At the start of the season, the situation is tense but nonviolent. The crusaders of Pope Pinapple are encamped around the remaining entrance to the Orrery, stopping the Unsullied from escaping and trying to starve them out. A fleet of Union airships is keeping watch on the siege, but for the time being they hold back. The crusader army is incredibly disorganized; Fallen of all shapes, sizes and castes (excluding Unsullied) are mingling together, arguing viewpoints, experimenting with drugs and getting into fights. Psychomancer's Noise Marines keep themselves separate from the rest, the sound of heavy music wiping out any other sound in their section of the camp. The camp does make some contact with the outside world; shipments of drugs arrive from the Dixie clan and are spread among the fiercest fighters of the Crusaders, and Sarr cooks a great deal of food, enough to feed the entire camp. Complements of Beastmen and Machinists arrive throughout the season, drawn by the opportunity to bring down the Unsullied even though they do not share the Pope's ideology. Early on in the season, a giant fish arrives from the Glorious People's Republic, bringing food for those Fallen clans driven out of house and home by the crusade and the fighting. The Hareppi are quite a nuisance, flying over the camp and dropping cows on the Crusaders, yelling warnings to beware the Sky Ox.
The first pebble that sets off the avalanche is an anonymous tip-off to the Union forces that the geomantic spire created by Takhai of the Machinists is about to be activated, and used against the Orrery. Quickly the Union fleet heads towards it, but before they can enter bombardment range the spire becomes surrounded by a vortex of swirling boulders. Through binoculars the small figure of Takhai can be seen at the apex of the spire, his robes billowing in a stormy wind.
…The spire is in a slow orbit around the fallen fragment. Before him are a series of obscure control panels and levers, each connected to the spire below. He activates his optical enhancements and sets the visual range to wide, taking in the spectacle of the Union battlefleet before him. As they encroach upon the fallen fragment, he pulls the first and largest of the levers. parts of the column begin to revolve and hiss with steam, and gradually build up speed. As they do so, lumps of rock and minor floating fragments become caught up in its orbit.
As the orbiting microfragments gain velocity, he pulls another lever and twists a dial. The orbit of the rocks equalises, creating a steady and very fast ring of rocks and debris around the huge spire.1)
On the bridge of the Union command ship, General Deepcut feels an encroaching sense of horror as the colossal device in front of him starts to active and he realises that it's a trap. He calls for evasive manouvers, but before any action can be taken the attack begins. A broad arc of boulders flies out from the spire, immediately destroying half the fleet. The remaining ships, with more agile pilots, are somehow able to find a path between the flying boulders. Then, more precise rocks start being launched at the ships, crippling communication systems, engines and bomb launchers.
The worst is yet to come. With the pull of another lever, hatches open in the spire and boulders, obviously modified by technology, emerge. These hurtle towards the remaining ships, and for a moment it looks like they've dodged them. As the rocks pass, however, they explode with a colossal blast, shrapnel tearing through the ships.
Still the ships keep coming, however. As Takhai continues frantically pulling the levels, he seems to slip and pull the wrong controls, sending fragments flying away from the fleet. This is all the opening General Deepcut's ship needs to let loose its armaments. Streams of bombs and blasts from the on-board Stormtouched assault the fragile spire, causing great holes to appear in it. This throws the orbiting fragments out of whack, and soon they too are crashing against the tower. As his spire crumbles about him, Takhai jumps onto his travel fragment and flies away to the safety of his clan.
The remaining Union craft make whatever repairs they can and then limp back to the Orrery battlefield.
The crusaders are in a fighting mood, drugged up, fully armed and ready for battle. As the sky starts being lit up by destroyed Union airships, Mist rises up from the ground, wreathing both the defenders and the crusaders. The front ranks seem to lose all reason and charge each other, and both side's strategies are cast aside as the battle commences. Even so, it is clear that many of the crusaders aren't fighting; some are sobbing uncontrollably, and some seem to be sitting placidly, surrounded by Mist. Psychomancer's Noise Marines, unaffected by the chaos around them, form the vanguard of the Crusader troops as they charge the fortifications.
At this sudden turn of events, the Union peacekeeping troops, led by Grand Marshal Kroy, try to charge the Crusaders. Before they can even reach them, however, a great wall of thorns springs up in their path, blocking further progress. Then, arcing over the wall from the crusader camp come a number of glass vials. These shatter, releasing clouds of choking spores. Under this assault and with no way to pass through, the Union army retreats. Even as they do so, however, the remaining airships arrive, and start bombarding the attacking army. The crusaders quickly push through into the Orrery tunnels, to find shelter from the barrage.
Inside the Orrery, all is chaos. The crusaders are fighting the remaining Unsullied forces, who are trying to fight in a series of strategic withdrawals. At some point, somebody decided to activate the Orrery's defences. Automatons spring out of the walls, crackling with energy, and proceed to blast anything they see with lightning. Standing next to the Orrery is Madam Imogene, in the middle of what appears to be some sort of ritual circle. She sends volleys of energy at the invading forces, warping and distorting them. She seems to be holding out, but all of a sudden the Orrery springs to life. As its fragments and spheres whirl around wildly, one of them catches her and knocks her down. Her wounds are grave, but even as she lies there they close up, saving her life. Even so, she's out of the fight.
Squads of Noise Marines charge into the central chamber, met by equal forces from the Unsullied side;
Eudaimon 13 considered the battle, his contingent of noise marines had been ordered to capture Orrery sub-control node three. The resistance in this area was heavy enough that thoughts of retreat were begenning to occur even in the chemically modified mind of the heavy trooper.
After he'd hacked down the third defender to jump up in front of him in under a minute the thoughts of retreat were doing more than just beginning to occur. Note even the familliar repetitive budda-budda thump coming from the drums in his shoulderpads was reassuring him. Something was very wrong, there were just too many enemies.
That's when it happened, a whirling brass something veered down from it's pre-determined course in the skies above and knocked the helmet from the beastman in front of him. As he followed its tiny frame he could just make out the little weathercock, now with its own tin hat skittering off along the edge of the enemy lines.
The weathercock was only the first of the orrery's appendages to demonstrate its displeasure with the unsullied. As he turned back to the fight Eudaimon 13 saw the metal telscopic arms holding a 1/1000th scale model of the temple fragment twist and spin, bringing the giant diorama onto a collision course with the enemy lines.
Beneath his three inch thick helmet, the brute's lips spread into a slow smile.
He had always known the master would be there for him.2)
Marell is seen charging around inside the Orrery, fighting the Unsullied viciously and looking for the phytarin queen. When the queen is nowhere to be found, and the Unsullied have no idea what she's talking about, she gives up and retreats in confusion.
Pressing deeper into the compound, Pope Pineapple rallies her troops and charges forward. Cut off from the main body of the army, they fight bravely forward. Nobody knows their status, but an incredible explosion rocks the Orrery, filling it with stinging, acidic clouds as the Storm Grapefruit is unleashed. It takes the remnants of the army some time to catch up with them, but they see a shocking sighte; dozens of corpses, of unsullied, phytarin, beastmen and machinist alike. In their centre is the body of Pope Pinapple, disfigured by incredibly strong acid. The same acid seems to have killed everyone around. The unsullied seem to have taken this opportunity to run deeper into their tunnels, and barricaded the doors behind them.
With their quarry cut off from them, the remaining crusaders spread through the Orrery compound, trying to destroy the remaining pockets of resistance. The main force, aside from the Noise marines, is a squad of elite Machinists, led by Mr. Clank. They reach the Orrery chamber, and are about to kill the surviving defenders, when a great hole appears in the dome. As rubble falls, several figures leap down into the chamber; Catequil and the elite forces of the Tirthankar. As the Tirthanker engage the Machinists, Catequil moves straight for Mr. Clank. The cloaked figure glowers with rage, and then several mechanical appendages shoot out from underneath the cloak towards Catequil. They are narrowly parried away, and soon the two are locked in close combat. While Mr. Clank tries to grab his foe with his tentacles and gain the upper hand, Catequil seems to get a sudden burst of energy. He shoots a great cloud of steam at Mr. Clank from the concealed mechanism in his arm, and as the Machinist staggers back in pain a mighty blow from Catequil's fist drives him into the ground, where he lies twitching feebly. Their leader defeated, the remaining Machinists retreat.
From then on it's a gradual but inevitable cleanup operation. The Tirthankar, now joined by the unhurt Union troops, move systematically through the Orrery, driving out the Crusaders. Soon the Orrery is free of them, as they retreat away from the battlefield and withdraw down the passages through the Fallen fragment. By the end of the battle the Orrery itself is still complete, but the buildings and mechanisms surrounding it are completely ruined. The Unsullied seem to have retreated to a safe haven somewhere deep within the Fallen fragment; in their absence, the Tirthankar have been trying to clear up and repair much of the damage done to the Orrery. In the aftermath, a sickness spreads through the Union troops, causing roots to grow on their skin and sapping their energy. The remainder of the Crusaders seem to have gone to ground, trying to gather up more support for their cause. Later in the season, another shipment of food from the Glorious People's Republic comes through, much to the relief of those harmed by the fighting.