Ambush at the Pantheon

## Campaign

### Bronze Guardians

It was a normal day for the Bronze Guardians. The Chapter Master, Marcellus Tacitus, was talking over the plans for a campaign where their assistance was requested, in his office at the Pantheon. The Hall of Statues was being guarded, as always. On this day Legatus Legionus Somek, a librarian, was standing guard with a small squad of guardians, standing silently amongst the statues. The hall seemed quiet but Somek realised that they were not alone, recognising the feel of chaos in the halls. With a silent warning to his brothers, he informed them that their halls were being infiltrated. With a powerful psychic scream, Somek reached out to the invisible Marine and grabbed him by the neck and threw him on the sword of the statue across from him in the hall, instantly killing him while the other Guardians' screams echoed through the halls and the battle of the halls of statues took place.

Chapter Master Tacitus was informed of the arrival of the Verum Illuminate. He did not waste any time to reach the hall of statues and engage the enemy. The battle of the Halls of statues was won swiftly with little casualties for the Bronze Guardians. Meanwhile, the leader of the Verum Illuminate expedition infiltrated the Maze. He was looking for a sorcerer's cloak and relics, including gene-seed that used to belong to them. Lord Walsh met his end when he triggered the defence systems of the labyrinth and he became trapped and faced with a dreadnought. This campaign was a clear victory for the Bronze Guardians and a massacre for the forces of the Verum Illuminate.

### Verum Illuminate

The Verum Illuminate were returning from a campaign. They exited the warp when their radar realised there was a familiar ping on their radar. Their old ship, that had been stolen by loyalists in order to escape the Stygian Civil war, was squawking its ID. The Verum Illuminate could not pass up the opportunity to reacquire their own ship, seeing as their supplies were low. What they did not expect was to meet their old rivals on that planet. The team that was sent to retrieve the ship, did so without incident, although they were detected and followed to their home planet, this part of the mission, under Commander Robert McGee, was a bloodless and successful campaign. The second special ops team, did not fare as well.

Lord Carl Walsh led his team through the hall of statues of the Pantheon. He had not yet realised that the Bronze Guardians were an old enemy of the Chaos Warband until he recognised the face of one of the statues. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Verum Illuminate task force as some of the statues were really members of the Bronze Guardians standing watch in the Fortress Monastery. It was a massacre but Lord Walsh and one seeker were able to make it to the entrance of the labyrinth that lead to the vaults. A powerful chaos sorceress had ordered them to retrieve the sorceress' magical cloak. At this point, Lord Walsh was also set on stealing back the gene seed of his Chapter as he realised that they were in fact his old enemy. Once he entered the labyrinth, he started making his way deeper. He was not aware of the traps and the fails safes created in the underground portion of the fortress. He inadvertently awoke a dreadnought who's purpose was to protect the Chapter's secrets and relic. Lord Walsh was killed inside the labyrinth and the mission failed.

## Impact

The Verum Illuminate retrieved their ship and had a very successful mission for the team of Commander McGee. As for Lord Walsh, his part of the mission was a crushing defeat, which took the lives of every member of the tam and he did not accomplish any part of his objective, which was retrieving the gene-seed and the Sorceress' cloak. For the Bronze Guardians, this altercation had a very low casualty rate for their Chapter. They defended their halls with pride, honour and force. They did lose a ship but otherwise, it was a strong, honourable victory.