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Here’s a review/summary of all of the AoS stories in Inferno! Volume 5. I’ll be adding more as I read them in the coming days.
The first one up : ‘Watchers of Battle’ by Ben Counter
This story follows a Spire Tyrant with aspirations above her station as a gladiator. Her hope is to be chosen by the titular individuals and join the armies of Archaon. We get a brief look inside the cut throat culture of the Spire Tyrants, some Corvus Cabal shenanigans and a very brief mention of The Scions of the Flames(apparently they annoy the Chaos Gods). And most importantly, an awesome ending that really showcases the sheer brutality of the forces of Chaos.
Spoiler:
A gathering of Spire Tyrant warbands have come to claim some territory in the Bloodwind Spoil, presently held by The Splintered Fang,The Unmade and the aforementioned Cabal. The Fang and Unmade are battling out amongst themselves elsewhere, while the Cabal and Tyrants are going to fight it out. All the while, in the peaks above, members of Archaon’s Chosen stand vigil, watching the battle to come for any that show promise.
The battle commences with the Cabal playing to their strengths and attacking from the high ground. They aren’t quite prepared for the ferocity of the Tyrants, as well as the sheer kickassery of our main character. She’s a large woman wielding a massive hammer, a veteran of the Arenas in the Varanspire. The Cabalists seem to think she’ll be an easy target, but she prevails. The Tyrants press the attack and the Cabal retreats, but are overcome by the pursuing Tyrants. Our main character kills a Shrike Talon (the dudes with the stilts and wings) in gory, spectacular fashion, hoping to impress what she assumes is her audience. Once the Cabalists break, she has an epiphany about what it means to be a Spire Tyrant and what it might take to get the attention of the unreadable Watchers of Battle. “There can only be one” she thinks, and turns on her fellow Tyrants, killing them and any Cabalist that came back for more once they saw the scuffle amongst the Tyrants.
The Watchers descend, silently appraise the lone survivor and head off to the Varanspire, with her following. They get to the armoury and our main character exalts. She’s done it, she’s been selected and is going to have her armour fitted and join the ranks of Archaon’s army. She even sees a hammer like hers. She tentatively reaches out to touch the mastercrafted weapon and boom! Brought to her knees with a blow to the back of her leg. She is then held down by a hand so much stronger then hers. She panics and quickly realizes that despite her being the mightiest amongst her folk, she’s still so much weaker than them. They are a different breed of warrior, something she can never be. The warrior manhandling her drags her to a trough, where the armourer quenches the weapons he forges. Instead of water though, its blood.
Our main character is then summarily killed over the trough, her blood used to quench the weapons of Archaon’s armies. She was a warrior with leadership potential, the most ferocious and mightiest of her kind and their only use for her is to use her blood to quench their blades. fething brutal. I loved it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Next up : Mournclaw by Ben Galley
This is fairly straightforward treasure hunt/adventure story that follows a thief “recruited” by a band of adventurers. They are on a mission to retrieve a powerful, legendary Duardin weapon that was hidden away after it was tainted by Skaven.
Spoiler:
Nothing really too groundbreaking here. A fun read, but nothing too deep.
The thief is rescued by the mercenaries in a rather noble gesture by their leader and then brought in on their plan. They’ll capture a Warlock-Engineer who knows the location of the weapon, but which cannot open the doors to the tomb without a Duardin key, and the mercenaries have that. The mercenaries all have their own motivations for wanting to find the weapon. The knight in charge was disgraced some time in the past and feels that finding the weapon and having the Stormcast destroy it will put him back in their good graces. The Duardin also wants it destroyed, but on his terms. No one is to wield the weapon, per his orders. The rest of the group is along for the ride because they owe their leader or want to get rich.
They pull off the scheme of capturing the Warlock Engineer (a bit too easily, imo, but wait for it!) while sustaining a few casualties. Thus begins a chase/race to the tomb. Along the journey the thief starts to have doubts about the knight and discovers he’s not being completely honest. A lack of trust starts to develop between the group as they get closer to their prize.
Once at the tomb, the group is ambushed and after losing a few more members, are forced into the tomb, where the distrust boils over. The thief wants out anyway he can, the Duardin is adamant that no one touch the weapon and the knight starts to to get more aggressive. The inevitable confrontation occurs and the Duardin is killed. The knight gets the weapon but is then stabbed in the back by the thief. The Skaven catch up to their prey and free their leader, the Warlock Engineer. He reveals that his plan worked perfectly, having manipulated the adventurers to open up the tomb for him.
He then kills the thief with his new weapon, but not before saying that the thief would’ve made a fine Skaven.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2020/04/12 12:04:21
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
It doesn’t say, its just one sentence and its said with derision by a Spire Tyrant, so they may or may not actually annoy the Chaos gods. I think it might be like in 40K where alot of the traitor legions saw the Word Bearers faithful zeal as distasteful.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And we’re back: River of Death by Anna Stephens.
In the preface it mentions that this is a prequel to The Siege of Greenspire. Haven’t checked that out yet, but I will shortly, as I enjoyed this story. It had a fairy tale/fable sort of feel.
Its about a woman(Brida), apparently of low station in life, set to marry a man of higher station(Eron). Her friends, a set of twins, are with her at the docks where they ply their trade. They are waiting for the woman’s betrothed to show up and go out on a boat. Nurgley hijinks ensue.
Spoiler:
The man shows up and after some banter, they’re off. The nobleman seems like a great dude, even helping row the boat and he brought supplies. After they get out deeper, they hit something and Brida falls overboard. At first they think they hit a branch or rocks but then they see the culprit. Its a mutated eel, dead set on killing them. They do their best to fight it off, but they weren’t prepared and it destroys their boat, forcing them to make for the nearest land. Even in their dire situation, they are apprehensive because the island they are headed to is supposedly haunted. But its that or get eaten/drown.
They make landfall and meet a mysterious man who claims to be the River Watcher, a spirit spoken of in children’s tales. He supposedly protects the denizens of the region, a guardian spirit or some such. One of the twins berates him for being so gak at his job, since they almost died to a mutated eel and there is a blight in the region, ruining crops and folks livelihood. He takes the criticism in stride and takes off his hood. He looks like a thin, stern but kindly man. He tells the group to head for his house and shelter there while he takes care of the beast. The group then falls asleep.
Brida awakens and see’s Eron, who was wounded by the eel, still asleep. The twins are missing and she panics, waking her beau. The panic subsides when the twins appear. Brida and Eron want to get off the island right away. The twins seem a little off, they say that the River Watcher made them breakfast and its delicious. The pair are weary of eating any food from this mysterious man, but don’t want to be rude so they go to meet the supposed River Watcher. He’s sitting by the fire with a cauldron burning, apparently with some tasty stew cooking. The twins start to get ravenous and go to town on the stew. Brida looks into her bowl and sees that its flesh from the mutated eel. The twins then start to dig right into the burning hot cauldron, oblivious to their own burning flesh. Brida and Eron both try to escape, Eron striking the River Watcher, knocking him down. The River Watcher then mutates into a massive Rotbringer. The twins, now fully tainted and possessed of an insatiable hunger also mutate.
A chase ensues as Eron and Brida try to find a way off the island. They try to set a fire and make a quick raft, but are apprehensive about destroying local plant life for fear of upsetting Alarielle. Thats a gak deal. They are being attacked by Nurgle followers but also have to worry about pissing off a Goddess. They do it anyway and make their escape. Eron is wounded further while protecting Brida. They make good their escape but Eron is too far gone and now tainted, trying to kill Brida. Brida kills him and vows to never be defenseless again. She heads off to local Freeguild camp to join them. She wants vengeance.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Next : No Matter The Cost by Michael R Fletcher.
This is my favorite so far of this collection. My summary below isn’t going to do it justice, and I don’t want to spoil too much, but I felt this short was worth the price of the whole book by itself. Looking forward to more of this author.
Its about the lengths a man would go to rebuild his family in the face of tragedy, and how much of his humanity he is willing to give up to have that power. Kind of reminded me at times of the standalone novel Necromancer from the WHFB, but this one was weirdly hearwarming.
Spoiler:
A man loses his daughter and in his grief decides to do whatever it takes to get her back. He worked for the Collegiate Arcane translating books in Glymmsforge and will use that knowledge. One book in particular, which is the first book in a collection of nine books on a very specific kind of magic. He’s making progress, but gets stuck at the last spell, something is holding him back. Onto the scene comes a beautiful woman and she sees alot of potential in the man and begins tutoring him.
The woman, named Misere, serves a mistress named Lady Oh (Connect the dots yourself) and they want his prodigious abilities for the wars. He isn’t all that keen on that, he just want his family back so begins a game of cat and mouse between himself and Misere that last centuries. It all comes to a head in one particular town where he finally makes his stand.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/04/12 20:09:16
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
2020/04/17 04:14:24
Subject: Re:Inferno! Vol. 5 (The AoS Stuff) *Spoils*
This story took a unique concept that I’ve wanted to see since Malign Sorcery first mentioned them. That being Endless Spells and those that hunt them.
Spoiler:
Story follows a mage and her Free Guild retinue hunting an Endless Spell (Wildfire Taurus). The big burny beef monster was unleashed by an opportunistic Beasts of Chaos shaman while the Undead were attacking a Free City. The Wildfire Taurus went out of control of the Bray-Shama that summoned it and it went on to devastate the Freeguild, Undead, Beasts and the beleaguered city, destroying all but the mage and her retinue.
They vowed to track it and dispel it.
It doesn’t end well at all for the Freeguild, but the mage meets a Duardin that uses science coupled with rune magic to hunt and destroy spells. The mage casts another Endless Spell which then brawls with the Taurus and the new duo use their abilities to destroy the Taurus while its tangled up with its nee foe.
They set off to investigate what seems to be some Skaven gnawholes.
*Not technically last. At the Sign of the Brazen Claw part V is next, but i’m going to reread it from start and maybe give it its own thread.
Conclusion: Some solid AoS fiction in this latest Inferno book. Recommend it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/04/17 04:15:16
"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
