Cholercaust Blood Crusade - Defence of Certus-Minor: The tiny Ecclesiarchy Cemetery World of Certus-Minor in the Praga Sub-sector lay directly in the path of the Keeler Comet, the blood-red harbinger which heralded its doom. The Navis Imperialis reported sightings of the vast Chaos armada following in the wake of its crimson tail. The Exorcists, the Grey Knights and the Imperial Fists Chapters of Space Marines were rumoured to man a defence cordon at the world of Vanaheim intended to block the Blood Crusade's advance into the Segmentum Solar.The inevitable invasion was first brought to the attention of the Excoriators Chapter. The 5th Company, under the command of Corpus-Captain Zachariah Kersh, was quickly dispatched to the funerary world. The Certusians were first made aware that something heralded their coming doom during a land reclamation project. While the Certusians were moving forward with the drainage of a lake intended to maximise new space for grave plots and extend the burial grounds, they noticed the top of an unusual structure within the lake as its water levels fell. Two pyramids made of skulls, sitting one within the other, that formed a star of eight points -- eight sides to a face, eight corners to run. Eight was the Blood God's sacred integer. The pyramids formed an impromptu throne of skulls. It was a throne to be taken, an invitation issued. A beacon beckoning forth the Cholercaust Blood Crusade.Upon further inspection by the Excoriators' 5th Company, they discovered that the monument had only recently been constructed. The bodies used in its construction probably belonged to Chaos Cultists who had devoted themselves to the Blood God and his murderous ideals. Recently, the Certusian adepts had noticed that graves had been robbed and skulls taken from the desecrated bodies. The martial burial grounds had been especial targets for this desecration since Khorne favoured the skulls of warriors for his throne.The caskets were reburied to avoid suspicion in the same way that the monument had been constructed in secret on the lake bed. The monument had been entirely constructed by hand as each skull added to the submerged structure would be the death of its bearer. Each cultist wore a lead cape and took a blade with them. The lead cape would sink them to the bottom of the lake, where they would add their grave-robbed gift to the throne. Then each cultist would slit their own throats and baptise the unholy monument in the murk of their offered blood as a sacrifice to their bloody-minded divine lord.But this was not the only sign of the coming of the Blood Crusade, for many of the Certusian population began losing their sanity to a mysterious gall-fever. It was not physiological in origin and it did not seem biologically transmissible like a viral or bacteriological infection. It was a malady of the mind. Men were no more susceptible than women, the young no more than the old. The mental transformation wrought by the gall-fever from civilised Human to a bloodthirsty savage was unpredictable and swift, and the first symptom was usually an outbreak of unexpected and murderous bloodshed. The Excoriators' Apothecary suspected that the illness was some kind of psychological condition brought on by the proximity of the strange comet and its emanations of Chaos energies.Corpus-Captain Zachariah Kersh knew that the Cholercaust was coming to the doomed planet and that he could rely on the Blood God's servants to meet them blade to blade. They were not known for their tolerance for long-range warfare. Kersh's previous experience with Khornate Berserkers had taught him that beyond the ancient warships of the Traitor Legions, Khornates favoured simple cultships. The Cholercaust armada would likely be made up of armed freighters, fat transports and plundered system ships, loaded to piratical proportions and ready to disgorge their savage cargos of Human detritus in a swarm of battered lighters, barges, haulage brigs, tugs and hump shuttles, all reinforced and outfitted as simple drop-ships.The 5th Company did request reinforcement from the rest of their Chapter, but had little expectation of its arrival in time to make a difference. The 5th Company sent long-range astrotelepathic requests to the regiments of the Astra Militarum's Viper Legion at Hellionii Reticuli, the 2nd Company of the Novamarines Chapter stationed at Belis Quora and the Angels Eradicant Chapter at Port Kreel. They even sent a message to the Vanaheim Cordon where Imperial forces had gathered to face the oncoming Cholercaust, in full knowledge of its futility, for the Imperial Fists, Exorcists and Grey Knights Astartes stationed there would not leave the line of defence for fear that the Keeler Comet and the trailing Cholercaust Crusade might resume its progress on towards Terra. The Adeptus Astartes contingents stationed at Vanaheim would never leave the sacred soil of Terra open to attack to help defend a tiny Cemetery World.