Rescue at Rutland

Loxley watched Quatermass as the academic excitedly examined the remains of the shrine of St Ymar.  The old man wittered to himself as he photographed, catalogued and collected various things from the shrine.  Loxley had not seen the academic this animated in the whole time that they had been on this expedition. Shaking his head Loxley sighed to himself, he would never be able to understand scholars. 

The moment of self-reflection was broken by the squawk of his vox-caster in his ear, the signal waxed and waned as the atmospherics played havoc with his headset. Loxley smacked the headset twice until the signal cleared up. “The LZ has been compromised the green skins are all over the place.  Whatever you did down there has stirred up a Bimmiel land shark`s worth of trouble.  Make haste to the secondary extraction point at CT16-2AJ, we should be able to rendezvous with you at 21:00 hours.” 

Cursing to himself Loxley helped Much to his feet. The young mercenary winced as he tried to stand the ruined stump of his arm had been wrapped in an emergency bandage but it urgently needed proper medical treatment.  Loxley tapped his headset “Professor, collect everything you can we need to get moving.  Our pick-up point has been changed; we are heading to the old watch tower at Rutland.” 

Nud Spittlespine cackled with glee as he watched the intruders walk through his territory.  Muttering to himself in excitement he slowly turned to his warband the gifts of father Nurgle made each movement an exquisite agony of irritation and pain as the pustules that covered his body rubbed and burst on his armour.  “They have trapped themselves, there is no escape from the old watch tower.  We shall show them the joys that only Nurgle can bring.”

From his vantage point on top of the tower Quatermass spotted the approaching forces before the other members of the expedition knew that anything was amiss.  The tower was surrounded by four groups of twisted, degenerate, creatures led by a chosen of the ruinous powers and his lieutenant.

The quiet evening stillness was broken by the tools of war.  Loxley`s shogun bark as he opened fire the impact of the solid shot sent one of the approaching feral warriors crashing to the ground. 

To his right, Herne the hunter took careful aim with his las-gun breathed out slowly and pulled the trigger of his las-gun.  The deadly beam of light was true and hit his target through the eye, the half-ork follower of Spittlespine staggered forward a few steps before he realised that he was dead.

Up in the tower professor Quatermass braced the heavy unfamiliar auto-gun that had belonged to Much the miller`s son and opened fire.  The weapon bucked in his hand as the professor emptied the magazine of the assault rifle hitting one of the approaching combatants.

The followers of Nud Spittlespine had never faced anything like these advanced weapons before and half of them faltered in their advance towards the tower.  But, even the sheer volume of death that was being sent out from the tower did not phase Nud Spittlespine, he was the chosen of Nurgle and these interlopers were destined to be offerings to his god.  With a roar Spittlespine charged towards Loxley and his men.

A ferocious melee broke out at the base of the tower.  Much the miller`s son desperately defended his section of the hedgerow against three feral warriors.  The situation was dire for the young mercenary he had three opponents to face and his reactions were dulled by the loss of blood he had suffered when he lost his arm.  Much fought like a cornered animal and held the attackers at bay.

Across the courtyard, Loxley and Herne were engaged in their own duals to the death.  Herne moved deceptively fast his ancient blade flicked out in a barrage of quick lunges cutting the follower of Spittlespine in several vital organs before they could get their guard up. 

Loxley raised his stub-gun trying to get a clear shot at Spittlespine, but a swarm of flies covered his face obscuring his view.  Raising his hand to his face Loxley tried to brush the insects away.  The brief distraction was all Spittlespine needed and he smashed Loxley in the skull with his filth covered mace.

A scream rose out of Much`s throat as he fell to three separate blows.  The dying sounds of the young mercenary finally spurred on the rest of Spittlespine`s warband and they surged forward.

Herne sensed that the battle was turning against the expedition and backed up the stairs to the tower ready to sell his life dearly to protect professor Quatermass.  Both Herne and Quatermass opened fire with their weapons killing two of the rabid feral warriors.

The chronometer on Loxley`s wrist chimed a warning and he told Herne to get up to the top of the tower ready for extraction.  The veteran warrior did not heed his leader`s order and instead burnt another hole through the skull of one of the advancing feral warriors. 

From the top of the tower Quatermass` spray and pray tactic was paying off as he mowed down another member of the warband with Much`s weapon.

The roar of the atmospheric shuttle as it approached the pick-up point momentarily distracted Nud and Loxley took the chance to break from combat.  The mercenary leader sent shots firing back at the champion of Chaos hitting Spittlespine twice.  The bullets did nothing more than irritate the chaos warrior and he was soon on the heels of Loxley.

The surviving members of the expedition looked down from the tower at the carnage from the battle.  Their eyes drifted across the bodies of the dead until they fell upon the form of their fallen comrade.  Much the Miller`s son would not be returning with them.  The sound of banging from the trapdoor brought them back to the present.  There would be time to mourn when they were safe.  They quickly boarded the shuttle. As it shot up into the air they saw the form of the chaos champion, Nud Spittlespine shaking his fist in anger.