phantom troupe

The Fracture of Biel-Tan - Part One

It's Fight Night in Commorragh! Isn't every night, fight night in Commorragh though? Well yes, but this is the big ticket title fight! In the red corner, LELITH HESPERAX, Queen of Knives and the People's Champion herself! She's going to be tough to beat, given she's currently undefeated and undisputed champion of the Crucibael. In the blue corner, our challenger for this evening, an upcoming gladiatrix who's risen to high fame under the patronage of Lady Malys herself, known to the craftworlders as YVRAINE, known to the Corsairs as AMHAROC, known to Commorragh as THE DAUGHTER OF SHADES. The Dark City is abuzz, crowd attendance is somewhere in the millions and even a Harlequin Troupe has come to be entertained and some bloke is probably streaming the fight on Facebook Live. First some warm-up fights though. Sslyth vs Donorian Clawed Fiends. Horrors of the Haemonculi vs Wych Cults vs a battered squad of Astartes vs Hellion free for all. The crowd is going wild. Then come the Tyranids - cross-bred strains of Hive Fleet Kraken and Leviathan are released by the Haemonculi into the arena as Lady Hesperax and Yvraine enter the fight. Asdrubael Vect watches with interest from his floating fortress high above Commorragh.

The fighting is fierce. Yvraine is up against a Hive Tyrant (flips over its head, kicks a knife off the ground into the back of its head, charges in underneath, carves out its underbelly. Killed). She quickly finds herself caught up in a melee with a Lichtor though, and Lelith uses that opportunity to get some hits in. The Lichtor gets eviscerated in the cross-fire, as Lelith comes in at Yvraine in a furious flurry of blows - who does this upstart think she is challenging Lelith to a duel? Yvraine is hard-pressed to simply defend herself, and quickly finds herself on the back foot but an unfortunate stumble by Yvraine sees Lelith's dagger in her gut. Satisfied with her victory, Lelith vaults off to find new prey while Yvraine is trying to stem the wound in her gut. However a Priestiess of Morag-Heg steps up for a duel, and Yvraine is quickly overwhelmed and loses her hand. Yvraine knows she's dead - she's loosing too much blood but manages to lock the Priestess up in a deathly choke-hold to at least take the Priestess out with her. They both shudder in their death spasms, falling to the ground....

... only for an all consuming brightness of a star to burst up from the ground and consume them both. Yvraine is screaming as she feels the awareness of a new dimension open up in her mind, casting away all concerns of her previous self. She sees Ynnead, shooting like a star from a distant crystal moon (*cough see Death Masque cough*) and laying the immensity of his gaze upon her. Her soul is layed bared to him, and she will forever see nothing but his glory. "Daughter," he whispers.

Explosions of energy shoot off from her body, as she's raised up in the air by invisible forces. The energy sweeps out into the arena, withering any Eldar it touches and turning them into husks. The Tyranids are largely unaffected though, and use the opportunity to start rampaging through the crowd. The Trueborn guards try to fight back, but they are mixed in attacking the 'Nids or the glowing body of Yvraine. All shots just seem to bounce off her though. Lelith zooms away into the night on a Reaver Jetbike, her smile like the
“glint of pearls in the gloom”.

Above the carnage, Vect is watching with growing anger... what the hell is going on? He sends his proxies to try to restore order. But something far worse is coming... Yvraine wakes from her apotheosis, and the ground shakes beneath her feet as she touches back down. Her hand restored, and even her blade transformed and radiating with power. Her Bloodbrides rally around her, as they quickly find themselves under attack by both Tyranids and Kabilites. Realising she's in the middle of a :cussstorm, Yvraine decides to get the hell out and they make for the exit of the arena killing as they go. But with each death of an Eldar around her, she starts to feel more and more power growing in her mind and body and eventually she can't hold it in and speaks words unbidden to her lips. The entire arena goes dark as every light is extinguished, and she's shocked to see dead eldar all around felled without a blow. Kabalite Guards cry out in alarm - psychic activity in the city is surely to draw the attention of Slaanesh! Kill her! More Incubi rush out to attack her, when a red armoured figure steps in to defend her. "Team up?" He offers, as he helps her cut down the Incubi. "No. Go Away. I don’t need help," she spits back but for some reason he seems really familiar... something about the styling of his armour and guard stance. He points to her sword, telling her it is called "Kha-vir" and that it is blessed by Ynnead, just as she is. "Ugh fine, you can tag along," she relents as they try to escape to the space-docks. She's got some mates there, from her Corsair days, and she might just be able to escape... because that 'far worse' thing that's coming? 

Well, turns out that beneath Commorragh there is ancient sealed portal known as Khaine's Gate that has kept a flood of demons at bay. Only Yvraine's apotheosis had created a dysjunction of Empyrean energy that collapsed the gate, and let a flood of Demons into the Dark City. Vect had already prepared for an eventually like this though, and left the 'defence' of the gate to his rivals ensuring they are the first to die to the Demonic Invasion. His plan is to let other people bear the brunt of the invasion, while he can consolidate and come back in strength at a later date. Still, he's not particularly pleased at what Yvraine has wrought on his dominion. He commands Urien Rakarth to send his forces out to capture/kill her.

Anyway, Yvraine and her new buddy in red armour (he calls himself the Visarch) manage to escape into the webway along with some of their followers. They don't really know where they're going though, just away from Vect's forces. As she's travelling starts hearing voices in her head of some of the Eldar she killed in the arena. Wait a minute - she's somehow absorbed their souls! This meant she's kept them safe from Slaanesh! Could she be the salvation of all the Eldar? If only she wasn't hopelessly lost in the webway! Her Wych Cult are starting to get real antsy too, this deep in the webway and no 'food' to stave off their 'hunger'. They come across a portal, with strange music coming out of it which is creepy as :cuss, but Yvraine's got no real choice - she goes through it. Only to run straight into a host of Demonettes, dancing and frolicking around as if at a grand ball with corpses of Kabalite Warriors! Creepy and Weird! They get ready to fight... but... the music is kind of relaxing... and the Demonettes are kinda nice to look at... And dancing at the centre of it all, the Masque of Slaanesh watches with glee as the Dark Eldar begin to drift off into slumber. The Masque is drawn forward to Yvraine, when SURPRISE HARLEQUIN AMBUSH! Harlequins of the Midnight Sorrow drop down from the 'roof' of the webway and start cutting through the Demonettes. This snaps Yvraine and her Dark Eldar group out of it, and they rally to fend off the Masque's ambush forcing the Masque to flee into the Empyrean. The Harlequins offer to guide Yvraine to a destination she knows well. Craftworld Biel-Tan.

You see, Yvraine was born on Biel-Tan. She walked the Path of the Performer first, dazzling with her displays of acrobatics. But then she felt the call of violence and went on the Path of the Warrior, but eventually not even the fiercest of battle could sate her spirit. So she tried the Path of the Warlock for a bit, but that wasn't quite right for her either. So she became an Outcast, rising up to become a famed Corsair admiral before a mutiny caused her to flee to the arenas of Commorragh. And here she is now, the Prodigal Daughter returning to Biel-Tan as a new force that could change the fate of Biel-Tan and the Eldar forever. Biel-Tan, as I’m sure you’re all aware, has violent and vengeful ambition to restore to the Eldar to its former glory. They think that the Exodite Eldar are the true hope of the Eldar, and will prosecute anything threatening one of their Maiden Worlds with extreme force hence their reputation as the most militant of the Craftworlders. Most other Craftworlds look on this as a delusional ideal though - the ability to restore the Maiden Worlds to the former glory of the Eldar Empire has long passed. But not everyone thinks that way, a certain Ulthwe High-Farseer and a troupe of Harlequins among them. Eldrad has forseen the coming of Ynnead's ascension in the form of Yvraine and the ambitions of Biel-Tan could be a perfect platform to make this happen and the Harlequins of the Midnight Sorrow have already worded up Biel-Tan about an arrival of a ominous nature. The Biel-Tan Autarch Melineil consults with his sister, Farseer Lathriel - in her divinations she sees a fork in the road. One path leads to Rhana Dandra (the end of days) and the other leads to darkness with the sound of a mourning bell ringing. Could the prophecies of the Seventh Way (the one where the Eldar don't have to all die for Ynnead to awaken) be true? One other small problem though, unknown to the Eldar - The Masque of Slaanesh is kinda keen on getting inside Biel-Tan and feasting on their tasty souls, especially because she senses Yvraine will end up there. And she's got a plan.

There's a backdoor into Biel-Tan, from a Maiden World called Ursulia. It's sealed and all that, but the Masque reckons she knows how to crack it. A sudden Warp Storm has popped up over Usulia, wreaking havoc through the Exodites living there. Also, the massive Demonic Invasion that the Masque organised, made up of a grand promenade of Slaanesh demons... and a grand battalion of Khorne Demons. Wait what? Khorne and Slaanesh, like really, really hate each other! Lucky for the Masque though, she rolled really well on her Charisma at character generation and has like a Persuasion check of +30. The wards on the portal from Ursulia to Biel-Tan are too strong for her to break, but can they stop SKARBRAND?!?! Let's find out. She goes to talk to Skarbard with an offer of alliance, but Skarbrand aint interested in anything but Slaughter and Carnage. He goes to chop her into little pieces, but also lucky for the Masque she also rolled really high on Dexterity and has an AC of like 30 too. Eventually Skarbrand gets bored that she's not being dead, and she starts spinning a story of how they're not all that different from each other, both being exiled from their God and all that, and maybe they could have a friendly wager on who can kill the most Eldar on some random Maiden World. Natural 20 rolled on the Persuasion check it seems, because Skarbrand's ire is raised just enough to get him to agree to the wager (as if he's gonna let a puny Slannesh girl beat him!), but not enough that he flies into a rage and kills her on the spot. So off to Usulia they go, and the killing begins.

Biel-Tan aren't about to let one of their precious Maiden Worlds go down, so they launch a counter-assault with Autarch Melinial leading it personally. The battle rages back and forth, massed demon charges vs lightning strikes of Eldar. The Masque and Skarbrard are up near the portal – the Masque’s plan is to lure the Eldar up to the portal and set Skarbrand loose and in his rage he’ll destroy the wards on the portal. What could go wrong? Well the Eldar don't take the bait initially, and Skarbrand is in danger of being lured away himself. Not good! So the Masque jumps up on the Portal in full view of the battle and starts guzzling spirit stones off some Warlocks she's killed like they're oysters. Melinial is infuriated by the Masque's brazen feasting of Eldar souls, and directs all his forces towards where the Masque and Skarbrand are at the portal. The Eldar unleash a devastating amount of firepower, mainly at Skarbrand since he's a huge :cuss-off Bloodthirster after all, and manage to kill almost everything around him (except for the Masque) whilst also putting a fair bit of hurt on him. Skarbrand gets extraordinarily pissed that he's gonna die before he can even get to do anything, and looks around for something to smash... and the only thing he can see nearby is The Masque dancing on top of the portal. So he directs a big SKARBRAND SMASH! at her... but she jumps out of the way, and he cleaves through the wards on the portal instead. Meliniel watches in horror as the Masque and a whole swathe of Slaanesh demons dissapear into the Webway, enroute to Biel-Tan. Unfortunately Skarbrand is blocking his way, preventing him from pursuing. Skarbrand eventually realises The Masque has bailed on him through the portal, and he gets really angry (they had a wager!!!) so he jumps through the portal too. Demons are swarming through the portal now, and Melinel is forced to destroy the portal to stop even more getting through to Biel-Tan (though obviously cutting himself off from reinforcing). He sends a psychic warning off to his sister to ready the defences.

Lathriel has the defences organised - all ways into Biel-Tan are sealed off except for the main portal at the back of the Craftworld, which is put under heavy guard to destroy it if necessary. Drastic steps, but better than letting the Craftworld get overrun. The defenders wait - everything looks clear so far - and a scout ship returns from monitoring the advance of the Demons through the webway. No-one notices The Masque clinging to the bottom... ah the old classics. She slips off into the Craftworld, hypnotising anyone who crosses her path which allows Demonettes to possess their bodies. Back at the main gate, the bulk of the Demon forces have arrived led by Skarbrand. He bursts through the portal, carving through the Eldar defences... but the Avatar of Khaine has been roused and they slam into close combat. Farseer Lathriel rushes forward to seal the portal before more demons get through, and when she turns around both Skarbrand and the Avatar have obliterated each other. Meanwhile The Masque has set herself up in the Avatar's (empty) throne, and is summoning more and more Demonettes and preparing a ritual. Some Howling Banshees come across her, but quickly fall under The Masque's hypnotic spell and then Jain Zar shows up. The Masque tries to hypnotise her, to no avail, and Jain Zar impales the Masque upon the Avatar's Throne... but not before the Masque is able to dig her rune-inscribed claws into the Wraithbone surrounding the throne and breaches the Infinity Circuit. Oh :cuss. The Masque and her Handmaidens are transported inside the Infinity Circuit, bypassing all its defences. Biel-Tan is being destroyed from the inside.

With all routes into the Craftworld now sealed off, Jain Zar leads the counter-attack against the remaining Demons. Yvraine and her group of Dark Eldar and Harlequin guide had managed to get through the Webway Portal just before it was sealed. They're not exactly greeted with open arms by the Biel-Tan warriors - a group of Commarragh warriors right on the heels of a demonic invasion? Sounds suss. But Yvraine helps fight off a huge group of Demonettes that rush in, and a cautious parley is struck. The rest of demons (well the ones physically running around anyway) are mopped up and a War Council is quickly convened, as the very wraithbone structure of the craftworld beings to grey and wither and die around them from the demons still inside the infinity circuit. What the hell can they do? The Spiritseers are frantically running around, transferring souls into Wraith Constructs before they are destroyed in the Infinity Circuit, but even then that will be all for naught if the Craftworld just falls apart around them. Yvraine tries to speak up, but she is shouted down. She abandoned them before, and has now brought Dark Eldar here - why should the listen to her? But Lathriel speaks up for her - maybe Yvraine is the Opener of the Seventh Way? That gets the Autarchs attention, as it’s the first bit of hope they're able to hold onto. Jain Zar also steps up to bat for Yvraine. So Yvraine speaks. 

Yvraine tells the Biel-Tan she is the emissary of a new deity, that Ynnead is awakening. She tells them that the Seventh Path is indeed real; that Ynnead can be fully awakened without all the Eldar dying. She tells them that his sentience can be focussed from 5 enchanted bones, each a finger from Morai-Heg's severed hand. Vaul fashioned these bones into blades, and together they can awaken a god. She raises her blade Kha-vir, one of the Crone Swords, to prove her point. There is another Crone Sword aboard Biel-Tan, Asu-var, and she intends to claim it but in doing so the Craftworld’s fate will be sealed. This doesn’t go down too well amongst the Biel-Tani and some step forward to try to stop Yvraine. Jain Zar and the Visarch both step in to defend her, as Yvraine reaches into the Wraithbone structure as if it were a pool of water and draws forth a Greatblade. This sends cataclysmic shockwaves through the Craftworld, shattering spires and wreaking havoc, millions of souls in the Infinity Circuit being destroyed. “Arise!” shouts Yvraine, as a terrible form of ‘twisted bone and shimmering souls’ bursts forth from the wraithbone. Yncarne, the Avatar of Ynnead, had arisen.