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>>3300692
Welcome back to Death Among the Stars Quest!

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The yellow stars of both Rolan and Orichalc shine their light upon Ahkam worlds, the systems heavily populated by the Dynasty's citizens and slaves. Their targets were more precise, Dominator Valresko and the Deep Rot debating tactics and weighing the cost of civilian causalities against invasion effort.

In the Rolan system Armada forces leap from FTL, racing to engage the Ahkam forces in both the asteroid belt targeting the naval base and shipyards there, and in near orbit to Plecfo's fortified moon. The asteroid belt was heavily defended but Reconstructed and Obsidianborn ships batter past the defenses, guided distantly by Valresko as they move from asteroid to asteroid in an encroaching semi-circle around the base. Bombardments and propelled asteroid chunks rain down on the naval bases shipyards but the fleet there was quick to react, fighting back fiercely when they found themselves surrounded.

Plecfo was more difficult to attack, the planet heavily fortified and why Agona herself was sent. She ignored the planet below beyond targetting anti-orbital installations. The planet was a heavy agricultural producer and she knew it would be simple enough to starve the Dynasty by setting the planet ablaze but that was not her goal. She had enough of a challenge clashing with the planets moon where the Dynasy had built a large naval starbase crowned with an Ahkam palace. Her orders flew out by the moment, half spoken, half mentally commanded as she reacts to the defenders desperate counterattacks. She had to admit, begrudgingly, that whichever serpent commanded its defense was a cunning opponent.

The newly Reconstructed and Reforged Tekalaket leads his fleet in the raid against the Orichalc system. Resembling a pillar of composite stone, obsidian, chitin, and bone in the bridge of his own Pyroclastic Destroyer their mental commands drives the composite fleet. Raiding sub-capitals were dispatched to the gas giant, the frigates and corvettes bombarding the mining and military base on its moon from afar. His fleet splits and attacks the planet Ukire and the moon it shared with Muyon, attacking from multiple angles to disorient the defending picket fleet. The strikes were fierce and fast, mostly ignoring the bulk of the Ahkam fleet in favor of targeting their infrastructure and base.

Just as Sister Muic he gave a command and another of the Earthshatter bombardments was launched at Ukire's fortified city and the lunar base to staggering effect. The Think Tanks aboard the vessel could detect his joy and satisfaction as he gave the order for his fleet to retreat, leaving devastation in his passing.

>>3300699
Welcome back Grave, we missed you.

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>>3300692
JYOTI, MAH NIGGA, HOW I'VE MISSED YOU! I hope the long hiatus wasnt anything serious.

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>MFW fresh DaTS

BIG PEE PEE HOURS START HERE

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>>3300699
Blue skies held Rukors bright yellow sun in the sky marred only by wispy clouds and ships arriving and leaving from the planets surface. Vyi'a'Rthun rises, a gleaming island from the crystal clear waters that rolled and crashed onto its beaches, ships of simpler make bobbing along the surface or secured at the web of docks that spread from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4FvOi-N18

Jor's day had been a peaceful but eventful one. Ructu from across the planet had converged on the Isle of Salvation and brought with them pieces of their culture. He'd spent several hours wandering the bazaars of the winding, coiled city. Artisans and merchants showed off their wares and creations proudly, many of their gifts politely declined or graciously accepted and passed along.

Elders of villages that had been destroyed in the Ahkam attack were met with and commiserated with. Some had bitter things to say about the loss of their homes, some generations old, but many were thankful for the liberation from the Dynasty. Many too say they were migrating to the city or the Rukor capital.

He met with merchants from the deserts of the mainlands interior, the hardy riverboaters with dense chitin engraved in geometric patterns. Jor found a new kind of spice to his liking from one harvested from a hardy tuber they harvested from the inland marshes, the merchants practically shoving a heavy pouch into his hands when he mentioned his enjoyment of a fried river-crustacean seasoned with it.

He even spent several hours aboard one of the sailing ships that skimmed the waters around the island city. Its crew was among those first rescued (abducted) by the Armada when they first discovered the planet. They taught the human ad several other Legionnaires that had accompanied him how to tend to the ship, the triangular sails catching the firm breeze.

Jor had never spent much time on planets with large oceans and he found the oceans of Rukor to be intimidating at first, knowing it was where the deadly kryssers, hunter squid and even the Beast dwelt. Yet it did not take long for the Legionnaires and ructu crew to convince the human to mount a board of carved wood and hold a sturdy rope trailed by the skiff. It took some effort with trial and error, but soon the human was laughing as the board hops over the wake of the ship or over swells in the water.

For a time, First-Necromancer Jor is just Jor, a man enjoying the wold he partially helped save and not having to worry about invasions, undead gods, or uneasy dreams.

He was just Jor.

>>3300755
So happy for him, he really deserves the vacation.

>>3300755
The air thrummed with the sound of music and the bassy voices of the Chitin Choirs nightly hymns, competing with the chatter and shouts of the crowds filling the seats of the Colosseum. Holograms flashed and pulsed in decorative patterns above the crowds, the hardlight races not scheduled for the night but the crowds still came. The city still vibrates with the energy of relief in the wake of the Empires attack and the end of the Arc Surge invasion, not to mention the uncertain anxiety of the assault the Armada was launching that very moment.

Instead of dwelling on events far beyond their control as You and your generals move fleets in the game of interstellar war, they turn their mind to the spectacle of the arena. The Colosseum floor was comprised of multiple panels and submerged pillars that could rise or lower to change the terrain of the arena. For the moment it was a flat field of pale gravel and sand, a group of figures kicking up bursts of dust as they clashed in brutal conflict.

Osjiic warriors, a mix of civilians and Legionnaires, fought against a group of Imperial prisoners that had yet to convert to the Armada's way of life. They clashed with blinding speed despite their sizes, each armored with move assists as they swung traditional osjiic warcleavers with edges blunted but electrified. The battle was a brutal affair, blood and sand flying from the blows as the crowds cheered and booed.

Finally the last of the prisoner osjiic fell to the combined might of the remaining loyalists and the crowd erupts into cheers. The victors lift their weapons in the air as several had their names chanted by the crowd while they exited the field and the defeated were hauled off by Stingers and Chariot.

"A spectacular showing of Armada might by the loyalist osjiic of the Armada! Let's give them another round of celebration, they've earned it!" a voice calls out, amplified by the Chitin Choir of the colosseum over the din of the crowds cheering, "Now for our next event! This is one that many of you have been waiting for!

"Crowd favorites and long-time champions of the Arena, it is my greatest pleasure to introduce our next contenders for the night! Once the trusted bodyguards of the legendary Butcher Vle'Karak himself, they who fought the Predators and survived! I present to you the Butcher Twins!"

A panel in the floor slid open and a pair of figures rose up from the darkness to the deafening cheers of the crowd. Holoscreens projected around the arena display them for the audience, a pair of tall epikor armored in elaborate exoarmors. The armor was stylized to look like the Ahkam they once served, their visors peering out from yawning maws filled with fangs. Each heft a tall halberd into the air, the edges suddenly crackling with Arclight.

>cont

>>3300858
"Since their arrival to this grand Arena they have gone undefeated! They have fought the great Reconstructed, defeated Brutes and tamed Devils and Drakes! They've dueled Legionnaires of many skills and talents! They've fought and slain beasts from across the star systems!"

The floor of the Colosseum began to drop, raising the walls surrounding the arena till it was a veritable pit and revealed a massive door at one end of the arena barred by a weave of bone and metal gate. A bellowing roar calls out suddenly, silencing the crowd in surprise before the announcers voice rings out once more.

"It is one of these beasts, a fearsome creature cloned from a deadly foe of the Armada that they shall face tonight. Will the Twins be able to defeat this monstrosity? A beast so terrible that only the heroes of the Osjiic Empire have tamed and ridden into battle, cloned from the very beast that failed to defend Kanda from its liberation, I give you the Osjiic Warbeast!"

The gate unweaves itself as both epikor gladiators put some distance between each other and hunker down in preparation, the edges of their halberds glowing as the lights in the arena went dim and a hush fell over the crowd. There was another bellowing roar followed by pounding footsteps as a colossal Warbeast bursts forth from the darkness followed quickly by the surging roar of the crowd.

The beast was armored with chitin plating bolted into its hide, the lumbering giant moving on its knuckles as it glares up at the noisy crowd around it before a surge from the Domination Collar around its neck causes it to snarl and twist its head in the direction of the two slowly stalking toward it.

The Colosseum ground began to shift and change, elevating or dropping under their feet as both sides suddenly charge at each other, the roar of the Warbeast mingling with the roar of the crowd, ringing throughout Iti'a'Ropku.

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>>3300870
While this thread will be dedicated mostly to the Arbiters and Barqalan, I wanted to take a moment ask you folks if there was anything in particular you've been wanting me to show in the quest.

Anything (within nonspoiler territory) that you've been dying to revisit or get an update on?

Just asking cause most of this thread will be story telling since a lot of rolls were done in previous threads and wanted to get some player input while I write out other scenes.

>>3300895
Well, I feel like we havnt given the Lava Father enough love. The big guy is pretty cool and is one of our oldest allies. Besides him, I would like to know what the Confederacy are up to/ what their current public analysis of us is. Hearing a good ol' fashioned propaganda channel theorize about how we have people farms and how we feast on infants and have even befriended the space gypsies.

>>3300895
I am mainly hoping to focus our operatives on Barqalan, follow by the Wayward Disciple.

>>3300895
Enjoying the fluff so far but can't wait to hear more from the invasion and ruscovs training methods for the Necromancers

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>>3300895
"How much further, Troma, robot?" Huor asks as she briefly ignites the surface of her shield to clean the gore splattered across it, turning to the Captain and droid that approached her.

"Close. We are on the direct route for the hangar. In a non-infested state the trip would only take a few minutes by foot. Be aware that artificial grav will be negated further ahead when we get to the actual docking areas," the synthetic voice of the Barqalan AI drones as it clanks with each step.

"The ghouls are more mutated than before," Troma says, kicking away a bisected human ghoul, it's teeth grown into enlarged fangs that crowded its jaws.

"Well the ship did come from Refuge. They've had enough time to get all...weird," Huor says contemplatively as they awaited an update from Gargoyle scouts.

Their group of Legionnaires and Pirates had hunkered down in a corridor, the ends of the hall sealed with the sound of zombies pounding at the bulkheads.

"Good news," the droid chirps suddenly, "More of my remote systems are being reattached and brought online. Reports coming in... Processing..." the droid falls silent for a few moments as the light of its lens flickers faintly before it speaks again, "Atmospherics and fire control systems reactivated. Damage to Ward Three botanical preserve an agricultural installations: extensive but contained. Damage control systems restarting, bulkheads sealing to partion undead infestation and assist rescue teams."[/b]

Though they could not see nor hear it, Legionnaires and Reconstructed in other portions throughout the city suddenly report bulkheads and emergency blast doors sealing away undead mobs or opening at their approach.

"That will be most helpful," Troma looks to Huor, "Your techs are fast workers."

The osjiic shakes her head with a short, amused laugh, "I've told them many times they have the hard job. I just burn and crush things," she says, her symbiot detecting an affectionate emotion tied with a fleeting memory of her free time spent with an epikor tech, a close friend met on Legion's Home.

"A talent most appreciated Arbiter Huor. Your techs will fix the damage to my systems while you can clear out the infestation in my body," the droid says to the osjiic's surprise, not expecting a compliment from the AI.

>cont

>>3301118
Huor was about to reply when her Spinal Tap symbiot feeds her intel from the Gargoyle scouts, the other Legionnaires in the chamber reacting as well. Huor looks to the pair, "Gargoyles just sent a report of what they found ahead. They got eyes on the ship but can't get close. The dock is filled with ghouls and zombies floating around or clinging to the walls. The ships airlocks are open though, so it should be fairly easy to get on board."

"Excellent. My crew and I need to get in to deactivate the reactor so they can't turn it into a nuke, or attempt to escape with it," Captain Troma says, folding both pairs of arms.

"Doubtful it'd be able to escape with the Armada, Clan, and Confederate ships out there," Huor replies, "Don't worry though. We'll get you in there, Captain."

"If we continue on the direct path, I believe I can open the way as we go if they haven't welded them shut. Move in quickly and overwhelm them," the droid crackles with a bit of static through its speakers.

"I'm also wondering if we should attack from multiple angles like before," the osjiic says as she looks through her minds eyes at the Gargoyles scouting report.

"Either way, we must act fast," Troma says as he does a quick check of his blasters. The paired weapons were elegantly crafted, the Think Tank network recognizing them from a moment of his visit to Iti'a'Ropku. He'd revealed them to be a pre-Scouring design to a civilian osjiic weapons-designer rescued from Kanda.

Arbiter Huor and Captain Troma's team of Legionnaires and Pirates have neared the pirate ship responsible for smuggling ghouls from Refuge. How should they proceed in their attempt to secure the hangar and ship?
>Charge in as a group with the Droid AI's help
>Split up and attack from multiple angles
>Other (Write-in)

>>3300915
>Lavafather
Don't worry anon, I've actually got plans to showcase him more with this invasion

>Details on Confederacy
Good news is with the covert team of Legionnaires and civilian loyalists deployed by Rethak we'll start to get more steady intel from the Confederacy once they get their hideout set up on Veraga Prime.
Also those reporters from the underground news network are going to be interviewing Jor when they visit Iti'a'Ropku soon

>>3300928
My plan is to get the Barqalan stuff mostly wrapped up with this thead. It's been a long time coming.
And the Wayward Disciple is definitely planned to have more screentime now that they're doing the diplomacy with the Transcendent Protectorate

>>3301069
We'll definitely be getting a lot more of Ruscuv and her Apprentices with this invasion. She's a big part of Valresko's 'shock-and-awe' strategy once they get to mobilizing on Esat

>>3301122
>>Charge in as a group with the Droid AI's help
Force concentration seen like the optimal option for a fast conclusion of the engagement. The fastest we get to the ship the better chances we have to stop its departure or sabotage.

>>3301122
Can we triangulate where the hangar is and send in Reconstructed reinforcements from outside?
Might be easiest to flood the problem under Talons or that slime from rukor

>>3301157
With the demi-Think Tanks that are with Arbiter Huors group it would be possible to locate the hangar from the outside yes.

>>3301154
Supporting since everyone disappeared

>>3301122
>Continue as a group
>Triangulate location of hangar from the outside for possible reinforcements

Roll me 1d100 best of first 3 please

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>3301317
maximum triangle

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>3301317
Here goes something!
>>3301329
Oh hell. That was damn close.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>3301317

>>3301317
"But then again, I've never been one for stealth tactics. We burn our way through," Huor declares as she hefts her flail over her shoulder.

Ghoul screams echoed down the halls, mingling with the vibrating drone of zombie moans, the undead sounding as if existence itself was nothing but pain and hunger. Their cries clarify however, shifting from hunger into purely pain as a roiling sphere of Solar fire barrels over them. Huor kept her shield in front of her, its surface igniting with radiant energy into searing flames as the same flames propel her through the zero-gravity, the osjiic finding the sensation entertaining as she turns herself into a battering ram.

Solar Wardens followed in her blazing wake, the Reconstructed using their claws to secure themselves to the walls or floor as they charged after her. They swung out at the burning undead if they came in range, more mindful of their flames in the unpredictable environment where fire acted more like a liquid without gravity to secure it.

Captain Troma and the Droid followed with the rest of the Pirates and Legionnaires, the environmentals of their suits struggling to keep them cool with the inferno of Huors passing. The droid would land with their feet connecting to the floor or wall with a magnetic thunk before propelling themself forward with a hydraulic hiss of their legs. They were mostly silent, only speaking up to warn of when an approaching barrier was taking longer than normal to unseal at their approach.

Without the droids help the Arbiter was sure they would not be progressing as fast. Huor spins as she flings out her arm without the shield and fires streamers of flame from her spirefire down corridors she passed, igniting the undead that tried to intercept or cut them off. Before she had loathed fighting without gravity, finding it hard to maintain a shieldwall when inertia and momentum were much harder to stand against. But now she finds a bit of enjoyment as so effortlessly burning through the press of undead that tried to slow her down.

She could tell they were drawing near from the amount of undead that tried to stop them even before the droid calls out "Hangar just ahead. Prepare yourselves."

Down the wide hall that had been used to transport cargo from docked ships Huor could see the group of ghouls and zombies waiting for them. The ghouls shrieked and the zombies kick off from the walls in a shambling mass of tangled limbs. The Arbiter almost though it a clever tactic for the undead, using the zombies as a ravenous net in the zero-grav, but she was no simple prey.

>cont

>>3301518
Grinning in twisted delight beneath her featureless helm the flames jetting from her boots flare with intensity and she accelerates even faster, "Better catch up before I burn them all to ash and leave nothing for you lot!" she calls back over the comms moments before she swings her flail. A sphere of radiant light is flung from the end, passing the tangle of zombies scrabbling for her to strike the bulkhead where the ghouls had held back in wait. In their midst the sphere suddenly expands into a Sunstrike, washing over the ghouls a split moment before the near-golden light ignites into searing flames and engulfs several of the undead.

She strikes with the zombie mass, a sphere of burning momentum in her own right as her shield slams into them and her flames spread like liquid rage across the zombies turning droning moans into agonized screams. Her momentum and the propelling flames drive her through the mass, breaking through it with flames spreading her wake, her spitefires spitting globs of burning energy in her charge.

The undead found themselves trapped between the burning Sunstrike and the burning osjiic. Yet, before she could collide with them and bulkhead it began to groan and creak and it slides open, a rush of pressurizing air suddenly tugging hard at those within the corridor. Huor uses the sudden boost, cackling with excitement as she propels herself into the hangar proper.

Her back-up was only moments behind but for now she found herself a lone star blazing in the darkness of a hangar swarming with undead. The stench of the Necrotic surrounded her, as if she could somehow feel it through her sealed armor. She thought it smelt like fear as she looks out across the large chamber and spots the reflections of ravenous eyes staring back from the darkness.

Captain Troma and the rest quickly barge in, only to find Huor kicking herself off the ground to launch herself toward her foes clustered to the hull of the ship. The netu barked his orders, jets in his armor allowing him to float in place as he began lancing bolts of photonic energy into the crowds, his greatsword lashing out at any that threw themselves at him.

His helm switches over to low-light, the spreading flames of the Arbiter and the Wardens providing enough illumination for him to see. He looks to the ship, searching for the best possible entry when he curses in his native tongue as he watches a group of heavily mutated netu, osjiic, and tyrre ghouls crawl from the airlocks.

They looked older than the rest, their bodies warped with the Blight Hunger and they carried cruel weapons fashioned from scrap metal. A feral cunning glinted in their eyes as they watched the Arbiter and the rest of the intruders with calculating intent before they throw themselves at the intruders, launching themselves with shocking speed through the air.

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>>3301524
The Palanquin drifts through space at the edges of Horizon's Drops system, its fleet moving in formation around it. Ruscuv herself sat within, meditating as she psionically projects herself into the minds of her new Apprentices. Impressed by their skills at Reconstruction and their experiences in past battles she had selected them and brought them to her. Their first lesson had been to watch and learn as the Lich Reconstructed herself for the Invasion, sharing personal wisdoms of the ritual and what it means to take matter and spirit, shaping it into a weapon of intent.

Necromancer Klikli, a veteran of the Refuge campaign, sat in meditative solitude in a chamber alone except for the corpse of a human collapsed before them. Necrotic energy crackles across the stonestars chitin armor, a candle of green flame manifested above them as they focused. In other chambers the other Apprentices focused on their own motes of power with their own corpse test subjects.

A voice creeps into their minds like a spider plucking across its web <Feel the Necrotic within and around you. That creeping burn of entropy waiting for when the warmth fades. Focus upon it, condense that burn into a flame, a flicker, a candle. Do not let it overwhelm you, do not let it poison you. Inhale. Hold.>

A ghostly image of her visage flickers across their consciousnesses, <Feel that burn within you, that creeping rot. Hold onto it. The Necrotic responds to your touch, it yearns for your guidance. Reach for it, but don't seize it! Patience. Hold.>

The Necromancers could feel their lungs and equivalent organs burn with their dwindling breath but they ignore it, focusing on that frigid, yet searing sensation they felt tugging at their souls.

<You can feel it, yes? That sensation of Hunger. Is it your hunger, or is it the Necrotics? Is there a difference?> Several of the Necromancers begin to wonder if she'd forgotten the living needed to breath as she continues <You know this sensation, the Hunger. To be Necromancer is to be ravenous. To be Necromancer, is to know control. To lose this control, to let the Hunger enter you unhindered is to be devoured by your own power, to tempt Death itself and worse.>

<Focus on your Hunger, reach with it beyond yourself. Find the vessel, an empty lantern waiting for the flame Necrotic. Reach for it, do you feel it?>

<Good. Now bestow your Hunger upon it, let it fill with your ravenous desire, let it become an extension of yourself. Exhale and sing the Necrotic into it!>

Stale breath rushes from their protesting lungs and their manifested motes of Necrotic energy drift forward, the lights settling into the bodies laid before the Necromancers. The bodies twitch and gasp breathlessly as Necrotic energy washes through the corpses, forcing rigid limbs to motion once more.

>cont

>>3301635
<The Blight Song, rewritten by First-Necromancer Jor, is but one of many skills that I shall share with you. It is nothing compared to the might of the Reconstructed, but a Necromancer must always make ready to utilize whatever tools are available to them.>

<But take heed my Apprentices. Beware your Hunger. To recklessly indulge the Necrotic is to invite disaster and court destruction. For those of you who yet still live, the Necrotic is your greatest tool, and your greatest danger. Be thankful Lord Jadyk and the Armada found you to teach you the skills to control your Hunger, to hone it into a blade that can cut the heavens and bend fate your whim>

"What would become of us if we let the Hunger consume us?" asked one of the Necromancers, their question heard by all despite the walls separating them.

<You would be consumed. Devoured by your own strength, a Pariah and failure, a danger to all in your death throes. It is my task, to ensure you avoid this path and follow the one laid out by Lord Jadyk and myself. To hone you into weapons that would have made the Wormstar proud to call you its servants.>

"We will do out best to make you proud, Lich Ruscuv" Klikli clatters and the vow is repeated by the others.

They could feel the Lich grin in the back of their minds as they continued their lesson.

>>3301637
Pretty much finished for the night but I will be posting more progress in the Barqalan operation through tomorrow.

Will aim for a proper continuation on Thursday and Sunday afternoons.

Thread archived if you want to vote for it.

Hope folks had fun, I know I did and I'm glad to be back and writing again.

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>>3301651
Its great to have you back Grave.
A bit annoyed i missed the thread due to work, but getting Hype to see Ruscov's new form.
Thanks again for running

>>3301651
Hey Grave, does our old snake ever get to visit his previous bodyguards? Does he miss them or they him? I imagine with their rage issues they like the arena, but would they want to serve him again more? I would enjoy a little scene of them together.

>>3302167
They've reunited before when Vle'Karak visited Iti'a'Ropku and served as his personal guard again when he was slithering through the streets since there are still a lot of folks angry at the Ahkam. The twins were raised from birth to be his bodyguards and given some of the best fighting training in the Dynasty's and are immensely loyal to Vle'Karak. If they hadn't been disabled in battle by the Predators they would have fought to the death.

Vle'Karak views them fondly but with the Ahkam detachment many have for their subordinates. Vil'cva is something of an anomaly with his 'empathy and sympathy' for his.

They were asked if they wanted to join the Legion but they say they enjoy the Arena for now since it keeps them honed and sharp for when they are to serve Vle'Karak in battle again.

Their hope is that they end up deployed alongside him when he enters battle again.

And a reminder, the epikor twins are both elementally sensitive. One is Arc and the other Solar and estimated to be strong enough to become Disciple level Reconstructed but nothing was ever done with them back before Vle'Karak joined the Armada officially.

>>3302854
>elemental sensitivity
Throw them in the pot!

But seriously we should advise them of their potential could make for some powerful acolytes especially if we pitch it as being better able to serve the old butcher

>>3302854
Then how about letting Vle'Karak to use them again? Do we need to have a vote about it?

>>3302863
Wasn't going to call for one no. The Colosseum is just how they like to spend their time while Vle'Karak is away on Jadyk's missions around the Armada's territory.

They were definitely going to join Vle'Karak the next time it's decided he was going to enter battle. When the Empire attacked Horizon's Drop I had it in my head that they were commanded by Vle'Karak to assist the militia just in case Iti'a'Ropku came under attack while he went with the Cve'jok and Dne'tec to defend the moon.

>>3302859
Although this might be a good thing to vote for

Offer the Epikor Twins a chance to have their elemental abilities sparked to better serve Vle'Karak and the Armada?
>Y/N

>>3303083
Y

>>3303083
Y

>>3303083
Y

>>3303083
Y

>>3302859
we don't have to melt them down for them to join the ranks. we have plenty of living... what mages? do we have a specific general term for the people who use powers.

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>>3303757
Yeah keep em alive. We can throw them in a pot should they happen to suffer a later injury.

Also here's some comfy Fan art of Jadyk in a snuggie

>>3301651
Sorry to say won't be continuing as a proper run today but I will be posting some more scenes.

I got hit suddenly with being sick yesterday and just starting to feel a bit better.

bad tooth has an abscess and my cheek and jaw swelled up pretty bad

>>3305702
Get thee to a dentist, get that looked at and if possible pulled out. Teeth problems will bring more pain the more time it's allowed to fester, take my experience for it.

>>3305702
Tooth pain is no joke.
I hope you get it taken care of soon.

So while waiting to see if Graves dies, who do you guys think would win?

Armada Brute vs Hive Heavy drone?
Jor vs Elizabeth?

I know Graves and QD jokes about Rethrak and Lyle having a big brawl before

>>3301637
Arbiter Klinnik wondered if it was providence that meant the very same cramped tunnels and caverns that the stonestar evolved, fought, and died in, ended up a perfect training ground for the cramped but orderly corridors and hallways of starships and space stations. Flipping and spinning with a dizzying agility the stonestar unleashed bolts of flame or lashed out with blades of light, burning and dismembered undead left in their wake.

A netu ghoul gurgles its last as they grip it under the chin and give a twist, the body underneath the stonestar shuddering before going still as the head is tossed aside. Flames rippled across their form as if they had been doused in gasoline, the stonestar burning the gore of slain undead from their armor as they turn to regard the others as they caught up.

Solar Wardens shoved or tossed corpses to the side into pyres, clearing a path for the Legionnaires and Pirates that followed, stepping over or around the remains.

"How much further?" Klinnik asks, the demi-Think Tank translating their clicking code language for the pirates linked into their comms.

A Legion tech moves forward with the demi-Think Tank following at their shoulder, "Not much. The maps from the clanker have been pretty accurate so far."

A netu pirate wiping gore away from the vibrosword approaches, the markings on their almost patchwork armor showing them to be a boarding raider, "There will be several airlocks and check points. They're meant to keep this kind of thing from happening normally. From everything we've been seeing, I bet the blighters have holed up and hunkered down."

Klinnik makes an amused clatter, the inflection lost through the simple translation but they say, "That will be of no consequence for me. Let's continue, this infection must be burned out."

The pirate rests the heavy blade on their shoulder, "Gonna have to see about getting me some of them fancy powers next time I visit that gleaming city of yours."

There is a flicker of golden light across the Arbiters form before it ignites like a flammable gas into a steady flame as the stonestar turns in response to the returning sound of screams and moans coming their way, "These gifts are a blessing from Him. Should He deem you worthy, perhaps there is a place among the Armada for you."

The pirate did not get a chance to respond before Klinnik launches themself into the air once more with a stingwhips lash, the stonestar swinging just above the floor to gather speed. Flinging themself bodily into a spin a hardlight blade manifests, slicing a shambling zombie nearly in two a split moment before another limb manifests another and lops the head off the ghoul behind it.

>cont

>>3309268
Klinnik became a flaming dervish amid the crowd of undead that surged around the corner, the acrobatic and unpredictable attacks of the stonestar preventing the undead from crowding or overwhelming them. To them the slow movements of the zombies were all to easy to see and avoid their grasping claws. The ghouls were a bit craftier as time, mutation and experience give them an edge over the zombie hordes they seemed to guide by some unknown instinct. They were more likely to land a blow, jagged claws or a swung piece of scrap metal scraping off the chitin plates.

While Arbiters Huor and Sur-Quro were rather similar in their approach, despite their races historical hatred of each other, both unstoppable in their momentum, Klinniks was something different. While they battered and crushed all opposition, the stonestar would throw themself into the midst of the densest pockets of undead and sow chaos among them, more like an explosion than a battering ram. The searing flames of Solar energy was enough to throw most into a panicked frenzy but the seemingly chaotic movements of the stonestars powerful limbs and hardlight constructs only enhanced the effect.

Scattering the undead clusters into burning confusion they were easy pickings for the slower Wardens and the living troops to dispatch. Solar Wardens swung their clubs or chomped down with jaws burning with flame, feasting on the Necrotically infected flesh. Legionnaires and Pirates charged with their blades and bludgeons, bayonets and swords carving flesh and bone to silence the pitiful undead.

Just as the tech had said they discovered the first of the airlocks toward the group of recovery docks that the strange pod was kept with a dense mass of zombies clustered around it as if to physically block the path with their numbers. Rather than search for another route Klinnik gives a clicking word of apology to the rest of the group before they dashed forward with the Wardens.

With a flick of a limb a small globule of Solar light flies out to strike the corpse nest before expanding into a burning Sunstrike. The zombies moan and scream in pain, the sounds dampened by the warriors armors, only to be further brutalized as Klinnik halts their forward momentum, instead hanging by one limb from the ceiling as they open fire with the spitefires in their other four arms. The Wardens run up a few feet from their position and slam down their shields and belch forth sheets of flame as the zombies attempt to scatter but they were caught between them and the airlock. When the light of the first Sunstrike wore out they cast forth another beckoning another round of mindless, panicked screams.

>cont

>>3309271
The Legionnaires and Pirates had to take a step back from the ferocious flames, even the hardened Legionnaires having to turn away from the gruesome conflagration. The pirates tried to stomach it but they had to avert their eyes, even though they knew the undead were lost souls they could still see shadows of the people they once were.

The torching was mercifully short before the screams finally fell silent and Klinnik drops from the ceiling. They stand there for a moment in silence as the same pirate from before stomps up with a handful of other pirates and Legionnaires following cautiously behind.

"Do you enjoy burning things Arbiter?" they demand accusingly but take an uneasy step back as the Wardens turn their eyeless gaze toward them and growl. They glance between the two Reconstructed then back to the stonestar when they reply.

"On my homeworld do you know how we cure a cancer? We take a blade and cut it free. If that fails and it spreads, do you know what we do then?" the stonestar as a species have no true 'face' as the other species would consider, but the pirate could sense the Arbiters intense stare on them, "We take droplets of lava, molten stone, and burn the sickness away. We cauterize. That's what must be done and that's what I'm doing. Do not mistake the delight my osjiic companion takes in her job as my own. I take no pleasure in this, but it must be done, yes?"

The pirate looks past them toward the airlock where piles of charcoal black corpses were stacked over each other. It was hard to tell where one ended and another began, smoke and ash trailing off them in thick clouds that filled the corridor, "It must be done," they say after a few silent moments and a curt nod.

Turning away from the grim spectacle the pirate passes by the Legionnaire tech and their demi-Think Tank, the tech relaxing their grip on their shardspitter. Klinnik turns one of his eyes to the tech, "Unseal them. Try to get a sense of the interior if you can."

"Right away Arbiter," they say and move toward an access console, a Warden shoving aside a charred corpse with their shield for them. A voice reaches the Arbiters mind, the tech projecting through their symbiot while the demi-Think Tank taps into the systems, <They don't understand. They weren't at Refuge. Not like us.>

<I was not there either. I was stuck under miles of ice learning from Valresko in preparation for another Refuge Crisis. But this is what I was trained and created for, why Lord Jadyk gave allowed this chance at Redemption> the stonestar replies, not pulling their gaze from the dead during the entire encounter.

>>3309274
>>3301637
I like how the orders are developing their own
identities and esprit de corps. Even if the New Armada falls their traditions can live on as multi-species organizations.

>>3309274
Gonna do a few more catch up scenes before the thread resumes proper on Tuesday. Hope to see you folks there

>>3316568
i hope i am awake in time

>>3309274
Esat burns bright, the pale star sharing its vibrant light across the busy system. Dynasty ships and patrols swept across it or traveled rapidly between planets and stations. Even without hacking into their comms it was easy to tell the system was on high alert with tensions running hot.

A gentle flicker of the wings was all it took to stabilize in the zero-g of the Coffins hold, the esat passenger holding onto the rim of the port they were looking out of at the distant flicker of light. Their symbiot, a new addition given to them only the day prior, informs them it was a passing military patrol of several frigates. They did not appear to detect the cloaked Coffin as it moves at a steady pace toward the twin worlds of the esat species origin, Nidun and Zuon. The corvette they had ridden into the systems outer limits had deployed them and several other cloaked Coffins before making its way toward the other planets in the system and to avoid the denser traffic around the binary planets.

A figure moves into their peripheral and they turn their head just enough to see the other esat that joins them. They were both silent for a few moments before the newcomer gestures to the star in the distance and she says, "I almost didn't think I'd ever see the Parent Star again." Glancing at her they could see she lived a rough life, her chitin splotched with old burns and healed punctures, perhaps a former soldier.

"I couldn't wait to leave the system, my first time," replies the other with a somewhat wistful tone before they click their mandible sharply, "I practically volunteered to serve the snakes."

The newcomer makes a sympathetic handsign before she says, "Can't blame you. It was the only way out of system."

They make a non-committal gesture with a hand, "Oh well. At least if this plot of the Armada works, Home won't be under the Ahkams coils any longer."

"If the Lich-Lord lets the system rule itself and doesn't just move in like they did with B'Nan," she says, lowering her voice with a glance toward the other esat and former Dynasty servants and warriors also in the hold.

They stare at her in silence for a few long moments before replying in a quiet, careful voice, "That is dangerous talk. Do you really think the Armada will just become our next tyrant?" they ask, feeling the symbiot squirm within their thorax.

It was her turn to be quiet for a short time but she finally makes an amused click of her mandibles, "No, I don't think Lord Jadyk would move in like that. Doesn't seem like him to take over a people like that without giving them a choice first," she then gestures toward them, "You are new to the Armada yes?"

>cont

>>3317175
They give a curt gesture of confirmation, "I was part of the assault against Rukor. I am... was an engineer on my ship. I am also an agent in a revolutionary cell but the ship I was embedded on ended up embedded in a beach. They saved my life but when that undead... that Talon, pulled me from the wreckage I thought it was going to eat me! But, they gave me back my wings and leg for this mission," they say, reaching down to pat the leg with the slightly paler chitin, "What about you?"

"I was hatched on Zuon but I left the system on a smugglers ship at a young age, my parents attempting to escape the Dynasty when I was barely able to fly. Except we were sold out by the smugglers and sold to an Imperial slaver fleet. Grew up in the factories of Kanda making hovertanks. That dustball was my only world until the Armada came, until Lord Jadyk came," she says, her symbiot observing her memory of standing on a factory rooftop after escaping from the slavemasters in the chaos and staring up in awe at the Reconstructed ships looming over the city and Your voice projected by the Harbinger flying overhead.

They were silent after she spoke but they were not for long, giving a hopeful gesture as they say, "The worm they shoved in my gut told me what Kanda was like. It's a good thing they came."

She gives a short click of a laugh, "So they say. Let us pray to whatever god seems to be watching over the Armada that we can help them free our people."

"I never thought I'd ever pray again, when I understood the fallacy of divinity," they glance back toward the pale vibrant star they took their species name from, "But who knows what futures await. Maybe this Jadyk and Wormstar they keep praising will be worthy of the veneration."

"Time will tell, friend. Time will tell," she says, patting them on the shoulder before pushing off to another portion of the Coffin, leaving them to look out the porthole as they drew ever closer to their ancestral home.

>>3317176
>>3317175
fuck yeah, espionage/resistance shenanigans!

>>3317176
>>3317429
My thoughts exactly. XCOM: DAS anyone?

>>3319402
now that's a game id like to play

>>3319402
>>3319584
Necrolyte Legionnaires play like XCOM
Reconstructed play like Starcraft

>>3320524
Oh god that talon swarm.

>>3317176
Arbiter Huro's shout matches the bellowing roar of the Blight ghouls chasing and brawling with her. She used her momentum in the zero-g hangar to her advantage, moving fast and brutal in rebounding off the walls, floor, ceiling or even the docked ship itself. The ghouls were nimble and persistent, snarling as they threw themselves after her, but the fins of her jump-pack flare to sharply adjust her angle giving her an advantage at dodging and avoiding the voracious pack.

Captain Troma and the others fought their own battles in the floating battlefield. Troma used his own jump-pack traded from the Armada on his last visit to Iti'a'Ropku, and a lifetime of fighting in space to turn himself into a nimble and deadly killer. His blade left arcs of bloody spray with each swing or stab, the twin blasters picking off undead midair.

The droid, arguably housing the mind of Barqalan itself, used its maglocks to stick to the floor as Legionnaires and Pirates did similar as they escorted it toward the starships airlocks. It fired it's own blaster with precision aim, as its guards cut, crushed or shot down anything that attempted to break into their little group.

With a flip through the air and a launched Sunstrike in the same movement Arbiter Huors heavy boots slam into the wall and claws flex out to secure her. Blazing shield at the ready she aims with her spitefires and shoots at the group of undead scrambling and sailing toward her. The Solar energy ignites against their bodies, spreading flames across flesh and chitin. A ghoul on fire catapults toward her but is knocked away, spinning through the air with a slam of her shield and her flail swings out, batting away the next ghoul with a crunch of breaking bones, the next raking its claws across her shoulder but a solid headbutt of her featureless helm breaks its own shoulder as inertia carries it off.

She is forced to jump away again as a hulking figure of an osjiic ghoul flies toward her and slams a heavy club of twisted metal, denting the metal she'd been standing on. Huor glares at it as it roars at her in its fury, the bulk of the undead armored in what looked like scrap metal and mis-sized armor plating bolted or stapled directly into its diseased looking flesh. Its own head was a dense helmet of welded and bent metal that left only its oversized, fang-filled maw exposed.

It was plain to the Arbiter this beast and the others that had emerged from the ship with their own crude armor and weaponry were not like the others on the space-city, not even the cyborg who seemed to be manipulating the undead. It was the mental whispers from the Legionnaires, veterans from the Refuge Crisis, that confirmed them to be from the initial outbreak itself. They resembled the final stage Blight Ghouls found in the rogue Necromancers forces, particularly those still found hiding in the scrapland wilds of Junkyard.

>cont

>>3321094
"Alert, sensors detect that the reactors for the ship have been activated. Advise immediate boarding and disabling," came the static filled voice of the Barqalan AI over the comms as it picks up its own pace toward the ship, the vessels hull starting to thrum as it woke up.

"Curse these bastards!" Huor snarls as she ignites another ghoul with her shield while forcing the skull of another into its chest cavity with a swing of her flail.

A netu ghoul with jagged, rusted spikes embedded in its chitin swings a long slab of crudely sharpened metal at her back while she was distracted. But rather than chop into the armor of the Arbiter it was caught by a blade and deflected, the blade lashing out with blinding speed to lop the head from its neck.

Huor nods in thanks to Troma who latches his magboots to the wall next to her, "Appreciated, Captain," was all she managed to get out before the wall vibrates as the armored hulk of an osjiic slams into the wall a few meters away and bellows at them. Several of the other Refuge ghouls land around them, holding back as they size up the pair of fierce fighters and surround them. They were crudely armored but their armor and simple weapons were stained and rusted with old blood, the undead experienced killers by this point.

"This shall be interesting," Troma grumbles as he holds the greatsword with both of his main hands and held blasters at the read, waiting for the undead to throw themselves at them.

>Arbiter Huor and Captain Troma have come face to face with a group of final stage Blight Ghouls
>The Barqalan AI and Legionnaire Techs are attempting to board the activating ship to disable it

Please roll me 2d100 best of first 3 please

File: Demonic Pressence at unsa(...).gif (1.03 MB, 500x281)

1.03 MB GIF

Rolled 24, 6 = 30 (2d100)

>>3321097

Rolled 46, 24 = 70 (2d100)

>>3321097

Rolled 62, 9 = 71 (2d100)

>>3321097

>>3321097
"Live and tell your Clan the tale," Arbiter Huor growls as she slowly looks across the snarling and growling ghouls that surrounded them. A low burn roils across her shield and the flail gripped in her fist, just waiting to ignite into an inferno.

"Hah, well put, Arbiter," Troma gives a short bitter laugh as he holds the blade at the ready, the edge glowing orange with the heat the relic weapon produced, "Any last words?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6tS_V65380

"BURN THEM ALL!"

Her voice bellows out as she bashes the front of her shield several times with her flail, each strike causing the flames surrounding her to flare with increasing intensity. She spins suddenly, her flail swinging down to catch the ghoul that tried to swing an axe-like weapon down on her, leaving a crater with a burning corpse crushed into it.

The strike sets off the others as the ghouls shriek and kick off to dart forward through the zero-g. Captain Troma was not content to let them come to him, the Pirate Captain giving his own warcry in the ancient language of his people as he threw himself forward. The first swing cuts a human ghoul with blades embedded in the forearms in twain, the second cut disemboweling another as he flies past, the third strike running a kesh through the middle. He kicks off the still snarling undead from the blade to collide with another ghoul that tried to tackle him and a cleaving swing removes a head and arm from the tangled pair but he was already moving on. The blasters in his hands spun and fired, the energy cells having barely enough time to recharge for another blast, the weapons masterwork crafting the only reason they had not failed.

A netu ghoul swings a dented pole with a jagged piece of scrap metal on the end like some halberd at the Arbiter, the crude weapon scraping off the bone armor but a swing of the flail and the weapons shaft snaps and the netus torso is collapsed by a mighty kick. An epikor manages to land on her back even as it screams in pain at the searing flames. It stabs repeated at the back of her neck with a blade that bounces and scrapes off the hard bone, managing to stab into the armors muscles while dodging out of the way of Huors swings. A flare of her jump-pack and mighty kick of her legs sends her flying as several ghouls tried to tackle her in her distraction, but rather than land on her feet as she had before she slams her back into the ships hull, popping the undead between it and her armor.

>cont

>>3321398
Flipping over in her momentum she barely has enough time to throw up her shield before the club of twisted metal slams into it with enough force to send chips of bone and metal plating scattering as she is sent flying backwards. Barely catching herself her boots claws scrape and spark against the floor as she halts but has to dodge out of the way once more with another powerful strike of the osjiic ghoul and its club. Spitefire bolts splatter across its armored form, seeping around the armor to reach the putrid flesh between but it was not enough to stop it.

The ghoul lunges for her, swinging its club horizontally at her head but the shields angle deflects it upwards as her own club-like flail swings out and strikes its knee sending the leg buckling at a gruesome angle. Flames spread from the touch but Huor could not celebrate as a blocky fist strikes the side of her helm hard enough to make her ears ring.

Pushing herself back from the ghoul as it tries to right itself with its broken knee she feels blood welling up in her mouth. Rather than feel fear or apprehension, the Arbiter only felt a sense of excitement at having found a proper foe among the undead.

The droid and its escort of Legionnaires, Pirates, and Wardens forced their way through the undead trying to stop them and soon found themselves at the opened airlock. The Wardens were the first to enter clearing the way with their searing breath, the narrow passages providing little room for the undead still aboard to hide.

In the confines of the ship some of the Legionnaires and no doubt the pirates felt more at home combating the undead, the restricted space preventing them from swarming over them.

"The reactor room should be this way!" called one of the pirates pointing down a hall where ghouls were crowding and scrambling to avoid the rolling fire.

A Legionnaire tech grunts as they shove the twitching corpse off their bone rifles bayonet and looks to the droid, "Do you think they're trying to make the ship go critical?"

"Preferably not. We must assume they don't want to destroy whatever they are after by risking a chain reaction affecting the city's integrity," the droid says impassively even as it grips a human ghoul that had leapt from a cabinet at it by the neck, the talons raking across the red paint of its arm. The blaster in its other arm is pressed against its forehead and fired, the droid pushing the now still corpse aside in the zero-g.

"This will be a problem," another pirate says as they cleared through the undead to the reactor rooms doors. It was quite clear what they meant by how the doors had been welded shut but Legionnaires merely ignite their hardlight blades and begin attempting to cut through the metal. Screams echo in the ship as the undead still aboard begin converging on their group and they begin to quickly set up a blockade with the Wardens holding the front of the line for the moment.

>cont

>>3321403
Outside the ship Captain Troma grunts with exertion as he kicks a ghoul off of his greatsword, the blade getting caught in the dense bone of the pelvis momentarily. His blasters fire at the ghouls that tried to take advantage of the delay, their swiping claws and primitive weapons slashing and tearing at him.

He lets out a sudden scream of pain as a kosda ghoul sinks their teeth into the forearm of a lesser arm, the bite strength letting their fangs pierce through the metal and reinforced armor weaves. They shake their head violently tearing into the chitin and muscle beneath even as the other hand opens fire against it with the other blaster. Another ghoul tackles him, sinking their claws into the armor weave between the plates of their thigh, caustic green blood bubbling out into the zero-g around the wounds.

"Not this day!" he shouts as he stabs out, piercing the skull of the ghoul that had stabbed him then swinging the blade down that removes both kosda head and his arm at the elbow with the cut. He cries out again but he kicks his way free and swings the blade in a wide arc with one hand as they desperately retrieve the blaster from their discarded hand.

Huor had been holding the osjiic ghoul back, the beast pressed against her burning shield in an attempt to bite her, its jaws slamming shut with such force she knew it could pop her armor with ease. Hearing the Captain scream in such pain she glances toward him and snarl in a renewed fury. Jamming the head of the flail against its chest she summons a Sunstrike around them, forcing the ghoul to yank back from her in its agony and flee, dropping the club in its blind panic.

Kicking off she sends a sheet of flame to clear off the ghouls attempting to pile on the injured netu and she lands next to where he had pressed back into a corner. She casts out another Sunstrike to keep them at bay for the moment as she assesses the damage. Blood flowed freely from the wound in his arm, the armor sealing around the punctures in his leg to let the blood clotter implant most netu spacers had do its job.

>cont

>>3321404
"Fuckers took my arm," he says in annoyance and fires with the blaster, the photon bolt blasting away a ghouls jaw and throat.

"You've got three more to spare, stop complaining," she says and secures her flail to the inside of her shield, "This may hurt though. A lot."

"Wh-" he didn't get the chance to question her before she took her hand wrapped in flames and gripped the bleeding stump of the arm, cauterizing the wound and making the netu shout out in pain once more.

"Survive and we'll get you a new one just like my leg," she says, rapping her knuckles against the prosthetic in question, "Now, can you still fight or should I just start swinging you as a club?"

"I can always fight," he snarls, "This isn't my first arm lost."

He was about to say something else when a whining sound makes them look up in alarm as lights began to illuminate toward the stern of the ship, the sound unmistakably that of the sublight engines warming up.

>The ship is attempting to fire its engines while still in the hangar
>The damage could be immense if it allowed

Roll me 1d100 best of first 3 for the Droid and demi-Think Tank to disable the ship

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>3321408

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>3321408

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>3321408

>>3321408
Hardlight blades constantly reform themselves, the enlarged photons making up their structure decaying after only a few moments but replaced immediately by the crystalline projectors. In effect this meant they were nearly unbreakable, just reforming a moment later and never dulling, even if they did not have the cutting power of the more physical thermal vibroblades. Legionnaires drag the blades through the dense door, melted metal glowing around the blades as they steadily cut through it.

Wardens did their best to block the advance but several of the undead manage to sqeeze past them wreathed in flames but the boarders were quick to put them down. It was a stressful process, the blades seeming to cut ever so slowly through the metal as it seemed every undead in the ship and even those that had followed them from outside were converging on them. Even the Wardens were showing signs of wear and tiring, armor scored and chipped from countless fangs and claws, but their flames burned the Necrotic infused flesh just as well as the first time they set foot on the city.

Captain Troma, in spite of his injuries, continued to fight on with a fierceness that the osjiic couldn't help but admire. Down to using one blaster they still swung the greatsword with enough strength to cleave through the undead that dared to draw too close to him. It was not long before his armor gained a new coat of multi-colored blood, the netu struggling on even as he feels the poison of the Blight Hunger in his veins. He stares into the eyes of a netu ghoul impaled on the sword, looking into the blind hunger and rage that filled them as he pins it against the ceiling. With a snarl he twists the blade and slides upwards, bisecting the netus skull from the neck up before he dashes away.

Arbiter Huor would've felt more comfortable with gravity holding her to the ground, but she was more than deadly enough in the zero-g. Flames trailed and roiled off her like a meteor burning through an atmosphere, the osjiic letting the inferno of fire and rage in her soul come pouring out. Her shield crushed and broke as many of the undead as her flail, the shieldbearer turning the slab of heavy bone and metal into a breaking edge or a crushing wall.

As she raged she heard the voice of Valresko playing in her mind, memories of her time knee deep in freezing waters with only the newly bestowed Solar to keep her from freezing to death.

<The flames that you will create shall never be as fierce as the flames that burn within.>

Catapulted through the air she lands with a sickening crunch as a skull pops beneath her boots, the claws in the boot gripping the corpse then throwing it with a kick into another undead. The flail swings, dislocating a jaw and engulfing a skull. Her spitefire spews flame and ghouls shriek. Her shield slams down and a ghoul is broken nearly in half.

<Breath in the air, exhale an inferno>

>cont

>>3321881
Huor grunts as a powerful blow sends her somersaulting through the air and she spins with a flare of twisted light in time to see the armored osjiic ghoul returned to continue their duel. Its flesh was charred and still burned with the persistent Solar flames but its tenacity drives it on as it swings talons that were more like pickaxes than bone claws. Throwing itself at her it rakes at the shield, leaving grooves of its strike across the surface, sending them tumbling through the air, bouncing off the floor and wall.

Troma screams his own rage, unenhanced by Armada science or Wormstar rituals, the netu fought with all the experience and skill that a lifetime fighting through an inhospitable galaxy had granted him. He had seen what had become of Refuge, seen the faces of the friends and allies among the snarling visages of the dead, cut down those he had called brother and sister.

Thoughts of all the injustice the Netu had face flashed through his mind as he struggled to survive, to fight, to win. A history of being pushed aside and neglected, of derision and persecution. He'd seen starships and spacestations rendered lifeless and barren, of worlds stricken with plague and calamity. Memories of all those he'd held as they died unceremoniously in his arms.

He'd come to this city, in a hope to save it, one of the last bastions of the Netu culture and it fills him with such FURY to see the undead ravenously devour what little soul the Netu people still had.

He may not be a Solar Arbiter, but he would make sure the undead learned to fear him.

Within the ship the final few inches of the door were cut through. A moment later there was a groaning noise before the cut portion was pulled free and the droid sets the metal slab aside from where they hand personally hauled it from the melted frame.

Legionnaires and Pirates rush in, the ghouls that had been sealed inside quickly turning on them. Striding in with the others the droid opens fire with its blaster, even pulling a human ghoul from a Legionnaire it had grappled and breaking its neck before moving on.

The reactor chamber was a spherical room, walkways surrounding the sphere of the ships power source. Consoles surrounded it with many of them looking damaged or sabotaged but one seemed mostly intact as the Legionnaire tech moves to it with their demi-Think Tank partner and the droid. They could hear and feel as the reactor powers up, the building energy within clearly not completely contained with how their suits rad counters began to spike and crackle dangerously. Both demi-Think Tank and droid slot into the console as the tech begins typing at a hardlight board projected by the Reconstructed, rushing to cancel the emergency start-up that had somehow been initiated.

>cont

>>3321887
It takes them several nerve-wracking minutes but as they worked and the last of the ghouls in the chamber were slain they finally made some progress. It seemed that someone had programmed the commands for the ship to remotely activate and fire its sublight engines within the hangar in the event that some attempted to board it as they had. Thankfully the reactors growing whine and vibrations slowed, the trio working hard to turn the vessel off and prevent another attempt.

Huor grits her teeth as she kneels behind her shield, the osjiic ghoul using both hands to swing the brutal club of warped, twisted metal down on the shield again and again, its clawed feet securing it to the ground just as her own boots were. Cracks spread through the shield, spreading with each staggering blow that would've easily broken every bone in a humans body rather than just the fractures in her forearm.

A shout of indignant pain draws her attention to Troma as he's speared from behind by some jagged pole of a spear, the ghouls immediately descending upon him.

"No!" came the shout and Huor surges to her feet, throwing the shield at the ghoul hard enough to knock it from its feet but she did not bother retrieving the nearly shattered shield as she throws herself toward the crown, Solar flames propelling her like a rocket. Swinging her flail that strikes with a detonation of flame she scatters the undead cluster, her hand reaching in to toss others away before she reached in and grabbed him to jump away toward another area of the hangar.

Captain Troma was still alive, if bleeding from several new wounds, his armor doing its best to seal and maintain its atmosphere. Coughing up blood in his beak he growls, looking to the osjiic, "Don't let the city die like this," he says through the pain. He lifts the greatsword to her, "Make them pay, burn them all."

Huor hesitates as he offers her the blade, knowing it was against nearly all netu customs to let a member of another race wield the blade but she takes hold of the hilt, "Don't be dramatic. You won't die and neither will your city," she says as she helps secure him to a corner of the hangar and make sure he had his blasters in hand, "We'll get you out and into a medpod."

With him placed where he could at least partially defend himself Arbiter Huor turned to face the ghouls that rushed toward her, the osjiic with the scorched armor charging headlong at her. In one hand she gripped her flail, a sphere of flame forming at the end while in the other she gripped the clansword and flames slowly traveled up its edge until it too was a flaming brand that spread across her armor.

<Breath in, stoke the furnace of your soul. Exhale! and incinerate them with the inferno within!>

Arbiter Huor throws herself at the crowd, screaming her warcry and becoming much like the stars she embodied, a radiant flame in the dark.

>>3321889
"The Gargoyles found them again," Necromancer Quikka says as she jogs alongside the Arbiter.

Sur-Quro nods and slows her pace just enough to peer through the link her symbiot gave her to the Think Tank network. The Gargoyle was crawling along the edge of the ceiling, disguising itself in the same dark colors as the metal around it. Below it in the chamber that looked like it was perhaps once a surgical amphitheater with chairs meant for netu surrounding a pit with what looked to be an ancient operating table. The area had the appearance of an old hospital, the old netu structures still remarkably intact with artificial gravity only failing occasionally.

The cyborg undead they had been tracking was picking its way through the chairs with its group of armed and armored ghouls when it suddenly freezes and stares at another darkened corridor. The gargoyle could hear footsteps and it flattens itself against the ceiling as it watches curiously.

The footsteps drew closer until the cyborg seemed to relax and growls out moments before another figure steps from the shadows of the hallway. Sur-Quro growls as she looks at the new comer.

It was hard to tell just what they were originally, but the humanoid was tall, slouching forward with metal cybernetics and armor twisting and hiding much of the organic structure underneath. A lipless grin of misshapen teeth parts to let a tongue loll out, their eyes and much of their skull covered in armored plating as it speaks, "Yyou're late. Prroblems with the do-gooders?" it asks in a gurgling, damaged voice as if speech was foreign to their being. From behind them emerged their own squad of enhanced ghouls wearing security armor and carrying weapons.

"Yes. They will be here soon. Prepare yourself," the original cyborg replies with distinct distaste on their voice.

"We shouuld move on. Misleaaad them from our goal," the other says, walking forward on its knuckles not unlike a yuyut but its proportions were all wrong.

Sur-Quro blinks her eyes and glances to Quikka, picking up the pace once more, "We're close. Very close. Let's not give them a chance to escape us," she calls out over the comms and begins to charge faster on all fours, the squad with her picking up speed as well.

>cont

>>3321962
The cyborgs continued to bicker until they heard a yelp of a ghoul suddenly, turning to see as a human ghoul was sent flying from the corridor the human appearing undead had emerged from and crash down in the surgical pit. Necromancer Quikka steps from the shadows, sickly green light flickering across the Reaverstaff she held.

A shimmer of orange flames signaled Sur-Quro's approach as she joined the Netu by her side, Sunthrower in hand. The ghouls hand moved to the ready, hiding behind cover with weapons at the ready as the two cyborgs glared at them. The Arbiter hefts the heavy weapon, propping it against her shoulder as she calls out, "Surrender now and reveal your secrets."

"Orr else whaat?" the newcomer cyborg asks derisively.

"Or be reduced to ashes and used to fertilize our crops fields," Sur-Quro says confidently. From behind the rest of the squad moves in, rushing into cover with the Wardens flanking the two elemental wielders.

Snarling the undead turn on each other, the newcomer gesturing to the one they had followed, "Fool! Thhey tracked you! Go protect them! They are neaarly through!" they bark out at them, "I'll hanndle yourr mess."

"Enjoy the burns," the human cyborg scoffs before bounding over the seats and desks toward one of the exits, dodging the spray of flechettes that Quikka had fired after it from her shardspitter.

"Come liittle morselss! How do yyou taste?!" the strange cyborg screams at them.

>Arbiter Sur-Quro and Necromancer Quikka have tracked the cyborg to their strange companion

How should they handle this foe?
>Slay and move on, there is no time to waste
>Disable and capture for future study, may cost time
>Other, (write-in)

>>3321889
>Dual wielding a burning flail and greatsword fighting against superghouls to save a new brother-in-arms
What is it about the Armada that makes total badasses from the living?
Can't wait to see MrSmiles rendition of these space city scenes

Not that Captain Yroma wasn't a certified badass too

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>>3321965
Hey Grave, I am sorry to sperg out over it, but when you say flail I keep imagining the ball and chain on a club. Is that right? Am I just imagining the coridors and fights as way more cramped than they are? Or is it more of a morningstar or flanged mace kind of deal? And as always, thanks for running my favorite quest!

>>3321965
>Slay and move on, there is no time to waste

Samples are good, but stopping whatever's happening here takes greater precedence

>>3322590
From what I can recall it's a club that can project a ball of flame so it just looks like a flail.
Honestly a Torch would be a good alternative name for it

>>3322596
This

>>3322590
Yeah it's not an exact flail. This anon >>3322663 has it right.

Solar Flails look like bone clubs at first but in an Arbiter or other Solar wielders hands they can produce a ball of flame at the end they can then swing around or use it to project a Sunstrike further than by hand.

Are you reading my mind anon? I literally thought of Torch as a better name for the weapon in the same thread I introduced them lol

>>3323127
Thread today?

>>3321965
>Slay and move on, there is no time to waste

Roll me 1d100 best of first 3 please

>>3325869
Yes

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>3326318

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>3326318
cyborgs ain't shit

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>3326318

>>3326644
oh fuck yes.

>>3326318
>>3326644
Notice me Grave-senpai! For the next quest if nothing else.

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>>3326318
It was uncertain who fired first when the strange cyborg screams its challenge at them but its words were punctuated by the bark and screech of weapons fire. Legionnaires and Pirates ignite hardlight shields or extend their more physical version as bullets and blaster bolts strike the shields, hunkering down to trade fire with the ghouls. A Pirate launches a flare toward the ceiling, the blob of gel beginning to burn with a bright light as it stuck to the metal and fills the surgical theater with light.

Necromancer Quikka stood with her hand outstretched, telekinetically curving the bullets around her as she dashes sideways to cover avoiding the harder to deflect blaster bolts. Ducking behind a pillar she grips her shardspitter and sickly green energy crackles up her arm and into the weapon of bone and chitin. Darting out the weapon chatters harshly as the flechettes it fired seethed with Necrotic energy like glowing tracer rounds, the bone spikes punching through plasteel and armor-weaves as she instinctively guided their path with her telekinetic gifts.

The cyborg was her main target, the Necromancer tracing its movement but the beast was startlingly fast for its bulk as it ran on all fours. Chairs and desks flew from it when it collides with them as it charges around the side. Several of the flechettes strike it but the Necrotically charged rounds don't seem to stall its charge. A Legionnaire pops up from one of the higher levels as the cyborg charges toward her and unleashes a wave of searing plasma energy but it merely made the undead shout in pain and throw out a hand. The Legionnaire falls back with a shout of pain of their own as several large spikes of sharpened metal were thrown by the cyborg stabbing into their arm and shoulder.

Quikka spins the Reaverstaff in her hand, the shardspitter secured to her thigh once again as she braces herself for the charging cyborg. It throws itself at her with its metal talons visibly extending for her but with a quick swat of the staff it was thrown over her head to land in a tangle of desks and chairs.

Scrambling to its feet it stares without eyes at her and chuckles darkly as a long tongue lolls from its exposed jaws, "Trricksy...Necromaancer, you die firrst!" it says, pointing a talon at her before it gets ready for another lunge.

"I don't think so," Quikka says in her typical calm manner. She lifts a finger to point behind the cyborg, "She may have something to say to you."

It looked ready to reply but a sudden flare of heat behind it made it slowly turn its head around. Arbiter Sur-Quro steps up to the level above it, heavy boot denting the railing as she glares down at it. Flames licked off her arms and shoulders as she held her hand out to the side, the claws of her Arbiter's gauntlet sunk into the chest of a netu ghoul wearing security armor that was clawing desperately at her arm.

>cont

>>3327082
Witnessed

>>3327095
The ghoul suddenly lets out a shriek as flames engulfed it, spreading from her claws but Sur-Quro just tosses it aside toward the pyre of several ghouls she had already made as the cyborg had made its own dash across the the theater. She points a claw toward it, her voice hardened with a barely constrained rage, "YOU'RE MINE!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN9XjiOiuoA

With a burst of flame Sur-Quro threw herself toward the cyborg undead with a warcry. The undead screams its own reply and slashes out with its jagged, shifting talons but she brings her gauntlet down with a smashing strike to knock away its hand and strike the ground before it. An explosion of fire and radiant energy bursts out from her striking the ground, engulfing them both in the light of a Sunstrike.

As the cyborg recoils from the searing heat Sur-Quro shouts as she swings her gauntlet into an uppercut under its chin with an audible cracking of its teeth, the solid blow lifting it off its feet and sending tumbling back. Scrabbling backwards onto its feet as flames lick across its body it snarls, hopping back as the yuyut dashes forward with another slamming strike of the oversized gauntlet. It slashes out with claws that extend to alarming lengths, scoring grooves across the pale bone armor but fails to find purchase.

A club of twisted bone swings, a sphere of flame manifesting and leaving a trail as Sur-Quro strikes with the Solar Flail. The blow is blocked by a forearm but she kicks out at a knee, knocking its leg aside and throwing off its balance. She swings down again with the flail, the cyborg keeping its arm up to block the strike at the same time it slashes, trying to stab with the strange claws but its wrist was suddenly snatched up by the oversized gauntlet.

Grappling with it she holds tight even as the hand twists unnaturally at its wrist and begins clawing at her arm and reaching for her torso. She kept swinging down with the bone club, a burst of flame rippling out with each blow that sears the flesh and scorches the armor of the undead. Raising it above for another blow the assumed ghoul catches the weapon, unphased by how it burned as it tries to wrench the weapon away.

Struggling to its feet again it holds tight onto the flail just as she held onto its wrist, undead beast snarling at the featureless face of her helm, "Sssolar! Monster! Die!" It tries to snap at her face and neck, its own neck extending alarmingly forcing her to pull back in surprise.

>cont

>>3327402
Rage flared in her heart, the yuyut snarling back as her voice seethes with her hatred for the undead, "You don't get to kill me!" She shouts before rearing her head back and slamming it forward in a powerful headbutt that makes the cyborg reel from the blow but she did not relent, repeating the blows twice more. The third strike dents and cracks the armor of its skull and when it staggers back she kicks her boot out, planting it against the chest and the claws flex out to dig into the armor and burnt flest.

With another shout she kicks forward and down, stomping the cyborg into the ground. Her own muscles and those of the exoarmor she wore flex and strain as she pulls back with her gauntlet and with a sound of tearing metal and flesh wrenches the arm from the shoulder.

Tossing away the arm she keeps the cyborg pinned under her clawed boot as it tries clawing at her leg with the other. Its talons do manage to find purchase in the flexible chitin armor-weave between the plates but before it could really do any damage she swings the club across its face, sending teeth flying and denting its skull armor further.

A frantic bloodshot eye stares at her from within the rent helmet, Sur-Quro finally recognizing the undead as a heavily warped and modified tyrre in its last moments. She leans down, her featureless face staring into the maddened eye, "You don't get to kill anyone, ever again!"

Her gauntlet suddenly closes down over its head and the claws sink into flesh, metal and bone, the cyborg tyrre clawing at her arm in desperation, "N-no! I'm nnot ready!" its words turning to screams as flames suddenly erupt from its mouth before spreading across its body that spreads to engulf them both in a dome of radiant flame as Sur-Quro forces a Sunstrike to ignite within its very body.

Its screams filled the chamber, drowning out the gunfire momentarily as the ghouls picked up the mournful howling before they threw themselves at the Legionnaires and Pirates, dropping their guns and blasters to attack with fang and claw. The cyborgs screams are silenced as Sur-Quro wrenches her hand side to side then tears it the skull from the neck and lifts it upright in triumph.

Around her the Legionnaires and Pirates, led by Quikka and the Wardens quickly put down the suddenly feral ghouls, who no longer hand the guiding influence of the strange cyborg.

The Sunstrikes energies are absorbed back into her and Sur-Quro looks at the scorched and charred skull in her hand. Dropping it she pulls her foot back to look at the corpse of the cyborg as her squad finished wiping up the remaining undead. Looking at the headless body missing an arm she tilts her head curiously.

>cont

>>3327403
Something within the chest of the undead pulsed, a sickening burn that also seemed to paradoxically lure her attention. Kneeling down she uses the claws of her gauntlet to pry away the armored plating she'd heavily dented with her boot. She could practically taste it through her armor, a concentrated sensation that had seeped through the city with the undead, the sensation of condensed Necrotic energy.

Quikka steps forward curiously, drawn by the sudden pull of the Necrotic but kept at bay by the Solar flames that licked across the Arbiters armor, "What have you found?"

"I... don't know," Sur-Quro answers as she reaches in and tears a device from the chest cavity of the undead. The Necromancer flinches and warns caution but Sur-Quro could not hear her. Holding it in the palm of the gauntlet she tears away the metal frame to reveal a small perfectly black marble set into the center of the device. Light seemed to reflect strangely off its surface, appearing almost organic in its texture.

But at the slightest touch of Sur-Quros finger there was a roar of flame and a detonation of Solar energy as whatever strange pearl that was is immediately and violently sparked and consumed by the Arbiters energy. She cries out in surprise but there is no pain.

Quikka was fast to send herself flying back with a telekinetic leap, the painful radiation of the blast felt through her armor, "Arbiter!" she calls, the concern echoed by the others watching on in alarm.

Arbiter Sur-Quro looked as if she stood in the center of a raging bonfire, the pillar of orange, violent flames reaching the ceiling. But just as fast as the flames climbed, they retract as if siphoned. The pillar of flame collapses in a roar of displaced air until there was only Sur-Quro standing with her armor aflame.

She looks to the crumpled device in her hand, the black marble consumed in a flame that melted the delicate metal framework. Dropping it she snuffs out the flames and looks to the others, meeting their concerned stares, "Whatever this thing was, it had something of significant Necrotic energy in it."

"Are you harmed?" the Necromancer netu asks with concern as she approaches finally, "Should know to let me handle the dissections."

"No harm I think... was that a joke?" she asks with a chuckle then shakes her head, looking at her gauntlets palm, "I feel... invigorated actually. All my fatigue, gone."

Quikka crouches by the mangled body that had partially melted in the conflagration and inspects it for a moment, "If it was concentrated Necrotic energy like it felt, I can only imagine so."

>cont

>>3327406
"I can already hear the Think Tanks bemoaning my recklessness in my head. 'Lost valuable research', 'damaged dissection subjects beyond use', 'rampant Solar contamination'," Sur-Quro grumbles then shakes her head. She looks to the rest of the squad, "Alright, check your gear and get ready to move again! That other bastard won't be getting away from us!"

"Yes, Arbiter!" the Legionnaires and some of the pirates respond as they salvage ammo and weapons from the ghouls to replace their depleted ammo and damaged weapons.

>Victory!

>>3327411
Glory be ours!

>>3327411
Really didn't mean for it to take that long. Got busy with stuff irl.

Thread continuing tomorrow afternoon too. Hoping to wrap up the majority of the Barqalan stuff before starting a new Thread

>>3327490
Damn nice, it took its sweet time but it ended on a 100, totally worth it

>>3300895
A bit late, but I am glad to catch the thread again.

I like dealing with the confeds, because watching humans fumble under our superiority is just fucking glorious.

our plant friends are my utter favorite so far. I want to do more interaction with them like joint ops and such. Though we will see them more in combat in the future I am sure.

>>3327411
Sur-Quro is living to be everything I wish the Arbiters to be.

>>3328846
Hope we get that chance with taking over Refuge.

>>3329334
Plants bros are best bros

>>3331434
Is it really a takeover if the locals willingly sign up? Its more adoption than anything.

>>3328846
Note that we have blackmail material and as allies to the pirate clans, a casus belli. We can create recordings from the visual feed of our constructs. Once we've dealt with the blacksite too we can expose those grubby fuckers for what they are.

We've sworn to protect life against rogue undead and the confederate's tampering with the necromantic is more than a just cause to destroy their leadership if they don't destroy and dismantle everything and everyone involved.

If we don't want to be that overt we can allow the pirates and necrolytes to leak battle cam footage to the galaxy at large and intervene if the confeds move against them.

>>3327490
Actually Grave I've got a question. I thought that the acolytes in the elemental orders where absolute top tier stuff, but more than once in Barqalan our named have been up against unnamed elites and even with very good rolls (and a crit) their fights were really hard won.

Are our enemies really that strong? I remember when the Deathshead Guardians almost broke into the temple on the moon, that fight was fucking brutal and our guys barely managed to survive. How do our troops really compare to the known troops of the other factions?

>>3332616
Note, that to me that is all salad dressing.

Whats funny is that we made a utopia, yes underhanded methods to start, but after that?

>>3332763
Becoming the Steward of All Creation? In the end, the very end, I suspect Jadyk will end up as a near omnipotent peacekeeper of sorts. Let life keep its kingdoms and interfere when the wars threaten genocide. I mean there's only so much left when you have conquered all, and stopping people from killing each other is impossible.

And yeah I realize that it is fluff, and Grave writes some cool ass fight scenes, but I'd like to know how our forces actually compare. Like who would win 1v1 if it happens off screen with no dice?

>>3332838
the "but after that" was more "But after that starting underhandedness, waht do we actually do to make it dystopian?"

We don't really.

Also, yes I like the idea of becoming leaders of creation.

>>3332616
Nope, we are long ways from finishing our wars with the Dynasties or the Empire. Opening another front with another enemy would be foolish. We should continue to weaken their war hawk faction by continuing our humanitarian work as well as stopping rogue undead incidents while at the same time continue to smuggle our drugs to their populations. Weaken their resolve, sap their spirits and when the time comes their resistance will be lethargic at best.

Are we powered down for now?

>>3338854
Sorry to say for the moment yes.

Was going to continue with a new proper thread this week but going to the dentist for some serious work so I'll probably be too doped up to run a thread to my full capability

Next thread will be a proper start to a new day though and that included research and such