Black Crusade: Inside the Silent Mountain

The Daemon Mount and its confines hold many treasures to those willing to supplicate themselves before the vault keepers. Of course, one must be wary for the greedy have often bartered everything to hold the forsaken relics and powers, only to find themselves joining the collections of the more powerful daemons. Mortal bodies are in abundance and the daemons can only amuse themselves with the frail flesh of humans for so long before tiring of it.

The true value of the Mount is that of power and the keys to wielding it. Mighty blades forged in the fires of the Khorne's fortresses, noxious toxins draw straight from Nurgle's garden, sensational substances distilled from Slaanesh's realm of ecstasy, and tomes of Warp sorcery and wychcraft scrawled by the cackling horrors of Tzeentch. These are the tantalising morsels that mortal hands may grasp and make their own. Individual daemons have also been known to trade their own services for bizarre items or services. Dark pacts between humans and daemonic patrons have been entered into for thousands of years and the Daemon Mount is no different. However, true power can only be grasped by those mortals for who the Warp favours greatly. The Gods of Chaos choose their champions while other mortals forge their own destinies, carving into the realm of legend by power and spirit.

While the Daemon Mount holds many secrets, its deeper vaults are barred from mortals like Darius and Nate. The true power is held by daemon lords whose favour must be courted if their power is desired. However, this is only one avenue to power. The mortal realm holds wealth, knowledge, and power for those cunning or foolish enough to find it. The choice is yours.

"Well that was fun, damned psykers."

As Darius spoke his normal voice was echoed by two charicatures of it, both the skreeching of metal scraping across metal and a deep rumbling and grinding of gears. "NATE!" Darius roared, in a newly rather disturbing voice "My voice, is this your doing? Or maybe the demons?"

Darius removed his helmet revealing a bronzed visage, bald and free of blemishes, his eyes glowing with the embers of Khorne's forge, his skin having both a rigidity that offered protection and a flexibility that was as impossible as any of the gifts of the gods.

Fariad had been examining his bolter in the immediate aftermath of the fight, displeased that it had chosen to jam so early in the battle. He looked up however at Darius' oddly-altered voice, just in time to see the other Astartes remove his helmet. At the sight of the bronzed, metallic visage, Fariad blinked in surprise and stared for a few seconds, then shook his head slightly. As he had done so many times before, he elected to completely ignore this latest change to one of his companions.

He moved up to where Darius was, his bolter held loosely in one hand. "Darius, may I examine your bolter?" he asked politely. "I wish to see if both our weapons jamming in this battle was merely coincidence, or a similar, shared fault."

Nate made another rune upon the darkened husk of the forge. He perceived the flow of the warp and saw that all was as it should be. He fluttered back to his position in the shape he had created, his wings holding him up with ease now he had divested his armour.

"Tzeeench" he beckoned quietly "Lord of power and Fate. I beseech thee. Grant us your blessings, guide us to your will in the great farce" The boy giggled quietly as at a private joke "This cabal aligns to many gods, and none, But they are made stronger by it. They may become something powerful.. but see today the proof, that without your touch, they can never be truly great in this universe. Grant me your boon to play my role and ride upon the wave of their rise to true Ascension! Grant me this thread of fate, and i will bring the Truth of Chaos to the Stars themselves!"

Nate let himself glide down to the factory floor, content his message would flow into the warp thru those daemons still straining against this weakened reality. he landed where he had gathered the remains of the Fire beast, his cultists carefully laying the parts to be stored. "Soon failed nemesis, you will have greater opertunitys soon.." he said to the bundle.

At Darius' shout Nate's maked head snapped around. There was more to the Warrior, but his aura was undeamonlike... in fact, it was almost nonexistent. The boy sprinted to the towering astarte's, his photographic mind recalling seeing this phenomenon before, in "ROBOT!" he shouted! "You were not a robot, we thaught you was, like him and him" Nate gesticulated at Zubri and Fariad "He was but he was not but now you are!!!" Nate bounced up climbed the mountain of power armor, seemingly without any presence of weight for all Darius reacted "Where did your flesh go!?"

"Nate, I thought Fariad explained this to you, we're not robots, regardless of what I sound like now."

Darius turned to face Fariad, having to tilt his head to the side to see past Nate. He handed Fariad his bolter "It's probably some faulty ammunition getting mixed in with the rest, we've had to use some of the craftsman of Skarsgard to get more ammunition. There's bound to be some mismanufactured ammunition." Using his free hand to move Nate aside and only managing to shift the Pyromaniacal Psyker to his pauldron. "If we can construct more Legion Bolters, even poor quality bolters, we could mount them on the Skarsgard vehicles; with more of the Khornates using them the ammunition quality would surely increase."

Turning to look quizzically at Nate, Darius considered the Psykers words "Fariad, has Nate's mind finally broken? What is this talk about flesh?"

Clambering up between the goliath pauldron and power pack of Darius Nate tentatively tapped the Astarte's metallic hide. It gave a metallic thudd. "Yep! Definitely a robot now."

Unsirprised at the impetuousness of Nate, Darius was surprised however by the thudd of his own head. Removing a gauntlet to see his flesh or what remained Darius beheld his brazen fist and laughed the laugh of a series of gears that could not decide if they would grind or screech. Replacing his gauntlet Darius stormed forward with such vigor that the young psyker was left hovering, approaching his warriors Darius declared

"BEHOLD! The demons fire has washed over me and Khorne has tempered my flesh with the heat of his forge. Now, collect the skulls and gear from our fallen, they fought well and should be honoured, if we do not have a shrine to honour fallen warriors then build one." Darius returned to the warband "Mara, I require your aid, in fact I require you tell me if you are able to aid me now."

As the warriors of the Blood God began to gather the scorched and incinerated bodies of their compatriots, Mara jerked her head back from where she had been tending to Sattar's injuries. The burns that this super warrior had suffered were extremely severe but Mara was continually surprised at how resilient their bodies were. Their power was clearly immense as well with how much strength that Darius displayed against the fiery daemons. Her own weakness was like a broken sword next to these giants of war.

Mara hastily applied what remaining burn salves she had on hand to Sattar before darting up to stand before Darius. She was startled by his voice that echoed like pistons on an engine and even more taken aback by his burnished metal face. Her look of consternation was quickly replaced by a scowl as she tried to contain her emotions. The flaming boy hovered just beyond Darius' left shoulder.

"Lord Darius," she began while trying to ignore the stupid look on Nate's face, "what do you need from me?"

Fariad accepted Darius' bolter and nodded thoughtfully at his comments about the ammo. "Quite likely," he agreed, paying scant attention to Nate as the youngster perched on Darius. "Once we're back at the Kebechet, I'll see what I can get the servitors to put together."

At the question about his flesh, Fariad gave a slight shrug. "I cannot comment on the state of Nate's mind, but you do look somewhat more metallic," he replied blandly, even as Nate rapped his knuckles against Darius' bronzed head.

As Darius stormed away and made his declarations to the Khorne warriors, Fariad rolled his eyes beneath his helmet and turned the majority of his attention to examining the bolter he was holding. At least the weapon was something that made sense - an increasing rarity these days, it seemed. He didn't completely tune the others out though. He was curious as to what Darius would ask of Mara.

"Mara, it would seem the gods have chosen to bless me with a new form, as you have been instrumental in keeping me from dying on multiple occasions, it concerns me that your skills as a healer may no longer be suitable for my current state, can you check if that is the case. The chaos gods are fickle in their boons." Darius shifted a little within his armour "Also, I don't know if it was the demons fire or the mutations, but it seems i've been burnt, as amusing a concept as that is now. Will you aid me?"

(Darius is down 10 out of 20 wounds)

"I can try, Lord Darius," Mara said before hesitating, "although I'm unsure if the change is just your skin. Could I have your hand?"

The armoured giant held out his bronze hand and Mara tried to find anything resembling ordinary flesh. She tapped it in several places and only succeeded in in eliciting a tink tink sound. Mara reached down to the supplies that she kept in her belt and produced a small knife that she had used when treating injuries in the past. She tried to cut into the back of Darius' hand but the blade merely scratched the metallic surface and failed to penetrate. Darius laughed at the feeble knife and his voice echoed with the grinding gears that now seemed to fill his mouth.

Mara turned the hand over a few times and she could clearly see the scorch marks on Darius' metal skin. She pulled out a small gel-pack and applied it to the burn but the gel merely oozed and trickled down onto the floor. None of it was absorbed by the skin as it usually would. Mara stamped the useless pack in anger before she kicked it across the floor.

"Lord Darius, your body defies my attempts to heal you. You have no skin and no flesh for me to treat. My magik could help you but," she pointed at the swirling vortex of the Warp above them, "I don't believe that would be wise. As you seem more machine than man, perhaps the machinists or the dark entity above could help you?"

Looking up towards the vortex Darius nodded "I believe you are right Mara, if you are to use your magik to heal me then it should be done in a more stable space."

Darius looked at his gel covered hand and mused aloud "It seems the gods have chosen to have me overcome a new challenge." Darius chuckled and attempted to consult his armours biomonitor. After several moments of the device accepting the presence of a black carapace and the appropriate interface, but refusing to acknowledge any organic material, Darius considered if it could be reconfigured to monitor his current state.