With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

jasonh23761 · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

Oh, pulse rifles are plasma-based too. There was this whole thing in 5th edition about what weapons a Plasma Syphon worked on, and they were on the list. Have you ever wondered what a BS1 Tau army looks like?

I can explain any parts you don't understand if you like?

We do not speak of the plasma syphon.

Bramble Thorn · Oct 28, 2020

RichardWhereat said:
No, Alfred is a Batman, Batman is an ~~Officer~~.

Alfred is a batman. Batman is a Man Who Dresses Like A Bat.

RichardWhereat said:
Oh good, they won the Brazil war without fighting.

Better than first past the goalpost. VIctory by the other side got eaten by invaders from the future.

Vaermina · Oct 28, 2020

Radiant Knight said:
Yes but the Tau ones don't randomly explode.

Overcharging is optional and most Imperium plasma weapons don't have it done.

nick012000 said:
Those are the Tau's battlesuit-mounted Plasma Rifles, not their handheld Pulse Rifles.

So... You're argument here is that standard Imperium plasma rifles are superior to Tau battlesuit mounted plasma guns?

Mr Zoat · Oct 28, 2020

Maxx Crowley said:
I don't know a ton about 40K but...

That didn't work because he has no brain. Just being sentient goo.

That doesn't help much. He'd be immune to things like Brain Leafs and some remote scan based devices, but telepaths in 40K are wizards who use warp magic to manipulate minds, not people with altered brain structures who are able to remotely connect to other brains. He can probably ignore some powers and I doubt that they'll have an easy time of it, but he certainly wouldn't be immune to everything.

Every demonic thing that opposed him fell to the almighty cookie beam.

Did he ever use it on enemy ki attacks? Because 40K daemons aren't basically aliens like Dabura was, who could physically die. They're manifestations of energy creatures from a parallel universe. They're not strong by DBZ standards, but you can't punch something that's trying to possess you.

Again, I couldn't tell you what should happen. 40K seems to run on nonsense and Buu runs on Toriyama (and what Toriyama remembers)

Strictly speaking, ki isn't a thing in 40K so he should die the moment he appeared. I was being generous.

Someguy Somewhere said:
Neat, More 40k.

Nice to see P'aul making himself useful.

As for the Imperial vs Tau Plasma debate, the Tau actually know how theirs work, and lack the overcharge feature (re: Disabling the safety features) because they like their guns (and gunners) to NOT explode. Which happens with imperial gear 16.6% of the time they pull the trigger. The Imperial guns might technically be more sophisticated when it comes to materials, how they function and how compact they are. But the cargo cult (The Adeptus Mechanicus, or 'the Cog Boys' if you're a Guardsman) that are responsible for building and maintaining them aren't sane, rational people. They Chant and pray and burn incense before they swat the thing with a wrench a few times to make the holo displays work. Also skulls....everywhere. Imperials have no OSHA Compliance.

Not that Chaos is any better of course, as these poor sods are a prime example of. The Chaos Sp...er....That-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named are what happens when you get too much warp energy into your average mook. A Little Chaos and you get some neat powers/magic, the odd mutation. But generally your brain and biology still work. Getting a Lot COULD make you a walking Demigod IF you have the will and the power to contain it...if you don't...you end up looking like a rolling ball of meat straight out of Akira....or worse. Possession is a little different, in that there is a distinct demon using you as a meat suit, and making the place a bit more homey by feng shui-ing your organs and bones. Pretty hard to tell the difference, but possessed tend to be smarter and more functional as troops while ...the Other thing... tends to be a rampaging animal. What most Chaos types want is 'Apotheosis', otherwise known as ascending to the status of Daemon Prince, which converts a mortal into a high powered immortal daemon, no longer bound by biology or physics. Down side is it takes a lot of ripping time and space a new hole to exist in the mortal realms when you're a full on daemon, hence why they tend to get by using mooks to anchor them to the material.

The Tau folks tech base is kinda interesting, especially if you've got a subspace pocket to keep stuff in. Wonder what P'aul's armor looks like in this place, and if he's got his own Crisis Suit? ( a tau mini mech that's a passing resemblance to Gundam at times, compared to imperial stuff which is more steampunk + battletech).

You forget something. I started in 2nd Ed, when the Imperium used the completely safe but slow charging Mark 2 plasma guns. The only ones who used the leaky Mark 1 plasma guns were the Traitor Legions.

Bramble Thorn said:
Better than first past the goalpost. VIctory by the other side got eaten by invaders from the future.

The vast majority were not eaten.

jasonh23761 said:
We do not speak of the plasma syphon.

Oh, come on. It couldn't be used reliably and any Tau army should have some weapons that could kill the Inquisitor's retinue.

Darko · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Strictly speaking, ki isn't a thing in 40K so he should die the moment he appeared. I was being generous.

The same can be said for a lot of the versions of Paul and their rings, since the Emotional Spectrum doesn't exactly exist in the universe they showed up in, and it doesn't have an equivalent in it, so the rings should die out the moment they showed up in that universe, yet they still function.

Mr Zoat · Oct 28, 2020

Darko said:
The same can be said for a lot of the versions of Paul and their rings, since the Emotional Spectrum doesn't exactly exist in the universe they showed up in, and it doesn't have an equivalent in it, so the rings should die out the moment they showed up in that universe, yet they still function.

Not true, not true at all. During the Justice League/Avengers crossover, Flash couldn't maintain superspeed on the Marvel side because the speed force didn't exist there. Darkseid couldn't get the Infinity Gauntlet to work, because the universal attributes the Gems connected to didn't exist in the DCU. Green Lantern's power ring on the other hand kept working fine, thus demonstrating that they can cope with that sort of transition.

jasonh23761 · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Oh, come on. It couldn't be used reliably and any Tau army should have some weapons that could kill the Inquisitor's retinue.

True, but it was still rage inducing. Not as bad as the fish of fury when that one guy no one liked did it. Plus I think it just got tarred with the general 'Ward' brush. Ah well, it didn't matter to me all that much as the Guard was almost never in a situation where the opponent having a Plasma Syphon was more then a minor inconvenience.

After all, big guns never tire.

DrThoth · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Green Lantern's power ring on the other hand kept working fine, thus demonstrating that they can cope with that sort of transition.

I've never read that storyline, but did they show him recharging his ring? Could his actions in the story be feasibly explained by using only his ring's current charge (assuming it was full right before the crossover event or whatever).

Mr Zoat · Oct 28, 2020

jasonh23761 said:
True, but it was still rage inducing. Not as bad as the fish of fury when that one guy no one liked did it. Plus I think it just got tarred with the general 'Ward' brush. Ah well, it didn't matter to me all that much as the Guard was almost never in a situation where the opponent having a Plasma Syphon was more then a minor inconvenience.

After all, big guns never tire.

Look, no one's defending Mat Ward here. But in a Codex with Purifiers, the Xenos Inquisitor had some way to go in order to be the most unbalanced thing there.

DrThoth said:
I've never read that storyline, but did they show him recharging his ring? Could his actions in the story be feasibly explained by using only his ring's current charge (assuming it was full right before the crossover event or whatever).

Not as far as I remember, but a Green Lantern wouldn't be able to do what the SI does here in any case. That's a product of the orange light.

jasonh23761 · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Look, no one's defending Mat Ward here. But in a Codex with Purifiers, the Xenos Inquisitor had some way to go in order to be the most unbalanced thing there.

That's fair. There was plenty of cheese to go around.

Darko · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Not true, not true at all. During the Justice League/Avengers crossover, Flash couldn't maintain superspeed on the Marvel side because the speed force didn't exist there. Darkseid couldn't get the Infinity Gauntlet to work, because the universal attributes the Gems connected to didn't exist in the DCU. Green Lantern's power ring on the other hand kept working fine, thus demonstrating that they can cope with that sort of transition.

Okay, but given all the weird shit going on in WH40k it wouldn't be surprising if ki somehow did exist there, because the Warp and all that crap, and Buu could survive going there.

Also ki used in the DBZ universe is produced mainly by the body of the user. There may be some in the environment around them, but they tend to mostly use the ki made by their bodies.

Buu was basically capable of killing entire groups worth of gods, and his regeneration abilities were insane, so we know he can survive a lot of things.

Vaermina · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Not true, not true at all. During the Justice League/Avengers crossover, Flash couldn't maintain superspeed on the Marvel side because the speed force didn't exist there. Darkseid couldn't get the Infinity Gauntlet to work, because the universal attributes the Gems connected to didn't exist in the DCU. Green Lantern's power ring on the other hand kept working fine, thus demonstrating that they can cope with that sort of transition.

That's not universal, because in JLAU they traveled to another universe and Green Lanterns ring didn't work.

Mr Zoat said:
Not as far as I remember, but a Green Lantern wouldn't be able to do what the SI does here in any case. That's a product of the orange light.

Actually that's a product of Zoat, not the Orange Light.

Mr Zoat · Oct 28, 2020

Darko said:
Okay, but given all the weird shit going on in WH40k it wouldn't be surprising if ki somehow did exist there, because the Warp and all that crap, and Buu could survive going there.

Reinforcing a person's body with warp energy or warp magic is perfectly possible. But that comes with a load of risks ki doesn't have.

Also ki used in the DBZ universe is produced mainly by the body of the user. There may be some in the environment around them, but they tend to mostly use the ki made by their bodies.

Buu was basically capable of killing entire groups worth of gods, and his regeneration abilities were insane, so we know he can survive a lot of things.

DBZ gods aren't very godly. They're basically mid-tier fighters in their own universe.

Maxx Crowley · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
That doesn't help much. He'd be immune to things like Brain Leafs and some remote scan based devices, but telepaths in 40K are wizards who use warp magic to manipulate minds, not people with altered brain structures who are able to remotely connect to other brains. He can probably ignore some powers and I doubt that they'll have an easy time of it, but he certainly wouldn't be immune to everything

I mean, I'm sure that most of what Buu did against the higher powers of 40K wouldn't work in 40K. I don't have the largest knowledge of 40K and I don't have the fic in front of me, so I can't relay everything.

From what I remember he basically tanked, regen-tanked and such through every technological weapon thrown at him. Nothing kinetic would work obviously. Nor did the las-weapons, plasma or anything like that. I recall he tanked through everything a group of space marine....librarians I want to say? Threw at him before beating them into paste. A planet he was on got Exterminatus'd, but he just reformed and blew up another planet in retaliation.

I also recall that all the factions, from the humans to the Necrons to the Chaos forces didn't know, and couldn't understand what the fuck he was.

I mean, even in his own series, the only thing that actually beats Buu is plot. Like...he's unstoppable until he isn't. In the Manga, Kid Buu actually knocked him out, and in the anime, after each hit one another with attacks that would kill anything else, Fat Buu was clearly wearing down, and that just didn't make sense. It should have been a shaggy man on shaggy man situation. Two perpetual motion monsters pounding on one another for all time.

Mr Zoat said:
Did he ever use it on enemy ki attacks? Because 40K daemons aren't basically aliens like Dabura was, who could physically die. They're manifestations of energy creatures from a parallel universe. They're not strong by DBZ standards, but you can't punch something that's trying to possess you.

I don't recall Buu every using the food beam on another beam no.

As for possessing. I mean, disregarding Super, which wasn't out yet, where Buu has basically been around since the universe started an no one knows where the fuck he came from or what he is. Buu is still a magical Eldritch abomination/God that nearly destroyed his own universe and literally ate the Gods.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't actually work that way. But the last thing he did, before getting popped to another dimension was throw down with the big, fat Chaos god. The sickness one....I can't remember his name. I know he infected Buu with something...and Buu just spat it out, and he was quite emphatic that such a thing wasn't possible. Then Buu rag-dolled him a little bit, which didn't actually DO anything. (I honestly think a chaos god would be too big to face down?)

Then Buu started charging his "I hate you" attack that he had wrecked a shitload of the universes forces with, "wounded" fat chaos god, and was popped out as he was going for another one. "That was weird" was pretty much fat chaos god's reaction.

Nurgle google informs me is the name.

I asked at the time, why he didn't just go for the Candy beam seeing as how literally nothing had withstood it up to that point, and the author didn't have a good answer so...yeah. It was basically a just for fun kinda thing.

Mr Zoat said:
Strictly speaking, ki isn't a thing in 40K so he should die the moment he appeared. I was being generous.

I don't know that Buu actually uses Ki. I mean, I guess he does? But he also uses magic...and IS magic, and has a regen so ridiculous that DBS has to keep coming up with stupid reasons to keep him out of events so that he doesn't flatten just about everything.

In the end, they are two universes that don't even remotely go together, so the whole thing was running on author fiat. I mean hell, the fic started with Majin Buu eating/absorbing Baby Uub. So we were already in odd territory.

It popped in my head because I saw a Para-Paul OL created character in Xenoverse 2 the other day, or as best as they could make it.

Vaermina · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Reinforcing a person's body with warp energy or warp magic is perfectly possible. But that comes with a load of risks ki doesn't have.

Warp Sorcerery not Warp Magic, they are different things.

DBZ gods aren't very godly. They're basically mid-tier fighters in their own universe.

This is just flat out wrong.

Dragonball Gods are literally the highest tier fighters in the Dragonball verse...

Darko · Oct 28, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Reinforcing a person's body with warp energy or warp magic is perfectly possible. But that comes with a load of risks ki doesn't have.

Fine, but as I said ki comes from the body of its user, so Buu wouldn't have the need to use Warp energy.

And given his own weird primordial, eldritch nature he may honestly be able to shrug off any negative side effects from the Warp, with the worst that could happen to him being the Warp energy tasting weird.

Mr Zoat said:
DBZ gods aren't very godly. They're basically mid-tier fighters in their own universe.

They're still very, very powerful, but compared to the likes of Super Saiyans or eldritch abominations they fall a bit behind, and yet Buu was still able to give the likes of those Super Saiyans a great deal of trouble.

Maxx Crowley said:
I mean, I'm sure that most of what Buu did against the higher powers of 40K wouldn't work in 40K. I don't have the largest knowledge of 40K and I don't have the fic in front of me, so I can't relay everything.

From what I remember he basically tanked, regen-tanked and such through every technological weapon thrown at him. Nothing kinetic would work obviously. Nor did the las-weapons, plasma or anything like that. I recall he tanked through everything a group of space marine....librarians I want to say? Threw at him before beating them into paste. A planet he was on got Exterminatus'd, but he just reformed and blew up another planet in retaliation.

I also recall that all the factions, from the humans to the Necrons to the Chaos forces didn't know, and couldn't understand what the fuck he was.

I mean, even in his own series, the only thing that actually beats Buu is plot. Like...he's unstoppable until he isn't. In the Manga, Kid Buu actually knocked him out, and in the anime, after each hit one another with attacks that would kill anything else, Fat Buu was clearly wearing down, and that just didn't make sense. It should have been a shaggy man on shaggy man situation. Two perpetual motion monsters pounding on one another for all time.

I don't recall Buu every using the food beam on another beam no.

As for possessing. I mean, disregarding Super, which wasn't out yet, where Buu has basically been around since the universe started an no one knows where the fuck he came from or what he is. Buu is still a magical Eldritch abomination/God that nearly destroyed his own universe and literally ate the Gods.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't actually work that way. But the last thing he did, before getting popped to another dimension was throw down with the big, fat Chaos god. The sickness one....I can't remember his name. I know he infected Buu with something...and Buu just spat it out, and he was quite emphatic that such a thing wasn't possible. Then Buu rag-dolled him a little bit, which didn't actually DO anything. (I honestly think a chaos god would be too big to face down?)

Then Buu started charging his "I hate you" attack that he had wrecked a shitload of the universes forces with, "wounded" fat chaos god, and was popped out as he was going for another one. "That was weird" was pretty much fat chaos god's reaction.

Nurgle google informs me is the name.

I asked at the time, why he didn't just go for the Candy beam seeing as how literally nothing had withstood it up to that point, and the author didn't have a good answer so...yeah. It was basically a just for fun kinda thing.

I don't know that Buu actually uses Ki. I mean, I guess he does? But he also uses magic...and IS magic, and has a regen so ridiculous that DBS has to keep coming up with stupid reasons to keep him out of events so that he doesn't flatten just about everything.

In the end, they are two universes that don't even remotely go together, so the whole thing was running on author fiat. I mean hell, the fic started with Majin Buu eating/absorbing Baby Uub. So we were already in odd territory.

It popped in my head because I saw a Para-Paul OL created character in Xenoverse 2 the other day, or as best as they could make it.

This story is starting to sound very interesting.

Can you give me its name, or at least where I can find it, or the authors name?

Maxx Crowley · Oct 28, 2020

Darko said:
This story is starting to sound very interesting.

Can you give me its name, or at least where I can find it, or the authors name?

It was called "Buu's big, bad adventure." I recall him going to the 40K, TMNT, Justice League unlimited, and I think Airbender universes.

It was on the original Y!gallery, which got nuked from within.

Can't remember the author. It was posted in a group I was watching.

Darko · Oct 28, 2020

Maxx Crowley said:
It was called "Buu's big, bad adventure." I recall him going to the 40K, TMNT, Justice League unlimited, and I think Airbender universes.

It was on the original Y!gallery, which got nuked from within.

Can't remember the author. It was posted in a group I was watching.

Thanks.

I'll see if I can find it.

Stsword · Oct 29, 2020

DrThoth said:
I've never read that storyline, but did they show him recharging his ring? Could his actions in the story be feasibly explained by using only his ring's current charge (assuming it was full right before the crossover event or whatever).

Yes, off of a cosmic cube, after Monica Rambeau used her photokinesis to absorb all the Glow out of Kyle's ring.

So Kyle was a Kirby Dot Lantern for five minutes and Monica was a minor Willpower Entity.

And in Green Lantern/Silver Surfer Hallalax convinced Silver Surfer to give him his power cosmic so he'd have the power to fix his mistakes. Surfer could relate, what with the whole 'professionally a genocide enabler" past of his.

Kyle then met Thanos, who tricked him into giving Thanos a Glow boost.

So Power Cosmic Hallalax and Glow Enhanced Thanos were fighting, one who wanted to be a god of creation, and the other who wanted to bring destruction.

So Kyle used his ring to steal all their energies. The Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, Power Cosmic, Magic, and Cosmic Radiation, and Kyle was going to pop like a meat balloon.

So Silver Surfer flew in and told Kyle to give him all that energy, Silver Surfer blew up, but was fine, because invulnerable silver skin is useful that way.

jaelin910 · Oct 29, 2020

Stsword said:
Yes, off of a cosmic cube, after Monica Rambeau used her photokinesis to absorb all the Glow out of Kyle's ring.

So Kyle was a Kirby Dot Lantern for five minutes and Monica was a minor Willpower Entity.

And in Green Lantern/Silver Surfer Hallalax convinced Silver Surfer to give him his power cosmic so he'd have the power to fix his mistakes. Surfer could relate, what with the whole 'professionally a genocide enabler" past of his.

Kyle then met Thanos, who tricked him into giving Thanos a Glow boost.

So Power Cosmic Hallalax and Glow Enhanced Thanos were fighting, one who wanted to be a god of creation, and the other who wanted to bring destruction.

So Kyle used his ring to steal all their energies. The Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, Power Cosmic, Magic, and Cosmic Radiation, and Kyle was going to pop like a meat balloon.

So Silver Surfer flew in and told Kyle to give him all that energy, Silver Surfer blew up, but was fine, because invulnerable silver skin is useful that way.

This sounds like someone's first fanfic

Queshire · Oct 29, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I can explain any parts you don't understand if you like?

Nah, I'm sure that if I was a bigger 40k fan and a fan of the Tau in particular I'd enjoy all the references.

SirKaid · Oct 29, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Evidently the power goes bone deep. I doubt there's enough of their minds left to register the pain, beyond that animalistic response, though.

These are Slaaneshi, though. They would consider the extra effort to make 'em feel it worth the cost.

Mr Zoat · Oct 29, 2020

6 233 937.M41

Too late, the possessed mutants are already savaging a Fire Warrior squad who had pushed forward, glowing claws parting tau carapace armour with ease. And… Once they penetrate their victims they stop attacking and their victim stops resisting, the arcane glow surrounding them getting stronger as they soak up the suffering.

Until my construct hooks sink into them and they shrivel and shrink. As they lose their grip I pull them off their victims and patch the wounds of the fallen. If they were human I'd have to worry about some sort of lingering taint, but since tau have little warp presence I'll just send a message to the local Aun'ar'tol about keeping an eye on them. Tau might not do daemon worship, but narcotic abuse and self harm still happen.

What were-? Oh. Those aren't pulse rifles, they're electro-pulse rifles. The riot control model Fire Caste police units use. They're designed to give the target a disabling but not usually fatal electric shock, sort of like how 2nd Edition power mauls were Strength 5 but were treated as not killing things. Against frenzied mutant mobs protected by daemonic aura I doubt that they'd do much.

I look around for the Shas'ui, but it looks like she was one of the early victims. Her body's been torn in three, and it looks like her head has been partially consumed. Fatalities… Five survivors from a team of twelve, and I can see bonding knives. These weren't trainees, these soldiers have been together long enough to formalise their relationship. They're not going to be much use in this fight.

I take five pulse carbines out of subspace and thrust them in to the dazed taus' chests.

"Take these and fall back. Get somewhere safe."

The policetau who was furthest back and managed to be only lightly injured has the wherewithal to grip the gun, but directs her helmet my way.

"Who-? What are you?"

"Exotic Asset Orange Lantern. Now move."

I can't read people's minds, but a shell-shocked person getting clear instructions in a forceful way from someone wearing the right uniform should respond-.

"Yes. Yes."

She looks away as the other tau take the offered guns in a zombified… Reflexive sort of way. If they're attacked I can only hope that their instincts are stronger than their fugue. Several check their wounds or move to check their clearly-dead bondmates.

"Squad! We are leaving. We will return in greater strength later."

They.. react, their grips hardening and their movements becoming more purposive-.

Kais pings me again twice.

"Responding."

"Ritual space located. Cultists are fighting other humans. Covert approach impossible."

"Guess we're doing overt then. Try to avoid the attacking humans until we know what they're doing." Ring? "I have your location."

"Standing-"

I move again, past machinery that is a strange mix of Imperial and tau technology. Bulky Imperial factory machinery with out of place high-tech tau additions, I should say. An effort to win hearts and minds by improving the lives of the planet's workers that hasn't been entirely successful. I flash past the bodies of fallen humans, labourers by the looks of them, and past work stations and huge metal-shaping machines.

"-by."

The sharp crack of lasgun fire is easily audible now, as is the sound of evil chanting and screaming. The exterior of the… Fortified warehouse? Has been strengthened and painted with sloppily-painted screaming faces and icons of Slaanesh. I'm already drawing fire, but lasguns are essentially a non-issue for me and they'd have a devil of a time getting hold of anything heavier. The tau have been policing old PDF and Imperial Guard munitions stores hard, and nowhere on planet is producing the ammunition for Imperial projectile weapons.

Ah, I see. It's a volatile materials storage warehouse. At least that explains why it's built like a fortress.

I send out cables which connect me to the door… No, they've wrecked the mechanism. Fortunately, the tau have the perfect counter for thick Imperial armour. I generate four railgun constructs and fire, solid metal slugs punching through the ersatz ablative outer plating and into the actual decent armour underneath, ripping the whole assemblage out of its mooring and sending it flying backwards into the corridor beyond.

Then my jets light up again and I'm moving, dull grey corridors daubed with diabolic inscriptions flashing past as I-

There's a brief moment of resistance as I fly into a squad of the defenders, who splash off my construct armour before they can really react to me.

-head for the ritual area. There's a fortified checkpoint and… They've set up some sort of Gatling lasgun support weapon. Orange energy pulses destroy both those and their operators, but the armoured shutter they're protecting is shimmering with some sort of protective spell.

Feed.

Capacitors at eighty three percent and rising.

There's some sort of.. discharge as the spell fails. It passes over me… Harmlessly, as far as I can tell, though one of the surviving cult guards goes into spasms. This door hasn't been sabotaged, so a little work with construct cables and it begins clunking open.

The noise of firing lasguns gets louder immediately, flickers of light causing sudden shifts in the pattern of shadows under the floor. Probe construct.

Looks like the cult has dug some sort of… Sheltered pit for their ritual, while the attackers have come up through a supply tunnel. Bodies of surprisingly well disciplined cultists litter one side of the room, where it looks like the attackers caught them in the open. However, the access tunnel has plenty of dead within it as well, because there's no cover on the way out. No obvious mutations or mutilations on them, so they're probably not a rival chaos cult or genestealers.

Positions marked.

The door finally opens enough for me to fit so I dart under, energy pulses hitting the guards on the inside before I switch my focus to those trading fire with the-.

A plume of pink fire erupts from the ritual pit! It then spreads, roiling across the floor like vapour from a fog machine. It doesn't seem to be burning the rockcrete, but-. The cultists who see it dive into it with a cheer! The space around the pit shimmers, and…

Oh. So that's what daemonettes look like. I… Knew intellectually that most of their appeal was magical, but I can't help but feel... Underwhelmed. Which I suppose is my shield against their blandishments?

"YaaaaGH!"

One of the more adventurous human attackers stepped into the pink warpflame, and while he isn't-. Oh, he seized up and fell, and I can just about see him writhing in pain. A taller man is directing the others into the available cover while the man next to him armed with a meltagun -how did they miss that?- is taking aim. Nice that they're not shooting at me-.

"…any luck they'll fight each other. In my experience, the dark gods don't like each other much more than we do."

I make momentary eye contact with him as the daemonettes charge.

Harsh.

Assimilate.

Beams of orange light connect me to each daemonette, and-. They don't slow or trip but rather sort of shudder, like a tape that skips or… A glitch in the matrix, shimmering back and forth between two points.

Identity theft in progress. No resistance detected.

The daemonettes reappear, their bodies now comprised of orange light. They're no longer charging, and… If anything, they look a little confused. I direct three back into the pit to kill any surviving cult leaders and direct the others away from the attacking humans while I drift towards them.

"We should talk."

Idkusername · Oct 29, 2020

This is why a prefer longer updates, even if they are less frequent.

Darko · Oct 29, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
not usually not fatal

remove one 'not'

Mr Zoat said:
dazed taus' chests

maybe 'Tau's'.

Mr Zoat said:
sloppily-painted

I think you can remove the -

Mr Zoat said:
dead with in as well

'within'

Katillno · Oct 29, 2020

Hmmm is this Paul unintentionally building a Ophidian as a warp god?

Mr Zoat · Oct 29, 2020

Darko said:
remove one 'not'
'within'

Thank you, corrected.

maybe 'Tau's'.

I think that's correct. There are multiple tau and the chests belong to them.

I think you can remove the -

Probably, but I like it.

Lothlo · Oct 29, 2020

I dont know if it has been mentioned before, but if WHPaul is like OGPaul,and doesnt have a soul, does it make him a Pariah and so inmune to Chaos?

Handlewithcare · Oct 29, 2020

Yay, Assimilation!

Ah, an 40k OL has just so many options to do things!

Zoat, has he considered visiting Ultramar to see if his Ring can fix Guilliman? Rowbot seems rather reasonable and might be open to an Imperial/Tau alliance.

He might also help with the ritual of Ynnead to get the Death god born properly this time.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 29, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
6 233 937.M41

Too late, the possessed mutants are already savaging a Fire Warrior squad who had pushed forward, glowing claws parting tau carapace armour with ease. And… Once they penetrate their victims they stop attacking and their victim stops resisting, the arcane glow surrounding them getting stronger as they soak up the suffering.

Boy, Paragon's pardon-seeking tour must be long and boring to spend this long elsewhere. And of course Slaaneshi cultists are going for slow, painful deaths when they can. What better way to show their devotion to the Prince/ss of Pain.

Until my construct hooks sink into them and they shrivel and shrink. As they lose their grip I pull them off their victims and patch the wounds of the fallen. If they were human I'd have to worry about some sort of lingering taint, but since tau have little warp presence I'll just send a message to the local Aun'ar'tol about keeping an eye on them. Tau might not do daemon worship, but narcotic abuse and self harm still happens.

Something to watch for, definitely. Their souls might be like cheap dollar-store ramen to the Chaos Gods, but they're sustenance...

What were-? Oh. Those aren't pulse rifles, they're electro-pulse rifles. The riot control model Fire Caste police units use. They're designed to give the target a disabling but not usually not fatal electric shock, sort of like how 2nd Edition power mauls were Strength 5 but were treated as not killing things. Against frenzied mutant mobs protected by daemonic aura I doubt that they'd do much.

Ah, the oddball days of early Warhammer 40,000. When most games could number a couple of dozen soldiers, and featured rules for getting set on fire, hallucinogenic gas, and the ever-hated Virus weaponry (capable of annihilating some armies in a single throw of a grenade. Because balance was overrated.)

I look around for the Shas'ui, but it looks like she was one of the early victims. Her body's been torn in three, and it looks like her head has been partially consumed. Fatalities… Five survivors from a team of twelve, and I can see bonding knives. These weren't trainees, these soldiers have been together long enough to formalise their relationship. They're not going to be much use in this fight.

I take five pulse carbines out of subspace and thrust them in to the dazed taus' chests.

At least they can defend themselves properly now. Once they get over the shock. Good chance of failing their Morale check...

"Take these and fall back. Get somewhere safe."

The policetau who was furthest back and managed to be only lightly injured has the wherewithal to grip the gun, but directs her helmet my way.

It's not every day you see a flying, glowing human, especially one who isn't raving about dark gods...

"Who-? What are you?"

"Exotic Asset Orange Lantern. Now move."

Voice of command, eh? Letting them test on his quite high leadership with no modifiers. Always handy for buoying up a weakening unit.

I can't read people's minds, but a shell-shocked person getting clear instructions in a forceful way from someone wearing the right uniform should respond-.

"Yes. Yes."

There we go. Leadership check passed. And an impressive display of overcoming her shock and fear.

She looks away as the other tau take the offered guns in a zombified… Reflexive sort of way. If they're attacked I can only hope that their instincts are stronger than their fugue. Several check their wounds or move to check their clearly-dead bondmates.

"Squad! We are leaving. We will return in greater strength later."

"...With bigger guns." Hopefully they snap out of it.

They.. react, their grips hardening and their movements becoming more purposive-.

Kais pings me again twice.

More trouble. A Lantern's work is never done.

"Responding."

"Ritual space located. Cultists are fighting other humans. Covert approach impossible."

Time to make some noise. And bust out the big guns.

"Guess we're doing overt then. Try to avoid the attacking humans until we know what they're doing." Ring? "I have your location."

"Standing-"

Avoid combat... Easier said than done. Though for a Stealth team, that probably isn't too hard.

I move again, past machinery that is a strange mix of Imperial and tau technology. Bulky Imperial factory machinery with out of place high-tech tau additions, I should say. An effort to win hearts and minds by improving the lives of the planet's workers that hasn't been entirely successful. I flash past the bodies of fallen humans, labourers by the looks of them, and past work stations and huge metal-shaping machines.

"-by."

Ah, the good old ruined factory battlefield terrain. A mainstay of Warhammer 40,000.

The sharp crack of lasgun fire is easily audible now, as is the sound of evil chanting and screaming. The exterior of the… Fortified warehouse? Has been strengthened and painted with sloppily-painted screaming faces and icons of Slaanesh. I'm already drawing fire, but lasguns are essentially a non-issue for me and they'd have a devil of a time getting hold of anything heavier. The tau have been policing old PDF and Imperial Guard munitions stores hard, and nowhere on planet is producing the ammunition for Imperial projectile weapons.

Not that anything lighter than an Autocannon would stand a chance of breaking your shields. Let's hope they haven't got heavy weapons on the go.

Ah, I see. It's a volatile materials storage warehouse. At least that explains why it's built like a fortress.

I send out cables which connect me to the door… No, they've wrecked the mechanism. Fortunately, the tau have the perfect counter for thick Imperial armour. I generate four railgun constructs and fire, solid metal slugs punching through the ersatz ablative outer plating and into the actual decent armour underneath, ripping the whole assemblage out of its mooring and sending it flying backwards into the corridor beyond.

And I'm picturing the larger Hammerhead Railguns, not the smaller Broadside Rail Rifles. Comparable effect in-game, but the latter can fire explosive rounds too.

Then my jets light up again and I'm moving, dull grey corridors daubed with diabolic inscriptions flashing past as I-

There's a brief moment of resistance as I fly into a squad of the defenders, who splash off my construct armour before they can really react to me.

...Ow. I can imagine the mess produced by a nigh-unbreakable object hitting at near super-sonic speeds. The term 'Giblets' comes to kind. Also 'Chunky Salsa'..

-head for the ritual area. There's a fortified checkpoint and… They've set up some sort of Gatling lasgun support weapon. Orange energy pulses destroy both those and their operators, but the armoured shutter they're protecting is shimmering with some sort of protective spell.

Feed.

Multilasers, eh? That's about what they are, too - multiple high-powered laser rifles operating as a rotary cannon. Ever seen Astartes? That's the heavy weapon in Part Three that shreds several squads of their fellow rebels, and minimal cosmetic damage to the Astartes Sergeant.

Capacitors at eighty three percent and rising.

There's some sort of.. discharge as the spell fails. It passes over me… Harmlessly, as far as I can tell, though one of the surviving cult guards goes into spasms. This door hasn't been sabotaged, so a little work with construct cables and it begins clunking open.

Probably designed to cause overwhelming pain. So the cultists would likely enjoy it, but attackers would be reluctant to enter...

The noise of firing lasguns gets louder immediately, flickers of light causing sudden shifts in the pattern of shadows under the floor. Probe construct.

And here, I'm picturing a tiny orange Tau Drone (think a flying disc with an antenna and cameras around the rim.) Almost cute.

Looks like the cult has dug some sort of… Sheltered pit for their ritual, while the attackers have come up through a supply tunnel. Bodies of surprisingly well disciplined cultists litter one side of the room, where it looks like the attackers caught them in the open. However, the access tunnel has plenty of dead with in as well, because there's no cover on the way out. No obvious mutations or mutilations on them, so they're probably not a rival chaos cult or genestealers.

Infighting? Or a second party trying to attack the temple? Do we have an Inquisitor on-planet?

Positions marked.

The door finally opens enough for me to fit so I dart under, energy pulses hitting the guards on the inside before I switch my focus to those trading fire with the-.

Oh, these cultists are hosed. They are.. probably going to enjoy the beating, for the few seconds they feel anything before dying.

A plume of pink fire erupts from the ritual pit! It then spreads, roiling across the floor like vapour from a fog machine. It doesn't seem to be burning the rockcrete, but-. The cultists who see it dive into it with a cheer! The space around the pit shimmers, and…

Oh. So that's what daemonettes look like. I… Knew intellectually that most of their appeal was magical, but I can't help but feel... Underwhelmed. Which I suppose is my shield against their blandishments?

A summoning ritual, eh? Time to see what Feeding can do to actual Daemons! Bet the humans were seeing the hotter Diaz-style daemonettes...

"YaaaaGH!"

One of the more adventurous human attackers stepped into the pink warpflame, and while he isn't-. Oh, he seized up and fell, and I can just about see him writhing in pain. A taller man is directing the others into the available cover while the man next to him armed with a meltagun -how did they miss that?- is taking aim. Nice that they're not shooting at me-.

...Is... Is that Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! and his batman, Jurgen? Holy shit, what's next, the All-Guardsmen Party?

"…any luck they'll fight each other. In my experience, the dark gods don't like each other much more than we do."

I make momentary eye contact with him as the daemonettes charge.

And up to his usual tactic: keeping his head down until he's sure it's safe to take action.

Harsh.

Assimilate.

Oh, my. Going straight for the big gun, eh? Bet that'll make an impression on the Guardsmen.

Beams of orange light connect me to each daemonettes, and-. They don't slow or trip but rather sort of shudder, like a tape that skips or… A glitch in the matrix, shimmering back and forth between two points.

Identity theft in progress. No resistance detected.

Ha! Bet that'll put a scare into She Who Thirsts, feeling a tiny bit of himself being permanently erased. May want to avoid doing that too often, just in case of warp contamination, though...

The daemonettes reappear, their bodies now comprised of orange light. They're no longer charging, and… If anything, they look a little confused. I direct three back into the pit to kill any surviving cult leaders and direct the others away from the attacking humans while I drift towards them.

"We should talk."

"Anything for the glowing gentleman." Seriously, after making an entrance like that, I figure they'll be reluctant to do anything else...

If that is who I think it is, this side-plot just got a lot more interesting. Now I'm wondering if this is the plot of a Black Library novel... I'm not familiar enough with them to know for sure...

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