Greaves View: The Land of Airam 3

< Damos Crusade Campaign
==The Land of Airam 3==
  After talking it out for some time, it was decided to bring the King as well as a number of his most faithful subjects aboard Erika's ship, "The Brisk Intervention". The idea was that we would take out the enemy kingdom at the southern pillar. (Which is what our scanners picked up in the first sweep of the planet.) I didn't get all the details, but it seemed the southern King had played a central role in the war, and it was now our job to conquer his land and get him to surrender.
King Talonhart, Captain Willhelm, and the rest of the soldiers seemed to be in utter shock and awe at being able to view their planet from the "heavens". I can't imagine what is going on in their heads right now.
Strangely enough, I see a familiar face among Erika's crew. Well, what I could ever make out of a face I should say. (Good thing I have a strong sense of smell.) The explorator, Allen, whom I met at Jika was loitering around the ship. "You!" I shout out. "Where the heck have you been all this time!?"
"Don't blame me!" He cries out defensively. "Erika had me transported unto her ship! I had no say in the matter!" He gets my sympathy.
Our combined crew meet at the bridge to go over the attack plan. Erika and Vandal point out that the mercenary and storm trooper squads would be transported via drop pods around the spire, landing right on its defensive wall. I, alongside several notable crew-mates, will land by transporter outside the wall, and destroy the main gate with explosives. Once we conquered the spire's surrondings, we'll move inside, find the southern king, and either kill him, or force his surrender.
As far as the King Talonhart's men are concerned, they will come in late in the battle so that they claim the land for themselves. A rather generous offer by the captains. Also, our scanners picked up several small energy sources under the tower.
Amongst those joining in this assault were the explorator Allen. A void mistress by the name of Nicole, (Who for some reason, seems to enjoy teasing me.) took the wheel of the transport. Kalei suits up and heads to the closest seat to the door. (He seems eager.) I see Victruss finally joining up with us. Lastly, the seneschal Zickle came aboard followed by our captains.
We descended unto the spire's plains as planed. When I exit the ship, I see that the drop pods had all landed at their exact coordinates, save one that was buried in some of the wall's rubble after skimming it. Our group tried to get close to the wall, but are stopped by crossbow fire. Erika called a squad of storm troopers to grappel down the wall and plant melta charges.
The Storm Troopers succeed in their mission with one casualty and move out of the way of the bombs' blast zone. Unfortunately it seems they had trouble with the melta's detonator, forcing us to shoot at the explosives to set them off. Erika succeeded, and the gate disappears in a green burst of energy. We charged at the spire, while Nicole stayed behind to pilot the transport and support us from above.
We enter the spire's wall, and see rows of smoking armored boots in place of all the guards that had stood behind the gate. (I almost feel sorry for them.) We had no problem reaching the spire, and infiltrating it.
Orange glowing lanterns hung on the ceiling of the hall, giving the spire's inner chambers an eery, yet enchanting atmosphere. In front of us, we see two flights of curved stairs leading to the tower's higher levels; another pair of stairs leading downward circled around the first pair. Upon further investigation, we found a door with it's own flight of stairs going both up and down. As Zickle went upstairs to plant Talonhart's flag on the tower's top, the rest of the crew as well as some Storm Troopers descended the stairs to the spire's underground lair. I took point.
The steps seemed to go on for miles into the earth. I notice several paintings along the walls as we traveled. (Hopefully there isn't one of those cliché paintings that allow for someone to spy on us.) Oddly enough, the stone walls and stairs slowly gave way to metal ones. This caused our steps to echo louder throughout the staircase. At the bottom we find a door with a switch handle next to it. Kalei pulled, and broke, it, opening the door. We cautiously moved inside.
An ENORMOUS dark room awaited us. I can make out most of its grandeur because of my eyes, but I can't fathom just how large the place was. We turn on our lights and start looking around. "Hey! I see something!" Allen yelled. We moved towards him and find a piano of all things. (Why a piano?)
According to Allen, the piano seems to act as a control panel. (Again, why a piano?) Kalei starts pressing on the keys randomly..... Then the lights turn on, blinding us momentarily. This light allowed us to see several doors on the other side of the wall. Each one differently decorated.
At this point, I should mention that while we were downstairs, Zickle, upon completing his goal, had found the King's attire, and donned it to convince the local citizenry to flee the spire. Nicole picked him up, and landed at ground level. She went into the spire, bringing a supply kit with her. Zickle joined her, telling us about the situation from his position.
Erika started opening the doors one after another to find the King of the South. She found a compartment full of data crystals, and a training room. As she was about to open the third door, the lights suddenly went out! A moment later, I hear screaming and the sound of blood being spilled. I pull out my powersword and brace myself for combat.
I hear laughing whispers surrounding me. I can't tell what language it is, but from what I can figure out, the voices seem to be taking pleasure in tormenting whoever was left in the group. I hear Kalei shout something in a foreign tongue. (At least he's still here.) My eyes adjust to the darkness, but I still can't seem to spy the devils that are hunting us.
I hear more screams and blood splatter. I now know that relying on eyesight alone will get me killed. I close my eyes to better listen, and smell. I can sense them now. I can hear their tattered clothes in the air before they strike. I smell their musky scent. I open my eyes again. One of them is getting close....
The light above us dimly turns on, illuminating the monsters. They were humanoid, but they had a grotesque image, and were covered in dark insignias that moved across their bodies. Moreover, as the light flickered, they seemed to melt into the abyss. They lash out, one of them coming after me. I dodge its scythes, and let out a war howl as I engage the beast. Gunfire erupts around the hall.
I see flares being lit up and scattered across the room. I'm aware of grenades being thrown, and men screaming. I hear unearthly howls as bullets find their mark. One such bullet struck the demon in front of me in the back of the head, but didn't fell him.
I take the chance to strike, I moved to thrust my blade at the monster's chest. It put out its scythes out to block the blow, but it failed to realize where I was truly aiming for. At the last second, I moved the hilt of my sword to instead swing my blade skyward. Then I brought it down to split the monstrosity's face into two. Dark energy rushed over my face as the dark creature fell. It disappeared entirely from my sight, and became no more.
I look around to see the rest of my crew having similar success. Before I could pick out my next target, the crew slaughters the rest of them. The last of the beings crawled on the ground, one of its legs destroyed. Unfortunately it seems that many of the Storm Troopers weren't so lucky. About two thirds of them were killed during the devils initial assault. Ericka shoots the final monstrosity with a handgun, ending its life.
The stairway door bursted open and Captain Willhelm came out, his claymore in hand. Only for him to sheath it. Some of his knights follow in behind him.
After collecting ourselves from the encounter, Erika opens the third door, and almost immediately I hear Allen's voice shouting "Don't shoot him, he saved me!". Inside the room we find an elderly man, whom seemed to be a servant of the southern King. He apparently felt some sort of...kinship with the explorator, and pulled him inside to avoid confrontation with the "protectors". The man informs us that the King had long since left this realm to fight in the north.
What's far more interesting, is a suit of armor we discovered at the far end of the room. It was far different from any armor worn by us and the knights. In fact, it appears to be on the same level as space marine armor. We couldn't get to it though, it was behind a barrier we couldn't penetrate. We did notice that its right arm was missing. My thoughts turn to King Talonhart's gauntlet. "Didn't the king say that his ancestor came from this land?" I ponder out-loud. Erika immediately got on her microbead, and told her men to secure the king and bring him downstairs. By gunpoint if necessary.
Vandal defended the King prior to his descent saying that the King said all of their ancestors came from the south, and that this place used to be their kingdom. It was too late for Erika to change her order into something more subtle unfortunately, and King Talonhart was brought to Erika demanding why she had her men pointing sticks (guns) at him. She convinced him that it was a necessary measure to get him downstairs as quickly as possible.
She went on to try to convince him to let her see his gauntlet. "But it'll kill you!" Talonhart stated. Erika quickly replied, "Yes. Yes. I'm well aware. I don't wish to wear it, only to observe it." The King was conflicted, but complied with Erika's request.
Allen did a scan on the gauntlet and found out that the armor piece had an unique power since it was in fact crafted by both human and Eldar technology. It allowed the wearer to have some psychic capabilities amongst other powers. It also was locked to the King's DNA, so that it would only be able to be used by his kin.
Allen went on saying that the armor wasn't the only thing built by human/eldar tech. The whole underground lair was in fact an ark dating back prior to the God Emperor's era. He put it in layman's terms for the King that his entire people came on this planet, on this ship. Once King Talonhart realized the significance of what Allen was saying, he looked around him with wonder, and possibly pride. Ericka gave him back his gauntlet, which he recieved gratefully.
Afterwards, Kalei did quite a noble thing by presenting King Talonhart with his gun, pledging his loyalty to the King. He also gave Talonhart a demonstration on how to wield the "stick".
Before we left for the north, Erika and Vandal had a quick argument about the planet's resources. Erika wanted to have the armor and ship examined in order to create duplicates that could match the armor's power. However Vandal interjected, he said that since his party landed first, the resources of the planet belonged to him. Erika relented, but she and Vandal were able to find a middle ground for what they thought was the best way to use the resources. Vandal agreed to let Erika's men to unearth the ark, and to experiment on the armor: But in return, she could not interfere directly with the northern kingdom's people. It would be up to Vandal to find the best way to cooperate with the Kingdom of Airam, on behalf of the Imperium of the God Emperor.
We then searched the ship for items that could be useful for our future endeavors. I tried looking into the armory to see if I could find any weapons worth wielding, but came up empty.