//------------------------------//
// Scegraven 
// Story: PonyHammer 40,000: Magic of War | SpiritStorm 
// by Dragon Heart 
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	The Dark Eldeer feared little an attack on their base of operations, situated as it was on the dark side of the moon well within the reaches of the Warp Storm of Pandora IV. The seventh Ancient Gate lay on that moon, but the Dark Eldeer, knowing its technology well, had fixed it to work only for them when they had arrived there.

The effects of this hubris, and the general anarchic nature of Archon Sinnerk's soldiers, resulted in a sprawling makeshift reproduction of Decemalin, the Dark Eldeer home city. Surrounding the major warcamp lay smaller camps, surrounded by miles of torture ground, a sort of cage-garden of the Haemonculus Tourmenteur making. Rich with plunder in slaves, scraps, and goods, this area had grown and sprawled. Meanwhile, the center grew dense with powerful Dark Eldeer, and the legendary Coeurnoir Drak, leader of Sinnerk's Black Heart Kabal, was said to oversee the war preparations there.

To say that the Dark Eldeer were unprepared for an attack would not be quite accurate. The Dark Eldeer are ever ready for battle; it is a sport and a passion to their kind, and there is no such thing as catching them off their guard. Nonetheless, the miles of torture gardens were poorly attended at best, and full of prisoners, many still capable of turning against their captors. For an attacker there was a faint glimmer of hope...


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Atop a great cliff, Dark Eldeer vehicles, almost similar to Eldeer tanks if not more wicked looking, skimmed through the base, dropping off Archon Sinnerk and his minions. The Haemonculus Tourmenteur, followed by Dark Eldeer wielding large retractable blades on their front-right leg, pranced to the Archon, whose armor was covered in blood from the chest down.

"Ha ha!" Sinnerk chuckled with a cacophonous tone in his voice, "We are fresh from the fight. We have shed blood. Death, terror, and anguish sang sweetly in our ears."

"Ah, but Lord Sinnerk, have you taken prizes?" Tourmenteur asked. He had a spinning, bladed device on his front-right leg, and a plague blasting projectile on the other.

The Archon raised an eyebrow to the Haemonculus. "Do you doubt me, Tourmenteur? Many prisoners were taken. We have our tribute to Decemalin, and many left over for our Slave Chambers and your torture grounds."

"Come, Archon," said Tourmenteur as their minions trotted away, "come to my torture grounds." Sinnerk and Tourmenteur casually walked to the Haemonculus's garden while he spoke words. "We win, we lose, win and lose, but always richer, richer with slaves and spoils."

"Indeed!" Sinnerk nodded as they walked by Pony slaves, harvesting souls and being whipped mercilessly by a spiky, scantily clad Dark Eldeer doe. "We shall be well respected, and rewarded, when we return to Decemalin."

"When we return. If we return!" Tourmenteur rephrased. "Return the victors... or return the vanquished?"

They soon reached the Haemonculus's torture garden. Large cages dotted the area, surrounded by the corpses of sacrificed slaves. Tourmenteur sighed a breath of bliss. "My grounds. Where screams are flowers, and pain their fragrance." He deeply sniffed the foul air and let out another blissful sigh as he approached a captured Guardpony. "A fine, fine nest we have. High upon the cliff. Hard to see, harder still to reach!" He grinded up the Earth Pony, blood and organs flew out of his victim's body, and then shot him with his plague blaster. "Will any reach this nest? Will they take away my garden?"

"Are you questioning my right to lead?" Sinnerk asked angrily. "My inevitable victory? I am the deadly shadow and the bird of prey. I am the poisoned dagger that brings swift death!" He walked up next to Tourmenteur. "These crude and foolish armies know nothing of strategy. If they see a wall, they charge at it. If they see an army, they attack it. They will be too busy with each other to notice us, or if they do, it will be too late."

Sinnerk looked to his minions. "Worry not. And it is of no matter, we keep a keen watch. If an army approached, surely we would see it coming. Then, we would tear it to pieces!"