CREDITS Lead Designer
Cover Cov er Art Ar t
Ross Watson
Diego Gisbert Llorens
Designers
Interior Art
Owen Barnes, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, John Dunn, Andrea Gausman, Jordan Goldfarb, Goldfarb, Darrell Hayhurst Hayhurst,, W. W. Jason Peck, Wendelyn A. Reischl, Stephen Rhodes, William Thrasher
Jacob Atienza, John Blanche, Blanche, Alberto Bontempi, Matt Bradbury, Victor Corbella, Sacha Diener, Wayne England, Imaginary Friends Studio, Nikolaus Ingeneri, Karl Kopinski, Adrian Smith, Florian Stitz, Bryan Syme, Andrea Uderzo, The Games Workshop Studio
Editors
Publisher
Sean Tait Bircher and Robin English-Bircher
Markus Plötz
Art Director
Studio Manager for Ulisses North America
Maik Schmidt
Timothy Brian Brown
Graphic Design and Layout
Special Thanks Maik Schmidt and Thomas Michalski Nathan Dowdell, Andy Hoare, Len Pimentel and Michael Surbrook
Thanks to Games Workshop Playtesters John Dunn with with Joseph Bohms, Joseph Evard, Brian Leist, Leist, Matthew Marques, Jason Wortman “Aurora Glorificus” James Layton with Michael Copping, Matthew Cramsie, Benjamin Davis, Damon Steff, Leigh Tuckman, Linette Voller “No Guts, No Glory!” Sean Connor with Simon Butler, Stephen Pitson, Valerie Scott Jupe Rantalainen with Joakim Björkgren, Björkgren, Jaakko Brostrom, Iiris Kaasinen, Joonas Katko, Tuure Keränen, Hannupekka Kinnunen, Outi Mussalo, Outi Ojala, Jone Seraste, Aino Sykkö “The Abraxas Tactical Center” Ben Keeler with, Peter Keeler, Daryl Kohlerschmidt, John Lacy, Lee Langston, Brian Simpson “Cincinnatus 158th” Trevor Stamper with Louis Barrera, Brandon Barrera, David Borouch, Brian Gilkison, Steve Harmon, John Olszewski “The Gentleman’s Society” Greg Nagler with Jon Crenshaw, Terry Cruse, David Howse, Michael Howse, JP Meisenburg “Bolter and Chainsword” Matthew Hunt, “Kurgan the Lurker” with Julien Del Rosario, “Slips“, Alex Baur, “Acebaur“, Joshua Ryan Wells, “Conn Eremon“, Gord Schubert, “Eddie Orlock“, Dustin Browne, “Duz_“ “Denver RPG Meetup” Wendelyn A. Reischl with Jonathan Bowen, Toby Carpenter, Jeff Cohen, Jason Peterson, John Ross, Jonathan Van Luik “Ulisses Spiele Stamm” Michael Mingers with Dominik Krischer, Philipp Neitzel, Christian Lonsing, Carsten Moos, Mháire Stritter Robert Adducci with Ismael Alvarez, Mario Puentes, Cheryl K. Pierce, Laura Thompson, Joel Marsh “The Ordo Alearum” Kai Großkordt with Anni Buck, Andreas Föll, Birte Großkordt, Axel Pohl, Ernst Roth, Thomas Schönherr, David Willner “Genghiz’ Ladz” Michael Merrell with Bill “teh ebil bunneh” Keyes, Tammy Sue Keyes, Gordon Feiner, Curtis Craddok, Ron Ritchie, Arne Jamtgard, Matt James “Tier 5 Guardsmen” Harper Robinson with Steven Jordan Kozmary, Victor Menezes, Neal Muller, Frank Zhu Warhammer 40,000, Wrath Wrath & Glory: Blessings Unheralded © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2018. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay logo, Wrath & Glory, Revelations, the Wrath & Glory logo, GW, Games Workshop, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under licence. Published Published under License to Ulisses North America. Ulisses North America and the Ulisses North America logo are t rademarks of Ulisses Spiele. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Conte Contents nts ............................2 ............................2 Blood of the Cove Covenant nant .................. ..................4 4 Foreword....................... ..........................................14 ...................14 st It is the 41 Millennium .............15 Introduction.......................... ....................................16 ..........16 What is a Rolepl Roleplaying aying Game? 16 Chapter 1: The Dark Imperium.....20 The Threat of the Warp.......26 The Aeldari ..............................29 ..............................29 The Yn Ynnari nari ...............................30 The Orks ...................................31 ...................................31 The T’au Empire.....................32 Tyranids .......................... ....................................33 ..........33 The Necron Dynasties .........36 The Great Rift ........................37 The Dark Imperium ......................40 ......................40 The Gilead System.............. System........................42 ..........42 The Varonius Dynasty and the Straits of Andraste ........42 The Heartworlds Hear tworlds ...................42 ...................42 The Reach.......................... ................................43 ......43 The Membrane Worlds ........43 ........43 Chapter 2: Rules .......................... ................................44 ......44 The Core Rules......................... ...............................47 ......47 Game Dice ...............................47 ...............................47 Keywords..................................48 Keywords ..................................48 Glossary......................... ............................................49 ...................49 The Core Mechanic...............50 Making Tests ...........................50 Rounding Round ing........................ ..................................53 ..........53 Test Flowcha Flowchart........................53 rt........................53 Types of Tests .........................54 Shifting ...................... .....................................55 ...............55 Buying Success ......................56 ......................56 Escalation Tiers .....................57 The Wrath Dice ......................58 Wrath Points ...........................59 ...........................59 Glory ....................... ..........................................60 ...................60 Ruin............................................60 Ruin ............................................60 Fail-Forward ......................... ...................................63 ..........63 Chapter 3: Character Creation ......64 Creation Summary ........................67 Character Creation Summary: ....................... .................................69 ..........69
2
Ascension....................... .................................78 ..........78 Ammunition and Reloads 219 Establish a Conc Concept ept......................79 Combat Options..................220 Tiers ........................ ...........................................80 ...................80 Critical Hits .......................... ..........................223 223 Rank........................ ...........................................82 ...................82 Interaction Attacks ............ ............ 225 Framework......................... ...............................83 ......83 Damage ................................. .................................226 226 Select a Species ............................85 ............................85 Explosives and Area Select an Archetype ..................100 Effect Attacks.......................229 Archetype Anatomy ........... ........... 101 Combat Effects....................229 Adeptus Ministorum ......... ......... 106 Combat Complica Complications tions ..... ..... 232 Adepta Sororitas.................110 The Memorable Injury Astra Militarum...................113 Table .......................... ....................................... .............233 233 Agents of the Imperium...118 Imperium ...118 Vehicles Veh icles in Combat Combat............ ............235 235 Adeptus Astartes ................ ................ 126 Voidship Void ship Combat ................ 237 Adeptus Mechanicu Mechanicuss ......... 130 Chapter 5: Adventuring................242 Scum....................................... ....................................... 134 Passage Of Time.........................244 Renegades Rene gades............................ 138 Encounter Encount er Time .................. 244 Aeldari....................................143 Narrative Time .................... .................... 244 Orks......................................... ......................................... 149 Movement.....................................245 Assign Attributes........................154 Transportation.....................245 Purchased Purcha sed Attributes......... 155 Travel Pac Pace e ........................... 245 Traits ....................... ....................................... ................158 158 Environmental Hazards ........... ...........246 246 Purchase Purcha se Skills......................... ............................ ... 160 Suffocation........................... ...........................246 246 Purchase Purcha se Talents ........................ 168 Electricity.............................. ..............................246 246 Select Warge Wargear ar ............................ ............................182 182 Extreme Heat/Cold............ 247 Choose Special Abilities .......... .......... 185 Falling .................................... .................................... 247 Psychic Psyc hic Pow Powers ers .................... .................... 185 Fire ................ .......................................... .......................... 247 Backgrounds ........................ ........................ 186 Radiation............................... ............................... 247 Character Advancement Advancement .......... 193 Warp Travel .................................. ..................................248 248 Keywords Ke ywords List ...................... ...................... 195 Travelling the Ascending Ascendi ng ......................... ..................................... ............ 196 Immaterium ......................... .........................249 249 Ascension Package Social Interactions.....................251 Interactions .....................251 Anatomy ................................ ................................ 197 Threatening Tasks ...................... ......................254 254 Chapter 4: Combat Investigations..............................259 Investigations ..............................259 Combat Encounters ........... ........... 204 Influence, Rarity, and Wealth..264 Encounter Encount er Overview.......... 205 Influence ............................... ............................... 264 Initiative................................ ................................ 205 Rarity ...................................... ...................................... 267 Characters and Threats .... 207 Wealth Weal th.................................... 267 Actions in Combat ............. ............. 210 Campaign Cards ......................... ......................... 268 Movement Actions ............. ............. 211 Resting........................................... ........................................... 269 Terrain and Cover............... ...............213 213 Regroup Reg roup ........................ ................................. ......... 269 Combat Actions...................213 Respite Respit e .......................... ................................... ......... 269 Making an Attack ............... 217 Chapter 6: Wargear........................270 Melee Attacks ...................... ...................... 218 Weaponss....................... Weapon ........................................272 .................272 Ranged Attacks ................... ................... 218 Personall Weapo Persona Weapons ns ............. 273
Reloads and Ammuniti Reloads Ammunition on.. 273 Weapon Weap on Traits ...................... ...................... 274 Ranged Weapons Weapons ....................... 277 Bolt Weapons ...................... ...................... 280 Flame Weapons .................. .................. 281 Las Weapo Weapons ns ........................ ........................282 282 Melta Weapons ................... ................... 283 Plasma Weapons ................ ................ 283 Projectile Proje ctile Weapon Weaponss ............284 Missiles and Missile Launchers ............................. ............................. 285 Grenades & Grenade Launchers ............................. ............................. 286 Exotic Ranged Weapons .. 286 Eldar Ranged Weapons .... 287 Ork Ranged Weapons .......288 Melee Weapons .......................... .......................... 289 Chain Weapons ................... ................... 291 Force Wea Weapons pons ....................292 ....................292 Power Pow er Weapo Weapons ns ..................292 .................. 292 Exotic Melee Weapons ..... 293 Eldar Melee Weapons....... .......293 293 Ork Melee Weapons ..........294 Weapon Upgrades...................... Upgrades......................295 295 Reloads and Ammunition 297 Armour........................................... ........................................... 299 Basic Armour........................ Armour........................ 301 Powered Pow ered Armour.................302 Astartes Armour..................302 Armour..................302 Force Shields ....................... ....................... 303 Eldar Armour........................ Armour........................ 304 Ork Armour ........................... ........................... 304 Tools & Equipment ................... ...................305 305 Imperial Equipment .......... .......... 306 Eldar Equipment ................ ................ 311 Ork Equipment....................311 Cybernetics...................................312 Cybernetics ...................................312 Augmetics............................. ............................. 314 Cybernetic Cyberne tic Implants .......... .......... 314 Ork Bioniks ........................... ........................... 316 Eldar Cybernetics ............... 317 Vehicles Vehi cles ....................... .........................................318 ..................318 Imperial Vehicles................320 Vehicles................320 Ork Vehicles ......................... ......................... 322 Eldar Vehi Vehicles cles ...................... ......................322 322 Voidships Voidsh ips.......................... ....................................... .............323 323 Example Voidships ............ ............ 325 The Long Voyage Voyage ................326 Trinkets & Charms..................... 327
Chapter 7: Psych Psychic ic Powers .......... 332 The Coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum .................................. .................................. 334 Using Psych Psychic ic Pow Powers ers ............... ............... 335 Steps to activating a Psychic Psych ic Pow Power er ...................... ...................... 335 Dangers of the Warp ................. 337 Selecting Powers........................342 Powers........................342 Psychic Psyc hic Pow Powers ers ............................ ............................ 346 Definitions ............................ ............................ 346 Minor Psyc Psychic hic Pow Powers ers ....... 348 Universal Psychic Disciplines ............................ ............................ 352 The Lure of the Infernal .. 359 Aeldari Psychic Powers .... 361 Corruption .................................... .................................... 364 Corruption Tests Tests ......................... 364 When to Make a Corruption Test Test ................... 364 Causes of Corruption ........ ........ 364 How to Make a Corruption Test Test ................... 365 Temptati emptations ons of the Warp ........ .......... 366 Corruption Le Levels vels ....................... ....................... 367 The Ultimate Fate.............. 367 Malignanciess ........................ Malignancie ............................... ....... 368 Malignancyy Tests ................ 368 Malignanc Gaining a Malignancy....... 369 Mental Trauma .................... .................... 370 Minor Mutations.................373 Severe Mutations ............... ............... 374 Chapter 8: Game Master .............. ..............380 380 The Role of the Game Master 382 The Basics............................. Basics............................. 382 Principles Principl es of Good Game Mastering.............................. .............................. 383 Game Master Preparatio Preparation n and Creating a Story ......... 385 Bringing the Dark Imperium to Life......................... .............................................385 ....................385 Themes in Wrath & Glory 385 Campaigns and Frameworks.. 389 Choose a Tier.......................389 Tier.......................389 Frameworks..........................390 Campaign Leng Length th ............... ............... 393 The Odd Man Out .............393 Adventures ................................... ................................... 394 Guidelines for Creating Adventures ........................... ........................... 394
Balancing Encounters............... Encounters............... 396 Make a Stand, or Live to Fight Another Day.............. 397 Let them Know the Threat is Coming........................... Coming. .................................. ........ 397 Death and Conse Consequenc quences es.. 397 Non-Player Characters ............. ............. 398 Guidelines for Running NPCs ....................................... .......................................398 398 Game Prefe Preferences rences......................399 Awarding Wrath .................. .................. 399 Amount and Challenge of Combat .................................. ..................................400 400 Character Progression .............. .............. 400 Awarding Build Points...... ......401 401 Ranking Up and Milestones ............................ ............................401 401 Milestone Examples ......... ......... 401 Chapter 9: Bestiary ........................402 Threats................................... ...................................404 404 Special Abilities .................. .................. 406 Resolve Resolv e .......................... .................................. ........406 406 (Ruin) Ruin Actions ............ 407 Bestiary Anatomy ............... 407 Imperial Threats ................. ................. 409 Chaos Threats...................... Threats......................419 419 Ork Threats....................... ........................... .... 432 Eldar Threats ....................... ....................... 437 Other Xenos ......................... ......................... 440 Named Adversaries............ Adversaries............ 448 Character Sheet .......................... .............................. .... 450 Index...................................................452 Index n ex...................................................452 452
3
BLOOD OF THE CO COVENANT VENANT By Aaron Dembski-Bowden
The Princess Niah’cara was royal-born, and had been falling ever since. To some, she was the Huntress of the Scarlet Heavens. To others, she was an unfolding lesson into the dangers of ego and delusion. These detractors, of which there were many, called her the Princess of Dust. The Path of the Outcast had not been kind to her, but it had been unkinder still to her enemies. They lay dead. She did not. Niah’cara answered the summons when it came, dressing in robes of layered silk cut in the colours of her fallen Craftworld. As she made her way to the Farseer’s chambers, she mused on one notion above all: The mon-keigh cannot be trusted. She had been told so many times along the continuum of years, and perhaps it was as true now as it had always been. Niah’cara was born before the galaxy tore itself itse lf in two, when one half was left to bleed and sicken and rot in rebellion. She had dealt with humans many times before the dawn of these dark days. She had faced them in the cold of the void, overseeing their destruction from a bridge of wraithbone beneath the great fins of solar sails. She had fought them in the shadows of their ruined cities, hunting them as prey, sometimes needing to clean their stinking, primordial blood from her cameleoline cloak. But everything changed with the rupturing of the night sky. Her kin-band still spat the word mon-keigh, but that curse was losing its acid edge. Her people were past the point where they could freely indulge in the luxury of mistrust. To stand alone was to die alone. alo ne. And so, Niah’cara was chosen. She would journey journ ey in the company of those whose blood she would once have spilled. They had not yet told her this, nor could she read it in the turning of fate’s wheel. But she did not
4
need foresight to know how it would all play out. Someone must go, and the logic of that decision led straight to her. Others would go in time… but someone must go fi rst. rst. That was why she had been summoned. She approached Farseer Vyriah in his meditative garden, her tread silent on the wraithbone pathway that wound between the precious flora. Indulging herself, she ran her ungloved fingers along the frond of an orange fern, the plant lovingly cultivated from Exodite cuttings, reseeded century after century when inevitable age or misfortune took the tree’s life. Vyriah had always been most diligent in the care and preservation of his onboard gardens. The arched walls of pale wraithbone reached up to a transparent dome, cradling it, letting the light of the heavens glow upon the botanical garden. And above that dome, the stars waited. Choked in the miasma of the warp-poison that stained the skies and cut the galaxy in half, but shining still, for a while longer at least. leas t. No others of Niah’cara’s Niah’cara’s kin-band claimed chambers of such meticulous beauty, even if that beauty had, for decades, been blighted by celestial horror. The seer knelt in repose, eyes closed in re flection, but Niah’cara saw through the illusion of his serenity. The faint tension in his shoulders betrayed him as openly as a spoken confession. She approached without speaking, inclining her head as she took the seventh and eighth steps, as custom dictated. His voice outweighed hers in matters pertaining to the ship’s function, but she owed him no bow. She was, after all, a ll, royalty. Vyriah’s eyes opened. His face lifted to regard hers, and he rose to his feet a moment later. When he greeted her by title as well as name, her curiosity awakened. When he bowed to her, lower than tradition’s mandate, she recognised the degree of his politeness for what it was.
‘You play to my vanity,’ she chided him, with a flicker of amusement. ‘It is not like you to be so unsubtle.’ Sometimes it seemed as though Vyriah was old when the galaxy was still young. His dark eyes alighted on hers, sharing nothing, seeing everything. ‘You know,’ he said. ‘You know the purpose of this summons.’ ‘How could I not?’ Niah’cara pressed her fingertips together before her robes, in a gesture g t e of acceptance. ‘I will go, Farseer. I will walk l the path you see before me. When do you wish mee to leave?’
including mandated REM-focused downtime), the opposite was universally true. Urgency suggested strife. It suggested flaws and disruptions. It suggested a breakage in the ritual order of life. He lifted his gel-wet hands from the domed head-bowl of the deactivated war automaton, and tentatively tuned into the vox array. ‘Ilmar Apex 09-38,, assigned to guided cranial network r regeneration. e r t . I request/demand r q e n clarity t rregarding ar in thee most s recently r t rreceived received signal. gnaa . Specify tthe nature gn r of thiss message e s e and con c firm its source/origin.’ ou e / in. n.’’
The Preacher To say Ilmar resented the message would bee to underplay the depths of his irritation.. It was a glitch, sent in error, and he didn’t evenn deign fle to acknowledge it at first. Ghost-messages s ew through the vox array in their hundreds r every day; such was the curse of so many connected c minds. Since the message was patentlyy nonsense, se , he sought to ignore it. He only replied i with a wordless pulse of acknowledgement/refusal when the chiming in his implanted vox-rig -r refused to abate. After his return pulse, it fell silent. The following silence was a most blessed development, develop ment,, and hee continued his work in peace, manipulating the fused connectors inside a tormented cogitae-scry relay. However, his peace was short-lived.. Ilmar was still elbow deep in robotic brainhousing when the signal sounded a second time,, exactly forty-three seconds later. The inexact timing gave him far more pause than the message itself, for it suggested impatience on behalf of the messenger. That couldn’t be good. Indeed, it suggested the possibility t of urgency. Ilmar had no recollectionn of o aa time in his existence when urgency from r his superiors had preceded something pleasant. s nt.. In his experience, which reached fifty-three years,, two months, and six days of active service (nott
5
The reply came in a stream of binaric binar ic cant, pulsing in quick stutters, transmitting understanding far more ef ficiently than vocalised words. Ilmar ceased all work as comprehension dawned. If he had been entirely human, his blood might have run cold. Although the tech-priest didn’t possess much blood in strictly natural terms (with most of it replaced by a haemosynth fluid regulating his bionic and augmetic anatomy), he nevertheless felt something his unmodi fied ancestors would have called a chill down their spines. This, too, was impossible, since his spine was a steel carbo fibre alloy, but even his enhanced mind wasn’t immune to the pressure of psychosomatic reaction. ‘These orders are incorrect,’ he sent back across the link. Silence answered him. That, also, couldn’t be good. The crashing, thudding, clanking sounds of the forge chamber carried on around him as Ilmar Apex 09-38 lifted his red hood into i nto place, reached for his axe-staff of of fice, and left his station without a word. His superiors made their lair on the nineteenth sublevel. Ilmar secured passage on a freight platform descending into the planet’s crust, which took one hour and fifty-two minutes. During this time, he could do nothing but stand and watch the rock and metal walls of the shaft pass in agonising slowness. Usually the grind of the elevators’ cogworks and the repetitive view of the slowly scrolling tunnel offered a sense of serenity.
But he never even made it off the freight f reight elevator. A Skitarii Alpha, cowled and armed, intercepted him with an abruptness that made it clear his arrival had been predicted. ‘You are denied,’ the Alpha said by way of greeting. It held out a bionic hand, warning him from proceeding. Ilmar’s augmetic eye lenses met this unexpected guardian’s machine-eyes in kind. Rank separated the two men, as well as the quality of their sacred bionics. ‘I must speak with one of the foundry hierarchs,’ Ilmar insisted. He stated the demand vocally and in a spurt of binaric cant at the same time, betraying his rising discomfort. ‘The orders I have received are devoid of sense.’ The Alpha remained impassive, implacable. ‘You are denied.’ Panic—or the strained echo of that too-human emotion—began to stain Ilmar’s thought processes. There was a catch in his speech, a human hesitation that indicated his eroding selfcontrol as unwelcome emotion took hold. ‘These orders must be incorrect. I… I have never left Avachrus.’ ‘The orders stand,’ declared the Alpha. ‘Return to your district and make ready for your journey off-world.’ Fear goaded Ilmar into speaking one last time. ‘This must be a mistake. It must be.’
Not this time. tim e. He had never gone this deep before. He had never needed to, and what awaited him at the end of the journey infected his ordered thoughts with unfamiliar unease.
The Skitarii Alpha, devoid of all emotive responses thus far, finally bristled at the tech-priest’s words. Bionic fingers curled tighter around the grip and stock of its radium carbine.
The deeper catacombs formed a labyrinth that led to the central facility. Ilmar lacked clearance to access most of the core chambers, including the sealed-off facilities housing the Eternal Engines, guarded by warded bulkheads and phalanxes of Skitarii. He intended to avoid the barricaded districts and make haste to his hierarchs’ chambers. He needed answers, and the high priests and priestesses would have them.
‘Our masters do not make mistakes.’
6
Ilmar knew better than to argue; blasphemy and ill-discipline would hardly enhance his position. So he bowed, backed away, and took his doubts with him. He had weapons to prime and a journey to prepare for.
The Slayer Emerah was the last, the only one still breathing. Her companions and her master had passed on without her, gone ahead to dwell forever in glory at the God-Emperor’s side. She needed no medicae instruments to know their spirits had fled their bodies; gun fire and hacking blades had carved them apart with brutal elegance. Their blood-flecked faces and staring eyes told the only story that mattered now. She was alone. Emerah had been alone before, but not since coming into the Inquisitor’s service. From the night Quintarus found her in the rain, clad in her sacred raiment, holding her holy blades and standing above the body of her first kill, she had been welcomed among his warband. Quintarus had valued her. He had cherished her for her beliefs as much as for her talents. He had seen to her further training and granted her new blades, stronger and better than anything her home world’s smiths were capable of forging. Since joining his service, she’d never set foot on Ostia again. Twelve years. Twelve years of service to the vision of Inquisitor Quintarus. Twelve years of painting her swords and her skin with the blood of traitors. Twelve years of killing in the GodEmperor’s name, sending apostates’ spirits to the Master of Mankind to make up for the filthiness of her own soul. These were the precepts of her faith, and so she clung to them as Quintarus shaped her from a murderess into a slaughterer. Every man and woman was born corrupt, and absolution was found only in the freeing of heretical souls. Such killing pleased the God-Emperor. Such slaughter cleansed the soul. Some of her companions had sneered at first, in the months before they too came to value her. Death Cultist, they called her, diminishing her faith to the delusions of a primitive coven. Over time, they had learned. Over time, guarded by her swords and mindful of her beliefs, they had become her family.
must do in the event of his death: Avoid their headquarters, for there were others in the Most Holy Inquisition that even the Inquisitor himself couldn’t trust. In the event of his demise, his surviving companions were to make their way to the Varonius Flotilla. He had allies there, among the dynasty. And there, on neutral ground, they should await contact from his trusted brethren. This deep in the sunless hive, in this undercity of teeming masses where the shadows were cut by harsh red and purple lumen-strips, she was entirely without allies. Her foes, those Quintarus had hunted and whose souls she had promised to her blades, were still out there. They’d know she still lived, and they would come for her as they’d come for her warband. She knew it was foolish to linger, yet she stayed long enough to crouch by each body, taking a memento from each of her fallen companions, and closing their eyes with the softest brush of her gloved fingertips. Quintarus was last. Before she could stroke his staring eyes closed, she sensed the shadows dance to her left. Emerah moved in an adrenal blur, twisting in the air, arm outstretched, a fan of throwing knives flashing silver into the darkness. She heard cries of pain, and the scuf fle of boots and bodies. She kept moving. Into the shadows she plunged, her photovisor down and betraying the sludgy heat smears of her foes. Her reinforced bodysuit creaked with explosions of movement and twists of muscle. Her swords smacked into human meat and bit deep into bodies, each cut birthing a hot spray of lifeblood that saturated the air with the scent of copper.
And now they were gone.
Then she stood in the darkness, as still as the death she’d delivered, motionless in the heart of her butchery. The five cooling bodies twitched at her feet as their spirits flew free. The final, involuntary tremors of the rightfully slain; their souls now cast to the God-Emperor’s throne.
There was a contingency plan. She knew none of the details, only the first step she’d have to take. Quintarus had made it clear what his warband
Perhaps Quintarus and her companions would witness these thes e fresh souls arriving, arr iving, and they would smile, knowing Emerah was fated to avenge them.
7
