Chapter Summaries

When the Space Wolves arrived at the training ground, Okeanos Rivers challenged the Death Seekers to a one-on-one fight, and Little Veggie reluctantly stepped forward as [Zero Skill]. A flamboyant commentator interrupted the standoff with a sales pitch, then Rivers and [Zero Skill] traded threats as the crowd and Space Wolves demanded the fight begin.

• [All Passion] and [Zero Skill] saw the Space Wolves arrive and worried that their vastly powerful warriors had come to challenge the dojo.
• The Space Wolves chose Okeanos Rivers to fight one opponent, and Little Veggie persuaded Brother Ai to take the match before reluctantly agreeing to fight as [Zero Skill].
• [Zero Skill] faced Okeanos Rivers and prepared to channel Dragon Flame into his fists.
• Kohn announced the fighters with an elaborate introduction, promoted Battlefield Flatbreads, and invited [Zero Skill] to deliver pre-match remarks.
• [Zero Skill] warned Rivers that he would use his full strength and might injure him, provoking the crowd and enraging the Space Wolves.
• Rivers told [Zero Skill] that he would teach him to respect a veteran.

Little Veggie revealed his Dragon Flame during his spar with Rivers, who mistook it for a special non-psionic power. Rivers ended the testing phase and launched a serious attack, leaving their battle poised to escalate.

• Rivers asked Little Veggie where his weapon was, and Little Veggie said his fists were his weapons.
• Rivers charged with his Chainsword, and Little Veggie met the strike with a Dragon Flame-wreathed punch.
• Rivers, Kronar, and Inquisitor Herbert each concluded that Little Veggie’s power was not psionic, while Herbert resolved to investigate him.
• Rivers questioned Little Veggie about his flames, and Little Veggie explained that he had not yet learned to summon them at the last moment.
• Rivers declared the testing over and attacked in earnest, zigzagging toward Little Veggie as Dragon Flame blazed around his fists.

Little Veggie used the Shaolin Lightness Skill to teleport behind Rivers and both fighters landed crippling strikes. The match was left unresolved as they each dropped to one knee.

• Little Veggie gained the upper hand with a furious close-range assault, but Rivers traded a shoulder injury for a strike that badly hurt Little Veggie’s thigh.
• Rivers knocked Little Veggie down and prepared to finish him, but Little Veggie activated the Shaolin Lightness Skill and vanished.
• Rivers sensed Little Veggie behind him and swung his Chainsword backward as Little Veggie kicked his supporting knee.
• Rivers’s blade struck the side of Little Veggie’s head, while Little Veggie’s kick damaged Rivers’s knee, and both men fell to one knee.

BUG joined the crowd attacking the wounded Ork warboss, then got separated from his friends and accepted an invitation to join [Ghost Face]'s squad. As the squad headed away from the main force, [Ghost Face] revealed a disturbing appetite for killing and claimed he was taking medication.

• BUG joined the queue to attack the Ork warboss and earned merit by shooting it.
• BUG searched for Assimilation Complete and their squad but could not find them.
• [Ghost Face] invited BUG to join his squad, whose members included [Freddy], [Jason], [Michael], and [Leatherface].
• [Ghost Face] led the squad away from the main force and told BUG about the Space Wolves fighting in the hive city.
• [Ghost Face] described how much he enjoyed killing people, and BUG urged him to get a mental health evaluation.
• [Ghost Face] told BUG, "Don't worry, I'm taking medication."

Bug accompanied Ghost Face’s group to a disguised Webway entrance, where Ghost Face revealed a plan to lure Slaanesh daemons into fighting the Dark Eldar. Bug questioned the plan and Ghost Face’s heretical attitude as the group prepared to act.

• Ghost Face led the group to a pink door he had built over a Webway entrance and explained that it had once been a pile of rocks.
• Michael pulled a living, tape-muzzled head from his backpack, and Ghost Face revealed that the group had six Slaanesh cultists’ heads to use as bait.
• Ghost Face proposed entering the Webway and making the heads shout “For Slaanesh!” so Slaanesh daemons would attack the Dark Eldar.
• Ghost Face said he had recruited Bug to make the group eight people, an auspicious number that might also attract Khorne’s blessing.
• Bug considered drawing his Bolt Pistol on the heretics, while Ghost Face defended exploiting the factions’ conflict and argued that he could evade an Inquisitor by killing himself and reviving.

Bug and Ghost Face waited for the Dark Eldar by playing Gwent, while Ghost Face explained his ability to sense fear. The game ended when Ghost Face sensed the Dark Eldar arriving at the pink Anywhere Door.

• Bug accepted that waiting for the Dark Eldar was their only option, and Ghost Face pulled out a deck of Gwent cards.
• Ghost Face revealed that he could sense fear and grew more excited as others became more afraid.
• Bug joined Jason, Michael, Freddy, Leatherface, and the others for a Gwent game, choosing the Northern Realms.
• After an hour, Ghost Face sensed the Dark Eldar nearby and stopped the game.
• Ghost Face turned toward the pink Anywhere Door and told Bug that the Dark Eldar were right on top of them.

Ghost Face and his group entered the Webway and unleashed the living heads of Slaanesh’s followers, drawing a Keeper of Secrets through a breach in the tunnel. As the Dark Eldar fled in terror, Ghost Face reveled in their fear while Bug witnessed the chaos.

• Ghost Face ordered Jason, Michael, Freddy, and the others to prepare six living severed heads, then told Bug to join them through the Anywhere Door.
• Ghost Face smashed the door, and all seven jumped into the Webway, where they encountered a group of Dark Eldar.
• The Dark Eldar leader recognized the heads as living believers in Slaanesh and screamed for her warriors to run.
• Ghost Face ordered the group to rip off the tape, and the heads’ cries tore open the Webway as Warp energy poured through.
• A Keeper of Secrets emerged from the breach, terrifying the Dark Eldar, while Ghost Face laughed and savored their fear.

Bug joined Ghost Face and Freddy in the Webway, where their bizarre actions led to a Slaanesh Greater Daemon killing the Dark Eldar. After Zarakarnel mistook the group for Necrons and killed Bug, he respawned and recounted the adventure to Assimilation Complete and the other players.

• Slaanesh daemons captured and tortured the Dark Eldar but ignored Bug and his companions as they prepared to leave.
• Bug called out to Zarakarnel and asked why it had not attacked them, prompting it to mistake the group for Necrons.
• Zarakarnel lost patience and killed Bug, who woke in the wasteland beside Assimilation Complete and the other players.
• Bug described how Ghost Face's group had summoned Zarakarnel and wiped out the Dark Eldar, leaving the players amazed.
• Assimilation Complete complained that Bug had not brought him along, and Bug explained that they had been separated.

Robert read a popular forum post describing how BUG had dealt with the Dark Eldar, while Kronar and Herbert endured a dangerously low Valkyrie flight to an Ork battlefield. They joined the Space Wolves’ attack under nuclear cover, with Kronar eagerly leading the charge.

• Robert read BUG’s forum account of summoning a Slaanesh Greater Daemon to take away the Dark Eldar and decided not to record the heretical details where Inquisitor Herbert might find them.
• Kronar and Herbert endured the Death Seekers Legion pilot’s reckless, terrain-hugging flight as the Valkyrie dodged Ork rockets.
• The Valkyrie hovered above an enormous Ork horde, and Kronar, Herbert, and the Space Wolves leaped into battle.
• Herbert blasted greenskins with psychic lightning while Kronar and the Space Wolves cut through the horde.
• A nuclear blast scattered the Orks, and Kronar praised the Death Seekers’ tactics before leading the Wolf Guard forward.

Kronar and the Space Wolves advanced against the Orks with skilled Death Seekers Airborne Troopers providing cover, despite the troopers’ certain exposure to nuclear radiation. After killing an Ork boss, Herbert explained why he had joined the front lines and concluded that the Death Seekers showed no obvious signs of heresy.

• Kronar watched the Death Seekers Airborne Troopers demonstrate veteran skill as they supported the Space Wolves’ assault through nuclear blasts.
• Kronar killed the Ork boss before it could finish speaking, and Herbert dismissed its words as meaningless while explaining that aerial reconnaissance could locate the remaining Warbosses.
• Herbert fought beside the Space Wolves to help build their trust, fulfill his duty to fight Xenos, and avoid being left vulnerable among them.
• Herbert judged that the hive city showed no visible signs of Chaos, a Genestealer cult, or Warp rifts, and regarded the Death Seekers as a strange but apparently non-heretical death cult.

Herbert and the Space Wolves joined the Death Seekers in a rapid campaign that decapitated Pedetia’s major Ork Warbosses in two days. Robert planned to leave the remaining Orks as a training ground for new Players while keeping the planet and its people from being devastated.

• Herbert reflected on the Death Seekers’ willingness to die for the Imperium as a Death Seeker trooper collapsed and another shot him dead from above.
• Kronar, Herbert, and the Wolf Guard boarded a Valkyrie and flew toward their next assault despite the trooper’s death.
• The Space Wolves and Death Seekers killed Pedetia’s major Ork Warbosses in a two-day campaign, throwing the Ork hordes into disarray.
• Robert planned to preserve some Orks for training new Players and ruled out relying on Imperial Navy orbital bombardment.
• Robert rejected the idea that hardship created stronger fighters and favored improving Pedetia’s environment and living standards.

Herbert interrupted the Death Seekers as they prepared to execute a factory official who had sold weapons to the Genestealers. He used an Imperial legal provision to have the man dragged behind a Chimera, then arrived at Robert's headquarters with the traitor ground to pieces.

• Herbert inspected the mid-hive after the Death Seekers' thorough purge of the Genestealer cult.
• Players dragged a well-dressed factory official outside and prepared to shoot him for selling guns and grenades to the Genestealers, who had destroyed their Chimera and killed a dog.
• Herbert stopped the Players and explained that Imperial law forbade shooting the traitor as private punishment.
• Herbert tied the traitor to a Chimera's towing hook and drove off with the Players riding along.
• Herbert reached Robert's command post with the traitor reduced to a mangled remnant.

After the fighting on Pedetia, Herbert and Robert discussed the planet’s recovery and its Imperial obligations. Herbert explained that the Imperium offered no clear process for supplying soldiers, leaving Robert to accept the blood tax as best he could.

• A Player thanked Herbert for helping avenge his dog, then drove away in the Chimera.
• Herbert met Robert and Priest Redito as they left the command post, and Robert explained that Redito had rejected changing the planet’s military production orders.
• Robert told Herbert that Pedetia could not recover through ordinary taxes and asked how many Astra Militarum soldiers it had to provide each year.
• Herbert said the Department of Munitorum would not count or arrange the transfer, and Pedetia should send as many soldiers as could board the transport ship.
• Robert said goodbye to Herbert, who laughed as he left the command post.

Inquisitor Herbert used an Aeldari stealth suit to infiltrate the Martyr Chapter Space Marines’ empty quarters and search for clues. He found two notebooks written in an unknown script, copied their pages, and withdrew without being detected.

• Herbert returned to his residence in Pedetia and staged preparations to leave while his attendants packed.
• Herbert activated an Aeldari psychic stealth suit and slipped away toward the Martyr Chapter’s quarters while the Space Marines attended the Space Wolves’ victory feast.
• Herbert searched the empty quarters and found no traps, hidden chambers, or lingering psychic traces.
• Herbert discovered two notebooks in a metal drawer and recorded their unfamiliar symbols with his armour and memory.
• Herbert put the notebooks back exactly as he had found them and left before his search could expose him.

Robert met with Commissar Walter, who asked to return to the battlefield by recruiting and training a new force from Pedetia's surviving Planetary Army. Robert granted him authority to recruit and promised logistical support, and the two exchanged solemn vows of loyalty to the Emperor.

• An adjutant informed Robert that Commissar Walter requested an audience.
• Walter told Robert he wanted to return to the battlefield and asked for authority to recruit from the surviving Pedetia Planetary Army.
• Robert questioned why Walter wanted to fight again when Pedetia was stable and its soldiers had important security duties.
• Walter explained that fighting and dying for the God-Emperor was his destiny.
• Robert approved Walter's plan and promised logistical support.
• Walter declared, "For the Emperor!" and Robert returned the salute, answering, "For the Emperor."

Ghost Face took command of Pedetia's Third Death Seekers Legion aboard a troop transport and discovered that no official mission orders had arrived. He chose the most dangerous destination on the star map: the Jersey Sector.

• Ghost Face boarded the transport carrying a hundred thousand Players and was escorted to the bridge.
• The ship's crew saluted Ghost Face, and the captain confirmed that he was the highest-ranking person aboard.
• Ghost Face learned that the Department of Munitorum had not provided orders or a destination.
• Ghost Face examined the holographic star map and selected the dangerous Jersey Sector.

Ghost Face brought Pedetia's Third Death Seekers Legion out of the Warp and contacted Wendell Gage, commander of the Damocles Expeditionary Force, to join the war against the Xenos. The chapter ended with Gage questioning the legion's unusual demand for combat stimulants and tactical nuclear warheads, while Ghost Face insisted the supply list was correct.

• The troop transport emerged from the Warp at a Mandeville Point and headed to the Imperial Fleet's assembly coordinates.
• Ghost Face contacted the fleet and identified his force as Pedetia's Third Death Seekers Legion, arriving to join the war against the Xenos.
• After a thirty-minute wait, Wendell Gage contacted Ghost Face and asked whether his legion intended to join the war and obey his command.
• Ghost Face sent Gage the legion's supply list and promised to hit any target Gage indicated.
• Gage questioned the massive requests for combat stimulants and tactical nuclear warheads, but Ghost Face insisted he prepare everything on the list.

Ghost Face's Death Seekers Legion joined General Wendell's expeditionary force and was sent to the Jersey Sector. The Imperium seized the sector without a fight, then ordered its forces to purge resistance and prepare the region as a staging base, leaving Ghost Face's Players arriving at the spaceport.

• General Wendell agreed to supply the Death Seekers Legion's requested equipment and directed Ghost Face to dock at the designated spaceport.
• After three days in orbit, Ghost Face announced that the legion had orders to sail for the Jersey Sector, exciting Players who hoped to see a space battle.
• The Imperial Fleet arrived and took control of the Jersey Sector without encountering organized Tau forces.
• The War Council ordered Astra Militarum legions to purge resistance, Xenos sympathizers, and other potential threats across the sector.
• Ghost Face and the Death Seekers Legion disembarked at a busy spaceport hangar.

Ghost Face met with the Cadian and Krieg commanders to plan Jersey Prime’s purge, then invented an arbitrary standard for executions. He sent the Death Seekers into the Upper Hive to shoot anyone taller than a Taurus vehicle’s wheels and loot what they found.

• Ghost Face arrived at the meeting and met Emil White of the Cadian 92nd and commander 724357 of the Krieg 72nd.
• White explained that the governor had captured a T'au diplomat to beg for forgiveness, and Ghost Face shot the governor dead when he protested.
• Ghost Face and White agreed to target the Upper Hive and execute at least ten thousand people in each of the middle and lower hive districts.
• After spotting a Taurus assault vehicle, Ghost Face declared that anyone taller than its wheels could be shot as a traitor.
• Ghost Face announced the rule to the gathered troops, and the Players cheered at the chance to loot the Upper Hive.

The Death Seekers Legion stormed and purged a noble manor in the Upper Hive, killing its defenders and forcing survivors to reveal the family’s collection. After learning that the nobles’ holdings offered little worthwhile loot, Ghost Face ordered a purge of Mid-hive gangs under the accusation that they had colluded with the traitorous nobles.

• The Death Seekers Legion blasted through a manor gate and killed those who resisted, while panicked residents were caught in the attack.
• The Players gathered the manor’s surviving servants and nobles, and the Squad Leader ordered the guard captain to lead them to the collection.
• The guard captain agreed to guide the Players, hoping they would grant him a quick death.
• Freddy delivered a report to Ghost Face explaining that dossiers covered about seven hundred thousand people and that the nobles’ collections had little value.
• Ghost Face ordered the Mid-hive gangs purged, accusing them of colluding with the Upper Nest Nobles who had betrayed the Emperor.