“Hold this point you band of wretched souls!” screamed Gathus at the Horde of Chainrasps and the Spirit Hosts he had ordered to guard the edge of the Wyldwood. The trees had not seen a Slyvaneth in so long their magic had faded and it had no sway over the small copse, and so the taint of chaos had taken over and twisted the limbs into a deadly, unforgiving force. The perfect place to hide behind and use to your own advantage.

The Nighthaunt had been sent by Lady Olynder to destroy a particularly troublesome Army of Beasts that were growing in stature and the victories were threatening the hold Death had over this particular region of Ghur. Having followed their trail, the Reaper Brigade, now lead by Gathus, had found them building a herdstone near to an abandoned Azyrite Town and so they waited.

Gathus and Rasark were brothers in their mortal lives. Brothers who hated each other so much that, by a dark coincidence at the height of their hatred, they had both slipped out of their beds in the dead of night, travelled to each other’s homes and murdered each other’s families, only to return to their houses to find their own grisly scenes. The emotional destruction of their souls ended with a bloody fight to the death. As their souls left their bodies, Nagash took them for his own and forced them to be together for all eternity as Spirit Torments, taking the souls of others as they had taken the souls of their families.

Having been summoned to Lady Olynder, Gathus had been placed in charge of the Reaper Brigade, taking the helm from Keldimir after his defeat in Witherdwell, and he was determined to show to the Mortarch that her faith was well placed. She had given him the Shadows Edge and the ability to Rule the Spirit Hosts and with these new powers he would rule the Reaper Brigade with an iron fist.

 Looking at the lay of the land, it was clear that the Beasts were looking to build on the Herdstone and were using the powers of Chaos to tray and pull a feral Ghorgon into their Army, so to strike now would be a better option than waiting. He had sent his brother, stripped of any powers and weapons, with another horde of Chainrasps to make a frontal assault on the Beasts and to try and draw the attention of the loose Ghorgon that was roaring and stamping around the old ruins. His surprise attack was Keldimir, to whom he had given the pendant of the fell wind, another gift from Lady Olynder, and 2 bands of Bladegheists that were travelling via the Underworld and would come up behind the enemy lines and attack the Herdstone and the Beasts around it.

The Beastlord looked on as his Great Bray Shamen tried to tame the Ghorgon that they had found wandering through an old town. As the Ungors screamed during their sacrifice, the Chaos powers were amplified by the Herdstone and the Ghorgon was beginning to calm. It turned towards that Beastlord and sniffed the air. It blinked and took a step forward. Then in a heartbeat, its ears swivelled around, it raised its huge head, let out a most tremendous roar, span around and charged towards the trees line on the other side of the town. The Beastlord was confused until he realised that by living in Ghur, the Ghorgon had only survived on its own by fine tuning it’s senses to detect the faintest hint of danger, and had learned to face that threat with its full power. It was defending. The Beastlord shouted to his Bestigors and ran in the same direction as his tamed Ghorgon raced after the other followed by another Shamen.

Rasark heard the Ghorgon crashing through the trees and could see above the ruins that he was heading for his brother. He had no care for him and pushed his Chainrasp further towards the enemy lines. He would be victorious, and his brother would be dead.

The feral Ghorgon caught sight of Gathus and charged at him, the Chainrasps and Spirit Hosts rallied and attacked the huge monster as its butchering blades tore the spectres to pieces but they weren’t quick enough to protect him and the Beast launched a ferocious attack that Gathus had no reply to and before he even had a chance to fight back he was gone. The Ghorgon continued with his assault, sending all 3 Spirit Hosts to the grave and decimating the Chainrasps.

The Reaper Brigade were in trouble and it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Lady Olynder rose from the Underworld.

Giving Gathus the lead of the Reaper Brigade was a test. One which he had failed miserably and that could damage the Mortarch of Grief herself. This task was too important to have left to an impetuous gheist that was more pre-occupied with his brother than his allegiance to Nagash. If they failed here, Nagash would want answers.

Quickly assessing the scene in front of her, she called for Keldimir to raise up and attack the Herdstone. It was being guarded by a Cygor and some Bestigors. If Keldimir could hit hard and fast enough the Beasts wouldn’t even know they had been defeated. As for the other Beasts, their leader and the others were too spread around to stop the Nighthaunt if they were fast and brutal.

She turned to the Ghorgon and started to lift her veil. As mortal as the Ghorgon was, it’s bestial brain was unable to fully comprehend the horror that it saw and so where most lesser foe would instantly die, the Ghorgon remained and so she screamed the Wail of the Damned and then charged at him, her Maidens screaming alongside her. This was the beginning of the end for the Ghorgon.

Keldimir, wearing the pendant of the fell wind, rose from the ground next to a huge skull of a terrible lizard and his Bladegheists formed up either side of him. The Shroudguard thought as one and in a blink of an eye he had formulated a plan instinctively and as he charged at the Shamen chasing after the Ghorgon and killed him swiftly with the Sword of Stolen Hours, the unit to his right charged into the Bestigors at the Herdstone and the other unit charged into the Ghorgon in the middle of the town.

The Bestigors failed to see the danger as the Bladegheists hit like a Wave of Terror, killing them all before they sensed the danger. The Ghorgon, being alerted by the charge by the feral one, was not caught off guard and the Bladegheist had a fight on their hands but with Rasark and his Chainrasps almost there, it was a fight it would never win.

Turning back to her own fight, she raised the Staff of Midnight and attacked, the Ghorgon writhed and roared but the damage was too much and as the claws of her handmaidens finished him off, she looked around. The Ghorgon was as good as dead, the one in the centre was too and Keldimir and his Shroudguard had made little work of those defending the Herdstone. Victory was hers.

With her spectral power she spoke to all the Gheists in the Reaper Brigade.

“All are one in Nagash”

And in unison they all replied “Nagash is all”.