Chapter Summaries

Alvin and Terrax followed Anna’s coordinates to an asteroid, where Anna arranged for them to travel toward Commorragh aboard a Dark Eldar Venom skimmer. The journey began with Terrax nearly shooting Anna and ended with him squeezed into the cramped craft, while Alvin urged him to stay calm.

• Alvin used the communicator Anna had given him, received coordinates, and ordered the Thunderhawk pilot to follow them.
• Alvin and Terrax reached an asteroid in the Idolater System, where Terrax fired on Anna until Alvin recognized her and called him off.
• Anna told Alvin they would need to travel aboard a Dark Eldar craft, and Alvin agreed to her proposal.
• Anna summoned a Venom skimmer and invited Alvin and Terrax aboard.
• Terrax had to hunch inside the cramped skimmer and hand his Power Glaive to Alvin, while Anna mocked him.

Alvin and Anna traveled through a Webway entrance into Commorragh, where Anna showed him the Dark Eldar city and its Black Suns. The hovercraft reached a port, and Anna welcomed Alvin to the city while warning him that pain and anguish ruled there.

• Alvin recognized the passage as a Webway entrance, and Anna confirmed it while dismissing humanity's ability to navigate the maze.
• Alvin asked Anna about Commorragh, and she said he would understand the city once he saw it.
• Anna piloted the hovercraft through the Webway to Commorragh and pointed out its two dying stars, the Black Suns.
• Alvin saw Commorragh's twisted platforms, towering living structures, and signs of torture as the hovercraft approached a port.
• Anna welcomed Alvin to Commorragh and told him that morality, mercy, and compassion were unnecessary there.

Alvin and Terrax arrived at Commorragh, where Anna led them through the filthy lower levels toward the Archon. After suspecting Anna was hiding the reason the upper-level ports were closed, Alvin rejected her advances and demanded she take him to the Archon.

• Alvin questioned Anna about why they had docked at a lower-level port, and she said the upper-level ports were shut down.
• Anna gave Alvin and Terrax gray robes and devices to conceal their identities before they entered Commorragh.
• Alvin saw the squalid streets and a grotesque creature created by the Haemonculi as Anna explained they had discarded it in the lower levels.
• Anna propositioned Alvin, but he refused and warned her not to keep testing him.
• Anna dropped her playful demeanor and agreed to take Alvin to see the Archon.

Alvin and Anna were attacked by a Reaver Airship while entering Commorragh, but Alvin brought it down and confronted its pilot. The pilot killed himself before revealing who sent him, and Anna identified the Ironthorn Lord's Kabal as the likely attackers.

• Alvin refused Anna's offer to show him Commorragh's more extreme entertainment venues.
• A Reaver Airship attacked Alvin, Anna, and Terrax as they entered the lower levels of Commorragh.
• Alvin shielded the group from the airship's barrage, then used his power to drag it out of the sky.
• Alvin pulled the pilot from the wreckage and demanded to know who had ordered the attack, but the pilot swallowed poison and died.
• Anna inspected the crashed airship and recognized the Ironthorn Lord's Kabal emblem.

Alvin and Terrax faced an assassination attempt by the Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group in Commorragh, and Alvin drew the Demon Sword Draconis to fight back. He shattered the group leader’s blade, while the larger battle remained underway.

• Terrax sensed an assassin approaching Alvin and cut him in half before severing his head.
• Anna warned Alvin and Terrax that the assassination group attacked in teams, and more than a dozen Dark Eldar emerged from hiding.
• Terrax held off the attackers as Alvin drew Draconis and charged the group’s leader.
• The assassination leader attacked Alvin with a poisoned blade, but Alvin dodged and shattered the weapon with one slash.

Alvin and Terrax defeat the Assassination Group, and its leader reveals that Meshal hired them and that several Kabals have joined a takeover in Commorragh. After letting the leader go, Alvin confronts Anna about what she has kept from him.

• Alvin uses Gravity Torrent while Terrax kills the surrounding assassins, leaving their leader alive.
• The leader reveals that Meshal of the Iron Thorn Kabal hired the group to kill Alvin.
• The leader says the upper port was closed after the Supreme Governor was declared unwell and the Iron Thorn Kabal took control of Commorragh's affairs.
• The leader names the Final Grudge Kabal, the Rift Sigil Kabal, the Skinning Blood Skull Kabal, and the Obsidian Rose Conspiracy Group as allies in the takeover.
• Alvin lets the leader go with a message for Meshal, then turns to question Anna.

After an assassination attempt exposed their hideout, Alvin escaped with Anna and ordered Terrax to erase their trail. Meshal sent Davis and the True Born Sons to search Commorragh’s likely hiding places, while Archon Gregory Hernandez ordered the other Archons to ensure Alvin’s death.

• Alvin decided they needed to flee to a crowded place where they could hide their tracks, and Anna agreed to lead him and Terrax there.
• Alvin instructed Terrax to erase their trail, and the three left before Dark Eldar forces arrived and massacred the district.
• Meshal examined the abandoned site, concluded Alvin had escaped, and ordered Davis to search four likely hiding places with help from the Immortals.
• Davis ordered the district burned down after Meshal departed, reducing its ruins and corpses to ash.
• Meshal reported the failed assassination to Archon Gregory Hernandez, who ordered him to tell the other Archons that Alvin must die.

Alvin, Terrax, and Anna hid in Anna’s safe house in the Old Town Factory while the Dark Eldar searched for them. Anna revealed that Supreme Governor Viktor had been injured and imprisoned after Gregory Hernandez’s coup, and that a mysterious object tied to Alvin might be connected to the crisis.

• Anna led Alvin and Terrax through hidden paths to her safe house in the Old Town Factory.
• Alvin estimated that the enemy would find them within days and rejected Terrax’s suggestion to retreat, fearing they would lose their chance to fulfill the Emperor’s request.
• Alvin confronted Anna about Supreme Governor Viktor and demanded to know what had happened.
• Anna explained that Viktor had fallen into a coma after a secret meeting, allowing Gregory Hernandez and allied Kabal leaders to seize power.
• Anna said Viktor’s guards had sent her to bring Alvin to Commorragh, and that Viktor’s injuries seemed connected to a mysterious object someone had given him.

Alvin learned that the Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group had tracked him and Anna to the Old Town Factory, so he chose to flee to the Skullcrusher Corridor. Anna reluctantly agreed, preferring its dangers to being captured by the Blood Jester.

• Alvin used tiny biological reconnaissance machines to discover that hundreds of disguised pursuers had entered the Old Town Factory district and were searching for them.
• He told Anna they had about an hour and a half before the pursuers pinpointed their location, then ordered her to follow his instructions if she wanted to survive.
• Alvin carved shifting coordinates into the air with his psychic powers and asked Anna to identify their location.
• Anna recognized the coordinates as the Skullcrusher Corridor, a bloody region of the Dark Killing Ground feared for its inhabitants.
• Alvin chose to head for the Skullcrusher Corridor, and Anna agreed rather than risk being captured and returned to the Blood Jester.

Alvin led Anna and Terrax out of the Old Town Factory and through the Skullcrusher Corridor, believing the Kabals could not spare enough forces to catch them. They reached the coordinates at a Pain Bank, where the Haemonculus Corillion Soulrender welcomed Alvin.

• Alvin explained to Anna that the Kabals could not seal off every hiding place and that Viktor's forces were likely occupied with the coup.
• Alvin, Anna, and Terrax slipped out of the Old Town Factory and headed through the Dark Killing Ground as Anna described its regions and the Skullcrusher Corridor.
• Anna showed Alvin the Howling Spire and explained how Pain Honey was extracted from slaves suffering in the walls.
• Alvin followed the coordinates to a lavish building called the Pain Bank, and Anna panicked when she recognized it.
• Corillion Soulrender, a Haemonculus and the Pain Bank's chief customizer, greeted Alvin.

Alvin recognized Corillion Soulrender as a Blood Haemonculus and followed him into the Pain Bank despite Anna’s fear. After Corillion showed him the suffering preserved in his laboratory, Alvin demanded that he get to the point, leaving Corillion under pressure from Terrax.

• Alvin recalled the Blood Haemonculi’s role in creating Dark Eldar and using pain to resist Slaanesh.
• Corillion Soulrender revealed that he had been waiting for Alvin, and Alvin agreed to enter the Pain Bank.
• Anna overcame her fear and followed Alvin and Terrax inside.
• Corillion showed Alvin a jarred Space Marine brain and a living creature dissected in his laboratory.
• Alvin dismissed the displays as boring, and Terrax’s imposing pressure made Corillion smile and prepare to explain himself.
• Alvin sat down in Corillion’s operating room and told him to stop rambling and get to the point.

Alvin rejected Corillion’s coercive offer of Screaming Smoothie and beat him when the Blood Jester threatened to expose his location to several Kabals. As Alvin prepared to kill Corillion, Verillion, the master of Howling Spire, emerged from the shadows and asked him to spare Corillion.

• Corillion offered Alvin a specially prepared Screaming Smoothie and claimed several Kabals’ Archons were hunting him.
• Corillion threatened to reveal Alvin’s whereabouts unless Alvin drank the smoothie, but Alvin refused.
• Alvin struck Corillion with a psychic slap, pinned him with Gravity Torrent, and beat him.
• Alvin crushed Corillion beneath the gravity and threatened to kill him as Corillion begged for mercy.
• Verillion emerged from the shadows, identified himself as the Senior Blood Jester and master of Howling Spire, and asked Alvin to spare Corillion.

Alvin confronted Verillion after forcing him to emerge from hiding and learned that Verillion had ordered Corillion to test him. After Alvin punished Corillion, Verillion dismissed him and prepared to discuss their real business.

• Verillion emerged in the laboratory and asked Alvin to spare Corillion.
• Alvin increased the pressure on Corillion and demanded to know whether Verillion had ordered his actions.
• Verillion admitted that he had instructed Corillion to test Alvin and offered compensation.
• Alvin released Corillion, then struck him for glaring and threatened to send his head to the Ark Eldar.
• Verillion dismissed Corillion and told him to remember who he could afford to provoke.
• After Corillion left, Verillion began discussing the real matter with Alvin.

Alvin met with Verillion in his palace and asked him to locate the retired Thunder Warriors whose names were written on a parchment. Verillion agreed to reveal their whereabouts if Alvin paid off their debts, leaving the two to negotiate the price.

• Verillion led Alvin, Terrax, and Anna from the laboratory to his palace and received them over food and drink.
• Alvin and Verillion discussed their views of humanity and the Aeldari, while Anna felt uneasy at their polite conversation.
• Alvin questioned why Verillion had rescued Corillion, and Verillion explained that Corillion still owed him money for body modifications and was a useful assistant.
• Alvin used Psykana Lightning to show Verillion the names of the people he wanted to find.
• Verillion recognized Theoris as a former arena champion and offered to reveal the group’s locations if Alvin paid their medical debts.
• Alvin asked Verillion what he wanted in return.

Verillion Fal revealed that he was the last scion of the ancient Durukari house and explained that the School of Fallen Zenith had stolen an opportunity tied to his research into the Aeldari’s future. He asked Alvin to help reclaim it from the School, which was backed by Alvin’s enemy, the Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group.

• Alvin pressed Verillion to explain what he wanted, while Anna silently urged Alvin not to provoke the powerful Blood Performer.
• Verillion revealed that his true surname was Durukari and claimed descent from the royal house that built the Ancient City of Gomo.
• Alvin asked whether Verillion wanted to retake Commorragh, but Verillion denied seeking control of the city.
• Verillion explained that he had founded the Witch Council of the School of Heavenly Condemnation and Retribution to research death and discover a way to save the Aeldari.
• Verillion said the School of Fallen Zenith had taken the opportunity his council uncovered and asked Alvin to help reclaim it from the Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group.

Alvin rejected Verillion’s request to reclaim the chance from the School of Fallen Zenith, refusing to risk fighting them for the Bloodbride. He revealed that the Astronomican had gone dark and threatened to lead the Imperium to Commorragh unless Verillion helped him reach Viktor.

• Verillion asked Alvin to reclaim the chance from the School of Fallen Zenith, but Alvin refused and tried to leave with Terrax and Anna.
• Verillion argued that he could not act openly against the School because the Witch Council would interfere, and that his own school had grown too weak.
• Verillion threatened to keep Alvin from meeting Viktor, but Alvin said he would bring the human fleet to flatten Commorragh if necessary.
• Alvin revealed that the Astronomican had gone dark and Viktor could relight it, warning that the Imperium might wage another War in Heaven if Alvin could not reach him.
• Alvin opened a glowing portal and told Verillion that Commorragh was already in the Imperium’s sights, threatening to sink it and shatter the galaxy.

Alvin forced Verillion to concede by making him confront the Imperium of Man’s potential retaliation against the Dark Eldar. Verillion offered to hand over the captives and begged Alvin to help him reclaim an opportunity, but Alvin pointed out that Verillion had never shown him proper respect.

• Alvin’s warning about the Imperium’s power and possible last-stand retaliation convinced Verillion that the Dark Eldar could not risk opposing him.
• Verillion conceded and admitted that the Dark Eldar’s era had ended, leaving Alvin in control of the negotiations.
• Verillion offered to hand over the people Alvin wanted and waive their debts, then pleaded for Alvin to help him reclaim an opportunity at any price.
• Alvin told Verillion that his request was rude because he had never treated Alvin as a friend or called him “Your Highness.”

Alvin weighed Verillion’s offer to help reclaim the opportunity taken by the School of Fallen Zenith, but prioritized finding imprisoned Supreme Governor Viktor. Verillion gave him the locations he requested and warned that the people there were dangerously modified and unstable.

• Verillion offered the loyalty of himself and the School of Heavenly Condemnation and Retribution if Alvin reclaimed their stolen opportunity.
• Alvin refused to commit, separating the Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group’s ties to the School of Fallen Zenith from any obligation to oppose its Witch Council.
• Alvin asked Verillion for the locations of the people on his list, and Verillion handed the information to Anna while warning that they were powerful, irritable, and dangerous.
• Alvin said he would consider Verillion’s proposal, then prepared to leave with Corillion escorting him.
• Verillion threatened Corillion with death if he failed to see Alvin off properly, and Alvin teased Corillion about his sudden obedience.

Alvin visited the Meat Hook Black Market with Corillion and Anna to find the former arena champions who dealt with Verillion. After seeing the market’s cruelty and the contempt shown toward mixed-blood Dark Eldar, Alvin considered using the oppressed as a force against Commorragh’s nobles.

• Corillion explained that Verillion sent former arena champions to stop winning fighters from escaping and that the champions received medicine in return.
• Anna described the Meat Hook Black Market as a place where people could hide their identities and buy rare goods, competing with Corillion to prove her usefulness to Alvin.
• Alvin, Anna, and Corillion entered the market and saw living creatures displayed as merchandise for Dark Eldar buyers.
• Corillion identified the nerve-spine corridor’s entry tax, then intimidated the guards into opening the passage by revealing he was a Blood Jester.
• Alvin reflected on the oppression of mixed-bloods and slaves and considered stirring them into rebellion against Commorragh’s nobles.

Alvin tried to stir resentment among Commorragh’s mixed-blood Dark Eldar while seeking out a reclusive Thunder Warrior. After the warrior attacked him, Alvin invoked the Thunder Warriors’ old dream of unifying Terra.

• Alvin praised two terrified mixed-blood guards as heroes of Commorragh, hoping his words would help destabilize the ruling Iron Thorn Conspiracy Group.
• Corillion warned Alvin that a berserk Thunder Warrior guarded the settlement and forbade outsiders from entering; Alvin left Terrax and the others behind.
• Alvin entered the human settlement and encountered a burly, hostile man who questioned him about his companions.
• Alvin named several possible Thunder Warriors, and the man grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against a wall.
• Alvin calmly asked whether the Thunder Warrior had forgotten the Legion Masters’ dream of unifying Terra.