Crimson Slaughter - Slaughter and Salvation: When the Crimson Slaughter's numbers began to wax strong once more, Kranon knew it was time for a large-scale foray into the Imperium. There were many reasons to launch such a venture: it was a show of strength, it struck a vengeful blow against those that had betrayed them, and it would bring temporary relief from the voices. There was another reason that Kranon did not share widely; he was seeking a way to permanently quell the whispering that plagued them and at long last he had found a promising lead. Following the Warp-dreams of his chief sorcerer Mannon, Kranon had sought to learn all he could about the mysterious artefact known as the Hellfire Stone. The voices in his head feared this, redoubling their efforts to fill his mind with such garble that it was difficult to think straight at times. This alone led Kranon to believe he was on the right path. He had learned that the Hellfire Stone 's location was last guessed to be somewhere on the galactic southern rim. Kranon gave the command to gather all the warbands, to recruit Chaos Cultists to swell the Crimson Slaughter's numbers further and to prepare the entire warfleet. Thus began a rampage across a dozen worlds near the Veiled Region. These were not raids, but full-scale invasions that swept over a planet like wildfire. The first to meet the onslaught was Verdfall. On the old charts and Augur-readings that Kranon had obtained, the planet was under the Imperium's rule, so the Crimson Slaughter were surprised to find Orks. The world had recently fallen into Greenskin hands and the xenos race was still busy scrapping all they could find to suit their own ramshackle purposes.Within solar minutes of their fleet materialising into realspace and attaining orbit over Verdfall, the Crimson Slaughter were attacking on eight different fronts simultaneously. They had aimed all their landing zones around the most concentrated population readings -- a far more difficult proposition with Orks than with Imperial citizens. This was the first time the Crimson Slaughter went to battle out of the Eye of Terror not in raid numbers, but with a host nearly the size of their old Chapter. The effect was startling. Perhaps it was the quantity of them, perhaps it was the savagery of their attack -- but for whatever reasons, the paranormal activity around the Crimson Slaughter was magnified. Balefire flickered about their eyes and coronas of lightning wreathed their horned helmets. Their Bolter fire left weirdly incandescent tracer trails and the shells screamed as they struck home. Spectres loomed out of shadows and discordant screeches wailed at the approach of the red-armoured Renegades. Paralysed with fear, Grots threw down their weapons and buried themselves under battlefield debris. As the chainsaw-like offensive of the Crimson Slaughter began to hit home, even the bravest of the Ork mobs wavered and began to break. They were mercilessly pursued and cut down in their thousands. After days and nights of non-stop killing, the multiple attacks at last were over and the Crimson Slaughter returned to their warships in orbit. Mangled Ork bodies and smouldering vehicle wrecks were everywhere. There had been no sign or Augur readings to indicate the Hellfire Stone was on Verdfall. At least for now, though, the voices were silenced as Kranon plotted out the next attack.