Chapter Summaries

Robert endured a lavish dinner in a private room while worrying about conditions on Amara and the reports he had read. After vomiting from the steak, he gave it to Assassin and prepared to leave the hotel.

• Robert was told that a representative of House Locke wanted to meet him, and he allowed the man into the private room.
• The representative fussed over Robert, then asked whether Lord Calgar would arrive with a large shipment of supplies; Robert confirmed it.
• Robert forced himself to eat a piece of steak, became sick, and vomited in the restroom.
• Assassin arrived, complained that Robert was dining while he worked, and gladly ate the steak Robert offered him.
• Robert told Assassin to hurry up so they could leave the hotel.

Commissar Gao Brook of the Krieg 117th Armored Grenadier Regiment arrived on Amara Prime and investigated the neighboring Pedetia Death Seekers Legion. Their Players’ strange behavior unsettled him, but they agreed to escort him to their commander.

• Gao Brook received orders to establish defenses and excavate a vast underground complex, while worrying that Krieg’s neighboring allies would be difficult to coordinate with.
• Brook visited the Death Seekers to learn about their troops and found a Player modifying a Taurus All-Terrain Assault Vehicle.
• A Player claimed that painting the vehicle red would make it three times faster, and the Death Seekers suddenly surrounded Brook to take a picture.
• The Death Seekers recognized Brook as a mission target and invited him into the vehicle to escort him to their commander.
• The modified vehicle set off, and Brook thought it seemed unusually fast.

Commissar Booker visited the Death Seekers’ crude airfield and learned that their commander and Tech-Priests were turning Valkyries into lightweight, disposable aircraft. He recognized their willingness to spend soldiers’ lives for victory as a creed shared by Krieg and asked that his regiment join the operation.

• Booker arrived at a makeshift airfield and found a Valkyrie stripped down for modifications.
• The commander and a Tech-Priest proposed removing the aircraft’s cabin and armor and replacing much of its structure with wood to make it fast and cheap to produce.
• The commander explained that Death Seekers would hang from the Valkyrie’s wings and drop into battle, and that many disposable aircraft could overwhelm the Necrons.
• Booker embraced the commander’s plan as familiar to Krieg’s creed and insisted that Krieg be included in the operation.
• The commander warmly welcomed Booker, and the two celebrated their shared understanding and praised the Emperor.

Joker led veteran units of the Pedetia Death Seekers Legion into an abandoned industrial district to scout facilities that could support future underground defenses. A company searching a leaking nuclear power plant found fresh, inhuman footprints and spreading black algae as radiation levels rose.

• Joker ordered the armored force to begin operations, and the Death Seekers dispersed by company to survey the industrial district.
• A company detected elevated radiation near a huge nuclear power plant and split into squads to search it.
• The Company Commander, nicknamed Brother Egg, led a squad deeper into the plant, following the Geiger counter readings toward the leaking reactor.
• The squad found fresh, unusually small footprints in the dust, and the Company Commander alerted the other units to an unknown creature inside.
• The Death Seekers discovered black algae spreading across abandoned metal installations as radiation increased, and they advanced with their weapons ready.

The Death Seekers squad explored an abandoned nuclear power plant and killed a mutated being that the Company Commander believed was descended from humans. Meanwhile, Joker’s forces mapped the industrial district as they prepared for the Necrons, though Joker remained wary of the Chaos forces that had yet to act.

• The Death Seekers squad shot a fast-moving creature in the nuclear power plant and discovered its corpse had a third arm and six eyes.
• The Company Commander concluded that the creature was likely descended from humans who had stayed in the abandoned industrial district and survived by eating black algae.
• The Company Commander said the creature would not have survived the coming Necron attack and led the squad onward, leaving its body behind.
• Joker reviewed reconnaissance reports as the industrial district’s roads, factories, storage tanks, and underground pipelines were mapped.
• [EGO] predicted that the forces would be ready to destroy the Necron pyramid, but Joker worried about the Chaos forces that had not yet moved.

The Death Seekers reinforced an abandoned drainage pipe while tunneling beneath the old industrial district, until they encountered highly corrosive dark-green liquid. After the squad protected its equipment and crossed the dangerous stretch, the Company Commander killed an injured player so he could respawn and continue the mission.

• The Death Seekers widened and reinforced the drainage pipe with a Termite Tunneller, and the Company Commander ordered them to focus on the mission.
• The squad discovered pungent, dark-green liquid dripping from the pipe ceiling, and one player burned his fingertip when he touched a droplet.
• The Company Commander sent a team member through a side passage to investigate and report to headquarters, then ordered the squad to shield its equipment while crossing the corrosive section.
• The Death Seekers crossed the passage and found that the tunneller and Sentinel Walker remained undamaged, though the squad members suffered corrosion.
• When a player reported that the liquid had dissolved his foot, the Company Commander shot him; the player respawned moments later and retrieved his equipment.
• The Company Commander asked whether anyone else had a problem, then ordered the squad to continue the mission.

Marshal Vinal discovered that the Death Seekers had concealed the dangers of engineering in the old industrial district and insisted that Krieg build its own defenses. Joker then ordered the Death Seekers to race Krieg to the dangerous work so their soldiers could take the casualties instead.

• Joker proposed that Krieg transport supplies and armor while the Death Seekers continued building fortifications and underground routes in the old industrial district.
• Marshal Vinal accepted the division of labor but asked about the positions and agreed to let Krieg modify them in its own style.
• After an explosion, Vinal inspected the tunnel and realized the Death Seekers had deliberately used a soldier to detonate a leftover explosive without warning Krieg about the work's risks.
• Vinal told Joker that Krieg would build its own defenses and stormed away with his soldiers.
• EG0 noted that Vinal had seen through their trick, and Joker ordered the Death Seekers to finish the high-casualty engineering jobs before Krieg arrived.

After completing the nuclear power plant mission, Brother Egg learned that the Krieg regiment wanted half of the available missions. He rallied the Death Seekers to race through the dangerous underground work sites and claim the most valuable jobs before Krieg arrived.

• Brother Egg received a delayed message saying Krieg had arrived and demanded half the missions.
• Brother Egg asked his company whether they would surrender half the work, and the players refused.
• Brother Egg ordered the Death Seekers to take every high-merit, high-difficulty mission without stopping.
• Brother Egg's company plunged into unstable mine tunnels and continued working despite cave-ins and toxic gas, reviving after deaths to resume construction.
• Other Death Seekers braved corrosive zones and hazardous gases, using rapid repairs and explosions to clear obstacles and advance mission progress.
• The Death Seekers claimed nearly all the lucrative engineering missions, intending to leave Krieg with supply hauling and already-completed tunnels to widen.

Joker expected the Death Seekers Corps to finish the dangerous construction work before Krieg could arrive, but Marshal Karis Vinal sent a force of one hundred thousand soldiers to compete for those missions. Vinal ordered his troops to begin construction while staying alert for the Death Seekers’ counterattack.

• Joker calculated that the Players’ focus on hazardous construction could cut the work from one hundred days to about twenty and declared that the Death Seekers had already won.
• Ten days later, EG0 told Joker that Krieg had arrived and showed him aerial photographs of its forces moving across Amara.
• Joker realized Vinal had sent one hundred thousand soldiers to compete for the dangerous work and began considering how to slow their progress.
• Vinal learned that the Death Seekers had handed over the mission documents without delay, but he suspected Joker had another move prepared.
• Vinal ordered his troops to begin construction as scheduled and told them to report anything unusual.

The Death Seekers and a Tech-Priest intervened when a Krieg soldier was about to be euthanized after a tunnel collapse, and the Tech-Priest stabilized him with rapid treatment. The Krieg squad continued its mission after the Death Seekers hurried away.

• A tunnel collapse killed several members of Krieg's 143rd Engineering Company and pinned one soldier beneath rubble with mortal injuries.
• A Krieg medic prepared to shoot the dying soldier, but Ghost Face and the Death Seekers arrived and ordered him to hold fire.
• The Tech-Priest treated the pinned soldier with tools, biogel, and a neural stabilizer, bringing him out of immediate danger.
• Ghost Face and the Tech-Priest departed, leaving the Krieg soldiers stunned by the rescue.
• The captain assigned soldier 437126 to care for the wounded man and ordered the squad to continue its mission.

Ghost Face tried to stop the Krieg from killing their wounded by proposing that the Death Seekers join the renovation work and handle dangerous areas. The Krieg captain refused to authorize the plan himself and said he would report it to his superiors.

• After a Krieg soldier was badly wounded, the captain blocked the Death Seekers while the medic killed the soldier.
• Ghost Face argued that the Death Seekers had only been trying to help, but the captain ordered them not to return because they were reducing the squad’s efficiency.
• Ghost Face proposed that the two groups divide the construction work and let the Death Seekers take responsibility for high-risk areas.
• The captain said his superiors had assigned the site to Krieg and that he could not approve the proposal on his own authority.
• The captain decided to report the proposal, and Ghost Face urged him to do so quickly.

Marshal Vinal ordered Krieg medics to rescue wounded Death Seekers, creating a grim exchange of battlefield aid in the Old Industrial District. Meanwhile, Robert gave Ghost Face tacit permission to deal with Amara’s nobles, and Ghost Face left to prepare.

• Marshal Vinal ordered Krieg medics to save wounded Death Seekers with every means available.
• Krieg medics and Adeptus Mechanicus Players began rescuing one another’s injured engineering teams in the Old Industrial District.
• Robert told Ghost Face that Amara’s nobles were an internal threat as reinforcements approached.
• Robert offered Ghost Face no official support but promised not to obstruct him if he acted against the nobles.
• Ghost Face accepted the opportunity and left Robert’s office to carry out the mission.

Ghost Face summoned Amara’s noble families and demanded ninety-five percent of their collected money. When they resisted, he locked the banquet hall and killed every noble present, leaving the story with the Death Seekers’ brutal message delivered and the families’ influence likely to retaliate.

• Ghost Face arrived at the banquet with Rugert Huron, who said he would only observe.
• Ghost Face mocked the nobles’ wealth and demanded that they hand over ninety-five percent of their money.
• A noble tried to leave, and Ghost Face shot him dead; he then killed Kelly when Kelly protested.
• Ghost Face rejected a noble’s offer to surrender the money and shot every remaining noble in the locked hall.
• Hurun asked whether Ghost Face feared retaliation from the powerful families, and Ghost Face replied that people like them might not live to see tomorrow.

The Death Seekers brought Lord Mick Lloyd to his factory and ordered him to hand it over to a Tech-Priest for renovation. When they asked about the workers’ treatment, they summoned Flying Eagle, who had been secretly working among them, leaving Mick and his overseers stunned.

• Barto whipped workers at the factory while worrying about the Astra Militarum’s purge of lords in the Upper Hive.
• Lord Mick entered with Astra Militarum soldiers and a Tech-Priest, and Barto realized Mick appeared to be under their control.
• The Death Seekers’ leader told Mick that the factory would be handed to the Tech-Priest for major renovations.
• Mick claimed that the factory treated its workers well, and the Death Seekers’ leader asked to question one of them.
• The leader called for Flying Eagle, who emerged from the workers, saluted, and rejoined the Death Seekers, shocking Mick and the overseers.

The Death Seekers killed Lord Mick and the factory overseers after Flying Eagle exposed the workers’ brutal conditions. The Tech-Priest chose to focus on educating the factory’s children, while the Death Seeker prioritized gathering accurate information about the Mid-hive.

• Flying Eagle described the factory workers’ starvation, exhausting shifts, injuries, and deaths to the Death Seekers.
• The leader of the Death Seekers shot Lord Mick, and the other Death Seekers killed the overseers.
• The workers continued laboring without reacting, and the Tech-Priest concluded that years of oppression had left them numb.
• The Tech-Priest turned his attention to the workers’ children, believing they could still be shaped through education.
• The Death Seeker said understanding the Mid-hive and producing a truthful data report took priority over education.

Ultramarines Chapter Master Marus Calgar arrived on Amara Prime and accepted Robert’s purge of the planet’s nobles as a sign of loyalty. Robert presented him with precise reports on the city’s defenses but warned that Chaos remained hidden in the uncontrolled Underhive and possibly beyond the hive.

• Marus Calgar arrived on Amara Prime and questioned why the planet’s nobles were absent from the welcome.
• Robert told Calgar that most of the nobles were dead, and Calgar accepted the Death Seekers’ actions as a show of loyalty.
• Robert accompanied Calgar to the crusade offices and gave him a detailed data slate about the hive’s population, factories, and defenses.
• Robert explained that the Death Seekers’ wartime control of the hive was not true administration and that they lacked the expertise to govern long-term.
• Robert warned Calgar that the Death Seekers had little control over the Underhive and had found no clear sign of Chaos’s true stronghold.

Robert and Calgar agreed to purge the Underhive quickly while preparing for the Necron threat, after learning the Twin Stars might collapse within a year. The first purge force entered the Underhive, followed a psychic stench to a mound of corpses, and found that one body could speak.

• Robert told Calgar that the Necrons’ awakening would wipe out life on other planets, then proposed that the Adeptus Astartes, Death Seekers, and Ecclesiarchy Chaplains stabilize the Underhive.
• Robert warned that the Twin Stars’ projected lifespans had fallen from tens of millions of years to less than a year, and Calgar ordered an immediate purge while he coordinated the Adeptus Astartes.
• Flying Eagle led 120 Death Seekers and ten Star Claws Space Marines into the Underhive, where they detected a psychic stench that penetrated their protective gear.
• The purge force passed scenes of violence and hungry onlookers without intervening, then reached a huge mound of rotting corpses.
• Flying Eagle prodded a corpse with his Bolter, and it opened its eyes and asked whether his mother had never taught him not to judge other people’s looks.

Flying Eagle and the Claws of the Stars confronted a talking corpse that identified itself as Uncle Hughes and pointed out nearby Chaos cults. After the corpse gave meat to a boy named Berry, the squad burned it, and it died mocking them without resisting.

• Flying Eagle questioned the talking corpse, which recognized the Death Seekers and asked why they had come.
• The corpse told the squad to wait, and Berry emerged from hiding to collect a piece of meat before fleeing into the Underhive.
• Flying Eagle suspected the corpse was trying to make the squad kill Berry, but the corpse denied it and described several nearby cults.
• The Claws of the Stars squad leader dropped an incendiary grenade onto the corpse pile and set it on fire.
• The corpse mocked the squad as it burned, and Flying Eagle regretted that they had not fought.

The Death Seekers and Claws of the Stars entered a Slaanesh daemon’s territory, where the daemon trapped the Claws of the Stars in a seductive illusion while the Players saw the horrific flesh beneath it. The daemon’s psychic attacks failed against the Players, who realized their lack of souls might protect them, and considered the daemon an easier target than expected.

• Flying Eagle and the others chose to approach the Slaanesh cultists, believing them an easier target than the Tzeentch cultists.
• The Claws of the Stars entered an illusory banquet and realized Slaanesh’s psychic power had trapped them, while the Death Seekers remained outside it.
• The Players saw a vast mass of fused human flesh and watched the Slaanesh daemon rise from it to taunt them.
• The Slaanesh daemon tried to ensnare the Death Seekers with psychic power, but its attacks had no effect.
• The Players speculated that their lack of souls made them immune to the illusion, and one regretted missing the chance to see it.

The Death Seekers fought a Slaanesh daemon in the Underhive, and a Death Seeker’s explosive blast disrupted its illusion and forced it to flee. The Claws of the Stars awakened and banished the daemon, after which both squads agreed to seek help and protection from the Ecclesiarchy church before confronting the Tzeentch sorcerer.

• The Slaanesh daemon attacked the Death Seekers, but their weapons barely harmed its rapidly regenerating body.
• The daemon charged one Death Seeker, who detonated explosives and seriously wounded it.
• The wounded daemon tried to flee, but the awakened Claws of the Stars caught it and banished it with their Chainswords.
• Flying Eagle deduced that the explosion had broken the daemon’s illusion and awakened the Space Marines, and the Death Seekers credited the bomber with an assist.
• Flying Eagle warned the Claws of the Stars about the danger of facing the Tzeentch sorcerer without psychic protection and suggested finding the Ecclesiarchy church.
• The Claws of the Stars agreed to search for the church and seek allies, intelligence, and support.