On Demerium, ash drifts across a field of black memorial pylons. Imperial Fists and Exorcists stand in armored ranks around the sealed casket of a brother who served both Legions and the Deathwatch.
Captain Halbrecht
He carried every oath without surrendering his soul. Let the record name him brother, no matter which heraldry he wore.
Captain Halbrecht, a broad-shouldered middle-aged man in yellow plate, with a weathered brown face, close-cropped dark hair, and a scar across one cheek, lowers his helm beneath one arm. Beside him, the Exorcists' black-and-orange veterans hold a silent vigil.
Chaplain Mordane
The casket is sealed. The rites are complete. We commit his service to the Emperor, and his memory to those who remain.
The ground abruptly folds into a vertical wound of violet static. Auspexes shriek too late as armored figures spill through, their weapons already discharging into the startled formation.
Captain Halbrecht
Contact! Close on the casket. Exorcists, wake your guns and break their advance!
Smoke rolls between the pylons. Chaos forces surge across the burial field, muzzle flashes strobing through the ash, while the marines scramble for cover and return fire.
✓ Quest Accepted
Defend the sealed casket
✓ Quest Accepted
Repel the Chaos assault
“As vultaren and his battle-brother, Corvus, defend the casket, a death guard marine gets through the defenses and throws Corvus across the field. "You're mine, space marine" he says, voice grim and dark, suddenly, a bolter round pierces its armour, sending blood everywhere”
SUCCESS (Great Weapons, rolled -1)
Vultaren and Corvus, a young adult human man with a broad, athletic build in slate-gray power armor and a red shoulder plate, brace around the sealed casket as the defensive line buckles. A towering Death Guard marine forces through the smoke, corroded plate grinding beneath a hooded helm.
the Death Guard marine
You're mine, space marine.
The Death Guard marine crashes into Corvus and hurls him across the memorial field. Corvus strikes hard among the pylons, his armor sparking as he disappears behind smoke.
Vultaren holds the casket's position alone. His bolter bucks, and the round punches through the enemy's weakened armor, dropping the Death Guard marine before he can reach the seal.
The marine collapses beside the casket, his assault ended. Smoke and ash veil the impact, while Vultaren's spent casing skips across the black stone.
Captain Halbrecht
Casket secure! Press them back, Exorcists! Recover Corvus when the lane is clear!
The casket remains sealed and defended, but the shot has exposed Vultaren's position. Enemy fire converges through the violet-lit smoke as Corvus struggles to rise beyond the pylons.
Quest Complete
Defend the sealed casket