The Palcriss 4 Campaigns CH 1

The wind howled, kicking up ash and dust in its wake and creating a thick cloud over the streets. Taking advantage of the situation, seven figures stalked out from the respective hiding places into the cover of the dust. Obscured from prying eyes, they weaved their around the strange metal devices that littered the street. Ten meters further and they would reach their destination, however before they could reach it, the wind died down and the ash and dust began to settle. The lead figure, wearing some kind of gas mask, immediately slumped against a rusting hulk he only barely knew was called a 'car'.  The others quickly followed in his footsteps and after a brief hand signal, began cloaking themselves.

Using a brief electronic shock from the amputated muscles of a spider-eel, their cloaks promptly matched the grays and whites of the environment.  The leader peered over the dead machine and spotting no one gave out a signal to move forward.  Half of the cloaked beings shot out towards the building in a running crouch while the rest covered them. As they reached the abandoned structure, they in turn, covered the movement of the rest as they made their run to the building. Having finally reached their destination, the assembled beings entered the building. The leader went in first, scanning the lobby as he raised his gun, ready to blast down anything that may have been waiting. Finding nothing, he ordered the rest secure the structure.

Within minutes, the leader's antenna began to pick up the 'all clear' pheromones from all over the structure. Now in relative safety, the leader pulled the gasmask off his mandibles and left it hanging off his neck. Despite the building being secure, the insectoid creature did not feel it safe enough to speak aloud and instead with the use of specific pheromone chains and gestures, ordered them to begin the observation. The assembled Skarath nodded in agreement before all seven of them assembled within the top floor of the once nice apartment. Seeing as the top floor was blown off and exposed, the lead Skarath instead choose the relatively intact floor beneath it. The insectoids piled in to the somewhat nice room. Nice if you were Irken that is. To the assembled Skarath, the room was small and filled with too much 'technology' to be considered comfortable.

The leader crouched down as he reached the largest window, two other members of his cell joined him in the observation, one taking position at the window to left his and the other watching from the window within horribly cramped bathroom. Two others covered the hallway directly outside and another the stairs in case any unwanted visitors appeared while the last one readied the messenger. All of them did this while cloaked of course. There was never a good reason to draw attention, especially when this close to demonic territory. For just across the street, built upon the ruins of a construction site, was machine supply base. Prefabricated bunkers of steel and electrified razor wire surrounded the perimeter of the camp while inside, bulbous fuel tanks and compact warehouses of spare troops and parts littered the encampment. All around, swarming like metal ants, various automata patrolled or worked within the camps confines, all orderly, all silently, all perfectly in step. The insectoids shuddered in response to all this, the Cell's leader was glad such an unnatural thing would be destroyed soon enough.   

With quill and paper in hand, the three observers began to jot down information, number of bunkers, locations of power generators, estimated troop numbers and the like.  All of which was important if the upcoming assault was to succeed with minimal casualties. An hour passed before the assembled Harbinger Cell was sure they had enough information, the three observers passed the pages of information towards the falconer, who collected the papers before rolling them up and placing them within a case before tying it to the pixie hawk. Despite its cutesy name, the creature was hardly pretty, appearing like a hybrid between a lizard and a carnivorous butterfly. With message box firmly tied to the creature, it handler nodded approvingly before letting it go. Its bio-forged feathers, the same that made up the Harbinger camo-cloaks, camouflaging it as took flight away from the building towards the main Skarath encampment.

The lead Harbinger relaxed slightly as the messenger hawk left, but still kept a wary eye on the machine camp. If it was one thing Zane had learned while on the front, no matter how good your stealth was, the Steel Demon's magic always found you. Always. With that sobering thought in mind, he and his squad hunkered down in a more defensive watch as they waited for the main force to arrive.

---

The sky was gray; having lost its original blue after the machines poisoned the atmosphere. The fairie hawk, consistently matching the sky's depressing shades as it flew to its destination, wasn't at all phased by this however. It shared its creator's hardiness to poisons and the like, the fact that it and the rest of its kin on this world were especially bio-forged to withstand this planet's atmosphere helped as well.  The creature also needed no help to find its destination, it's forging having bonded it specifically to its destination's scent.  The small creature paused and hovered in the air for a moment, the wind had changed throwing it off the scent for a moment. After a brief wiggle of antenna it found the source again and continued on its merry way to the Warlord, the desolate city passing by quickly beneath it.

---

The Dawn Hotel was once a magnificent hotel, five star services, the most luxurious rooms, and some of the friendliest staff one could find. However that was before a flaming Vulture drop ship crashed into its foundation and poison gas killed everyone. Now the decaying hotel leaned dangerously on its side, the only think keeping it from hitting the street and turning it into rubble was its superior construction and the fact it was using a shorter building across the street as an impromptu support pillar. Within its abandoned halls, hidden machine gun nest and snipers lined its neglected halls, serving as advance guard for the Skarath base hidden in the sewers below.  The Skarath base itself held only two direct ways to surface, one in the burnt out remains of the Hotels foundations and the other within the basement of the mall it now leaned against. There was no obvious indication that the Skarath used this place at all or had even wandered the area. This was mainly due to experience being a very harsh teacher in these circumstances, the Steel Demons fought in a manner unlike anything the Skarath had fought before and they paid for those mistakes dearly.

The faint beating of wings caught one of the newer hidden guard's attentions, risking a quick look out a broken window it spotted a pixie hawk as the small creature quickly whipped past the sentinel and fluttered down the halls, still partially cloaked. The guard quietly shrugged in response to this and quickly went back to hiding. The pixie hawk weaved through the halls, drawing nothing but minor looks from some guards and ignored entirely by others as it darted down in the entrance in the ruins of the Hotels foundations.  Moving down into the dark, cramped corridors of the hotels basement and then into the city's unusually large sewers, the small creature finally stopped cloaking itself now that it was safe underground. It then changed to a bright red to denote its importance, those who saw it quickly got out of the small creatures way as it darted towards its destination.

The true Skarath base underground was a stark contrast to structures above. Dozens of pentagonal tents flanked the central sewage canal, each one with Skarath runes and trophies of war decorating their leathery skin 'walls'. Larger tents held great cages of living munitions and crates of weapons while even larger ones erected in the largest areas of the sewers held chained and caged war beast. Scattered about were forges and anvils where the Skarath's blades were sharpened or remade, which when considering the nature of the enemy, was far more often than most would have liked. Dozens of Skarath milled about the putrid halls, not a one disturbed the smell or the pestilence in the air for each one had grown use to it or was naturally immune, respectively. Many of them did what they could as they waited, playing games, sleeping, sparring, weapon repairs, prayed, or simply talked to one another as they all waited for deployment orders.

All of this was simply ignored by the pixie hawk as it found its destination within the city of tents, for the Warlords tent was naturally one of the larger and more heavily decorated ones. Flanking the armored, trophy laden, tent's entrance was a pair of large well armed Skarath who paid the messenger creature little attention as it quickly flew past them. The insides of the tent were tinted a sickly yellow-green due to the amputated bio-luminescent organ that was their main light source, gently hanging above like a dismembered organ in its cage, like a gruesome chandelier. Below, the tent was crowded with all sorts of materials, banners of religious iconography and clan symbols hung high above everything and a large coop to the right held a great deal of pixie hawks ready to send out orders. Dominating the left side of the tent were dozens of maps and charts, all of them with scribbled lines of attacks or circled targets. To the center of the tent was a large table covered in an equally large map of the area, all over said map was small miniature figures representing Skarath forces in the area.

Crowding around the table were various tacticians and troop commanders but the one the messenger creature was looking for stood tall over the rest. The Warlord was a large Skarath easily eight feet in height with a muscle structure that make a rhino jealous; the epitome of his clan's breeding and the highest quality bio-forging. He was known as Sevurak of clan Death's Head and his heritage showed clearly in the black and white tattoos that decorated his granite colored exoskeleton along with his size. The Warlord's body was clad in heavy armor, apparently made from thick steel plates and the dismembered bodies of droids. Indeed, the only things on his body that didn't seem to made from metal or droid parts was a few bone trinkets, some colored fabrics decorated in runes, and a necklace of what appeared to be Irken skulls. In the Warlords left dominant hand was massive steel hammer, strips of sharpened steel wedged into a metal ring giving some cutting power to the hammer strikes and on the massive Skarath's hip was a twin-linked machine gun.

Warlord Sevurak observed the tacticians and the plans they discussed with what appeared to mild interest. One could say he was bored and be completely right. In all honesty, Sevurak let most of the pre-battle and logistics decisions be made by his personal tacticians and officers rather than himself. It wasn't because Sevurak was a lazy or incompetent commander; it would be more accurate to say that the Warlord simply misused his Warbrood's strengths. The forces that Sevurak commanded were mainly compromised by members of clan Grim Fang who specialized in guerilla warfare, subterfuge, and stealth; teachings that greatly opposed the tactics Sevurak was trained and excelled in. The Warlord was trained in the use of overwhelming force with heavily armored gene-forged shock troopers and heavy armor of Death's Head, not the light armored skirmishers and commando teams of Grim Fang. It was because of this opposing mindset that led to a great deal of failures amongst the first few months of the war and so it was generally accepted that it was safer to let those from the Grim Fang clan handle most of the pre-battle decisions while Sevurak himself would truly take command during the heat of battle.

The pixie hawk, forgoing the messenger coop, flew straight into the rather bored Warlords face, practically landing on him. Sevurak, slightly startled by the creature's sudden appearance, grabbed it with a surprisingly gentle grip and took the message from the red creature. The Warlord unraveled the papers as the pixie hawk flew towards the coop before handing the papers to the expecting forms of his tacticians. They all promptly began discussing anew which Sevurak quickly began to tune out. In all honesty he really had nothing to do until they presented him their battle strategy for his approval. Sometimes Sevurak wondered why exactly he was given the command of a legion that was the opposite of what he was used to, then he remembered the political storm that appeared when the Temple demanded they join the war effort with the Alliance. The Temple had demanded an immediate deployment to prove themselves and none of the Clans were prepared for the sudden mobilization. Sevurak, being one of the most skilled tacticians they had, was immediately assigned to one of their largest legions in the hopes of a knockout combination. Apparently the fact that the Warlord's entire tactical mindset was the complete opposite of this Warbrood's specialties was apparently lost in the haste of mobilization and politics.             

The Warlords thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly became aware the tacticians were looking at him expectantly, apparently they had finished their discussions and were ready to present him with strategy. Sevurak waved them to start and they immediately launched him into a detailed explanation. The plan started with a large contingent of mobile infantry attacking the Steel Demon's western fortifications in order to draw attention away from the East and tie up their forces. Meanwhile the few remaining Harbinger cells would initiate a mass bombing of the droids Eastern defenses to make way for the second attack force, consisting of heavy infantry, assault beast, and Sevurak himself, so that they can cut deep into the machines unprotected flank and slaughter the Demons from behind. Hopefully this would be done before the Western attack force was too badly mangled. It was a relatively risky plan with the threat of massive casualties if the Harbingers or the Eastern attack force failed.

Sevurak himself was honestly surprised at the riskiness of this plan considering avoiding casualties had been the focal points of most plans since the first few terrible months. However he recalled that reinforcements were coming soon and now the plan's inherent risk now made sense; any massive casualties gained now would be quickly replaced in a relatively short timeframe. In honesty, it wasn't the number deaths that made the Skarath fear casualties, it was how long it would take for them to be replaced that called for most infantry saving plans. Sevurak waved his consent before releasing the pheromones of approval. The effect was instantaneous and several of the awaiting servants quickly received the marching orders and began to scamper to the pixie hawk coop in order to deliver these marching orders. The messengers were prepared to fly and the tacticians began to stand in place nervously but no one left. While the plan held Sevurak's approval, he still had to wait on the word on the only people in the camp that outranked him and as was his duty he took a copy of the plans and exited the tent, the pair of Death's Head guards at the entrance following him as he went.

Everywhere Sevurak walked, the warriors paused what they were doing and gave him the mandatory respect his position demanded. The Warlord knew he wasn't the most popular person in the camp due to earlier failures but that didn't mean anyone was stupid enough to directly insult him, especially when he was armed and had his minders.  Up ahead was the Warlord destination, the largest tent in the camp. The leathery canvases of its walls were covered in large glowing runes and iconography, with murals depicting scenes of mythical creatures, historical events, and the personifications of their most revered beings. This wasn't simply a large decorated tent, this was the spiritual center and morale of this legion, this was the Temple.

Forming a ring all around the sacred structure were a force of the honored Temple Guard.  They were the epitome of gene-forging and breeding at its best; their forms were tall and slender, lean and powerful, with all hints and traces of gender right down to the organs completely removed from their bodies. Bio-forged symbiotes specially grafted to their sexless bodies gave them durability, speed, and strength beyond anything any naturally born Skarath was capable of, not even Sevurak could best them in combat with their waspish bodies easily matching his own strengths despite their smaller size. The Temple Guards' forms were clad in dyed fabrics of the highest quality, the bones of Neph'ilis' most dangerous predators armored their bodies, and their blades were expertly carved from the transparent stone-like glass unique to their home world. Covering their bare exoskeleton were dozens of small religious seals and tattoos of their most sacred symbols and resting in beautifully made holsters were master-crafted guns.   
   
The Holy Guards seemed to pay the lowly Warlord no mind but Sevurak knew they were all ready to cut him down in an instant if he showed even the barest hint of ill intent. The flaps of the tent suddenly opened with no indication of who did so but Sevurak was not worried, it only seemed that way and he knew what opened the although that did not make feel any better. Entering the sacred tent, his senses were immediately assaulted with thick incense and the scent of holy unguents. Inside there were even more religious symbols and murals than there was outside and even more Temple Guard stood diligent within. The halls were lined with bio-luminescent organs offering a soft blue light while fluttering throughout the air were dozens of small fairy-kin, odd humanoid butterflies that acted as servants to those of the Holy Order. Another set of flaps lead into the tents inner sanctum which was not only Sevurak's destination but also where the priest resided.

Again, the flaps moved seemingly upon their own accord but the illusion was broken when a pair of fairy-kin fluttered off as the Warlord entered. With barely a look he bowed down before the assembled figures before him, his minders quickly following. There was a good two dozen priest within the Inner Sanctum, all arranged in an inverted horseshoe with the high priest in the center. The high priest clad in white and golden robes like his lessers, looked down on the Warlord with what appeared to be mild interests. Unlike the other priest within the room, the high priest was an Elder Skarath meaning his body was quite different from the norm. The most striking was that he had four legs instead of two and that he lacked the smaller pair of arms younger Skarath had. His mandibles were also smaller and less threatening and his arms were thinner and longer than normal. Finally, his exoskeleton was much smoother and his sensory spines were smaller and less defined, dulling his senses slightly.

Sevurak said nothing as he waited for the priest's permission; the other priest that surrounded him joined their master's example and gazed at him intently. {Sevurak. } The older Skarath said suddenly, his voice raspy like most of those his age.  Sevurak made no reply nor did he look up, he simply continued bowing until ordered otherwise. {Seeing that you are here, I assume you have come to me with your battle plans.} What the elder said was not question, but a statement. The Warlord did not speak but quickly held up the scroll detailing the assault plans. A single fairy-kin fluttered down and plucked the scroll from the Warlord's hand before gently laying them into the High Priest old claws. The Holy Elder sat there in silence, quietly reading the details of the plan, flipping through the pages one by one.

It felt like hours before the high priest held up the scroll again for a Fairy-kin to return it to the Warlord. {I do not like how careless your tacticians seem with lives of you warriors,} the Elder said suddenly, causing Sevurak to flinch. {While they may die under the light of Sykriss and its siblings, I sincerely hope that you and your retinue try to be more respectful of the lives of your servants.} Despite the kind words the Elder used, Sevurak knew for fact that that wasn't just a polite suggestion. {However despite that, this plan has my blessing.} For that, Sevurak was most grateful for, not only did it mean that abomination the Demons called a base would be gone soon enough, it also meant that he wouldn't have to sit through a boring discussion he would have no part of. {You may go now, Sevurak.} The Elder quietly stated. With that said the Warlord stood up, still keeping his head down, and left the inner sanctum and the temple with his minders.

The elder priest quietly faced one of the many priest that sat around him and said, {Leiros you shall accompany this attack and you shall also accompany Sevurak as one of his retinue, I want to you to ensure that he stay true to my decisions.} The priest known as Leiros promptly stood up as the elder finished speaking and quietly left the Inner Sanctum after the Warlord, a single Temple Guard accompanying him as he left.