Battle Report
Farseer Mutama made one last flyover of his defensive emplacements, ignoring the jetbikes of his guardian detail buzzing all around him. His left flank was anchored by distortion artillery and watched over by a towering Wraith Knight – a construct almost unknown to Yogan before… the incident. The commander felt his chest tighten as he watched an oversized contingent of Wraithguard file into their Wave Serpents on the right flank. Wraith Constructs in such numbers were an abomination, but with Yogan’s infinity circuit destabilized, warriors were actually requesting their spirit be assigned to these necromantic monstrosities when they died. It was a poor state of affairs for his beloved Craftworld, but it did make for an undeniably effective fighting force.
A brilliant beam of light sliced through the dusty clouds above just as it sliced through Farseer Mutamas brooding, and nearly removed one of his bunkers from existence. The Tau had arrived. Fire warriors flooded through the hills, and primitive, inelegant hovercraft leveled their equally primitive (yet sadly effective) rail guns and missiles at his entrenched troops. Most concerning to Mutama, however, was the tell-tale shimmer that heralded the arrival of the Tau’s new super-weapon – a Ghostkeel.
All of Craftworld Yogan’s considerable might was brought to bear on this single threat. Wave Serpents soared over the bunkers and unleashed their shield’s energy in massive waves of destruction. The Dark Reapers within the bunkers leveled salvo after salvo at the shimmering mirage, despite their fortifications collapsing around them. It was the Wraithknight that finally accomplished their objective, as its jump jet allowed the Knight to gracefully leap to a vantage point from which to unleash its Heavy Distortion Cannons. Powerful forces from the warp were ripping at the Ghostkeel from all directions, yet the Knight’s shoulder-mounted Scatter Laser, fired almost as an afterthought, managed to fry the last vital circuit and bring the target crashing down.
Farseer Mutama felt no satisfaction as he watched the Ghostkeel fall. It had taken too much firepower, and the Tau were unrelenting. A legion of battle suits descended from the sky and reinvigorated the Tau assault, lead by a massive Riptide and the Tau commander. One bunker exploded in a massive detonation as a fusion gun found its target, and only a single Dark Reaper escaped alive. A Wave Serpent was brought down in a fiery wreck, and another was rendered immobile, temporarily bringing Mutama’s Wraithguard counter-attack to a grinding halt.
The last Wave Serpent survived, however, and delivered its payload of Distortion-equipped wraith to devastating effect. The largest squad of battle suits was sent screaming into the warp, and Mutama’s Wraithknight ensured that the Riptide soon followed. The Dark Reapers’ barrage of missiles ripped the Elite Tau Commander’s bodyguard to shreds, killing half of them in one salvo.
The heavens parted once more, although this time it wasn’t just Mutama’s thoughts that were sliced through, but his body. Explosives rocked his Jetbike contingent, eliminating nearly 2 entire squads and leaving Mutama bloody and distracted. Into this mess screamed a Tau flier, and kroot that had been sneaking around his flank saw their chance to pounce on Mutama from the shadows.
The Farseer snarled and used a powerful storm of psychic energy to send the Kroot running, but when he looked back to the battlefield he nearly lost all hope. The Wraithknight was blasted beyond recognition, and the entire right flank of Wraithguard had been scoured from the field. Only one bunker remained standing, and a single unit of Wraithguard struggled through some ruins in the middle of the field. Suddenly, a single trail of fire arced across the sky, and a missile slammed into the engine of the Tau flier. Thrown off course, it twisted and plummeted from the sky, exploding on impact. The single surviving Reaper from the first bunker clearly sought vengeance, and so would Mutama.
Abandoning all pretense of holding their defensive line, the survivors of Craftworld Yogan advanced upon their enemy. One last shot from that damned rail gun eliminated the last bunker, but the Tau had stayed too late. Distort Scythes wielded by Wraithguard ripped apart the very spacetime that was previously occupied by Fire Warriors, while the Dark Reapers began their slow march forward, their missiles first exploiting weakened armor to eliminate the Tau Commander, and then finally, at last, silencing the Rail Gun.
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Aftermath:
Not a single Tau soul remained on the field. Spirit Seers walked among the destroyed constructs, recovering their precious spirit stones – ready to be used again. And again. And again, if need be.
The Dark Reaper that was the sole survivor of his squad no longer has a name, for he has donned the armor of his former exarch, and in so doing, become that exarch. This exarch has new purpose, however, and has vowed to hunt Tau in the name of Muagan Ra, Aspect of Destruction, for the next millennia and more.
Battle Result: Minor Victory for Craftworld Yogan
