The Edenfall Invasion
The Edenfall invasion was a raid on the agri-world of Edenfall by the forces of Cult Tenebrous. Edenfall is under the control of an agri-priesthood that the cult desired to corrupt to assist them in fulfilling the Hymn of Hollow Birth. Cult Tenebrous had already been on the planet for weeks by the time the Barons of Dawn intervened.
The Battle
Initial Assault
The initial contact came when Librarians of the Barons of Dawn noticed that the psychic hymns that usually emanate from the vicinity of Edenfall ceased. As they approached to investigate, their minds were assaulted with visions of Sanguinius kneeling in a field, armor rusting, flesh rotting, and wings falling to dust. The words "The Carrion King is coming and he wears the angel's wings..." replaced the typical hymns. Librarians from the Mourning's Redemption confirmed that these psychic omens were coming from Edenfall. They knew that the window to save what Imperials souls remain on Edenfall was rapidly shrinking if the Oblivion Protocol was to be avoided.
Chief Librarian Agamemn gave the order to prepare the initial planetfall and liaise with an inquisitorial retinue that included Inquisitor Drusa. They were expecting some amount of resistance, presumably from a Chaos cult that had taken root or even a corrupted PDF, but instead Cult Tenebrous met them on the battlefield.
The bult lander Plaguewrought was in orbit above Edenfall and had been for weeks. Cult Tenebrous had first sent out elements of the Hollow Swarm as a vanguard and to spread corruption while the Dregholm Marauders marched on Cathedra Primus to seize the psychic choir.
The Barons of Dawn dropped their first forces into a ruined village on the outskirts of Cathedra Primus, hoping to establish a foothold from which to retake the capital.
The Battle for Claydorne Village
Almost as soon as the first of the Barons of Dawn touched down, they were set upon by Tyranids of the Hollow Swarm leaping out of the miasma that surrounded them. Vanguard bioforms including the Neurolictor known as the Mindwither quickly identified and crippled key officers including the Fleet Captain. Despite the initial losses, the Barons of Dawn advanced forward with an elite force of Sternguard Veterans, Terminators, and Dreadnoughts delivering swift counterstrikes.
A lictor known to the Imperium as the Flesh Collector stalked its prey from the miasma. It terrorized Inquisitor Drusa from the shadows, playing with its food, before leaping in and assassinating Drusa's protoge. Before it could set upon the Inquisitor herself, a shot from the main gun of a nearby Gladiator Lancer sent the Flesh Collector scurrying back into the shadows, grievously wounded. The Inquisitor and Marines continued to cut through Genestealers and Gargoyles and every other chaos-corrupted xenos that assaulted them leaving a mountain of already decomposing corpses in their path. By this point, the initial wave of the Hollow Swarm's vanguard had mostly been dealt with but a second wave of cultists and wretched machines seemed to coalesce from nothing.
A rotting hulk burst through the wall of a hab leading a group of Aberrants on an assault of the Barons of Dawn's armored column. After ripping through a fair amount of ceramite and being rammed by a Storm Speeder, the Abominant was finally put down but rose once again through some foul magic. He was swiftly dispatched once again, however, finally giving the Barons of Dawn the upper hand. Cathedra Primus loomed in the distance as the remaining forces waded through the heavy fog towards their objective.
While Cult Tenebrous appeared to be retreating, they were simply repositioning and regrouping for a rear assault on the Space Marines. Though the cult took heavy losses, their goal was never a pure military victory. They simply needed to divert the Imperial forces from reaching Cathedra Primus long enough for Septiccus'dresz'puloxxus to secure and corrupt the planet's psychic choir.
It was not a total streategic loss, however, as Mourning's Redemption rapidly deployed reinforcements into the strategic pocket now formed between the village and Cathedra Primus, hoping to advance forward without the need for an FOB.
Combatants
| Imperium | Chaos |
|---|---|
| Barons of Dawn | Cult Tenebrous |
| Ordo Xenos |
Commanders
| Barons of Dawn | Cult Tenebrous |
|---|---|
| Fleet Captain | Septiccus'dresz'puloxxus |
| Inquisitor Drusa | Blightseer Mollax |
| Chief Librarian Agamemn |
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