Months have passed since the fateful fight in Altdorf between the Emperor of Men Karl Franz and the Greenskin leader Grimgor Ironhide. Karl was victorious but significantly injured to the point of losing his legs in the fight which led to Balthasar Gelt deciding to fly him away on his winged horse Quicksilver from the battle to a Monastery he had heard of to the far North-East of Kislev, in the cold mountains between the Old World and the Chaos Wastes.

As the two flew across the world Balthasar made sure to hunt for food using his magic to skewer and cook wild beasts and applied continued pressure to Karl’s wounds, even using his alchemy to craft metal plates that were tightly bandaged to the Emperor’s skin and casting special enchantments to keep the blood in Karl’s body circulating. Karl went in and out of consciousness but at least he was still alive rather than bleeding out. After weeks of flying, the two finally passed over Kislev and reached the mountains. Gelt landed in the mountains and prepared to look around to find the monastery.

The monastery was somewhere in these mountains, secluded within a hidden cave-opening to prevent it from being noticed by travelling demons. Gelt had never seen it before but he had certainly heard of it by reputation for it was built in the very spot Friedrich von Tarnus, the original Magister Patriarch of the Bright Order, had chosen to first test the spellstaff he created since he chose this spot for its close proximity to the chaos wastes. As such, Gelt had never been here before yet still held a connection to this destination, for this was the place where the Staff of Volans was first used. However, even though Tarnus was a respected member of a recognised magical order, the inhabitants of this monastery were anything but that; for it was now occupied by spellcasters from across the Old World that had been formally banished or had self-exiled from their homelands. The rumours spoke of abominations being conducted here, far worse than mere necromancy which was abhorred already across the empire. Humans seeking to replicate daemon magics to turn them against their apocalyptic overlords, training Dawi wizards to combine a resilient magic resistance with a strong magical offence, seeking to discover how the chaos gods resurrect their followers without damaging them, conducting experiments to cure chaos spawn or if that fails, control Chaos Spawn and turn them against the armies of Chaos, even trying to merge separate Lores of magic into one to increase their potency, if you can think of a magical practice and be assured it would result with a witch hunter knocking on your door, it was probably being done here in the name of preventing the advance of Chaos. Gelt hated coming here and he hated that the site of his forebear in the Colleges of Magic had been desecrated to such an extent but if it meant giving the Emperor a chance at survival, Gelt would be willing to give it a chance.

After Gelt had made sure the unconscious Karl Franz was relatively comfortable against his horse, Gelt started walking around the rocks, looking for a gap in the mountainside that could denote a cave entrance of some kind. it had to be somewhere nearby. Gelt walked along what seemed to be a makeshift pathway, until finally he found an immense cave entrance protruding from the mountain side with a warm glow emanating from inside.

However, rather than finding the monastery he was looking for, Gelt had instead come across the lair of Skarbrand, the Exiled Bloodthirster of Khorne! Balthasar hoped to back away quietly without being noticed but this wasn’t possible, for Skarbrand had already heard him landing his horse only a minute ago. Skarbrand stood up, equipped his two ginormous axes and roared at Gelt as he proceeded to charge at the wizard.

Angry React – Skarbrand attacked Gelt and no matter what spell Gelt tried to cast, none seemed to hold Skarbrand back for longer than a few seconds. Rusting spells were useless since Skarbrand barely wore any armour, his transmutation spell had no effect whatsoever, he tried a lightning bolt but that only resulted in a quick static shock rather than anything truly damaging and even the golden hounds of Gehenna were immediately dispelled when Skarbrand simply hit them aside. Gelt took some lead from his satchel and threw it, transforming it into a wall of pure gold using his expertise over alchemy, hoping he could at least use that for protection. However, even then Gelt stood no chance as Skarbrand charged and smashed straight through the golden wall and rammed Gelt straight into the sharpened edge of a boulder, crushing the wizard between stone and daemon. From there, Skarbrand walked over to Franz. Quicksilver leapt at Skarband only to be immediately chopped in two. Finally, Karl woke for a moment to see the immense Bloodthirster standing over him. Skarbrand raised his axes, now bigger than Karl himself thanks to his lack of legs, and planted them straight into the Emperor of Men’s body.

Sad React – Skarbrand charged at the wizard and knowing he was far outmatched, Gelt ducked out of the way. He ran away from the daemon as fast as he could as the daemon seemed to lumber around and crash into all its surroundings thanks to its oversized body and cumbersome, broken wings. Gelt returned to Karl and threw some lead behind him from which he quickly transmuted it into a golden glittering robe, as if it were a pair of sturdy curtains somehow held aloft by the air itself. Skarbrand began wailing on this blockade as Gelt loaded Karl back onto Quicksilver. The two took off, narrowly avoiding Skarbrand’s axe swing as he smashed through the gold curtain spell. However, it transpired that in his haste to mount off, Gelt had not tied Karl’s saddle straps tight enough. As such, after a few minutes of flying, the two encountered some turbulence due to the harsh mountain winds resulting in Karl’s saddle suddenly coming loose and the Emperor of Men slipping off the horse’ backside. Karl fell to his death with Gelt still on the horse, looking back in shock.

Love React – Skarbrand charged at the wizard and knowing he was far outmatched, Gelt ducked out of the way. He ran away from the daemon as fast as he could as the daemon seemed to lumber around and crash into all its surroundings thanks to its oversized body and cumbersome, broken wings. Gelt returned to Karl and prepared to make a final stand as Skarbrand charged at the two of them when suddenly a golden aura poured from Karl’s chest and engulfed the two of them as it created a seemingly impenetrable bubble around them. Skarbrand tried to muscle his way through the shield but was unable to do so, resulting in the daemon eventually getting bored and returning to its lair.

Laugh React – Balthasar decided to hold his ground and fight the daemon off. Skarbrand may be tough thanks to his strength, size and weapons but with that comes a lack of versatility and a cumbersome approach to combat in close range combat on a 1v1 basis. As Gelt dodged Skarbrand’s blows, he stacked transmutation spell on top of stransmutation spells until before long, Skarbrand was being sapped and whittled away by 10 spells all at once. Finally, Gelt summoned the golden hounds of Gehenna which thanks to Skarbrands weakened state, were able to take the daemon down. Having killed the daemon, Balthasar continued to walk around the mountain slope for the monastery entrance.

Wow React – After a short battle between the Bloodthirster and Balthasar Gelt, the Supreme Patriarch was overrun and crushed by the disgraced greater daemon of Khorne. Skarbrand walked over to Franz. Quicksilver leapt at Skarband only to be immediately chopped in two. Finally, Karl woke for a moment to see the immense Bloodthirster standing over him. Skarbrand raised his axes, now bigger than Karl himself thanks to his lack of legs, and prepared to plant them straight into the Emperor of Men’s body when a golden-spellshield seemed to emerge from Karl’s chest. Skarbrand smashed his axes into the shield to kill the emperor but the shield seemed to withold all damage. Suddenly, a piercing bolt of amber was fired through the air and lodged itself in the daemon’s neck. Frost emerged from the wound and quickly spread across the daemons skull, causing Skarbrand to simultaneously suffocate and freeze to death as the daemon toppled over and face-planted into the snow. Karl could see a mysterious figure walking through the snowy mists until finally he came into view properly. A bearded and shirtless wizard with some kind of bone strapped to his shoulders walked up to Karl and said “My lord Emperor, my name is Gregor Martak. Welcome to Sanctuary…”

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