Follow up to my previous post: Yep, it's Astartes!
First off, I'd like to say sorry for disappearing for two weeks! I was sick and was more or less confined to the bedroom, aside from a few days I was feeling better and got some fresh air.
And on those days I went to my backyard, mainly to get to work pulling out weeds but also to go hunting for what ever has been making those markings.
While I was pulling out some weeds, I spotted this:
Now it is hard to tell, since it's green on a green background, but if you look closely you can see a Space Marine!
Now at the time I couldn't tell what Legion or chapter it was a part of, After I took the photo I tried getting closer and it scurried away into the tall grass.
I searched for around thirty minutes before I had to go back inside, but I did manage to find some boot prints! Sadly though I hadn't thought to take a photo of them at the time, it doesn't really matter now as you'll see later on in the post.
So the next day I was feeling crappy and stayed in bed... but the day after that I went back out! And I didn't step that far out the door when I saw this:
Right above one of the old couches (Yes I have couches in my backyard(Yes I'll be getting rid of them soon)) I noticed this little guy trying to climb a tree.
I think I startled the little guy or something, because right after the photo he fell and ran off. And also, before you ask I did rush over as soon as he fell because I was worried for the little guy.
So that's now two separate Astartes I've seen in my yard. Now this is me pulling from the future, but I did learn the first one was a Sons of Horus legionary, the second one I thought maybe was a Salamander due to the black puldron but later on I learned that he was also, in fact, a Son of Horus.
Alright, so I was feeling worse for a day or two, so this was a bit after the last sighting.
Now I did come prepared... with knowledge! While I was sick in bed I couldn't get my mind off of the critters so I decided to do some research into them.
That's when I first learned I was dealing with Legionaies of the XVIth (16th) AKA the Sons of Horus. Now I have dealt with these guys before, I own some from a shelter and while they are sweeties, they are also very, and I mean very aggressive.
And that's just the ones you get from shelter, these ones (to my knowledge) are completely wild and feral.
So eventually when I did come outside, I made sure to wear thick clothing so they couldn't bite, cut or stab me.
I didn't wanna risk catching any diseases from them, although I did learn that they technically can't get rabies, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Unfortunately though all I could find were some tracks, and they were big ones, the biggest ones I've seen, easily bigger than the regular marines I've encountered so far.
So, I decided I wasn't prepared enough to tackle (metaphorically, not literally) this one. So I went back inside to come up with a plan.
Alright so fast forward a couple days, after a short bout of my illness getting worse I decided to go back on the hunt.
Now through out this whole thing the heads of the Dandelions have still been going missing. Clean cut and bent, like something was holding them down and cutting their heads off.
Obviously, this was connected to the Astartes I've been seeing in my yard. So, I decided to set a little trap to catch this Dandel-theif.
I left some cat food on one of the couches near some Dandelions, that way it'll be enticed by the food, see the flowers and hopefully stay their longer enough for me to get a proper photo of the culprit.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to... BUT, he did take the bait, well at least the food. The flowers were uncut, so I thought that since he saw them he'd come back for them... but that wasn't for a few more days.
Alright, it was the next day, I still wasn't feeling well but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I hurried and got my thick clothing on and rushed out the door to try and catch a glimpse of the thief in action, and luckily, I did!
And holy crap! It's a Justaerin! And he was huge! He must've been eating good to get to that size, he looks to be around the same height as an Indomitus Terminator.
And for reference the Justaerin are the Terminator elite of the Sons of Horus, which means that he's also a lot more dangerous and aggressive than the others which I learned the hard way.
After the photo was taken he tried sprinting closer to me (Terminator armor is very heavy, but he's still quick) and started swinging his power-axe.
But thankfully I scared him off. Since I wore thicker clothing it gave the impression I was large, well, larger, so I was able to spook him away.
I decided to try and run after him to try and snap a photo, I wanted to see if if I could find a kind of nest of sorts, or at least where they keep running off too, but I got this photo and tripped.
That's all I could document for now, but I'll be posting more updates soon! So stay tuned!
