"Spectral Stalker" Helbrute
A common configuration helbrute using a power scourge and twin linked reaper autocannon. This particular Helbrute was sighted at Stalino Hive on Belruss. It's occupant proved quite adept at sadistic strike and fade attacks against Imperial forces involved in the fighting there. So much so in fact it garnered the nickname the spectral stalker, because n fact it was likened to being attacked by a ghost or spirit suddenly there and just as suddenly gone. Sgt Higgens of the 97th Anglican regiment recounts this particular helbrute.
"We had been warned when we moved up to the front lines to relieve the 52 Anglican regiment. Beware the spectral stalker they said, that helbrute will sneak up and slaughter you. We shrugged the warning off for the most part. Helbrutes are too big noisy and cumbersome to sneak up on anyone."
"We were holed up in this storage site, the squad and I. Outside we could hear the endless shells flying overhead as part of the endless barrages that make up city fighting. Clever beast probably used the sound of the barrage to cover his approach. One minute we were sitting there the next a part of the wall gets smashed in and four mechanical tentacles dart in. They each speared a man in the legs or belly and hooked them. I remember the screams as they were impaled and then dragged suddenly towards the hole in the wall. Some of the lads darted in to rescue their mates, but as quick as can be the beast had pulled them through the hole and put that awful cannon into the opening. The sudden salvo cut down another three of the lads and deafened the rest of us as we scrambled for cover. Then just as suddenly as he arrived he was gone. and the squad down seven men."
"Two days later the platoon began to recon slowly up the block. The bloody thing hid itself amongst the ruins it's mechanical tentacles on the ground looking like all the world just another set of power cable debris. Second squad found out the hard way. it ambushed them dropping four men in an instant with the tentacles and blasting another two with it's guns. We went rushing to second squads aid but the thing shot a support beam that further collapsed part of the ruin and left a thick cloud of dust into which it disappeared."
"For two more weeks it went like that. The beast would suddenly attack through the walls then disappear or ambush us then vanish. Sometimes it would pick off a sentry and his relief, cutting them apart and leaving them for us to find. We could tell it was the spectral spirit that did it because of it's tracks by the bodies. The company was nearly three hundred strong going in, we lost 87 men in two weeks, only thirty or so was to stygian militia and bombardments. The other 57 were to that cursed beast. We warned our relief as we rotated back to refit, but I fear they took our warnings as seriously as we did when we entered the front." - Sgt Higgens 97th Anglican, Stalino Hive
"We had been warned when we moved up to the front lines to relieve the 52 Anglican regiment. Beware the spectral stalker they said, that helbrute will sneak up and slaughter you. We shrugged the warning off for the most part. Helbrutes are too big noisy and cumbersome to sneak up on anyone."
"We were holed up in this storage site, the squad and I. Outside we could hear the endless shells flying overhead as part of the endless barrages that make up city fighting. Clever beast probably used the sound of the barrage to cover his approach. One minute we were sitting there the next a part of the wall gets smashed in and four mechanical tentacles dart in. They each speared a man in the legs or belly and hooked them. I remember the screams as they were impaled and then dragged suddenly towards the hole in the wall. Some of the lads darted in to rescue their mates, but as quick as can be the beast had pulled them through the hole and put that awful cannon into the opening. The sudden salvo cut down another three of the lads and deafened the rest of us as we scrambled for cover. Then just as suddenly as he arrived he was gone. and the squad down seven men."
"Two days later the platoon began to recon slowly up the block. The bloody thing hid itself amongst the ruins it's mechanical tentacles on the ground looking like all the world just another set of power cable debris. Second squad found out the hard way. it ambushed them dropping four men in an instant with the tentacles and blasting another two with it's guns. We went rushing to second squads aid but the thing shot a support beam that further collapsed part of the ruin and left a thick cloud of dust into which it disappeared."
"For two more weeks it went like that. The beast would suddenly attack through the walls then disappear or ambush us then vanish. Sometimes it would pick off a sentry and his relief, cutting them apart and leaving them for us to find. We could tell it was the spectral spirit that did it because of it's tracks by the bodies. The company was nearly three hundred strong going in, we lost 87 men in two weeks, only thirty or so was to stygian militia and bombardments. The other 57 were to that cursed beast. We warned our relief as we rotated back to refit, but I fear they took our warnings as seriously as we did when we entered the front." - Sgt Higgens 97th Anglican, Stalino Hive
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