Nagash Chapter 2: The Ritual
Let me be clear and transparent with you from the beginning. I despise this chapter and everything it represents and will not give it any respect. You might notice me dashing through things so I can get it over with, but I think I will just mention my feelings in the review section instead of doing a play-by-play. The reason for this is that a lot of the chapter's contents is stuff that doesn't matter in the long run. None of it matters. It's all padding to the utterly depressing failure of a dramatic climax that is the revival of Nagash.
Oh yeah, I'm not even bothering to hide it. The villains win and Nagash is revived. Let's just get this over with.
The beginning of the chapter is an overview of things as the year of 2524 IC wears on, particularly what the other polities know about the machinations of Arkhan and Mannfred and what they have. None of them hold the full picture, but many of them know about it and yet are busy with their own things. This includes Gilles who noticed the destruction of La Maisontaal, the Council of Thirteen who learnt of the Fellblade's disappearance, and of course, Hans Leitdorf, and it is here that the perspective shifts to him after his Knights have finished slaughtering the rampaging Beastmen herd that attacked the weakened Heldenhame.
Hans left for Altdorf because he knew his Knights alone could not handle Sylvania's horrors, so he thought to seek help from the Emperor. Unfortunately, the Empire is besieged, with Beastmen causing chaos all over Talabecland and Reikland, zealots, flagellants and doomsayers wandering the streets calling out for the End Times and the forces of the Empire marching north to fend off the oncoming invasion, no forces could be spared to assist Hans in his mission of vengeance into Sylvania. Hans met the Emperor and yet for all that Karl Franz had heard his pleas he could not answer with an affirmation but a simple reassurance that he should wait. So wait he did.
Then Hans was awoken one day and rushed to the Imperial Palace where he was informed that the Emperor had left north, so Hans was understandably irritated, until he met the guests present in the palace. Three Elves, two male and one female, two armored and one not, and possessing such an infallible arrogance that came of their surety of their superiority, only the woman (Eldyra) granting him even a ghost of a bow. They're really laying on the insufferable arrogance of the Elves unbelievably heavy in this book and I'm already sick of it.
From here, Hans hears that the Elves are dedicated to retrieve someone within Sylvania, although they deftly sidestepped every mentioning who that person was, and that they would like to seek aid from the Empire, as much as it clearly seemed as if it galled one of them (Eltharion, who stays silent and brooding due to humiliation from asking aid from primitives). Hans then realises that "Karl Franz's expert statesmanship" strikes again, where the Emperor managed to organise a coalition between Empire and Elves without ever being directly involved in the actual force projection but connecting them in a way that undeniably left Hans in the Emperor's favor without having to expend his personal forces. Hans did not care that he was manipulated, it would all serve to achieve vengeance.
Unbeknownst to them, several other forces were also converging on Sylvania. Lord Araloth of Talysn was leading a host of Asrai to Sylvania to save Aliathra at his own Queen's request, for he held absolutely no attachment to the High Elves or to the Everqueen, but he was beholden to his Queen Ariel and his Goddess Lileath. Araloth had ever been able to use his Goddess' gift to see hope within the future, but now all he sees is darkness, so while the Glade Lord was ever the person to crack the dark atmosphere with a jest or jape, he was inordinately quiet on the journey. The host only ever stopped in their path to slaughter any Beastmen they came across, for many of them lost kith and kin to them, and they would never pass them by without bloodying their blades with the beasts' lifeblood.
As the Asrai advanced from the west, from the east came the Dwarven warthrong of Karak Kadrin under the leadership of the Slayer King Ungrim Ironfist. Several days earlier, an Imperial Herald arrived with a message sealed by Emperor Karl Franz indicating the plight of the Empire at the hands of Sylvania and a request beseeching aid from the ever loyal Dwarven allies of the World's Edge. Sylvania had ever cast a shadow on Karak Kadrin, and Ungrim knew the Dwarves would be targeted after the vile undead were done with their mortal kin. Ungrim also knew that the Elven Host that had been mustered to venture into Sylvania did so because of what had occurred at Nagashizzar where Thorgrim's forces failed to save Aliathra from the clutches of Mannfred. Ungrim's council of Thanes advised against venturing to aid their allies, for they were beset by their own troubles and they could simply ride it out, but Ungrim was not satisfied with such a conclusion. It was time to prove to the world that the Dwarfs were still a force to be reckoned with, and Ungrim would not back down from his Doom.
From the north came the last of the forces arrayed against Sylvania which held no similarities to the disciplined ranks of the forces of Order. These were the Beastmen, led by Malagor the Dark Omen, under order by the Dark Gods to destroy Arkhan the Black. Malagor did not fully know for what purpose he was sent, but he cared not because the forces of Chaos were waxing and the dawn of the beast was arriving, so he had marshalled his forces to assault Sylvania. Malagor had intended to destroy Arkhan earlier, and he had come close at least three times, but the unruly nature of his horde meant that he could not fully control them. When Malagor's army had come across the ruined wall of Heldenhame, Malagor could not contain the rampage of his blood hungry horde and a significant portion charged into a mass of rage fueled plate armored knights on the charge. Malagor had thought this would result in the disfavor of the Dark Gods and punishment, but they seemed to favor him still, and the whispers continued to push him to Sylvania at the head of his army, still of considerable size.
Mannfred knew immediately of the five armies that were converging on Sylvania thanks to every eye and ear in Sylvania belonging to him, so he instantly knew of the exact size and composition of each force as well as who the leaders were. Mannfred was amused rather than worried, taking it as a compliment that so many forces would charge against him. Yet, this was not the time, so he had sent for his captains to devise a strategy that would break these forces apart.
By the way, at this point I had expected there to be a super climactic, exciting final battle where all five armies converge in Sylvania and the forces of the Undead would be hard pressed until Nagash is revived and turns the tides of battle, and that we would get awesome scenes of Eltharion and Araloth fighting back to back in desperation, Ungrim's host fighting side by side with the forces of Tiranoc led by Eldyra, and the Knights of Sigmar's Blood charging into infantry formations against both rampaging beasts and undead hordes. I had high hopes here.
Those hopes were almost immediately dashed, because this chapter goes downhill by this point.
The narrative is currently focusing on Mannfred's internal narrative as he assesses the forces arrayed against him. The forces were not united aside from the Knights of Sigmar's Blood and the High Elf host, if they were they would crush him. He was not worried about the Knights, High Elves or even the Wood Elves, but he was worried about the Beastmen thanks to their sheer number and Ungrim for both his numbers and sheer power and discipline. Mannfred had taken great care to not offend Ungrim enough to get the Dwarf to mobilise his forces against the Vampire, so he was the only force that Mannfred truly feared. But in this case, Mannfred had a plan.
And spoiler alert, the plan works perfectly because Mannfred is the villain, and if you're a villain you get unlimited narrative power.
Meanwhile, Arkhan doesn't give a shit about the invaders, he's in the Nine Daemons stone Circle in the Glen of Sorrow, a nexus of the Geomantic Web that is said to be formed from the calcified remains of nine Daemons. Arkhan does not know if it's true, but it's as good a place as any for the ritual.
From here I'm gonna go fast because I don't give a shit.
Mannfred first sets his hordes of bats and terrorgheists and other flying troops to harrass the flanks of the Beasmten hordes to push them eastwards. This succeeds. Mannfred then cuts off Ungrim's scouts and Gyrocopters who were attempting to scout to acquire a lay of the land, and the trees and creatures of the crypts rose against the forces of the Dwarfs not to take them down, but to bog them down. This succeeds. The Beastmen are herded onto the Dwarfs, the Dwarfs see the Beastmen, the two then start fighting, creating the Battle of the Red Cairn, which is like two pages so I'm not saving you from a lot by skipping over it.
The Dwarfs win after two days and a night, breaking the Beastmen horde and causing them to flee. Out of every ten Dwarfs that marched to Sylvania, eight were dead and another one was too injured to hold an axe and a shield. Ungrim's Slayer Oath wars against his Oath of Kingship, so he orders a retreat to Karak Kadrin. Two of the Five Armies are obliterated, just like that. This is what you should expect.
Meanwhile, the forces of Araloth's host were being attacked and harried by another force, this time in the form of corrupted spirits and ghosts led by Kaliedra the Queen of Sorrows, a Banshee from Emperor Sigismund's time. Many of the Elves had their souls plucked from their body, and many of the host's Spellweavers found their spells disrupted by the foul magics conjured by the corrupted forests of the land. Only Araloth was immune to the depredations of the Spirits, for he was blessed by Lileath and his soul and heart was strong and full of resolve, so his followers took heart from that. Few, if any, of them knew that Araloth was indeed worried over his own mortality. Naieth the Prophetess had given him a parting hug, and there were few things more ominous than a Seer's parting embrace.
Araloth then decided that since there was clearly an intelligence behind these attacks, then they needed to find it. He instructed his Spellweavers to cast from the Darkest of Magics, and none of them were particularly experienced or tended to delve into the field. Three of them perished, as many of them were driven mad, and only the seventh managed to endure, leading the host to the Banshee Queen's lair, where they drove to the Ghoul Wood to slaughter the spirits with Daith forged weaponry. The host, victorious, then ventured deeper, where the locket that Alarielle the Everqueen had granted Araloth to guide the host to her daughter began to hum more vigorously as they got closer. Then, as the moon broke through the clouds, did the host come to a clearing where a slender elven woman appeared.
Araloth instantly embraced the woman, and while many of his host were suspicious of this woman and suspected some sort of trickery, many could feel the divine grace with which she exuded was clearly that of a Goddess. Whatever Araloth and Lileath said to each other was not clear, but Araloth did not look happy. Accepting whatever request she had given him, Araloth told his host that they would move on to something else, and Lileath crushed the locket that Alarielle had given Araloth, creating a portal to somewhere else. Some of the host still remained suspicious, but they would follow Araloth anywhere, and if this woman was a fake, then they would make sure to release their Lord from his bewitchment. The host enter the portal, and the third of the five armies is gone.
By this time, the Dwarven Rangers had reached Templehof where the forces of the High Elves and Empire Knights were stationed to tell them that they had retreated. The combined force had already moved on, but their advance was slow, as they had to make sure that there were no traps and that they knew exactly where Aliathra was. Belanner attempted to divine the exact location from which the silent song was originating from and Eldyra's forces went out to scout every nook and cranny and annihilate any forces hiding or spying on them. Grandmaster Hans was chafing at what he saw as a slow advance, and every time he brought it up with Eltharion all he received were polite but firm rejections. Hans could not stand his allies' contempt when the Knight held his own stake in the matter and should have been privy to the command process.
Irritated at such dismissal, The Knights charged ahead, so much so that their rearguard was as much as five leagues apart from Eltharion's vanguard in the Village of Klodebein. That was when Mannfred struck.
I'm not even going to bother. When I first began this chapter, I thought Chapter 1 was developing Hans Leitdorf to be a significant and interesting character that they would develop in the second chapter when they brought him back. But here, any tactical brilliance, military strategy or abilities he had were completely stomped underfoot just like all my hopes as he's ambushed by Mannfred's forces in perhaps one of the most obvious setups I have ever seen. Even the fight was utterly awful, where Hans charges an entire group of cavalry at an open and exposed Mannfred only to be surprised by skeletons popping up out of the ground with spears at the ready to create a makeshift palisade that slaughters his cavalry. A fucking Grandmaster of a Knightly Order dedicated to Cavalry fell for one of the most obvious cavalry traps that I've ever seen.
I'm not even going to bother explaining what's happening. The Knights get slaughtered, Mannfred kills Hans offscreen and we get to see his drained bloodless corpse hung over a tree when Eldyra's force eventually arrives at the village. Hans' corpse has "And there was one" carved on his forehead. Five armies. Down to one.
Geheimnisnacht has finally arrived as the forces of the High Elves, the Stormraker Host, finally converge on the Nine Daemons, following Aliathra's silent song. Mannfred is incredibly frustrated. He needs to be in the stone circle to interrupt the ritual for his own desires so he doesn't want to personally fight them, but all of his captains are proving inadequate for the task of dealing with the increasingly determined High Elves. As the Asur get closer and closer, they are starting to realise that the mission is growing more and more suicidal, and while none of them were told their target was the Everchild, the increasing grimness of the situation has led them to start to connect the dots.
"For a time, the host was still and silent, but then one elf, a noble of the Court of Seledin, swept his sword flat against his chest in the ancient Yvressi salute. Iselendra yevithri anthri, he proclaimed: by our deaths we serve. As Eltharion watched, a ripple of motion spread across the assembled host as the salute was echoed by every warrior gathered there. His heart full of warrior's pride, Eltharion returned the salute, and gave the order to advance." Page 152
This would be a nice moment if everything surrounding it wasn't awful.
Tune in next time for the Chapter's conclusion in the "Battle of Nine Daemons", where the awfulness reaches a crescendo of horrific that puts everything before this point to shame.
I hate this. I need a break.
