Chapter Summaries

Robert led the Death Seekers’ armored force toward the Governor’s Mansion while rejecting Assassin’s proposal to use a special shell. Inside the mansion, Great Horned Beast, Name, and Fluttering Moth scouted its layout using Fluttering Moth’s Byakugan, which threatened to destroy his eye after a short time.

• Robert worried that his troops might not be able to block every entrance and exit of the Governor’s Mansion as the armored column advanced.
• Assassin urged Robert to use a special shell, but Robert refused, citing the Military Committee’s decision and his suspicion of Assassin’s motives.
• Assassin made an excuse and jogged off to inspect a tank, leaving Robert to watch him disappear into the convoy.
• Great Horned Beast, Name, and Fluttering Moth infiltrated the mansion to scout its layout and enemy deployment ahead of the assault.
• Fluttering Moth used the Byakugan to see through the mansion and locate powerful enemies, but warned that the strain would blind his right eye within about ten minutes.

Fluttering Moth, Great Horned Beast, and Name entered the hidden hall in the Governor's Mansion and discovered Gerard, a Slaanesh Space Marine, among living flesh-and-blood artworks. The three Players injected massive doses of combat drugs and charged him, prompting Gerard to inject himself and eagerly prepare to fight.

• Fluttering Moth told Great Horned Beast and Name that a powerful presence lay ahead, but they decided to enter the hall to finish mapping the mansion and identify the enemy.
• The three Players crossed the threshold, and Gerard revealed that he had detected them and called them followers of the Corpse Emperor.
• Gerard introduced himself and lit the hall, revealing living artworks made from flesh and blood and his ornate Power Armour.
• Great Horned Beast chose to go all out, and all three Players injected 750 milliliters of combat drugs before charging Gerard from different directions.
• Gerard reacted with delight to their speed, injected himself with hallucinogenic drugs, and readied his Power Sword for the fight.

Three Players fought Gerard in a twisted art hall, but his speed and strength overwhelmed them until Name used the Book of Hatred to make Gerard focus on him. Gerard’s attention left Great Horned Beast, who stabbed him in the back and gravely wounded him.

• Moth, Great Horned Beast, and Name launched a coordinated attack, but Gerard repelled them and warned they had little time left.
• Great Horned Beast taunted Gerard about his appearance, provoking him to attack with overwhelming speed.
• Great Horned Beast barely blocked Gerard’s first two strikes, suffering fractured wrists and damaged armor.
• Name revealed that he had written Gerard’s name in the Book of Hatred, forcing Gerard to abandon everything else and prioritize killing Name.
• Great Horned Beast seized the opening and drove his Power Sword into Gerard’s unguarded back, gravely wounding him.

Moth and Great Horned Beast nearly killed Gerard, but the veteran Space Marine Alvis intervened and incapacitated all three Players. After the Players detonated themselves to avoid capture, Alvis summoned the Slaanesh Space Marines throughout the Governor's Mansion with his Warcry Guitar.

• Great Horned Beast lost his grip on the Power Sword, allowing Moth to pin Gerard through his injured shoulder and expose his monstrous true face.
• Moth prepared to kill Gerard, but Alvis appeared and severed the limbs of all three Players with a single sword strike.
• Alvis revealed that he had been an Adeptus Astartes since the Legion Era and questioned Moth about his unusual eyes.
• The three Players detonated the bombs inside their bodies, destroying themselves as Alvis and Gerard dodged the blast.
• Alvis played his Warcry Guitar, summoning the Slaanesh Space Marines scattered throughout the Governor's Mansion.

Fluttering Moth failed to get Redito to copy his remaining Byakugan, but Robert gave him a bottle of valuable pills donated by an unnamed Player to keep the eye functioning. Meanwhile, the Death Seekers launched an assault into the Governor's Mansion, where Alvis and a hidden Son of the Emperor attacked them; the traitor realized the soldiers' numbers were not falling as expected.

• Fluttering Moth asked Redito to copy his remaining Byakugan, but Redito refused.
• Robert gave Fluttering Moth a bottle of pills from an unnamed Player and explained how to use them.
• Alvis sensed the Astra Militarum force advancing and praised its decision to attack.
• The Death Seekers entered the Governor's Mansion's exhibition hall, where music and Alvis's welcome accompanied a surprise Bolter attack that destroyed a Chimera.
• The Death Seekers returned fire and advanced under cover as the Son of the Emperor picked off soldiers with precise Bolter shots.
• The Son of the Emperor noticed that the Death Seekers' numbers did not seem to be decreasing.

Black’s carefully planned attack on the Death Seekers ended when a Vanquisher killed him with a direct cannon shot. The crew prepared to move on, while the other Sons of the Emperor reacted to the change in the mansion’s music and Black’s death.

• Black destroyed the remaining Chimeras and prepared to attack the advancing Astra Militarum soldiers with his Power Sword.
• Hearing a Leman Russ Vanquisher approach, Black guessed it was the enemy’s hidden weapon and planned to deal with it.
• The Vanquisher entered the room with its cannon already aimed at Black and killed him along with his cover.
• Moth told the commander that SCP-500 had eased his eye pain and would let him continue for two hours.
• Black’s death stopped the piano music and changed the guitar melody, prompting the other Sons of the Emperor to react.

Alvis’s madness left Gerard fearing for his life as the warband’s scattered members were picked off by mortals. At the National Gallery, Moth and the surviving Death Seekers killed a fifth Space Marine, but the battle cost many soldiers and vehicles before Moth set out to escape.

• Gerard urged Alvis to gather the warband, but Alvis failed to recognize him and appeared to be in one of his loyalist episodes.
• Moth shot a pinned Son of the Emperor in the National Gallery after the Space Marine cursed the Death Seekers.
• Moth reported that five Space Marines had been killed at the cost of a Leman Russ Vanquisher, four Leman Russ Punishers, twenty-two Chimeras, and 2,500 lives.
• The tank commander refused Moth’s SCP-500 pill, told him to evacuate before the palace collapsed, and died.
• Moth executed his mortally wounded teammates, confirmed there were no survivors, and began following the evacuation route.

Moth's sabotage collapsed the Governor's Mansion, but Alvis survived and revealed overwhelming power, destroying a Valkyrie and reflecting the Players' ranged attacks. The Players discovered they could hurt him in melee and overwhelmed him with repeated charges; as Big Eagle Cop moved in to deliver the final blow, Alvis lay mortally wounded and accepted his fate.

• Moth warned the Valkyries to climb, but Alvis's sword light cut one of them in half as he emerged from the ruins.
• Robert ordered the Players to fire on Alvis, and Alvis's psychic shield returned their attacks to destroy the heavy weapons emplacements.
• Big Eagle Cop struck Alvis with his Thunder Hammer and knocked him back, prompting Robert to order the Players to attack only in melee.
• Nearly a thousand Players charged Alvis, and after thousands of deaths they wounded him and exposed his health bar.
• Alvis's injuries worsened as the Players kept attacking, until several weapons pierced his chest and he fell to one knee.
• Big Eagle Cop stepped forward to claim the final blow while Alvis thought it was an honor to die as a Legion warrior.

After Alvis was killed, the players began excavating the Governor’s Mansion ruins and uncovered Planetary Governor Kieran Pedetia and his family in a basement. The Military Committee sentenced them to death for treason, and Moth carried out the execution, discovering jewels hidden in the youngest son’s clothing.

• Robert suggested using Servitors and construction equipment to dig out the Space Marines trapped beneath the Governor’s Mansion, while Redito took Alvis’s corpse away after warning against taking his gene-seed.
• Three days later, Moth, Name, and Great Horned Beast found a concealed basement beneath the ruins and discovered Kieran Pedetia inside.
• Kieran led them to his family, and Moth reported that the governor, his wife, physician, four daughters, and two sons were alive and healthy.
• Robert and the Military Committee voted to execute Kieran and his family for treason.
• Moth arranged the family in his field of view, announced their sentence, and shot them; he then found jewels hidden in the youngest son’s clothing.

Archer and his squad repaired their Chimera while scouting the Gobi, then spotted another squad fleeing thousands of Orks. The fleeing Players prepared to face an Ork boss in a one-on-one duel after Assimilation rolled a 42 with his God's Dice.

• Great Horned Beast, Archer, Name, and Moth discussed their scouting mission and the danger of facing millions of Orks in the open desert.
• Archer repaired the Chimera and joked that his faith in the Omnissiah was "devout as hell."
• Great Horned Beast spotted a dust cloud, and Archer identified the fleeing vehicle as 3rd Company, 2nd Squad, pursued by thousands of Orks.
• BUG scolded Assimilation Complete for accepting the reconnaissance mission after rolling a 3, while the two Players argued with the pursuing Ork boss.
• Assimilation proposed a one-on-one duel in exchange for the Orks letting them go, then revealed he had rolled a 42 with his God's Dice.

Assimilation challenged the Ork leader Gaga Zhuang to a duel, killed him after he inexplicably tripped, and tried to claim victory. The remaining Orks charged, but stopped when a meteor appeared to be heading toward them.

• Bug persuaded Gaga Zhuang to accept a one-on-one duel instead of letting all ten thousand Orks attack at once.
• Assimilation invoked 42 as the ultimate answer to the universe, then provoked Gaga Zhuang into fighting him.
• Gaga Zhuang charged Assimilation, tripped on the sand, and dropped its cleaver within reach.
• Assimilation seized the cleaver and killed Gaga Zhuang, but the enraged Orks charged at him anyway.
• The Orks abruptly stopped and stared at a meteor streaking toward them, leaving Assimilation alarmed.

Assimilation survived a crashing Imperial warship that killed the Orks, while Bug died after trying to test the effect of Assimilation’s God's Dice. Assimilation entered the wreck and found a locked door with an access card beside a dead crewman.

• An Imperial warship crashed in front of Assimilation, killing the Orks while leaving him unharmed.
• Bug praised Assimilation, then tried to test whether God's Dice killed those who wanted to kill Assimilation; a steel bar shot from the wreck and fatally impaled Bug.
• Assimilation wondered whether God's Dice worked like [Miracle For You] and entered the warship through a hatch that had fallen open.
• Assimilation explored the damaged corridors and found a locked, heavily scorched door beside a dead crewman.
• Assimilation noticed the access card sticking out of the crewman's pocket and realized it could open the door.

Assimilation explored a wrecked Space Marine Battle Barge and found the last message of Hobbs Rotspe, Chapter Master of the Martyr Chapter. After learning the Chapter had been destroyed by a Warp storm and seeing that its Gene-seed was lost, he decided to call his teammates and arrange a proper burial.

• Assimilation opened a door and found dozens of dead Space Marines in an unfamiliar black-armored Chapter along a seemingly endless corridor.
• Assimilation crossed the corridor, counted forty-seven dead Space Marines, and entered the devastated bridge.
• Assimilation took a data slate from the fallen commander and read Hobbs Rotspe’s account of the Martyr Chapter’s destruction in a Warp storm.
• Assimilation followed Hobbs’s directions to search for the Chapter’s Gene-seed but found its containers smashed and their contents destroyed.
• Assimilation wondered whether God's Dice had caused the Martyrs’ deaths, then bowed to Hobbs and decided to fetch his teammates to bury the dead.

Robert accepted Redito’s harsh plan to restore hive city production, but an arriving Imperium warship drew Redito away to investigate. At the crashed Battle Barge, Redito’s group found Hobbes alive despite his apparent death and carried him off, leaving Assimilation with the other Players.

• Redito argued that relocating Underhive residents and enforcing labor discipline would restore production faster than forming a workers’ committee, and Robert agreed to his approach.
• Archer reported that a textbook-level Battle Barge had landed, so Redito left Robert in the hive city and went to the crash site.
• Assimilation worried that his nearly empty Chimera could not get him back to the hive city or help him find his teammates.
• Redito entered the wreck with Servitors, examined Hobbes, declared him alive, and had the Servitors carry him away in a metal stretcher.
• Archer and three other Players arrived and explained that they had seen the Battle Barge crash from nearby.

Robert and Redito considered using the two recovered Gene-seeds to create new Space Marines, despite the risks and the danger the crashed Battle Barge posed to the hive city. Redito agreed to practice the procedure on volunteers, then chose a pair of twins for the two Gene-seeds.

• Robert saw that Servitors had repaired Hobbes's chest and asked Redito whether any other Space Marines had survived and how long Hobbes would take to recover.
• Redito said Hobbes could need years to awaken and warned that rebuilding a Chapter on Robert's planet could attract an Inquisitor's attention.
• Robert argued that the Orks might follow the smoking Battle Barge to the hive city, and Redito angrily complained that the crash site had become a beacon for them.
• Redito agreed to attempt Gene-seed modifications but warned that he had only two Gene-seeds and little biological expertise.
• Robert handed Redito a list of Player volunteers who wanted to become Adeptus Astartes, and Redito selected a pair of twins for the two Gene-seeds.

Zero Skill and All Passion escorted Underhive residents to the Mid-hive and learned how grateful the residents were simply to cross into a higher hive level. After completing the escort, they heard from Assassin that they had been selected to become Adeptus Astartes.

• Zero Skill questioned whether the Players could protect the residents, and All Passion explained that their main duty was to intimidate the civilians and maintain order.
• Zero Skill asked a resident about relocation, but the terrified man declared his gratitude and panicked when Zero Skill suggested reducing working hours.
• All Passion explained that moving from the Underhive to the Mid-hive already seemed like an extraordinary privilege, and that offering further improvements might make residents suspicious.
• The brothers completed the escort and reached the Mid-hive, where other Players took over the residents.
• Assassin ran over and told Zero Skill and All Passion that they had been selected to become Adeptus Astartes.

Little Veggie and Brother Ai underwent preparations for Space Marine modifications in Redito’s laboratory before their Game Pods ran out of nutrient fluid and woke them in the real world. They realized the game had updated while they were unconscious, leaving them unable to log in for a month as they recovered.

• The Assassin led Little Veggie and Brother Ai into Redito’s laboratory, where Redito explained that incomplete knowledge of the Chapter’s modification procedures required human experiments.
• Little Veggie and Brother Ai lay on operating tables, and Redito began restraining Little Veggie for surgery without anesthesia.
• Little Veggie woke in his Game Pod after its nutrient fluid ran out, and Brother Ai woke from the neighboring pod.
• Little Veggie recalled that Redito had begun the official modifications after solving the Black Carapace problem, but Brother Ai warned that they might not survive and could not log in for a month.
• Little Veggie checked the game forum and discovered that the game had updated while they were unconscious.

The update expanded the game with faster thought acceleration, new rewards and trading, and a final stage of closed beta that added a thousand Players each day. While two brothers outside the game looked forward to buying combat skills, Robert organized the influx of newcomers into the Death Seekers.

• Brother Ai and Little Veggie read Bit's update, which raised thought acceleration to 1:10, revamped quests and the shop, and added a trading market with skill books.
• The update announced that one thousand Players would join daily and that open beta would begin after the Orks and Dark Eldar were defeated and order returned to Pedetia.
• Brother Ai and Little Veggie, undergoing Adeptus Astartes enhancement surgery, hoped the market would let them acquire fighting-game and action-inspired skills.
• A thousand new Players flooded the Death Seekers' base, where the Military Committee and teams recruited them into combat and aviation roles.
• Several Players bypassed recruitment to ask Redito to take them on as apprentices, and Robert accepted that they could help the Death Seekers' production effort.
• Robert spent a day handling the newcomers' logistics and was relieved that the new 1:10 thought acceleration made the work more manageable.

Robert tried the new merit roulette and won an Epic-quality coin with little practical value, then checked on two Players undergoing Adeptus Astartes augmentation. After discussing where to face the Orks, he decided not to risk bringing the battle into the hive city.

• Robert spent one thousand merit on a roulette spin and received an Epic item called the Gold Coin at the End of the Rainbow.
• Robert visited Tech-Priest Redito and learned that the two Players in the incubation pods were progressing smoothly through augmentation.
• Redito warned Robert that a small force of Adeptus Astartes could evade much larger numbers in the Governor's Mansion.
• Robert weighed fighting the Orks in the hive city against fighting in the desert, considering the city's destruction and the difficulty of stopping the green tide.
• Redito opposed risking the hive city's workers and industry, and Robert agreed that he should not endanger the survivors he had just rescued.

Joker planned a concealed defensive position in the dunes to prepare for an Ork assault, assigning battalions and explaining how terrain would funnel the enemy. He and Archer then reflected on humanity’s reliance on outdated tactics, ending with Archer’s confidence that humanity would move forward.

• Joker chose the dune’s reverse slope for the main defensive position and assigned Yu Jiaren, Ego, and Assassin’s battalions their roles.
• Assassin asked how to build the positions and why they were defending there, so Joker used a map to explain the layout and how the terrain would channel the Orks.
• Yu Jiaren, Ego, and Assassin saluted and left to carry out their orders, while Archer teased Joker about the group’s codenames.
• Joker and Archer looked toward the sand-buried Battle Barge and discussed their use of World War I tactics.
• Joker worried that humanity might stagnate and cling to outdated ideas, but Archer affirmed his belief in humanity’s bright future.