Recaps

Horus sent Loken with a mixed task force to investigate Murder Star, where an unknown xenos force had nearly destroyed a Blood Angels fleet. After weeks of Warp travel, Loken’s fleet arrived and found an Emperor’s Children expeditionary fleet under Eidolon already there.

• Horus summoned Loken and ordered him to lead an advance force to the 140th Expeditionary Fleet’s last known location.
• Horus told Loken that unknown xenos had nearly wiped out three Blood Angels companies, whose final transmission called the planet “murder.”
• Horus ordered Loken to take two thousand Word Bearers and three companies of Luna Wolves to investigate Murder Star and eradicate the xenos.
• Loken’s mixed task force endured weeks of Warp travel before reaching Murder Star and beginning close-range scans.
• Loken’s fleet detected an Emperor’s Children expeditionary fleet under Eidolon arriving at the system.

Eidolon learned that Augustus had wasted Imperial troops in failed attempts to investigate Murder Star, then ordered Tarvitz to lead a massive assault on the planet. Loken watched the Emperor’s Children launch and, despite his anger, ordered the Luna Wolves fleet to hold position and monitor events.

• Eidolon confronted Augustus over sending dozens of teams into Murder Star without adequate reconnaissance and nearly executed him with his power axe.
• Tarvitz persuaded Eidolon to spare Augustus for the information he might provide.
• Eidolon declared that the Emperor’s Children would conquer Murder Star and ordered Tarvitz to lead three companies, including Akurduana’s company, in a simultaneous drop.
• The Emperor’s Children launched a large force of drop pods toward the planet, and Loken reacted with fury at their reckless assault.
• Loken ordered the Luna Wolves fleet to remain on alert and monitor the drop units and changes on Murder Star.

Tarvitz and the Emperor’s Children endured a disastrous drop through Murder Star’s hostile atmosphere and landed far from their designated zone. With communications down and their forces scattered, Tarvitz assembled a small group and faced Lucius’s demand to move out.

• Tarvitz analyzed Murder Star’s violent atmospheric turbulence and warned that an intelligent force might be directing it.
• A crosswind sent one Emperor’s Children Drop Pod crashing into another, and the explosion damaged nearby pods, including Tarvitz’s.
• Tarvitz’s pod landed hard, and he emerged to find wreckage, scattered survivors, and communications failing.
• Lucius and Chelast joined Tarvitz, helping him gather roughly a hundred warriors and establish a defensive perimeter.
• Tarvitz concluded that the group had landed far from its target on a toxic, dust-covered wasteland, and Lucius urged them to move and find enemies or a communications node.

Tarvitz and Lucius led a hundred Space Marines across a barren wasteland and discovered Blood Angels corpses impaled on strange stone formations. A gigantic armored spider attacked their column, killing two Emperor’s Children, and shrugged off Tarvitz’s full-force Power Sword strike.

• Tarvitz ordered the column to advance toward the rally point while he scanned the exposed wasteland for danger.
• Tarvitz and Lucius spotted pale, unnatural stone formations and found several Blood Angels bodies impaled on their branches.
• Tarvitz warned the warriors to prepare for combat, but a giant chitinous creature burst from the sand and killed two Emperor’s Children.
• Tarvitz charged the creature and struck its head with his Power Sword, but its armor deflected the blow and jolted his arm.
• The wounded Tarvitz faced the creature as it turned its bladed limbs toward him.

Tarvitz, Lucius, and Chelast killed the Giant Spider by exploiting the wounds in its carapace and blasting its exposed tissue with plasma. When the spider’s collapse destroyed a strange Stone Tree, communications and visibility improved, leading Tarvitz to suspect the trees were nodes in a larger system as the group prepared to move on.

• Lucius wounded the Giant Spider’s abdomen, but its furious attack forced the Emperor’s Children to spread out and fire at its vulnerable joints.
• Chelast identified the spider’s weak points and ordered the warriors to target its joints and head while he moved in under Lucius’s cover.
• Chelast stabbed into the crack Tarvitz had made in the spider’s carapace and repeatedly fired his Plasma Pistol into the wound, killing the creature.
• The Giant Spider’s corpse crashed into a milky-white Stone Tree, shattering it and burying the Blood Angels’ remains beneath the rubble.
• Communications and visibility improved after the Stone Tree fell, and Tarvitz suspected the trees were nodes affecting the region’s environment.
• Tarvitz ordered the warriors to stay alert, recover samples, and prepare to continue toward the rally point.

Tarvitz’s squad destroyed the Stone Trees to weaken Murder Star’s interference and restored contact with the orbital Fleet, but they could not reach Eidolon. When dozens of Giant Spider Xenos appeared, Tarvitz ordered a retreat toward a nearby canyon, and Lucius reluctantly followed.

• Tarvitz ordered his squad to destroy Stone Trees as they advanced, reducing the oppressive interference around them.
• Tarvitz contacted the orbital Fleet and received orders to rendezvous with Eidolon’s forces and establish a temporary base, but his squad could not reach Eidolon or his command headquarters.
• Chelast spotted dozens of Giant Spider Xenos racing toward the squad across the wasteland.
• Tarvitz ordered everyone to abandon their route and retreat toward a canyon beside the rocky mountain.
• Lucius initially demanded a fight, then chose to follow Tarvitz, trading sarcastic remarks with Chelast as they ran.

Tarvitz led his battered squad into a gorge and learned that reinforcements were on their way, including a force led by Loken and an elite Word Bearers squad. After receiving a distress call from Akurduana, Tarvitz hurried deeper into the gorge and found him standing among the spider corpses, finishing off the last Giant Spider Xenos.

• Tarvitz led his warriors into the gorge and organized a defensive line against the pursuing Giant Spider Xenos.
• Orbital command told Tarvitz that Loken would bring three companies and that a Word Bearers commander would lead an elite squad to assist.
• Tarvitz received a broken distress signal from Akurduana and sent Lucius and Chelast to hold the entrance while he led about forty warriors deeper into the gorge.
• Tarvitz and his warriors found Akurduana in a clearing surrounded by dead Giant Spider Xenos.
• Akurduana removed his Helmet, mocked the last spider, severed its limbs, and cut off its head.

After Tarvitz reunited with Akurduana, Eidolon called every surviving Legion warrior to rally on a high ground under siege. Eidolon’s force faced thousands of Giant Spider Xenos, and it remained uncertain whether reinforcements could reach them in time.

• Akurduana told Tarvitz that the landing had separated him from his squad and that he had killed more than a dozen Giant Spider Xenos alone.
• Eidolon broadcast coordinates and ordered every Legion warrior who received the transmission to assemble at his position.
• Lucius arrived, saw Akurduana among the slain xenos, and addressed him as his master.
• Eidolon and his Emperor’s Children held a defensive line on high ground as thousands of Giant Spider Xenos closed in and their ammunition dwindled.

Eidolon and the Emperor's Children held a hillside defense against thousands of Giant Spider Xenos by targeting their vulnerable limbs, but their ammunition ran low and a Terminator was killed. The chapter left Eidolon waiting for reinforcements as the defenders faced a broken balance and an unending assault.

• The Emperor's Children used precise fire to cripple the giant spiders and then destroy them, holding the defense line for hours despite being outnumbered.
• Eidolon saw that ammunition for every weapon was nearly exhausted and feared the line would collapse once the defenders could no longer suppress the xenos.
• A giant spider ambushed a Terminator warrior during an ammunition change, pierced his armor, and dragged him over the slope.
• The dying warrior fired his Autocannon into the xenos while shouting for the Emperor and Fulgrim, then fell silent.
• Other warriors filled the gap, while Eidolon checked his communicator and found only static as he waited for reinforcements.

Loken restored communications and ordered Eidolon’s forces to take cover before calling down orbital surface-targeting lances to destroy the xenos swarms. Tarvitz, Lucius, Akurduana, and the other survivors fled the bombardment, and the chapter ended with Sanguinius arriving with reinforcements.

• Loken contacted Eidolon from orbit, demanded his coordinates, and ordered the Emperor’s Children to abandon their positions and take cover.
• Eidolon shared the coordinates and rallied his warriors behind the largest rocks on the high ground.
• Loken fired two orbital lances into the xenos approach, destroying swarms and ground constructs while Eidolon’s forces sheltered from the blasts.
• Tarvitz, Lucius, Akurduana, and the surviving warriors ran deep into a canyon and continued fleeing until they escaped the lances’ reach.
• Sanguinius arrived on the battlefield with reinforcements.

Eidolon survived Loken’s orbital Lance strikes, which cleared the planet’s atmospheric interference and opened the way for a massive Imperial deployment on Murder Star. The reinforcements arrived, and the Word Bearers’ towering Hercules introduced himself as an ally sent at the Primarch’s command.

• Eidolon emerged from the rubble and saw that the Lance strikes had dispersed much of Murder Star’s storm clouds and communications interference.
• Imperial transports landed Mortals, a Knight House, and the Emperor-class Titan Flamewind alongside a legion of other Titans.
• Tarvitz confronted Loken over the devastating strikes, then accepted that they had saved the defenders from the xenos.
• Loken noticed the arriving Word Bearers and wondered who they had sent to assist.
• Hercules emerged from the Word Bearers’ transport and told Loken, Eidolon, and Tarvitz that he had come to assist at the Primarch’s command.

Hercules arrived on Murder Star carrying Lorgar’s secret order to contact the human realm of Intres, which was expected to respond to the disturbance at its prison for Giant Spider Xenos. As the Imperium’s forces clashed with the xenos, Hercules prepared to lead his troops into battle.

• Lorgar sent Hercules to establish secret contact with Intres and prepare a diplomatic channel for the Word Bearers.
• Tarvitz told Hercules that the Giant Spider Xenos were regrouping and moving toward the Imperial landing zones and advance lines.
• A massive battle erupted near the assembly point as Imperial forces and the xenos collided.
• Hercules turned toward the fighting, rested his hand on his Chainsword, and said they would begin there.

Imperial forces fought the Giant Spiders on Murder Star until a colossal dark red spider emerged and devastated their lines. Hercules arrived and stopped its attack with one arm, then snapped off its limb.

• Imperialis Militia troops, Leman Russ tanks, and Knight Walkers advanced against the Giant Spiders and killed many of them.
• A Questoris Knight pilot fought off a Giant Spider with a chainsword while the Imperial forces established firing positions against a larger swarm.
• A colossal dark red Giant Spider burst from underground, impaled the Questoris Knight, and crushed it in its jaws.
• The colossal spider shrugged off the Armiger Knights' attacks and hurled tanks and transports aside as it advanced through the Imperial formation.
• Hercules charged in and caught the spider's descending limb with one arm.
• Hercules broke the colossal Giant Spider's limb with his strength.

Hercules defeated the Giant Spider through overwhelming strength, killing it before the Imperialis Militia watched in awe. He stood atop its corpse with his armor broken and his Greatsword in hand.

• The Giant Spider attacked Hercules, but he dodged its strike and shattered one of its supporting legs with a punch.
• Hercules struck the Giant Spider's abdomen, grievously wounding it and driving it to flee.
• Hercules seized one of its legs, dragged the Giant Spider across the ground, and hurled it down, killing it.
• Hercules stood atop the Giant Spider's corpse and severed its head with his Greatsword.
• An Imperialis Militia soldier watched the battle from behind wreckage, cowering in terror at Hercules.

Hercules killed a colossal giant spider, stunning Tarvitz, Lucius, and Chelast with his strength. Sanguinius and the Blood Angels arrived on Murder Star, joining the Emperor’s Children and Imperial forces in a coordinated counteroffensive that seized the initiative from the xenos.

• Hercules pulled his Greatsword from the giant spider’s skull and told Tarvitz, Lucius, and the others to keep advancing.
• Tarvitz and Lucius struggled to believe what they had witnessed, while Chelast recognized Hercules’s overwhelming strength from their earlier fight.
• Sanguinius descended over Murder Star and used the Spear of Telesto to destroy giant spiders as Blood Angels Drop Pods struck the battlefield.
• The Blood Angels joined the surviving Emperor’s Children in a coordinated assault against the giant spiders.
• Imperial tanks, millions of militia troops, and rallied Knight Houses advanced together, breaking the xenos’ attacks and securing the initiative on Murder Star.

Loken, Tarvitz, and Eidolon approved a massive orbital and aerial bombardment to destroy the Giant Spiders gathered on Murder Star’s northern plateau and collapse their underground nests. Imperial vanguard units later entered the devastated region to assess the damage and search for survivors or useful remains.

• Loken described the dense xenos presence on the plateau and the vast network of tunnels beneath it.
• Tarvitz urged a full-coverage Lance bombardment, warning that the Giant Spiders were evolving too quickly for a ground war of attrition.
• Loken approved the orbital strike, and Eidolon reluctantly agreed to the plan.
• Imperial Lance Batteries struck the plateau, followed by days of Marauder bombers dropping Napalm Bombs and High-Explosive Bombs.
• The bombardment left the plateau as a radioactive wasteland of lava lakes and vitrified ground, with biological signatures confirmed silent.
• Forty-eight hours after the strikes, Imperial vanguard units arrived to survey the ruins and search for surviving underground cavities, xenos remains, or research traces.

Lorgar waited on Murder Star for envoys from the Intres Federation, unaware that Corax had already destroyed the federation and claimed the Nemesis Blade. Corax left with the weapon and a chosen wielder in mind, while the Imperial forces continued waiting for allies who would never arrive.

• Lorgar found no sign of Intres envoys and ordered Hercules to help Tarvitz finish cleansing Murder Star and wait another month.
• A week before the Battle of Murder Star, Corax appeared in the Intres Federation's capital and slaughtered its defenders.
• Corax reached a museum and found the Nemesis Blade, which Bella identified as a weapon that would aid him.
• Corax took the Nemesis Blade and said he had already chosen who would wield it.
• The Intres Federation was destroyed, leaving Imperial forces on Murder Star unaware that Corax had obtained a weapon intended for them.

Corax prepared a blood-infused drink and gave Sharrowkyn the Nemesis Blade, then assigned him to serve under Warmaster Horus. Sharrowkyn left with the sword and gifts for Ferrus Manus, while Corax remained alone in darkness.

• Corax cut his palm and mixed his black blood into a glass of wine while waiting for Sharrowkyn.
• Sharrowkyn arrived, and Corax welcomed him and praised his loyalty and endurance.
• Corax gave Sharrowkyn the wine, which he drank, and then presented him with the Nemesis Blade.
• Corax ordered Sharrowkyn to lead an elite force under Warmaster Horus, and Sharrowkyn agreed to serve as the Raven Guard's representative.
• Corax instructed Sharrowkyn to deliver special metal and technological artifacts from Intres to Ferrus Manus.
• Sharrowkyn departed with the sword and gifts, leaving Corax alone in the dark room.

Corax hid the truth about his destruction of the Intres Federation in a report to Lorgar while searching its spoils for forbidden knowledge and the Six Divine Artifacts. After reading the report, Lorgar recognized Corax’s actions as a deliberate extermination and ordered spies to track the Nemesis Blade and monitor Corax’s Fleet.

• Corax sorted through the Intres Federation’s spoils and found an ancient sealed volume he could not identify, while continuing his search for the Six Divine Artifacts.
• Corax considered killing the incoming Navigator to prevent her from discovering the Fleet’s abnormalities.
• Lorgar read Corax’s report and realized that Corax had destroyed the Intres Federation despite its goodwill toward the Imperium.
• Lorgar identified the Nemesis Blade among the seized items and ordered his intelligence network to infiltrate Corax’s Fleet and find the sword.

On the devastated world of Moris, Salamanders warrior Morkan found a frightened orphan girl and comforted her with stories of Nocturne and Vulkan. He held her as night fell, promising to stay with her until she found her family or no longer felt afraid.

• Morkan searched the ruins of Moris and discovered a little girl hiding with her rag doll.
• Morkan gently introduced himself as a warrior of the Salamanders' Seventh Company and sat beside the girl.
• The girl told Morkan that her parents and home were gone, and he promised to stay with her.
• Morkan told the girl about Nocturne, Vulkan, and the Salamanders' compassion as his fellow warriors aided survivors.
• As the girl grew sleepy in his arms, Morkan continued telling stories while knowing the war could bring new enemies the next day.

Lorgar weighed which Primarchs might betray the Imperium, crossing out Saladin, Magnus, and Corax while keeping Fulgrim and one of the Alpha twins under suspicion. On Moris, Morkan said farewell to a little girl and returned to Vulkan, who taught him that strength became greatness when used to protect the weak.

• Lorgar reviewed the Primarchs and crossed out Saladin and Magnus, deciding he could not save Magnus but might prevent the War of the Webway and the Burning of Prospero.
• Lorgar also crossed out Corax, set Horus aside, and suspected Fulgrim and one of the Alpha Legion's Primarchs of possible betrayal because of the Cabal.
• Lorgar considered Mortarion a risk after Typhus's death but trusted Vulkan completely.
• Morkan gave a little girl a necklace made from Nocturnean lizard toe bones and promised she could use it to help him recognize her if they met again among the stars.
• Morkan returned to the Fireforged, where Vulkan praised his promise to protect the future and taught him that strength made him great when he used it to protect the weak.

Vulkan led the Salamanders Fleet to Hope Star to answer a distress signal and destroy the xenos infestation. Morkan and the first warriors established a landing zone with powerful flamethrowers, but the battle against the Pustule Lizards was still underway.

• Vulkan rallied the Salamanders and ordered the Fleet to liberate Hope Star from the unknown xenos.
• The Salamanders Fleet emerged in orbit and found the planet covered in sickly growths and poisonous spores.
• Vulkan ordered five thousand Salamanders to deploy at once, and Morkan descended in a Thunderhawk Gunship.
• Morkan used his modified heavy flamethrower to vaporize the infected plants and burn the charging Pustule Lizards.
• More Salamanders landed and formed a wall of fire that burned away most of the Pustule Lizards' toxic miasma.
• The Pustule Lizards began retreating from the fire line as Morkan watched the battle continue.

Vulkan refused Colonel Calvin’s request to send unprotected Mortals into the poisoned rainforest and decided to enter it himself to destroy the corruption at its source. As the Salamanders prepared to contain the infected forest, a Warp Storm began forming near Hope Star, apparently targeting Vulkan and his forces.

• Colonel Calvin reported that his troops were ready, but Vulkan ordered the Mortals to remain in orbit and support the ground campaign because the rainforest’s toxins could kill them.
• Vulkan told the Ship Captain to notify Candice, slow the fire advance, establish a containment belt, and prepare to enter the rainforest himself.
• Candice directed the Salamanders to herd the surviving Pustule Lizards into the infected rainforest ahead of a planned cleansing bombardment.
• Vulkan arrived with seven Flame Guard led by Artellus Numeon and said he would find and kill the source of the corruption.
• A dense, unnatural Warp Storm began gathering near Hope Star’s gravity well, its visions revealing a filthy cauldron and its malice directed at Vulkan and the Flame Guard.

Vulkan led the Salamanders through Hope Star’s corruption-soaked rainforest and killed a seven-headed giant lizard that attacked their line. He tried to contact the orbital fleet, but interference silenced communications as the sky turned yellow-green and the corruption intensified.

• Morkan and the Salamanders advanced through the infected rainforest, burning the corrupted vegetation as Vulkan encouraged them from the front.
• Vulkan sensed a hostile presence approaching and ordered the Salamanders to get behind him.
• A seven-headed giant lizard charged Vulkan, who shattered its body and crushed each of its seven heads with Dawnbringer.
• Vulkan tried to contact the orbital fleet, but the Communications Channel returned only static.
• Vulkan looked up to find the sky yellow-green, the air growing thicker, and faint laughter echoing through the corruption.

Vulkan and the Salamanders Legion were trapped on Hope Star by a warp storm and an unstoppable plague that liquefied its victims. After seventy-seven Salamanders died in the first wave, Vulkan silently prayed for a miracle as the deaths continued.

• Vulkan repeatedly tried to contact the Fireforged, but the communications channel returned static and broken cries for help.
• A sickly green warp storm sealed Hope Star off from the orbital fleet, communications, and reality itself.
• A supernatural plague bypassed the Salamanders’ defenses and rapidly caused infected warriors to hemorrhage and melt into sludge.
• Seventy-seven Salamanders died within a dozen hours, and the death toll doubled daily afterward.
• Vulkan gathered the Legion’s Apothecaries, medical officers, and Tech-Priests, but every attempt to contain or understand the plague failed.
• Vulkan stood beside the remains of his sons and silently prayed for hope.