Aldegund charges the clone with his thunder hammer, refusing to acknowledge it for what it is.
"Perish like the source of your birth did before you"
Weapon Skill 46+20=66
E Pen 17
Horus catches the grenade with his free hand clinching it tight it explodes destroying a few of his fingers.
He grins, face half torn off by the damage by now and spots the night lord launching himself swinging Worldbreaker wide smashing into all that stood in his way.
the blow destroys 3 rubric marines in the process.
The psychic attack bounces off the warmaster with no affect and then suddenly a large hammer slams into his side. Horus turns growling swinging his broken fist at the iron warrior.
v 58(48+10)
Horus fist bashes Aldegund aside slamming into a group of rubric marines who all crumble to bits.
Akkad chants/growls in two voices simultaneously, "The Sacrificed King shall not return, you were made to die!" and he rushes, swinging desperately.
E, pen 7, felling (4), concussive (0)
Horus turns and catches the Crozius in his broken hand, acid drool dripping down one side of his face where there was once flesh but now is only bone from the tissue damage he has taken.
He attempts to swing Worldbearer as Akkad but misses.
Horus is able to wretch the weapon away from Akkad and throws it to the side.
"Enough."
Abaddon stood behind Horus. He had not screamed the word. He had barely even raised his voice. The absolute authority in Abaddon’s tone was all he required. In his armour Abaddon was the equal of his father’s clone, both in stature and in the fury he emanated. The Warmaster’s name is whispered as a curse on a million worlds in this last, dark millennium, with many Imperial peasants – those who are even aware of the events that shaped our empire – believing Abaddon to be Horus’s cloned son. It would not surprise those superstitious souls to learn that, in that moment as they both stood before you, only their wounds and their armament set them apart. In all else, they were twins.
Horus turned in a blur, Worldbreaker swinging in an arc faster than a weapon of its size and weight should ever be able to move. Abaddon not only parried the mace, he caught it. He held it. He gripped it in that great Talon stained with the blood of a god and His angel.
Father and son faced each other, breathing spite into each other’s snarling features. For the first time, the primarch spoke. Spit stringed between his teeth. They were clean and unmarked, not etched with Cthonian hieroglyphs as Abaddon’s were.
"That. Is. My. Talon."
Abaddon closed his fist. Worldbreaker broke, shattering against a superior weapon. Scrap metal fell from Abaddon’s scythed fingers.
Horus gave a conqueror’s smirk from what remained of his face. Recognition, true recognition, flared in the only eye he had left.
"Ezekyle." His voice was a breath of relief and revelation. "It’s you. It’s you, my son."
All five of Abaddon’s claws rammed so deeply into Horus’s chest that they burst from his back. The scythes pushed out the stunted remains of Telemachon’s swords and Draex axes, sending the blades clattering against the floor.
Dark redness spread across what was left of the white fur cloak draped in tatters across Horus’s shoulders.
The storm bolter on the Talon’s back kicked three times, burying six bolts inside Horus’s exposed chest and neck. They blasted him apart from within, adding viscera to the blood slopping across those of you left prone.
Horus’s knees buckled but Abaddon would not let him fall. Horus’s mouth worked but no sound came forth. If his last words found any voice, Abaddon was the only one to hear it.
Abaddon whispered five soft words before letting the body fall to the ground.
"I am not your son."
"A waste. Worldbreaker was a fine weapon."
Menstras pays the fallen Primarch little attention and busies himself checking the fallen for survivors.
Akkad retrieves his mace, and walks to Abaddon and salutes.
"Your orders, Warmaster?" the last word spoken/growled in two voices.
Ulasht salutes Abaddon, nodding to Akkad, "He is right, if you had not earned the title before, it is one befitting you now Warmaster".
Ulasht heads to Khayon first to assist his fellow Sorcerer back to his feet retrieving his weapon in the process.
Damage report:
Lheor and all the fifteen fangs are dead leaving Draex that last of his old warband.
Over fifty of the Rubric Marines were destroyed.
Khayon and his Dark Eldar still live but are injured.
Those of you who got "hit" by Horus are also injured fairly bad.
"Today we set in motion a change my brothers. Today we are no longer broken warriors of broken legions but one and will bring our enemies to their knees!"
He looks to everyone and helps those up that are still alive as well with the rest of you.
"We will take the remains to Lupercalius and dispose of them properly as should have been done from the beginning and then we will start our new journey together. Others will hear of what we did here today and come to us. Some as enemies others as allies. We will unite all and strike back at those who think us gone my brothers."
"Gather the survivors and take the gene-seeds as needed we head back to the Vengful Spirit as our work here is done. Chief Apothecary Fabius will be our honored guest in the cells."
After helping Khayon to his feet, Ulasht turns to the Warmaster, "I shall bear the corpse back to the Vengeful Spirit Warmaster".
Ulasht picks up the corpse of the false Horus for transport back to the ship.
Aldegund coughs loudly, but still holding his hammer or more likely dragging it and using it for leverage to stand and walk "If he can clone Lupercal, has he cloned someone else?"
Finally regaining some more senses "This was a bit unexpected" as he begins to do a bodycount "Well worth it tho"
Draex finds the strength to return to his feet. His face in ruin... well more mangled than before. Staggering to reclaim his lost items helmet and chain axes. The blow was so strong to the head even the nails shut the hell up... possibly restarting.
"I am all that is left" Draex gathers the body of lheor and brings for proper rights. He barely has the strenght for one, but he is taking his captin. His friend.
Menstras offers Deathraven his and as he watches Draex perform his rights.
"We've paved a heavy price to give birth to this Primarch. I would not have you miss this Legion born inspite of the Emperor's light. Brother."
Words spoken without venom yet still foreign to tongue and ear.
Ulasht turns to Draex, "No, you are not the end but the beginning".
He pauses for a moment and rips off his helm tossing it to the deck, "All things must end for new things to begin". His boot smashes the helm crumpling it as he continues the evacuation to the Vengeful Spirit.
Deathraven shirks the remains of his shattered armor as he stands with Menstras's aid. His breathing is still ragged as his lungs fight to repair themselves. He spits a mouthful of bloody acid to the deck before nodding his thanks to Menstras. He picked up his plasma pistol and holstered it before gathering the pieces of his armor and joining the others.
Walking as best he can to stand before Abaddon, Warmaster of their new legion achieving their first victory, of many more to come, standing as tall and mighty as he can, he begins to speak with no amount short of pain and pride.
"For those long dead" looking at the empty husks of broken power armor that remains of the Thousand Sons.
"From bravery and recklessness" looking at Draex and the rest of the World Eaters.
"Wise and treacherous" looking at the fallen son of the lion
"Proud and stubborn" as he taps his chest.
"And the darkness within all of us" taking a look at Mestas
"The hopeless, but hopeful and helpful" looking at Akkad
"Even from former enemies, to new found allies can be met" talking about the only Emperor's Children and the Dark Eldar that fought beside them.
"All those things will be enveloped and clad in black, the only color that is strong enough to take over all others". looking at Abaddon.
"Yet a paint and clay without any shaping hand, purpose and character still. Abaddon, will you take this wretched colors and differences? Will you take our spelt blood, broken bones, fighting spirit and shape it into one?" looking at Abaddon and all other "If you choose to do so, we will help you give it shape and form... yes I see it now" as the Iron Warrior spaces out thinking in designs and his crafting.
Abaddon places his hand on Aldegund's shoulder guard.
"Yes brother, we are now one. We all will have our duties and tasks in the days to come. I see your desires to make things better and leave that in your hands. You will make us strong of arms and we will all be clad in the black as you say."
He looks to each of you.
"Our brother Aldegund is correct. Even with all our differences and upbringings we have shown today that those things matter not. What truly matters is Brotherhood. And we the few bested the many today through that Brotherhood."
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After boarding the Vengful Spirit you break away from Harmony and make direct path to Lupercalius where Horus remains are cremated properly. Through integration of Fabius you learn that everything is truly lost that he worked on. The Taloc destroyed his laboratory completely and you all took care of the rest on his ship. Several months pass during this time (Yay downtime) and during that time a few new ships join you. Scattered Legionairs from all the 9 legions who wished to fall under your banner.
During that time Aldegund worked on crafting armour befitting your new brotherhood and thus the Black Legion armour was made. (I'm going to modify it to give +1AP to everyone in this group even if your aligned to a god since you are the founders).
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Concluding the cremation ceremony Abaddon looks to his growing Legion.
"Our first step is completed now we must unite the 9 legions to a single cause. That cause is the fall of the Imperium. We will travel to each of the home worlds and confront the Primarch or those who would call themselves leaders of their Warbands and bend them to our cause be it willingly or by force. We will travel to Sortiarius first and speak with Magnus One Eye."
The Brother former Luna Wolf known as Ulasht the Unyielding and the former Son of Horus known as Ulasht the Living Nightmare attends the ceremony clad in his new Black Plated Power Armor, old helm gone. The symbols of his old Legions gone. His loyalty lay with Abaddon now as Taloc the Spear of Righteousness. A name taken in honor of the first of many deeds he will perform with his new Legion.
"We are ready when you are, Warmaster. Have you intel on whether Magnus views our actions favorably?"
Deathraven stands before the Warmaster, resplendent and menacing in his new black armor, his helm under his arm. He pounds his other fist to his chest twice before speaking.
"Warmaster, I would request the honour of approaching the Fury of the First to offer them a place under our banner at the appropriate time. I believe they will prove an asset worthy of the name. And if they don't fall into line, I would rather be the one to bring them to heel. My old brothers deserve that much, at least."
"The Cyclops is always watching from his tower so I'm sure he already knows we will be coming to entertain him soon. As for his motivations it is hard to say how the spawn of chaos now think. They are now ascended far beyond anything we can imagine but that is why we have you and Khayon." Abaddon grins at Ulasht now known as taloc.
He turns to Deathraven. "That is a fine ambition brother. If we can swell our forces with like minded Legionaires then the better. If they do not agree then we shall crush them under our boot and not give your old brothers the satisfaction of doing it themselves."
Deathraven nodded in acknowledgment before turning his mind to other matters.
*****************************************
During the downtime, Deathraven wanted to acquire the following:
A good craftsmanship Mind Impulse Unit
A jetpack modified for MIU control.
Menstras will refrain from donning the new Legion's black choosing to leave his armor entirely unadorned and unpainted. Much of his time is spent in one of the Vengeful Spirit's hangars. He speaks to few beyond necessity and avoids brothers from his former legion entirely.
vs 55 for the MIU
It is a heavy choice to walk away from one's heritage, and Akkad spends much time meeting with Sargon, trying to understand his path and what led him to serve as Abaddon's prophet, along with any secrets or wisdom he has picked up along the way. The day will come when he must return to Sicarus, and Akkad wants to be ready.
Akkad:
Sargon tells you of some visions he has had that have foreseen the end of the Imperium through the actions your group is a part of. He tells you of why he does not follow Lorgar's teachings any longer and his thoughts as to why Lorgar basically left the legion to "contemplate" after your legion retreated into the eye. Some things were flawed and the realization if Horus had his way all of humanity would of been lost and that the pantheon should not be followed blindly. He seems sincere in his words and you realize he is a pretty powerful sorcerer.
##################
Menstras:
You stay to yourself throughout the coming days but are payed a visit by Abaddon about a month after Horus remains were destroyed.
"Why do you hide in the shadows brother? Why not embrace what we have accomplished and what we will accomplish together."
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The Illumination:
Sortiarius, the daemon world and home world to what remains of most of the Thousand Sons is in your occulus view. After months of traveling to Segmentum Obscurus your finally here. Sortiarius has a similar ring to that of Saturn, spectrally white against the tumultuous violet of Eyespace. It was formed not from ice or rock, but from shrieking souls. it is dark, rocky, highly volcanic and suffers from constant climatic turmoil and change. Its skies are scarred by relentless storms of Warp energy. Towers thrust up from rocks jutting from the world's lava plains, twisted mockeries of what the City of Light once was like in the years of the Great Crusade. Dwarfing all the other edifices is Magnus' own tower, an obsidian monolith called the Tower of the Cyclops. The great, glowing eye of the Tower watches over the planet, its gaze penetrating the Warp into the material galaxy beyond the borders of the Eye of Terror. (Think Lord of the Rings).
Your fleet now consists of 7 additional ships ranging from small warband vessels to Frigate class.
Draex walks through the halls always within earshot of the battle cages. The sound of combat is comforting. Draex is sporting his new void color Black legion armor in support to the new warband he has become a part of. Punching commands into a data slate making sure Marines were ready to deploy at any given moment with sufficient weaponry and ammunition. Draex is also over seeing the combat readiness of new warriors, watching learning newing as he spars with combatants from every broken legion becoming a Draex from times to time wonders what of the next warrior to receive the geneseed from lheor finding himself from time to time in the labs that will produce the next waves of bio engineered space marines
Deathraven stood on the bridge next to the command throne. He gazed at the reports from the Auger stations, not seeing any defenses of note. This made him uncomfortable, and he didn't mind showing it through the flexing of his power fist.
"Have we received any signals from the surface acknowledging our presence?"
Khayon stares out the occulus at his old legions daemon world.
"Magnus knows we are here just chooses to do nothing like he did on our home world until it was to late."
"Shall I prepare a transport, Warmaster?"
Abaddon turns to the crew.
"Lets go, we will only take a small force to the planet. I do not sense any danger."
Sargon nods to Abaddon at that.
Taloc nods to Abaddon, "If Magnus One-Eye will sit in his tower and brood hie Legion will flock to our cause. We are not meant to sit, we are meant for action".
"I will take that as an affirmative. Menstras, care to co-pilot?"
Deathraven asked the question across the vox as he was already moving to the hangar.
The last month had seen him sedentary, often staring into the void with a seeming lack of intent. Despite his lack of reported movement his armor and equipment show no signs of the disregard apparent on many.
What else did I expect? The Emperor's Children deface themselves in such a manner so their product should not be a surprise.
Abaddon's voice finds him unaware, off setting his composure. Menstras silences the recordings within his helm as he turns.
"Warmaster."
Menstras offers no obeisance.
"Others celebrate your victory as their own and I bear no desire to join them."
Menstras glances to his helmet's time stamp. 11 hours. 11 hours of century old wailing.
"How did it feel to truly kill a Primarch?"
-------
"Very well brother."
Menstras will begin preparing a Thunderhawk .
"A planet full of witches, sorcerers and warp dabblers.... how the nails will sing" Draex exclaims to him self. No soo er than he finishes his statement, draex feels a pinch in his head and the warm trickle of blood ooze out his nostrils