A collation of New Friends, Old Enemies and Strange Alliances! Anerhet - Kheba Nehekhara I sigh, and rub my shrivelled jawline, sitting alone in my small council chamber, yet another time had Ardaris turned up and slipped away just as the Tomb Guard arrived, the vampire had been a constant thorn in my side, she’d appeared up several months ago, and had been harder to get rid of than the eternal dust on my clothes! The worst part is I have no idea how she had found Kheba, or why she is even interested in tormenting me! Also, she only turned up when I’m alone or with Harneni, (My brother, most trusted advisor and personal Liche Priest all in one.) Sighing in frustration I slump back in my chair, and keep trying to think of a way to get rid of her. “You should check the coast, what’s going on over there might interest you.” I jump at the disturbance of my solitude and look up at her, she was tall, with high cheekbones, obsidian black hair, and slightly pointed ears, suggesting exotic heritage. “Can’t you at least act normal?!” She chuckled mischieviously smiling “What would be the fun in that?” she asked innocently “But seriously, coast. Now.” getting to my feet and glaring at her “If this is a trick, again, I’ll have your hide on a tanning rack” She rolled her eyes and started heading towards the door “Oh please, I’ve only done that a few times” Harneni stepped into the doorway “Make that a few dozen times, Ardaris” he said while glaring daggers at her then turned to Anerhet “Milord, for once I concur with our resident abomination, you should come see this” Sighing again I start walking to the door, “Alright, I’m going to see this thing that is so interesting that both of you come to talk to me. And Harneni?” “Yes, Milord?” “Never call me ‘Milord’ again.” “Certainly Sire. Need anything else? I’d better summon the Tomb Guard, and it’s finally not to chase off a Vampire obsessed with tormenting my brother!” He snarled at Ardaris who smiled seraphically at him eyes full of false innocence “Who? Me? I’m ashamed that you’d think that of me! After all, I thought we were friends…” Clearing my throat loud enough to get their attention, “Both of you, quiet down.” They both started to protest, “Now! And what was this I needed to see?!” “Apologies, Milor- I mean Sire, this way!” and left the room. Ardaris shot me a look of over exaggerated patience and exasperation before continuing after Harneni, and with more, measured, purposeful strides, I headed off after them, Tomb Guard forming up around me. Vasdbo - Near Kheba, Nehekhara I stood growling under my breath, cursing whatever Daemons brought such ill luck upon my expedition to crash upon the coast of this accursed desert, after everything had gone so well, we’d set off to that accursed jungle continent over the sea, to find something to prove to the Church and the Emperor himself that the vile reptilian monstrosities must be purged and found even more proof; Albion hadn’t been the only place they’d defiled. A small island in the middle of the sea, infested with their cancerous presence, proof that the disease that was their race was spreading, and that they would likely soon be on their shores like the Pox-Ridden Rat-Men they so resembled. But, I wanted more proof to give the Church of Holy Sigmar, something to not only show they were spreading across the Great Ocean, but that they were blind to the glory of the Empire, just like those pathetic Bretonnians that had helped take Albion from it’s rightful owners, and so we had landed and fought our way to vaults filled with stone tablets covered in hieroglyphs but none of those would have sufficed, so, ignoring them, we fought deeper into their holds. As we advanced, the vile creatures had gotten ever more determined in their defense, but the vaults had been built with only one way in and out, obviously to help them defend more easily, but as they were outnumbered and unprepared this had worked against them. Finally we found a worthy prize and escaped, but now our ship had crashed in a storm and were stranded in this Sigmar-forsaken desert, with no way out… “Sir! Something’s headed this way!” I jump, having been lost in my thoughts and turned to the lookout “Where, What is it and how many?” The lookout blinked and told me, none of which helped. “From the south-east Sir, but other than that I can’t say...” I started glaring at him and he winced knowing that this wouldn’t end well “Then go and find out!” I grated then turned on everyone else, “Everyone get ready for battle! NOW!!” then, I stalked off to get my own equipment. Ayltenq - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati I am tired of arguing, but my imbecilic counterparts in the meeting chamber, Boqtlan, the oldest Saurus leader of Cuaqtla and Tzaqor, The highest ranking Skink chief, were both pressing for a quick response to the unexpected aggression of the prodigals, but this was a matter which required preparation, where had they escaped to? How was the army going to get there? Amongst other matters such as supplies. This was no time for rash action, yes we had to move fast, but to charge off with no preparations? That was madness. I may not be a war person, but my ideas were much better than theirs and didn’t involve losing HALF of their attack force to lack of supplies. Rubbing my tired eyes, I went back to arguing. Ardaris - Near Kheba, Nehekhara “You know Mister Witch-Hunter, that wasn’t very smart. Wouldn’t you agree?” I looked down at Vasdbo, fair skin cracking from loss of moisture, brown hair filled with sand, and grey eyes sparkling with hate, lying on his back, coughing up blood “Sigmar take you, fiend…” he managed to wheeze. I just smiled, “Maybe next time you should think and then maybe -just maybe- you should fight. And don’t worry, the wounds are non-lethal, you’ll live. Trust me” and then I strolled off calmly. Anerhet and Harneni stood in amazement at the prize that the Witch Hunters had brought with them, while I sauntered up “Well well, what have we here?” I inquired, trying to act as if this happened every day “Certainly impressive, I might add... I wonder where they got it from…?” I made it a question to the pair of them “I’d say from the Lizardfolk of the jungles, I’ve seen one before, it leveled an army in the blink of an eye! Although this one is much less… alive.” Harneni glared at him for his choice of words while I chuckled dryly “Well, I guess you’re not lying about the alive part” I walked slowly closer to it “Although I do still sense power… they can’t be that common,” I turned to glare at Anerhet “What are you planning?!” I demanded. Anerhet just smiled, “Well... Now that you mention it, I don’t think they are common -quite rare in fact- so I think that with the amount of effort put into preserving this one despite an obvious lack of activity…” He pondered for a moment then turned and snapped “Harneni! Prepare the ritual of awakening!” We both stared at him, then, understanding, I burst out laughing while Harneni oggled us both as if we were mad. which, we quite possibly both were, and then nodded “Yes Mi- Sire…” Boqtlan - Stolen Ship, Near Nehekhara I was almost ready to rip someone’s arms off and beat them to death with them, I was unbelievably sick of the perpetual motion of their vessel, the fact that Goqtli and Uaxhedin both insisted that riding a Cold One should have made me accustomed to this sort of movement didn’t help at all. Growling unhappily as our vile means of ocean transport bucked beneath me again and morosely lamenting ever boarding the wretched thing “At least we’re finally moving.” groaned Tzaqor who hated their transport as much as Boqtlan “And we know where we’re going. Only about three hours before we land, thanks to Ayltenq’s magic” I looked down at the Skink Chief, and moaned “Thank the Old Ones.” Harneni - Kheba, Nehekhara The Ritual of Awakening seemed to be going normally. The one problem was that Ardaris, who apparently had set up wards everywhere around Kheba was reporting that a huge number of soldiers were coming from inland, led by an alliance of multiple Tomb Kings and that a ship was approaching from the Great Ocean, and that something on that vessel was unbelievably powerful. Now all they could do was pray that his task was as fruitful as Anerhet hoped, and that it didn’t backfire if it was… Vasdbo - Near Kheba, Nehekhara I couldn’t see their arrival, but I felt it, like a large wave silently creeping up the beach. They marched past him onwards to where the Undead had come from… Tzaqor - Near Kheba, Nehekhara I could see the place easily through the the cloudless, moonlit desert air and directed the army towards it and reported a large force heading there from inland, it dwarfed the force inside the walls and all I could do was wonder if they were allies of the small settlements inhabitants, or enemies. Returning to give a description on the enemy forces, and informing them that they would need to move soon, for the attacking force was preparing to burn the small stronghold, was no easy task, considering the increasing number of undead birds attacking me, in the end Boqtlan got the information, and positioned his line to charge Harneni - Kheba, Nehekhara Almost… Just a few more moments and it’ll be finished, however, now there were massive power surges as something forced the winds of magic to bend against their natural flow outside. Hopefully it won’t affect the Ritual. Ayltenq - Outside Kheba, Nehekhara The enemy’s attempts at magic were pitiful and were being thwarted constantly! Admittedly if you said their magic was faring poorly, than the actual combat was catastrophic, as the Saurus, augmented by our magic were ripping the skeletons apart. this probably wouldn’t have been sufficient due to the number of enemies, but then the defenders charged out of their fortress, catching the enemy in the rear, and attacking with magic of their own! The battle was already decided, it just needed to hurry up and finish and then the First could take back what belonged to them. Harneni - Kheba, Nehekhara Finished... It worked… Thank the Gods… Goqtli - Outside Kheba, Nehekhara “RETURN WHAT IS OURS!!” Both of the figures before him flinched at the power of my mental voice. I probably should have been less… forceful, for lack of a better word, but this was serious. One of the figures formed mental images of some ritual to restore the life of a mummified corpse, back to a facsimile, a strange, free willed, half-life like the one it was living. The creature, Anerhet it made itself known as then replaced the mummified human in these images with what he was looking for, The mummified body of Zlatbris, the Slann who had been watching over Cuaqtla, when The Great Catastrophe occurred, and died defending it… Zlatbris - Kheba, Nehekhara The Mage-Man-Thing helped me navigate my way out of the temple, which so resembled those distant pyramids I knew, but had half forgotten. I somehow knew this was a momentous hour, but couldn’t place why, surely another Slann hadn’t consented this, and how could they have lost my body, the idea was blasphemous, a Relic Priest was sacred, I could remember that as well, but not from where. Why couldn’t I remember these things? All I could piece together was that I had died, had been preserved as a Relic Priest, and now, brought back somehow. Tzaqor - Outside Kheba, Nehekhara I was forced to dive madly to avoid the creatures that suddenly were assailing me, and fly as fast as possible to warn Goqtli of the coming army knowing that there were too many opponents, I’d seen a massive horde marching from the north, not undead this time but Orcs, thousands of Orcs, obviously drawn by the magical power emanating from Goqtli and Zlatbris, probably how the undead -Tomb Kings, they called themselves- had found this place as well… But that wasn’t important, what was important was retreating as fast as we can, possibly with their new allies… Boqtlan - Stolen Ship, Near Nehekhara Lovely not only am I seasick, but have to put up with the stench of our new ‘friends.’ Just what I need. Anerhet - Stolen Ship, Near Nehekhara “Well, at least our new allies aren’t boring.” Harneni chuckled and answered wryly “And I think we’ve finally managed to ditch Ardaris, I haven’t seen her once throughout the entire voyage! I guess this turned out very well!” I hid my smile carefully behind my hand as Ardaris crept silently up behind Harneni “Well Harneni,” I could barely suppress laughter while saying this “I think you can guess again.” I will always treasure the look of dawning horror Harneni gave me. ____________________________________________________________________________ Ardaris - Cuaqtla Fighting Arena, Kaixilixapati I barely ducked the decapitating blow, but was too slow for the following shield bash and was sent sprawling to the far wall of the arena. Rolling out of the way of the next strike I sprang to my feet, just in time to take a body blow from the side, and once again have a flying lesson. Tzaqor - Cuaqtla Fighting Arena, Kaixilixapati “I don’t think that was what practice was like where she came from” I remarked to Uaxhedin after watching the fight as she got carried out of the arena. Uaxhedin was the head of the Cuaqtlan fishing fleet and one of the highest ranking Skink Chiefs. He chuckled in response and answered, “The fact that she didn’t expect it made her abilities even more obvious, She was clearly as strong as Boqtlan, but he can strike at his full strength without worrying that the amount of force involved will send him flying like a Ripperdactyl!” I knew that it was true of course, I’d seen the fight myself! Not that it was much of a fight… Ayltenq - Cuaqtla Recovery Room, Kaixilixapati “Healing you might be a problem…” Ardaris chuckled weakly at my comment, the fight had left her with three splintered ribs, a punctured lung from said splintered ribs, a broken cheekbone, a crushed knee cap and a shattered shoulder blade, not the prettiest injuries ever, and it left her from looking deceivingly delicate, with her finely carved bone structure and slim build, to looking like she’d lost an argument with a Thunder Lizard. ‘Not too far from the truth really’ I was forced to admit. “If healing me wasn’t a problem I’d worry Ayl-, Aylte-, Ayltenq” she still struggled to pronounce my name, not surprising considering that most prodigals did… I told her to sleep as much as possible and left the recovery room. Thrikth - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “HOW WAS THE WARP GRINDER BROKEN!?” I screeched. The slave before me shrank back answering in a pathetic whimper, “The stone was too tough, it’s tip cracked, the others have started mining with picks…” The slave looked up pleadingly at me, silently pleading to live. Scowling, I told the pathetic creature to leave his throne room. I watched the slave scurry out of the door, and Scetto stepped silently from the shadows. The dark furred Skaven was always silent, and could blend into the shadows far more effectively than my own white fur, although he had to be careful, for his eyes glow red in the dark. “Have you found a way onto the island?” I asked, having calmed myself after my rage at the slave, “Yes, but it’s not large enough to invade from, and there is a Human female outside, an injured one.” This puzzled me, a Human on the Island? “I thought the island belonged to the Lizardmen…?” I trailed off, making the statement a question and waited for an answer, “It does belong to the Lizardmen, at least partially, one of them treated the Woman’s wounds.” This puzzled me even more, but I knew that Scetto wasn’t lying, “Did you use your notes to translate their talks?” The question didn’t surprise Scetto so he simply produced his notes and passed them over to me, and went off to continue spying. Anerhet - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “Harneni, it’s past midnight!” I groaned but Harneni just waved me quiet, and kept pressing his ear to the ground “I’m telling you, I heard it!” I rubbed my eyes tiredly, I loved my brother, but was starting to get annoyed with this, “ If you heard mining, and you can’t hear it now, maybe the miners decided to go to sleep because it’s midnight” Harneni looked thoughtful, then agreed. Scetto - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati What happened to the woman? She was battered, bruised and broken, which was strange, men typically didn’t let women fight, but I couldn’t think of another reason for such injuries, I haven’t seen a woman fight since… I put the thought of that accursed place out of my mind. Several weeks later Thrikth - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati How does stone get that strong? I had asked myself that question multiple times, and was no closer to an answer, We were several weeks behind schedule, but were almost there, the woman had healed, and I had sent Scetto to stage an accident, in case the woman had noticed anything. Ardaris - Kaixilixapati I adored the view over the edges of the cliff face, it was simply breathtaking. I could easily have sat for hours at the panoramic view. Suddenly, something moved pushed me over the edge. Uaxhedin - Coast near Kaixilixapati You know those moments when something happens, and you get sucked into it against your will? At least the pair didn’t land on my boat. Admittedly, landing on the rocks can’t be very comfortable either. Especially with a skaven landing on top of you Scetto - Coast near Kaixilixapati How was she alive? I had just pushed her over the edge of cliffs several hundred meters high. I took a closer look at her, she looked like that… Realizing that she was that vampire, I then swam away as fast as he could. Uaxhedin - Coast near Kaixilixapati “What was that about?!” I asked her as we sailed back to shore, Ardaris frowned, “I think it was trying to kill me.” I looked witheringly at her, she just smiled, “What I meant was: Why it was ready to continue attacking you and then took one look at you and ran.” Ardaris looked thoughtful “I’m not sure, it seemed familiar, but I can’t place why…” Uaxhedin didn’t believe her for a second, but decided not to pressure her. Thrikth - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati How was it alive after that fall? It was obvious why Scetto ran, if it could survive that fall, what else could it do? I stopped scrying, confident that Scetto would return and offer his theories, patience was key. Scetto would return in his own time. ____________________________________________________________________________ Hrimki - Longhouse, The Chaos Wastes “You promised me an army! I want that army NOW!” My anger didn’t faze the Daemon, it just reminded me that the original plan was for my Warriors to attack the surface of the island, and the Daemons would use the steadily forming rift to attack through the Skaven tunnels, he’d do his part, and we’d do ours. Annoyed, but unable to argue with the Daemon, I just slumped back down in my throne, and resigned myself to waiting, at least my longhouse had entertainment enough Alxebren the Cursed - The Realm of Chaos Stupid, arrogant human, didn’t he realise that I don’t care who he is? Why would I care about an individual Chaos Lord? He was just one amongst dozens. All he was was a tool, a tool with an overinflated opinion of himself maybe, but still a tool. ‘I am close to getting my long awaited revenge, on every being who has crossed me! I have schemed for millennia on my plans to kill those enemies that refused to die. I can wait a few more months, and so can that imbecilic human!’ Vasdbo - A Ruined Village, The Empire “‘All who profit from the spoils of Chaos shall be doomed’ So quoth Grand Theogonist Vilgrim the Third,” I said vehemently “I am not going a looter or a thief!” Norimia looked at me reproachfully, his eyes glinting with restrained anger. His house was tainted with Elven blood, but I had charitably decided to give him a chance, as the child doesn’t choose their blood. Although having the same colour hair and shared elven features as that Vampire made him difficult to deal with. “Seriously man, we’re out of supplies, and we need to eat sometime!” I looked at him, disgusted, “You call yourself a Devout Follower of Sigmar, and yet you condone thievery!” He waved at the devastation around us “The Beastmen are moving north, and all you would do is steal from the victims!” Norimia fixed him with an icy stare, “Idiot, do you like starvation? You question my faith because I suggest we take supplies from people who don’t need them anymore, because they’re dead.” then, he thought for a moment and spoke quietly, “The supplies are there, and if we don’t take them, other people, less righteous than us, will. Would you let the wealth of The Empire be pillaged by men of no moral value?” Scetto - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati What is she doing here?! How did she get here? What had beaten her so badly to cause the injuries she’d had? All those questions, and no answers. All I know was that she is here, and could easily ruin Thrikth’s plans, I must warn him. Tzaqor - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “A Skaven? Here? Are you sure?” Uaxhedin looked at me reproachfully, “If I wasn’t sure would I be here, swearing blind that I saw one?!” He answered, evidently getting annoyed, “Is it so hard to believe? If I told you water wasn’t wet you’d assume it was true until someone proved otherwise! And now, I tell you Ardaris was attacked by a Skaven and you ask ‘Are you sure?’ Seriously!” Eliara - Altdorf, The Empire ‘Honestly, dealing with another Merchant Prince? Now we have to kiss arse to ‘Targan the Great’ although to me it looks more like ‘Targan the Obese’. At least this time we have the word of “The Church of Sigmar” backing us, but still, this fat toad is going to ask for something and it’s probably going to be something big.’ Norimia - Altdorf, The Empire ‘I hate merchants, everything’s overpriced. At least no one has blown their cool’ Eliara, despite not understanding the fine points of how human politics, trade and favours work, and finding them extremely irritating, kept on a mask which revealed nothing, and considering the reputation of Wood Elves for wildness that was even more impressive. ‘Sigmar, what do elves learn in those forests? If she played poker I’d lose every time!’ I wish I could keep up a mask that flawless, it’s hard not to show irritation as that disgustingly fat man prattles on, and bemoans his loss of profits. Ruagahnn - Blackspine Mountains, Naggaroth The wall nearly collapsed on top of me, shocking me from my slumber, and the stout, bearded creatures looked up at me in shock, as I rose up above them. They have disturbed my resting place! They brandished weapons at me, and retreated. Snarling I followed them cautiously into their tunnels. Following them became very hard on the senses, but couldn’t they at least speak properly, all I could hear was a cacophony of ‘Dragon!’, ‘Hold fast!’, ‘Fall back!’, ‘K’dai!’, and other strange noises, honestly, are they even speaking a language, or is that their calls? What would possess these creatures to lead me somewhere where I am not having to squeeze through? The tunnels were large enough for any lesser Dragon, but didn’t help me. Also, what is that gate for and why is it opening? Durcrist - Blackspine Mountains, Naggaroth “Well, I didn’t know that Shadow Elves were that openly welcomed by Chaos Dwarves!” Gulnour said dryly, standing next to me outside the gates, chuckling. I gave him a dark look, and answered him sharply “My question is what the hell was in there with them! They all ran out, covered in ash and burns, and all I could see in there was firelight!” A nearby warband member joked, “I bet fifty Gold Crowns that it was a K’dai Destroyer!” “If you want to go in there and find out, be my guest, but we still need to kill the survivors, before they regroup.” The group of Shadow Elves moved off. Targan - Altdorf, The Empire Well they’re gone now, with enough ships and supplies for that mercenary’s army, and my coffers got a little bit more full, and even better, Ivarn is making huge progress in extending my trade network, he’s such a good son, and produces spectacular results! Vasheress - Altdorf, The Empire I hate these missions, they take too long ‘Kill everyone in the house, you will get 5 gold for every guard or servant, and 500 for the main target’ Lovely, they sit back, while I kill over a hundred people, before I even reach the main target! This is going to take a while, I could slip through the mansion unnoticed, but then I get subpar payment, or, I could kill the entire household, as my Druchii blood told me to do, take hours, but have a large payment. Kill all the inhabitants, I could have some fun toying with them, I love Shadow Magic. It’s always worth the extra effort watching some maid kill her sibling! He knew I was there when my knife went through his voice box, then, walking over his living corpse, I used magic to become just another shadow on the wall, and slid through the door to the Target’s quarters By all that is sacred, and most things that aren’t, how does someone get that fat!? And how does an unlucky assassin find a place to stab lethally?! Does it even have a neck?! Narglicht - Near Cuaqtla, The Under-Empire Simple, I help open this Daemons rift, and my Clan gets the tunnels beneath the island, with the added bonus of, if I help take the island I get the entire island and all its resources! Also, he never banned possible collateral damage, so we’ll give the Warriors of Chaos a plague, while we avoid as many losses as possible, and the Horned Rat will have even more glory! And the entire Under-Empire will breathe a massive sigh of relief when that heretic’s pet Assassin is gone. Thrikth - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “When people say something is hard to believe, it’s generally more, well, believable” Scettos story was incredible, almost impossible. But even the most powerful spells of compulsion to tell the truth, and of detecting lies had said that everything was true… The Black Terror of Mordheim was known to all who had even the most superficial ties to a member of Clan Eshin, and now everything was saying that the Skaven before me, who had revoked all ties other than to me, was that very Skaven, and that meant he was over 300 years old. “So, we know that the vampire, Ardaris is there, but what of the Daemon you mentioned in the story, it’s quite possible that it knows that you’re both here, and might try to get revenge.” “It is a possibility, but it would be difficult for it to get here, as Daemons need a rift, someone to summon them, or a host to possess, but we should still be careful, Ardaris herself could ruin our plans.” Still sceptical, I pursued the topic, “But if this Daemon was to attack, do you think we could find allies from the inhabitants of the island?” “Yes, but considering how powerful Alxebren was, while possessing someone, I’m not sure if that would be enough.” Boqtlan - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati The entire army of Cuaqtla stood arrayed in the city plazas, waiting, they had been informed that not only had there been sightings of Skaven, but the Mage-Priests had detected a growing rift to the Realm of Chaos beneath the island. So they prepared for battle, alongside the Tomb Kings, while Ardaris worked to find how the Skaven had gotten onto the islands surface. Ayltenq - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati Something was bolstering the rift, opening it more as we tried to prevent it from doing so, the Daemons would come through, despite our efforts. Time to see if Cuaqtla and her allies could stand against a Daemonic horde, or if history would repeat itself. Gulnour - Blackspine Mountains, Naggaroth “By all the gods…” The entire mountainside had given way, at first we had thought it was a volcano, explaining the burns and ash, so we moved away to a safer distance. Now we were all wishing it was a volcano, but wishes rarely come true, if ever. Instead we stood watching in horror as a Dragon pushed its way out of the mountain, and the mountain crumbled as if it was nothing. Rimkailn - Blackspine Mountains, Naggaroth We all dived simultaneously on the monstrosity emerging from the mountain. Having witnessed it starting to emerge, I called other Black Dragons to destroy it, thirteen others had arrived and now we were going to make sure it did not live to the end of the day. Ruagahnn - Blackspine Mountains, Naggaroth Pathetic. These worms believed that they could hurt me? They believed wrong. They are ants, they are to me as what a snail is to a Star Dragon. Slow. Weak. Below disgust. And now they are dead. “I AM RUAGAHNN! KING OF THE SKIES, ALL SHALL HEAR MY VOICE AND TREMBLE!” Hroki - The Great Ocean/World Pond “So, we are going to a random place in the middle of the Great Ocean because some Daemon said so.” Hrimki glared at me “Brother, it’s not some random place, and it’s not ‘Some Daemon’ It’s a Bloodthirster, A Greater Daemon of Khorne.” “I still don’t like it, how does it know that the Island is there? Also it could be leading us to a whirlpool which we don’t know about” “The reason you ‘still don’t like it’ is because you are suspicious and think everyone's out to get you and me” “It’s kept you alive so far!” Gauwyn - Bretonnia Damn. Taking a shortcut through Bretonnia after Ardaris escaped by ship, and evading those Orcs simultaneously had seemed such a good idea. Watching Knights trample roughshod over my army is making it seem less clever, especially since the Bretonnian Baron and the Grail Knights he’s with are doing a good impression of a meatgrinder against my Blood Knights, with the Blood Knights being the meat. Scowling, I started making my way towards them. We’d kill the Baron at the very least. The last of the Blood Knights was dead, what makes those knights so damn good!? “I challenge you to single combat!” Hopefully he’ll accept. The fool just spurred his horse forward, obviously in acceptance. Did he really think I’d face him alone? My Thrall was slowly making his way around his flank. He’ll react slower than me, so no point in waiting. Leaping at him proved folly, he was impossibly quick for a human! He raised his shield with inhuman speed, no matter, it won’t save him! I cleaved straight through his shield, sword about to split his head down the middle, when the attack just slid away, not even touching him! I saw my Thrall charge, but knew it was too late. Baron Raymond - Bretonnia The Vampire’s newly detached head hit the ground first, and the Thrall that had started charging me was disoriented momentarily from having its Sire die, and found that my shield made a good bludgeoning weapon. It didn’t kill it, but now it found out that Bretonnian horseshoes are very hard. Ayltenq - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “Ardaris, you can’t continue, you’re killing yourself!” She smiled feebly at me, “I’m already dead, so what you just described is difficult for me to do.” Her attempt at humour wasn’t impressive, “Ardaris, you know as well as I do that you’re starving, in fact I’m surprised that you didn’t start deteriorating earlier, now I’m not going to let you continue to weaken yourself further by running around the island, especially considering a Skaven Assassin tried to kill you!” Uaxhedin - Coast off of Kaixilixapati “By Sotec…” Two fleets?! AND BOTH ARE HEADED FOR THE ISLAND?!?! ‘At least what I need to do is simple. Very simple’ ‘Must. Warn. Somebody!’ Alxebren The Cursed - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati Cowards. All the rats were doing was running, not fighting, not even trying to hinder their passage, just running Ardaris - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati Having one Skaven crawl out of your wall would be bad enough, but no I have a whole clan start scrambling out and start running for the door. Great. Scetto - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati What in the name of the Horned Rat had put her in this room a second time? Great, the only other person he knew who had ever fought Alxebren and was still alive was bedridden. Flawless luck. Tzaqor - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati Great, now our resident vermin infestation was running about the halls screaming about Daemons. Uaxhedin arriving back with news of the fleets was just Icing on the cake, our small island was about to become the centerpoint of a major attack, at least we had some alliances, strange as they were. Norimia - Cuaqtla Outskirts, Kaixilixapati Thank Sigmar that I could persuade that idiot Witch Hunter to postpone fighting the Lizardmen to fight the Warriors of Chaos, on land too, it would be suicide to meet them on the water. Eliara - Cuaqtla Outskirts, Kaixilixapati Fighting in streets again? Fighting in jungles too, even worse. Life hates me, I’m sure of it. Fighting Warriors of Chaos in jungles, I should ask for a raise… Or just quit, might be easier, at least we have allies, not that it’s saying much Hroki - Cuaqtla Outskirts, Kaixilixapati When the man next to you gets struck by lightning, you know the opponent has a decent wizard, when the man who got struck by lightning turns around half a second later and attacks you, you start getting scared, because the enemy has a very good wizard. But when your whole front rank gets fried, and then leaps at your forces, your men start to break and run. Not without reason of course. This isn’t going to be pretty. Anerhet - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati “Second time my army has been mustered without Ardaris being the reason, she’s doing really well!” Harneni scowled at me for the comment, “Can you be serious? There are Daemons and Skaven below us, and Warriors of Chaos coming from the sea, I think this deserves a little less humour.” “You take all the fun out of life, but we’d better be going.” Tzaqor - Cuaqtla Outskirts, Kaixilixapati “Damn that rat is a good assassin.” Uaxhedin commented softly as we surveyed the carnage surrounding us, there was dozens of Marauders scattered about like puppets with their strings cut, each with their throat slashed. “Where’s the blood?” I thought aloud, Uaxhedin shrugged in response, “They’re servants of Chaos, who knows what that’s done to them.” Eliara - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati ‘Finally someone who speaks a language I can understand! It is a sad day when I’m happy to see a Human, even one with elven traits, she seems damn familiar, but I know I haven’t met her, maybe she’s related to someone I know. At least some of the beasts they are using seem very useful, the jungles aren’t going to be as painful for us, fire breathing lizards would have that effect. And are being extremely painful for the enemies in the tunnel.’ Boqtlan - Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati This isn’t going to end well. Ayltenq was doing a brilliant job as a mage, but the Temple Guard and Attendants had been unable to rouse the Slann, and he only has a limited amount of energy. Scetto - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati ‘Okay Narglitch, just around the corner, you know you aren’t going to be stabbed, after all, you’re in your newly claimed tunnels! Why would I ever think of waiting around a corner to murder you!’ Eventually the filth-ridden creature will come around the corner. And I’m not going to stab him! He deserves much worse. Ardaris - Cuaqtla Outskirts, Kaixilixapati “Come on you worthless louts hurry up and get stuck in! There’s a fight out there and you’re missing it!” He “But-” “NO EXCUSES! If you don’t stop whining and get out there I’ll have the heads of your whole family on pikes!” ‘Sheesh, that Chaos lord has a temper, his threats are worthless, and he’s trying to order his men into a meatgrinder!’ “Just the heads? Just the family? Geez, that’s tame, I thought you people were meant to be vicious.” He spun, swinging his axe at me at the same time. “And that was meant to do something?” The axe’s metal screeched as I bent it out of shape “You’ll have to do better than that, Meat.” The haft of the axe broke, and the human backed up a few paces “I don’t know what you are, but by Khorne-” “Oh, spare me the invocation of your pathetic Chaos ‘Gods’. If you think brandishing the name of some petty daemon is going to scare me, you’re dead wrong. You think they’re scary? They’re your worst nightmare. However, right now,” I leaned closer, “I’m your every nightmare.” He screamed as I reached towards him. Alxebren the Cursed - Tunnels beneath Cuaqtla, Kaixilixapati Blast and damnation! The invasion is falling apart, Hrimki was dead, and his brother had called the retreat, and the Skaven had broken along with every bone in Narglitch’s body! With the death or retreat of almost every wizard in my combined armies, the Slann were becoming successful in drawing the winds of magic away from the Daemons, and they were starting to dissipate back to the Realm of Chaos. “Well Alxebren, it seems your little party has crashed, such a pity, I was just starting to have fun.” I spun to face Ardaris, and she put a knife between my eyes. Important Characters Goqtli- A Third Generation Slann in charge of the Kahoun of Cuaqtla Zlatbris- A Fifth Generation Slann, died in The Great Catastrophe, brought back using the ritual of awakening by Harneni and Anerhet. Boqtlan- The lead Oldblood of Cuaqtla, has the blessings of Itzl, Quetzl and Tepok and is revered by the inhabitants of Cuaqtla as a great leader, when it comes to war Goqtli himself listens to him, rides a Cold One Tzaqor- The highest ranking Skink Chief of Cuaqtla, in military second only to Boqtlan he even outranks most Saurus as he is very good at the positioning of troops in battle, rides a Ripperdactyl, highest ranking ‘air skink’ Uaxhedin- A brash Skink chief with a slight capability to use heavens magic, highest ranking ‘sea skink’ Ayltenq- The High Skink Priest of Cuaqtla, he is detail intensive and knows of all three priestly lores but has a short attention span and dislikes concentrating on casting more than one lore a battle and Goqtli dislikes taxing him so lets him contribute the amount he does Anerhet- A Minor Tomb King who has split off from the rest of Nehekhara and became reclusive, left Kheba, a small settlement on the coast, with the Lizardmen when it was attacked by an Orcish horde Harneni- A moderately powerful Liche Priest and brother of Anerhet Ardaris- A powerful Vampire who had taken an interest in Anerhet, being impossible to get rid of, followed them to Cuaqtla, and helped stave off Alxebren's siege Vasdbo- A Witch Hunter who has dedicated his life to showing the Empire that the Lizardmen aren’t just vile creatures (E.G not Human or Dwarves (Not including Bretonnians or the Norse or Chaos Dwarves or anything that isn’t the Empire or the Normal ‘Good’ Dwarves) Norimia- An experienced mercenary, currently in the service of Vasdbo. Baron Raymond- A Bretonnian Lord and Grail Knight, Renowned for service to the Lady and the King, He has even ridden beside the Fay Enchantress! Lady Kathleen- A gifted Prophetess of the Lady, She rides with the Army of Duke Raymond Ivarn- The son of the recently deceased Targan, A Merchant Prince of Marienburg Hroki- The brother of Hrimki, he is almost his brothers equal in battle, with far more guile and charisma Thrikth- The leader of Clan Skritchvrit, a genius by human standards, he knows the power of loyalty and so makes sure that his slaves are well fed and so, they would rather die than betray their master, as they are cunning enough to know that the warpstone isn’t shinier on the other side. Scetto- Thrikth’s master assassin, he has caused the death of many important figures that may have stood in Thrikth’s way, acting with initiative and laying the blame on a different clan, he is single minded, and extremely deadly, he is even faster than elves! Currently at a ceasefire with the Lizardmen of Cuaqtla Alxebren The Cursed- A powerful Greater Daemon, blessed by Khorne, responsible for many tragedies that have struck the the World, and most recently killed hundreds of people in The City of The Damned Eliara- Norimia’s second in command, this Ex-Wood Elf is one of the finest archers in The Empire Durcrist- An extremely skilled Shadow Master who is currently travelling through Naggaroth Gulnour- A powerful Shadow Weaver in the service of Durcrist Vasheress- A Dark Elf Assassin who has earned huge amounts of money in the Empire Ruagahnn- A Dragon who has recently awoken from his slumber, he is of the greatest species of his kind, nearly unmatched in power Important Locations Kheba- Anerhet's Retreat on the coast it is close to the jungle and far from the attentions of other Tomb Kings yet somehow Ardaris managed to find it! Razed by an Orcish horde Cuaqtla- Located on the island of Kaixilixapati this Kahoun was created as a place to store knowledge and as a focal point for the geomantic web Deceased Characters Targan- A massively successful (And fat) Merchant Prince, assassinated by Vasheress Hrimki- A powerful, but arrogant Chaos Lord, slain in battle by Ardaris Rimkailn- A powerful Black Dragon who led thirteen of his kind against Ruagahnn to slay him before he fully awoke, Killed by Ruagahnn Narglicht- A Lord of Clan Pestilens, sided with Alxebren to take Kaixilixapati from Thrikth and Goqtli, assassinated by Scetto Gauwyn- A Vampire Lord who had almost located Ardaris, when she escaped with the Lizardmen. Moved north to return to Sylvania. Killed in single combat by Duke Raymond If the appendix missed any characters, please tell me.
Well, It's easier to read them all now, but wow your writing wasn't nearly as good back then! These collations would make it easier to start (Or restart) reading your pieces.