[HH25] The Infestation of Azurias

[Vomarsk]

Previously

When the first Alien visitors invaded Azurias, the planet's defenses were still on stand by. It had been eons since they were last needed. Azurias' Central Command Unit quickly began reawakening its warriors to fend of the attackers, but the millennia had taken their toll on the guardian units and most of the first wave was heavily damaged or destroyed.


After that, the Command Unit was forced to watch as more invaders arrived on Azurias. It worked fast to get more defenses online and to repair the damages the first two attack waves did, but couldn't stop the attackers from destroying the main temple or from summoning Brikthulu.


The severe damages to those main power pylons, the continued fighting on other parts of the planet and the rampaging Brikthulu caused massive damages to more of Azurias' hidden bases, including one of the Ancients' containment Spires. An elite Squadron of Skirmishers, lead by the Battle Lord who fought the first waves of alien attackers, is sent out to investigate and make sure that the Infestation from within the Spire cannot spread.


When the Squadron arrives they quickly realize that the Infestation had already taken over massive parts of the Containment Complex. The Battle Lord sends a request to the Central Command Unit to get some Vultures ready to purify the area, but their factory was heavily damaged in the attacks and it will take some time before they can reinforce the Skirmishers.


While the Guardian Robots are still investigating the area, the Containment Spire opens and out crawl the spores that were locked within.



The Spores quickly scurry towards nearby corpses to transform them








The Guardians will have to keep the Infestation at bay and stop them from reaching the Portal generator - should the Spores manage to corrupt it, the Infestation could spread to countless other planets. Until the Vultures arrive, the Skirmishers will have to stand their ground and destroy as much of the Infestation as they can


Initial Overwatch


Ancient starting forces: two regular skirmishers, lead by the Battle Lord. Each of them is carrying an Orbiter drone, that they can deploy at any time to support them.
The Battle Lord carries a Shotgun, the other two regular guns. all three of them are also equipped with hardlight swords.
the Orbiters also have guns and can generate shields for the Skirmishers.


Infestation Starting Forces: 10 Spores and 5 Corrupted.
The Infestation doesn't have a hero, but compensate by endlessly spawning more spores. Spores are able to convert any corpse into a Corrupted. other than that they are just vermin with the ability to launch Kamikaze attacks against their enemies (not effective Kamikaze attacks, but it might be useful in large numbers)
The Corrupted Have regular guns, some also have melee weapons. their main strength is that they don't necessarily stay dead. Unless purified by Vultures, they will have a chance to get up after being shot.

[Vomarsk]

Ancients

The Battle Lord and one of the Skirmishers deploy their Orbiters



The newly spawned drones then follow their leader to the right flank


Where a blast from the Battle Lord's Scattershot wipes out the Infestation Spores and temporarily kills two of the Corrupted


On the other flank, the two Skirmishers move closer and aim for the Corrupted. The blue Skirmisher manages to hit and temporarily kill its target


the other Skirmisher however seems to have its weapon incorrectly calibrated and the knockback throws the robot to the ground


The Battle Lord attempts to Heroically stomp the ground to knock away the nearby corpses, out of range for the Spores


He, however, slips on the corpse of an Imperial Trooper, accidentally kicking the corpses in front of him even closer to the Containment Complex


Infestation

New Spores arrive from the depth of the Complex (4 new ones per side) (ignore that only three are pictured, I miscounted when taking the pics)
None of the hurt corrupted get back up though.



The newly arrived spores waste no time crawling and climbing towards the nearest corpses to ressurrect them as Zombies. Nearly a dozen new Corrupted stand up and turn towards the Battle Lord







chuckles "I'm in danger"


The Corrupted from the left flank ignore the two Skirmishers on their side and move around the Spire to get a better angle on the Battle Lord.


Everyone opens fire on the Ancient Guardian Robot
except one guy who accidentally shoots one of his comrafes in the back of the head. But he did little damage.



Luckily, one of the two Orbiters manages to get a shield up in time - but will that be enough?


It might have actually saved the hero! The shield is shredded, and overkill damage as well as shots from the angles that the Orbiter couldn't block off hit the hero, heavily damaging the robot and knocking away one of his weapons. But he barely survives.


Turn 1 Overwatch
Ancients: the blue skirmisher and the two orbiters are fine. The orange skirmisher is disrupted due to a critfail, but also fine. The hero however, is not fine. but alive. his shotgun should have landed somewhere close to him.
Infestation: two Spores are still on the battlefield, crawling towards a corpse on the roof of the Spire and one near the blue skirmisher. All the other spores successfully merged with Corpses and turned into Corrupted. three of these Corrupted are currently dead (two on the right, one on the left side) and one is disrupted due to multiple crit fails (the one with the sword near the blue orbiter)

[Vomarsk]

Ancients

Furiously the Battle Lord gets up to get his shotgun back.



He then charges into the large group of Corrupted that damaged him, screaming and on fire.


the orange Skirmisher deploys his Orbiter, before following his leader's example and charging in to



Ditto for the blue skirmisher


A few seconds of hacking and slashing later and the group of corrupted is down - for now. each of the Skirmishers manages to pick off two of the Zombies, the Battle Lord even gets 3





Only one remains in the large group of the re-deaded, who is taken out by combined fire of the Orbiters
actually, two of them missed. But their moral support enabled the last one to one-shot the Zombie


Triumphantly, the Battle Lord screams out a robotic shout to scare away...


... the orbiters? No! Hey! Come back! We need your shields! (Feat failed)


Infestation

two more Spores arrive on the right flank, three on the left.
Once again, none of the Corrupted get back up because apparently I can't roll well on a D4 to save my life. Or to restore theirs, to be more precise.



They crawl towards the downed corrupted, merging with the Spores controlling them and reviving 6 of the downed Zombies



Once again, everyone fires at the Battle Lord, trying to take down the Robot


two of the recently re-un-dead-ed have trouble aiming and shoot each other down.



the Corrupted on the roof also fails to hit the Skirmisher Hero, instead shooting one of the remaining corpses off the roof


the rest hit, but luckily for the Battle Lord, this time a Skirmisher is in range to red-shirt. One emergency teleport later...


and a very confused and frightened Skirmisher takes the place of his leader.


the damage from 8-ish Zombies is enough to shred through his armor and destroy the robot with a single volley.


the battle lord watches, as the Skirmisher he switched places with is gunned down.
"That was close"


Overwatch

Ancients: The Battle Lord survives another round - unlike the orange Skirmisher - and has repositioned himself closer to the Orbiters that he previously scared away. The Blue Skirmisher is still unfazed.
Infestation: No spores are active at the moment, but there's still a ton of Corrupted on the field: 5 each on the left and right flank, one more on the roof.

Looks like it could get dire for the Ancients, but they still need to hold out for a little longer. reinforcements are coming soon
-ish

[Vomarsk]

Ancients

The Battle Lord charges back in, blasting the right side group of Corrupted with his shotgun. Three zombies are killed, one is knocked back. The last one doesn't care.



His three Orbiters attempt to shoot the Zombie on the roof, but their aim still sucks and all three miss their target by an inch.



The surviving Skirmisher throws away its rifle as he runs towards his destroyed companion.


He picks up the other Skirmisher's sword and charges back into the left group of Corrupted.


However, since he is not used to dual-wielding, he doesn't hit too well, only killing two out of the 5 Zombies in front of him.


The Battle Lord, happy with how the battle on his side is going, attempts another Heroic Feat. Once again, he rolls poorly, but this time the opposing roll was just as bad so he finally succeeds with a feat:


He picks up the dead body of the orange Skirmisher


And launches it towards the group of Corrupted that the blue Skirmisher was fighting. The Robot can dodge the projectile just in time, which hits and crushes two more Zombies.


Infestation

Continuing to roll poorly, only two new Spores escape the Containment Facility.
At least the reanimation goes better this time and 4 of the Corrupted stand back up again: one on the right, two on the left, one in the middle - dangerously close to the portal.




The central Zombie and the two Spores rush towards the portal generator, ready to jump through it on their next turn


the rest of the Corrupted focus their fire on the remaining Skirmisher...


destroying the guardian robot.



Overwatch

It's looking bad for the ancients. Only the badly damaged Battle Lord and his three Orbiters remain, while more and more Spores emerge from the Containment facility. This next turn will be the Battle Lords final chance to hold the portal - but there is a bright side: the Central Command Unit informs the Skirmisher Hero that the Vulture factory is back online and pumping out drones and that they will be able to reinforce the ancients shortly. Should they arrive in time, they might be able to turn the battle in the ancients' favor.
This next turn might not only be the Battle Lord's final Chance to stop the Infestation, it might also be their final chance to reach the portal.

Ancients: Only the heavily damaged Battle Lord and his Orbiters left, all of them on the right side of the battlefield.
Infestation: the two spores and one of the Corrupted are within walking distance of the portal. another Corrupted on the right is also within sprint distance. three more Zombies are on the roof, one in front of each door and a final one in the middle of the battlefield.

[Vomarsk]

Ancients

In a final attempt to stop the Infestation from reaching the Portal, the Battle Lord Leaps in, firing a blast from his Scattershot into the group in fron of him.


The Corrupted closest to him is wasted, but due to the distance between the Spore, the other Infested and the Skirmisher's shotgun, the other two are unfazed


Not for much longer though, as the Orbiters fly around the nearby pylon to follow their hero. Again, most of them miss but one deals barely enough damage to kill the other Corrupted.


The battle Lord, not having failed enough feats yet, picks up one of the neraby corpses.


He rips out its spore to use it as a makeshift grenade against the spore that survived his shotgun blast


But the thrown spore just harmlessly bounces off the rock. Now there's two of them.


Infestation

Speaking of new spores, 2 more arrive on the right side while another 5 emerge from the left. two of the Corrupted that got crushed by the Skirmisher's corpse earlier also get back up.



With his last attacks failed, there is nothing the Battle Lord can do to stop the three nearby Spores from advancing to and entering the portal - apparently all the good rolls were saved for this final advance roll, all of them easily make it to the portal.


The newly spawned Spores begin ressurrecting nearby Corrupted, even converting an additional Corpse while they're at it


Everyone groups up in the middle


and fires a final volley at the Skirmisher Hero.


Only a single Orbiter manages to get the shields up in time - and a single shield cannot stop the combined fire from all the Corrupted. The shield goes down and, in a final heroic sacrifice to its Commander, so goes the Orbiter. It's redshirting saves th Battle Lord from his fate


The Portal activates once again: finally, the Vultures have arrived. They might not have been in time to stop the Infestation from spreading to another world, but they're at least going to make sure to purify Azurias, once and for all.


Overwatch

I don't have an Overwatch Pic, but pretty much everything you need to see is in these two pictures. Two Orbiters are also still alive, but other than that everyone is grouped up nicely.
The Vultures are build specifically to destroy the Infestation: Their purification beams (flamethrowers) might not be very strong on their own, but any Corrupted killed (and any dead corrupted hit) by them will be permanently destroyed. They are also heavily shielded, making it extremely difficult for the Corrupted' weapons to punch through.

[Vomarsk]

Ancients

Now with the Vulture drones by his side, the Battle Lord once again storms back in. His Scattershot Blast killing 7 more Corrupted as well as the Spores in the middle of the group. The Purification beams of the Vultures turn what's left of the Corrupted into charred bone and ash, burning away any remainder of the Infestation and making sure that these bodies will never be used again.



The third Vulture tries to take out the rest of the Corrupted, but its purification beam overheats.


Finally, the Orbiters hit something, taking out another Corrupted, whose corpse is immediately vaporized by the Vultures' purification beams.


The Battle Lord actually succeeds on a Heroic Feat, reprograming the portal so that it sends any nearby Corrupted and Corpses into the Containment Facility.




Infestation

It seems that the ancients finally were able to seal the Containment Facility again, as no new Spores are able to escape from it. And with most of the Corrupted purified or locked up, only the 5 Zombies in the middle remain. They now have the chance to deal a bit more damage to the Ancients or to make a dash for the portal, before they are eradicated by the Vultures
Knowing that they will not be able to destroy the ancient guardians, the remaining Corrupted make a final dash towards the portal, trying to spread the Infestation to more planets. Most of them don't make it far enough, but two roll well enough on their sprint. However, the Orbiters also roll well for once, gunning down one of the two.


One Zombie does make it through the portal however.


Final Overwatch

While the Skirmisher Squad held on for a while, a few Spores still managed to slip through their defense and enter the portal, sending them to other planets within the Brikverse.
The Corrupted who remain on Azurias will be cleaned up by the Vultures and the rest of the Infestation will be sealed inside the Containment Facility once again.

[Vomarsk]

"Your work here is done, Battle Lord. The immediate threat for this facility has been eliminated and the Vultures can take care of the remaining Biomass."



"The remains of your Squad will be teleported back into our foundries. You should probably head there too, get your chassis repaired."



"It is rather unfortunate that some of the Spores made it past you. I shall inform the Enlightened Ones of our other facilities. An Outbreak of the Infestation must be prevented at any cost. We will have no choice than to eradicate all sentient life on any planet that the spores might have reached. I will ensure that all of our other facilites will be reactivated. But for now, the other Enlightened Ones will have to take care of that. Our primary concern should be this facility. As long as this 'Brikthulu' is still attacking my power stations, we can't guarantee that another breach of our containment units doesn't happen. We must be prepared. You may leave now, Battle Lord. Get yourself repaired. I might require your blade soon."

[bertinator]

Gameplay: 4
Photography: 3
Violence: 3
Writing: 4
Overall Appeal: 5

Outstanding brikwars gameplay, top tier introduction and continuation of a storyline, and great context in your photography.

[Cybrandir]

Gameplay: 5
Photography: 4
Violence: 3
Writing: 4
Overall Appeal: 4

Cool zombie gimmick, bonus spoopy points for reminding me of those Clone Wars zombie episodes that left me scarred and deformed as a kid. I wonder if there will be peace at last on Azurias?

[EternityOfDeath]

Gameplay: 4
Photography: 3
Violence: 5
Writing: 3
Overall Appeal: 3