Last night was a spectacular evening of roleplaying...but the end was unexpected and leads to more questions. As always...I turn to my trusty cohorts in the GM threads. I will give the rundown for last night.
The kill team responded to a call for aid from the Howling Griffons 4th company. There were two squads actively hunting down a chaos warband that had gotten behind the front lines on Khazant and was active in the hills of the wartorn continent. They had been hunting down and destroying convoys with such efficiency that it was destabilizing that section of the front. The kill team had worked a bit with the howling griffons in the past and decided to intervene and assist.
The intelligence showed three oddities in the area, and Intel from the howling griffons suggested a mechanized force of at least twenty chaos marines with support from a heavier piece of armor.
The marines linked up with Sgt Apollos of the 2nd Squad 4th company Howling Griffons as well as Sgt Krios of the 9th Squad. Together, they moved out to investigate the ruins of a nearby convoy. The convoy was a mess and the Raven Guard was able to discern that the tracks from the vehicles that attacked them were definitely rhino chassis vehicles, but that one was slightly more depressed into the mud. This indicates a higher weight class than a Rhino. Here, the kill team met up with a combat squad of Flesh Tearers in a rhino that had been requisitioned as a support asset at the mission start. Sgt Hessia was very upset that there was nothing here
From there, the kill team moved on to a nearby area that the librarian detected using Psynicience. Here they discovered 24 Cultists at the end of a ritual. 3 groups of 8 were arrayed around a central altar festooned with the sacrificed ruins of a Howling Griffon. 8 Held Bowls, 8 Held Knives, and 8 Knelt. As the chanting ended, two swift strikes of the blades decapitated the 8 kneeling cultists, the blood was then drained from the skull into the bowls being held by the other cultist at east group. First the heads were thrown towards the alter, which caught fire mid air until the flesh was gone and only the bone remained. Then the cultist with the bowl of fresh blood upended the bowl into their own faces and chests. With a terrible shriek, they were twisted and transformed into 8 Bloodletters of Khorne, who immediately killed the final third cultist that was at each of the spots. This final act of bloodshed sealed the binding and they began running amok.
The marines were more than adequate to put down this threat and a successful tech use test on the sacrificed Howling Griffon revealed a single grainy image of a power armored form in teal or blue delivering a killing blow. The Howling Griffons then stepped in to take the body back for storage in their Rhino so rites could be performed later.
All this intel combined pointed to a series of hills a few hours away that supply routes regularly move through. A large swamp in a valley that would be large enough to support a force of that size. Together the team moved toward the third and final location, a jamming signal in those very same hills where supply convoys were moving.
After six hours of travelling they came upon a bridge near a large burning convoy. There was a small refueling dump located there in the middle of the valley. Sneaking around, the Raven Guard were able to determine that the convoy was ambushed by several heavy weapons. The force flanked around the hills until they found the power signals and discovered a Trio of Obliterators waiting in ambush. This potentially deadly fight was over very quickly as the poor Obliterators could not seem to hit anyone with their weapons. Unfortunately, the fuel depot itself was destroyed in the resulting firefight and the swamps where the enemy might be camped were only about 1000 Meters away at this point.
Pressing on, the Raven Guard Dev and Assualt marine snuck onto a ridge overlooking the camp and discovered that there was in face a Rhino, a Predator Tank, and about 20 Chaos Marines preparing to move out in response to the explosion. There was also an AA Gun, which they knew needed to be knocked out ASAP as the Flesh Tearers had called in a Stormtalon for support.
Sneaking through a series of trip wires and sensors under the cover of darkness, the Devastator got into position and planed charges on the AA gun while the marines were gearing up to move out. Having effectively flanked the enemy force, he set the charge for a minute and began to get up the side of the hill as fast as could be concieved. Having alerted the forces in the kill team, the Flesh Tearers, Kill Team, and Howling Griffons spread out and moved along both the center of the road and up the sides of the two hills of the small valley on either side.
Finally, mere seconds before the AA gun exploded, the Devastator lined up a perfect shot into the rear armor of the predator tank in the valley below rolling FOUR rightous fury results out of five dice. The turret of the tank was blow clear off and the engine began to smoke and catch fire and secondary explosions ripped through the tank. As this was happening the loyal marines struck against the renegades that were spreading out along the hills of the valley and digging in.
With battle joined, the Flesh Tearers began a headlong charge into the midst of the center combat squad of renegades. The kill team pressed the center as well backing up thier charge while being protected by the librarians force shield. On either flank, the 9th and 2nd squads of howling griffons began to engage to renegades as well. Lastly, a Stormtalon descended moments after the AA was out and began to riddle the hillside renegades in hover mode with assault cannon and lascannon shots. 7 Chaos Marines were down in the first two turns of combat...
FInally, a vox transmission came through from the pilot of the Stormtalon...
"Brothers, something is wrong...we are being targeted by the....HISSS STATIC" As suddenly four missiles detonated against the side of the craft. The ship leered to one side before secondary explosions caused it to detonate in fiery ruin. The light illuminated the darkness around them and the players all made successful awareness rolls. The discovered that the fighting along the ridges on either side of them had stopped and all the Howling Griffons were aiming carefully at each of the members of the kill team and flesh tearers. Finally, through time had stopped for a moment, Sergeant Apollos of the 2nd Squad declared sardonically "FOR THE EMPEROR!" and the center of the valley below was riddled with fire from the renegades and Howling Griffons alike...
My poor players faces...they didn't know what to do!
I am out of time...I will finish this tonight so I can actually get to my question!!! I can't help but tell these sorts of tales as they happen. I really need some fun advise on where to go from here.