Chapter Summaries

Mortarion fell from the summit after failing to withstand Nakare’s supreme poison mist and sank into the poison marsh. An old doctor found him and treated his wounds, leaving Mortarion beginning to recover as the chapter ended.

• Mortarion attempted to challenge Nakare at the summit but retreated when the poison mist overwhelmed him.
• Mortarion crashed into the lowland poison marsh and lay near death.
• An old doctor crossed the deadly mist, found Mortarion, and cut away his necrotic flesh.
• The old doctor applied his Universal Antidote Salve and forced a concentrated herbal extract down Mortarion’s throat.
• After waiting beside him, the old doctor watched Mortarion stir and open his eyes.

Mortarion woke in the toxic mist to find that an old doctor had saved him, and his pride turned the rescue into a source of fury and humiliation. When the doctor headed to a nearby village to treat sick children, Mortarion followed him, seeing the oppressed villagers as a possible army for his rebellion.

• Mortarion regained consciousness and realized the old doctor had treated his wounds.
• Mortarion confronted the doctor, insisting that he needed no pity, but the doctor calmly said he had saved him simply because he did not want anyone to die.
• The doctor told Mortarion he was going to a village to check on children harmed by the latest experiments.
• Mortarion decided the village's oppressed inhabitants could serve his plans and followed the doctor into the poisonous mist.

Mortarion reached a village on Barbarus and roused its oppressed people to rebel against the xenos lords. As the villagers prepared to follow him, the lords unleashed a deadly "Purification Rain" upon them.

• Mortarion arrived at the village and saw the hatred and strength hidden among its frightened, impoverished people.
• Mortarion addressed the villagers, urging them to rise up against the xenos lords and reclaim their world.
• The villagers emerged with makeshift weapons and shouted their support for Mortarion's call to storm the mountaintops.
• The sky turned sickly green, and an old man recognized the approaching storm as the "Purification Rain."
• The xenos lords sent concentrated toxic fog pouring down onto the village.

Mortarion watched the poisonous mist kill the villagers and blamed their weakness for ruining his plans. When he mistook the old doctor’s medicine for xenos sorcery, the doctor defied him and carried the black paste into the poison storm.

• The poisonous mist overwhelmed the villagers’ crude masks, killing them as Mortarion remained unharmed.
• Mortarion shouted at the dying villagers and berated them for being too weak to endure the poison and take revenge on the Tyrant.
• Mortarion spotted the old doctor brewing a black medicinal paste and became convinced that he was performing xenos sorcery.
• Mortarion grabbed the old doctor and accused him of sacrificing the villagers, but the doctor struck his hand and broke free.
• The old doctor lifted the steaming pot of medicine and plunged into the poisonous mist.

An old doctor used black ointment to save villagers poisoned by toxic mist, forcing Mortarion to confront the limits of his beliefs and his treatment of the weak. After the doctor collapsed, Mortarion stayed to help the villagers for the next few days.

• The old doctor treated a dying woman with black ointment, neutralizing the toxins and saving her life.
• The old doctor used the ointment to rescue other villagers, while Mortarion watched in shock and questioned his belief that every inexplicable miracle was sorcery.
• The old doctor ordered Mortarion to carry the rescued villagers into nearby houses, and Mortarion obeyed, saving them from the toxic mist.
• After treating the last wounded villager, the old doctor collapsed and explained that the ointment worked through chemistry and pharmacology, not sorcery.
• Mortarion caught the old doctor as he fell, and the old doctor told him that true endurance meant the strong shielding the weak rather than driving them toward death for revenge.
• The old doctor lost consciousness, and Mortarion remained with the villagers for the next few days.

After the old doctor’s words made Mortarion question whether his revenge made him any different from Barbarus’s tyrant, he asked to learn science and medicine. The doctor agreed, making Mortarion his apprentice and laying down strict rules.

• Mortarion cared for the unconscious old doctor and reflected on how his treatment of mortals resembled Nakare’s cruelty.
• For three days, Mortarion kept watch beside the old doctor and reconsidered his beliefs about endurance and power.
• When the old doctor awoke, Mortarion gave him warm water and asked him to teach him the sciences.
• The old doctor agreed to teach Mortarion on the condition that he obeyed him as an apprentice, and Mortarion accepted.

Over the following year, the old doctor and Mortarion helped Barbarus’s mortals build gas masks, chemical weapons, and a fighting force. When xenos sorcerer Narsh led a squad to attack their settlement, Mortarion prepared his first planned battle, luring them toward a hidden tunnel ambush.

• The old doctor and Mortarion traveled through mortal villages, treating the sick and gathering materials as Mortarion learned to forge protective gear.
• Mortarion made effective gas masks, inspired villagers to join his ranks, and trained them while promising to protect them.
• The old doctor taught villagers to create poison-neutralizing spray and chemical firebombs.
• A nearby xenos lord sent Narsh, lesser sorcerers, and more than thirty Stitched Beasts to destroy the growing mortal settlement.
• After a scout warned of the approaching force, Mortarion ordered his warriors into position according to their battle plan.
• Narsh led the attackers into a narrow gorge above tunnels Mortarion and the warriors had dug and concealed beneath the poisonous mud.

Mortarion led mortal warriors in an ambush against Narsh and the xenos, whose hallucinogenic toxic fog failed against the gas masks the old doctor had prepared. The old doctor then used a decontamination spray to neutralize the fog, leaving the xenos sorcerers’ attack shattered.

• Mortarion and the mortal warriors burst from a concealed tunnel and attacked the stitched beasts and xenos sorcerers.
• Mortarion directed the warriors to fight in groups while he smashed a beast, and the ambush killed many enemies.
• Narsh and the remaining sorcerers summoned purplish-red hallucinogenic fog, but the warriors breathed safely through Mortarion’s gas masks.
• The old doctor explained that the fog was a nerve gas and urged the warriors to use their decontamination sprays.
• The warriors sprayed the fog, triggering a reaction that broke it apart and made it vanish.

Mortarion and the mortal warriors used chemical weapons to defeat Narsh’s xenos harvesting squad, then marched on Lord Karag’s fortress with makeshift trebuchets. The chapter ended as Mortarion ordered the first volley released.

• Mortarion charged through the dispersed toxic mist and cut down two Stitched Beasts with his War Scythe.
• The mortal warriors threw incendiary bottles, burning the xenos sorcerers, while Mortarion seized and killed Narsh.
• The old doctor warned that Lord Karag remained a threat, so Mortarion rallied the warriors to attack the fortress.
• Two hours later, the mortals assembled before Lord Karag’s fortress with trebuchets built under the old doctor’s guidance.
• Mortarion gave the order to loose the trebuchets.

Mortarion led the human soldiers through a breached fortress wall and killed the xenos lord Karag in battle. With Karag dead and the remaining xenos fleeing, Mortarion raised Karag’s severed head above the battlefield.

• Mortarion ordered the trebuchets to bombard the fortress wall until it collapsed.
• Mortarion led thousands of masked human soldiers through the breach and overwhelmed the xenos guards.
• Karag emerged from the main building and confronted Mortarion with his axe and psychic pressure.
• Mortarion used precise, forceful strikes to interrupt Karag’s spells and cut off his head.
• The Stitched Beasts dissolved, the lesser xenos fled in panic, and Mortarion raised Karag’s head by its tentacles.

Mortarion and the Barbarus Resistance killed the xenos lord, inspiring humanity to declare its independence and establish an organized rebellion. After preserving the fortress’s scientific equipment and supplies, Mortarion prepared to challenge his foster father, High Lord Nakare.

• Mortarion threw the dead xenos lord’s head into the mire, and the mortal warriors celebrated their victory and founded the Barbarus Resistance.
• The resistance freed more than a thousand slaves from the fortress dungeons, and Mortarion stopped the crowd from destroying the xenos laboratories.
• The old doctor explained how captured equipment and scientific knowledge could protect the resistance, and Mortarion ordered all technical materials preserved.
• The resistance dismantled and loaded the fortress’s equipment, chemicals, generators, and alloy structures for transport.
• Mortarion looked toward Nakare’s mountaintop stronghold and vowed to bring humanity’s ingenuity and fury against it.

Calas Typhon joined Mortarion’s rebellion with nearly a thousand warriors and became one of Mortarion’s most trusted commanders. Though Mortarion welcomed him as a brother, Typhon privately despised the old doctor, Mentor, and entered Mortarion’s headquarters after a victorious battle.

• News of Mortarion’s victories and the camp’s antidote drew refugees to the rebellion, which grew into a fortified army.
• Calas Typhon arrived with 952 experienced warriors and pledged to fight the Tyrant alongside Mortarion.
• Typhon proved his worth in battle, winning the soldiers’ respect and earning Mortarion’s trust and command of part of the army.
• Typhon secretly held Mentor in contempt despite Mortarion’s confidence in him.
• After a battle, Typhon carried a bowl of soup into Mortarion’s headquarters.

Typhon urged Mortarion to use forbidden sorcery against Gethsalam, but Mortarion rejected him and threatened to purge him if he practiced it. Typhon secretly vowed to sacrifice the old doctor, who later left camp alone to search an unexplored eastern swamp.

• Typhon pressed Mortarion to abandon the old doctor's experiments and use ancient sorcery to defeat Gethsalam.
• The old doctor silently watched Typhon, and Mortarion warned Typhon that any further use of spells would lead him to purge their ranks.
• Typhon concealed his hatred, left the command post, and vowed to prepare a sacrifice to rid himself of the old doctor.
• A few days later, the old doctor left camp alone to search the eastern swampland for corrosion-resistant plants.

The old doctor confronted Calas Typhon in the Wailing Swamp and revealed that he knew Typhon’s secret devotion to Nurgle. Typhon summoned a Great Unclean One, which attacked the old doctor as the chapter ended.

• The old doctor waited in a clearing in the Wailing Swamp and called out to Typhon, who had secretly followed him.
• Typhon confronted the old doctor with a foul scythe, but the old doctor mocked his stench and named Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Khorne.
• The old doctor exposed Typhon’s hidden altar and nightly prayers to Nurgle, leaving Typhon shocked and furious.
• Typhon prayed to the Plague Father and summoned a Great Unclean One into the material world.
• Typhon ordered the daemon to kill the old doctor, and the Great Unclean One lunged at him.

Mortarion arrived in time to save the old doctor and killed the Great Unclean One with his common-steel War Scythe. He then turned on Calas Typhon, who attacked him in desperation, leaving their fight unresolved.

• Mortarion landed between the Great Unclean One and the old doctor, confronting Typhon over his betrayal.
• Typhon claimed he had turned to the Plague Father’s power to liberate Barbarus and ordered the daemon to kill Mortarion and the doctor.
• Mortarion severed the Great Unclean One’s hand and beheaded it with his War Scythe, sending the daemon back to the Warp.
• Mortarion approached Typhon, who blamed him and charged with his Plague Scythe.
• Mortarion watched coldly as Typhon’s scythe struck his own with a clang.

Mortarion defeated and executed Typhon, then found resolve in Old Doctor’s counsel about resisting corrupting power and holding to principle. Years of technological and tactical growth followed, leaving Mortarion ready to lead the final assault on High Lord Nakare.

• Mortarion overpowered Typhon, disarmed him, and killed him after rejecting his pleas for mercy.
• Old Doctor comforted Mortarion and warned him that borrowing the devil’s power meant surrendering his soul.
• Mortarion accepted Old Doctor’s guidance and became a more mature, principled commander.
• Old Doctor and Mortarion led the resistance through years of growth, equipping it with acid sprayers, advanced breathing systems, and floating gun platforms.
• Mortarion prepared to lead fifty thousand Death Guard in an assault on High Lord Nakare at Barbarus’s highest peak.

Mortarion led the Death Guard up Barbarus’s poison-shrouded mountain and killed Nakare, freeing the lowlands. After victory, he found that the Old Doctor had vanished, leaving him a science notebook and a farewell letter.

• The Old Doctor stayed behind as Mortarion led the Death Guard toward Nakare’s fortress, urging him to face the past and build a new future.
• The Death Guard overcame Nakare’s poison, necromancy, and fear magic using the Old Doctor’s knowledge and their preparations.
• Mortarion defeated Nakare with his war scythe and liberated Barbarus.
• Mortarion returned to the camp to share the victory with the Old Doctor but found his shack empty.
• Mortarion discovered the Old Doctor’s notebook and farewell letter, then searched the celebrating crowd for his vanished mentor.

Alpharius infiltrated the Imperial Palace archives as a low-ranking scribe to test the loyalty and decency of Terra’s bureaucrats, but Eli’s unselfish kindness challenged his assumptions. After Eli took a whipping for Alpharius’s deliberate copying errors, Alpharius was left to reconsider his belief that kindness always had a hidden motive.

• Alpharius disguised himself as a mortal scribe named Alf and joined Archive Section 572 to conduct a loyalty test for Malcador.
• Eli welcomed Alf, shared his synthetic jerky, and promised to protect him, while Alpharius suspected the offer concealed an ulterior motive.
• Alpharius observed that Eli neither shifted work onto him nor exploited him, despite Alpharius deliberately copying figures incorrectly.
• When the supervisor punished Alf for the errors, Eli claimed responsibility and took all ten lashes in his place.
• Eli comforted Alf afterward, explaining that he had protected him because they were workmates and Alf was new.

Alpharius triggered a false contamination alarm to test whether the archive scribes would turn on one another for a single respirator, expecting Eli to reveal his selfishness. As the scribes fought over the mask, Eli ignored it and shouted at Alf, who stood in the way of a possible escape route.

• Alpharius secretly activated an alarm that locked down archive sector four and began extracting its air.
• Alpharius staged the discovery of a single respirator, expecting the scribes to fight over their only chance to survive.
• The scribes attacked and killed one another as they struggled to reach the mask.
• Alpharius searched for Eli and found him watching Alf stand beside a slowly descending waste-disposal door.
• Eli shouted at Alf to move, leaving the respirator behind.

Eli sacrificed himself to hold open a descending blast door so Alpharius could escape, but Alpharius instead stopped the door and revealed his hidden power. After Alpharius ended the test and rescued Eli, Eli woke in a medical ward with his shoulder shattered.

• Eli jammed a heavy alloy support rod into the blast door and used his body to hold it open long enough for Alpharius to crawl through.
• Eli urged Alpharius to escape, leaving Alpharius stunned by his selfless sacrifice.
• Alpharius refused to leave and effortlessly stopped the blast door with one hand.
• Alpharius declared the test terminated, cleared the false alarm, restored the archive systems, and carried the unconscious Eli to safety.
• Eli woke in the medical department for low-ranking employees, badly injured but alive.