Driven by immense pressure and fear of the unknown, the commander of the Bastion of Resolve finally dispatched a mixed reconnaissance squad composed of the finest Planetary Defence Force scouts and a group of elite Hive City gang members.
Yet when the squad risked approaching the tomb complex for close reconnaissance, they glimpsed through gaps in the ruins a sight that would haunt any mortal of the Imperium for the rest of their life.
The once relatively "primitive" Ork Boyz now seemed clad in armour forged in hell.
They were covered in crooked, ugly, powered armour fashioned from "dead iron," studded with rivets and scarred with welds. The cold green glow unique to living metal shimmered faintly in the dim light, looking especially eerie and ominous.
The weapons they brandished were no longer simple, crude cleavers, but enormous implements fitted with crudely made Gauss Beam emitter tubes. Some resembled cleavers fused with cannon barrels; others were simply thick metal pipes with dangerous green light flickering at their tips.
These weapons were clearly extremely unstable. Every so often, an accidental discharge blasted a Boy or his companions off their feet, but the survivors only shrieked with greater excitement.
Their vehicles were even more chilling.
The relatively intact chassis and legs of Canoptek Spyders had been grafted onto wrecked Hive City armoured vehicles and heavy scrap-iron plates, then covered in red paint symbolizing speed and savage Ork insignia, creating the so-called "Dead Iron Battlewagons."
These mobile disasters belched black smoke as their tracks or mechanical legs crushed the ruins. Cannons, rocket pods, and even Gauss Flayers torn directly from Destroyers had been haphazardly mounted on their hulls, firing wildly in every direction and leaving devastation in their wake.
The bosses at the heart of each tribe had undergone the most striking changes.