Getting down and dirty

So, on to the boring part of warfare: waiting. We set up trenches for cover, hide the Chimera as best we can and set up both short and long range patrols. We know that the heretics are probably out looking for us, but we should be set up well enough for spotting them first and retreating if need be. 

7 days pass without incident when Halia reports back from the OP: convoy spotted! Two big transports with light weaponry and 3 walkers. We could possibly ambush them and capture a few heretics for questioning, but we figure that there's a better chance of getting at the general by following them. The last guy was pretty mental anyway. 

So we set out, with Lorak following at close distance, Halia in the walker a bit further back and the rest of us in the Chimera even further back. We spot 15 guardsmen in all, with 1 walker on guard duty at all times. We follow them for 6 days into the mountains before we start moving downwards again, and we spot the enemy base. Fairly big for being an outpost, situated next to a big cave entrance. All plasteel with a big comms tower capable of long range messages (up to orbit). A lot of stormtroopers (or whatever they're now called, chaos stormers?), a big garage with a Lemann-Russ tank, barracks, armory, the works. We estimate a capacity of around 100 men. 

We quickly discover that we need to establish an OP while keeping the Chimera far back, 2 hours of walking. On the first day we spot around 60 men, with 20 stormers and 2 regimental commanders - quite unusual. No obvious sign of Chaos, mutations or the like. These guys are obviously more subtle of how they worship the ruinous powers. We see 4 guards by the gate and a sniper in the tower. At night, searchlights sweep the compound and nearby area. 

On the second day, we get our chance: the two regimental commanders and a guy with general insignia appears. Seems like the best chance we'll get...at a distance of 300 meters, I don't see any issues with gunning down an unarmored man. I get Bertha into position with the help of Shandra, say a prayer to the God-Emperor to guide my hand and let loose with tightly controlled bursts. Sure enough, the general is ripped into lovely little shreds by the trusty Cadian autocannon - hooah!!! 

We've set up a retreat path towards the Chimera and just start running like crazy up into the mountains. After half an hour we hear the screams of Valkyries...and the sensor plane hovering above them. Spotted, shit! We find cover as best we can as the hellfire missiles turns the world upside down around us, showering us with rubble and dust. No one gets hit at first, but on the second pass Harkness takes an indirect hit but luckily stays on his feet. Somewhat at least...those burns will leave some nasty scars. 

We start spreading out more, presenting fewer targets for each missile. Surely the God-Emperor holds his hand over us, we get three more salvos but miraculously manage to escape without any further injuries. Praise be to Him and the Cadian IG's training! Out of ammo, the valkyries retreat back to the base. We see other heretics milling about far below us, and decide to try to find an entry into the nearby hive. 

After some searching, we find a duct, use the lascutter and enter it, with Halia in front. For some reason all of us forgot to bring rope...but we slash some of our bedrolls and construct a sort of rope so Halia can lower herself to 30 meters or so into the ventilation system. After some searching we find a service entrance and enter it, finding ourselves in a workshop of sorts. Obviously abandoned. We salvage some gear (including rope!) and make our way to the elevator. It's fucked. We get to climbing and discover we're in some sort of tower on the outskirts of the hive proper. Harkness finds a datapad, discovering that the hive was probably abandoned some 250 years ago. Eventually we make our way to the bottom into the middle hive. 

The hive is pretty big, bigger than any of the cities on Cadia. Looming gothic towers can be seen in the darkness, with lots of colored glass and wicked-looking gargoyles. And we're not alone...we see pretty fresh-looking footprints, both human-sized and bigger. Shit. I have a feeling we won't be invited in for tea and biscuits by the inhabitants. 

The hive is mostly completely dark, with the exception of backup emergency lighting here and there. Harkness hacks a small Chimera-like transport (without the weapons), but after driving for a short while we get stuck in traffic that's come to a standstill - literally. Not a soul in sight, but the roads are filled with vehicles. Back to foot we go. 

We see no bodies whatsoever, not even the remains of any. Getting weird this. Peering into a few living quarters, we see signs of normal life like plates on the tables, dishes, dirty clothes, the whole she-bang. It's like someone or something just came in and took away all the people. I've heard that the God-Emperor's light hardly shines when a world is trapped in a warp storm - I pity and sympathize with the long-dead people of this place. May they have found peace in the embrace of our God-Lord in the end. 

We see tracks here and there, and we're obviously on high alert. And sure enough, suddenly we see 6-7 characters at the other end of a bridge. The sarge picks up the magnocular and sure enough, tea is cancelled - I don't think chaos-worshipping mutants have a selected array of biscuits waiting for us either. They carry guns of various sorts, one of them's got a warp amulet of sorts we all recognize from Cadia. 

So, what do you do with Chaos worshippers? Well, they need to die. We rip them to shreds in less than 10 seconds, then retreat into a nearby building. 30 minutes pass..and then a bunch of mutants appear. There's a huge guy the size of an Ogryn with a ton of mutations, obviously the leader. He's got two fucked-up looking dogs on a leash, their innards clearly visible through their transparent skin. Ooook....

We do a tactical retreat to nearby building, heading towards a church. As Halia's about to run across the square leading to it, Kale grabs her and shakes his head gravely. "Chaos awaits us there" he whispers hoarsely. I don't mind getting very personal with Chaos fiends, but finding a better place to do the fighting seems prudent. A few minutes later we find just such a spot. The enemy's forced to cross some open space while we have pretty good options for cover. Doubt we'll be able to pick them all off at a distance but fuck it, praise be and let's kill some mutant scum!