Eiyoltan – Frostfang

29/12-2022 – Anomalous readings

Koryo carefully made his way towards the end of the ruin and peered out.

”Those are the nodes that fill our scanners with anomalous readings and hide the enemy movements in this area, Autarch,” said the Ranger leader Haranor and indicated two strange looking objects of Necron design further into the ruins in front of them.

”Then those are the targets. We must destroy them, or at least shut them down. Any enemy forces or other things in the area?” Koryo replied.

”This area is as unsettling and still as the previous. There is an unnatural dread here, brought on by the Necrons and their devices. My men are on the edge, but holding so far. We have spotted a large group of Necron Warriors on approach from the opposite woods.”

”This unsettling horror unnerves every one of our warriors,” Exarch Iiloran Mournsong of the Warp spiders added. ”Warlock Daranael still suffers from some kind of suffocating madness and the Guardians are extremely unnerved since our last skirmish.”

”Farseer Embarath does his best to calm and guide them,” Koryo ensured. ”But we may not be able to depend on them as much this time. A strange form of inertia and exhaustion has stalled our advance and our forces are still far behind. But we must strike now, before more Necrons have time to arrive, even if our reinforcements will arrive in stuttering groups. Move out!”

The Rangers had secured a good vantage point from the tall ruins on the left Aeldari flank, as a Cryptek Technomancer lead twenty Necron Warriors on to the battlefield from the other side of a forest.

The Necron Warriors marched steadily forwards intent on holding one of the nodes. The Rangers were out of range and could not fire their sniper rifles.

The Necron Warriors moved relentlessly closer to the first node, as the Necron Overlord made his way through the forest. Exarch Khirigin Blademoon lead the Moonglow Dire Avengers onto the battlefield and advanced to get the Necron Warriors into range of their avenger shuriken catapults. Farseer Embarath Dreamweaver moved up in support and used his psychic powers to guide their aim. With a timely intervention, Autarch Koryo and the Ghostweaver Warp Spiders of Iiloran Mournsong made a sudden assault, materialising onto the central ruins. The Necron Warriors came under intense fire, with a bladestorm of shuriken from the Dire Avengers, sniper fire from the Rangers, and the death spinners from the Warp Spiders wiping them out so completely that they could not reanimate.

The enraged Overlord advanced towards the Warp Spiders, while the Technomancer retreated into the woods to meet up with the delayed Necron Immortals. The Immortals and the Overlord fired on the Warp Spiders and left only Iiloran and Koryo standing. The two moved further back with their sights still on the Overlord, as Daranael and the Guardians arrived and advanced on the second node. The Dire Avengers and Embarath advanced towards the first node. Dire Avengers defensive tactics enabled them to deactivate the node and revoke it’s targeting disruption and still fire on the Overlord, wounding him. Koryo’s dragon fusion gun failed him, as the Overlord phased through the blast. Finally, the Rangers managed a headshot that even the Overlord’s Resurrection Protocols couldn’t bring him back from.

The Immortals moved through the forest to get in range of their weapons, and cut down Iiloran with their gauss blasters and severely wounded Koryo. Koryo teleported back and away from the Immortals, as the Dire Avengers moved up and the Guardians protected by Daranael advanced towards the second node. Embarath guided the Dire Avengers again and their bladestorm cut down a few Immortals, who immediately resurrect and stood back up.

The Immortals took out all of the Dire Avengers, except Exarch Khirigin. The Guardians and Daranael advanced and deactivate the second node, while fire from the scatter laser and Khirigin hammered into the Immortals, but again they rose back up.

Seeing the many Aeldari closing in on them, the Technomancer ordered the remaining Necrons to retreat, leaving the victorious Aeldari time to permanently disable the Necron nodes.

”Well done!” Koryo exclaimed to his gathered troops after the battle. ”Despite this unnatural dread, we managed to destroy the nodes and the Necron’s stillness effect is already diminishing. Now we can more safely bring in more troops and find the main Necron Pylons and destroy them. I would especially congratulate the Ghostweavers, for their well timed ambush and they are now truly battle-tested and, I think, marked for greatness. Exarch Iiloran has showed that he really is an exemplar of the shrine! But the Necrons have surely taken note of our activities now and will gather in greater numbers. We will need to move swift to avoid being caged in by them.”

15/5-2022 – Eiyoltan arrives on Sepulchre

The Webway gate on the planet Sepulchre opened and Autarch Koryo Stormshadow stepped through, followed swiftly by alert Asuryani warriors of the Eiyoltan Craftworld.

”Greeting! It is good to see you back on your feet, Autarch,” Iiloran Mournsong, the Warp Spider Exarch said as he approached.

”The war with the ravagers of the Purple Pox cost us all a great deal,” Koryo replied to his friend. ”You became as sick and injured as I was. How are you healing?”

”As well as can be expected. The wraithbone grafts are necessary to halt the spread of the pox and they make us much more resilient, but they take time to adapt to. I feel like a newcomer to the Shrine again. Do you think we will find a cure for the pox in this accursed realm?”

”Yes, the survivors of the Eiyoltan Farseer Council have scried the future paths and seen that we will find an answer here. The Necrontyr is projecting a field of unnatural dread that affects even us and most of the troops are new recruits to cover for the losses from the Purple Pox invasion. But we need to survey and secure the indicated sites in these mon-keigh ruins. Take your positions and stay alert, I predict we will have company soon. And tell Warlock Daranael that we need a psychic beacon to alert the rest of our forces.”

The nervous Guardian Defenders took position on top of the tank in the central ruins, with good lines of sight of the opposite street and the Necron Immortals skulking there. The Rangers ghosted forward towards a vantage point in the ruins on the opposite flank, with Koryo Stormshadow and the Iiloran’s Warp Spiders in position to secure the ruins behind them. The Warlock Daranael led the Dire Avengers into cover in the centre. Opposite them, the Skorpekh Destroyers and the Technomancer hid in the ruins opposite the Dire Avengers, with the Necron Overlord and Immortals out on the flank opposite the Guardians.

The Necron Overlord and Skorpekh Destroyers moved forward under cover from the ruins as the Immortals fired on the Guardians. Daranael protected the Guardians by jinxing the Immortals’ weapons and only two Guardians fell. The Dire Avengers moved towards the ruins with the Guardians as the Warp Spiders secured the first site. The Rangers and Guardians fired on the Immortals and massed shuriken fire from the Dire Avengers cut apart the first Skorpekh Destroyer.

The Overlord kept advancing into cover in the ruins below the Guardians and the Destroyers retreated back to secure a site. The Immortals hit back hard against the Guardians, despite being jinxed again by Daranael, and the surviving unnerved Guardians fled.

The Dire Avengers tried to take their name literal and their matchless agility enabled them to traverse the ruins and target the Overlord. But despite their immense shrunken fire, they only managing to wound him and his living metal body regenerated. The Warp Spiders advanced on the right flank towards the Destroyers. The Ranger’s long rifles didn’t have any effect on the Skopekh Destroyers, but Koryo teleported closer and melted another construct to slag with his Dragon fusion gun.

The Overlord, Immortals and Technomancer shot and killed three of the Dire Avengers before the Overlord charged. But in order to have range to the Dire Avengers, the Technomancer and his bodyguard Crypthralls exposed themselves out of cover. Against the odds, two of the expertly trained and equipped Aspect Warriors survived the blows of the Overlord. The last Skorpekh Destroyer moved behind cover towards the Immortals and Koryo secured the site that had just been secured by the Skorpekh Destroyer. The Warp Spiders teleported into cover closer to the Technomancer. The Dire Avengers feigned a retreat from the regenerating Overlord and instead targeted the Crypthralls, killing one. Daranael and the Rangers also targeted the Technomancer, but their shots were intercepted by the last Crypthralls, who died protecting their master.

The Overlord chased after the Dire Avengers, and combined fire with the Technomancer to wipe them out. The Immortals targeted Daranael and took him out of action. Koryo used the distraction of the Dire Avengers and Daranael to teleport behind the last Skorpekh Destroyer and melt it with a well placed fusion blast. The Warp Spiders had also teleported into firing range and used their death spinners to destroy the Technomancer. However, the destruction of the mechanoid activated its resurrection protocols and brought him back from the brink of death.

The Overlord and Technomancer retreated out of sight behind the tank, as Koryo and the Warp Spiders advanced on the Immortals. Death spinners and long rifles did not manage to kill all of them, and a charging Koryo failed to take any more down. But the Overlord acknowledged that the Aeldari had the upper hand and teleported his troops away. The Asuryani had a close win, as the cost in Aeldari life was steep.

Koryo was surveying the surrounding area from the peak of a ruin, as Iiloran approached again.

”Daranael will recover, but I sense a growing anger within him after his injuries. The Guardians are even more unnerved after their casualties, but will recover physically,” Iiloran reported.

”Sad news for such great warriors,” Koryo replied. ”We shall keep an eye on them. But we learned a great deal about these new Necron types. I am glad we never had to face those three-legged machines in close combat, they looked utterly lethal. We will return to the Webway gate to await reinforcements and then investigate these anomalous readings the Rangers found ahead of us.”

21/6-2020 – Search for the damaged Overlord

Rurik Sureshot of the Frostwolves Nightstalker Infiltration Pack slowly moved his hand to the sight of his marksman bolt carbine. He had the Dire Avenger Exarch dead in his sight. But as the Aeldari Guardian Defenders were patrolling at street level below his sniper’s nest in the ruined tower, he would be unable to make a stealthy exit if he took the shot. His orders were to observe only, and he had been very surprised when Aeldari from the Eiyoltan Craftworld had appeared. He was expecting some Necrons coming back for their damaged constructs. It seemed there had been some kind of teleportation malfunction, as the Necrons normally teleported their dead and damaged away. This time, however, there were still a few damaged Necron constructs littered about the battlefield, where the Beaststalkers had defeated them a few days ago. The Nightstalkers had been ordered to remain and observe if the Necrons returned.

On cue, there was alarm among the Aeldari, and Rurik moved his scope to the other end of the street. A Kill Team of hulking Necron Immortals and Lychguard appeared, led by a Deathmark. The Dire Avenger Exarch and his three Dire Avengers swiftly scaled a ruin to get a better firing position, as the Guardian Defenders advanced down the barricaded street with the scatter laser weapon platform hovering before them.

The Exarch peppered the Deathmark with shuriken discs from his two avenger shuriken catapults, but the construct merely suffered minor damage before ducking out of sight behind the ruins. One of the Lychguard scaled the wall to the Dire Avengers and cut one in half with his warscythe. The Guardians shot down the other Lychguard, as he ran towards them, but they were soon pinned down by the return fire.

After most of the Guardians had been killed or lost their nerve, the Exarch signalled for a retreat and the last surviving Aeldari withdrew.

The Necrons did not pursue, and Rurik watched them dig around a few the piles of damaged bodies before the Deathmark triumphantly lifted the head of a Necron Overlord. It was the same head that the Farslayers had put a bolt through, and the damage was still evident. The Deathmark called the Immortals to his side and the larger Necrons dug up the rest of the Overlord’s damaged body. As the Necrons took their prize and departed, Rurik quietly voxed his pack leader.

’Jarek, I have their trail.’

1/1-2018 – The Stormshadow strikes

The Eiyoltan Craftworld had revoked its expansionist policy in the Virago sub-sector after multiple defeats and had withdrawn all of its forces back home. After the disgrace of his defeats on Rhoie, Autarch Koryo had spent the last years training and meditating in the Shrine of the Stormshadow, his old Warp Spider shrine. Contemplating surprise tactics and honing his mastery of the Warp Jump Generator, he gained new insights and perfected his flickerjump.

This new understanding proved instrumental in defence of the Craftworld, when the opening of the Great Rift enabled a Nurgle Daemon force attack. The invasion was led by the inventor of the Purple Pox, the Great Unclean One known as Poxvirid Purpur Variol. Koryo, once again leading the 4th Eiyoltan warhost as an Autarch, and the Warp Spiders of the Shrine of the Stormshadow executed precision attacks on the daemonic assailants. Koryo and four squads of Warp Spiders managed to banish Poxvirid, effectively ending the invasion. This victory redeemed Koryo in both Eiyoltan’s Autarch and Seer Councils. In recognition of his bravery and deeds during the invasion, he was renamed Koryo Stormshadow. However, the victory was bittersweet. Poxvirid had managed to infect Eiyoltan’s population with the Purple Pox. Humans infected with the Purple Pox slowly turn into Poxwalkers. The effect on Aeldari, however, was to weaken and rot their limbs. Eiyoltan responded by setting themselves in quarantine and focus all research on finding a cure. It was soon found that wraithbone slowed the spread of the disease. It swiftly became custom to graft plates of wraithbone directly into their skin. This was done as a preventive measure, to slow the spread of infections, or even replace lost limbs. The Daemon invasion and subsequent epidemic reminded the Aeldari of their mortality, steeling their will to live. This made the Eiyoltan Aeldari extremely durable in combat and its troops could even ignore otherwise fatal wounds.

While the majority of the ravaged Eiyoltan was rebuilding, Koryo was sent by the Seer Council to divert the Imperial Fists Successor Chapter Cartonian Dragoon forces to attack the daemonic forces of Poxvirid and his Death Guard allies.

Koryo Stormshadow and his warhost arrived back on Rhoie in the ruins of a city demolished by Chaos forces. Koryo’s long standing advisor Farseer Embarath Dreamweaver deployed on a raised platform with the Dark Reapers, overseeing the battlefield. True to form, the Space Marines reacted swiftly to the new threat. The Rhino, Dreadnought, and two Land Speeders advanced and killed the Rangers hiding in a centre ruin. The remaining Ranger squad sniped the Space Marine Lieutenant in retaliation. Farseer Embarath guided the Dark Reaper’s fire, killing half the combat squad shielding the Space Marine command officers.

The Land Speeders redeployed to secure a flank objective, while Koryo and the Warp Spiders advanced out of sight behind a ruin. The wounded Lieutenant was fully healed by the Apothecary. The Guardians hunkered down in the ruin around another objective, next to the Dire Avengers. Both remained there for the entire battle. The Fire Dragons deployed from a Webway portal to destroy the Land Speeders, doomed by Embarath. However, one severely damaged speeder remained after the attack. The guided Dark Reapers finished off the remaining combat squad in the ruins. The Rangers sniped the Lieutenant again.

A full Tactical squad disembarked from the Rhino and opened fire on the Howling Banshees in the ruins, killing all but two. The Space Marine Captain (resembling Vulkan He’stan of the Salamanders), Lieutenant, and Apothecary left the ruins and hid out of sight. The Lieutenant was again restored by the Apothecary. The damaged Land Speeder opened fire with heavy bolter and assault cannon on the Fire Dragons, killing half the squad. The Fire Dragons then executed a feigned retreat, falling back only to reverse and blast the Land Speeder to pieces. The Warp Spiders advanced around a building and killed three Tactical Marines. The Rangers switched target to the annoying Apothecary, wounding him. The Howling Banshees exited cover, damaged the Dreadnought with a lucky shot from a shuriken pistol, and then assaulted the remaining Tactical Marines together with Koryo. Unable to overwatch after being hit by the Banshees’ howl, four marines were cut down by the Aeldari Aspect Warriors.

The depleted Space Marines made a tactical retreat into the reversing Rhino, taking them out of grasp of Koryo and the Howling Banshees. The Dreadnought took their place, charging both Koryo and the Banshees. But the Dreadnought overestimated himself, as he failed to inflict any damage. In turn, Koryo’s mandiblaster wounded the ancient warrior and the Howling Banshee Exarch finished him with precision strikes from her executioner axe. The guided Dark Reapers almost destroyed the Rhino. The triumphant Howling Banshees assaulted a Tactical combat squad emerging from an objective in the rear ruins.

The Space Marine Captain charged and killed the Fire Dragon Exarch, claiming an important objective, but leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Reapers. The last three members of the Tactical squad disembarked from the Rhino, firing on, assaulting, and wounding Koryo. The Lieutenant charged the Howling Banshees and killed one, while the Banshee Exarch finished off the combat squad.

As a final act, the Warlock destroyed the Rhino with psychic power, the guided Dark Reapers annihilated the Captain, the Apothecary was liquified by a web of death spinner monofilament wires, Koryo cut down the last marines, and the Banshee Exarch beheaded the Lieutenant.

With these deaths, the Aeldari forces had total control of the battlefield. Now the final step of the plan begun. Koryo’s forces moved swiftly around the battlefield, covering their own tracks and planting evidence that the Death Guard were behind the attack. Satisfied, Koryo led his warhost back into the Webway, leaving a false trail for the imperials to find.