Chapter Summaries

The Death Seekers and the Claws of the Stars found the priest’s church and recruited the sealed psyker Kalam to help locate a Tzeentch sorcerer. They reached the sorcerer’s gathering, where the Claws of the Stars squad leader hurled Kalam at him, and the resulting psychic blast destroyed the plaza; the Death Seekers finished off the barely living sorcerer.

• The Death Seekers and the Claws of the Stars followed Underhive residents to a church, where the old priest welcomed them and led them to Kalam, a powerful psyker bound beneath the altar.
• The priest explained that Kalam’s uncontrolled psychic power had nearly overwhelmed his seals, and the group took him along after learning he instinctively sensed Tzeentch’s presence.
• Kalam’s recitation of the Imperial Truth guided the group through the Underhive to a plaza where a Tzeentch sorcerer was addressing bewitched residents.
• The Claws of the Stars squad leader seized Kalam and hurled him at the sorcerer, triggering a psychic explosion that destroyed the platform, cult symbols, and gathered residents.
• Flying Eagle stopped the squad leader from approaching the dying sorcerer, and the Death Seekers moved in and killed him.

Calgar inspected the Death Seekers’ underground military complex beneath the Old Industrial District and learned how its design would help their forces survive a Necron attack. He questioned the plan’s repeated use of thirteen, dismissed the representative’s mystical explanation, and left the Death Seeker unconvinced that such beliefs could be avoided forever.

• Calgar toured the vast underground complex and praised the Death Seekers and Krieg Death Korps for their work.
• A Death Seeker representative explained that the supports were designed to withstand bombardment aftershocks long enough for armored forces to escape, not to survive a direct Necron strike.
• Calgar realized the Necrons would focus on the hive city’s enormous population and that its destruction could conceal the Death Seekers’ role in the nobles’ deaths.
• The representative outlined plans for thirteen main roads serving thirteen thousand Stone Lizard self-propelled artillery vehicles, one hundred and thirty thousand Space Marines, and thirteen million mortal troops.
• When Calgar asked why the plans used so many thirteens, the representative said the number might be connected to the Emperor and help against the Necrons.
• Calgar rejected the mystical reasoning and urged sensible engineering, while the representative privately thought that even the Emperor’s father would eventually be seen as a god.

The Karrakur Twin Stars’ supernova awakened the Menak Dynasty and triggered a widespread resurgence of the Flayer Curse among its Necrons. Facing despair over the curse, Xuhn Bakhel ordered the dynasty to awaken its legions and exterminate the xenos occupying its territory.

• The Karrakur Twin Stars went supernova, sending energy waves through the Orpheus Sector and reaching the Menak Dynasty’s hidden tomb worlds.
• The Menak Necrons began awakening, but a newly risen noble succumbed to the Flayer Curse, attacked nearby Necrons, and vanished into extradimensional space.
• The surviving nobles gathered and lamented that the Flayer Curse had spread during their slumber and might persist even after Biotransference.
• Xuhn Bakhel rejected the dynasty’s despair and ordered the Necrons to awaken their legions and drive out the xenos occupying Menak territory.
• Xuhn Bakhel declared that the Necrons would inform the xenos of their return before exterminating them.

Robert met Xuhn Bakhel in a strange banquet vision, where the Necron matriarch confirmed the Menak Dynasty would cleanse the Orpheus Sector after one stellar cycle. Back at Amara Prime, Robert learned the Karrakur Twin Stars had gone supernova and prepared for the coming war.

• Robert awoke at a banquet surrounded by Necrons and realized the meat they were eating was not human flesh.
• Xuhn Bakhel told Robert the Menak Dynasty would destroy life in the Orpheus Sector after one stellar cycle, and Robert challenged the Necrons to come sooner.
• Robert returned to his office in the underground fortress of Amara Prime and called Assassin to gather everyone for a meeting.
• Assassin told Robert the Karrakur Twin Stars had gone supernova and that Marshal Calgar had already convened a senate meeting.
• Robert decided to clean himself up before joining the response to the Necrons' awakening and the coming war.

On Vesalius, Sorcerer Kalak led a Chaos ritual, believing the Twin Stars’ supernova had weakened the barrier to the Warp and guaranteed his warband’s rise. Necron antimatter bombers then destroyed the altar, Kalak, and the entire planet’s surface, leaving Vesalius lifeless and shifted from its orbit.

• Chaos Space Marines and cultists slaughtered Vesalius’s inhabitants at a blood-soaked altar while Kalak prepared his ritual.
• Kalak celebrated the Twin Stars’ auroras and anticipated sacrificing the Orpheus Sector to win the Dark Gods’ favor.
• The gold-and-silver auroras vanished, then narrow green bands appeared to converge on Kalak’s gathering.
• Necron bombers dropped antimatter bombs on the altar and tower, vaporizing Kalak, the Chaos forces, and their victims.
• The explosions devastated Vesalius, leaving a molten, barren surface and knocking the planet three centimeters off its original orbit.

Calgar declared Amara Prime at war after confirming that Necron attacks were cutting off planets across the Orpheus Sector. In Amara Prime’s underground defenses, Bug and Assimilation Complete inspected a huge artillery force and worried that the Necrons might destroy it before it could be deployed.

• Calgar briefed the Senate on the expanding loss of contact in the Orpheus Sector and announced that Amara Prime was entering a state of war.
• After the meeting, Amara Prime began mobilizing its war machine and issuing orders across the planet.
• Bug and Assimilation Complete saw thousands of self-propelled artillery vehicles gathered in an underground defense cavern.
• Assimilation Complete explained that the force relied on thin-skinned, hard-hitting vehicles because Necron weapons made heavy armor ineffective.
• Assimilation Complete warned that the artillery might not be usable without air superiority and could be destroyed by Necron bombers.

Bug and Assimilation Complete discussed how the Necrons controlled the timing of their air attacks and how Imperial forces planned to use Amara Prime’s hive cities as bait. They ended their argument with jokes about purging the Emperor’s side and establishing a new Imperium.

• Bug questioned how the Necrons could have air superiority, and Assimilation Complete explained that their aircraft could attack Imperial forces before Imperial fighters could reach them.
• Assimilation Complete revealed that Imperial fighters descended from orbital warships and that the Necrons would likely target densely populated hive cities, which Bug realized would serve as bait.
• Bug condemned the plan to sacrifice civilians, while Assimilation Complete defended it as the easiest path to military victory and reminded him that they were only grunts.
• Assimilation Complete encouraged Bug to focus on defeating the enemy and joked that they could follow Dr. Ruan and support Calgar in founding the Second Imperium.
• Bug teased that Calgar’s Imperium would actually be the Third and proposed Dante as Emperor, Calgar as Regent, and Cypher as Warmaster, prompting Assimilation Complete to threaten him playfully.

The Flesh Tearers, led by Gabriel Seth, found their assigned nuclear plant position empty and were surprised when the 137th Infantry Regiment arrived to share it. Seth tried to send the soldiers away to protect them from his Chapter’s curse, but their commander greeted the Flesh Tearers with enthusiastic admiration, leaving Seth bewildered.

• The Flesh Tearers arrived at the nuclear plant and found its supplies intact but no other Space Marine Chapters there.
• A member of the Flesh Tearers complained that the other Chapters had not stayed, and Seth told him not to dwell on it.
• The 137th Infantry Regiment arrived, and Seth checked the commander’s transfer orders before warning the soldiers to leave the position.
• Seth expected the soldiers to fear the Flesh Tearers, but their commander, Little White, instead greeted them excitedly and asked for their Chapter Master.
• Seth stood stunned by Little White’s friendliness, gripping his Chainsword as he struggled to respond.

Gabriel Seth tried to drive Little White and the other mortal soldiers away by threatening to drink their blood, but Little White took him literally and cut his own neck to offer it. Enraged and humiliated, Seth stormed off, while Little White’s squad treated his wound and prepared to meet the Chapter Master.

• Seth warned the mortals that the Flesh Tearers’ Black Rage made them dangerous and told them to leave, but Little White said they had chosen the mission and would stay.
• Seth threatened to suck Little White dry, so Little White removed his helmet and cut his neck to offer him blood.
• Seth accused Little White of treating him like a beggar, crushed the transfer order, and stormed away after swearing he would never drink his blood.
• Little White asked his squad to bandage his neck, and the players speculated about Seth’s behavior and how to work with the Flesh Tearers.
• Little White stopped their speculation and said he would meet the Chapter Master to discuss the defenses, suggesting the players could fight separately if needed.

Little White told Seth that the Death Seekers genuinely liked the Flesh Tearers and had volunteered to fight beside them, even knowing they might be killed or fed upon. His sincerity left Seth and the other Flesh Tearers unsure how to respond.

• Little White realized Seth was the Chapter Master and apologized for his earlier familiarity.
• Little White called the Flesh Tearers Blood Angels, angering them until Seth corrected him.
• Little White said he liked the Flesh Tearers and offered the Death Seekers’ blood, stunning Seth and his warriors.
• Seth asked whether the Death Seekers had been forced to volunteer, and Little White said they had chosen the mission despite its dangers.
• Seth sensed that Little White’s affection was sincere, leaving him and the other Flesh Tearers confused and unsettled.

Seth allowed Little White and the Death Seekers to remain at the nuclear power plant as long as they obeyed orders. The Players tried to win a Flesh Tearer’s favorability and received a quest to move ammunition crates, which he immediately followed with an order to move them back.

• Seth permitted Little White and the Death Seekers to station themselves at the plant under strict orders.
• Little White led the Death Seekers through the plant, where they crowded around a Flesh Tearer and offered to help.
• After the Flesh Tearer told them to get lost, the Players discussed how to raise his favorability and began offering him their blood.
• The Flesh Tearer avoided attacking the Players and ordered them to move fifty ammunition crates.
• The Death Seekers quickly moved the crates, completed the quest, and then heard the Flesh Tearer order them to return the crates to their original location.

Brother-Captain Ried ordered the Death Seekers to carry ammunition crates back and forth, but they eagerly treated the repeatable task as a chance to earn Merit Points. Chaplain Apolus arrived to check on Ried and, seeing the mortals unharmed, began to question why they were doing pointless work.

• Brother-Captain Ried ordered the Death Seekers to carry ammunition crates between two points until he told them to stop.
• The Players received a repeatable mission that awarded 5 Merit Points for each delivery, and they excitedly praised Ried as a good man.
• The Death Seekers carried the crates with focused enthusiasm while Ried returned to inspecting his Bolter and tried to ignore them.
• Chaplain Apolus visited Ried to check his mental state and found the mortals intact and still working.
• Apolus noticed that the Death Seekers kept moving the crates back and forth and wondered what purpose the task served.

Brother-Captain Ried stopped the Death Seekers from moving ammunition crates and, overcome by a craving for blood, asked them to donate. He agreed to take a cup of fresh blood each day, creating a daily quest for the Players.

• Chaplain Apolus questioned Brother-Captain Ried about the pointless crate-moving task, and Ried admitted he had assigned it to get rid of the mortals.
• After Chaplain Apolus left, Brother-Captain Ried ended the task, invalidating the Players’ quest and disappointing the Squad Leader.
• Brother-Captain Ried felt a powerful hunger for blood and asked the Squad Leader for a cup, triggering the Donate Blood quest.
• The Squad Leader donated blood and received 100 Merit Points, while Brother-Captain Ried drank it and felt his hunger ease.
• The Death Seekers offered to take turns donating blood, and Brother-Captain Ried agreed to receive a cup each day, triggering the Daily Blood Donation quest.

Brother-Captain Ried drank blood offered by the Death Seekers in a candlelit ritual, which eased his thirst and seemed to steady his anger. Chaplain Apolus discovered the gathering, questioned Ried about his condition, and decided to monitor him closely.

• The Death Seekers took turns cutting their wrists and collecting their blood in a goblet for Brother-Captain Ried.
• Brother-Captain Ried drank the blood slowly, finding relief and calm as the gathered Players celebrated earning merit.
• Chaplain Apolus entered, switched on the lights, and asked why Ried and the Death Seekers were offering and drinking blood in a ritual.
• Brother-Captain Ried explained, “A little ritual makes life complete,” and told Apolus that his anger had become easier to control.
• Chaplain Apolus noticed Ried seemed more stable and promised to visit often to monitor his condition.

Chaplain Apolus tried the Death Seekers’ blood donation ritual and found that it soothed his thirst without bringing on the usual danger of the Black Rage. He recognized the result as a potentially important way to help the Flesh Tearers and decided to report it to the Chapter Master.

• Chaplain Apolus asked the Death Seekers to offer him blood, and the Squad Leader insisted that they follow a formal ritual so the order would trigger a mission.
• Chaplain Apolus ordered the Death Seekers to offer him a cup of blood at the ninth Terran hour the next day, triggering a mission that rewarded 100 merit points per donation.
• The next day, the Death Seekers gathered their blood in a goblet and presented it to Chaplain Apolus.
• Chaplain Apolus drank the blood slowly and found his thirst eased without the familiar threat of fury consuming him.
• Chaplain Apolus told Brother-Captain Ried through a nod that he felt well and decided to report the discovery to the Chapter Master.

After Apolus reported that willing blood donations and disciplined drinking seemed to ease the Flesh Tearers’ curse, Gabriel Seth cautiously ordered a secret trial with Brother Ried and eight unstable Space Marines. Apolus told Ried and the Death Seekers about the plan, and the eager mortals learned that ninety-nine of them would be selected to provide blood.

• Apolus told Gabriel Seth that voluntary blood donations and restrained drinking had helped him maintain his sense of self during the Blood Donation Ritual.
• Seth acknowledged that the Flesh Tearers had never before encountered mortals willing to offer blood, but ordered a cautious trial rather than applying the ritual across the Chapter.
• Seth ordered Apolus to select eight unstable Space Marines to join Ried and ninety-nine Death Seekers, while delaying the trial until he had verified certain matters.
• Apolus returned to Ried and instructed him to keep the Chapter Master’s preliminary plan secret; Ried promised to obey.
• Apolus questioned the Death Seekers about whether they had spread news of the donations, then told them eight more Space Marines would be transferred to the corridor.
• The Death Seekers eagerly anticipated donating to nine Space Marines, but Apolus clarified that only ninety-nine mortals would be selected and that they could not provide all the blood themselves.

Gabriel Seth privately questioned Marneus Calgar about whether the Death Seekers were loyal, but Calgar said he knew nothing about them. Seth left without revealing the Flesh Tearers’ secret, and Calgar briefly suspected a connection before returning to the coalition’s war preparations.

• Calgar managed tensions among the Chapters gathered in the Orpheus System while overseeing their strategic and logistical needs.
• Seth requested a private meeting with Calgar and asked whether the Death Seekers were loyal.
• Calgar said he did not understand the question and had no reason to doubt the Death Seekers’ loyalty.
• Seth left rather than risk revealing the Flesh Tearers’ genetic flaw and reliance on mortal blood.
• Calgar suspected the Flesh Tearers had discovered something about the Death Seekers, then dismissed the matter and resumed his work.

A Death Seekers Squad Leader's radio picked up the Necrons' massed distress calls, but a Flesh Tearer crushed it before the squad learned what the signal meant. The Players realized the communications blockade had been lifted and prepared for the Necrons' arrival.

• The Squad Leader's radio burst into screams from fallen worlds, and a Flesh Tearer crushed it while warning the Squad Leader to be quiet.
• The Squad Leader demanded compensation and persuaded the Flesh Tearer to let him donate three cups of blood each day.
• The Players explained that the Necrons had lifted their communications blockade and broadcast accumulated distress calls as psychological warfare.
• The Squad Leader discovered the radio had not been broken, while the Players noted that The Shriek meant the Necrons would arrive soon.
• The Players armed themselves and watched the nuclear power plant's corridors, expecting the Necrons to appear.

The Necron Fleet ambushed the Imperium forces around Amara Prime, but the prepared defenders met them with a massive barrage. The Necrons then bypassed the outer defenses and sent landing craft and Obelisks through the planet’s atmosphere, bringing the invasion to the surface.

• The Amara Prime star erupted with violent flares, cutting off the Imperial fleet’s communications and auspex systems.
• Imperial captains recognized the stellar disruption as an attack signal and opened fire as Necron warships emerged from the star’s corona.
• The Necron Fleet evaded much of the Imperial barrage and struck back with precise Gauss fire, inflicting heavy damage despite the Imperium’s numerical advantage.
• The Necron Overlord ordered the Phase Shift Protocol, and Orbital Defense Station Four disintegrated as a new Necron Fleet appeared above Amara Prime.
• Imperial missile silos and defense stations repelled the first bombing wave, but Necron landing craft and Obelisks forced their way through the atmosphere.
• Necron energy darkened the skies above Amara Prime’s settlements, and a Green Death Ray pierced the clouds and struck the land.

Necron fighters launched a devastating attack on Amara Prime, then annihilated an Imperial interceptor squadron with overwhelming stealth and maneuverability. The captain briefly caught one fighter in his sights, but it effortlessly evaded him and killed him.

• Necron fighters emerged from a black storm and erased half of a hive city with a matter-annihilating missile.
• Imperial interceptors approached the attack site, but their Auspex systems flooded with hostile signals they could not lock onto.
• The captain ordered most of the pilots to shut off their Auspex systems and fight by sight, but invisible Necron fighters picked off the squadron one by one.
• Zobayan was killed after a Necron fighter deliberately exposed its targeting signal, leaving the captain alone.
• The captain used a high-G maneuver to get behind a Necron fighter and opened fire, but it shifted instantaneously out of the way.
• The Necron fighter hovered behind the captain and killed him with a Gauss beam.