Game 2: Martyred Maidens Try to Seize the Artifact

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## The Maiden's Arrival

Having braved the warp to the other side of the sub-sector, Mystranda and her retinue emerged upon the edge of the Astheneia system. Immediately Coteaz could feel the call of the exalted KoS living within the artifact. The Assault Cathedrums floated their way to the Faithful Absolver, connecting to its metal hull in a soundless clash. Latches sprung out from the Faithful Absolver, anchoring the Cathedrums. Without hesitation, the scores of Sisters flooded into the Cathedrums and prepared to crash down into the demon infested planet below them.

Through twisted metal and sparking soundboxes, Mystranda's voice echoed through all of the vessels. "Sisters! Today is just another test in the long exalted quest that we have each set out on in honor of the Emporer. While we have been tasked with purging Hades of Chaos and Xenos swine, we must take additional action today. Our intelligence tells us that a once-lost, but very powerful relic has been unearthed below. With no word from other imperium vessels, we can only assume it has fallen into the wrong hands. We must recover the Relic!"

"Our Cathedrum's will crash down to the surface, and I will have you all establish as large of a perimeter as you can around our strongholds. Once established, Coteaz and I will lead a select few into the heart of these beasts. We will carve our way through their lines in the name of the Emporer, for only his might is worthy of such a relic. Securing the relic will require a miracle on its own, so I will leave it to you, my Ladies, to ensure our Cathedrum's security as we extract the relic."

"For the Emporer!" she shouted.

All of the vessels shook "For the Emporer!" the women echoed in response.

## Zhe and the Slaanesh Cults Have Been Busy

The ancient exalted KoS in the artifact has taken control of the Slaanesh cultist forces and leaders, and the mortal servants and daemons of Slaanesh have been avoiding direct confrontation, accomplishing goals farther out, and NOT trying to claim territory or advantage inside the Hive itself.

The KoS has answered the dreaming calls of numerous now-awakened Slaanesh warp entities that have lain dormant since the Fall of the Eldar, waking up ancient allies and powerful Slaanesh daemons who fought together in the long ago war on Astheneia, and together Zhey are now leading Zheir mortal followers and servants to what feels like impending victory over Zheir Imperium Oppressors and Genestealer Rivals!

The Genestealer cults have driven the oppressors up into the Hive where they are besieged!

Our enemies are killing each other, and our allies are on the way! Oh Glorious Day! The All consuming Lust and Love Godhead of Slaanesh is on a roll, bringing the cultists of Astheneia to control of the outlying facilities on the outskirts of the Hive and in the dry wildernesses further out. As the Slaanesh Cult gathers strength and momentum, the combined casualties of all sides from the fighting within and around the Hive pass 100,000 dead humans and mutants of all sorts, with a few million more souls now in imminent peril and suffering as the fighting becomes more and more horribly violent and grimdark. The growing slaughter draws and siphons an ever greater amount of warp energy though the the Primus Hive, attracting and empowering the Daemons!

The crusaders of the growing Conversion of Slaanesh's Love, are now allied and serving under the much-scrying and -probabalistic analysis of possible glimpsed futures Gaze of **the KoS**. The continuously-manifest in real-space Lubed Fist of Slaanesh poking through Into Our Reality, reaching from outside our universe in the Immaterium, sustained by the Force of the Warp flowing through the Artifact carried at the head of the victorious-feeling revolutionary crusade, and the energy emitted by their successes for the glory of Slaanesh and the empowering Reunion of Slaanesh Daemon Ancient Comrades who are confident this time will be different

A rarely attained feat of Zher and of Zher neverborn and mortal followers, in full glorious view with the naked eyes of the human cultists who had suffered for so long in the shadows, Zher impossibly compelling and entrancingly beautiful appearance, clear as the dim daylight on Astheneia III as the many corpses of the mortal enemies they have strugged against all their lives. The newly awakened servants of Slaanesh say it now feels much like it did during the ancient Fall when they tasted victory but lost hold of it in the excitement, but hopefully this time will be different with the promised aid of the Crusade of Endless Joy, even now sailing through the Warp unusually fast towards Astheneia system, catching the scent of the Daughter of Tides strike cruiser ahead. The CoEJ have converted numerous Daemon Worlds in their centuries of subjective time crusading against the Imperium, sometimes with or for Abaddon, and always for Slaanesh!

Zhe is the Ancient Exalted Keeper of Secrets who coordinated and commanded the speartip legions of Slaanesh that did not quite manage to manifest easily or open a lasting portal into the Warp, and so who have been sleeping from the aftermath of the fall for aeons

Every game in this narrative campaign, the Slaanesh detachment containing Zher pays 1 CP to make Zher a narrative exalted daemon, using the stratagem new in Engine War

**Because of Zher narrative centrality, Zhe always has the 4++ Invulnerable Save, and the -1 to be hit by ranged attacks, but Zhe still has to pay 1 cp for the stratagem, as if she had rolled for them**

**And Tynzer-Snip and Zylda-Hinte**, the sorcerous slaaneshi herald sisters who have possessed a parade of human children, and lost a few chosen children from the priveleged ranks of the cultist leaders, into the immaterium and all consuming love of Slaanesh flowing in the Warp,

**Tynzer-Snip** still carries the same sonorous whatever relic like a 12"doom siren, and **Zylda-Hinte** still has the Warp Lord leader to reroll 1s' to manifest psychic, their "local warlord" traits from in Chapter 1.

Zylda-Hinte is greatly enhanced, in her new possesed human child body, by the now-manifest Exalted Keeper of Secrets marching alongside her and all mind-communing through the Warp together, and she carries the ancient staff Artifact that was instrumental in the fall of the Eldar long ago, more recently dug up by some Now-Dead Mechanicus forces, and strongly implicated in the currently ongoing slaughter and defeat of some of the local Genestealer cultists in the areas on the outskirts of the Primus Hive, and now carried at the head of the glorious victorious crusade!

**She carries the Staff of Conversion [+1 to manifest or deny a psychic power by the bearer of the staff, and +1 to Invuln saves by the bearer, to a max of 3++]**, from which the weeks-ago awakened KoS emerged to lead the cultists and spread the glad tidings of the pending victory of the servants of converting love over their Oppressors. The staff gives the model who carries it, including very likely Coteaz in future battles, if his scrying and future Gaze can see further and deeper than that of Zhe Exalted Keeper of Secrets, into how the Sisters attack on the Cultists will go, and he manages to Seize the Artifact For the Emperor!

## Scenario Crunch Details

1k pts, normal 9th matched rules with narrative allowances, 6 CP, two detachments max,

The artifact is the relic, which can be carried with normal 9th ed rules and only by Infantry models, and **gives victory to the controller at the end of Round 5**, unless either side carries the relic with any kind of move off their far opposing board table edge, in which case whoever 'scored the touchdown with the relic football' immediately wins

Whatever tip of the spear detachment(s) Coteaz and the Canoness lead to try to take the ancient slaanesh artifact from the thriving and successful-feeling Slaanesh Cult

I understand the Canoness is your 4-chosen-perk character, so she should have her choices defined in your wiki page linked from the campaign page, about your force named after your warband, near the top,

and we will say that Coteaz follows his current data sheet, uses 9th edition rules, I think from a white dwarf article?, and counts as your local warlord equivalent for your first "combined Imperium" force. He has really fun rules and is one of my favorite inquisitor characters, so I'm real excited, and might someday add a Coteaz of my own to my heroes of the imperium forces

Since all the other Chapter 2 games look likely to be taking place in my basement, lets do ours at your gaming space! It should be easy for me to bring a 1k Incursion force to your house

## Outcome and Lore

The KoS had felt the approach of Koteaz through the Warp. As Zhe led the forces of Slaanesh to reclaim and awaken the sleeping Slaanesh daemons from ruins and artifacts buried and scattered around the region, Zhe kept her Warp-eye on his approach through the system.

Zhe thought about laying an ambush, and briefly discussed this with the sorcerous herald sisters possessing the cultist children, but it became increasingly clear that the arrogant servants of the false god intended to charge directly at the artifact and attempt to reclaim the artifact by brute force!

The forces of Slaanesh had just recently awoken a powerful daemon that inhabited a sarcophagus made of smooth black stone. As the Daemon inside it awoke and returned to it's full strength and power, fleshy protuberances extended from the black stone, allowing the sarcophagus to walk on tall monstrous legs, and soon it could manifest powerful weapons in the same way. This fearsome Defiler took it's place at Zher side, and flexed it's giant claw in eager anticipation.

As the Slaaneshi column marched through the ruins on their way back to the Primus Hive, they heard the rapid approach of the Emperor's warmachines, carrying Koteaz and Mystranda. Taking cover behind the ruins, the cultists readied their weapons, and powerful daemon leaders of the crusade called more of their lesser allies out of the warp. But instead of weathering a barrage of long ranged artillery and heavy weapons, the servants of Slaanesh watched as the arrogant servants of the corpse god continued driving right up into flamer range! The heaver bolters from the three immolators opened fire, cutting down some unlucky cultists and daemonettes.

But Slaanesh daemons love nothing better than the dance of close combat, so they charged forward and swarmed over the immolators, braving the continuous gouts of flame and heavy bolter fire! The Defiler and Exalted Keeper of Secrets each opened one of the immolators like a can of sardines, tearing apart the flimsy steel with their giant daemonic claws. The chaos spawn and fiend of Slaanesh took care of the infantry that escaped out of one immolator, while the Defiler had the bad luck to tear open the immolator containing Koteaz!

Koteaz and the Defiler fought a brief duel, with his psychic powers, mighty hammer, and daemon-hunting experience allowing him to briefly stand against the giant daemonic war machine, almost slaying it...but it was not to be. The Defiler rallied, and struck back, smashing Koteaz and knocking him aside with it's giant daemonic claw! It looked grim, but before the Defiler could finish him, Koteaz was saved by melta and flamer fire from the squad of sisters who disembarked around Canoness Mystranda! Under the intense purifying heat of the sisters' weapons, the fleshy extensions, claws, and protuberances of the Defiler retreated back into smooth black stone box, and the terrible daemon was momentarily forced back into it's container.

But the victorious moment for the Imperium was fleeting, as the Exalted Keeper of Secrets rushed across the battlefield towards Mystranda and the fallen Defiler! Sensing her doom as the giant Exalted Greater Daemon bore down upon her, Mystranda signaled the withdrawal. The squad of Seraphim that she had kept in reserve flew down and attacked the flank of the Slaanesh mob, distracting the Keeper of Secrets and giving Mystranda enough time to grab the wounded Koteaz and duck into the last mobile immolator and make their escape. Few of her sisters escaped with her, and Koteaz would need medical attention and perhaps more cybernetics...

Koteaz and Canoness Mystranda had discussed The Awful Truth about Daemons and the Warp before the battle, but she had not imagined they could be so swift, so deadly, or so beautiful... She swore that next time they would be prepared, would have the right tools, and would not fail to serve the Emperor's Justice to the heretics!