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Full Version: Trials of Tobias, Session 4
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I pick my way through the ruined Ecclesiarchy shrine, crunching through rubble and twisted metal, blackened earth and smoking corpses.
I pause, reflecting on the events that brought me here, to Enbar X.
Thanks to our elimination of the Nurgle-devoted Chaos Lord on Enbar Prime, the majority of the invasion of the Enbar system had ground to a halt. However, a detachment of Night Lords traitor Marines had moved on past Enbar Prime, raiding and pillaging the subsequent colonies of the Enbar Sector.
I continue on my way, my task being to rescue any survivors of the Ecclesiarchy and Schola Progenium enclaves on this world. My force ax, Bulwark, on my back and my bolt pistol in my hand, I continue to work my way through the ruins, searching for any signs of life.
A movement in the rubble catches my eye and I begin to dig carefully with my bionic hands, the servos whirring and grinding as I heft chunks of masonry in my 'hands.'
About fifteen seconds later, I haul a battered, scarred-looking Imperial Guard sergeant out of the wreckage. He spits reflectively off to the side, coughing, and regards me suspiciously. "Whaddyab want?" He takes in my power-armored form and he snarls. "Ya stupid vat-grown piece a'shit! Here to finish me off are ya?"
My eyes narrow and I attempt to explain my identity, but he's not having any of it. He draws out a combat knife and lunges at me, but I deflect both of his blows with Bulwark and I bellow, "I AM NO HERETIC!" directly in his face.
He staggers back, glaring when I shove him.
Fortunately recognition dawns in his eyes when he sees the Iron Hands emblem on my left pauldron and the Librarius skull on my right.
Quickly the sergeant kneels. "Apologies, my lord Astartes," he mumbles.
"Rise, Guardsman. The Emperor has brought us together for a purpose. Have you a weapon?"
"Aye, that I do," he says, indicating a missile launcher on his back.
I spot a sealed container on his belt and I glance at it briefly. "What is in that receptacle, Guardsman?"
"I don't know, my lord."
I sigh. The container is psy-warded, so it resists the attempts of my mind to scry what's in it. I shrug, slinging Bulwark on my shoulder again, and we continue on our way, the Sergeant hefting his missile launcher on his back. It takes an impressive physique for a non-Astartes to man one on their own, and I respect his dedication, even if I do resent his initial reaction to me.
I pause, gesturing for the Guardsman to halt. I feel the cables of my psychic hood going cold and I unsling Bulwark from my shoulder, igniting its blade with a flash. "I sense a presence..."
I can't see the as-yet-unknown adversary, but I can sense him. A Chaos Sorcerer. I indicate for the sergeant to ready his missile launcher. "Load krak missile," I order. He looks uncertain but obeys. I focus my mind and detect the precise location of the Sorcerer. I gesture for where to aim, and order the sergeant to fire when ready. He shrugs and clenches his jaw as he pulls the trigger, the backblast of the launcher jerking him back a few inches as a krak missile speeds off into the ruins, detonating thunderously.
Rubble rains down around us. "Happy now?" he growls snidely.
"Silence." I point to the crater his missile left in the ruins, and the figure rising up out of it. A Sorcerer of the Alpha Legion, the mark of the Hydra tattooed on his face and a force staff in his hand. He levels a bolt pistol at us and snaps off a few shots, but fails to hit us. "Stay back!" I bark at the Guardsman as I maneuver forward through the rocks, returning fire with my own pistol, but a mystical energy field envelopes him, warding off my shot.
I growl, clenching my teeth as my psychic hood glows, as do my eyes. However, before I can manifest any power, I feel the malevolent touch of the Sorcerer's mind choking off any manifestation of my ability. He shoots again, but his shot strikes my kneeplate, scarring the paint but doing little else.
I see sorcerous energies gathering around his staff and suddenly blood flows from his eyes, nose, and ears--psychic backlash. He shrieks and emits lightning from his fingertips despite his pain.
I yell in agony as the lightning arcs between us, sparking through my bionics and causing them to spasm, making me drop my weapons and burning my flesh. I fall to the ground, my consciousness fading.
I force myself back to wakefulness and pull myself up onto my knees--my bionic right arm is still offline but my left is just fine and my vision, although blurry around the edges, is otherwise clear. I level my bolt pistol at the sorcerer, and fire. Again the shot is absorbed by the aura around him. I reach for Bulwark, dropping my empty pistol to the ground. I heft my ax one-handed and crawl towards the sorcerer, who takes aim and fires, but his shot careens off my armor out of sight, exploding out of view. Meanwhile, the Guard sergeant is nowhere to be seen...Until a missile streaks past the Sorcerer's head, missing him by a few inches. He gives a terrible howl and prepares to let fly with lightning again.
I try to counter it with a banshee scream but again he chokes off my power. He unleashes his lightning, not at me, but at the out-of-view Sergeant. I smell burning flesh and hear a death-cry as the Sergeant expires ignominiously.
My arm still isn't back online and I push myself to my feet with Bulwark's haft. I glare at the Sorceror and soon we're circling each other in deadly close combat.
We're about evenly matched--his staff can hit with more force, but cannot penetrate my armor, while my unwieldy ax can easily cleave through his armor, but strikes after his staff because of its bulk.
His staff crashes against me and my armor nearly cracks; I manage to survive and strike one-handed with Bulwark. Amazingly his armor turns aside my strike despite the lethal cutting edge of my ax. My arm comes back online just in time for me to parry two more blows, but for each of those, two more slip through my defenses and I'm wounded, but not badly; the power field of the staff burns my skin painfully.
My blade crashes through his mystical protection and I rip it out of his flesh with a triumphant yell.
However, he's still alive. Not done yet. He retaliates again with his staff. It crashes into my head and everything goes dark...