#98 Battle XX - The Fate of Salas Nova

Deep among the tombs of Barfunweltz cemetery, a young girl was surrounded by three bat-winged monstrosities. They were talking with her, though their speech was not one known to mortal men. The Three Evils of Voltaire, vargheists of the Crusaders of the Rose, had been sent from the crusade by Lady Beauvoir to report back to the Bloody Pilgrims on her conference with the Pontifex Surrexit.

"What was that?" demanded the girl. Anya Sorrowkin's vampiric senses were alert to the merest scuttling of a grave beetle.

Tes appeared from between two sepulchres. "Gravewalkers. From Salas Nova." reported the elegant vampiress.

Anya cursed. "Did they see me?"

"I fear they did Anya, yes."

The Soulblight girl cursed again. If her cover was blown in Salas Nova, it would be a serious setback. The Bloody Pilgrims were so close to taking over the new Sigmarite city. The secret cult she had founded - the Disciples of the Red Redemption - had infiltrated every level of society and was poised, alongside with the Sisterhood of Blighted Souls, to bring the Sigmarites to their knees.

Anya, whose success infiltrating the Dawnbringers had raised her status inexorably, was instantly decisive: "We must cut the Stormcast off before they can deliver their message to Salas Nova." She pointed to the three vargheists with whom she had been meeting: "Shadow them and report back to me." She turned to the hooded figure of the necromancer who stood at a respectful distance: "Hermit, raise the Rose Guard and as many Servants of the Rose as you can. Tes, call the Disciples and the Sisterhood to arms. I shall summon the Gravewyrm.

"The Gravewalker spies cannot be allowed to escape - the fate of Salas Nova depends upon it."

Back on WHednesdays after the summer holidays and I wanted to field some Legion of Blood units that hadn't yet seen the tabletop. Having come up with a suitable narrative, I chose the Breakthrough battleplan from the narrative ones in the Core Rules, thinking it could simulate the Bloody Pilgrims' attempt to stop the Gravewalkers' escape with news of Anya's identity. However, as soon as we started the game we both realised how ridiculously easy it would be for Owen to win because of his Scions of the Storm deployment rule! Owen is a great sport so we made a slight tweak to the battleplan to reduce the width of his escape route, and he kindly promised to let me have a bit of a fight before his victory!

* * *

Anya Sorrowkin split her forces in two in an attempt to block the Gravewalkers' escape route: the vampires (Blood Knight and Varghesists) she led herself from the back of the Gravewyrm; the deathrattle (grave guard, skeletons and Disciples of the Red Redemption), deployed on the opposite flank under the command of Tes, alongside Father Ehrmantraut and the Hermit of Barfunweltz. The Stormcast placed themselves right in the centre, with their Stormstike Chariot leading the way on their escape route in between the Gravelords' split forces.

Having experienced the great wight blades of a Grave Guard before, the Gravewalkers wisely chose to ignore the deathrattle half of Anya's army and focus on destroying the vampires instead. Annihilators smashed to earth behind them, their accompanying lightening strike slaying some Blighted Sisters, but the lumbering warriors were too sluggish to charge Anya and her Soulblight companions.

In response, the vampires counter charged, but struggled to dent their foes' Sigmarite armour. Anya eventually destroyed the enemy chariot, but both Vargheists and Blood Knights were wiped out. Soon after, Anya herself was brought down from her mighty Gravewyrm.

Just as the deathrattle contingent finally marched into position to block the Gravealkers' escape, the skies were again torn asunder as the Gravewalkers' Celestant Prime descended to smite them. The Grave Guard were in the wrong formation to engage him efficiently and although they severely wounded the mighty Stormcast hero, he was able to wipe them out before they could finish him off with their Danse Macabre. The remaining skeletons and the Disciples of the Red Redemption swarmed around him, but it was a stalemate: their numbers and constant resurrections were a challenge even for Sigmar's own Ghal Maraz, yet the deathrattles' feeble blows did too little damage in return.

Pinned down or banished, there was simply nothing the Soulblight Gravelords could do to stop the Gravewalkers leaving the field of battle and returning to Salas Nova with their vital intelligence. Anya Sorrowkin had been defeated, and though her recovery was inevitable, Salas Nova would know the truth of her identity and the secret of the Disciples of the Red Redemption. The city had come so close to falling to the Bloody Pilgrims, could they yet wrest it from the Sigmarites and bring its inhabitants under the thrall of the Legion of Blood? Lady Beauvoir would surely try...

The Gravewalkers' victory was probably inevitable (although on reflection, I think I might have stood a chance if I'd deployed using gravesites), but thanks to Owen's excellent sportsmanship the game was good fun anyway. The important thing is that is created a narrative!

* * *

Caelon the Grey stood before the Grand Theogonist of Salas Nova. She glared up at him with the arrogance that accompanied her rank. "Yes, Lord-Impertinant?"

Caelon wasn't quite sure if he'd heard her correctly, hesitated for a moment, then continued: "Your excellency, the socialite heiress calling herself Anya Sorrowkin is not whom she claims to be. We have ascertained that she is in fact a Vampire Lord of the Legion of Blood. She has just been defeated in battle by my own hand. You must warn the Dawnbringers and root out her followers..."

He paused, looking closely at the cleric before him. After each reforging, he was finding it harder to interpret the subtle nuances of human emotions and facial expressions, yet he knew what he saw now. "But you already know this don't you?"

The Grand Theogonist suddenly flashed elongated canines but Caelon's gryph hound Abbessbane was already at her throat. She struggled with unnatural resilience but fell to her knees even as the Lord-Imperatant crushed her head with his blessed warhammer. 

He looked down at the crumped mess of gore and ecclesiastical robes, still writhing and shuddering in undeath. The Soulblight rot had set deep in this city, deeper than any of the Sigmarites could have imagined. Perhaps it was too late for Salas Nova after all...

Servants of the Rose

#99 HEISENBERG'S PANTHERS: KNIGHTS OF THE DARK COUGAR