Chapter Summaries

After learning that psychic powers still worked on Plantem, Supreme Commander Ego ordered the Players to summon Warp daemons to hinder the Tyranids. A squad of Death Seekers struggled to activate a Nurgle summoning circle, but their bizarre attempt to insult Nurgle finally made it glow.

• Reports from resurrected Players revealed that psychic powers still worked on Plantem, and Ego approved restarting the plan to summon Warp daemons.
• A Death Seeker captain and his squad arranged a summoning circle using a magic book they could not understand.
• A corpse they had brought as a sacrifice explained the magic circle and suggested insulting Nurgle to draw a powerful daemon's attention.
• The Death Seekers tried urinating on the circle, but it did not react, and one Player blamed his diabetes debuff for making his urine too sweet.
• A Player suggested twerking at the circle, and the Death Seekers' dance made its center glow green.

The Death Seekers summoned Father of Rain, who agreed to destroy the Tyranids and devastated their ground forces with disease-bearing rain. As his advance threatened to break the Tyranid defenses, the Hive Mind began creating a new unit to counter him.

• The Death Seekers summoned Father of Rain, and the Players feigned grief to persuade him that the Tyranids had ravaged their world.
• Father of Rain sensed the Tyranids’ devouring presence and summoned a Nurgle Beast to carry him and the Death Seekers into battle.
• Father of Rain’s rain revived the scorched land while inflicting countless ailments on the Tyranids and killing many lesser creatures.
• Father of Rain and the Nurgle Beast tore through the Tyranid swarm as the Players cheered.
• The Hive Mind mobilized biomass to create a new unit capable of countering Father of Rain.

Players watched Father of Rain fight a Norn Emissary, but the Black Curtain weakened the daemon. The captain’s attempt to help with a Lego brick made Father of Rain stumble, letting the Norn Emissary kill it before slaughtering the Players.

• Father of Rain began charging a new attack, but its power dissipated as the Black Curtain intensified and a Norn Emissary suddenly struck it.
• The Norn Emissary battled Father of Rain and gradually gained the advantage, while the Players realized the Black Curtain was weakening the daemon.
• The captain decided to help Father of Rain and threw a Lego brick into the battle, hoping the Norn Emissary would step on it.
• Father of Rain stepped on the brick, cried out in pain, and dropped its guard, allowing the Norn Emissary to tear it in half.
• The Norn Emissary turned on the Players and smashed them and their Nurgle Beast into bloody mist.

Ego briefed Huron, Agman, and Cato Sicarius on the Norn Emissary and the Death Seekers’ plan to counter its attacks. The meeting ended with the Space Marines demanding to move elsewhere after learning that their headquarters sat above a strategic nuclear bomb.

• Huron questioned whether the recording of the Norn Emissary was genuine, and Ego confirmed that it showed warriors’ final moments.
• Ego explained that an Anti-protoplasm Bomb could kill the creature, while Agman and Huron admitted they could barely track or survive its attacks.
• Ego said the Tyranid swarm would eventually reach its limit and revealed that the Death Seekers could reinforce the defense with at least three thousand Ogryns.
• Ego deduced that the Norn Emissary would use breakthroughs or decapitation strikes, and proposed detonating a bomb beneath any command headquarters it attacked.
• Ego clarified that the headquarters had no tactical nuclear bomb but did have a strategic nuclear bomb, prompting Huron, Agman, and Sicarius to demand a new place to talk.

Ego assembled three thousand Death Seekers Ogryns to demonstrate their discipline and strength to Rugert Huron, Agman, and Cato Sicarius. Impressed by the Players, the Space Marines agreed to use them in the plan to attack the Norn Emissary.

• Players flocked to the Ogryn-only recruitment post offering a chance to fight alongside Rugert Huron, Severus Agman, and Cato Sicarius.
• Ego lined up three thousand Ogryns on Plantem to greet the arriving Space Marines.
• Huron, Agman, and Sicarius watched in shock as the Ogryns executed commands and stood at attention.
• Cobrent struck Agman in the chest, proving the disciplined recruit was a real Ogryn with formidable strength.
• Sicarius praised the Ogryns' potential, and Huron agreed to proceed with the plan to wound the Norn Emissary with a tactical nuclear bomb before attacking.

Tyranids broke through Plantem’s defensive lines, and a Death Seeker killed three Tyranid Warriors with a flamethrower before a colossal creature crushed him. At the regimental command post, the commander confirmed the Tyranids were heading straight for headquarters and prepared to meet them.

• Two Death Seekers hauled Tyranid and human corpses into a pile behind Plantem’s third defensive line and set it alight.
• Three Tyranid Warriors ambushed the Death Seekers, killing one before the other burned them to death with a Promethium flamethrower.
• A colossal Tyranid appeared and crushed the surviving Death Seeker beneath its foot.
• A staff officer reported that G-7 Outpost and the Twelfth Communications Node had lost contact.
• The regimental commander traced the Tyranids’ advance toward headquarters and ordered them to charge, saying his forces had prepared something for them.

The Norn Emissary broke through the fortress defenses and drove toward the regiment command headquarters while the Death Seekers fought the Tyranid swarm in its corridors. The regiment commander detonated a tactical nuclear warhead beneath the command center with the Norn Emissary at its center.

• The Norn Emissary blasted a breach through the fortress walls and crushed the Leman Russ tanks sent to stop it.
• The Death Seekers' weapons failed to halt the creature, and two soldiers lamented that no Titan or Ultraman was coming to save them.
• The Hive Mind sensed that thousands of humans remained alive because the Death Seekers were resisting fiercely in the underground corridors.
• The Norn Emissary ignored the defenders, smashed through the inner walls, and tore open the ceiling above the command headquarters.
• The regiment commander calmly faced the Norn Emissary as a tactical nuclear warhead beneath the command center detonated.

A tactical nuclear blast badly wounded the Norn Emissary, but the Death Seekers, Ogryns, and Adeptus Astartes counterattacked before the Tyranids could protect it. The Tyranid defenders were overwhelmed, leaving the Norn Emissary exposed.

• The tactical nuclear bomb devastated the fortress and severely damaged the Norn Emissary, which ordered nearby Tyranids to abandon their fights and defend it.
• A Death Seekers Player killed a Tyranid Warrior as it tried to retreat, and the Death Seekers pinned down most of the withdrawing swarm inside the fortress.
• The Ogryns and Adeptus Astartes advanced in coordinated teams, crushing Gaunts, Warriors, a Carnifex, and several Lictors.
• A surviving brain bug immobilized some attackers with psychic power, but the Ogryns overwhelmed its suppression while the Space Marines and Thunderhawks focused their fire on it.
• The brain bug's brain burst under the strain, and the charging forces wiped out the recalled Tyranids.

The Norn Emissary abandoned the battle and fled as the Tyranids launched a final assault, but two Thunderhawk Gunships crashed into it and halted its escape. With the beast disabled, Huron led the Space Marines and Ogryns in a renewed charge, determined to honor the pilots’ sacrifice.

• The Norn Emissary changed its legs and fled, while the Hive Mind ordered some Tyranids to make a suicidal attack and others to retreat with it.
• Rugert Huron warned the assault force, and Cato Sicarius condemned the Norn Emissary for fleeing as the humans pursued it.
• Two Thunderhawk Gunships crashed into the Norn Emissary, wounding it and leaving it dazed and paralyzed.
• Huron recognized the pilots’ sacrifice and rallied the Space Marines and Ogryns to charge the disabled Norn Emissary.

The Norn Emissary returned to fight the Imperial assault force, and Hurun and Cato Sicarius helped destroy it in a deadly close-quarters struggle. The psychic blast left both commanders gravely wounded, and the Space Marines and Death Seekers rushed them toward safety.

• The Norn Emissary destroyed a Thunderhawk Gunship, then charged the Ogryns and Adeptus Astartes after its escape routes were cut off.
• The Ogryns surrounded and pinned the Norn Emissary while a Space Marine's melta gun burned through its carapace.
• Hurun forced his way to the beast and attacked its wound at close range, but the Norn Emissary caught him in its jaws.
• Cato Sicarius leaped onto the Norn Emissary and cut through its brain tissue and spine, triggering a psychic explosion that killed the beast and blasted the surrounding fighters.
• The Death Seekers received merit for the kill, then helped the Space Marines carry the badly wounded Hurun and Sicarius toward the rear on emergency stretchers.

The Death Seekers escorted the badly wounded Sicarius and Hurun while Ego learned that the Tyranids had stopped advancing. A reconnaissance company discovered the Tyranids digging fortified trenches and recovering their dead, then was wiped out by coordinated artillery.

• The Death Seekers gathered around Sicarius and Hurun’s stretchers, while Ego asked Agman whether the two wounded commanders would survive.
• Agman said the Space Marines’ injuries were not life-threatening, then lamented that at least a thousand Ogryn had died while the Space Marines remained nearly unscathed.
• A staff officer brought Ego new intelligence after the Tyranid offensive abruptly stopped across Plantem.
• A Death Seekers reconnaissance company spotted Tyranids digging an orderly trench network and decided to attack.
• The Tyranids took cover in their unfinished trenches and answered with artillery and ranged fire while engineer bugs collected their casualties.
• A synchronized spore-bomb volley wiped out the Death Seekers company, and its Company Commander returned from the respawn point in disbelief.

Ego and Agman allowed the Tyranids to keep digging while the Death Seekers continued small-scale attacks, unaware that the trenches were advancing across the front. A sudden Tyranid assault overran A17 Defense Fortress, and its Company Commander immediately sought permission to counterattack.

• Ego decided to let the Tyranids continue digging, and Agman agreed to wait and see what they were planning.
• The Death Seekers fought frequent small battles with the Tyranids during a month-long standoff.
• A Squad Leader studied a map and realized the Tyranids were pushing their position forward through the trenches.
• Burrowing Pythons and other Tyranids erupted into A17 Defense Fortress, overwhelming the garrison in little more than a minute.
• The Company Commander regrouped with his soldiers and asked the Battalion Commander for artillery support to retake the position.

The Death Seekers retook A17 Fortress Position after a costly fight, only to discover the Tyranids had transformed it into an extension of their trench network. When a Gargoyle sighting prompted the rear artillery to stop firing, Tyranid spore mines destroyed the guns, leaving the forward company exposed to the swarm.

• The Death Seekers advanced through the bombardment’s aftermath and found A17 Fortress Position covered in Tyranid chitin, bone defenses, and toxic purple spores.
• The Company Commander ordered poison gas shells against the spores, and the Death Seekers eventually killed the last Tyranid Warrior after losing several thousand lives.
• The Company Commander discovered that Tyranid trenches connected to the position and called for Promethium, more bombardment, or reinforcements.
• A Player reported seeing a Gargoyle overhead, so the artillery Company Commander ordered the guns to stop firing and prepare to relocate.
• Tyranid spore mines struck the artillery position, destroying every cannon while the forward Death Seekers were drawn into close combat with the swarm.

EGO and Agman launched a joint Space Marine–Ogryn assault into Tyranid territory to uncover the enemy’s objectives. The force advanced successfully but endured repeated Tyranid bombardments, and Agman rejected the Death Seekers’ suggestion to use nuclear shells.

• EGO and Agman concluded that the Tyranids were targeting key positions and decided to send a strike force into enemy-held territory.
• Agman welcomed the plan, having become a firm supporter of the Adeptus Astartes-Ogryn assault doctrine after the battle against the Norn Emissary.
• EGO selected a destination on Plantem, and eleven hundred Space Marines, three thousand Ogryn, and tens of thousands of Death Seekers Players set out under Thunderhawk cover.
• The assault force crushed Tyranid resistance, while the Ogryn formed a shield dome to protect the troops from repeated biological bombardments.
• Agman helped an Ogryn wounded by a bone spike, then told an Ultramarine that he had rejected the Death Seekers’ proposal to fire nuclear shells at the mobile Tyranid artillery.

Agman’s assault force advanced through Tyranid territory and found the scorched battlefield transformed into a vast garden of living, alien plants. Surrounded by the writhing growth, an Ogryn Player wondered whether the Tyranids were turning the planet into Catachan.

• Agman led the assault force deeper into the Tyranid lines, where enemy resistance dwindled and the landscape remained a maze of chitin-lined trenches and purple spore mist.
• The force discovered a black, fleshy flower growing in ground that had been scorched and ravaged, and Agman ordered everyone to continue onward.
• The soldiers found increasingly dense alien vegetation that released spores, watched them with hollow openings, and pulsed with life.
• An Ogryn Player pulled up a blade of grass, but its roots writhed in his hand before burrowing back into the ground.
• Agman halted the force as they found themselves surrounded by a seemingly living garden, and an Ogryn Player asked if the Tyranids were trying to turn the place into Catachan.

Agman’s force withstood the Tyranids’ artillery and relentless charges, while Death Seeker Players fought the swarm with improvised tactics. The battle became a war of attrition, with Agman’s line holding firm against wave after wave.

• Agman challenged the Tyranids to reveal themselves, certain that his force could crush their trap.
• Tyranid projectiles rained down before the swarm charged the Ogryn’s Tower Shield formation, which held against the impact.
• Death Seeker Players lured a Carnifex into close range and blasted it apart with an Autocannon.
• A Player who had been boasting about his decade of experience was killed by an acid attack while celebrating.
• Agman mocked the Tyranids and continued firing as their relentless charges built a ramp of corpses before the defenders’ line.

The human forces fought the Tyranid swarm for a full day, using melee weapons after their ammunition ran low. A Death Seeker killed a Tyranid Warrior bare-handed while livestreaming, then accepted a viewer’s challenge to fight a Lictor for another donation.

• After the human forces ran low on ammunition, the Adeptus Astartes and Ogryns switched to melee combat, while many Death Seekers used knives and other makeshift weapons.
• A Death Seeker livestreamed himself injecting his combat drugs and charging a Tyranid Warrior bare-handed.
• The Tyranid Warrior impaled the Death Seeker, but he clung to it and punched its head apart, killing it at the cost of severe injuries.
• After a viewer named [Pony Bro] donated a [Psyker Missile], the viewer challenged the Death Seeker to kill a Lictor bare-handed for another donation.
• The Death Seeker agreed and began searching the battlefield for a Lictor.

Barian discovered a strange black growth infecting a fallen Star Claws Marine, prompting Agman to order the forces to retreat and burn the corrupted bodies. The Death Seekers refused to withdraw and stayed behind to cover the Space Marines, while Agman mistook their blunt remarks for a noble sacrifice.

• Barian retrieved a Gene-seed from a dead Star Claws Marine and noticed a black, fleshy flower growing from the corpse's head.
• Barian ordered Ogryn Players to lift the fallen Marines' bodies and reported the corruption to Agman.
• Agman ordered the Ogryns' bodies purified with Promethium and the remaining units to retreat in rotation.
• A Death Seeker Commander refused to retreat and said his troops would cover the Space Marines' withdrawal.
• Agman interpreted the commander's rude words as selfless encouragement and wished the Death Seekers luck killing more Tyranids.

Agman confronted Ego over his indifference to the hundred thousand Death Seekers who died covering the assault force’s retreat, then agreed to lead the force to endangered positions. Meanwhile, Plantem’s resistance gave Macragge time to assemble a vast Ultramarines fleet, which prepared to strike the Tyranids.

• Agman reported the assault’s findings to Ego, including a strange growth of flesh and blood discovered on a fallen Space Marine.
• Ego wondered whether the Tyranids were reshaping Plantem’s ecosystem, then said their forces could grind the enemy down indefinitely.
• Agman challenged Ego for ignoring the hundred thousand Death Seekers who had died covering the retreat, and Ego declared that their deaths had served a worthy purpose.
• Ego asked Agman to take the assault force to defensive positions that were close to collapse.
• On Macragge, the Ultramarines and more than a hundred successor Chapters assembled a vast fleet led by the Glory of Macragge.
• Marneus Calgar watched the fleet prepare to depart and prepared to end the war.

Robert's Imperial fleet defeated the Tyranid force in Plantem's orbit, but he realized that many of the enemy ships were deliberately plunging toward the planet. The victory left the true threat unresolved as the Tyranids descended on Plantem.

• Robert questioned why the Tyranid fleet was so small, and Calgar suggested that part of it might be hiding in the system.
• Dylan defended the fleet's strength, while Robert insisted they follow the original cautious plan and send reconnaissance squadrons ahead.
• A reconnaissance squadron discovered Tyranids hiding behind a barren planet, and the enemy ships fled when exposed.
• The Imperial fleet advanced on Plantem and engaged thousands of Tyranid ships emerging from the planet's orbital debris fields.
• The fleet countered the Tyranids' spores and fighter swarms, destroyed a Hive Ship's charging bio-plasma cannon, and routed the enemy at the cost of one destroyer and several damaged frigates.
• Robert noticed that hundreds of crippled Tyranid ships were deliberately entering Plantem's atmosphere, and warned that the real threat might be on the planet's surface.