Over in Naggarond, the Druchii remain blissfully unaware of their Witch King’s resurrection but this is not to say that Witch Queen Hellebron’s reign has become any more easy. Indeed, Admiral Felheart’s victory over the Asur navy was a welcomed achievement which enabled Hellebron to shut down some of her detractors’ protests but this may yet be temporary.

Nothing remains stable in the lands of Naggarond. The Skink Priest Astromancer of the Constellations and Slaan Ascendant, Tetto’eko has become convinced that the secret to unlocking the next step in the Old One’s great plan involves a mass sacrifice of warm bloods high atop the spires of Ss’ildra Tor and so he now travels with an army to do exactly that. Tetto’eko now hovers guarded by the champion of the Temple Guards, Chakax, with a force consisting of 500 Temple Guards, 4 Salamander Packs, 2 Ancient Stegadons, 2 Troglodons, 5 Bastiladons with Solar Engines, 49 Terradon Riders, 9 Ripperdactyls, 120 Horned Ones, 4800 Saurus, 15 Kroxigors and an additional 8500 Skinks.

Not wanting to see one of her great economic centres be sacked, and not only sacked, but used in a primitive lizzard ritual, Hellebron summoned her champion general to her location.

Hellebron sat resplendently on Malekith’s former throne, drinking from a blood chalice to maintain her youth and being hand-fed rare fruits by a now chained up and starving Drusala, former handmaiden to Morathi and now Hellebron’s favourite slave whom she delights in humiliating on a constant basis. Suddenly, the doors to the great throne room opened to reveal that her most decorated remaining general had arrived. Tullaris Dreadbringer, former captain of her very own Har Ganeth executions, walked into her the throne room of the Witch Queen and assumed a kneeling position before his Queen.

The Druchii army had not yet fully replenished from the Vampire Wars nor were the Black Arks restocked enough yet to bombard the cold-bloods from afar. As such, Hellebron not only wished to ask Tullaris to lead the remaining armies of Nagaroth against the Lizardmen, she also requested that he seek additional forces out that could bolster their army. Hellebron unveiled to him a room filled with gold ornaments and precious gems, and explained to him that this was just one of this palace’s many treasure troves and so offered him a brass key, a key with which he would now have access to such a treasure trove himself and with it, he could set forth and bolster Hellebron’s armies by any means necessary.

As one final trick before returning to her throne room, Hellebron decreed that Drusala would personally carry any wealth that Tullaris needed from his newly accessed trove all the way through the palace and down to Tullaris’ transport. Tullaris knew he could easily carry the money himself which would certainly be faster than having a bone-thin former handmaiden do all the heavy lifting but even then, he knew better than to get in the way of his queen’s games. So long as she gave him what he needed to fight this war, he had no intention of doing anything that might displease the Crone. To the contrary, he shared in her pleasure.

Finally, Tullaris and his men left the palace with an enormous bounty, roughly equating to 2% of the total earnings collected by the International Druchii Slave Trade in the last seasonal quarter. Just before he left, Tullaris sat on his horse and looked over his shoulder towards the stairs to the palace gates. Drusala had just collapsed and was gasping for air. As Tullaris set off to build his army, he had a distinct feeling Hellebron might have a new favourite slave when next they met.

And so Tullaris set out to form his army, amassing 300 Har Ganeth Executioners which themselves were now led by the ruthless fighter Kelthrai whom had taken over as Executioner captain in the wake of Tullaris’ promotion. To counteract the Slaan-Ascendant skink lord’s magic, Tullaris recruited Lilaeth, a member of one of the Dark Covents of Sorceresses and an expert in the Lore of Dark Magics. Having been wedded to the former Witch King just as all Supreme Sorceresses of Ghrond are, Lilaeth had herself been in mourning ever since Malekith’s perceived death, feeling shame that she had not been there to step in and prevent her husband and god-incarnate’s demise. As such, the offer of some form of redemption, having the opportunity to represent her people in a victory over the scaled-skins was very enticing to the sorceress. Upon setting out for war, Lilaeth unleashed 2 Bloodwrack Medusae from their cells in Ghrond and she bound their souls to serve Tullaris in battle.

The army itself was somewhat limited in terms of heavy hitting units. The Black Guard stayed North to guard the Witch Queen and most beast units like Hydras and Manticores were needed to monitor the shorelines while the navy restocked itself, since Hydra breaths would prove incredibly useful in burning invading High Elf or Norscan ships while manticores could be used to harass landing potential landing parties. However, Tullaris was lucky to recruit a single Kharibdyss to the army. A fearsome sea monster which through the combined efforts of Sorceresses and Beastmasters was lurable to the surface and into Tullaris’ army.

As for the rest of the Druchii army, Tullaris brought 300 Witch Elves commanded by 2 Death Hags, 19 Scourgerunner Chariots, 280 Harpies, 150 Doomfire Warlocks, 80 Cold One Knights, 300 Shades, and a mixed force of 5900 Bleakswords, Dreadspears and Darkshards.

However, unknown to the enemy Lizzards this force of Druchii would be reinforced by an additional 1400 Skeggi Marauders led by a fickle chieftain riding a shaved war mammoth, in order to acclimatise to the comparatively warmer temperatures here, who would follow anyone in return for riches and glory in battle, the Ogre mercenary Golfag and his company of Maneaters were hired, Ruglud Bonechewer and his Company of Armoured Orcs joined the cause and finally, Mengil Manhide and his Manflayers, a band of cannabalistic Druchii mercenaries famed throughout the old world for wearing the skins of their slain enemies were recruited to instill terror into the cold-blooded ranks.

Can Tullaris Dreadbringer lead his army of Druchii backed up by mercenaries to victory or will Tetto’eko break through and sacrifice the denizens of Ss’ildra Tor in the next step towards fulfilling the Old Ones’ plan?

Love React – Substantial Lizardmen Victory: The cold-blooded armies dominated the field. Without Black Guards or substantial monster units the Dark Elves struggled to cope with the lizardmen’s abundance of large dinosaur units thereby allowing them to run amok in their ranks. The terradons and ripperdactyls easily outmatched the harpies and then proceeded to bombard the elves’ formations from the air. The solar engine bastiladons burned holes into the Kharibdyss, leaving massive weak spots ready to be picked at by the spears and clubs of the Temple Guards and Horned One cavalry led by Chakax while Tetto’eko simply dropped a comet on Lilaeth and fired lightning bolts at the Bloodwrack Medusae. The Druchii mercenaries fled in the face of the dino devastation after Mengil Manhide’s was eaten by a Troglodon and as for Tullaris Dreadbringer, Kelthrai and the executioners, they found themselves being double teamed by the Troglodons and Ancient Stegadons all while being spewed on by the Salamander packs. Kelthrai never stood a chance and stole a domfire warlock’s horse to ride away on while Tullaris was forced to limp off and retreat. Tetto’eko went on to invade Ss’ildra Tor, blasting its walls down with the bastiladons and sacrificing its inhabitants in the name of the Old Ones.

Wow React – Pyric Lizardmen Victory: The Lizardmen were victorious but with little to show for it. After losing half their heavy hitters all of their Bastiladons with Solar Engines were dead as well as their Troglodons meaning they had no hope of going on to invade Ss’ildra Tor. Chakax and the Temple Guards managed to break through the witch elves and slay Lilaeth at least however, in spreading their forces too think Tullaris ended up cutting a way through the Lizardmen’s ranks straight to Tetto’eko and stabbed the skink in the chest atop his hovering platform. Despite this blow, Chakax rallied the Horned Ones thereby resulting in a thundering charge that shattered the high elves’ remaining morale. Tullaris fled home to Hellebron, who was immensely disappointed in him and feared how the lords would react to her armies failure. Still, the Lizardmen had no means of taking Ss’Ildra Tor and so could not go on to finish the mission they first embarked on.

Laugh React – Pointless Lizardmen Victory: The battle waged on long and hard until Tetto’eko decided he was done with everything. He began a great ritual, aligning himself with the stars and opened up a great rift in the skies. Meteors showered down obliterating everyone. Tullaris knocked a cold one knight off his steed and rode off the field as soon as the rift began to appear, knowing what was about to happen. The rift tore the ground below it appart, killing thousands of troops at a time through earthquakes and tears in the ground. Tetto’eko sat on his platform, protected by a celestial shield as his ritual torn the entire battlefield apart. Lilaeth, Chakax, Kelthrai, Mengil, Ruglud, Golfang, all the dinosaurs, all the skinks and saurus, all the dark elves, all the mercenaries. Aside from Tullaris who was smart enough to flee beforehand, Tetto’eko now sat in his chair and watched as everybody died. When that was done he decided to set off home. He needed to come up with a new method of enforcing the Old One’s plan.

Sad React – Pyric Dark Elf Victory: The Druchii are victorious but at a terrible cost. Over 60% of Tullaris’ army was killed including Lilaeth whose skull was mercilessly beaten by Chakax’s club. Under the strains of combat, the orc and ogre mercenaries deserted the field, content with the money they had already received. As Tetto’eko deserted his platform and fled the field, Chakax stood his ground to buy the skink lord some time, going down fighting as he was hacked to pieces by Tullaris Dreadbringer and Kelthrai. Upon returning home, Hellebron was happy to see her favourite general and as reward offered to give Drusala to him for the night. However, when the Druchii lords hear just how many of their soldiers were killed, they may not be too confident in their queen’s rule after all.

Angry React – Substantial Druchii victory. The armies overwhelmed the lizardmen. The dinosaur units were corralled by cavalry and thus forced into walls of Dreadspears, the Orcs and Ogres tore through the Saurus ranks and Lilaeth held off well against Tetto’eko in the magic duel, dispelling his casts and cutting through saurus ranks with bladewinds. When Tetto’eko fled, Chakax stood his ground to buy the skink time fighting until the bitter end until he was simply overwhelmed by Tullaris and the Executioners. However, this had also been for nought as Mengil and his manflayers caught Tetto’eko as he attempted to run away. This skink wasn’t exactly the most experienced of runners after all and so Mengil was able to catch up with the skink and proceeded to skin him alive.