Cole moved into cover as soon as he heard the heavy bolter unleash on them. Finding himself on the opposite side of where Andromedai was. Now, this is a proper ambush. Cole thought as he waited a bit before firing back a volley of laser fire. Not scoring a hit, "these cultists are sure dug in their hole up there. I can't get a clear shot." This is not good, he thought as he looked where Andromedai and the rest were. Their cover will not hold up forever against that heavy bolter fire. And the fact they will have to cross open ground just to reach the building and have to climb up to that level just puts the icing on the cake. They need a plan right now, and as he turned to talk to the others. He heard what Adrianne said as watched as both her and Stukov teleported. "Good hunting and good luck, you two," he said under his breath.

As the heavy bolter fire ceased, Cole had a smile on his face. There goes the current problem, he thought as he turned back to Andromedai. He was about to ask her something when Medaira spoke up. That was a good point. What are the chances that this is the only ambush group. First, the suicide bomber and then a heavy bolter team. There just might be more cultists in wait or ready to move on them now that the heavy bolter is silenced. "Andromedai if there are more of these cultists around us and coming for us. I suggest we find somewhere with better cover before more cultists come for us." Cole then looked around the area with his lasgun at the ready. Watching for any more signs of hostile activity. They were caught out twice, and he would not get caught out a third time if he can help it.

Still hiding behind the metal riot barrier, Celestian Andromedai held her ground as the seemingly endless heavy bolter fire pelted her location. The heavy weapons explosive rounds would occasionally fly over her head and detonate, though thankfully none had managed to bypass her Rosarius, and were little more than a nuisance as long as she did not take any direct hits. Leaning to her left, Andromedai peaked around the riot barrier for a few short seconds, trying to get a view of where she could fire off a few rounds or perhaps toss a grenade. What she observed was that the window where the heavy bolter had been set up, now had a hastily set up bunker-like shield set up over it. Smalls arms fire would do little, but her Adrastus Bolt Caliver could possibly strip the metal shielding off of it and give her enough room to throw a grenade or other explosive into the reinforced position.

"I may be able to weaken their reinforced position, but I will take some fire from doing so." said Andromedai as she readied to fire. Peaking back around the left side corner of the riot barrier, Andromedai fired off a well placed hail of heavy bolter fire at the reinforced position upon the sixth floor of the apartment building. This was immediately answered with heavy bolter fire from whoever was manning the weapon nest. The rounds barely missed Andromedai as she quickly moved back into cover, deciding that they would have to be more creative with their approach. Turning to face the rest of her retinue, Celestian Andromedai overhead the conversation between Stukov and Adrianne. They were apparently planning to teleport themselves up into the apartment complex to flank the reinforced position, and Andromedai wanted to join them, but decided to refrain from mentioning that. "That could work, just be cautious, you two do not know what you will find within the apartment." said Andromedai as she merely observed the two vanish from where they had been taking cover with a bright, violet flash of light that left lingering after images within her vison.

For a moment, it seemed as if nothing had happened. The heavy bolter fire continued to pelt her position, and Celestian Andromedai was beginning to wonder if they had been teleported to the wrong apartment complex, or perhaps somewhere much, much worse. Andromedai opened her mouth to inquire if Stukov and Adrianne were alright when suddenly, one of the cultists flew through the front wall of the sixth story apartment complex, followed by flaming debris that rained down upon her. "Clearly, you two have the situation under control." said Andromedai as the heavy bolter fire from above suddenly ceased. Using the break in fire as an opportunity to advance into the apartment complex. As she kicked down the front door of the apartment complex, she replied to Medaira's question, "You have been pondering? Don't think to hard or you may hurt yourself. All kidding aside, I doubt those were the only hostile forces. We will encounter more as we head deeper into the apartment complex, I am sure."

Sweeping her Adrastus Bolt Caliver from the left and then to the right, she noticed that there were currently no hostiles within the immediate area. Andromedai did not lower her weapon though, and kept it at the ready, and would fire upon any movement that was not friendly. "Cole and Medaira, follow behind me, watch your corners and your our backs." Taking a few steps forward, Andromedai immediately noticed the gold and blue decorations that were excessive and intricate. "Sure feels like a Tzeentch base rahter than something Khorne." Flipping a small switch upon the side of her Adrastus Bolt Caliver, Andromedai activated the weapons Adrastite directed energy beam. "Everyone regroup on the first floor, we will decide our next move from there." said Andromedai, who noticed that the apartment complex was oddly quiet, except for their own movements through the building. Taking a few steps forward once more, Andromedai felt a low rumble through the floor boards beneath her feet.

Taking a grenade from her belt, Andromedai prepped it before tossing it far down the hallway in front of her. It would land upon the ground with a metallic noise that echoed through the apartment complex before detonating. The explosion knocked paintings off of walls and sent splinters from furniture and other debris flying in every direction. Along with the detonation and debris, arks of bright blue electricity shot across the hallway in front of them, barely missing Andromedai and her squad. When in a Tzeentch base, expect traps." said Andromedai as she stepped forward as soon as the arks ended. Leaning forward, she would expect the traps that had been placed. "These traps were made to stun anyone that entered them, not kill them. They want us alive after all, but for what reason, I wonder?" said Andromedai as she stepped forward and pointed towards the end of the hallway where a new door had been exposed from the blast of the grenade. "There is our entrance into said Tzeentch base, I will take lead." Andromedai would carefully but quickly move forward towards the door, reaching out she gripped onto its handle and opened it just enough for one of Andromedai's flashbangs to be slipped through. Prepping one of the stun grenades, she tossed it through the opening of the door then closed it for a moment, waiting for it explosion. Once it did go off, Andromedai would kick open the door and began heading down a set of lavish marble stairs and even more lavishly decorated hallway. At the end of it, was a massive dome shaped room, painted upon the ceiling was an image of Tzeentch himiself. Andromedai quickly glanced away and noticed that there was only one door in front of them, but it was massive, and seemed to be sealed off by some sort of warp runes.

"I was expecting a base of sorts but, this is more than what I had in mind." said Andromedai as she she raised her weapon and readied to fire upon any hostile that may show itself up her. For the moment, nothing happened, but then a sickening wave of energy washed over the room, and the image of someone that matched the image of the previously described Daemonette appeared in front of them. Andromedai instantly fired upon the hostile, but the energy beam went right through her, it was merely a warp holographic image cast before them.

The Daemonette now spoke, "So this is the Inquisitorial retinue that has discovered my presence, and our small shrine to Tzeentch. The Daemonettes voice was smooth, calming, peaceful, non-threatening, welcoming, why would you want to fight her? "I am Lillith, and you mortals are so easily predicted, such simple creatures that I have become rather fond of. I know each of you, your names, your mission here, your movements through the city and beyond. I enjoy knowing these things, and also know what it is you are after. You are here to clear out Chaos infiltrators, cultists, and any other forces that may impede upon your Imperium of Man. I can give you all of this information for nothing in return. For I already have what I want, and have already achieved my goal within the system. So, Andromedai, Stukov, Medaira, Cole, and of course Adrianne." The Daemonette winked slyly at their Psyker, before continuing what she was saying, "What shall it be? Will you accept my offer of information or shall we engage in the bloodshed you and your type are all so familiar with?"

Stukov breached the door after preparing, finding any cultist noises that had been from beyond the door had either fled or vanished. That was... concerning. Enemies just up and vanishing into the void was always trouble, especially given the general attire and firepower they had employed so far. He would continue to take point, his gut instinct remaining very much unsettled and distrustful of the situation at hand, cautiously leading the way down to regroup with Celeste and the rest of the team down on the first floor, following her orders as he reached back onto the first floor much more conventionally than he had reached the sixth floor to begin with. Getting down to the first floor, he nodded to Celeste and the rest of the team. "Alright, we're back. Heavy bolter crew very much sorted out properly. Ready to keep moving when you are."

The armsman would fall in step with the Celestian as she took point, a close second as she disarmed a trap designed to incapacitate rather than outright kill. That didn't sit well with him, honestly, any cult wanting to make prisoners of an inquisitorial strike team that was supposed to be at least pretending at being subtle before their first move, grumbling under his breath at the idea. Prisoners were, if they were lucky, died relatively quickly, but it was unlikely they'd be lucky to get such a fate. "Information, torture, sacrifice, the usual that a cult wants. If they were ready for us, which it seems tehy were, probably a lot more insidious trouble. Don't get taken alive, I'd advise."

Given his experience with the forces of Chaos prior to the retinue, well, he'd sooner save a bullet for himself rather than let the traitors ever take him alive. Continuing to the door, he took a position as Celeste took up her position and threw a grenade into the room, and was second in after her, shotgun raised and sweeping the room as he moved to cover the angles that the Sister wasn't covering immediately. Nothing, then the sickening energy filled the room, causing him to snap his shotgun and slamfire the weapon at the daemonette as she appeared, watching as both his weapons fire and Celeste's failed to do anything. Then the bitch started talking, and he hardened his heart with righteous hatred as he started loading the blessed buckshot he saved for daemons. Leveling the shotgun at the image again, he snarled as he replied.

"If you knew half as much as you claim you wouldn't waste your words, now get back to the warp where you belong, abomination."

"They are playing this like a skirmish." Adrianne said to Stukov as she pulled her long, curved plasma blade out from a wall - including the cultist it had impaled on the other side. Spreading her hand open, she moved it over the bloodied blade, causing the purple witch fire sparkling from the blade to intensify for a brief moment, sizzling any residual blood and dust that remained on the rune carved metal before sheathing the weapon in its long staff sheath.
"Whatever they got planned, it has barely just begin. I am still sensing the vile taint of chaos, but it's like a shroud of mystery over the building."

Adrianne said as she followed Stukov, quite happy to have left the lion share of the fighting to the armsman. Though Adrianne had always questioned Stukov's choice of a simple shotgun when he had access to an inquisitorial retinue's arsenal of weapons; to say nothing of the weapon's limitations against armored enemies or its lack of range; she could not deny the fact that the armsman wielded his weapon like an artist despite its crude nature.

*

Adrianne could sense the swelling of chaotic energies the moment before the demon; or at least its image; appeared!

"What shall it be? Will you accept my offer of information or shall we engage in the bloodshed you and your type are all so familiar with?"

The demon's voice echoed twice in Adrianne's head as it spoke, and the psyker's lavender eyes narrowed in a hostile glare towards the creature that called itself 'Lillith'. Her mind raced with options. If they tried a frontal attack, the daemon would likely attempt to flee, only to try to get at them later. But she also knew that simply holding a seeminly casual and non-violent conversation with a daemon was dangerous, especially one affiliated with the vile god Slaanesh that was a master in manipulating sensations.

"Oh, it's her. What a cheap tramp. Don't tell me you're honestly going to give her your attemption!" The demonic voice from earlier flowed through Adrianne's mind when she looked at Lillith.
"She's all fake, a pretender! Don't even,- "

"Shut up, demon!" Adrianne suddenly barked, shoving the voice out of her head. However, after a brief pause, she realized her outburst and how it had probably sounded as if it had been directed towards the daemon. She let out a cough, waving a hand towards Lillith.

"Do go on... " Adrianne said in a casual tone, but whispered into her vox bead afterwards; so that the rest of Andromedai and Stukov could hear.

"Keep the daemon distracted. The longer we can keep it here, the more time I'll have to divine its true location." Adrianne told the rest of her squad.

"Guard your hearts, this creature will likely attempt to influence you."

"What a devious ploy - I fully expect you to be able to overcome this one!" The voice returned in Adrianne's head, and she could feel a sense of approval from somewhere beyond the border between the materium. But she ignored it, instead focusing her attention on the image of the demon's; leaving the talking to the rest of the party. She couldn't ignore the extra attention she was receiving from the volupteous demoness before them. Being a psyker, she was had become somewhat used to it(not that it made it anymore comfortable).

Focusing her mind, she began to reach outwards into the room with her thoughts, attempting to divine the trace of warp energies connecting the image to its sender. There was only so much she could do with the demon through an imagine. If she wanted to bind, subdue or banish the demon, she would have to find its 'real' being!

„Indeed, pondering is a dangerous activity!” Medaira confirmed with an exclamation and all too serious look given at the Celestian.” I knew a… colleague who was pondering the origin of the chicken and the egg conundrum! He suffered serious overheating damage, dehydratation and logic errors after 10 days of pondering!” The tech priestess proclaimed, but whether or not she was serious or she was suffering her own logic error was completely in the eye of the beholder.

“On it, Leader Lady Andromedai~” Mediara chirped as she followed closely after the Celestian, her mechadendrites moving jolly around her as she held her boltgun in her right arm and her Melee weapon in the left. The servo head was merrily and sneakily following somewhat behind them, Medaira now using it to keep an eye on their flanks.

Medaira made a curious sound, studying the traps too.” With chaos and traps like this, it’s usually for corruption later or ritual sacrifices.” She said with weirdly amused voice.” Since it’s the big brain cult at play, I’d say it’s part of a the later rather than the former.” Medaira added with a shoulder shrug and continued to follow deeper into the complex of the base.” This looks… like an arena!” The tech priestess mused and looked at the big rune covered door.” Who want’s to bet there’s something really big and scary on the other side? I’m betting a month’s supplies of sanctified screws.”

And then suddenly a deamonette! A daemonette that speaks!!! What is this madness!? Medaira suddenly recovered from her mock shock and horror as she laid her eyes on the female warpspawn, evaluating her while she spoke. Her gaze momentary turned to Adrianne as if to confirm she has heard the request, but rested her gaze on her chest for a moment instead, then turned to the celestian and her power armored torso, followed by Stukov’s for some reason before looking down at herself and back to the Daemonette’s chest with the most intense stare she had ever displayed. It wasn’t lewd or leering. No it was a 100% deathly serious, studying one. Finally she let out a sigh so great and turned her head to the side, great disappointment filling her eyes.

“So fake… must be dirt poor or low on the power rankings to not even be able to afford proper ‘improvements’… Psyker Friend’s tactical padding/secondary sexual characteristics is both greater and natural. Sigh… seen better on pleasure worlds, standards in Daemonette recruitment must have fallen.” She finished her sentence with another great sigh, all the while her servo head was tactically making it’s way across the roof of the dome, waiting for the right time to zip over and drop some proper frag presents!

Cole silently nods at the Celestian's command and as she ordered the team forward once they regrouped with Stukov and Adrianne. Watching for any sign of the enemy which he expected more of them to show up. Instead of that, Andromedai used a grenade to trigger a trap meant to subdue rather than kill. They want to capture us alive... great, Cole thought. It is one thing to want to kill them but also a need to capture them for no doubt to torture them or, worse, use them as a sacrifice to their dark gods. A fate that Cole intends to avoid if possible and make sure that his teammates do not suffer that fate.

Following Andromedai's lead as they went through the building. Taking position behind her, scanning for targets, and followed in after Andromedai and Stukov into the room. Cole quickly fired his lasrifle at the daemonette when she appeared. Though to his dismay, it was only a hologram as their combined shots went through it. "Blast," he said under his breath, and then the treacherous daemonette began to speak to them. So a deal she wants, and deal that has a catch even if she said another wise. There is always a catch with demons and nothing that ends well. Such is the fate of those that chose to conspire with these damnable creatures of the Warp.

Rather than speak, Cole chose to remain silent, Stukov already saying what was on Cole's mind. No need to say more, and so he stood there vigilant. Watching for when this daemonette plans to do when Andromedai obliviously denies the being's offer. Who knows what else lies in wait for them in this cult's lair.

The sudden outburst then change of mind from the retinues Psyker caught not only Lillith off-guard but also Celestian Andromedai, who now slowly turned to face the tall woman. For what felt like at least a minute, all eyes were focused upon Adrianne before Celestian Andromedai posed the question that everyone within the room was most likely thinking, "Adrianne, are you alright?" There was no time for a reply though, because Lillith introjected making her own comment, "I have to admit, you are all quite the strange group, I mean that in the most positive way I can, though!" Lillith seemed to peer over her left shoulder at something unseen before turning back to the retinue. "As much as I would like to stay and spend time with all of you, I have others I must turn my attention to. I am sure we will be talking again sometime very soon. Until then, take care of yourselves and enjoy the gift I have left for all of you." Lillith would then bow before the holographic image would vanish.

"I do not like the sound of that, prepare yourselves for a fight." said Celestian Andromedai before taking a few steps backwards. The massive door in front of the retinue that had runes covering it, ceased glowing, the runes vanishing. For a moment, an uncomfortable silence fell over the massive dome shaped room before the door would be violently torn from its secure position and flung across the room at the retinue. Celestian Andromedai quickly jumped out of the way, thankfully missing the door and then moving back onto her feet. What first emerged from the doorway were five Horrors of Tzeentch, but what followed behind it was much worse. A horrific amalgamation of limbs, eyes, teeth, scales, and claws, having trouble even fitting through the doorway. This Chaos Spawn of Tzeentch had a more avian form, almost representing the form of the eagle upon the arch they had entered through earlier ago.

Immediately, the horrors of Tzeentch began charging the retinue, while the Chaos Spawn slowly lumbered forward. Celestian Andromedai knew that if it wanted to, the Chaos spawn could move and great speeds, and from the looks of it even fly, but it seemed to be testing their combat abilities with the smaller horrors before moving to attack. Andromedai immediately unsheathed her Phase Sword and cut through the first horror to get within her range. The blade cut through the demon, with one clean motion, severing the body that seemingly had not noticed that it was now in two pieces.

"Not now, entertaining daemons is never worth the cost!" Stukov was glaring at the other two, Smiles was concerning him given the back and forth she seemed to be having with herself. Coupled with those....damned eyes in the jump through the warp, and he would have questions that might need answering. Of course, the illusion fizzled out after commenting on being such a strange bunch and leaving them a gift. No gift from a warp spawned abomination was going to be worth waiting for, but given they had deeper to breach into this cult's lair, well, they had little choice in the matter. Of course, with the illusion vanishing, the runes on the door also vanished, and the silence settled in. That was....bad. Very bad, if he had to hazard a guess that door was holding this Throne damned 'gift' back, and it was only a matter of moments before they were dealing with whatever was going to make their lives more difficult. He braced, every muscle tensed and ready to launch in any direction or action he was capable of.

With the doors going as violently as they did, the Armsman darted sideways, evading the thoroughly destroyed remains of the door, and of course things got worse. Horrors, and a Warp Spawn, all with Tzeentchian influence. That meant flight, the horrors splitting upon trauma, sorcery and the works. He hated Horrors, they didn't know when to stay banished, and he leveled the shotgun and racked a shell, taking aim as it rushed him. Uttering a silent prayer to the Throne above, he opened fire, slam firing the shotgun into the oncoming Horrors, starting from the one immediately coming for him. The first one he hit, rather than simply ignoring the damage or splitting, seemed to reel and actually get torn apart by the blast, sharp eyes seeing the flashes of the blessed buckshot tearing the Horror apart. He kept firing until it was very thoroughly gone, racking the next shell and taking aim at the Spawn.

"Deal with the rest, I'll get its attention!" Stukov went to slam fire the weapon at the Spawn, but only got a single shell of blessed buckshot off, the resounding, worrying sound of the weapon running empty answering his attempts to keep firing. Throwing it back on the sling, the Armsman ripped the chain cutlass from its sheath, the roar of the weapon coming to life as he drew his Naval Pistol, an autopistol designed for maximum damage to flesh without damaging components. He opened up with the pistol, ready to respond to either a deceptively fast charge, Spawn were tricky like that, or if the Horrors tried to turn from their targets of choice. He was ready, though, ready to face the warp spawned abominations again. Throne above preserve him and his damned fool allies.

Adrianne could feel the blabbering voices at the edge of her mind before she even saw what came next.

"Throne of Terra, great... !"

She groaned, before the wild mass of malformed limbs and daemons spilled out into the room with them in a blind, reckless charge! Adrianne had enough experience with demons that they were especially fond of swarming and overwhelming their foes with their speed and strength!

Adrianne whirled around to face the door, taking a few steps back and towards a pillar for cover as she raised her staff - pointing it at the daemons' entry point.

"Back!" She proclaimed, channeling her psychic powers into a telekinetic wave. Crackling violet tendrils lashed out from her staff and throughout the room as the psychic wave rushed through the room! An otherworldly, inhuman laugh accompanied the wave; echoing in the minds of any mortal that heard it. The wave hit the daemons like a mighty gust of wind, pushing them back; even slowing time slightly in the affected area.

The wave only slowed the chaos spawn, but it was enough to completely halt the progress of the smaller horrors; who now were pushed back and effectively blocking the path of the larger chaos spawn. It didn't seem that the daemons had taken any damage from the sudden wave, as it was little more than a hindrance to them. But it had sapped their momentum, leaving the daemons currently stuck in the doorway, their charge stopped!

"I have them pinned - now do your thing!" Adrianne called out; her eyes glimmering with dancing violet light as she channeled her powers!

This is not good, they got a daemonette trying to sway them, and something is going on with Adrianne. He thought, not good at all. Then the daemonette finally stopped talking to him and the hologram dissipated but, not before the daemonette spoke of a gift for them. A gift... that can't be good knowing a demon and when the runes disappeared on the massive door. Cole took aim at the door and waited for whatever would come out. Instead of an enemy, the door was torn and launched at them. Cole side-stepping the debris that came at him just in time. Narrowly getting hit, and returned his gaze to the now open space where the doors were. Five fricking Horrors of Tzeentch, and it looked like these ones could fly. Cole gritted his teeth, of course, it had to be that, and took aim at the foul Chaos spawn.

Firing off a couple of shots at the closest one towards him. The red laser fire hitting the Horror in the head, and it seems to recoil a bit before pressing onwards. Then watching as Stukov run forward with blade and pistol towards one of the Horrors. "Mad man," Cole said under his breath. After that, Adrianne unleashed a wave of psychic at the Horrors and managed to not only slow their advance but pin them in place for the time being. It took Cole no time to take advantage of this. Quickly aiming once again at a Horror, and fired his lasgun rapidly until its barrel turned red hot. Boy, did he wish they had more firepower. Lasguns then to be good when there was a group of them firing at a target. Not a single one and but, still Cole kept firing none the less. Even if his single Lasgun might not be much, it is still doing something, and so he kept firing at the Horrors. God-Emperor willing that they can get through this one.

Medaira innocently tilted her head at the demoness that completely ignored her. Her eyes impassively stared at the hologram that vanished into nothingness as holograms did and her eyes narrowed for just a moment.” Eventually...” She chirped innocently and happily yet her eyes were passionate about something and maybe a few hundreds of ideas ran through her mind." I will make her 'smile'~ from ear to ear. And relieve her from that weight on her chest... Need scalpels for when we meet her again... and a surgery manual... yes...yes! " She whistled.

Her head turned slowly towards the door and cocked to the side with a gleeful look as they burst open. Medaira’s hand right away snapped forward as she started unloading shot after shoot at the smaller chaos critters, while her eyes were locked at the bigger one. Her servo head that was in the air was already making a line across the ceiling and as the psyker forced the things into place, halting their advance, the flying head just dropped the frag right at the head of the most center one.” Gifts for one and all~” She sang as one of her mechadendrites pulled another frag from somewhere on her robes and with a snap movement she tossed it at the chaos entities too, her power axe held in place by her other mechadendrites. She kept the servo head in strategic distance above the Chaos Spawn’s head, it had a sonic weapon she planned to unleash at the right moment from right beside it’s head.

Between the frags and the firepower of the entire team, she was running calculations on possible outcomes of the situation. Her next course of action was to confirm the state of the entrance they used to get here. Initially she wanted to bring the dome down, but sadly a dome like this was among the more sturdy possible constructions so to bring it down it would take more than a few frags. It might even survive a proper bombardment after all. Still her head turned back to the danger at hand, leaving the servo head to observe the flanks from it’s altitude as she swung her power axe in her other hand and focusing on firing her boltgun.

As soon as the first of the five Horrors of Tzeentch had been cut in half by Celestian Andromedai's Phase Sword, the others seemed to immediately adapt. A carapace formed upon them and they moved more rapidly upon the ground, a clear attempt to gain any form of advantage. Little did they know though, the retinue was just as adaptable to the changes that were happening before them. The second horror charged at Stukov and was swiftly blown into pieces that disintegrated into ash due to his shotguns blessed rounds, effectively stopping the horror where it stood for good. At the same time, Cole fired off precision shots at the horrors that hounded the retinue, though it was Adrianne's warp ability that effectively helped bring the lesser threat to an end. With the powers of the warp, the horrors were grouped up and slowed down to the point of where it seemed as if they were standings still, then blown into small pieces beyond recognition, thanks to Medaira and the well placed grenade that had been dropped on top of them.

Unfortunately, the Chaos Spawn had grown weary of merely observing from the rear of the battle, and now felt it was an appropriate time to move forward and begin it's assault upon the retinue. Celestian Andromedai was the first to raise her weapon and fire upon the hulking abomination, and while her rounds seemed to strike the Chaos Spawn, it appeared unphased by any damage it was taking. Unlike the horrors that had charged into the field of battle, the horror merely walked forward then bent down upon its front legs as if it was going to pounce but instead shot forth a hail of razor sharp quills. These quills fired at the retinue as a whole, and Celestian Andromedai found that they had the strength to disrupt even her Rosarius's conversion field emitter. One of the quills even managed to break through, and pierce into the Sister of Battles armor, though thankfully it did not puncture any skin.

In the middle of the fight, the retinues coms would activate, and Aviza's voice would be heard, even over the roars of rage that emitted from the Chaos Spawn. "Celestian Andromedai and retinue." began Aviza, though was quickly cut off from Andromedai who was not having any form of outside interruption at the moment. "Not now Aviza, we are in the middle of a situation!" said Andromedai, though Aviza was being persistent and started again. "There's a situation here as..." this time, Celestian Andromedai raised her voice, almost yelling at Aviza, who finely backed down, "Not now, Chaos Spawn!" The coms fell silent, and Celestian Andromedai fired another volley of heavy bolter rounds at the Chaos spawn who still shrugged off the attacks.

Stukov silently thanked the Throne that the buckshot tore apart the Horror he'd fired on, seeing the fast work of the rest of the team clean up the horrors in rather short order. Especially the combination of psyker powers and judicious application of grenades. Still, that left the Chaos Spawn that seemed to no longer be content simply lingering and trying to look menacing, instead choosing to engage. The armsman was ready to charge it when he saw it crouch down, and then launch a volley of these quill things at the retinue as a whole. Given his closer proximity, Stukov had little recourse but to shield his vitals and pray. He grunted in pain as his left arm was turned into a pincushion, the flak armor under the greatcoat's sleeves doing little to protect against the attack compared to what it was designed to work against, and he could feel one in the meat of his thigh as well as one that was scraping against his stomach, that had punched in at an angle through the carapace armor and nearly impaled him in the gut as well. He tried to reach down to rip that quill out of the armor, but he realized the naval pistol was quite literally pinned to his hand at the moment, rendering pretty much his entire left arm useless. Great.

He couldn't work a pump action shotgun one handed, and the quill that left the naval pistol stuck to his hand probably ruined the magazine well as well, meaning he likely only had a few shots left in it assuming it worked at all still. That left the chainsword and using the pistol as a bludgeon. Either way he couldn't easily evade another volley of those quills and he raised the chainsword as he stormed forward in the wake of the attack, weapon roaring to life as he charged its left side, his injuries plainly evident as he engaged on the side that didn't have the large, hulking pincer, looking to kill the thing as fast as he could as he engaged it with the only weapons he had left to him. Getting its attention would let the others focus on bringing the thing down, and then they could worry about whatever it was that was being a problem that Sis tried to get a hold of them over. He'd dropped any pretenses of trying to speak further, teeth gritted in anger, and in pain, as he focused his efforts on assaulting the Spawn with chainsword and faith.

The tingling sensation of Adrianne's psychic powers had urged her to take cover behind one of the pillars, and she was happy she did when the fiend's quills shot out across the room like a hail of flachettes ripping through furniture, daemon remains and taking chunks out of the pillar she had been hiding behind!

"That thing is armored like a tank!"

Adrianne exclaimed as she watched the bolter rounds bounce off the creature's carapace and do little more than leave a few dents and cracks. If they were going to take this thing down, they would need something on the level of a heavy bolter or be able to find its weakspot!

On the bright side, it also occurred to Adrianne that she had just the thing for this issue.

"Medaira!" Adrianne called out, before pulling one of the two krak grenades from her belt and throwing it towards the tech priestess - allowing her psychic powers to lift the grenade mid-throw and carry it the rest of the way to Medaira.
"We need it on the warpspawn before Stukov manages to fulfill his duty to the emperor!"

Adrianne called out to Medaira, as the roughly cube-shaped anti-tank grenade slid into Medaira's hands/mechadendrites/recepticles.

Privately, a part of Adrianne's more sensible psyche inquired about the wisdom of handing out such a high grade explosive to a clearly unstable character like Medaira. But another, more reckless part of Adrianne's sub-psyche argued that if anyone knew how to wield an explosive properly, it would be the explosive-obsessed tech priestess. If anything, Medaira couldn't possibly make the situation any worse than it already was! Well, unless she accidentally managed to hit Stukov with the krak grenade.

The Psyker made a mental note to steer clear of Medaira's line of fire and watch for any errant anti-tank grenades.

With a happy chirpy sound at the sight of destruction caused by an extremely well placed grenade, Medaira aimed her bolt gun at the Chaos Spawn that finally decided to participate in their merry party they were all having here. He aimed at the eyes and fired, which wasn’t hard for once! It had eyes, EYES FOR DAYS! It’s entire front was more or less covered with eyes! Though despite the combined fire thrown at it, it didn’t seem to be affected much.” Cheat~” She chirped, readying her power axe, only for the thing to decide that range combat was the name of the game and start shooting spikes at them. She made a mental note to work on possible armor upgrades for similar situation in the future. Next time when they encountered quills shooting beastie, she'd be ready!

Medaira’s immediate reaction was to power up the power axe and use it to block the attacks coming at her head, using mechadendrites to take the shots at her core body as she dove for cover behind another pillar in manner similar to the psyker. Originally she planned to use the psyker as cover due her reality bending schenanigans, but Adrianne dove away for cover before Medaira could implement her plan. Status report after the initial barrage was positive, she had taken minor nicks to her main body, one of the mechadendrites was pierced through though, she felt bad, but that one was mean, so no tears spilled over it. There was also a minor damage to her leg, however it wasn’t anything impossible to repair or work with as she pulled a spike from between the armored plates of her leg that had pierced through her robe.” Joly~ thank be to you, psyker friend~” She chirped happily as a pair of KRAK grenades fell into her waiting loving arms as she caressed the things like newborns. Medaira handed her bolt gun to her mechadendrite that had an grab arm at the end that could hold a gun and fire and she used that to immediately begin her vague annoyance fire at the Chaos Spawn.

She tilted her head to the side, avoiding some chunks of stone blasted by a spike from the pillar she was hiding behind as she stole a glance at Stukov. An impressive act of bravery, one that made her burst in song of all thigns.

“I need an armsman to save me now
I need an armsman (save me now)
I need an armsman to save my life
an armsman’ll save me (just in time)~”

Medaira happy sung in her slightly computerized voice that came from her breather device as she played with the krak grenades.” Too bad the armsman’s in the line of fire~!” She added in a high singing voice as as she primed the grenades at the same time as her servo head that was hovering high and above the mayhem, did a straight dive right before the thing’s head through an angle bevoid of quills. The servo head’s mouth snapped open and extremely loud noise blasted out of the hidden sonic weapon from point blank. It was time to see if the thing’s senses were as resistant to sonic attacks as his hide and carapace was to bolter fire! The noise happened to be an extremely amplified version of the song that she had just sang, coupled with actual musical score. The moment the sound blasted off, she turned around and threw the grenades with a calculated precise angle at the Chaos Spawn.” I need an armsman to be brought out of the fight~” She sang as she did.

"Yes, go down, you filthy demons go down," Cole said under his breath with vigor as most of the beasts died. Though more thanks to Adrianne's powers and a well-placed grenade. That and Stukov's blessed shotgun rounds did a number on the one he was facing. Still, their combined firepower did wreck their ranks. Now a Chaos Spawn is left, and now it tires of simply watching the battle in the rear. Cole aimed and let out a volley of lasers, and it did not seem to faze the thing. Like the rest of the team's firepower only seem to annoy rather than hurt the Chaos Spawn. Then came the quills that the beast launched at them. Cole was able to take cover behind a pillar to dodge most of the quills. But, just before he was safe, two quills managed to badly graze his right leg. Cole gritted his teeth in response to the pain. Briefly looking down to inspect the damage and it was not something a doctor could not fix.

Quickly, looking back to the fight and saw that Stukov was rushing forward with only a chainsword at the Chaos Spawn. No, no one is dying today, you crazy. Cole thought as he tried to think of how to bring that thing down. Since lasers or bolters seemed to have no effect on it, he did not have anything on him that could damage the thing but, then he remembered his krak grenades. Looking down at them and then back at the Chaos Spawn. Surely something meant for a tank can hurt that thing. As he was about to pick one up from his belt, he saw Medaira holding one. Then he started to think quickly. He does not want to hit Stukov by accident, and maybe since she is obsessed with explosives. She might have a better skill with that grenade and land it on the Chaos Spawn. Even if she is rather eccentric and he questions her sometimes. So Cole decided to put faith in Medaira's hands. As the sudden sonic blast went off, Cole could hear music being played. He watched to see what would happen with his hand on a krak grenade. Just in case the first krak grenade does not work.

Within Celestian Andromedai's helmet, her HUD was informing her of her retinues current state, thankfully only a few of them had been injured, while Stukov had unfortunately taken the brunt of the Tzeentch Chaos spawns opening assault. She considered this a blessing is disguise due to the fact of how powerful these Chaos Spawns could be, and the fact that this massive hulking beast could only use that attack a set number of times before it would become much weaker. Regardless of this, she did not want anyone under her command being severely wounded or even dying while they still had their missions to complete. Reloading her Adrastus Bolt Caliver, Andromedai was prepping another hail of highly explosive rounds to be fired upon the Chaos Spawn when she saw Stukov raise his chainsword and being to charge forward towards their enemy, throwing all caution and sense of wellbeing to the wind, a trait that she knew was all to familiar with Guardsmen. "Stukov, as Adrianne said, I do not want you to fulfill your duty to the emperor just yet!" said Andromedai over the chaotic sounds of the battle and the almost deafening roars of rage that filled the chamber.

Glancing over her right shoulder, she witnessed Adrianne toss a Krak Grenade at Medaira, it conveniently landed upon her lap and thankfully did not explode. If Stukov was attempting to fulfill his duty to the emperor by charging into the melee range of the Chaos Spawn, and Medaira now had explosives, there was a good chance their Guardsmen would do just that. The idea then dawned upon her, she could have Adrianne teleport Stukov back to where she was before he received any mortal injury, though this would have to be done quickly. Opening up her coms, she spoke privately to Adrianne, "Adrianne, I need you to teleport Stukov away from the Chaos Spawn and to your position before any explosives go off, for we both know that if one does, that will most likely result in Stukov ending up by the Emperors side." Though, before any action could be taken by the Psyker, the sound weapon used by Medaira's servo-skull caused even the fully armored Celestian of Battle to flinch. The Krak Grenades had also been tossed, adding much more to the situation at hand.

With a single though on what may happen, Andromedai sprinted forward and grabbed onto Stukov, putting herself between the Chaos Spawn, the explosives, and the Guardsmen. She was aware of the fact that the Krak grenades could quite possibly severely injure her, leaving her a prime target for the Chaos Spawn, but it was a risk she was willing to take. When the explosion did go off, it knocked both her, and the Stukov she was holding onto across the floor. Her armors HUD was now informing her that a good portion of her shield had been used and burn marks now appeared across it. "I am going to kill Medaira myself after this." Thought Celestian Andromedai to herself, knowing she would not do such a thing but a very stern talk would have to be had. Now quite sore from all she had endured that day, she helped pull Stukov to his feet just in time to turn around and notice the damage that had been inflicted upon the Chaos spawn. Part of its body had been burned and melted away, but the demon spawn kept fighting. Now, it lowered its body once more, and prepped to fire off another hail of razor sharp quills into the retinue. Grabbing onto Stukov just in case he had trouble moving, she began to pull him in the direction of the nearest cover when the quills fired.

"Everyone into cover now!" yelled Andromedai, as the quills flew towards them. She braced herself to at least take some hits from the quills but instead, the air around them fell silent, and still. Moving quickly into cover, Andromedai remained there for a few short seconds, waiting for the quills to fly past or for something to at least happen, but nothing did. Looking around the corner where she and the Guardsmen had taken cover, what she saw confused and surprised her, something not easy to do to a Celestian. The quills had stopped in mid flight, and were held suspended in the air by unknown means. At first, she assumed that Adrianne was to thank for this show of great power, but then noticed that they had a new arrival standing before them. Someone dressed in the same Celestian armor as her, though with black and white colors, stood in the middle of the room, holding both of her hands out. Swirling lights of dark crimson red emitted from them, and with one swipe of the woman's left hand, the quills flew back at the Chaos spawn and struck it with tremendous force. It wailed in pain as the chamber returned to normal, though the Chaos Spawn was not finished with the retinue and this new comer. Instead of retreating, it now opened its many maws and lunged directly at the mysterious figure. With her right hand, she would wave it quickly in front of her in an arching motion, though now instead of a crimson light, a violet light would appear around the Chaos Spawn before a horrific sound would be heard. Half of the Chaos Spawns body fell to the ground, the other missing completely from reality. If one had looked closely enough, they would have seen her open a portal of sorts over half of the Chaos Spawns body before closing it, cutting it clean in half down the middle of its body.

For a few, very short seconds, the creature lived and tried its best to crawl across the floor before vanishing in a bright blue flash of light that filled the room. The female figure that stood in the middle of the chamber kept her back turned to the retinue for the moment, merely tilting her head to the left and looking forward as if waiting for the Chaos Spawn to return, or something else to leave from the chamber in front of them where the Chaos forces had spawned from. Nothing happened, and then the figure turned around, to finally face the retinue. She would offer a slight wave before noticing her gauntlets had been horribly burned, to the point of where the ends of the fingers had begun glowing red. Quickly, she carefully tossed them free from her body and inspected her hands to ensure they were still in working condition, thankfully they remained unharmed. "I do enjoy getting out into the field of battle every once in a while, it is never a boring day around you is it Celestian Andromedai Morgenstern?" asked the figure, her voice smooth, calming, and oddly relaxed. Celestian Andromedai was slow to respond, but stepped forward towards the woman who wore armor like her own, though the coloring was different. "You have oddly, or should I say conveniently good timing, Maya." The two of them stood silent for a moment before the one Andromedai called Maya quickly pulled Andromedai into an awkward hug, before making a line towards Stukov.

Once she arrived, Maya would reach up to her helmet and grab onto it, for a moment she seemed as if she was going to remove it but then suddenly thought better of the action and let her arms return to her side. "I am going to need you to cooperate with me here Guardsmen, all I ask is that you hold as still as you can while I tend to your injuries. It is in the best of your interest to look away while I do so, alright?" Maya did not wait for a reply, she merely reached for Stukovs injured hand. With her left, she gently took the injured hand in her own, while with her right, something like white light flowed from it, surrounded in a what appeared to be a form of smoke. The quill would be quickly removed, and the wound healed, all while Stukov would feel nothing more than a comforting warmth in the effected area. "Your other injuries are what concern me, they could prove to be life threatening. I can stabilize them for the moment being, but more delicate medical attention will be needed back upon Andromedai's ship." Once more, without asking, the quills would be removed and the area healed to the point as if nothing had happened, though Maya did not comment on this. Like before, he would only feel the comforting warmth, and nothing else. Once the quills had been removed, Maya gave a swift look over the other members of the retinue before walking back up the stairs and out of the chamber, making one comment as she did, "I'll be on the ship, none of you get impaled in my absence."

Celestian Andromedai had remained calm and collected, merely observing the woman as she carried out whatever she wanted before leaving as quickly as she had appeared. "I know there are questions but, it is best not to ask at the moment, I think it would be better to show you all once we return to the Inquisitorial safe house. That is all I can say at the moment, let's head into the chamber where these beasts came from." She knew this was most likely not what they wanted to hear, but it was all she could offer at the moment without causing unwanted drama. So, for the time being, she stepped forward and into the chamber where the Chaos forces had appeared from, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Within this chamber, Andromedai noticed that it had been set up somewhat like the Planetary governors office, this made her greatly suspicious but she also knew that the Tzeentch forces could have done this to try and confuse them.
What did stand out was some sort of dark tome that gave off a sister vibe, and a black golden mist with tendrils of dark violet light intertwined within. "Adrainne, do you have any idea what this book, or tome could be?" inquired Celestian Andromedai as she approached it with the knowledge that anything horrific could happen if she touched it. At first, she reached for it, then with her better judgement, drew her hand back and glanced backward towards Adrianne, who would most likely be able to transport it for them safely. "Would you mind picking this up for me and protecting it till we arrive back at the ship? I believe you should be able to handle it without any issues, if my assumptions are correct." Celestian Andromedai motioned with her right hand towards Adrianne, hoping she had some way to safely move it, and do so away from eyes that wished to see it.

Adrianne watched the brief carnage unleashed by the newcomer with amazement, and the way she effortlessly dispatched the chaos spawn. Truly, whoever this Maya was, she possessed great power - and not just that, but an expert control over it as well.

But she also sensed another presence within her also reacting to Maya, a greedy desire that quickly flashed by her.

"I want that one!" The same deceptively sweet and wicked voice echoed through the back of her head. Adrianne shook it, tilting her head as her violet eyes drifted to the side to peer into empty air.

"Beat it. You are not invited." She muttered. The voice did not say anything more, at least for the time being. Yet Adrianne could feel its presence growing stronger. Whatever Maya had done, the newcomer seemed to have awakened a devious interest in whatever entity was stalking her from opposite plane.
But that was an issue for a later time. Adrianne marched on, walking to the rest of the party and felt a measure of relief to see Stukov mostly intact.

"I never thought I would see a Sister of Battle use herself as a shield to protect a guardsman." Adrianne commented to Stukov with a sly smile.

Yet said smile would vanish later when they uncovered the fake governor's office. Adrianne peered down at the book indicated by Andromedai.

"It is without a doubt touched by the warp." She stated, tilting her head as she watched the tendrils move about the book. Indeed, it may be an understatement, Adrianne thought. The thing was soaked in it!
She raised her staff, muttering a brief incantation of warding before tapping the edge of it against the book. A brief surge of vile smoke puffed up from the point of contact, dissipating into the air and bringing with it a foul smell of burnt cinders.

"If this cult is Tzeentchian in origin, the book could contain vast troves or secrets; or an endless web of lies and deceptions. It could even contain both." Adrianne began to explain.
"I can use my power to ward the book, but it perhaps for the best if no mortal flesh touches this thing until we are in a safer location. Medaira... "

Adrianne turned to raise an eyebrow towards the tech-priestess; fully expect to find Medaira already digging up the floorboard to get at the circuits below or disassembling the governor's desk or something.
" ... do you know the protocols for containing dangerous warp artifacts?"

Stukov wasn't exactly in a position to be able to really acknowledge or follow through with the orders to not fulfill his final duties to the Emperor. Coupled with the roar of battle, it was not exactly something he could also claim to have made out in detail. When it came down to it, however, the confusion that Cogs sing song response alongside the sonic weapon meant the Armsman was not ready for the barrage of Krak grenades to be launched, and apparently not enough time to actually warp Stukov clear of the blast radius. Imagine his surprise when the power armored figure of Celeste was blocking the blast, putting that equipment of hers to remarkable use protecting the injured man from the potential friendly fire. A glance past her confirmed the Spawn was far from dead and, if it wasn't for the fact that Celeste had snagged him, he would have engaged and gotten in low and fast to evade the impending second volley of quills, already ready to rage against the thing further in spite of being dragged away. However, the sudden silence was a dead giveaway of something else happening and arriving, and his head turned and tracked the only direction this could have come from.

Crimson and white armor, same design and style as Celeste's, unleashing powers against the Spawn abomination that had been so ready to riddle them with quills again. Stukov observed the continued assault literally rend the Spawn in two, no, not cut in two. Half was dumped into a portal and sealed away, he knew what those looked like, even controlled as it was by the sudden arrival of assistance. Said portal also explained how they got down here so fast as well, of course, but he still felt a twist in his gut at the sight of an opening to the Warp, as briefly as it was open, much as he did when Smiles brought him through her teleportation. Not as bad as that feeling, mind, and even less than the near loss of his old battleship. but the Spawn was finally dead. He leaned against the column, already unslinging his shotgun and starting to reload it one handed, the action slower than if he had two functioning arms. "Good timing is putting it mildly. Damnation is reloading one handed a pain, but at least this model at least can be fired one handed. Won't be accurate though..."

Maya, of course, seemed to have something else in mind as she walked over and almost removed her helmet. Stukov raised an eyebrow at the decision not to, looking the helmeted face dead in the eyes as she spoke about helping him and tending to his injuries. Of course he didn't exactly have time, nor the luxury, to disagree with being treated in such a manner, and the feeling of warmth was very strange indeed compared to the throbbing pain that had lingered after his hand was ruined. He heard the destroyed components of his naval pistol clatter to the ground as the quill was removed as well, and a huff of annoyance betrayed that he was not pleased with losing said weapon so soon. Once his arm was treated he would look down at his arm, warmth suffusing it, though his greatcoat and flak armor beneath was completely riddled with holes and damage. "Armsman, not a Guardsman. The assistance is appreciated either way Glow, and what other injuries? You already cleaned up the minor fact my arm was a pincushion."

"You got a point Smiles, that would have been a bet that I wouldn't have taken happening. And its armsman, not Guardsman, though I have a feeling you lot just like poking fun about that." Stukov chuckled as he shifted and exercised his healed arm cautiously, before glancing down and seeing the quill still embedded in the carapace chestplate, though that one hadn't managed to pierce flesh, so he got a firm grasp on it and, with a grunt, wrenched it clear and tossed it aside. Taking his shotgun in both hands and racking the slide, ready to move forward right behind Celeste, entering the fake governor's office. Of course, that wasn't his concern. The concern was the unholy fucking book that was sitting on the desk and, if he had a say in the matter, he would have seen it destroyed as soon as feasibly possible. Of course such a thing wasn't exactly an option given what was said so far, and Smiles sending a plume of vile smoke up into the air. The Armsman began searching around the office for something suitable to contain the book while Smiles directed a question at Cogs.

"Worst case scenario, we stuff it in a container you prepare with wards and I haul it out of here. If anyone can handle that exposure if the wards fail, I'd be willing to wager it's me. What's an abomination of a book compared to Gellar Field failure?" His tone made it patently clear it was not an option he relished or even particularly wanted to undertake, but was more putting it on the table for the group to consider. The last question wasn't so much hubris as it was grim realism, though he wasn't so brash as to just grab the book and stuff it into a sack. Still, searching the false office would be of dual use. One, find a container that would hold the accursed book as a container, and two, see what other, less glaringly obvious evidence was present. A thought came to mind and he spoke towards Celeste. "Right, questions aside, might want to check in with Sis. Seemed pretty urgent barring the Spawn situation we were dealing with."

Medaria was having a really fun day today! First there was fighting, then scary demon, then explosions, sparkles, unnatural warp based abilities, chaos spawns, people dying, conspiracy and so much more! She also go to play with grenades sho she was grinning like a madwoman underneath her breather device. She eyed the newcomer with a happy glint in her eyes, wanting to be friends and then followed the rest of the team into the dublicated governor office. She was extremely giddy at the look of it and right away started poking at the wiring indeed to confirm if the electrical instalations and other network cabling were in the same configuration, for the glory of the Omnisiah or it was just a cleverly ellaborate ruse!" You know, they could use this place to issue planetwide announcements if they just have somebody masquarade as teh governor and nobody will be the wiser for it~ Or this is to be used as emergency bunker later in case of an invasion from our side and the cultist control the planet." Medaira chirpped, fiddling iwth a wall panel and the wiring behind it. She was now checking if the room's air conditioning was the same as the real office, if it was she was also going to mess with it because why the Emperor not?

"Hmmmm~?" She made a questioning sound when she was called by Adrianne." Yes, Psyker-friend?" She asked, innocently, holding what appeared to be a metal panel in one hand, a bunch of wires in the other and her mechadendrites were doing something to the system in teh meantime. Medaira tilted her head, hearing the question and eyed the book. She eyed the book like a predator, pondering the ammount of pranks she could use it for, then tilting her head in the other direction, weighting the pros and cons of such actions until she decided that it was probably better left contained for the time being no matter what.

"YES~!" She replied happily, tossing a look at the Armsman." Not far off the standard containment protocols, Prank Victim Friend 2! Make a metal box, slaps holy seals on it, put book into holy sealed box, then put another holy warded box on top of the first one, then use remote means of carrying the thing to minimalize warp and chaotic influences. Maybe even fill the box with blessed prometium just in case a quick burnout is needed." She stated happily as her mechadendrites dropped whatever htey were doing and one of htem turned out to have a welding torch in it." I will have the box made faster than you could recite the Imperium safety manual for boarding a ship! We can use braided cabling ropes to pull the box from afar too or I can use my mechadendrites to carry it 5 feet in front of or behind me..." She stated and started using bits of metal and wires into what sane people would call abstract art.

"We need purity seals! And wards... Maybe we can bless the box itself too!" She was chattering as she worked, creating a box just enough for the book of those dimensions fit in. Once inside, it wasn't oging to ahve enough space to even lightly open it. it was going to stay as sealed as it could be, not to mention she was going to be welding the metal box shut just in case.