Week 4 Epilogue - Narrow Escape

His forces were scattered, but Lord Gallowbraid has no qualms to the safety of his men.  His men were survivors, everyone one of them.  While the Night Lords didn’t usually follow a warband and a warlord, being mercenary and all, these men that he had fought with had grown a kinship that he had not felt in a long time.  He felt he could actually… trust them.

The Shadow Lords were close.  Garrowbraid had spent days skulking in the shadows, as he regrouped pockets of his men scattered within the facility.  When he entered, he was out for vengeance and the artifact.  Now his objective was different.  It was just escape.  He didn’t have the might to face off both the Grey Knights, Sororitas, Inquisition and the Shadow Lords. That would take a full scale offensive only Dreagher could muster at this time.  So now, Gallowbraid had to make do with what he had, a shard of the artifact, while he made his escape.

Captain Aerius Gauis has proven himself to be a persistent foe, many times coming close to catching him, but the Lord of the Night proved too elusive for him to track down, until now.  This was the last stretch, the exit to the out lands close by.  Gallowbraid had to infiltrate some of the facility systems to find the nearest exit route, but it had alerted Gauis to his whereabouts.  And now with his pocket of Night Lords, he  made for the exit at full speed, all pretenses at hiding abandoned.

His brother Contemptor stood by his side, a relic from the Age of the Horus Heresy, its armour pitted and worn.  It once served with Gallowbraid during the Horus Heresy as fellow squad mates and was interred in a Contemptor following grievous injuries.  Despite being exposed to the warp for so long, the Contemptor's superior construction has kept the interred marine more sane, or what could count as sane.  Unlike the Helbrute, Garrowbraid didn't feel so exposed with it covering his back.

The Chaos Contemptor stood stalwart at the entry way, blocking all access as the Night Lords broke their way through shut doors and turret emplacement.  The Shadow Lords that were on their heels quickly moved into view down the corridor.  In the lead was the surviving Venerable Dreadnought, shielding his power armoured brethren from the worst of the Night Lords covering fire.

The Contemptor activated ancient systems and searing plasma blasts erupted from built in plasma blasters. The superheated plasma burned through the thick plating of already damaged Venerable Dreadnought.  The Contemptor charged, and the Venerable retaliated in the last way it could with most of its systems compromised.  The quite hiss of a multi melta struck true but it failed to penetrate the Contemptor's armour which was blessed by the powers of Chaos. A few blows from the Contemptor's power fist was all that was required to finally bring the Venerable Dreadnought down.

Shadow Lord Bikers raced down the flanks, attempting out outmaneuver the Night Lords.  The Night Lords were waiting for them however, and let loose gouts of flame at the bikers as they were attempted to turn a corner.  Where bikes could rule an open battlefield, the tight confines of the facility hindered their due to their bulky mass and made them fresh targets when flaming.  Many of the bikers were unprepared and were burnt to a crisp.  The survivors where then charged by the Raptors and were found wanting.  

Without warning, jump packs were ignited from behind the wrecked Venerable.  Trails of fire arched over the Contemptor.  It was a desperate gamble by Captain Gauis who was intent on taking down Garrowbraid.  Low beams and pipes obscured a clear path to the Night Lords, but Captain Gauis and his retinue skillfully avoided them.  Pushing their packs to the limit, they landed only paces away from the fleeing Night Lord and Retinue and it was only moments later before they launched into combat with the Night Lords.

In the tight confines, the combat was quick and brutal.  Gauis hacked through the Garrowbraid's aspiring champion before he could strike a death blow with his powerfist.  His men thrust their power weapons forwards, severing limbs and puncturing vital organs.  Both were space marines and the return blows were just as brutal, tearing as many Shadow Lords down as Night Lords fell.  A glancing blow knocked Garrowbraid out and he fell unconscious.

Gaius stood over the body of his unconscious foe and was just to deliver the death blow when the Contemptor charged down the corridor.  Gauis and a remaining retinue member tried to flee but were knocked aside by the brute force of the charge.  Gauis quickly regained his composure, realising he could do nothing against the Chaos Contemptor and fled.  Standing watch over his commander, the Contemptor scanned for enemies, but the Shadow Lord Captain and his retinue had melded into the shadows.

Howls filled the complex from a distance.  The forces of Chaos and Imperials stopped for a moment and stared down the hallways.  In the distance, shadows danced in the dim light of the facility as they made their way towards them.

Forward forces that were meant to cut down the fleeing Night Lords fell back into the corridors.  The Shadow Lords fired their bolters at the shadows in the distance.  Bolt shells detonated against the walls where the shadows danced around.  Now besieged by both sides, the Shadow Lords attempted to consolidate their forces, using the alcoves to protect and funnel both forces.  The Night Lords didn't seem to care and continued moving forwards towards the exit, towards the shadows.

At this range, the shadows soon coalesced into blurs of colour.  Harlequins danced down the corridors, jumping and flipping over the crates and uneven terrain without slowing down.  Harlequins in range returned fire at Shadow Lords in range.  Their exotic weapons pierced the armour of the Space Marines.

The Shadow Lords held firm, resolute in their stand to protect the complex.  If possible, from both, but if necessary, from the lesser of the two evils.  The Night Lords were fleeing, but the Harlequins were attacking and they could not be allowed to enter the complex.  There was no compromise, the Harlequins had to die, and any Night Lords with them.

The Shadow Lords didn't have to worry about such issues too much as they were soon charged by the Harlequins.  A combat squad bore  the brunt of the attack and were quickly dispatched with by the Kisses and Caresses of the Harlequins.  The Shadow Lords received an unexpected reprieve when the Night Lords fired into the Harlequins.  The unexpected alliance took the Harlequins by surprise and they were blown to bits by the explosive bolts.

Still the Harlequins pushed forward, driven by an unknown agenda.  Why are the Harlequins attacking the facility?  The motivations of the Xenos was lost the the Shadow Lords and apathetic Night Lords.  The Night Lords would face them.  Nothing would stop them from escaping.

With a sudden prismatic blur of colour, a lone Harlequin dashed forwards as though aloft on wings of light.  Leaping off crates and running along the walls, the Solitaire blitz down the corridor, making a beeline towards the Night Lords.  Even the superhuman senses of the Night Lords failed to track the moving blur and the Solitaire landed in front of the squad guarding the body of the fallen Chaos Lord and charged the unit.  Armed with superior speed and reflexes and exotic weaponry, the Harlequin did a dance of death through the marines. The androgynous face sculpted in its mask leered at Garrowbraid's body and it reached out to touch it.  Then in a bright flash of light, both the body and the Harlequin disappeared.