As Casteau nudges what he thinks is Brother Aret, a loud clatter meets your ears as an empty suit of gunmetal grey power armour topples over and separates noisily into its constitutent parts. Clearly not Brother Aret's suit of Mark IV warplate, the armour is badly damaged and appears to be pitted with countless tiny scars, as if the wearer had been subjected to a deluge of flying razor blades. A massive rent in the breastplate indicates a fatal wound from a chainsword or powerblade -- you're not entirely sure which -- and there are smaller gouges on the armour's gauntlets and greaves. Whoever this Space Marine was, someone evidently took great care in turning his armour into an immobile monument.
But a monument to what?
Brother Aret himself is nowhere to be seen. Looking around, you also notice that Corporal Verdon has vanished.
Casteau's lasbolts pierce the smoke and glance off the Space Marine's armour, the shots intended to distract the monster and create an opening for an attack that will not come.
"YOU LEFT THEM," it tells you. "YOU LET THE DARKNESS TAKE THEM. THEY SCREAM, ALONE, IN THE VOID. THEIR CRIES ARE MEANINGLESS."
It takes a step towards Casteau and inclines its head towards him.
"THE PARASITE QUEEN SENT YOU TO DIE," it tells him. "SHE SENT YOU TO PROTECT HER SECRETS. YET HER SECRETS ARE AS A HOUSE OF CARDS. EVEN NOW THEY COLLAPSE AROUND HER."
The smoke around the giant seems to darken.
"AND THERE IS NOTHING SHE CAN DO TO STOP IT."
[OOC]
Brother Aret and Corporal Verdon are not dead. I have not killed them off. However, considering that Khemri and Killing Time haven't posted in this thread for a while, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to say "they're there but they're not doing anything". So right now, the door is very definitely open for Aret and Verdon to come back; in-universe, time is behaving very badly in the tenebro-maze and they're experiencing chronological incontinence.
[/OOC]