POOHEAD189

Heroes of The Guard: A Warhammer 40K RP

I was relieved corporal Sel had managed to survive, and not just because without her we would lack a driver, though at the time that was my primary concern beyond her charm. There were two wartrukks left, and to my relief and concern, we seemed to be driving out of the area of bombardment, as the shells were mostly striking behind us now. The mechanisms that spun the multilaser zipped as I moved the turret, approximating the aim as the wartrukk staggered into my sights. I fired, puncturing the front hull and sending flames and smoke everywhere, but as the wartrukk stalled, I could not finish it. Though my fingers were still on the trigger, I heard a droning sound that indicated I was out!

"I need a new power pack!" I cried, but even as I screamed it, the second wartrukk collided with us, one of the orks shoving its simian arm into the vent on the side of the chimera, firing its autogun inside. Slugs ricocheted, and I heard a cry of pain from inside. Later I learned it was trooper Hagan that took a flesh wound, but I could not be sure at the time. The Ork yelled as a lasgun's barrel poked out and fired into its arm multiple times, nearly cutting it off. It cried out in anger, but that distraction was long enough for Morek to fire from the next vent, his gun cutting through light armor and greenskins, hamstringing the last truck. Lasbolts rang out, incinerating Ork flesh. One enterprising Ork leaped, a nob with a cleft lip and just one ear. Apparently cleverer than the others, it jumped just as the lasbolts struck his comrades and sent their vehicle reeling, landing a mere two meters from my position. I pulled out my laspistol, but the brute swung its choppa, smacking the weapon out of my hand. I was just about to leap back down when the Ork's hand shot out, grabbing me by the neck.

I knew how strong Orks were, but the ease in which it lifted me out of the Chimera was chilling. I tried to pry its fingers loose, but it was like trying to insert my fingers inside an iron clamp. The xenos gave a grin that showed its teeth, and it screamed impossibly loud, drawing back its choppa to end my life. I felt then I would certainly die, and would have soiled myself had I not pragmatically gone before we embarked. Fortunately, I was best trained with the sword, and after a moment's consideration as he drew his choppa back, my right hand shot down to the chainsword, and with a very boorish blow from the heavy serrated weapon, as my arm was both shorter and I the quicker, I cut through the nob's chest and split its face in two. Blood spurted, covering my form. Even as I cut the xenos, even as it dropped me, the Chimera came to a halt. My body did not go down the porthole, but rather shot forward to hit the center of the Chimera's top from the inertia as the nob fell off, dying.

I hit the metal top hard, blinking as my vision was briefly illuminated with sparks and stars from the blow. I coughed again, now sticky with Ork blood on my hands and torso. Slowly, agonizingly, I rolled over and coughed again, wondering how on Terra I was still alive. Moments passed as I collected myself, before turning my head up from the steel plating.

"Oh..."

Before me eyes, and right in front of the Chimera, was what had to be two hundred Leman Russ tanks rolling forward in unison across the blasted desert landscape, and there must have been fifty troopers for every tank, walking in skirmish formation. Even as I watched, the column came to a slow halt, save one Leman Russ that crushed some of the bleak vegetation before stopping a dozen meters from our position. The hatch of the tank unlatched, and opened. I then saw the Colonel rise out of the tank in full military dress uniform, squinting from the sunlight as he looked at me.

"Lieutenant." He called.

"Colonel," I greeted him.

He looked past me to the smoking wrecks of the wartrukks, and the crawling figures of what orks had survived a few hundred meters behind us. Casually, he then looked back at me. "Seems your report on the Ork invasion has some merit."

---

I felt it was not entirely prudent to encourage such activity so soon, but it seemed apt to allow the men to finish their alcohol stores after the Colonel's forces surrounded the Orks before they could properly deploy, and though I disobeyed an order from the Colonel, the word had spread so quickly of our sortee and subsequent chase through both military and civilian channels that he had no choice but to commend me and my platoon. That was good, because I was very much hoping for a more comfortable position after this, one with less Orks and more women. As for the drink...

I had taken a list of names of the worst offenders over the last few weeks, making the most untrustworthy of them serve the alcohol under guard, while the ones that seemed to have promise of turning around guarded the perimeter, allowing them one small drink in celebration. I had made it known in no uncertain terms that this would be the last time drinks would be served on active duty, and I did not tolerate such behavior, but this was a special circumstance, and I felt it the better alternative than simply confiscating all alcohol and pouring it into the desert.

Blackguards!

@Red Wizard I'm not sure, likely my assassin rogue Amal

Heroes of The Guard: A Warhammer 40K RP

The pings of autogun bullets and the clattering of debris across the hull was almost familiar now. Like the acclimation of the body to cold water, time aided me in strengthening my resolve, though admittedly when I thought about it later, I very nearly vomited. However, at the time my blood was hot, and I roared as I thumbed the multilaster, cutting through Orks and even frying a few diminutive gretchen, the little miserable creatures having come out to try and assess the damage of a few of the ruined ramshakle vehicles. Even having wound a strip of cloth over my mouth, my lungs felt like they had gravel in them, and I nearly coughed with every exhale. It was by the emperor's mercy that I felt the Chimera turning upwards, and gradually I felt the brightness of the sun again as we began to ascend the slope. Both of the Chimeras with us flanked us, and we lifted out of the crater like a flock of razorwings climbing toward the heavens.

I squinted, blinking as I tore the cloth from my mouth and hacked again, driving the dust from my body and sucking in the free air. I raised my fist in triumph. Damn, I needed a woman to kiss! There were a few below, but it was not good to fraternize with the women that served under me, I reminded myself. No amasec to drink either, Emperor's Teeth!

My exhalation was shortlived, however. Just as we reached the last stretch before the cusp of the crater, a gout of flame and a roaring boom erupted from the dust cloud below. Instantly, the Chimera on our right was struck. I had never heard the sound of rending metal so close, sparks and plates of armor flying as the vehicle suddenly stalled. Moments later, out of the dust sped ork speed vehicles called wartrukks, and as the debris dissipated off them, I counted six in all.

The damaged Chimera began to slowly slide back down the crater, but the porthole opened at its top and both men and women scrambled out, their lasguns strapped to their backs and their faces filled with fear. Five of them managed to leap out of the top, but the sixth man that reached out began to scream as the armored vehicle accelerated down the hill, and from the gaping hole unbalancing the vehicle, it began to roll. I winced, glad it was not me, but mouthing a small prayer to him on earth to see his soul to the after life safely.

We crested the lip of the crater, and I opened the vox to order Sel to halt.

"What?"

"Open the back, we have 5 soldiers that need a lift!"

Before Sel could reply, whether to argue or order the hatch open, the bay door fell like an anvil. Later I was told that was Morek's doing, but at the time I was simply relieved to see it done. Covered in dirt, and some in smatterings of blood, each trooper climbed the last few meters of the crater and hustled into the Chimera. I went back down, beckoning them to hurry. The last woman on the ground, a pretty black haired farm girl, took my hand just as we could hear the whooping of the Orks. I hauled her in and slammed my fist on the button to close the ramp.

"Thank you sir," She said. I would later learn her name was Priscilla.

"Gun it!" I ordered Sel, and she did not need to be told twice. I was nearly torn out of the Chimera as it shot forward, but the other troopers kept me from flying out the back as Sel raced to catch up to our remaining comrade. I hastily climbed back to my position on the turret, and let me tell you, I would never forget the next few moments. The sight of ork wartrukks shooting out from the canyon like nightmarish mechanical dolphins while I could hear the telltale whistle of basilisk artillery shells overhead. As the first ork vehicle hit the dirt, the ground detonated in a cacophony of violent explosions, and judging from the debris flying above us out of the canyon, I knew the Ork roks were getting even more attention than our position. The third wartrukk was hit directly, ripping through the shoddy chasis and tearing through the orks unfortunate enough to be at its center. The rest of the ork wartrukks swerved and whizzed around the rain of shells, stubbers rat-tat-tatting at us. One of the wartrukks did not bother evasive maneuvers, believing that Gork and Mork were on their side and speeding up beside us, able to catch up fairly easily as we were still accelerating. I tried to spin the multilaser, but they were too close.

On the wartrukk, Orks hung like flies on a pile of dung, waving axes and autoguns. The driver, an ork with a mohawk and a steel jaw, swerved the vehicle to slam into our side. Luckily Chimeras were sturdy, but it was not an ideal position to be in. Troopers fired their lasguns from the opening vents, but their shots went wild. One enterprising greenskin leaped from the back of the wartrukk and grabbed ahold of a strip of the Chimera's hull, hauling himself atop it like a gorilla. I yelled in fear and ducked, but as the Ork got closer, Morek popped up top in my place, holding his ripper gun. He gave a cry from a language I did not recognize, and pulled the trigger. The automatic shotgun, if some a beastly weapon could be called that, obliterated the ork's jaw, neck, and chest, blood and flesh flying into the air like grisly fireworks, and the remains of the xenos fell from the top of the Chimera to be crushed underneath another wartrukk.

Morek turned his ripper gun and unloaded his clip on the wartrukk in close proximity, punching through ork flesh and armor and causing the vehicle to sputter smoke. The driver cried out in dismay as the vehicle began to slow, and Morek spat for good measure, hopping back down inside and patting me on the shoulder. I nodded, and went back up top again, taking the multilaser and sending a barrage of lasbolts at the next wartrukk, tearing through it's front grill and killing two of the green bastards.

Hello!! Looking for rps

@KoreyKay Welcome to the site!

Blackguards!

This looks cool as hell

Heroes of The Guard: A Warhammer 40K RP

I was stunned by the sight, I can tell you. Multiple roks, hitting at near approximately the same location all at once. Orks never ceased to amaze, I thought with mounting fear. It was blind luck, or an intelligence I was not prepared to admit, that would have those flying piles of stone and steel hitting a planet in unison, particularly when one accounted for the atmospheric pressure, the wind, and their efforts to slow their descent. Even as I watched, hulking green figures leaped or fell from the great husks. Some burned, some fell through the broken surface into cavernous darkness, and I believed a sizeable percentage of them did not survive the crash. Yet Roks only traveled when there were more than enough Orks to make a sizeable force even past such paltry attrition.

The exhaust and dust somberly floated past my head, and I knew I had only seconds to decide what to do before our element of surprise was dashed. But I also knew that if we went down there, not all of us would make it back up top, if any of us did. Yet the more I delayed, the more time the green xenos would have to bring out weaponry that could punch through the sturdy hull of our small chimera squadron. I then realized something that I am embarrassed to even account for.

"I didn't count on this..." I said, and inwardly cursed myself when I realized Sel could hear my voice.

"On what?" She asked. "Sir?"

"...The Rok crater...I can't turn my multilaser to point downards." I said, somehow viewing the situation in my mind of the Roks having slowed down more, leaving less of a crater for us to fire upon in a hit-and-run assault.

The silence in the next two seconds was deafaning. "What did you say, sir?" She asked with an incredulity that either barely contained laughter or wrath. I felt slightly offended, seeing as it was from my experience we had even discovered the Orks. Luckily, the two seconds she took to realize my lack of forthought had given me the time to come up with a plan. I dropped down into the belly of the Chimera, and grabbed the laudhauser, noting the sight of Morek manning the forward facing heavy bolter that came standard with the Chimera APC. Somehow the squat was chewing on a red strip of jerky, though from where, I had no guess.

Before Sel could comment, I ascended again and flipped the switch on the Laudhauser, before whispering into my vox. "On my signal, roll down the hill and make a circuit around the Rok. Don't stop." I said, and cleared my throat. Even now, there were a few piggish yellow eyes looking upwards at us, and muscled figures pointing. No bullets yet, but that would change soon. I then steeled myself, knowing I had to sound authentic, and so I drew in a deep breathe, throwing away my pride and gathering my memories of the horrid greenskins for this performance, as my life actually depended upon my voice. Strange, considering most of the time people comment how smooth and debonair I sound, but this time, I threw that out the proverbial window.

I placed my mouth to the laudhauser, and screamed.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"

My voice as deep as I could achieve, the sound blared into the canyon, echoing across the ruined stone and makeshift structure of the Orks curious space transport. As the voice was still echoing, I flipped the laudhauser off and opened the vox. "Go, go, go! Forward, now!"

The Chimeras lurched forward, and moments later I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as the precipice of the crater very much made me feel like a canoe tipping over a waterfall. The armored transport fell forward two meters passed the drop, and I nearly lost my lunch from the verigo before we were racing down the curving wallface. I lowered my laudhauser and thumbed the safety off the multilaster. Lasbolts the width of a slim woman's torso burst out of the mounted turret at high volume, spraying chunks of debris and shearing through lightly armored Orks as the xenos wooped, confused. I placed the voice amplifier to my lips again and screamed the Orkish warcry once more. Morek's heavy bolter tore through green flesh with unrestrained violence, and as I screamed again, the Orks that had just leaped out of the Roks, their blood up from hearing their battle cry, seeing no true enemy other than potentially three vehicles shrouded in dust (that even an Ork would question on the intelligence of attacking such a large force with) began to hack at their comrades with axes made of pipes and sheet metal. Shoddy autogun fire began to ring out, and the Orks that were hit from behind turned on their comrades in anger as well, enraged and whooping. A few bullets rang off the hull, but otherwise the Orks were too busy to pay attention to us in full, as they had begun to butcher one another.

Out of the dust, an orkboy with a cigar and a flamer stepped out, and with a 'whoomp' I found a gout of flaming rushing at me. I screamed in panic and slipped, falling into the Chimera, thankfully not hitting my head in the process. Wide eyes from every trooper were glued to me, and a sturdy man with white teeth helped me up, his eyes wild but filled with hope. "You're a genius sir! A goddamn genius!"

"Just don't stop! And don't disembark! If enough of them smell human they won't be so keen on each other anymore." I cautioned, coughing from the dust that had kicked up in my lungs. Morek said nothing, merely continued his relentless barrage of bolt shells from the front right compartment. I turned to the front of the vehicle. "Corporal Sel! Turn our squadron around at the next bend in the Rok and climb back up again. Even with this, they won't fight each other forever. We need to get out of here before their armor or rokkits are out, and then we need them following us once we're topside!"

Hello new friends

@Messengerofgods Welcome, new challenger

Heroes of The Guard: A Warhammer 40K RP

"Keep the engine running, Corporal. I'll be there shortly." I responded, hoping my voice sounded steady. As men ran back and forth, carrying equipment and ordinance, I had an abrupt feeling of imposter syndrome. How had I fooled all these men into thinking I was worth following? Surely command knew better than me, I told myself. Morek seemed to have confidence, at least, following my every step and eyeing every man suspiciously as he carried around the bloody Ogryn gun. Picking our way past the wreckage of a looted Tauros RAV and a rockcrete pillbox where two men loaded a heavy stubber, we saw the Chimeras at the center of the MOB, men scattering away as they roared to life.

"What I would not give for some hellfires," I said, knowing even if we routed the Orks, in a generation another wave would come screaming out of the badlands unless we burned the whole place.

My lamentations were interrupted by the first Rok hitting the planet's surface a bit over twenty kilometers away. There was a sudden flash of light to my left, and I covered my eyes instinctively. Moments later, a gale of wind and dust hit Morek and I with the force of a deep sea wave. I was knocked off my feet, though Morek, heavy as he was, grabbed my flailing (and yelling) form and kept himself steady. Squats are like square shaped boulders, I have come to find.

Despite my fear and rather embarrassing position, crying out and being held by the jacket, flailing like a ragdoll, I was actually well versed in the manner of the Orks and their landing capabilities. I hailed from the planet Avarus in the southern edge of the Segmentum Obscurus. Unlike the rest of the fleet zone, we did not get an overabundance of Chaos warbands. Only once in my life did a chaos fleet raid our world, and I was four at the time, so my expertise does not lie in that particular field, though I was aware of the stories. No, our biggest calamity was when I had just turned nineteen, and my homeworld was attacked by a one-eyed Ork Warboss creatively named 'Biggun Green.' I remembered being invited to the tower where my father and the commanders of the PDF showed me the auspex, and I heard the exact sound of an Ork Rok entering our atmosphere. I remember seeing our sister city, Saphir, burn across the expanse of few miles of pine forest. I recalled how flimsy of a barrier that was to our position. I had even seen limited combat, as our world had kept its pre-industrial traditions even after three millennia of being uplifted by the Imperium.

Noble sons were expected to fight.

However, I did not have my father here to give me orders, or my brothers to compete with (or use as distractions). As much as I had always loathed my father, there was still some manner of protection knowing he was there. Hopefully, I had half the confidence he did. The men under my command certainly needed a leader with that trait.

The concussive blast only lasted a few seconds, and despite my very manly squealing, it honestly was not that bad, after the fact. As insane as Orks are, they aren't entirely without reason. Ork roks are exceptionally tough, but even with their hulls dozens upon dozens of meters thick, the structure (nor its crew) would not normally survive hitting the planet. Roks control their descent by random discharges of modified force fields, reversing polarity charges at the molecular level. This force field, in combination with modified traktor beams, not only slows the descent, but produces a pressure bow-wave extending for over dozens of kilometers and a temperature of over 159 degrees above the surface mean during the descent operation, boiling the ground beneath the Rok up to ten metres deep and coating it in a silicon-based layer. This silicon-based layer provides additional stability for the rok, at least until its support structures, consisting of thousands of automatically adjusting spike-tipped anchors, are deployed, allowing the Rok to disperse its cargo by a series of hydraulic ramps. Even then, not all orks survive, but even just one rok can hold tens of thousands of orks, and from the readings we knew of at least two objects in the 'asteroid' cluster that fit the size of one.

Once I regained my feet, Morek and I hustled to the Chimera, it's back ramp still open like a gaping maw. I shouldered my way in, the men too scared to bother apologizing to the ranking officer. Their eyes were wide beneath their helmets, jaws clenched. I gave each man that looked my way an encouraging smile and nod, patting a few on the shoulder. I heard a few yelps behind me as Morek bulled his way past them beneath their eyeline like some lurking hormagaunt.

Sel was snug in her seat, having just finished prepping her station and awaiting my orders. I gave her a grin, looking around. "I'm impressed, Corporal."

"Once you know the lingo it all falls into place, sir." She quipped. "So, what's the plan?"

"It'll take the Orks a bit to get situated. We need to hit them hard as they're leaving the Rok. I'll get on the multi-laser," I said, and almost fainted when I realized I had just volunteered for the most vulnerable position on the Chimera. I supposed a small, irritating part of me really did have something to prove. "As they're getting off the Rok, we hit them, and when they give chase, we call in the artillery to clean them up."

"Sounds like a plan." Sel said, and grinned. "Better hold on."

Somehow, I could tell by those three words this was to be a bumpy ride, so I hurriedly took my position at the platform, half of my body sticking out above the Chimera like a target that read 'please murder this stupid git' as I released the safety mechanism on the multi-laser and placed a finger to my ear, reaching the vox for the chimera comms. "We're moving out. Follow our lead!"

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

"Meat please, and some cakes." Amal said, his elbow on the table and his dagger in his hand, waving it around in a circle to gesticulate, as one does. Amal was surpised Charynrae had helped the woman. Even if she was a bit nice for a dark elf, it was charity he would not have done himself. However, when she said it was on the house, he supposed he understood why, now. After the waitress walked away, she glanced back at the strange table before disappearing to the back.

There was a general murmur around them, a table with a surface elf, a dwarf, a halfling, and three humans erupted into laughter. Amal was glad for the sound covering his words.

"I hear there is a bounty on bandits a few dozen miles north, at a place called Ironspur." Amal's accent causing his voice to sound both smooth yet clipped. "I say we go there next."

Two hefty northerners, looking for all the world like Luskaners, stumbled past the two new companions. They nearly bumped into the tabletop, and a keen eye could see Amal's hand slip into one of their pockets. Three shiny silver coins were between his four fingers, and he flashed a grin to Charynrae. For the normal eye, it would seem as if he plucked the coins out of nowhere. "I will cover the inn expenses tonight. I decided I would like to sleep in a bed for once. Maybe a bath too."

Amal saw the woman coming back with the drinks, the food likely still cooking. He gave his jackal-like grin again. "But first, let's fill our bellies."