sewage, and other nasty concoctions on it to keep it nasty and rotten. At the beginning of the game, scatter 2+d3 “bile” tokens around the tower 3d6, ignoring any hits rolled. These may be picked up by Chaos forces and, if brought within 2” of the Tower, add 1 wound back to it (To a maximum of 6). Note this will result in the tower attacking you in the following assault phases until outside of 2”.
For each wound the Tower finishes the game with above 4, the Chaos forces will score 10 points, to a maximum of 20. For each bile token unused, the Scarlett Marines will score 5 points up to a maximum of 20 points.
Nurgles Rot – The Tower of Flies is the flower that sits on top a network of roots. It is a beacon of Chaos that sends its power downwards, into the planets core.
At the start of turn 2, if the tower is at or above 3 wounds, it causes all of the tendrils below it in the catacombs to emit a strength 3 blast with a d6 radius (roll separately for each objective – Scenario 2). This occurs at the start of each turn.
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SCENERIO 2: The Tendrils of Nurgle (Brady vs. Alex)
Hundreds of feet below an abandoned Library under siege by the Scarlett Rose, in the catacombs, another fight is breaking out. The Eldar Harlequins have been following the Scarlett Rose Marines, knowing more about the Library than the latter. They know that the Tower of Flies is but the tip of a giant iceberg of decay that is rotting down into the earth like a plant, and they intend to stop the Chaos spread at it’s source. That bringing down the structure up above would doom the Scarlett Marines above them is of little consideration to the Eldar; for the ignorant humans have chosen to protect an unruly psychic abomination, and have thus deserve a death equal to the vile Nurgle horrors. Unfortunately, they are not alone in this elaborate basement… as they are unwittingly hunted by their evil halves.
Piercing the roof above them and jutting into the ground below are long, rancid looking tendrils from the Nurgle hive above. The Eldar are intent on destroying these, which would kill the Hive from the bottom up, sapping Nurgle of his hold over this world. They intend to do this by placing a soul stone within each tendril allowing the long past elders of their race to combat the daemons within the warp. Additionally, a mono-filament propulsion charge is attached to each tendril and upon detonation will scythe apart the daemon from below.
OBJECTIVE: The Tendrils
Randomly place 5 objectives on the map. These represent the Nurgle Tendrils, which the Eldar Harlequin seek to destroy. The Harlequin claim an objective by touching a tendril (and thereby placing a crystal charge in it).
The Dark Eldar know the Eldar seek to rid Nurgle from this word but orders from above have forced them to stop the Harlequin… for reasons which many of their own number do not yet understand.
The Dark Eldar may claim an objective by coming into contact with it at any time (and thus the Eldar will claim it no more).
Whoever holds 3 objectives or more at the end of the game wins.
If a Dark Eldar and Harlequin are both in contact with an objective, the objective is held by whoever contacted it first. The objectives begin unclaimed.
Each objective controlled by a player (at the end of the game) is worth 5 credits, up to a maximum of four.
SURGING ENERGY : Nurgles roots are buried deep down into the planet, and some stretch far and wide throughout the planet. One particular reaches up under the mountain range that the Ultramarines are fighting upon, clearly being drawn there by the Damned forces and their chaotic powers. The Assault on the roots is making them unstable, and causing violent tremors above them.
Starting on turn 2, if the Eldar control more Tendrils than the Dark Eldar, the mountaintop table counts as dangerous terrain.
SCENERIO 3: THE WORK OF THE DAMNED (Josh vs. Ryan)
Far away from the Hive city, atop the vast Mountain “Calgar’s Fist” sits a very sophisticated orbital relay station, key to inter-planetary communication. This was the last station to lose communication with the Planetary Defense force and the Ultramarines dedicated to the protection of this world now seek to return it to full operation. Unfortunately, the planetary communication loss seems to be the work of a much more sinister force than any had hoped… the Dreaded 13th.
Upon seeing the Kornate desecration of their communication bastion (and what’s more, the slaughter of their Ultramarine brethren inside) the Ultramarines rage against the Damned forces, swearing to cleanse them from their mountain top.
OBJECTIVES: CLAIM THE RELAY STATION
The Ultramarines are intent on claiming their relay station. The mission type is table quarters with each table quarter worth 5 credits at the end of the game. Victory goes to whoever controls the most quarters. All models count as scoring and contesting for the purpose of this mission.
BOMBARDMENT : Hidden within this relay station is an ancient planetary defense laser. However due to the recent desecration it is only operating at a quarter of its full strength. At the start of turn 2, whoever controls the most table quarters may make a special bombardment attack against the Library surface. They may place a strength 6, AP 3 large blast template anywhere on the table, scattering it as normal.
Killzone rules available at http://galaxyinflames.blogspot.com
ALL OUTTA BUBBLEGUM 