Entombed: Prologue

So this post took a total of two weeks to get done, but I think the effort shows. It's 1500 words, which is more than I've written in one chunk for months. It's a prologue to the Entombed storyline, so now when you start reading the story you don't just get dropped straight into blackness.

Don't worry, there will still be a post for this week. It won't be a great one, because I dumped all my effort into this prologue, but it will be a thing.

Entombed: Planning for the Future

So I've come to something of a standstill on the Entombed storyline, and I think the reason is I'm not entirely sure where I want to go next. So, in order to give myself a bit of much-needed direction (and in order to give you, my teeny tiny cabal of followersm a bit of a sneak peak regarding what's coming) I've decided to try to do some kind of outline of what I'll be doing from now until the end of the book. I'm going to break it down by storyline in the hopes that I can figure out what all the characters need to do, then decide where each chapter is going to go in a bigger timeline.

Entombed X Part 1.

 School started this week, so I've been short on writing time. Also, I'm still in a rut with Entombed. More next week - hopefully, it'll be more Entombed. I think I might try more Aleksos stuff. That, or I'll keep trying to figure out how to make the Scout segments work...

Better Know a Chapter - Steel Revenants: Lord Revenant Vercingetorix (Part 1)

     Lord Revenant Vercingetorix is one of the oldest living members of the Imperium. He was a Captain in the Iron Hands in the days of the Emperor's great crusade. Months before the Istvaan massacre, Vercingetorix was swallowed whole by a giant Squiggoth. Assuming he was doomed to death, Vercingetorix began igniting and placing all his explosives, filling the creature's mouth and gullet with primed meltabombs. He killed the creature, and the Legion's apothecaries rescued his shatterd, mutilated body, intending to inter him in the Legion's crypt - only to find, to their astonishment, that he was still alive. The Primarch decided to honour his sacrifice with the greatest reward of all - Vercingetorix was placed in a sarcophagus and interred in a Contemptor-pattern dreadnought. The Captain's remains were taken back to an Iron Hands monastery in the Kokytus system deep in the Segmentum Pacificus to be prepared.

Entombed 2.5 - Aleksos

Time for more Entombed. I've decided that I need additional points of view. So, here's Crusade-Captain Aleksos's first chapter. It takes place between chapters 2 and 3 of Entombed.

     The teleportation chamber on the strike cruiser Spear of the Lightbringer did not look impressive. Three walls were blank but for the glowing circuitry and graven runes of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The fourth wall was entirely taken up by a massive pair of doors decorated with a golden aquila. Opposite the door was a bank of controls - antennae, dials, and glowing screens. A tech-priest of Mars worked the controls, his metal hands aided by the three snaking mechadendrites protruding from his back. The magos's metal limbs blurred across the panels faster than mortal eyes could follow. The rest of the room was entirely dominated by a raised platform. The platform was inscribed with a pentacle of silver. At each of the star's points, and in the center, stood a Space Marine in Tactical Dreadnought armour, held in place by massive magnetic clamps. Servitors idled by the walls of the rooms, their organic eyes glazed and empty of expression. Three Astropaths wearing ceremonial robes and heavy chains chanted in unison. Their voices carried an unnatural timbre.

Brainstorm session.

This week's post is less fluff and more brainstorm, so if you're not interested in reading my thoughts, feel free to write this one off as tl;dr. The first part is my observations and concerns with the current story. Then I wax chatty about ideas I might like to implement. With that disclaimer out of the way, more after the snip.

Entombed IX

     "The Ancient has fallen! We must protect him!" Sergeant Filos was shouting into his vox-caster. Vercingetorix saw a dense knot of his brethren shoving through the panicked crowd, laying down hails of heavy bolter fire behind them as they struggled to reach the Dreadnought. Gun drones swooped down the Marines, pulse weapons peppering the squad with ineffectual fire. The stealth suits had stopped shooting into the crowd and were now leaping from rooftop to rooftop, those with fusion guns melting through the structures' bronze domes in search of the city's hidden anti-air defenses.

Entombed VIII

Part 8 in the Entombed series. If you're anything like me, all this talk has left you a little bit antsy. Well, worry no more. This section gets back to the action in a big way. Hopefully you're as pleased with the results as I am.

Entombed VII

     My companion, we are nearing the equatorial city of Nobilis. I have hailed the local Arbites Marshal as you requested. He will be at the landing pad awaiting the arrival of We.

     "Very good, Spirit. Connect my auspex to that of the Thunderhawk. I would look with my own eyes upon the city I have chosen to defend."

     Very well, my companion.

ATG INTERFACE ACTIVATED...

...

CONNECTING TO ATG NODE BLACK WIND

...

AUSPEX FEED LIVE IN 3...

2...

1...

Entombed VI

     "That one worries me, Spirit." Vercingetorix lumbered back toward the bunker. The ground trembled slightly with each step.
     We are stronger than he, my companion. He is no threat to We.
     "His strength is not in his muscles. It is in those he commands. Aleksos well-loved by our brothers, and holds much sway with the Chapter Council. He balks under the leadership of Master Dolor. Were he to invoke the Right of Challenge, he might win."

Entombed V

Moar ENTOMBED!

"That was boldly done, Crusade-Captain. It may not have been wise." Vercingetorix and Aleksos stood atop Saint's Hill, surveying the wreckage of the morning's battle. The dreadnought's voice rolled down the hill like miniature thunder. On Vercingetorix's left side, a techmarine was directing servitors in the repairs of his damaged arm.


"I did what was necessary, Lord Revenant. The Commissar's incompetence may have already cost us this planet. He had formal charges written up for every officer at that table for dress uniform violations. By the Throne, there's a war on and he's worried about torn sleeves and tarnished medals. I did the planet a service."

Entombed IV

[Now that the formatting nightmare has been fixed, here's the post. For real this time.]

Vercingetorix was the last to arrive at the makeshift war council. A large wooden table had been set up in the entry hall of the bunker, which was the only area large enough to accommodate a Dreadnought. All of the corpses had been removed from the room, but the sarcophagus's sensitive air scoops still detected lingering traces of propellent, plasma burns, and blood. Too much blood. He was surrounded by warm, swirling liquid. For a moment, the withered husk inside the Dreadnought heaved, its empty stomach reacting with instinctive disgust.

Are you well, my companion? Do you require an adjustment to your amniofluid?

"No, Spirit. I am well. The scent of blood awoke a shadow of the past. There was a time when I, too, could bleed. But no longer."

It is good that We cannot bleed. This metal body is not subject to such weakness.

"Yes, Spirit. It is good."

Entombed III

Ack! A day late in posting. I blame school.


As soon as he was clear of the drop pod, Vercingetorix unleashed the energy stored in his plasma guns. Four miniature sunbursts erupted from beneath his fists. Three of the plasma bursts hit squarely on target, reducing fire warriors to bubbling piles of molten flesh and cracked bone. The fourth burst collided with a drone and dissipated harmlessly on its shield. Behind him, Vercingetorix could hear the storm bolter mounted on his drop pod firing rapidly. The distinctive boom-whoosh of the bolts' two-stage ignition was punctuated by dull crack of their explosive warheads detonating. More drop pods roared in overhead, crashing into the ground or being detonated in midair by the Tau anti-air defenses, which were now targeting the incoming pods.

Entombed II

Vercingetorix fell through the atmosphere, ensconced in the blackness of his drop pod. The hull glowed with the heat of atmospheric entry. Inside the craft, the only noise was the low hum of power fields and the oscillating noise of plasma guns warming up.

Entombed

SARCOPHAGUS CONNECTED...
The words imposed themselves over Vercingetorix's eyes, a vulgar green light interrupting the gentle blackness of sleep. He tried to rub his eyes but found his arms were immobile. A voice cut through the confusion.
Are you awake, my companion?
...