WARZONE FENRIS / WARHAMMER 40K CAMPAIGN LORE (Part 1)

for the glory of the imperium [Music] warzone fenris ten thousand years have passed since prospero burned ten millennia of war and darkness and during which time much has been forgotten and more erased yet there are those who know the truth of that terrible day when the thousand sons felt the emperor's wrath for their sorcerous transgressions some maintain that good intentions led the thousand suns down the road to damnation others assert that the legion were warp-touched sorcerers who deserved their fate whatever the truth the sorcerers of prospero were judged wanting by the emperor and their sentence was carried out by the assembled might of the space wolves like fiery comets the wolves of fenris fell upon prospero's capital city of tisca and drop pods in their hundreds scarred the blue skies black with their smoking trails the thousand suns wielded forbidden sorceries in their desperation and brought great destruction in the space wolves ranks still though the 15th legion fought with all their strength and guile they could not stand before the fenrissians savagery the space wolves tore through one prospering battle line after another at their head charged the ferocious warriors of the thirteenth great company these were the wolven kind the most feral and savage of an already ferocious space marine legion with all the roaring bolters and snarling chainsaws of the thirteenth company the sons of prospero fell in their dozens until it seemed there could be no hope for their survival but lehman russ's invading legion would be denied their final victory by the thousand suns primark magnus the red by his fell magic did the surviving thousand suns escape judgment fleeing into the eye of terror through a scintillating portal and swearing vengeance upon those they had once called brother the space wolves hunt was done prospero had been raised while the strength of the thousand suns was broken and their remnants fled with full-blown civil war raging throughout the imperium lehman russ judged that his legion strength was needed elsewhere however not all of the wolf king's sons withdrew the 13th company pursued the thousand suns through their portal intent on finishing the hunt some claim they did this upon the orders of their primark mothers say that a madness took the wolven kind that day and made them deaf to the wolf king's words whatever the truth the thirteenth company chased their prey deep into the swirling madness of the eye of terror and there they disappeared they have not been seen since horror on the randy's the warp storm that engulfed the black hive world of the randy's did so with terrible fury its onset was sudden unheralded by dark portents or empiric disturbance one moment the crowded hive world span on as it always had the next the planet's skies lit with kaleidoscopic flame and the laws of nature went irrevocably mad mutation and cannibalistic insanity ran rampant through the trillion strong populace until the hive cities rang to the screams and gunfire of heretic rebellion the planet's bedrock convulsed as twisted spires of bone forced their way up from below blazing skulls rained from the skies and wherever they struck tides of gibbering demons spilled forth to attack the beleaguered planetary defense forces seeing the damnation of his world looming the planetary governor had his astropaths send a desperate cry for help it did not go unanswered weeks passed and the planet's doom seemed certain just when the last embers of hope were burning out the sea of stars parted for the onset of the death wolves the great company of lord harold death wolf space wolf attack craft punched through the atmosphere firestorms at blistering speed the warriors on board hungry to win glory and rescue naradis his people from their fate gunships and drop pods plunged to the planet's surface their blue grey hulls emblazoned with lord death wolf's ravening jaw heraldry from within these craft the space wolves surged forth to begin their hunt mounted upon his huge thunder wolf ice tooth the wolf lord led one lightning fast attack after another to reclaim the tainted world at the feet of the monolithic hive predominators the unstoppable charge of harald's thunder wolf cavalry shattered the demonic battle line and that in a savage and costly battle saw a great cohort of blood demons banished back to the warp amid the clanking maze of the industrium sub-terranial the death wolves fought a hit-and-run war against the mass demonic cavalry of the zenchin herald slive they emerged from this labyrinthian hell bloodied but victorious before going on to break the siege of hive genos and rescue the governor himself as weeks of hellish warfare ground by death wolf remained cold and confident his military experience and hunter's intuition allowing him to keep his abhorrent foes off balance with the war fires dying in the skies the deaf wolves pushed into the northern polar reaches here a last enclave of demons had claimed a string of abandoned fortifications long rumored among the noridian peoples to be cursed femirisians are nothing if not superstitious but after the hellish ordeal of the preceding weeks it would take more than local legend to turn them back they pushed cautiously forwards into this last stronghold weary of some final chaos trick and that trick came as the deaf wolves neared the heart of the abandoned fortifications looming tumble down bastions and bunkers flared with hellish light as demons sprang gleefully from behind veils of illusion to attack in ambush grey hunters and blood claws were blasted to ash where they stood as a reign of demonic fire seared down from the battlements above snorting juggernauts stampede into the space wolves midst smashing power armored bodies right and left while their bloodletter riders lashed out with smoking hellblades everywhere moonlit stillness shattered into mayhem as the deaf wolves found themselves fighting on all france despite the space wolves caution the surprise of the attack was total then harold death wolf cursed whatever unnatural trickery that confounded his senses still the space wolves fought back hard raising bolters and flamers they blazed away into the enemy's midst sending sprays of demonic eye core flying harold himself led a vicious counter charge he and canis wolfborn hacking their way through a droning mass of plague bearers in an attempt to break free from the trap they were swiftly driven back there's more warp flame rain from on high flung by zenshin demons that capered across the rooftops the deaf wolves found themselves caught in a swiftly tightening noose pelted from above by wave after wave of mutating fire fangs bared they fought back to back hugging what cover they could against the zenshin bombardment it was a defined display but harold def wolf could see that if something drastic were not done soon his warriors would be annihilated the wolf lord scowl deepened as he gave orders for his thunder wolf cavalry to mass around him they would stage a last charge buying time for their brothers on foot to escape it was then that the hackles rose on harold's neck massive figures were suddenly loose amongst the demons on the rooftops tearing into the horrors with astonishing savagery my cord rained down on the battle replacing the devastating firestorm of moments before the death wolves raised a howling battle cry and their eyes widened in amazement as it was answered by a monstrous baying from the figures above dispatching the last of their gangling prey the massive warriors leapt from the rooftops slamming into the demon horde with their clawed limbs swinging for a brief moment harold def wolf in shock the figures were huge be still terrors spattered head to toe in demon's blood but as they tore into the reeling foe and the deaf wolves rallied to the fight there could be no mistake the battered power armor and canine features of the newcomers mark them beyond a doubt as warriors of the space walls from the moment the newcomers entered the fray the tide of battle turned the hulking beast warriors moved with terrifying speed stabbing and raking with claws fangs and jagged punch daggers no demon could stand against their sheer animal ferocity buzzing plague drones were torn from the air even as bloodletters and plague bearers were disemboweled or torn limb from limb ceasing their chance the deaf wolf surged forward with howls of fury the axes thunked into a natural flesh demonic limbs and heads tumbled in sprays of sizzling gore long fangs at last given the space to fight on their own terms sent murderous volleys into the collapsing lines of the enemy then the heart of the carnage harold a death wolf fought furiously to avenge his fallen packmates even as he hacked and hewed dodged and blocked the wolf lord's eyes were ever on the newcomers torn and blasted into submission the last of the demonic horde fell with their demise a quiet descended upon the moonlit ruins the wind sighed for lonely between the crumbling structures grit and spent casings crunched underfoot as the deaf wolves recovered their fallen in the sudden calm all eyes turned to the newcomers the huge figures had drawn together into a pack lurking amid the pooling shadows of a ruined bastion though their beastial features were obscured their eyes reflected the moonlight and shone like chips of ice in the gloom no space wolf made any move to approach all held back in deference to their alpha harold deaf wolf swung down from ice tooths broad back and stalked slowly towards the growling newcomers the wolf lord kept his hands well away from his weapons wishing to offer no sign of hostility he kept his back straight and his eyes forward locking his stare with the unblinking gaze of the largest federal warrior slowly pace by pace harold walked from moonlight into shadow until he stood before the massive figures even hunched the creatures looked down upon lord deathwolf their long powerful limbs and broad chests were barely encased in rag tag power armor while their faces were lupine and be still around them hung an acrid reek a mingling of space marine combat stimulants and animal musk deathwolf saw intelligence in their amber eyes and recognized a twisted echo in his own features in those of the beasts before him it was the faded insignia on the warrior's armor that truly made harold's hearts beat faster there unmistakable even beneath a plethora of scratches and dents was a fenrissian symbol not seen for ten thousand years twisted and monstrous though they undoubtedly were the newcomers bore their heraldry of the thirteenth great company the mark of the wolven kind the largest of the beastial warriors loomed over harold for a long moment a rambling growl shuddering deep in the beast's chest before he dropped heavily into one knee the gesture signified warrior nobility and in swift succession his hulking packmates followed his lead harold deathwolf placed one gauntlet upon the shoulder of the creature's leader urging him to stand once more the wolf lord spoke then his words pitched too softly for the warriors of the great company to hear yet none could miss the slurred snarling response of the newcomers pack leader the hollow moan of the wind filled the silence that followed then harold deathwolf turned away and marched back to where ice tooth stood with his hackles raised and metallic fangs beard harold barked out orders as he went jolting his gaping warriors into sudden motion the deaf wolves were done with this world announced the warflord in a tone that brought no argument the demons were banished and the planetary governor was well capable of pacifying his rebellious population on his own this new matter took precedence over anything else these wolven harold decreed must be brought back to the fang without delay if they truly were what they seem to be then their appearance was momentous in the extreme as the space wolves made ready for extraction from naradi's surface none could mistake their lord's grim mood nor could they misinterpret his order for an armed honor guard of grey hunters to accompany the wolverine at all times it was clear to the deaf wolves that this historic moment had brought harold death wolf not joy but deep disquiet mere weeks after the incredible discovery made by the deaf wolves the chapter master logan grimner gathered his wolf lords within the fang they had made all haste in returning to their home world and it was considered a good omen the sea of stars parted calmly before their passage now grimner and his lieutenants took their places around the grand annulus to debate the return of the wolverine a difficult matter lay before the warf lords what did the return of these 13th company brothers mean and what was to be done about it grimnar began by revealing that in the wake of the discovery on naradi's further warp storms had been detected over imperial worlds from atraban to femna the phenomena were scattered but their distinctive empiric signatures stood out like beacons though his speech was limited the wolf pack leader who called himself inver had repeated over and over that more brothers were coming and that they were born upon the wings of the storm ulrich the slayer now spoke up to the wolf priest's obvious frustration inva could articulate little about his past but surely asserted ulrich with eyes a light the appearance of the wolverine was an omen russ's own return must be at hand at this the hall of the great wolf exploded with shouting gunner red moon demanded to see ulrich's proof of this wild claim even as y'all grim blood warned that this omen might in fact be of a darker sort a gill the iron wolf questioned whether they even knew that these creatures were really the wolverine kind if so was there beast your form some terrible perversion of the canis helix or a doom that all the space wolves faced in time eric morchai growled back that it didn't matter so long as they could serve as suitably deadly weapons at the same time bran redmore surged to his feet in a rage demanding to know whether iron wolf fought the same of his famously savage war packs so it went on tempers flaring and insults flying until finally crom dragon gays demanded they consult beyond the fell handed a tense hush fell as ulrich revealed he had already tried to do so but that the ancient would not awaken ragnar blackman spoke up into the silence it did not matter he said whether the wolverine were a gift or a curse the first priority must be to gather them swiftly before anyone else did so should the inquisition or even some of their brother chapters encounter the returned wolverine uncomfortable conclusions would undoubtedly be drawn though this was met by snarled oaths all knew that blackmaim was right that there was no further debate as grimner issued his decree the great companies would voyage to the sites where the warp storms raged they would recover their wolven brothers and would treat them as honored fenrisian warriors unless the truth proved them to be otherwise in return these returned warriors might lead the space wolves to their long lost primark upon the orders of the great wolf i am priest sword fang moved amongst the wolverine with his red new observators grimner had decreed that swordfang must arm and armor the wolverine readying them to fight alongside their brothers cautious at first the iron priest soon became used to the federal warriors presence indeed the more time he spent around the wolverine the more the iron priest found himself filled with a restless energy that he directed into his works the first step was to determine what of the wolverines archaic war gear could be salvaged the battle plate worn by the beastial warriors was little more than scrap all the same they seemed reluctant to part with the familiar apparel two servitors were dismembered by angry claw swipes before the wolverine were finally parted from their battered armor it was replaced by power armor forged by swordfang's own hand its dimensions enlarged and systems adapted to accommodate the woven's hulking frames once armored the woven took quickly to their new gear the enhanced power output lending them speed and strength in excess of anything they had known before the punch daggers wielded by inver and his packmates were clearly effective weapons but it did not take an iron priest's practiced eye to see that with their massive muscular frames the wolverine could bear larger and more potent weaponry with ease after overriding the objections of harold def wolf centuries the iron priest began weapons trials with a will to his surprise swordfang found the wolverine initially reticent the huge warriors handled chainsaws and axes clumsily the weapons dwarfed in their huge fists the federal warriors abandoned such weapons when goaded to battle by the practice servitors swordfang provided his opposition preferring to tear a cyborg's limb from limb undaunted the iron priest increased the size and heft of the weapons while avoiding anything overly complex finally he met with gratifying success when several of the wolverine took to the use of thunder hammers and storm shields with their massive strength the wolverine were able to wield these weapons with breathtaking speed smashing apart one combat servitor after another the fangs ancient halls are decorated with relic weapons that date back through the millennia many have hung in situ for so long that the fenrisians saw them as nothing but martial decoration it was one of these weapons that a woven warrior took up on the ninth day of the trials his claws wrapping around the heft of a great frost axe with the hesitancy of dim memory swordfang watched as the wolverine hefted a weapon long thought purely ceremonial the iron priest's eyes widened as the woven suddenly roared and bisected a marble statue with a single thunderous swing once the alarmed grey hunters had been talked down from riddling the axe wielder with bolt shells swordfang was able to fully consider this revelation if one relic weapon had been made for wolven hands perhaps there were more had such warriors existed in the chapters past or had their eventual existence been predicted the search that followed produced further frost weapons of prodigious size as well as an impulse triggered grenade module that integrated seamlessly with the woven's distinctive pattern of neural activity giving orders for the search to continue swordfang hurried to furnish now with his report and the wolven were ready for war the hunt begins a grim and jagged world the planet of svardghul had provided a rich source of precious ores for the imperium worked for centuries by smoke belching rig cities the planet's hide was gnarled and scarred while its thin atmosphere had been rendered barely breathable the damage wrought by the imperium had only been worsened by the demons of the warp churning madness met the deaf wolves as their warships burst from the imperium the localized warp storm acting as the deaf wolves beacon had engulfed svargo and now its energies battered at the femrisian ships void shields crackled and hull plates ground as the warp storm pushed billowing tendrils through into real space servitors chattered madly at their stations spooling nonsense or bursting into flames every ship in the fleet sustained damage as they rode out the furious warp tides vessels and crewmen alike transmuted into ice dust or sloping ectoplasm harold death wolf cursed as he stood on the bridge of the alpha fang listening to the reports as such was the import of the space wolves duty that they weathered the storm regardless the fleet would have to withstand orbit long enough to locate and extract the woven from the world below as the space wolf sensor swept sfartgall it rapidly became clear that rescuing their lost brothers if they were even down there would be a challenge a cacophony of terrified screams and helpless pleading clogged every box frequency except for those that resounded to booming inhuman chants or spine chilling demonic whispers harold death wolf surmised with a heavy heart that this world was a lost cause and its people beyond rescue the remote augury's confirmed that every last one of svetgahl's huge ambulatory rigged cities was overrun by unnatural horrors many rigs were already blazing channel houses and more than one of the piston-legged mining settlements had become possessed biomechanical predators rampaging across svargoul's desolate surface to prey upon their still inanimate fellows harold reasoned that there was only one way to find the proverbial icicle in the snow drift his great company were trackers and hunters without compare but could not use their skills trammelled on their ships the only way to find the wolven was for the deaf wolves to deploy to svard ghoul's surface scouring the world's habitable zones for their quarry it would take time but if anyone had sharp enough senses for this hunt it was the death wolves hunting parties of wolf scouts and grey hunters scattered to remote regions of the globe hoping to pick up the trail of the wolverine following a prickle of intuition harold had his strikeforce put down at the last known site of the planetary capital rig delta the space wolves were awed by the destruction that met their eyes upon landing the towering reek city had strode across the planet's rocky surface upon eight immense piston driven legs it was these limbs that had carried rig delta offer high precipice to be smashed apart upon the planes below wreckage and mangled corpses stretched as far as the eye could see curdled demonic eye core dripping and pooling among the remains of the city's slaughtered populars even over the stench of blood the wolverine detected an unmistakable scent with halting words pact leader ing ver reported to lord death wolf that he and his brothers smelled wolf and kind to the south mingled with the dried brimstone stink of demons the source of the wind-borne scent was many miles distant but the fact that harold's force had located it at all was nothing short of miraculous they had expected this hunt to last many weeks and hope for a successful conclusion had not been great the death wolves gave praise to russ for this omen before setting out in pursuit but harold remembered the strange intuition that had brought him here and his disquiet grew the space wolves loping strides ate up the miles as they crossed the plains beneath the weird whirling aurora of the warp storm moaning faces and hellish sigils formed and dispersed across the upper atmosphere but the space wolves ignored them their wolf scouts ranged ahead the woven kin to their flanks while the storm wolf gunship room claw followed behind the death wolf blood claws forming a flying reserve within its capacious hold cresting a rocky ridge harold looked down upon a scene of madness the shatter fields had once been a rich mining site but years of excavation that left the whole area at a broken expanse of spoil mounds jagged ravines and dry cracked planes down amid this desolation the deaf wolves keen eyesight picked out the distant hulking figures they had come to find the wolverine were already locked in battle with a great mass of demonic foes the beastial warriors were vastly outnumbered and had retreated into an area of sharp rocks where the enemy were forced to come at them piecemeal as flaming chariots swept overhead trailing warp flame and demonettes stabbed at the woven it could not be long before the 13th company brothers were overwhelmed harold def wolfe hesitated for a long moment to top the ridge before at last raising his frost axe and signaling the attack there were no howled war cries as strike force white stalker began to lope into a run then a charge the horde of demons before them was completely fixated on the wolverine and had not yet realized that the death wolves were upon them harold and his warriors would make the warps spawn pay for their lack of caution strike force white stalker plowed into the enemy's rear ranks with the sudden furosity of a wolf pack at the kill pink horrors were shredded by baltiva the rubbery blue simulacra that burst from their corpses cut down in turn trailing slaaneshi fiends were chopped to awful by roaring chain swords while the demonettes that accompanied them fell to searing plasmaphy at the heart of the shatterfields the wolverine caught scent of their saviors and raised a mighty howl fighting all the harder with claw fang and punch blade their kin amongst the death wolves ranks returned the baying core hacking and bludgeoning a path into the demon's ranks in their desperation to rescue their brothers taken holy by surprise the demons had seen their numbers cut in half such entities knew nothing of fear or panic they're instead responding with spiteful rage a burning sky host wheeled above the battle the zenshin demons plunging down upon their foes with lethal intent unnatural chariots whipped over the death wolves lines their passengers hurling comets of etheric fire that blasted grey hunters to ash or hurled them smoldering and mutating through the air screamers swept through the space wolves ranks with unnatural grace lopping off heads and slamming bones spikes through breastplates in response harold ordered roonclaw into the fight the storm wolf gunship swept low its embarkation ramp winding down and allowing the blood claws of the death howls to spill forth into the fight the young warriors gave voice to a mighty war cry as they added their strength to the deaf wolf advance harold derwolf led his wolfgard deeper into the shatter fields with the baying wolfkin close on their heels the wolverine was still fighting for their lives and though the enemy ranks were filling fast they could not hold out alone heavy paws pounded the rocky ground and massive fangs glinted in the boreal light as the thunder wolves charged headlong through the foe the sheer bulk of the thunder walls was enough to smash lesser demons out of the way demonets and horrors vanishing beneath the beast's claws are being torn apart by the femorisian wolves that looked in their work boundings ancient flamers spat forth mutagenic fires that engulf the brave wolf guard vygar helmfang the storied warrior bellowed in agony as his flesh and armor ran like wax bone tentacles bursting through the stringy mass to impale his steed howling their wrath the remaining wolf guard and their lord smashed into the flamers they chopped the fungal monsters apart with vengeful savagery before pushing on once more harold and his packmates were nearing the heart of the battle a spear tip driven into the heart of the prey seeing the thunder wolves approaching the zenshin herald that commanded the demons had loosed his most potent weapons clanking and hissing a host of soul grinders now surrounded the wolven pack the demon engines roared as they swung huge iron claws and crackling blades at the 13th company brothers moving with incredible speed the wolf invaded each blow showers of shattered stone exploded from the ground as piston-powered claws crashed down in return the federal warriors slashed and battered at their attackers denting armoured limbs and ripping free great chunks of demon flesh even as the riders of morkai neared the fight one of the soul grinders plunged its blade for the chest of a luckless woven before ripping it out sideways in a jetting explosion of gore the remaining woven went berserk their pack leader launching himself high to slam into the torso of the soul grinder before hammering his punch daggers repeatedly through its face and as the demon engine reeled the thunder wolves crashed into the fight the wolf guards swinging their thunder hammers to smash the soul grinder's legs out from under it the monstrous machine toppled the woven pack riding it to the ground before ripping its head clean off its shoulders he rose holding his grisly trophy high and howling in federal triumph harold and his wolf guard fought all the harder in response to that primal sound fenrissian wolf packs leapt and bounded nimbly between the soul grinders stamping legs while the space wolves hacked and hewed sparks showered as frost blades and thunder hammers smashed demonic iron and brass a wolf guard was blown from his saddle by the point-blank fire of a harvester cannon while another was crushed by a stamping metal leg a point blank stream of acidic bile dissolved a whole pack of fenris in wolves in a single horrific blast another soul grinder was brought down and smashed to scrap but the third swung one mighty fist and snatched harold deathwolf from his saddle pistons cracked and servos groaned as the claw began to contract and the wolf lord snarled in agony as his armor and bones began to fracture and crack out of nowhere one of the woven lunged in to grab the claws pincers roaring with the strain the hulking warrior pulled as hard as he could until painfully the iron talons creaked open pistons buckled an eye core spurted from burst cables as the claw gave way harold sliding free to crash to the ground the enraged wolverine tore the soul grinders full limb off altogether and spinning on his heel hurled the huge chunk of metal straight into the demon engine's face brimstone blood showered down amid an explosion of flesh and shattered bone and the decapitated soul grinder slumped sideways parallel deaf wolf locked up at his beastial savior who grinned back at him through a mouth full of fangs the wolf lord spat blood and shuck his head looking past the woven to where strikeforce white stalker were cutting down the last of the demons vision fogged with pain harold registered that victory had been secured though the fight had been fierce the wolverine was safe and the deaf wolves triumphant the hell below braving the swirling energies and filthy unlight of the warp storm the iron wolves moved into orbit over midigal alpha embarking that armoured gunships eggel iron wolf's warriors followed the wolverine auger trace down through the planet's atmosphere and straight towards the super hive of iricala as his gunships roared down towards irakala's gleaming spires eagle iron wolf brooded on the available information about this strange world below his craft sieved a thick layer of black and grey smoke a churning ocean of smog and ash that blanketed the whole globe for millennia this world had served as an industrial powerhouse processing vast quantities of promethium for the imperium's armies however some centuries ago the chemical spoil strata accumulating beneath the planet's crust had caught a light once started the fires had been impossible to stop and they still burn beneath the surface now belching forth a planet-wide blanket of pollutants from chasms and craters this catastrophe had reduced the surface to a hellish realm of flame pits and smoldering chemical rivers never ones to waste serviceable planets the administrative had simply reclassified medigal alpha as a hive world man's used they reclaimed factorum and refinery materials to build a single immense superhive on the world's last viable landmass this was iraquala and its creation had largely been a success now however the hive faced dangers like non-it had encountered before judging by the pathetically hopeful vox hails from the hive spires the people of iraquala believe the space wolves were here to save them the iron wolves muttered and made gestures to ward off evil as the voices on the vox spoke of a terrible plague swarms of biting insects and an unnatural sickness that had swept up from the underhive with the warp storms coming the light of the sun had gone bad they said turning a jaundiced yellow and causing rust and rot to spread wherever it touched foul omens importance abounded and before the spires had shut their gates to the levels below they had received word of otherworldly beings attacking the populace in mass eggil iron wolf wasted no time iron priest hell hammer reported that the orga trace was emanating from down in the very bowels of irrikala and if the city was overrun by sickness there was little the space wolves could do to help perhaps the inquisition would come to aid these people though the space wolves mistrusted the inquisition's particular brand of help but regretfully the iron wolves and wolverine must be long gone by then ordering his followers to ignore the frantic cries of irikala's damned populace lord iron wolf had his free strike forces descend into the pawl of smoke below updated schematics showed that the hive's metal skin was raptured and ruined at its lowest levels mingling freely with the polluted wasteland without it was here that the iron wolves would gain swift access to the city so towering and vast was iricolor that it took some time for the femirisian craft to descend to its base through their billowing smoke engines labored as ash clogged intakes and turbines while pilots were forced to fly by their instruments as visibility dropped to zero through the viewports of the gunship the space wolves watched in silence as a ruddy hue suffused the billowing clouds becoming more intense as they rambled in towards their final landing points collision hymnals sang out and the pilots wrestled with their controls as towering skeletal ruins loomed up out of the merc several gunships clipped some outflung spire of masonry or fire blackened bridge fortunately adeptus astarte's craft were built to withstand incredible punishment and no serious damage was sustained finally with a series of jarring thumps the iron wolves put down in their landing zones emerging from their gunships the warriors of the iron hunt scowled into the firelit gloom taking in their grim surroundings while the strikeforce's tanks detached from their thunderhawk landers the hive had once sprawled out across this area but constant subsidence and the hungry attentions of the flames had caused the architecture to crumble and collapse chasms yawned amid the tangled bones of ancient walkways flames billowing up from their depths bubbling lakes of tar-like pollutants flickered with weird huge fires belching fumes that would have killed an unaugmented human in moments it was an environment as hostile as any eagle iron wolf had seen yet the auger trace was coming in loud and clear now from just a few kilometers to the west weapons at the ready the iron wolves advanced through the rust rent skin of iricala and into its hellish underhive eagles two flanking forces the cog claws and the steel pelt destroyers were the first vox of enemy contact a gunfire echoed distantly through the murk mingling with the background roar of flames and the shuddering of the ground beneath the iron wolves treads no sooner had these signs of battle reach them than the iron hunt found trouble of their own the first demons shambled from amid the smoke in ones and twos cyclopean eyes red rimmed from the fumes and rancid flesh shriveled by the heat the black wolves cracked off bolter shots at these stumbling targets felling them with precision fire however as the iron wolves advanced the terrain became denser and the packs of demons more numerous the vindicator wrath of morkai smashed through a crumbling wall to find itself surrounded by hissing red skinned bloodletters only by reversing hard and firing point blank to obliterate the infernal creatures did the tank avoid being carved into scrap metal the iron fist rumbled through a shambling mass of plague bearers with its hurricane bolters blazing early to become mired in sucking tar-like oohs the loafsome demons closed in around the tank their weight forcing it further down into the swamp the stormfang gunship iron spear screamed in low it's daring pilots drinking between ruined spas to blitz the plate bearers with heavy boltifier rotten bodies exploded like sacks of awful stuffed with frag grenades and with a mighty roar the iron fist dragged itself clear of the sludge eggil iron wolf's tank smashed through a tumbled scree of ruins and into the skeletal remains of a shrine billowing clouds of demonic flies swirled around the space wolf vehicles and advancing through them came the greatest demonic horde yet encountered by the iron wolves plague bearers and blood letters pressed in upon the iron wolves alongside buzzing plague drones and bounding beasts of nurgle behind them came a rumbling battery of skull cannons the demon engines more moore's drooling fire obscured by the thickest mass of foul insect bodies was something huge a demon prince blighted by the gifts of nergal this hideous fiend was mordecai the rotted the architect of irikala's miseries and a living plague upon the worlds of men beneath his rusted helm the demon prince's visage split into a rotten fanged green and he raised his blade in challenge to the space walls the iron hunt surged forwards into battle nigel and his iron guard charging out at their head and crashing headlong into the demons with blades swinging behind them heavy weapons roared as the long fangs grey hunters and battle tanks opened fire in a thunderous volley as explosions burst amid the demons and ruby beams of light tore through them lord iron wolf an iron priest hell hammer hacked and smashed their way deeper into the enemy ranks the iron priest's auger insisted that they were all but on top of the woven an eagle's omnipresent scowl deepened at the thought he might be fighting to avenge the lost brothers not rescue them lord iron wolf's fears were proved false as several packs of wolverine burst from the shadowed ruins and fell upon the demon's flank rending and tearing the federal warriors ripped a path of destruction through the infernal horde some were dragged down or run through by rusted demonic blades but the impetus of the woven charge was unstoppable letting out a mechanical howl lord iron wolf drove towards the federal warriors hell hammer and the iron guard fighting furiously at his back wolfgard fell blood spraying and armor sparking as the demons tore and hacked at them but finally the space wolves and wolverine came together at the heart of the melee the fenrisem battle line had by now been broken into scattered bands and spread across the ruined shrine to the rear the long fangs of the frost claws blasted away lancing beasts of nurgle like fat boils and swatting plague drones out of the sky eagles two predators and vindicator were fighting hard but all were damaged and on the verge of being overwhelmed mayan hunters laz cannons punched glowing holes through a pair of blood crashes sending them crashing to the ground seconds later there was a monumental roar as the skull cannons opened fire flaming skulls exploding across the predator and leaving it a mangled blazing wreck the black walls had been cut off surrounded by more nurgle beasts they hacked and hewed with their chain swords but the enemy's numbers were against them first one grey hunter was impaled and born into the smoke by a plague drone then several more were smashed flat by frolicking beasts of nurgle writhing in agony as their flesh was eaten away by acidic juices knowing that he had completed his task and realizing his iron wolves would be overwhelmed if they remained amidst the hell eagle bellowed into the vox for extraction barely had he given the order before a shroud of buzzing insects engulfed the wolf lord and the iron guard and the wolverine eagle cursed as bloated flies crawled across his armor and bitten his exposed flesh he swung his wolf claws in energized arks each sweep crisping masses of flies out of the air and ripping through the plague bearers pressing in behind around him his warriors did the same fighting on despite the revolting insects that were about harbingers of something far worse shoving effortlessly through the ranks of lesser demons came mordeca the rotted the demon prince's first swipe ripped a woven's head from its shoulders before smashing one of the iron guard head over heels he second tore through two more of eagle's wolf guard a rusted blade sliding from more deku's palm to eviscerate one warrior and punch through the skull of the other with an articulated howl of rage eagle plunged his wolf claws into the demon prince's chest energized blades ripped through rancid flesh and mardicle roared as pus wet flies spilled from the wound the demon's backhand caught iron wolf in the face breaking his nose and throwing him back into his men with staggering force the wolf lord snarled and spat blood as madoku loomed over him with a slop wet chuckle at that moment the smoke-filled air came alive with roaring light and noise at eagle's bellowed order the iron wolves gunships loosed blitzing fire into the demonic horde a screaming salvo of laz cannon fire tore through mardikle's rotted form blasting the monstrous entity into a buzzing storm of flies heavy baltimore mowed down masses of the enemy driving the rest back from the beleaguered space wolves the demons were forced back into the smoke and flame around the shrine's edge buying precious moments for the surviving iron wolves to scramble aboard their extraction craft the cost had been steep the iron wolves had suffered heavy casualties before their ships had moved in to rescue them however the mission was a success and as the thunderhawks and stormwalls turned their prows skyward and brought away through the smoke the rescued wolverine was safe within their armored holes shadows and secrets when the astropaths of neurades cried out in anguish the space wolves had not been the only ones to heed their call the dark angels too had heard the astropath's message for them it held an altogether different significance and an alarming warning the dark angels are a chapter with many secrets the sons of the lion are compelled to hide many things from the eyes of the wider imperium such was the nature of the cache of irredeemably tainted blades known as the seven shadows such relics could not be concealed upon the rock for fear of the corruption they might spread yet the knights of caliban themselves had once wielded these swords the chapter could not just cast them aside the dark angels had instead buried the seven shadows in warded vaults that only accompany master seal could open deep below the polar ruins of backwater nuridis over time the dark angels agents succeeded into local folklore the notion that those ruins were cursed this coupled with an annually rotated guard detail of five scouts had been enough to keep hidden those despised treasures however the moment the astropathic choir upon the rock detected neuradesi's distress call it was clear that action must be taken a demonic incursion would draw the eye of the inquisition the risk could not be run that the cash might be found responding swiftly company master arafil and the lions blade strike force made haste to nerdies but had arrived too late to save arahad's squad the dark angels did not leave empty-handed however the tainted blades had been recovered without incident and were now locked in adamantine caskets ready to be born away to some other dark corner of the galaxy the company master had also recovered a survivor who was immediately transferred to the apothecarian recovered from amongst the polar ruins the young scouts had been identified as brother dolotus a trio of deep rents ran across his chest made by long claws that had raked clean through his armor to the flesh beneath as yet the scout had not surfaced from his healing coma if the wounded survivor could tell the dark angels little the servo skulls recovered by our phil and his brothers were more forthcoming after being repaired as best he could by one of the rock's skilled tech marines the macabre device was presented before a closed council of the archangel's greatest leaders seated around a huge stone table in an arched and shadowy chamber chapter master azrael and his closest brothers watched stoney faced as the survey of skulls played the patchy picked feed that remained upon its memory coil there was but a few moments of footage the masters of the inner circle watched it again and again they committed its every detail to memory and analyzed it for the slightest nuance or fragment of information that might otherwise be missed the pig feed was silent hazed with grainy static it showed sergeant arahat and his brothers crouched within the neurodean bunker where their bodies had been found as the picked feed flickered it showed the scouts rising to blast away through the bunker's vision slits before ducking back into cover strange flickering lights could be seen outside the structure the picked fuzzed and warped each time those fires blazed ezekiel grand master of librarians explained that this distortion was almost certainly empiric in nature a sure sign of demonic activity at the scout's location it was then that the picked feed took a disturbing turn the image lurched as though the skull had been spun suddenly upon its impalers and then tumbled as something knocked it savagely from the air as the servo skull rolled to a stop its cracked lens continued to record the legs of the dark angel scouts were still visible braced in firing positions the flare of bulk gunfire lit the image before a large fast-moving shadow raced across the shot blood flew spattering across the bunker walls and a scout's severed head thumped into view before bouncing away again that massive figure flickered across the image and it was at this moment that the inner circle returned over and over again they had to be sure they could not act on assumption after several hours the assembled dark angels were beyond any reasonable doubt but the import of the revelation sat heavily upon them slowed down to a creeping frame rate and digitally scrubbed for clarity and enhanced the figure could just be seen as something huge and be steel bearing some semblance of a space marine's distinctive build closer inspection revealed an insignia upon the figure's shoulder blurred by movement and half hidden by blood spray picked out for one crucial second in the flare from a bulk guns muzzle it was a fenrissian wolf's head displayed upon a scratched and faded field of gun metal gray the gathered masters eyed one another from beneath their heavy cows silent stairs loaded with significance something terrible had occurred upon neurades and it seemed that the wolves of fenris were involved the dark angels must not act without more information their antipathy with the sons of rus was well documented but they would not could not suspect them of such a deed without further proof so decreed ezreal and so began the dark angels hunt for the truth grim revelations in the wake of new radis mysterious warp storms had broken out across the length and breadth of the imperium though strewn sparsely across the vastness of the galaxy the strange phenomena touched every segment mothers besides the space wolves had taken note of their emergence and were even now moving to investigate titan the silent sentinel home of the demon hunting brotherhoods of the grey knights the secret guardians of terror herself from behind the armored walls and towering bastions of their citadel the grey knights kept vigil for the threat of chaos from here too they coordinated their secret war against the ruinous powers and dispatched their warrior brotherhoods to strike down the demon wherever it raised its head the grey knights possessed their own well-honed means to monitor infernal activities across the imperium this was the orgarium a chamber atop the silver pinnacle within which the brothers known as the prognosticators sifted the strands of prophecy from the surfaces of crystalline mirrors the citadel of titan contained other ancient secrets and strange machineries and it was one such device the speculum in furnace that stirred to life precisely as the first of the strange warp storms roared into being around naradis as further storms emerged the device roused to full wakefulness archaic machineries hissed and turned a delicately worked brass spheres world around one another on silvered armatures crackling halos of light leaping between them golden gargoyle's long thought decorative opened their mouths and vomited forth reams of data parchment crowded with dense arcane sigils the vast speculum in furnace shuttered and steamed watched with awe by the indentured data surveillance of the grey knights the warriors of titan were quick to decipher the device's warning then their eyes widened in shock at its import in spooling sigils and upon glowing hollow pictures the engine showed the pattern formed by the strange warp storms it also predicted those that had not yet manifested the prognosticals who were summoned to ascertain the strange engine's holy provenance by every means at their disposal confident that the speculum's warning was no demonic ruse the grey knights wasted no time in acting upon it an unprecedented number of brotherhood set forth from titan mobilizing aboard mighty silver flanked warships and determined to banish the demons that spilled from the new-born storms the templars of titans soon found the currents of the war turned savagely against them raging surges battered the granite ships from the moment they left the immaterium lashing out with malice it could not be a coincidence the strike cruiser glorious light was swallowed by the warps tides after its navigator died screaming the rapid strike vessel sanctified wrath and was overrun in a nightmarish bloodbath when its gellerfields inexplicably failed several other craft were forced from the warp performing emergency translations that left them stranded while repairs were performed and battles were fought to eradicate the foul beings infesting their decks against all adversity as the grey knights pressed on guided by the speculum in furnace and drawing upon their psychic fortitude as several brotherhoods reached their destinations and were soon at war with the demonic foe on hades reach the fourth brotherhood teleported into a hurricane of living flame there to do battle with a trio of rampaging bloodthirsters and their minions for two days and two nights the grey knights battled their monstrous enemies while the ever-shifting fire lake swirled around them eventually brother captain grud and his warriors were victorious banishing the fiends despite heavy losses on them near the mast tanks of the first brotherhood rolled into battle crashing through the structures of the gas giant's mining platforms with their tracks churning demons poured from every direction to oppose them soul grinders ripping into blessed hulls with their iron claws while blood letters and demonets duel with gray nights amid the dark of the void brother captain pilanus personally slew the great unclean one a ball grob lord driving his silvered blade into the abomination's bloated heart nothing survives the wrath of pellenius's warriors not demons not mining platforms nor the plague ravaged and reanimated remains of the planet's worker clans all were rendered equal as ash so it continued the gray knights purging ambergool and even naradis with holy fire yet everywhere they went they found trace energy signatures psychic echoes and the signs of battle others had been to each of these worlds before the grey knights others had battled the demons and for whatever reason had been forced to leave before the fighting was done brother captain stern at last came to my degree alpha arriving mere days after the iron wolves had departed finding irikala hive utterly ridden with demonic plague stern led a teleport strike into the depths of the erecallon underhive he hoped to banish whatever arch demon had wrought this horror though it had left his psychic spore smeared across every surface the demon prince mordeca was long gone what stern found instead was more disturbing still living in the rotting foulness of a week old battlefield half buried beneath the fetish remains of hundreds of fallen demons was a strange beastial corpse the creature's flesh was putrid its form distorted by some kind of mutant gigantism still the insignia on its pitted armor was unmistakable declaring mydegal alpha to be pidaitum extremis stern returned to his ship and ordered his astropaths to determine by whatever means no matter how horrific or costly the current whereabouts of logan grimner brother captain stern would have words with the great wolf and he would have answers the mists of tranquilities are on their lost brother's trail sven fire howlers broke from the imperium directly above the ghostly world of tranquilities uh the warp storm that had led his great company here had all but dispersed but other dangers waited upon the haunted world rumbling back into real space above tranquility the fire howler's fleet came straight to combat readiness reports suggested this was a strange and dangerous world a thin spot in reality where some dark and terrible sentience ruled it was a ghost planet of empty settlements whose inhabitants had vanished amid tran qualities ever-present mists wolf lord sven bloodhowl was taking no chances with such a place as the space wolf ship swept in towards the planet a sizeable craft hove into view through the tatters of the dying warp storm helm serves quickly identified her as a dark angel strike cruiser the silent oath moments later the master vox bondsman reported contact the oaf's captain warned that dark angels forces were currently deployed upon the planet and conducting a sensitive operation the space wolves presence was neither welcome nor required snorting with derision lord bloodhound sent a brief and inventively offensive response he then ordered strike four saga blade to mobilize for battle sven was here to complete his quest he had centered a chance to add to the sagas tattooed upon his skin in his own words he would be damned to the seven hells if he was going to let el johnson's sour-faced charm mumblers beat him to the prize knowing they were hopelessly outgunned the dark angels withdrew to their ship though not before issuing an ominous final warning to turn back at the same time the space wolves detected a brief burst of vox traffic flickering between the silent earth and its forces on the planet below tran qualities was difficult to scry with any degree of accuracy the world's mists throwing off strange half red life signs lord bloodhound thus elected to deploy close to the coordinates of the vox burst the dark angels wouldn't have dropped at random he reasoned if they were closing on the woven then the fire howlers needed to act fast marching towards the embarkation decks lord bloodhound gave the order that only he and the hand-picked packs of strikeforce saga blade would deploy this would be a drop ship-borne mission no drop pods nothing slower than a jump pack on the ground speed was of the essence and sven wanted his force ready and able to be extracted once their brothers had been recovered minutes later a pair of fenrissian thunder hawks dropped through the mists towards the planet's surface they put down upon damp greenswood the mist swirling away in their downdraft to reveal gnarled trees in a lake with a surface like black glass as the space wolves stormed down their assault ramps and the thunder hawks roared back into the skies the fog rolled in soon visibility was down to a matter of yards while deploying unnatural vapors muffled all specs and even the acute senses of the sons of ras svens normally ebullian sky claws were quiet and vigilant they perceived something unnatural about this place a nebulous feeling of being watched and hunted that would have produced any but a space marine to terrorized paralysis in the space walls it only heightens their combat instincts sky claws swift claws land speeders and sven's jump packing wolfgard the blood guard made every effort to stay together amid the fog they pressed on with all speed following their all specs is through stands of shadow drowned trees over rocky hills and through abandoned ghost towns always the mist drifted around them full of half glimpsed movements and that oppressive sense of being watched all was still until the sounds of gunfire and howling burst through the tattered clouds up ahead sven bloodhound fired his jump back rocketing through the mist towards the sounds battle around him the air was filled with the half-scene shapes of his warriors bounding high upon trails of flame the wolf lord braced as tree tops rushed up to meet him and he crashed down for the canopy into the gloom beneath sven's boots slammed down upon muddy loam a split second before a hissing demon lunged between the trees instinctively the wolf lord brought up his revving chainsaw to parry hewing the demonet's claw from its arm in a spray of i-corps the thing shrilled with agonized bliss but only for a second before sven's axe struck off its head another shape loomed but lord bloodhound pulled his blow at the last moment splitting a tree in half rather than the dark angel whose bike skidded to a stop before him you were told to leave wolf boomed the dark angel through his vox grill you should have done so sven bloodhel laughed in the warrior's face his jump back roaring as it hurled him back into the sky again make me he bellowed hurtling away over the treetops the distant howls reached out to the space walls on some instinctive level the fire howlers knew that it was the wolverine who called and they raised a howl of their own as they surged forward as one amid the dense fog the space wolves advance quickly fragmented as they pressed forwards through rocky valleys and straggling woodland the fire howlers now faced constant demonic attack slobbering beasts of nurgle burst from the trees to crush and flail demons of zench led the mists with iridescent flame their weird cackles of glee echoing from everywhere at once the space walls hacked and slew with furious strength tearing apart each impediment to their progress dark angels too began to appear from the mists squadrons of raven-winged bikers hurtled across the space wolves line of advance the dark angels were locked in a running battle with roving demon packs but their fire whistled perilously close to the fenrison warriors sky claws cursed as a raven winged dark shroud whispered low overhead veiling them in disorientating shadow the fire howlers pressed ahead the ground sloping slowly downhill beneath their churning tires and pounding boots sven led the charge bounding down the slope in long leaps and hacking apart demons wherever he landed the wolf lord's next leap brought him down amongst a rocky outcropping within sight of his wolf guard as he touched down a pair of land speeders streaked overhead just shadows in the murk it was impossible to see whose craft they were the flames spewing demon chariots that hurried them were visible enough though one of the space marine craft tumbled from the sky flipping into the mist to explode with a dull thud some way distant sven bloodhole could only snarl gesturing to his wolf guard to follow as he leapt on far out on the space wolves right flank the swift claw bikers known as blood howl's riders hurtled down a high-sided ravine with insane bravado fighting a running battle with a grand cavalcade of slanesh the space wolves weaved between the spinning blades of the slaaneshi chariots deftly lobbing crack grenades into their workings a series of explosions echoed along the defile as the chariots came apart in showers of glinting shrapnel cutting scores of demonic seekers to ribbons into the mayhem slammed raven-winged black knights leaping their bikes down from the lip of the ravine and barging into their swift claw rivals no blades were drawn nor shots fired but within moments the space walls were skidding and rolling to a halt bruised and cursing the dark angels roared on shredding the last of the seekers with gunfire as they went the cry of the woven rose again and sven bloodhou fought all the harder as he realized how close they were seeing the blood guard and the sky claws of the stormbringers fighting close at hand sven decided it was time to go for glory barking out a string of orders the tattooed wolf lord formed his warriors up and led another hurtling leap into the mists as the fire howlers flew a huge black shape shot low overhead the space wolves had a fleeting impression of dark forward-swept wings and flaring ram jets then the aircraft was gone sven and his warriors hurtled across the ground that it turned flat and muddy a giving chase to what must surely have been a dark angel's attack craft as though at some unspoken command the mists suddenly parted sven and his followers saw before them two packs of wolven the feral warriors were rampaging along the shores of another lake savaging a horde of demonets and horrors that scrambled over one another to attack them sven felt the blood surge in his veins and charged with his warriors at his heels before the fire howlers could reach the fight however the dark angels struck the dark shape swept overhead once more now revealed as a raven wing dark talon sven bellowed in outrage as a bulky object plunged from the craft's underbelly slamming down amid the woven but instead of blowing the beastial warriors apart the bomb's destination projected a rippling stasis field that unfolded like the petals of some strange glass flower one moment the woven were raging beasts the next they were still as statues the surviving demons recoiling from the temporal blast vengeance screamed as grand master samuel streaked in across the lake on his jet bike corvettes flying at the head of a squadron of ravenwing land speeders a wake of spray fanned up behind the hurtling skimmers as they swept in for their attack run the dark angels let fly a storm of plasma and armor-piercing shells ripping through the demons on the lakeshore and tearing them apart sven bloodhound skidded to a hull just short of the blast riddled remains of the demons his warriors drawing in around him samayal and his craft shot overhead before looping back around coming in to hover before the assembled space wolves with prowl weapons level looking down his nose at the tattooed blood spattered space wolves samuel demanded that they account for their presence there and hand over their mutants so that the dark angels could deliver them to the inquisition sven bloodhouse spat on the floor in response this was space wolves business he sniled and the dark angels went in his way voice soft but icy cold samael warned that the space wolves risked censure just harboring such heretical travesties they should not make matters worse by making him use force against them space wolves and dark angels rested fingers carefully on triggers and glanced at their leaders sven bloodhoun stared insolently down the barrel of samuel's plasma cannon gripping his axe tight then screaming and jibbering a huge wave of demons swept out of the mists with blades raised and eyes of flame bolts of warfare tore from the mists exploding against the stasis field its energies buckled under the bombardment of illogical energies before collapsing like a popped bubble as a sudden chorus of angry howls rolled over the battle it was clear to all that the wolverine were loose that primal sound drove all rational thought from lord bloodhowl's mind and he hungered to sink his fangs into warm flesh with difficulty he wrestled the urge down the dark angels had formed a battle line to meet the demons pouring along the shore now was the fire howler's chance then upon's fence bellowed orders they rushed to seize the wolverine with no time for subtlety sky claws and wolfgard barged through the fight to where the wolverine were ripping apart their demonic foes two to a woven the space wolves grabbed their huge kin beneath the arms and used their jump packs to leap away into the mists the beasts struggled until they grasped their brother's intent the space wolves raced swiftly uphill as they went sven activated his armors teleport homer and ordered strike force saga blade to converge on his position ahead another hideous swarm of demons hove interview turning sky claws to mutated slop with blasts of wood flame in response the space wolves turned aside powering up a steep scree slope the road of engines signaled the arrival of the swift claws and land speeders the bikers fell into formation with sven and his warriors while the speeders looped back and forth overhead heavy flamers roasting the demon cavalry that sprinted up the hill in pursuit the steep climb ended suddenly on a rocky plateau with a sheer drop the fire howlers did not slow hurtling towards the cliff edge at suicidal speeds behind them the demons howled and shrieked before them the drop grew closer by the second with a sudden roar of powerful engines the fire howlers thunderhawks rose into view coming up the cliff face with assault ramps yearning wide in response the space wolves whooped with exhilaration and launched themselves off into space for a moment they soared through the tattered mists death behind them and below then the fire howlers were slamming through the open hatchways of their gunships a bike skidding to a halt and jump troops running to a crashing stop against the bulkheads within the thunderhawk's hulls with them came the woven born to safety in the arms of their kin sven bloodhouse boots were the last to leave the soil of tranquilities the wolf lord landing amid his packmates even as his craft fired their jets and made for orbit leaving their cousins fighting below battle for the dome as the storm wolf's assault ramp wind down fiery lights spilled into its interior along with several others the craft had braved the flame-racked skies of vicaras in order to land in the shrine city of absalom they bore the champions of fenris into battle and followed the scryings of niall stormcaller who had divined that the wolfen were even now embattled somewhere in this sacred city to maximize their chances of quickly locating their kin the champions had broken into small warrior bands some landed upon the outstretched marble hands that served as landing pads for the city's vast statue halves now this dropped among the tangled buildings of the tomblex or the arcing processionals of the serentum the grimnar's stormwolves had put down at the center of the grand assemblies a broad statue dotted square between towering cathedrals blood letters filled the blood-soaked plaza hacking apart disparate bands of militiamen corpses were heaped everywhere many a flame or writhing with unnatural putrescence meanwhile the immense pig screens that overlook the square previously used for the addresses of the cardinality broadcast a constant screaming bombardment of horrific images and sanity warping noise the once holy place was defiled beyond all hope of redemption with a mighty bellow of rage logan grimner led the charge into the square his chariot storm rider swept into battle and behind it came the great wolves elite the king's guard squads of wolf guard strode into the gore that swilled across the square their storm bolters roaring as they opened fire into the demon packs mighty dreadnoughts pounded forwards lumbering into the fight behind the snarling stomping terror that was murderfang at the head of this assemblage came some of the chapter's greatest heroes niall stormcaller conjuring the wrath of the tempest as ulrich ulrichter slayer charged with a howl of fury the fight was brief and brutal hissing blood letters hacking and stabbing before being blown apart or smashed to the bloody ground soon the only living things in the square were the champions of fenris and a last few absalom militia who stared in awe ignoring the screams from the picked screens grimnar looked to murderfang grimner had risked bringing their beastial dreadnought on this crucial mission for he believed that murderfang would share some kin bond with the beings they sought the wolven dreadnought prowled back and forth a demon gore dripping from his claws as he scented the air then eyes lighting with feral recognition the dreadnought turned and pounded away towards a vast scrimshaw arch on the southern side of the assemblies trusting the senses of their cursed brother to lead them to their woven kin the champions of fenris followed in the skies over absalom a trio of silver craft screamed through clouds of flame the wards on each stormraven's hull hurled back the unnatural fires leaving those inside unharmed as they scoured the dying city for their quarry the grey knights had come to vacaris brother captain stern leading his warriors on the hunt for logan grimner standing in the cockpit of the lead gunship stern watched the elaborate spirit auger set into the crafts instrument panel the device churned with activity reading surges of warp energy from every quarter like islands amid the storm the bright souls of the space wolf stood out across absalom amid hordes of demonic foes stone had eyes only for one rune on the display that of grimnar himself as they approached the great wolf's position stern had his pilots banked down through the teetering spires of the shrine city a soaring between madly towing bell towers and rooftops crowded with gargoyle servitors the grey knights saw the full horror of the valkyran incursion small bands battle sisters fought back to back on teetering arch bridges or spiraled stairways hammering bolt shots into on rushing tides of demons until they were overwhelmed vast clouds of demon flies billowed from the shattered windows of cathedrals their drone drowning out the screams of the damned souls within ill-fated ministorum priests their robes ablaze with mutating fire heard themselves their deaths rather than be seized by the abominations that had defiled their places of sanctuary here and there the champions of fenris were glimpsed on the feedium central greyhunters and long fangs fired upon an advancing forge host of soul grinders while on the plaza of peace the demons of nergal were blasted to sludge and ash by the psychic fury of a weird storm brotherhood gravely assessing the pandemonium below stern knew that vicorus was beyond help this world's damnation could not be stopped only the mission mattered banking hard the free storm ravens hurtled into the man-made canyon of the cathedral processional behind them a host of airborne sentient demons rose from the mayhem their riders held blasts of warp flame that transmuted the rear-most gunship to lead and sent it plunging down to explode upon the processional below turrets swiveled an assault cannon screamed as they span up to speed as the gunships hurtled up the street between looming cathedrams they spat soaring lines of fire at their infernal pursuers burning chariots rained down as wreckage upon the corpse choked street below the remainder of the demons peeled off whipping away in such of easier prey and leaving the grey knights to bear down upon their target it loomed ahead now the towering dome of penitence rising to dominate the skyline screaming in towards its roof with weapons hot the stormravens did not slow led by the bellowing murderfang the champions of fenris charged between the towering golden doors of the dome of penitence and straight into the monstrous horde of demons within from high up in the celestium galleries came a chorus of chilling owls as the wolverine welcomed their kin to the fight murderfang was wreaking havoc the moment the howl of the wolverine echoed down from the golden balconies the dreadnought went berserk every sweep of his claw was sent torn flesh and spraying eye core into the air and the masked demons gave way before him like ice upon a ram ship's prow still the warps born filled the floor space of the dome of penitence in their thousands once this had been a great auditorium meant for gathering and worship shrines to the primarks were raised around the dome circumference while at its center a vast golden effigy of the emperor lifted high a gleaming blade the height of a river titan to touch the ceiling far above that dome span was painted with glorious frescoes of swirling stars and winged cherubim and beneath it hung the great galleries and railed walkways across which the wolverine were now hunting demons the dome swarmed with the terrors of the warp and the corpses of militiamen sororitas and priests filled it in carrion mounds in scanned seconds the demons broke over the champions in an unholy tide grumbling plague bearers and jabbering nurglings lumbering to the attack abandoning the filth sigils they had been smearing upon the dome's flagstone floor they met the king's guard with stabbing blades and gnashing teeth dragging down several of wolf tongues shield brothers and hog offs all slayers bloodletters and blood crashes charged across the channel pit weathering blitzing fire from the fenrisians before launching into the fight svendar iron arm staggered as a juggernaut slammed into him ripping through bonded ceramide and sending a limb great axe and all and crashing to the floor in a shower of sparks seeing the dreadnought's plight now stormcaller sent arcing bolts of lightning into the corn eight ranks demons spasmed as their eyes burst and their unnatural flesh caught fire the rest of the ancients of the fang pressed on the ground shaking with their fury from across the dome came a series of booms as corn eight skull cannons spat forth them a car of ammunition detonations bloomed across the hull of the fire of fenris as the tank surged forwards the damage only seemed to enrage the belligerent vehicle which engulfed a swave of demons in prometheum death the woven bounded into battle heedless of the perilous drop as they left between the platforms of the celestium galleries fungied flamers and leering's ancient horrors were their prey and though one woven after another was sent plummeting towards the ground flame they tore through the demons until iridescent aiko fell like rain amidst the mayhem logan grimnar made for the bloodthirster at the horde's heart when the space walls had first entered the dome the mighty demon lord had been aloft vast rings burying it between the galleries as it chased down the wolverine now ever the champion's arrival had seized the greater demon's attention and down it had swept wings spread wide and blazing with hellfire the vast terror landed before logan grimner bellowing a wordless challenge at the great wharf contemptuously the demon swung its massive axe swatting one of horgoth's all slayers a hundred feet through the air to bounce hard off the statue of the emperor the warrior crashed to the floor vanishing beneath the trampling feasts of the battling armies in response a grimmar left from the running board of his chariot and charged at the blood-soaked corn aid demon other enemies surged to meet the great wolf but were hurled back by the claws of grimner and the hammer swings of arjek rockfest this would be a fight for the sagas logan crimner battling a bellowing bloodthirster of corn to fight such an abomination could well be the death of the great wolf but he would not shy from so great a challenge nor leave his packmates to fight in instead as grimnar charged the bloodthirster sent its barbed lash snaking out to ensnare his legs the great wolf sidestepped the lightning fast blow even in his terminator armor swinging his axe in a whistling arc such a strike would have cleaved apart a dreadnought but it was blocked with a thunderous clang by the bloodthirster's blade the grimnar span away avoiding his foes savage backswing and punish the towering demon's chest was storm bolter fire the blood thirsted snarled as the shots cracked its breastplate before driving criminal back with a series of lightning fast blows that left blood running from a half dozen wounds engulfed in the vast black shadow of the demon's wings logan raised his axe ready for the next onslaught at that very moment a great section of the ceiling exploded inward tumbling down with an almighty crash upon the battle below masonry rained down smashing through the celestium galleries and tearing away the gantries bowling madly the woven leapt from gallery to platform to statue riding the wreckage down to the ground below most of them survived two silver hulled stormravens descended through the shattered dome the gun ship's engines screamed as they shot low over the battle before swooping in to land the bloodthirster spared the craft a furious glare recognizing those who had banished it in ages past wounded but determined grimnar seized his chance with a roar the great wolf swung the axe morkai and lopped off the blood first as whip arm the mortal enemy would have died there and then the blood first had barely flinched grimner and the demon exchanged a furious flurry of blows axe blades clanging like a blacksmith's forge shrugging off a mighty blow the towering bloodthirster raised one cloven hoof and kicked grimnar in the chest cracking ceramide and breaking the black carapace beneath the demon roared in triumph as grimnar's guard collapsed but as its axe arced down to deliver the killing strike it was met by a crackling blade the great wolf glanced to his left eyes narrowing as he saw the silver armored terminators who had cut a path to his side what grimnar's instincts howled the warning and he dove aside as the blood first struck its axe shattered flagstone where the great wolf had stood the blade swept out again felling a trio of paladins with a single swing in response the leader of the grain knight stepped in forcing the bloodthirster back with mighty swings of his sanctified blade lord grimner shouted the swordsman over the din of battle i am stern of the grey knights i demand your immediate surrender ignoring the agony of his injuries grimnar surged back to his feet with a scream of servos barging one of the grey knights aside and hammering his axe straight into the bloodthirster's breastplate i core goated forth and the demon's knees finally buckled your pious butchers aren't welcome here growled grimner wrenching the axe morkai from his foe's chest with a sucking squelch this is our saga grimnar's next swing took the blood first as overarm as the demon's corpse fell sideways the great wolf turned angrily to face stern face spattered with blood dripping axe clutched in one fist i speak with the emperor's voice scrimna and i accuse your chapter of harboring mutants i further believe that your warriors have invested a number of incursion war zones then departed from them at great cost to the imperium grimner scowled with stern volunteering nothing so do you deny these things continued stern i confess great wolf i had heard much of the space walls but i did not believe you to be cowards who ran from wars unfinished grimner growled low in his throat stepping forwards so his cracked breast plate clanged against sterns careful demon hunter you go too far a long moment of tension crackled between the two warriors grimnar turned away first his duty to his space wolves overriding his dislike to the newcomers he nodded with satisfaction as he saw that though their fight had been near as desperate as his own his champions of fenris had done themselves proud the demonic horde within the dome had been annihilated though the cast in lives had been steep the majority of the woven had been recovered alive and now banded together behind the solid wall of kingsguard as the massive figure of ah jacques rockfest loomed at his shoulder grimner shook off his champion's offer of assistance he would not show weakness before the grey knights no matter how severe his injuries and so stood swaying but unaided as he addressed stern you had accusations to make brother captain grey knight frowned at the beastial woven panting and snarling with battle's exertion they were clustered around the armored form of murderfang the huge dreadnought quiet for once as it shared some kind of unspoken communion with the feral warriors these creatures began stern his grey knights moving to stand behind him they are mutants yes they are kin replied grimner his voice cold as a fenrissian winter there is no taint in them it's complicated no lord grimner it is extremely simple replied the grey knight first these things came from the warp and only my brothers and i are fit to judge if these kin of yours are corrupt they must be handed over to us immediately as must any others you have recovered we will see to it that they reach titan safely grimnar watched stern's face carefully for a moment his expression unreadable then the great wolf gave a coughing pain wrecked laugh stan i'm sure you think you're being very reassuring but there's as much chance of you taking the wolverine as of me giving my crown to a blubber seal i'd see our brothers dead before i handed them over to be cut apart and studied the stern nodded slowly taking in the army of space wolves that now surrounded his small band forcing your cooperation at this juncture would prove costly the grey knight shook his head to scattered chuckles from the kingsguard oh we won't lose that many men brother captain after a long moment stern began to speak his words carrying to all the space wolves in the dome as they listen their faces curled into dangerous scowls the grey knights saw much said stern thanks to their powers of precognition and astropathic interception no secret was beyond them so it was that stern's astropaths had caught fragments of an urgent communique meant for grimnar's own the great wolf bristled but before he could speak stern pressed on the grey knight's tone was damning as he announced that while the wolves chased mutants to the far reaches of the imperium the fenris system itself had come under demonic attack a dangerous silence greeted these words and in the distance the sounds of battle rumbled on eventually logan grimnar spoke if this news were true he said than the wolves of fenris would be recalled at once and woe betide those who had loosed such devilry however if this were some ruse by stern to cut the quest for the wolven short then no force in the galaxy would save him from the space walls vengeance man moved stern established a box link with his shipboard astropaths and ordered the fragmented message passed on to grimline's own the communique had been hurled forth in great desperation explains then it had been jumbled and shattered by malevolent interference only the skill of the grain knights astropaths had seen the missive recovered even in part as the seconds passed the space wolves muttered among themselves and cast black looks at the grey knights who stood ramrod straight in their midst finally grimnar listened intently to his vox transponder before turning to face stern the message had been confirmed its etheric signature was definitely that of the fangs astropathic choir while its importance and symbols were dire indeed stiffly the great wolf thanked stern for bringing him this warning and i asked that the matter of the wolf and be set aside until fenris's safety could be assured all spacewalk forces would be recalled to the home system's defense at once stern agreed and then offered his aid grimnar growled an ascent and was turning away when stern's parting words stopped him dead in his tracks the space wolves must beware warned brother captain and for something greater than darker was at work here than had yet been revealed he knew this because the warp storms that the space wolves chased had not appeared at random rather their placement formed a vast sigil one that only appeared in the grey knight's oldest law and that had not been seen for ten millennia from sparta four to atropan from femnir to hades reach the warp storms writ large an ancient symbol of vengeance last used by the sorcerers of prospero the thousand suns and so it was with as much haste as the warp could offer as the forces of the great wolf and the grey knights made a haste for the fenris system by the time the great wolf's fleet reached their rally point in the anviheim system the recalled great companies of several other wolf lords had already arrived with those forces the wolf and amongst them grimner intended to make straight for the fenris system it swiftly became apparent however that matters would not be so simple at the moment lord grimner's ships entered the anviheim system it was clear something was amiss aboard his flagship all father's honour a grimnar listened to a barrage of incoming vox chatter alarming and contradictory reports overlaid one another and the great wolf shared a grim luck with ulrich the slayer clustered near the third moon of medibrax at the warships of harold deathwolf eagle iron wolf and sven bloodhouse great companies waited in luke's formation for the coming of their king in their midst was the ownership cold fang sitting apart from its brothers like a leper amidst a crowd it was from this craft that many of the urgent vox hails came though the wolf lords also clamoured for their great wolf's attention grimner opened vox channels to all three of his lieutenants as well as to battle leader hillvard aboard the cold fang conscious of stern's battle barge sitting in mute judgment of its poor prow grimner ensured the exchange was as heavily encrypted as it could be he then angrily demanded that his brothers take a hold of themselves and explain exactly what was going on the truth was even more alarming than lord grimnar feared since the quest began the cold fang had waited in the anverheim system his role to gather and rearm the rescued woven for their triumphal return to fenris several wolf lords that sent back swift warships with woven packs aboard the pressing on in search of more lost kin even as these first returnees were received aboard the cold fang to begin with everything had gone to plan the iron priest successfully equipping the 13th company brothers with hrafgar swordfang's newly adapted armor and weapons more wolven continued to be ferried back from fire flung war zones and as their numbers grew something strange began to occur on the strike cruiser the wolverine became ever more restive so much so that their alpha pack leaders struggled to control them numerous servitors and even a handful of crew bondsmen had been injured or killed by wolverine lashing out at random at the same time when the grey hunters tasked with watching over the woven became ever more quarrelsome and aggressive tempers flared curses were hurled and bloody fist fights broke out on the decks of the ship by the time the rallying call came and the three wolf lords brought their own recovered woven to join the throng matters were deteriorating rapidly an outright anarchy threatened now snarled the madness had descended upon the cold fang every fenrisian knew that the mark of the wolverine could cease a battle brother in the heat of battle could even transform him in extreme cases on the cold fang it seemed as though the mark's symptoms were manifesting in every warrior aboard several had succumbed altogether their bodies and mines devolving until they were indistinguishable from the thirteenth company for now the ship's frightened huskar crew unaffected by the mutation were still in control but how long voice strained harold deathwolf reminded his brothers that his instincts had warned him of something terrible all along what if this behavior was not restricted to the warriors aboard the coal tank already the other wolf lords were reporting instances of unruly behavior and increased aggression among packs on their own craft fights had broken out between pak blood had been spilled these woven were not a boon harold warned and they were a curse at harold's words logan grimnar's grip tightened on the arm of his command from while we traveled the stormcaller subjected our kin to every test he knows deathwolf grimnar bit out i insisted on it there is no chaos taint here none perhaps not rumbled eggel iron wolf but there is something amiss some sickness perps my optic orga reed biochemical hyperactivity in my warriors their blood stirs grimnar looked all rick again where the wolf priest stood beside his throne the slayer's face was rigid as grave and granite and grimnar knew that his old mentor still believed the wolverine to be the primark's heralds there would be no clear cancel from that quarter grimner shook his head angrily he would not believe that their kin were cursed something was at work here but it must be some outside influence the mischief of a foe to be slain we make for fenris advance grimnar decreed his tone brooking no argument and upon our arrival the wolverine will fight at our side the space wolves will defend our home world and we will do so together architect of woe the fenris system sieved with horror tendrils of madness coiled from the dark of the void the raw energies of the warp tearing at the space wolves domain demons beyond count spilled for from crackling grants to fall upon vassal militia detachments and space wolf defense forces it was a catastrophe of appalling scale as the ships of logan criminal's fleet crashed back out of warp space and into the fenris system after long weeks of violent transit vox and or specs alike came alive with tales of terror one valdramani svelgar frost frosttime and mid guardia every moon and planet but fenris itself the ruinous powers had struck with gleeful fury logan grimnar was not fool enough to believe the timing of this invasion was coincidental but for now there was no time for anything but the desperate fight to save the fenris system from damnation only once that war was won would the culprit be hunted down and made to pay in blood the truths grimnar desired were closer than he knew as the space wolves ships appeared on the outskirts of the fenris system the mastermind of their miseries marked their arrival looming over a blood spattered august screen on time lord vyada skyler of the alpha legion watched intently as the runes denoting the space wolves vessels flickered into being the chaos lord showed no reaction as the fenriseian craft began to power in system and deployed their forces in defense of their beset worlds when he was sure that no further signifier runes were going to appear lord skyler left the auger and strode across the command chamber of morkai's keep he walked to the cracked and blackened armor glass of the chamber's observation window stepping over the decomposing corpses of slain space wolves no effort had been made to clear away the aftermath of the alpha legion's attack on this fortress the dead still lay where they had fallen rotting amid heaps of spent shell casings and scorched craters lord skylee stared out over the defense lines that spread around the base of the fortress down there his legionaries were readying themselves for the onslaught to come bastion emplacements were being coaxed back to life auto loaders clattering as the guns guzzled ammunition chaos space marines herded shivering cultists through the thigh deep snow forcing them into position behind armored barricades the demon engines prowled the snow melting before their furnace heat the alpha legion also had the aid of the dark gods just as warp rift said opened upon the other worlds of the fenris system here a breach it torn open atop the glacier to disgorge the demons of corn and zench skyler knew better than to trust the entity's claims that they were his servants but they would fight for him when the time came and that was enough morkai's keep stood atop a glacial messer that loomed over the frozen wastes of frosttime the alpha legion had banished the fortress's alarm spirits and rendered them inert during their attack but even so there would be no way the space wolves could sneak up on skylee's forces not that the wolves would be inclined towards subtlety upon discovering what had been done to their home system they would be coming for the alpha legion with fangs bad in truth it didn't matter the alpha legion had completed their task the great ritual was done nothing could stop it now the warp rifts blossoming across the fenris system would multiply vomiting forth the unnatural energies of the imperium a tide of demons would drown the space wolves worlds and even as they strove to protect their domain the fenrisians would damn themselves beyond redemption so it had been prophesied so the despoiler had decreed loosing the wolves as the space wolves warships powered in system criminal divided his forces between svelgar frosttime and populous mid guardia while grudgingly requesting the aid of the grey knights and securing valdramani even asking these outsiders for help was not so contentious as his next order the wolfen were divided into murder packs and ferried from the cold fang to augment each great company those wolf lords who protested were shouted down by the furious grimner the space wolves needed every warrior to defend their home the great wolf would not allow the trickery of some unseen foe to deny them the aid of the wolverine at this crucial moment that he asserted was surely what their foes intended the space wolves owed it to their returned brothers not to cast them aside it was a thin straw to grasp at but enough to secure the grudging compliance of his wolf lords swell guard frost times turbulent ocean moon was the first world to feel femrisian retribution it came in the form of sven bloodhole and his fire howlers svalgard was the site of the main fenrisian system defense network known as the claws of the world wolf this string of missile silos dotted the chains of volcanic islands that rose from svelgar's seas and its skyscraping missiles posed a threat to any warship navigating the fenris system the control hub for this network a fortified nexus named the world wolf slayer was located on the largest southern island it was upon this site that the fire howlers descended in force determined to reclaim control of this crucial asset as sven bloodhound charged down the assault ramp of his stormwolf his augmented senses took in the battlefield at a glance having come down on the rocky ridge overlooking the world wolf slayer these warriors were pouring from their drop craft eyes wild and chained swords revving below them the fortified compound sieved with demons the vile beings who spilled from every bunker and strong point in their eagerness to attack the sky-born intruders to one flank of the compound the ocean frothed madly sick luminescence shining in its depths to the other the island's volcano reared towards the sky lord bloodhaul knew that the compound must be retaken with all haste the claws of the world wolf could be vital to reclaiming the feminist system a concerted attack was needed yet the moment the fire howlers battled from their craft they launched themselves down the slope in ragged packs the house of the woven rose over their headlong charge the feral warriors loping amidst their brothers with thunderhammers and great frost axes raised sven's great company howled in answer jetting forwards at their head the wolf lord bathed as loud and as wildly as any an animal rage burning in his eyes as he smashed into the demonic horde space wolves and demons held themselves into the fight with no forward for tactics or restraint it was as though a madness seized the fire howlers their swift claws and sky claws leaving their battle brothers in their wake as they charged wildly down the ridge a beastial savagery surged through their packs and saw them claw and bite at their foes bludgeoning with gun butts and hacking madly with blades lord bloodhound fought in their midst his expression as feral and savage as any of them the demons of the svel guard incursion responded to this reckless attack with glee they spilled from every bunker door and shattered bulkhead raising a wordless war cry for days they had been hunting the last of the leia's garrison or fighting suddenly amongst themselves now here came a foe to corrupt and defeat and the demons would not waste their chance launching themselves skyward from the fortifications of the world wolf slayer the bloodthirster warhack flapped heavily into the air the demon threw back his bestial head and gave vent to a mighty bellow a roar that was matched by the volcano that towered over the battlefield molten brass and screaming skulls rained down upon the scene spat from the mountains more and through the reign of destruction the bloodthirster charged vorhack the annihilator of zahn hit the space wolf vanguard like a battering ram slamming down amongst them the bloodthirster swatted a landspeeder from the air with his axe his second swing split free sky claws in half soaking the ground with their blood bellowing vorhack kicked a wolf guard pack leader in the chest and sent him tumbling away before cutting his axe up under another sky claw's chin and smashing him a hundred feet into the air blood rained down upon vorhark as the bloodthirster plowed on deeper into the fight taking their masters lead the rest of the demonic incursion hurled themselves at their foes while the brass shot demons of corn charged straight up the center verdig russ talibrand and the infernal servants of zench moved to engulf the fenrisian's flanks the fight that followed was savage and desperate for several saga-worthy minutes there those elements of the fire howlers that had charged recklessly ahead were forced to fend for themselves against impossible odds nexus thumped into demon flesh power armor was rent and sanded bike engines roared and the cries of dying sky claws filled the air then finally the rest of the great company reached the edge of the fortifications the demons were so intent on overwhelming the space wolves they didn't realize the danger until the main bulk of the fire howlers crashed into them some of these space wolves had been driven just as blood mad as their fast akin a few even loping into the fight has fully transformed wolven however many grey hunters and long fangs had managed to keep their heads these warriors now advanced into point-blank range and opened fire upon the encircling demonic forces a soul grinder that had just dismembered several swift claws was struck in the side by a vindicator shell and blown to gory scrap heavy bolt of rounds thumped into the sky soaring lines of fire criss-crossing as they punched screamers and burning chariots out of the air the demons were caught in the open and shredded by a roaring or driven back into the compound in disarray that their flanks were collapsing bore hack and his cornea demons were still wreaking havoc in the center sven bloodhound was locked in battle with a hissing corn-aid herald fighting furiously just to hold the demon at bay he could do nothing to intervene as the bloodthirster smashed its way through his battle brothers making corpses of heroes with every swing of its axe then with a mighty chorus of howls the wolverine murder packs struck having circled their prey through the madness of battle they came at the bloodthirster from every angle returned 13th company a newly turned fire howler wolverine fighting as one storm frag auto launchers drummed stitching for hacks monstrous form with explosions and the moment before the wolven sprang the bloodthirster caught one wolverine mid leap his axe swings smashing the warrior back and over the roof of a bunker at the same time a thunderhammer cracked into the bloodthirster's jaw and a frost axe hacked through his right wing all but severing it in a spray of i-corps more blows rang from war hacks armor or stabbed through his iron-hard flesh and the bloodthirster bellowed in fury another swing of the bloodthirsters huge axe hacked two more woven apart before a blow from the weapon's pummel hammered another into the ground hard enough to leave behind the gore-smeared crater howling with incandescent rage a wolven pack leader lunged inside the bloodthirster's garden buried both frost claws into its breastplate in return vorhax smashed the pack leader aside leaving the claws snapped off and protruding from his chest seizing his moment another wolverine swung his thunderhammer with the force of a femorisian avalanche and drove the icy blades straight through vorhak's black heart the bloodthirster's axe hit the ground with a clanged like a tolling bell moments before its owner toppled backwards with black blood jetting from his chest as the cornea demons reeled in disarray sven bladhau seized his chance and struck the head off the herald he was fighting the wolf lord stepped back panting with exertion as he surveyed the battlefield with eyes from which the madness had fled many of his woven was slain and dozens of space wolves besides their bodies lay between great mounds of twitching demonic dead that even now rotted away to nothingness sven's grey hunters and long fangs were purging the last of the foe from the compound driving them back into the sea with their gunfire the world wolf slayer was secure but the cost of victory had been steep indeed the fierce eyes oath bound by his oath to defend the fang wolf lord krom dragon gaze had been forced to look on powerless as madness engulfed fenris's sister worlds another wolf lord might have discarded their earth in favor of action but the fierce eye still remembered his failures on alaric prime he would never trade duty for self-aggrandizement again from the moment the fenris system came under attack the fangs vox galleries and astropathic choir were driven to a frenzy of activity every day brought fresh tales of disaster every day brought demands from croms warriors to take the fight to the foe but lord dragon gaze held his post despite his rage at the destruction being wrought on crom's orders the fang's astropaths hurled messages into the void until their minds bled calling the wolves home after days of waiting everything happened at once even as grimner's war fleet broke war upon the edge of the fenris system an urgent message crackled through krom's vox bjorn the fell handed had woken at last leaving orders for his wolf guard to appraise grimnar of the strategic situation crom rushed down into the depths of the fang stepping from the grav lift into the shadowed catacombs dragon gaze found a group of iron priests and wolf priests already gathered around bjorn sarcophagus the ancient dreadnought stirred at the fierce eyes approach chains rattling around him and vox grill rumbling to life in strained tones the dreadnought revealed the secrets of his slumber so ancient and powerful was beyond spirit that while he slept he had stood vigil from atop the hexagrammatic ramparts of the fang's echo in the warp it was from this vantage point that bjorn had spied demons gathering in the beyond and from here that he had fought them off since before even the first wolverine were returned even now part of his spirit still battled within the imperium but he had broken away to deliver a vital warning bjorn had that very hour felt a mighty demon that scaled the ward wall with blade in hand even with bjorn's boot upon its neck the demon had choked out a mocking love it had crowed that the silver templars were walking into a trap upon the wolf moon and that their deaths would seal the space wolves doom bjorn knew as well as any that demons lie but he had felt the truth of this terrible utterance and so he had risked a partial awakening to bring his warning to whomever could heed it crom must go bjorn urged he must make all haste to valdermani and there he must prevent whatever catastrophe was about to occur the battle of morkai's keep as the fire howlers fell in fury upon spell guard the warships of the death wolves rumbled into orbit over frosttime here the renegade forces of the alpha legion had seized control of morkai's keep putting the fortress's space wolf garrison to the sword there was a cruel insult that could not go unpunished harold the death wolf snarled as the alpha fangs or specs confirmed chaos space marine boxed traffic upon the world below such traitors held a special place of loathing in the wolf lord's heart the enemy signals emanated from morkai's keep hunched atop its glacial purge on frost times equator the death wolves had encountered only one enemy warship in high orbit and the craft had plunged into the warp at their approach better yet sensor augury's confirmed that the keeps defenses were without power although they did read trace empiric emanations from deep within the glacier a current of federal excitement ran through the wolf guard gathered in lord death wolf strategium evidently the traitors had exercised the machine spirits of the keeps defenses when they attacked leaving its fearsome icarus batteries and sentry guns lifeless and inert it seemed as though the renegades had underestimated the speed and severity of the space wolves response the death wolves would punish them for their presumption they would savage the foe while his throat was bared then discover whether these strange warp readings had anything to do with the madness engulfing the fenris system harold's wolfgard roared their ascent the normally task turned hunters boisterous and aggressive as they made for the embarkation decks the death wolf's plan was simple morky's keep was a mighty fortress located within concentric rings of static defenses it possessed excellent fire lines that would allow its garrison to slaughter foes approaching on foot instead harold's warriors would attack from above exploiting the absence of the keeps otherwise lethal flack screen to mount to full aerial assault it would be swift and bloody the truth of that assertion came as the spacewall's attack craft roared down through frosttime's atmosphere as the first drop pods plummeted into range warning hymnals rang out from their alarm speakers seconds later explosions stitched the air as the supposedly inert air defenses of the keep roared to sudden life first one pod then another exploded with horrific force their blazing wreckage shedding burning corpses as they span away into the frozen wastes below throughout the space wolf's assault force messages of alarm flashed back and forth through the sorcerous aid of their zenshin demon allies the alpha legion had masked the energy signatures of the fully operational defenses they had blade their trap and the deaf wolves had dived straight into it like idiots committed to their attack run the waves of fenrisian gunships screaming down behind the drop pods now found themselves plunging into a cauldron of flack and mutagenic warp flame mama glass windscreens cracked and exploded inward as shots marched across them armoured hulls were torn open or melted away the crafts passengers clinging desperately to bulkheads and restraints as they tried to avoid the terrible plummet to their deaths the space wolves craft opened fire and returned but the drop pods below hampered their accuracy explosions blossomed around morkai's keep as missiles and laser blasts stabbed downwards but the damage was nowhere near enough worse was to come as a flight of alpha legion hell drakes burst from concealed caves in the glacier's flanks swooping through the snow and hail with predatory shrieks the demon engines hurtled into the descending craft of rip and tear several of the draconic craft were blasted from the sky by the determined efforts of stormfang gunships but the rest tore through the death walls with horrific effect hades autocannons riddled stormwalls with hulls brass talons eviscerated adamantium hulls sending flaming craft tumbling down to explode amid the keeps defenses the death toll climbed by the second despite the losses though the deaf wolves fought on all around morkai's keep battle raged the deaf wolves fought furiously to drive back their ambushes and with the howls of the wolverine filling them with savage vigor they were beginning to build momentum so potent was the influence of the wolverine that some death wolves had given into it entirely devolving into savage beasts before the horrified eyes of their pack mates the brutality of the tangled point-blank battle was such that neither side noticed a small band of warriors clamber over the northern lip of the glacier the storm wolf carrying the wolf scouts known as fingers cold eyes was clipped by flack early in the battle damaged and belching smoke had overshot the fortress and slammed down on an ice shelf jutting from the glacier's flank none perturbed the veteran scouts on board had simply shouldered their gear and scaled the ice cliff now disaster became good fortune as they prepared to assault the keep from an apparently unreachable and lightly defended quarter led by their pack leader finger the wolf scouts ran through the snow crouched low with their guns held to their chests with every step the looming wall of the keep drew closer from away across the glacier they heard the thunder of guns and the bellowing roars of demon engines a distant explosion shook the ground and sent shock waves shattering through the pool of smoke that drifted over the battlefield but here in this neglected blind spot the wolf scouts advanced unimpaired they scrambled uphill through an ice-cut drainage channel their yellow eyes fixed upon the keep that loomed above them hauling themselves over the lip of the channel the wolf scouts made a last dash across open snow before skidding into cover at the base of the keeps north war the fortress loomed before them fire pouring from its gunning placements and vision slits to shred any space wolves that drew near with swift gestures finger ordered his pack to stand back and stand ready flashing his fangs the veteran warrior detached a melter bomb from his belt slammed it against the fortress wall and hit the arming rune moments later the bomb seared a breach in the wall of morkai's keep and the wolf scouts surged inside the first the alpha legion knew of the infiltration was when a blaze of bulk gunfire blitzed the keeps command chamber two chaos space marines and a handful of cultists fell to their initial salvo the rest dived for cover behind cogitator banks and consoles returning fire at the coal eyes even as the battle raged beyond the armor glass of the observation window the command chamber played host to its own furious gun battle leaning from behind a console finger vaporized the chaos space marine's head with his plasma pistol another alpha legionnaire rattled off a volley of baltifie blasting craters in fingar's cover before being punched off his feet by the shots from a pair of wolf scouts seizing his opening finger vaulted his smouldering cover and dashed to the primary control legton it was from this blinking console that the keeps door locks and external defenses were controlled and the wolf scout knew from his briefings that its destruction would leave more kai's keep wide open fingar had never been one for technology distrusting the iron priests and all their strange secrets in the field of blowing things up however none had ever had cause to question his prowess ignoring the fuselage of auto gunfire that rattled around him fingar liberally fastened the lectern with his remaining crack grenades and melted bombs and before taking a running dive into cover behind the biggest console he could see the explosion that followed was sufficient to blow the chamber's armor glass out in a jagged blizzard and raise a grin on fingers grizzled features for the first time that day horror on midgardia of all the worlds in the fenris system the poisoned greenhouse of midgardia was the most populous it was also the most challenging environment in which to wage war necessitating logan grimner's deployment of not only his personal champions of fenris but also the armored might of the iron wolves midgardia was a world well defended from conventional attack an ancient nova cannon watched the planet's skies while the magma gates a network of towering hive fortresses guarded the main entrance to midgardia's network of subterranean settlements even the planet's environment was a deterrent to attack the surface was a toxic hell of spores created by the vast fungal trees that made up its strange jungles underground the lava-lit caverns in which the mid-guardian people made their cities were connected by winding tunnels and treacherous easily defensible hanging walkways the fair that now assailed midgardia was anything but conventional as the ritual of convergence was completed war portals had yearned wide both above and below mid guardia's surface vomiting out tides of gibbering hellspawn this enemy had no spaceships to shoot down they did not fear to breathe the toxic spores of the surface for they did not breathe at all by tearing their way through the minuscuse of reality they bypassed many of the underground strong points that would have held normal invaders back for weeks by the time the space wolves rushed to mid guardia's defense the world was oh but lost filled with a vengeful fury logan grimner devised an attack plan as aggressive as it was ambitious he divided his forces into two massively oversized strike forces strike force fenris consisting of the bulk of the iron walls along with the armored elements of grimnar's own great company struck from the skies against the demons that besieged the magma gates aided by thunderous orbital bombardments this strike force drove the infernal foe back they rallied the surviving mid-guardian defense force regiments swept the hives shielded ramparts cleared of demons and drove spear of rust formations out from the magma gates until nothing demonic remained standing within 20 miles strike force morkai comprising grimnar his kingsguard all of eagle ironwolf's terminators and both great companies wolven teleported directly into the caverns and tunnels beneath the magma gates this unnatural method of deployment drove the wolverine wild and saw their murder packs rampage furiously through the scattered demons that infested the tunnels beneath the mid-guardian hives icor ran in rivers as the wolf guard joined the battle more than one succumbing to the woven curse in the process though many great sagas were cut tragically short by demonic blades the slaughter was total within hours strike force morkai held the gates to the underworld waiting only for planetary defense regiments to descend into the depths and join him logan grimner ordered the advance his forces and those above would form twinned cordons that would advance outwards from their starting positions and purge all before them with fire and blade the two forces armored tanks and transports on the surface terminators and woven below would keep pace with one another using vox exchange and by tracking the teleport homing beacons mid-guardian forces would move up behind them plugging gaps and holding conquered terrain as needed the demons would be systematically purged from both subterranean and surface war zones with not escaping the fenrisian's wrath on the surface the spore mists were so thick that only sealed armored vehicles could safely advance as it crunched and ground through the bloated purple foliage strike force fenris discovered that the powers of chaos had already wrought horrific changes here the space wolves found the fungus trees growing obscenely bloated like boils about to burst rot spread dark fingers across the trees quivering trunks and a thick mucul sludge wept from them to form nauseating sticky swamps the stench from these pus bogs was so foul that it penetrated even the hulls of the iron wolf's tanks while the muck itself clogged tracks and bogged the vehicles down it was a strike force fenris founded in this foul terrain the demons of nergal struck plague drones buzzed down from on high while beasts and plague bearers rose up from the milk white fetid swamps the slime dripping demons closed in around the space wolves tanks slaves of the foul beings were hammered back into the muck by heavy bolters and last cannons or shattered by iron priests hell frost pistols still more and more demons arose tearing tanks open with their unholy strength worse was to come as the space wolves disembarked to defend their attacks to their horror they found the jungle spores eating through their eye lenses and armor seals and into the flesh beneath even as they battled the groaning demon hordes the warriors of strike force fenris could feel their flesh rotting and sloughing away soon the advance stalled altogether space walls fighting just to hold their ground in the underworld strikeforce morchy was having problems of their own the squads had made good progress at first the demon packs that roamed the underworld were scattered and disorganized more of a murderous rabble than an organized army amid the hot claustrophobic confines of the tunnels that connected each hanging settlement the individual might of the terminators and wolverine counted for much the psychic lightning of grimnar's room priests and the devastating weaponry of these iron priests scoured whole caverns cleared of taint in minutes the further the subterranean forces pushed outward the more thinly spread they became when the surface forces stalled under heavy attack strike force morkai advanced without surface support in doing so they exposed themselves to attack from demons filtering down through tunnels and vents from the surface entire elements of the strike force were soon surrounded caught to the fore by the demons of zench and slaanesh and to the rear by the rotting tally bands of nurgle the space wars fought like heroes from the first sagas heavy flamers roared filling demon choked corridors with cleansing flame woven howled madly as they launched themselves into battle talons and axes ripping unnatural flesh while their storm frag auto launchers thumped out volleys of grenades for all their heroics the space wolf subterranean advance had slowed to a crawl and their casualties were appalling the only exception was the force led by logan grimner and ulrich the slayer whose combined fiori and zeal had seen them push ahead into settlement 529 known locally as deep spark typical of mid-guardian settlements deep spark was a township built upon metal walkways and platforms suspended from the rocky ceiling high above far below lava bubbled and steamed lazily its hungry go lighting the cavern like some scene of hell it was as the space wolves reached the middle of this deserted settlement that warp portals split the air around its edge screaming and jibbering a host of demons surged towards the fenriseans looming at their heart came the architect of this sudden ambush a quartet of towering demon princes an inferno tetrad had eagle ironwolf been present he would have recognized the foul mordecal from the depths of ikala advancing alongside this flyblown horror came jar world slayer of corn zen char of zench known by countless cults as the living labyrinth and malignant needle tongue a live limbed and lurid prince of murder the power of the tetrard radiated through deep spark like a physical force but grimnar refused to be cowed roaring in challenge the great wolf ordered the charge the two forces crashed together with incredible fury corn eight cannons boomed shouting grimnar's forces with blazing bone thunderhammers slammed into demonic flesh blasting hellish horrors apart with loud booms storm bolters thundered demon princes roared and hacked and smashed terminator plate crumpled blood sprayed soon the very platforms in which deep sparks sat was shattering with the violence of the battle ulrich snarled and swung his croziers tearing away a demon's face we could see the monstrous demon princes battling the wolverine that surrounded them the demons had been bloodied but were causing carnage in return ulrich hated them all the more for it these wolven were blessed of rus the bringers of the primark's gifts and heralds of his return to see them laid low by warp filth disgusted ulrich more than he could say he swung his croziers once again swatting a demon s from the back of its freakish steed blasphemous whoops spawn back to the pit with your scum oryx crozier swung again smashing a flame thing aside with killing force suddenly grimnar was before him noble features twisted in an animal snarl or it was pleased to see even grimner touched by the primark's blessings those who said curse the fools rus would never have left his sons a legacy of harm whatever thought came next disintegrated as a massive talon fist connected with the side of ulrich's head the world tumbled and suddenly the slayer was on his back ears ringing and blood in his mouth ulrich watched blaringly as the infernal tetrad waded into the space wolves hurling a woven through a habhut the nergal blessed demon prince vomited a great cloud of flies that filled the air with their mindless buzz morix saw the coronate demon prince ram its blade through the chest of a wolf guard terminator before ripping the sword upwards to bisect the warrior in a shower of blood another of the towering fiends this one bearing the mark of zench upon its unnatural flesh flickered through the fight like a jumping pig real blasting bolts of mutating fire into the space wolves that surrounded it behind this sorceress abomination the slaaneshi demon prince danced and whirled lopping off heads and plucking out eyes with monstrous grace the fiend's dance was suddenly and violently interrupted as the axe of morkai hurtled through the air whipping end over end to bury itself in the demon prince's leering face charging in and ripping his blade free from the staggering monster's skull logan crimner turned in time to block a hammering blow from the cornea demon prince reading the blade style of corn berserker as clear as words on parchment grimnar cut under ark gars titanic swing to spill the fiends molten blood auric shout of encouragement was drowned out as the sentient demon prince threw back its head and screeched a deafening string of impossible words as suddenly as they appeared the demons vanished leaving in their wake a thunderous rumble auric's eyes widened with horror as he watched cracks race through the cavern's walls pummeled and torn by the force of the warp the cavern of deep spark began to shake itself apart auric had just time to see grimner lunge protectively of the prone form of a nearby woven before a thundering storm of rock and stone and crashed down and everything went dark the demons snare brother captain stern ducked warped flame roaring over his head scowling the grey knight reached out and chanted a right of banishment to hurl a slave of fangoid flamers back into the imperium demons of zen slaanesh flowed across the marble floor in a seemingly endless tide stern stood as one of a tight circle of grey knight's battle brothers fighting to hold back wave upon wave of the foe and already the grey knights had hacked blasted and banished what felt like hundreds and still the demons came worse stern knew that this was but a diversion a spending of foot soldiers meant to pin the grey knights in place the greatest danger was from the roiling build-up of psychic energy that shivered the air around them every grey knight could sense it even without the sigh trackers in their armor but to those with the gift it was akin to a rumbling volcano about to erupt fighting on with mechanical efficiency stern mentally reviewed the events that had brought them to this from orwit valdamani the wolf moon had been revealed as a barren ball of crags and blood red sand briefed of atmosphere and lashed by radiation flares from the fenrisian star in these hellish environs the space wolves had established the dome plex of longhau fortified and shielded against the planet's hostile conditions it was from here that an astropathic relay hurled messages from the fang out into the void it had been from here too that the distress call had come it was evident now that a heaven cultist the puppet of the alpha legion impersonating a fenrissian huskar must have sent it such was the cunning and veracity of the message that it had been enough to lure the grey knights in only when the stormravens of stern's force were plunging groundwards did the city's nova cannon awaken blitzing columns of ruby fire into the heavens caught by the sudden ambush fire the grey knight's battle barge was torn in two by the time the ship's gun decks awoke it was far too late that once mighty starship now rained down this fiery wreckage upon valdemani's surface the grey knights had blasted their way into the fortified city only to discover not hapless imperial citizens but seething hordes of demons and shrieking cultists clad in the colors of the alpha legion and then there was the psychic buildup an increasing empiric reaction that was swiftly reaching critical mass stern could sense that when it peaked the subsequent explosion would annihilate the city and the gray nights with it doubtless that was the point what he could not determine was was it all some devious ruse of the ruinous powers to make the space wolves look comparable for the grey knight's deaths or was he witnessing the first act of open betrayal by a great wolf driven mad by the corruption of chaos the winter bite was a nova class frigate a sleek vast warship that had borne crumb dragon gaze and his personal elite the fierce eyes finest from the fangs space docks with commendable haste the canny tactician the winter bites captain brought his craft in through the drifting wreckage of the grey knights battle barge using the shattered remains to screen his ship from the deadly cannons lurking below as the strategic situation became clear crom's worst fears were confirmed the battle barge had been destroyed by a sudden massive salvo of nova cannon fire whatever the rising psychic signature from the surface meant he couldn't imagine it portended anything good there had been no time for crum to speak to the great wolf but he could easily surmise that the grain knights must have come for the woven if stern's men were wiped out in a trap now crom could well imagine how the remaining grey knights might react it seemed the demon's warnings rang true that in itself gave the wolf lord a sudden feeling of disquiet but he quickly cast it aside captain growled crumb urgently keep your calf concealed and ready to storm wolves i need to get down there now blood faster roared stern pointing his blade in warning a second later the vast demon smashed its way into the dome through the southern bulkhead the demon made straight for the brother captain swooping over the heads of the demonic horde to crash down in their ranks bellowing the bloodthirster smashed demonets and horrors aside before sending its blood flail rattling out shoulder to shoulder with his brothers striving to hold back the tides of demons before him stern could not avoid the blow the brazen hammer slammed straight into his chest denting silvered armored and cracking the black carapace beneath it was a testament to stern's incredible fortitude that though he staggered he did not fall still blood dribbled from between his lips and his breath came in wheezing gasps as he levelled his storm bolter and fired back the demon snorted to laugh ignoring the bolt shells impacting against its iron hard skin it whipped its blood flail above its head preparing to lash it outwards once again then stern gritted his teeth for the blow to come it was at that moment that a loud fenrissian shout burst from his vox relay grenade's incoming price without conscious thought stern maglocked his boots to the metal decking and prepared for a blast in the next second the entire west wall of the dome exploded inward missiles and las blasts annihilating the rad proof crystal glass in blooms of searing flame immediately the scream of escaping atmosphere filled the dome though the grey knights were locked in place the demons had no such protection against the vacuum stern watched in amazement as wailing and howling his foes went tumbling away across the atrium sucked out of the gaping rent to plunge hundreds of feet to the red sands below the blood first it was the last to be taken wings beating furiously against the suction of the void yes as it went slamming bloodily against the jagged plastil of the breach before spinning away with a muffled howl of fury stern his helm locked in place against the vacuum watched wordlessly as a tree over space wolves craft hovered into position outside the breach and his saviors leapt from their open ramps into the atrium with weapons drawn as the last of the atmosphere leeched from the atrium dome the space wolves and gray knights wasted no time in making for the north bulkhead beyond which a transit corridor stretched away to the corostorium a swift blow from a power fist persuaded the bulkhead's override panel to activate sending the metal door grinding up into the ceiling the imperial warriors ducked through heads lowered against the atmosphere howling out past them before manually dragging the bulkhead back down as the doors pneumo bolts locked and air pressure equalized krom and stern pulled off their battle helms krom dragon gaze had with him his fierce eyes finest a retinue of favored warriors drawn from all ranks of the drake slayers first amongst this war band of heroes with a fierce eyes wolfgard a proud and ferocious pack of veteran warriors led by the redoubtable berewik winterfang these warriors had fought alongside their fiery tempered lord during the darkest hours of the war against the red wire and neither xenos nor demon gave them paws next came the other hand chosen warriors of croms personal cadre they outnumbered the surviving warriors of stern's force made up of a small and solemn band that only consisted of 10 other warriors left from a force of more than twice that number despite the i-corps that spattered their armor the warriors of strike squad darydus seem to glow with a holy radiance that drove back the creeping shadows of this demon-infested place the battle brothers of terminator squad vervox stood ready for battle their brows drawn thunderously down and their nemesis weapons crackling with energy the two bands of warriors watched each other carefully weapons gripped tight then crom barked a humorous laugh and introduced himself and his men he would accept the grey knights thanks later the wolf lord growled for now they had work to do brother captain stern new dragon gaze was right the energies flowing from the astropathic core austrian i said it right that time were reaching their peak exerting a throbbing pressure within his mind that felt ready to burst he had to make a choice either to trust these newly arrived space wolves or to strike them down as traitors the moment stretched long stern staring at crom as if seeking to divine the thoughts behind the wolf lord's eye finally the grey knight held out one mailed hand in greeting crom gripped it fiercely and both heroes warriors relaxed their grip upon their weapons they had to move stated stern without preamble whatever the demons were doing it was almost done crom nodded and the two warriors led their followers at a run down the long gallery windowed corridor a piercing wine carried on the air rising in volume and setting the space marine's teeth on edge spectral fire flickered along the walls while the doors of the corus stream churned with screaming faces that pressed out from beneath their golden surface the space wolves forked signs to ward off witchcraft stern noting the gestures without comment crom went to shelter charge the writhing portal but stern motioned him back raising one hand and splaying his fingers other brother captain began to chant 13 verses of negation his brothers swiftly joining him their words crashed forth as hammers of holy sound the syllables forming into glowing moats that coalesced into a blazing warb suddenly stern stabbed his fingers forwards the gesture hurling the blast of psychic might down the corridor and blasting the doors apart in a shower of smoking shrapnel krom growled appreciatively at the raw destruction before throwing back his head and loosing a feral howl his warriors joined the wordless war cry before charging headlong into the blinding jade light spilling through the blasted doorway stern and his battle brothers followed the corestream was a spacious iron crystal dome whose tiered cradles gave the astropaths an unobstructed view of the port and filled star field above the energies of chaos had transformed the chamber into a scene ripped straight from some ecclesial vision of hell the astropaths still inclined in place but their bodies had melted like wax becoming screaming lumps of meat tallow fused horrifically with the cradles that held them from the eye sockets of each roaring torrents of jade power poured into a vile sigil that dominated the chamber's metal floor the glyph pulsed with warp energies searing out like a sun on the brink of supernova the imperial warriors had barely a moment to register the glowing glyph the mutilated astroperfs and the gibbering soul ghosts that whirled around the dome's ectoplasm smeared ceiling the next second a furious hail firepower rained down upon them cultists snapped stern of the box in cover behind the cradles petty little men scoffed crumb in return drake slayers put them down a hailing gale of gunfire erupted at the wolf lord's command crum and his battle brothers blitzing the tiered astropathic galleries with fire jets of flame consumed tormented astropaths and screaming cultists alike ripping volleys of bolt shells detonated flesh and sent blood jetting all the way up to the crystal ceiling as the astropaths burned or burst asunder the energies flowing into the hellish sigil stuttered green light strode wildly around the chamber and hairline cracks shivered through the corostrium's crystal dome as over pressure battered its structural integrity commendable vehemence commented stern with approval lord krom keep them busy my warriors and i will finish this brothers the right of nullification waves of wild energy were cascading from the sigil now the metal decking glowing and bubbling all around it the gray nights advanced like men walking into a gale buffeted by malefic energies as they bellowed their ritual chant the sigils light wavered and dimmed in response a booming voice echoed across the chamber recognizing words from the ancient and abhorred scrolls of magnus stern snapped his gaze up to see a cruel faced dark apostle the demagogue emerged from amid the sigil's searing energies biting out the last words of his infernal incantation the next second a pyrokinetic shockwave exploded amidst the grey knights with their energies focused upon nullifying the demonic glyph they had nothing left with which to defend themselves against a sudden attack and were hurled from their feet stern pushed himself upright in time to parry the thunderous overhead swing of the apostles mace the force of the attack staggered him as did the next three crashing blows the apostle battered stern's guard like a madman crashing his weapon down on the grey knight's shoulder hard enough to break bone with a furious roar stern rallied and swung his nemesis sword double-handed swatting the apostles mace from his hands reversing his grip stern drove the points of his weapon deep into his foe's chest and out of his back their puzzle dropped to his knees but even as blood bubbled between his lips the priest forced out an agonized laugh very good you make your carrying god proud but now a real god comes kneel before the majesty of zen the space wolves firepower had all but annihilated cultists and astropaths alike but as stern ripped his blade from the body of the dark apostle the light of the sigil redoubled in strength a screaming soaring note filled the dome and as it swelled a wave of demons burst from the radiant glow at their head came the zenshin demon prince zen char the sorceress abomination blasting free paladins to ash in a heartbeat in his wake came leaping flamers and horrors their walk flame licking out to turn half of redfist's blood claws to screaming glass with bellows of fury crom dragon gaze and his warriors hurled themselves at this new threat chain swords roared as they carved demonic flesh bulb pistols boomed blasting sulfurous gore into the air krom was a dervish of destruction every sweep of his axe cutting down another foe the tide grew by the second more and more empiric creatures surging from amid the sigils glare that light had now become blinding the psychic force that thickened the air like treacle stern hacked at the demons surrounding him amongst them he could see islands of silver and grey his battle brothers fighting furiously to survive it was not enough the imperial warriors could say a thousand demons but they would still be annihilated by the sigils blast brother captain stern knew what he must do ripping free from the claws and tentacles that scrabbled at his armor stern whirled his blade and a wide ark to clear a space dropping his shoulder and blazing away with his storm bolter the grey knight barged through the demons until he stood just feet from the howling pulsing sigil with a whispered prayer to the emperor stern raised his blade high and plunged into the lies across the chamber zen char swatted a grey hunter aside and beat his mighty wings making to leap after stern instead he crashed to the ground as a howling figure slammed into him from behind grinning krom came up shooting shrugging off the pummeling shells zing cha rose with a shriek and drove his massive sword through dragon gaze's shoulder as the demon prince gathered his sorceress might to finish his mortal prey but snarled as an amplified prayer boom from within the sigil's glare every demon in the chorus stream i can't say this word i'm sorry threw back their heads and screamed as one one moment the sigil was bomb and gateway both the next its energies were turned in upon themselves by stern's right a wave of banishing force thundering through the chamber krom watched in awe as the energies of the war were turned against the demons sweeping them wholesale from valdamani a sudden quiet descended as the demons vanished and the light of the sigil gutted and died in its place blade driven into the symbol's heart armour scorched and seared stern rose slowly to his feet wisps of smoke curled from the grey knight as he offered crom a nod of thanks blood willing from his shoulder dragon gaze returned the gesture the trap had been defeated the demons had been driven back there was yet hope warzone fenris the fate of the feminist system balanced upon a knife's edge spell guards orbital defenses were back under the space wolf control but the planet's islands and ocean sieved with demons morkai's keep had been retaken only at great cost and the energies of the ritual enacted there were still tearing open new warp rifts throughout the system not the situation on valdemani little was known said that the grey knight's battle barge had been destroyed while still in orbit news from the mid guardian front was dire the space wolves attack found ringed and all contact lost with the great wolf himself worst of all across the fenrisean war zone the curse of the woven waxed strong even the most veteran warriors strove desperately to restrain the animal rage that threatened to master them while many of their younger packmates had already evolved into ravening beasts the spacewalks had no idea whether they were gripped by a viral phage or soul sickness a genetic legacy or some curse of the unworthy none could escape the fact that their chapter faced a battle not only for its home system but for its very soul it was into this cauldron of mayhem and strife that the dark angel's fleet emerged auger alarms blurred and vox blurts raced back and forth among the great company's fleets multiple contact runes flashing into being on all specs screens imperial ships by the dozen tore from the walk shedding schemes of tendrillus madness as they raised void shields and brought lances and turrets online within the vox galleries of the thang bond serves and wolf-headed servitors lifted off signifier codes as their orca sweeps detected them dark angels ultramarines iron hands a dozen chapters besides knightly houses and astra militara mass transporters a stir pass through the observers as an enormous and distinctive signature appeared amidst this mighty assemblage the rock itself floating citadel of the lion's sons had entered fenrissian space and was even now powering in towards the embattled worlds as the news filtered down to the embattled wolf lords alarm ward with relief in the hearts of each it was a rare fenrissian who would acknowledge the need for help but there could be no denying that reinforcements were sorely needed however the space wolves had striven to keep the matter of the woven from imperial eyes until it could be understood and resolved now with demons infesting their worlds in a whole packs of warriors struggling to fight off the wolven curse even the most obtuse base wolves could see that the wider imperium might judge them harshly as they fought on the space wolves kept one eye on the heavens waiting with trepidation to see whether this crusade fleet came as saviors or executioners they would not have to wait long as they broke into separate spearheads and bore down upon each world of the fenris system the crusade craft made little contact with the space wolves even as the rock itself rumbled steadily closer to fenris their responses remained somber and by wrote the dark angels had come to excise the taint of the demon what they did they did for the good of their brothers no matter the cost soon enough concern turned to outright alarm the corridors of the fang echoed to booming voices in the thrum of titanic generators as shields were raised and firing solutions cogitated these were precautions only the space wolves told each other surely none would doubt that they remain loyal servants of the all father such doubts had become all too possible for the dark angels the deaths of ahad scouts on neurades had been but the first step along a dark path of accumulating evidence and growing alarm next had come samiel's return from tranqualitus the ravenwing grand master maintained a stoney veneer before his subordinates but in closed session with the inner circle he had been deeply troubled samuel had seen the space wolves turn their backs on brother space marines placing their survival of aberrant mutants above samuel's own battle brothers the cost in raven wing lives had been steep but the damage done to the space wolves reputation was more severe still surely argued samuel the sons of rus must have been led astray by some demonic trickery worse news followed when the rock's master of astropath asconditus brought his lord a string of deeply troubling communiques wolf-like mutants had been reported in multiple star systems he revealed spilling from warp rifts with hordes of demons close behind on each occasion the space wolves had arrived shortly afterwards to gather the beasts and carry them away the astropath lamented that no effort had been made by these strike forces to protect imperial citizens in some cases they had even brought those same worthy servants of the emperor to harm the whispers on the warp suggested the grey knights had even become involved hunting down logan grimner for reasons of their own this last terrible hint of warp-spawn connivance was enough to convince supreme grand master azrael and his brothers that they must take direct action a long-standing rivalry existed between the space wolves and the dark angels a sibling's quarrel that had its roots in the time when russ and elle johnson themselves made war in the emperor's name while the inner circle told themselves this had no effect on their decision in truth not one of them could help a certain feeling of vindication at that moment the space wolves always reckless and willful had now charged headlong into the gravest peril now it was up to the dark angels to save their wayward brothers even should they cost proof woefully steep exerting his full authority azrael declared a crusade the space walls would not be allowed to fall into damnation the word of a chapter master bore great weight while the evidence assembled was enough to rouse the fears of all true defenders of the imperium and so it was that by the time the dark angels arrived in the fenris system they sailed at the head of a mighty fleet voxman mandaxes stood solemn and silent swaved in the shadows of a communications pit on the cavernous bridge of the rock around him servitors chattered and rune banks flashed parchments spooled data from the warships that even now entered orbit above the worlds of fenris menials gathered up the scrolls by the armful but mandaxus stood dignified amongst the scramble it was the hooded seneschal's role to wait upon the word of the demigod enthroned high above after all supreme grand master asriel was dealing with a difficult situation it would not do for his orders to be in any way miscommunicated mandaxus stifled the giggle checking that the menials hadn't noticed no they were still bustling about their business stupid dead-eyed cattle but then most humans were just that pompous petty narrow-minded and governed by their fears it was no wonder that one such as he could lead them by the nose the vox and a shall adjusted his robes working a crick out of his neck while being careful not to stretch his flesh unnaturally far so limited he thought irritably still they were easy enough to wear as mandaxus had proven over the past weeks was it brother tragic casualty of woven attack and absentee from the dark angels apothecarion or perhaps master astropath asconditus a twister of missives and voice of cancel then of a giggle threatened to surface and mandaxus clamped down on the feeling he had worked hard to bring things to this point and though he was just another cog in a vast machine mandaxus knew he was a crucial one he had done his masters bidding and had done it well yet some tasks remained before him and they were the most crucial of all sobering the thing wearing mandaxus's flesh listened intently to the words being exchanged high up on the throne deus he didn't need his vox headset to hear azrael and his aides but the pretense was all matters are worse than we thought my lord our librarians report a system-wide reality breach that was the voice of asmody master interrogator chaplain and the wolves the deep solemn voice that replied belong to azrael himself in terrible peril my lord as we feared vox intercept suggests that beast mutants are not merely under the space wolf's protection their own battle brothers uh becoming them there was a long pause before azrael spoke again when he did his voice was the cold of draw and steel in winter we have no choice give the order to open fire pain before redemption pain before redemption mcgreed azmodine passing on his lord's command across the fenris system lance's flared and bombardment cannons lit with silent fire as the crusade fleet rained shots down upon the worlds below lurking in the shadows of his communications pit the changeling pictured the carnage and smiled all right you lot that's the end of part one part two is coming soon for long time viewers apologies this video has been so delayed and i haven't put much content out the last say 10 weeks i've had a lot of personal stuff going on which i won't go into because uh uh yeah yeah i don't know i don't want to it's none of your business but uh yeah i've had a crappy couple of weeks so apologies for the uh dearth of content more is coming now though hopefully i'm back on track kind of i'm getting back into it so expect more content uh to come a bit more regular and part two of this will come soonish i hope you do enjoy it i think it's an important bit of lore uh you know sort of around the fall of cadia and what's happening with the space wolves now and the wolverine and where things stand with the imperium i i feel like maybe this is a bit of the law that's kind of been kind of forgotten and uh i don't know i don't know we'll see you'll see in the second part because it's all a bit weird i think it's just something that just happened and no one's really done anything with it since i don't know maybe they have i don't know i honestly don't know there's just too much stuff recently before you go i'm trying to keep up you know there's just too much stuff anyway speaking of stuff and content please do subscribe to my second channel and also i'm starting a lord of the rings channel i'm going to do lord of the rings content fairly regularly it'll kind of be like the 40k content uh i think it's kind of lore videos maybe like in universe kind of lore videos i'll see how things go i haven't posted a video yet depending on when you're watching this obviously at the moment i've just set up the channel so if you want to follow that and follow my second channel as well because you never know what's going to happen in this world and it's always good to have backup so if you would like to you know if anything ever happened to this channel for whatever reason and you would like to stay in touch with the stuff that i'm doing and whatnot then getting onto my second channel is probably a good idea plus i've also i'm on it basically every sort of alternative platform i've got a presence if you search your border prints on there and i also have a podcast which is reasonably popular um which is audio versions of all of this stuff so if you if you search for a border print anywhere you'll find that anyway thank you to everybody supporting the channel your names have been scrolling buyers have been ranting uh really appreciate particularly over the last couple of weeks honestly you guys have really helped to a massive degree uh your youtube members patreon members and you guys over on um subscribe star and if you would like to support the channel links below to use those free means there's other things you can do as well to support the channel and my work here bloody blah i hate begging sorry and that's basically what i'm doing let's be honest but if you would like to help i'd appreciate it but no obligation but i would really appreciate it and to everybody who does honestly that's bottom of my heart it really you really have helped me especially these last couple of weeks it's it's been a great um aid uh so yeah uh but yeah i'm gonna shoot off please do like the video please subscribe if you're not subscribed let me know in the comments what you think and like i said the next one of this part two where we see what's going on with um the this chaos invasion that's been led by the traitors dark angels against the truly noble and loyal space wall it's just such a weird tale you know it's a weird thing this whole war zone fenris thing so yeah i think you'll enjoy what happens next it's it's uh i don't know there's some just weird moments also this thing with the crom i'm gonna do something with this for those of you this deep lore here this is just a rant randomly deep raw here there's a an ai that exists in 40k that survived from the sort of dawn of human history into space right it's one of the original sort of ai things right survivor from the dark age of technology called crom who exists in an eyepiece that he has fitted to people's heads much like this space wolves guy who's got a red islands and he's called crum i'm just saying that's something interesting going on there i might do a quick video on that uh speculating at some point because i think that's quite a funny thing that i only i only just realized when i was reading this because i know he's in that game the sanctus rich game and i was i've only just realized it now i'm like oh yeah because he's actually called crum exactly the same spelling you know it's weird but anyway um i'm gonna go again please do like the video let me know in the comments what you think subscribe if you haven't subscribed share this around if you know anyone who might enjoy this and uh yeah and if you'd like to support the channel there's various means below and definitely do subscribe to my lord of the rings channel ring posting i'll post the link below it'll be in the comments section and in the description and also my backup channel which is kind of just where i'm doing live streaming of gaming non warhammer stuff at the moment but it might turn into something else in the future but it's if you if you want to keep up with what i'm doing if anything was to ever happen that's these these two are the places to go to and you can find me basically everywhere on the internet where there is a you know any other websites and stuff um yeah and facebook and bloody bloody blah ah i'm gonna go see it's been a while since i've done this so i forgot how to i forgot how to sign off with these things quickly next one coming soon see you later you

Channel: ABORDER PRINCE

Views: 118,001

Keywords: warhammer, warhammer 40k space wolves lore, 40k space wolves lore, space wolves vs inquisition lore, space wolves v dark angels lore, logan grimnar lore, fenris, 40k lore, warhammer lore, space marine lore, wulfen 40k, grey knights warhammer 40k, dark angels lore, grand master azrael, ravenwing 40k, chaos daemons, thousand sons lore, magnus the read, primarch leman russ, warzone fenris books, warhammer audio, warhammer narration, 40k audio, adeptus astartes, wolf priest 40k

Id: i3UvmPI_UbU

Length: 187min 14sec (11234 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021