HH3节译：暗鸦突围（2）
Survival
存活
Under the unheeded gaze of the vigilant Raven Guard, the Traitors' intent unfurled. Ultra-heavy transport barques descended from the still-churning skies upon columns of fire, disrupting the wounded atmosphere still further. The heaviest were large enough to embark the mighty Traitor Titans, while hundreds more would ferry the bulk of the Traitor Legions' line units into orbit and away to the next phase of the Warmaster's betrayal. Far-ranging Raven Guard reconnaissance squads spied upon the vast, extinct volcanoes to the west and north of the Warmaster's fortress that were now transformed into landing zones, hundreds of thousands of Legionaries and their serfs winding across the depression to embark. Corax demanded an accounting of their numbers and the recon units reported back that the bulk of each turncoat Legion was departing, but that each appeared to be leaving behind it a core of warriors, to what ends they could not determine. The only Legion not taking its leave was the World Eaters, who ranged the hills and the wastes beyond, ever seeking to run more survivors to ground and to add more flensed skulls to the growing ossuarycairns. Angron, it seemed, would not depart Isstvan V until the slaughter was complete.
在警惕的暗鸦守卫们未被注意到的注视下，叛徒的意图显露出来了。超重型运输船的降落引擎喷着火柱，从仍在翻腾着的天空上降落下来，进一步破坏着受损的大气层。其中最为最为沉重的那些体积庞大到足以装运巨大的叛军泰坦，而更多的运输舰则是将把叛徒军团的大部分前线单位运送到轨道上，他们前去参加战帅背叛战争的下一阶段。远处的暗鸦守卫侦查小队监视着现在已经被转变为登陆场的战帅要塞西侧与北侧的死火山，（他们看到）数十万军团战士和他们的仆役穿过洼地来登上飞船。克拉克斯命令暗鸦守卫去了解叛军的人数，侦查部队报告称：每个叛变军团的大部分部队都在离开，但每个军团似乎也都留下了一群战士，暗鸦守卫们无法确定其目的。唯一尚未动身离开的军团是吞世者，他们徘徊在外地外侧的山丘与废土中——吞世者们在试图追捕到更多的幸存者，并为自己那增高中的颅骨京观增加更多被剥了皮的颅骨。看来，直到这场屠杀完结时，安格隆才会离开伊斯特万五号。
Ruinous Venerations
毁灭崇敬
Confronted with the stark reality of the strategic situation, the Raven Guard fell back upon battle doctrines and field craft instilled within them by their Primarch during the years preceding the Lycaean Uprising. Traitor death squads, in particular those of the World Eaters, scoured the hills and the wastes in increasing numbers in their hunt for survivors of the Dropsite Massacre. In response, Corax instigated a cunningly conceived series of diversionary attacks that drew Traitor hunters away from the gorges of the Illium Rifts in which the Raven Guard had taken refuge and led them away into the mountains and deserts to the north and south of the Urgall Depression. Raven Guard squads ranged far and wide in the course of these actions, sometimes returning with more survivors, more often with fresh wounds and fell accounts of the sights they had seen. The Traitor death squads were hunting down survivors as if engaging in sport, and enacting unspeakable tortures upon the bodies of those they ran to ground.
面对严峻的战略形势，暗鸦守卫们依照原体在Lycaean起义之前的岁月中灌输给他们的战斗信条和战场技能进行了撤退。叛军的处刑小队——尤其是来自吞世者军团的那些在搜索山丘与废土荒原，他们是在猎捕登陆点大屠杀的幸存者，而且参与进来的人数还在增加。作为回应，科拉克斯巧妙地策划了一系列转移敌军注意力的攻击，把叛军猎杀部队（的注意力）从暗鸦守卫们避难的Illium裂谷引开，并把叛军们引到Urgall洼地北部和南部的山区与沙漠中。在这些行动中，暗鸦守卫的小队们在遥远且广阔的区域内进行活动，他们偶尔会带回更多的幸存者，但更多的时候则是带着新的伤口回来叙述他们所见到的场景。叛军们就像在进行运动项目一样猎杀着幸存者们，并且对追捕到的猎物的尸体进行着不可言说的折磨。
The return of one particular force brought with it dark tidings indeed. Having ambushed and destroyed a Sons of Horus death squad, the party came upon the Traitors' prey, a trio of Legionaries from the Raven Guard's 12th Battalion. Yet the occasion was no cause for celebration, for the erstwhile prey turned upon their would-be rescuers with unreasoning savagery. Corax's sons were taken by surprise by their brothers' act and one was slain in the ensuing confrontation. At length, the maddened Legionaries were subdued, though not without both sides suffering still more grievous wounds. Even when restrained, the maddened Legionaries strained against their bonds and spat bitter curses at their rescuers, their black eyes pits of inexplicable fury.
一支特殊部队的回归确实带来了不祥的消息。在伏击并摧毁了一支荷鲁斯之子的处刑小队后，暗鸦守卫们发现了这群叛徒的猎物：三名来自暗鸦守卫第12战斗营们的军团战士。然而，这并不值得庆祝，因为这些曾经的猎物们以失去理智的野蛮攻击了他们的救命恩人。科拉克斯的子嗣们被自己兄弟们的行为所震惊，其中一人死于随后的冲突。发狂的军团战士最终被制服了，但冲突双方都遭受了更严重的创伤。即使在受到控制的情况下，这些疯狂的军团战士们也竭力挣脱束缚，对救援者发出刺耳的咒骂，他们黑色的双眼中充满了无法被解释的愤怒。
Soon enough, the phenomenon was repeated. A number of Legionaries who had once served in the Librarius but upon the proclamation of the Edict of Nikaea had renounced their roles as warrior-psykers and joined the line companies, approached their Primarch with their suspicions. Even without consciously engaging their psychic skills, each had detected a slow but inexorable build-up of psionic pressure. At first, they had taken the effect for a manifestation of so much violent choler unleashed in such a concentrated period and location during the Dropsite Massacre. Yet, as the days wore on, it had become increasingly apparent that something far darker and contrary to reason was occurring. The Primarch, however, was already aware of the phenomenon, though he kept his own counsel as to the true extent of his knowledge. It was the work of the World Eaters, and represented yet another sign of just how far the Traitors had fallen.
不久之后，这种现象再次出现。许多曾经担任过智库的军团战士向原体表达了疑虑——在尼凯亚敕令发布后，这些战士们放弃了自己的战斗灵能者职务并加入到前线连队中。尽管并未有意识地运用自己的灵能技艺，但他们每个人都探测到了灵能压力在发生缓慢且不可阻挡的积聚。最初，在登陆点大屠杀时期，他们认为这是军团战士们在极其集中的时间和地点发泄暴怒情绪的表现。然而随着时间推移，他们越来越明显地看出：某种远为黑暗且违背理智的事情正在发生。但原体已经意识到了这种现象，不过他从未说出自己对于此事真正的了解程度。这是吞世者的杰作，也是叛徒们堕落得极其严重的另一个标志。
All across the Urgall Depression and beyond, the World Eaters were raising ever taller pyramids of flensed skulls. At first they appeared random in form and function, though redolent of the death-fanes and ossuary-temples cast down on the most savage of human worlds during the Great Crusade. The act of gathering the skulls of the fallen, flensing them and piling them into vast pyramids all across the Urgall Depression and ever further into the hills was revealed as some form of rite of victory. Somehow, this rite was proving to be the source of the madness that had afflicted the rescued Raven Guard and many others who tarried overlong in the shadow of the monuments. Some manner of psychic resonance was pulsing outwards from the vile monuments, filling those it touched with anger and bloodlust.
在整个Urgall洼地内外，吞世者们都在用剥了皮的颅骨堆起更为高大的金字塔。起初，它们的形式和功能都是随意的，但还是让人联想到帝国于大远征期间在那些最为野蛮的人类世界上推倒的死亡神庙和人骨圣堂。吞世者们收集死者头颅，将之剥皮并在Urgall洼地各处乃至洼地外侧的山丘间堆成巨大的金字塔的举动并显示为某种胜利仪式。不知为何，这个仪式被证明是折磨着获救的暗鸦守卫和许多在这些纪念碑的阴影下停留了太久的人的疯狂的根源。某种灵能共鸣正在从这些邪恶的纪念碑向外涌动，令接触到共鸣的人们心中充满了愤怒和嗜血的杀戮欲。
Later on, Raven Guard reconnaissance squads would witness their erstwhile allies performing savage victory rituals about the monuments, confirming to many that the sons of Angron remained at heart no more than bloodthirsty primitives. Others saw in the rituals something far darker still, something spawned long ago in the darkness of Old Night.
之后，暗鸦守卫侦察小队会目睹他们曾经的盟友在纪念碑旁举行野蛮的胜利仪式，这向很多人证明：安格隆的子嗣们在内心深处仍然不过是一群嗜血的原始人罢了。其他人则在仪式中看到了某些更黑暗的事物，某些很久之前产生于旧夜黑暗中的事物。
It would be several years until the true nature of the phenomenon was revealed, their Primarch may have known more, the Raven Guard being blissfully ignorant of such things at that time, though even then it was obvious that some agency beyond the natural order of reality was abroad. Keeping his own counsel on the matter, the Primarch ordered a series of attacks against a small, select number of these vile structures, strike forces of chosen warriors planting melta bombs at their bases. The resulting detonations brought the targets crashing down in cleansing flames, the fell effect they exerted on the surrounding regions lessened, though it never entirely relented.
这一现象的实质直到多年之后才会被揭示出来，他们的原体可能知道得更多。当时的暗鸦守卫们幸福地对这此一无所知，但即便在那时，也很明显是有某种超越了现实世界自然秩序的力量在外面活动。原体在这件事上有自己的看法，他下令对这些邪恶的构造物中被选定的一小部分进行了一系列的进攻，被挑选而出的战士们所组成的打击部队在这些东西的底座上放置了热熔炸弹。随之而来的爆炸使目标们在清洁的火焰中倒塌，尽管从此之后这些构造体对周边地区的负面影响从未完全缓和，但影响程度还是降低了。
Consolidation
巩固
As the battles wore on, the Primarch reorganised his Legion, forging it anew into something resembling less the brutalised victims of the Warmaster's betrayal and more a band of warriors determined to survive, or to sell their Lives dearly in the attempt. Raven Guard strike forces launched a series of cautious, yet bold attacks against Traitor death squads isolated from the greater mass of the enemy, winning numerous small but bitterly fought battles out in the wastes. Many of these confrontations were fought with combat knives or improvised weapons; the objective to slay the foe and carry away what supplies could be scavenged from their bodies. In time, ammunition stocks were replenished to such a degree that more overt assaults could be launched, and it was as small groups of Raven Guard pushed ever deeper into the Traitor-haunted lands about the Urgall Depression that a grim discovery indeed was made.
随着战斗缓慢持续，原体对军团进行了重组。在原体的重塑之下，暗鸦守卫不再那么像因战帅的背叛而变得残忍的受害者，而是更像一群决心生存下去或为此不惜牺牲生命的战士们。暗鸦守卫打击部队对那些与大部队分隔开的叛军处刑小队发动了一系列谨慎且也大胆的进攻，他们在废土荒原中赢得了无数小规模但却艰苦的战斗。在很多次对抗中，他们使用的都是战斗刀或者简易武器；战斗的目标是杀死敌人并带走敌人们身上所有能够拾取的补给。随着时间的推移，弹药储备被补充到了足以让暗鸦守卫们发动更公开攻击的水平；一小群暗鸦守卫不断深入到叛军们出没的Urgall洼地区域，他们在这里发现了一个可怕的事实。
From a distance it appeared as if a jagged forest had sprung up along the crest of the Urgall Hills. Upon closer inspection, hundreds, even thousands of iron spikes and columns were found, driven into the black volcanic ground. Atop each was mounted the body, or body part, of a Loyalist Space Marine. Most had been executed while others lived on still, the superhuman physiology of the Legiones Astartes holding death at bay despite being eviscerated, impaled, dismembered and exsanguinated or having a hundred other, equally cruel and darkly inventive injuries inflicted upon them. It was to the eyes of the Loyalist onlookers as if some plague of insanity had spread through their former brothers; that alongside treachery as terrible as it was, something of horror and madness unlooked for and inhuman had taken root. Here was the fate that the Traitors would inflict upon every Loyalist not slain in the cauldron of the Dropsite Massacre. Here, the Raven Guard recognised, was the fate the Warmaster would visit upon all those who refused to bow before him, even should every human world drown in blood.
从远处看，那场景仿佛是Urgall山丘们的山顶上出现了一片参差不齐的森林。但经过更仔细的观察，就会发现了那是数百甚至数千根钉在黑色的火山地面上的铁刺和铁柱。每根柱状物的顶端都钉着一名忠诚派星际战士的尸体或尸块。其中大多数人都被处决了，而其他人还活着——尽管他们遭受了取出内脏、刺穿和放血，或者其他上百种同样黑暗且残忍的新奇伤害，但阿斯塔特军团战士的超人生理机能还是阻止了他们的死亡。在那些旁观的忠诚派眼中，这场面就如同是某种导致精神错乱的瘟疫在他们曾经的兄弟们之间蔓延开来；除了可怕的背叛之外，还有某种令人意想不到的疯狂、恐怖且非人的事物在这里扎了根。这就是叛军们施加给那些未死于登陆点大屠杀混战中的忠诚派的命运。身处此地，暗鸦守卫们意识到：战帅会将此等命运施加给那些拒绝屈膝臣服于他的人们，哪怕是将整个人类世界淹没在鲜血之中。
In the east, a force of Raven Guard scouts came upon a vast and hidden underground complex akin to the alien ruins which the Traitors had used as their dread fastness. With this discovery the Raven Guard had their sanctuary, and operations to relocate began within hours. The move could not have been more propitiously timed, for as the last of the Raven Guard moved out, the night skies far to the west filled with the fires of massed retro jets. A vast flotilla of vessels was landing in the calderas of the extinct volcanoes over the western horizon, a flotilla belonging to the Warmaster's Traitor Mechanicum allies.
在东侧，一支暗鸦守卫侦查部队发现了一座隐藏在地下的巨大综合体设施，它类似于那座被叛军们用作可怕要塞的外星废墟群。这一发现令暗鸦守卫们得到了了自己的避难所，他们几小时内就开始了重新安置行动。此刻也是再合适不过的行动，因为当最后一名暗鸦守卫撤离时，遥远的西方夜空中充满了大量制动喷射引擎的火焰：一支庞大的舰队降落到了死火山西侧边缘的火山口中，这是一支属于战帅的叛变机械神教盟友的舰队。
Reclamation
回收
lf the transport barques that had delivered the Traitors from the surface of Isstvan V in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre were epic in scale, the Mechanicum vessels now lowering themselves tortuously through the air were more vast still. From the cavernous holds of these gargantuan vessels marched a cohort of traitor Mechanicum tech-helots, and thousands upon thousands of servitors and tech-thralls were driven forth towards the wreckage-strewn Urgall Depression. The Warmaster's renegade Tech-Priests were beginning a reclamation operation of staggering scale, one that would grant the Warmaster an immediate advantage in supply and materiel. The entire depression was strewn with equipment of incredible military worth—even those vehicles and other items damaged beyond repair still of enormous value as salvage. The wrecks of hundreds of super-heavy tanks still smouldered there, while the toppled forms of once mighty Titans were testament to the sheer destruction unleashed in the few hours of the Dropsite Massacre. The ground was carpeted by the remains of hundreds of thousands of slain Space Marines, each of whom bore full Legiones Astartes battle plate and carried weapons and other items of equipment representing the very pinnacle of human technological achievement. Within hours, the flickering glow of plasma cutters was to be seen all across the depression as reclamation parties began their grim harvest.
登陆点大屠杀之后将叛军们运离伊斯特万五号地表的运输巨舰们的体积是史诗级别的，但那些正在从空中盘旋下降的机械神教飞船则更为庞大。一群叛徒机械神教的技术奴隶从巨型飞船那如同洞窟般的巨大船舱中走出，另有成千上万的机仆和技术契奴被赶向了遍地残骸的Urgall洼地。战帅派系的变节技术神甫们正在开始一场规模惊人的回收行动，这次行动将使战帅在补给和军需物资方面获得直接优势。整个洼地区域中到处都是具有惊人军事价值的装备，即使是那些损坏到无法修复的载具和其他物品，作为打回收物也仍有巨大的价值。数百辆超重型坦克的残骸仍在那里闷烧，曾经强大的泰坦们现在也成了倒在地上的残骸，它们证明了登陆点大屠杀在几个小时内所带来的彻底破坏。数十万具星际战士的遗骸铺满了该区域的地面，每具尸体身上都穿戴着全套的阿斯塔特军团战士动力甲，携带着代表人类科技成就顶峰的武器和其他装备。在几个小时之内，洼地各处便都能见到电浆切割机闪烁的光芒，回收部队开始了他们的冷酷收获。
The operation would continue for many weeks, pushing outwards across the depression until, at length, only the worthless detritus of war remained. Even weeks after the Dropsite Massacre, still-living bodies would be discovered in amongst the thousands of dead, the gene-enhanced physiology of the Legiones Astartes able to enter a state of suspended animation in which the body might heal from the most horrendous of wounds in time. Some Traitors, most notably elements of the Word Bearers and Emperor's Children —in whom it seemed the dark madness of nightmare had truly awakened, but whose true cause was not yet suspected by outsiders— took cruel delight when these were discovered; sometimes administering alchemical preparations to awaken them, only to torture and execute the unfortunate victims, exacting upon them what amounted to a second death. The sons of the Raven did what they could to disrupt the work of these reclamation parties, even while seeking to avoid their own capture and tortuous end. Dozens of Tech-Priest overseers fell; victim to the silenced sniper rounds of Legion Seekers determined to exact vengeance for the dark crimes witnessed through their targeting scopes, or found explosives booby-trapped to their would-be prizes of salvage. But ultimately, such counter-attacks were mere pin pricks to the vast scavenging effort the Traitors had undertaken.
这场行动将会持续数周，范围向外推进到整片洼地各处，直到最后只剩下无价值的战争残渣。哪怕是在登陆点大屠杀过去数周之后，人们在数千具死者遗体中仍能找到生者——阿斯塔特军团战士们经过基因强化的躯体能让他们进入假死状态，在这种状态下，他们的身体可能会及时愈合最可怕的伤口。当发现这些幸存者时，某些叛军会感受到残忍的愉悦，其中最为明显的就是怀言者们和帝皇之子们——他们身上似乎已经被真正唤醒了某些梦魇般的黑暗疯狂，但他们的真正动机还尚未被外人们所怀疑；叛军偶尔会使用炼金制剂来唤醒这些幸存者，目的只是为了折磨并处决这些不幸的受害者，对他们施加相当于第二次死亡的蹂躏。在试图避免自己被抓到和折磨的同时，渡鸦之子们也用尽办法去扰乱回收部队的工作。数十名负责监督工作的技术牧师死在了这一过程中；他们要么是死于那些在瞄准镜中目睹了他们黑暗罪行的军团寻路者为了复仇而决定射出的无声狙击弹，要么就是在奔向自己企图回收的战利品时遭遇了炸弹陷阱。但总的来说，这些反击对叛军们进行的大规模回收行动的阻碍效果只是杯水车薪。
The Hunters
猎手
Around the twentieth day after the Dropsite Massacre, the Legions fight for survival entered a new and bitter phase. By this point, the Traitors were aware that a significant force of Loyalists survived yet and had made a number of attempts to bring them to battle. Lord Corax, however, was not to be drawn into an open confrontation his forces had no chance of winning. Instead, he executed a series of strikes designed to divert and disrupt the enemy's operations and challenge their domination of the wastes surrounding the Urgall Depression.
在登陆点大屠杀之后的第20天左右，军团间为生存而进行的战斗进入了一个苦涩的新阶段。从此刻开始，叛军们意识到忠诚派的一支重要部队还活着，并多次试图将他们拖入战斗。但克拉克斯不愿让他的部队被卷入一场毫无胜算的公开对抗中。相反，他实施了一系列旨在转移和扰乱敌人行动（目标）的袭击，挑战了叛军对Urgall洼地周边废土荒原的统治。
The greater number of Traitors left behind to scour the world belonged to the World Eaters Legion, led by their savage Primarch Angron. Despite the Loyalists' actions, the World Eaters rarely split their forces, instead scouring the depression and the wastes beyond in a vast and ravaging mass, their war cries audible for many kilometres all about. The other, smaller, Traitor Legion contingents deployed differently, however, leading the Raven Guard to the conclusion that those left behind on Isstvan V were some sort of punishment detail or else represented elements of the Traitor Legion their Primarch had decided to keep apart from the bulk of their forces. This hypothesis was further evidenced as a number of these remaining Traitor contingents were revealed to be fractious and ill-disciplined, the glory and nobility of the Emperor’s Great Crusade apparently forgotten to them. The Sons of Horus were often encountered in small bands of hunters, most accompanied by cyber-mastiffs able to detect the proximity of even the stealthiest of Raven Guard warriors and to track them across many kilometres. The Word Bearers by comparison followed their own agenda, their actions driven by their own unknowable ritualistic dogma and often staying clear even of their own supposed allies—perhaps because these actions would have prompted too many questions they would prefer not to answer of their 'brothers-in-arms'. The Iron Warriors contingent, smaller but well provided for in terms of heavy vehicles and war machinery, scoured the wastes in compact armoured columns, the largest three of which presented Corax with the opportunity he had been seeking.
很多被留下来肃清这个世界的叛军成员都属于吞世者军团，率领他们的是那位野蛮的原体——安格隆。尽管忠诚派采取了行动，但吞世者几乎没有分散自己的部队，而是以庞大且毁灭性的群体攻势来扫荡洼地和远处的废土荒原，方圆数公里的区域内都能听到他们的战吼。但来自其他军团的小规模分遣队则是进行了不同形式的部署，这令暗鸦守卫得出了一个结论：这些被丢在伊斯特万五号上的部队是遭到了某种惩罚，或者是被叛变军团的原体们决定要与主力部队分离开的其他代表性分队。该假设的进一步证据是：许多留在此地的叛军分队都被发现是难以控制和缺乏纪律的，他们显然忘记了大远征时期的荣耀和高贵（品性）。暗鸦守卫们遇到的荷鲁斯之子部队通常都是小规模的猎手团队，他们中的大多数都配备了智控獒犬——这种机器能够探测到行动最为隐秘的暗鸦守卫战士的接近，并追踪着他们跨越数千公里。相比之下，怀言者则是遵循着他们自己的章法，他们的行动由他们那不可知的仪式化教条所驱动，甚至经常与他们自己所谓的盟友保持距离——也许是因为这些行动会引出许多他们不愿对“袍泽兄弟”们进行解答的问题。钢铁勇士分队规模较小，但却在重型载具和战争机器方面装备精良，他们以密集的装甲纵队搜查着废土荒原，其中规模最大的三个纵队给克拉克斯提供了他一直在寻找的机会。
The Raven Lords campaign against the Iron Warriors armoured columns was to span several weeks and heralded some of the most intense fighting prior to the very final battles on Isstvan V. Initial operations saw Raven Guard squads shadow the enemy as they scoured the hills, gathering intelligence on the Iron Warriors' strengths and weaknesses. The sons of Perturabo appeared not to be following any particular search doctrine, or at least that its officers were perhaps competing with rather than aiding each other. It was therefore a relatively simple matter for the disciplined Raven Guard to ascertain the Iron Warriors' strength and to isolate them at a time and place of their choosing. Each of the three largest columns consisted of several dozen armoured vehicles, at least half of which were transport vehicles such as Rhinos and Land Raiders carrying a substantial infantry element. The remainder were Predator battle tanks and Thunderstrike heavy artillery tanks, a class of war machine highly favoured by the Iron Warriors. Of greater concern to the Raven Guard scouts were the squadrons of Scimitar jet bikes ranging ahead of the columns in their ceaseless hunt for Loyalist survivors. On several occasions, Raven Guard scouts were spotted as they shadowed the columns and many paid the ultimate price for the knowledge they gleaned.
渡鸦之主针对钢铁勇士装甲纵队发起的战役时间跨度为数周，预示着伊斯特万五号上的最终决战爆发之前的一些最为激烈的战斗。在最初的行动中，暗鸦守卫会在敌人搜索山丘时尾随他们，收集关于钢铁勇士强项和弱项的情报。佩图拉博的子嗣们似乎并未遵循某些特定的搜寻信条，或者至少军官们可能是在互相竞争而非互相帮助。因此对于有纪律性的暗鸦守卫们而言，确定钢铁勇士们的兵力并在自己选定的时间地点将其孤立起来是一件相对简单的事情。在三支规模最大的装甲纵队中，每一支都包含数十辆装甲载具，而且其中至少有半数都是诸如犀牛和兰德突袭者之类运载了大量步兵的运输载具；其余的是捕食者坦克和雷击型重型炮击坦克——此类载具非常受到钢铁勇士们的偏爱。不过暗鸦守卫侦察兵们更关心的是那些冲在装甲纵队前方不停搜寻着忠诚派幸存者的弯刀型喷射机车中队们。有很多次，暗鸦守卫侦察兵们都在在跟踪这些纵队时被发现，许多人为自己所收集的知识付出了最终的代价。
Eventually, the Raven Lord had gathered the information he needed and so he mustered an ambush torce to the north of the Urgall Depression. His target was the smallest of the three Iron Warriors armoured columns, against which he intended to test the Traitors' capacity and will to fight. The attack was launched in the hours before sunrise, such as it was, as the Traitors prepared to move out from their laager. Surprise was total, for in their arrogance the Traitors had not anticipated facing organised Loyalists. Before the enemy could even muster a response, the first wave of Raven Guard assault squads, led by the Primarch, were in amongst the Iron Warriors' positions and slaughtering their foe with cold, precise abandon. The battle could not have lasted even an hour before the Primarch ordered his warriors to withdraw, for Traitor reinforcements were inbound and the Raven Lord's primary objective had been attained.
最终，渡鸦之主收集到了自己所需的信息，于是他在Urgall洼地北侧集结起来一支伏击部队。他的目标是三支钢铁勇士装甲纵队中规模最小的一支，想借此来考验叛军们的战斗能力与意志。暗鸦守卫们在日出前的几个小时发动了进攻，当时叛军们正准备从自己的临时防御阵地中出发。暗鸦守卫的进攻完全震惊了钢铁勇士们，因为这些处于自满状态中的叛军完全未曾料到自己会面对有组织的忠诚派部队。甚至在敌军能够集结起来做出反应之前，第一波暗鸦守卫突击小队就已经在原体的率领下冲入了钢铁勇士的阵地，冷酷无情地对敌人展开屠杀。战斗持续了还不到一个小时，原体便命令他的战士们撤退，因为叛军增援已经到来，原体的首要目标也达成了。
When Corax and his warriors withdrew, they left behind the corpses of several hundred Traitors and the guttering hulks of dozens of vehicles. Militarily, the battle paled into insignificance compared to the losses the Traitors had inflicted upon the Loyalists at the Dropsite Massacre and afterwards. In teims of morale, however, it could not have been more important. The Raven Guard had struck a meaningful blow against the Traitors, and even if every son of Corax eventually died on the blasted surface of Isstvan V, they would do so vindicated and with honour.
当克拉克斯和他的战士们撤退时，他们在身后留下了数百具尸体和数十辆火焰即将熄灭的载具残骸。在军事上，这场战役的战果与叛徒在登陆点大屠杀期间和之后给忠诚派造成的损失相比显得微不足道；但在士气上，这场战役再重要不过了。暗鸦守卫对叛军进行了一次意义明显的进攻，哪怕是克拉克斯的所有子嗣都终将牺牲在伊斯特万五号被炸碎的地表，他们也会无罪且光荣地赴死。
History records an additional footnote to this battle. As the Raven Guard melted into the shadows, a deep, atonal dirge was heard to echo across the wastes. Corax and several of the Mor Deythan watched the rear as the main body withdrew. The sound was repeated, much closer this time, and a beam of red light stabbed through the gloomy morning mist. At the last, the Raven Guard witnessed a phalanx of walkers making for the site of the battle, their form unfamiliar but clearly the product of some esoteric discipline practised by the Warmaster's Traitor Mechanicum allies. This was the first recorded sighting of the war engines that would come to be known as the 'blindhunters', a class of mechanical automaton possessed of a dark intelligence and a fearsome array of weaponry, and intended to hunt down every last survivor left upon the surface of Isstvan V. Their very existence and presence on the planet at that juncture was further evidence of the staggering scope and scale of the Warmasters treachery.
历史为这场战斗记录下了一个额外的脚注。当暗鸦守卫们融入阴影渐渐消失时，一曲深沉且无调的挽歌在废土荒原上回响。当主力部队撤出时，克拉克斯和多位暗影大师看向后方。声音重复起来，这次要近得多，而且一道红光划破了暗淡的晨雾。最终，暗鸦守卫们目击到一个由步行机组成的方阵正在走向战场，它们的形体令人感到陌生，但明显是战帅的机械神教叛徒盟友们所实践的深奥信条的产物。这是对于该战争引擎的第一次有记录的目击，此类装备在日后会被称为“盲眼猎手”，是一种拥有黑暗灵智与一系列可怕武器的自动机兵，它们意图狩猎留在伊斯特万五号地表的所有幸存者。它们此刻在该星球上的存在和出现，进一步表明了战帅叛变那令人震惊的范围与规模。
