News of Nagash’s assault on Khemri spread all across the Southlands, rivalling even Warboss Azhag’s recent invasions of Araby and Lybaras in terms of the havoc it wrought and how the ancient Tomb Kings feared for the preservation of their power.

Yet, while the eyes of Nehekhara’s various monarchs of the desert kingdoms looked to the fallen City of Kings and considered what might be to gain from bending their knees before the Great Necromancer now in place of suffering a similar fate to the Khemrikhara themselves, the ensuing commotion allowed for many of Nagash’s followers to move through the deserts unseen. First, the Mortarchs of Von Carstein managed to launch a devastating siege of the still-recovering city state of Sudenberg, then the Lichemaster recruited the Dreadfleet to their cause in a titanic struggle against the demigod-like behemoth Triton and now, two of Nagash’s most loyal followers managed to cross the desert South into the Charnel Valley.

The Mortarchs W’soran and Melkhior, two Necrarchs, once master and student, now forcibly condemned to share a single mind in an effort to keep them from betraying each other or their master, both strode their way through the empty valley on their way to the ruined city of Mahrak, a former desert kingdom ruled over by the fearsome King Phar before Settra’s legions laid waste to it. Little did Settra appear to know however when he turned the City of Hope into the City of Decay that hidden somewhere in the city was another book of Nagash, the Codex Mortifica, the sixth tome of power on the mortarchs’ list to retrieve for their master.

For 40 days and 40 nights the Necrarchs searched their way through the city’s deserted streets, pyramid, vaults and trap doors in search of this fabled tome. After all, without any need to eat, sleep or consume blood for long stretches of time there was no need to ever stop searching, accompanied by nothing but their own company, the rustling of the odd skeleton they raised to help them look for the tome and occasionally, the distant calls of wailing jackals. The Necrarch is nothing if not patient after all.

Eventually, on the 41st evening of searching through the city’s dark underways did the two Mortarchs finally hear something out of the ordinary approaching their location – the creaking of wooden wheels.

The two Necrarchs returned to the surface above to be graced by a rather amusing sight, the exiled and disgraced leader of the mortuary cult, Khatep, riding atop a small wooden cart with what looked like a casket of souls being pulled behind. The aged necromancers proceeded to speak, their lips uttering their statements in perfect unison. “You are a long way from home, what brings the Grand Hierophant out of hiding?”

Khatep dismounted from his wagon, lifted his staff and trudged toward the Necrarchs. “Waaaaarn Settraaaaa, proteeect Setraaaa” the hierophant responded in long drawn-out breaths.

“Then it seems your journey has been wasted. You returned too late. The false king is destroyed, his bones scattered by the clutches of carrion birds, his many pyramids toppled and his legions now beholden to their true ruler. The rule of Settra and by extension, Ptra, is over. You shall come to find in your absence that the old gods of High Nehekhara serve at the banquet halls of Shyish, for Nagash is their patron now. Perhaps if you had returned earlier things could have changed in your favour but alas, the gods’ did not deem it so.” the two Necrarchs uttered, both speaking perfectly in psynch with one another.

“Weeee shaaaaall seeeeeee!” Khatep’s voice echoed as he raised his staff, preparing to call down a beam of light from the heavens.

The two Necrarchs looked up towards the sky, observing that a ray of light hidden by the expanse of a few clouds was threatening to descend upon them. “Cease this insolence, liche! Striking your superiors will do nought but worsen your fate! Instead, the Undying King offers you a place at his side, to claim the rank of Mortarch. Accept now while you still stand!”

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• Angry React: Inspecting the mere look of bemusement on the two Mortarchs before him, Khatep came to a terrifying realisation. Duelling just one of them would be a significant struggle on its own, taking on both at once – a nightmare.

And so, Khatep agreed to submit before the Necrarchs. Better to do so now and keep what remained of his autonomy than be slain and resurrected as a puppet or to receive a scattered fate like that of the King of Kings.

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• Like React: “I seeeerve the Gods of Nehekharaaaa. I seeeerve Setraaaa.” Khatep answered as he took no heed of the Necrarchs’ warnings and proceeded with his attack. He called forth the light of the heavens above, purging the two Mortarchs with a blazing beam that destroyed them both instantly, leaving nothing behind but mounds of ash.

With the Necrarchs defeated Khatep descended down into the catacombs below Mahrak and retrieved the book of Nagash for himself before the Great Necromancer sent more cronies to collect it. However, as Khatep left the city on his cart book in hand, the dusts stirred where the two Mortarchs had fallen. Melkhior’s body was reforming…

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(Prelude to Love, Sad, Wow and Laugh React)

Khatep went ahead with his spell, reaching high with his staff to part the clouds and allowing a scorching ray of sunlight to beam down from the heavens and fry the two Mortarchs before him.

W’Soran and Melkhior looked on in interest for a second as their flesh melted from their bones, seemingly so jaded by their long lives that they couldn’t even muster the pretence of feeling pain at their predicament until they both dropped to the ground, their flesh, robes and scrolls all burnt up to leave nothing more than a pile of scorched bones and a pair of Khopesh blades laying on the ground where they had stood.

With the Necrarchs destroyed and far more easily than Khatep had anticipated, he proceeded to step past them, hoping to venture inside the city and retrieve the tome before another of Nagash’s minions came looking only to find that things weren’t safe just yet. The two mounds of bones were glowing!

The mounds of dirt and bone suddenly enveloped themselves in crimson mist as they gathered and proceeded to rebuild themselves into a pair of skeletons, rising from the sands as their skin regenerated and stretched over them once more while even their tattered robes proceeded to re-materialise on their shoulders, extinguishing every trace of the flames that had burnt them before. As the two Necrarchs made their finishing touches, snapping their jaws back into place, inserting stray fingers back into their knuckles and allowing the regenerative mists to craft them each a new set of eyes, the Necrarchs both stared at Khatep before proclaiming “Our turn.”

The two khopesh spellblades shot up from the sandy base below and into their masters’ grips as they proceeded to recite their oath. “By the power of Nagash!” the Mortarchs both cried as they began their advance, invoking the names of the Nehekharan gods in unison as they forced Khatep to back down. The Necrarchs went through dozens of Nehekharan gods, invoking them all as subordinates as a range of runes and gems lit up on their blades: a jackal for Djaf, a scorpion for Sokth, a cat for Basth, a moon for Neru, an ibis for Tahoth, a set of chains for Bisimilajir, a bearded dog for Geheb, a vulture for Ualatp, a green eye for Sakhmet, a hawk for Phakth and many, many more.

“Nooooo!” I refuuuuuuse to belieeeeve!” Khatep cried at the sight of the seeming endorsements of so many gods.

“O, but you should little liche! Your gods turn from you! Nagash is the Ur-Death! All shall succumb to him and bow before his ever-yearning throne in Shyish. As for you, you will be purged from all memory!”

The Necrarchs commenced with their attack, simultaneously casting leeching spells from each other their spellblades in order to drain the Hierophant’s spirit.

Khatep resisted, casting Neru’s incantation to ward off the Mortarchs spells only for it to spontaneously misfire, resulting in excruciating pain wracking its way up Khatep’s hollow bones as Neru turned against him.

The Necrarchs pressed on, summoning a column of tomb guards from the sands below to hold the liche still. Khatep invoked Sakhmet’s skullstorm to eradicate the skeletons but once again the gods favoured the new masters of Khemri, his spell dissipating before it could strike a single skeleton. Had the gods truly turned against him? Was all beyond hope? Or perhaps were these Necrarchs merely making it look this way by dispelling all his moves? Either way, it didn’t bode well for the ancient liche.

The Necrarchs blasted Khatep off his feet onto the ground, simultaneously draining his spirit to keep him from adequately defending himself as the tomb guards leapt upon him to hold him still. Khatep could feel his spirit waning, his Ka threatening to detach from his body and be siphoned into the Mortarchs’ spellblades as he desperately held onto what remained of his unlife.

Finally, he acquiesced. The Hierophant could no longer endure any more of their sorcerous torture as his grip loosened, leaving his Liche Staff without a master. Utterly defeated, the tomb guards lifted Khatep up off the ground, danging him above them such that he couldn’t make contact with the ground beneath him as the two Mortarchs slowly walked toward him, swung their blades and jointly cleaved their way through Khatep’s calves just below where a mortal would call their knees. His lower legs disconnected, dropping to the ground, before the Mortarchs commanded the tomb guards to let go of the defeated liche priest, leaving him to plummet.

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• Love React: As the Grand Hierophant fell onto the stumps previously approximating knees, the two Mortarchs finally decided to stop toying with their prey. Having deftly demonstrated their superior knowledge of the magical arts, W’Soran and Melkhior finally cursed Khatep with the full force of their master’s gaze, severing Khatep’s spirit, his Ka, from his body, his Kha, once and for all.

With Khatep destroyed the Mortarchs saw no reason to extend further spite. Thus they did as they would with all able bodies they came across, raising Khatep’s body as a dutiful servant to serve them as they searched for Mahrak’s hidden tome.

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• Wow React: Khatep fell; disgraced, defeated and dismembered as the two Mortarchs ordered the tomb guards in concurrent speech to finish the old liche off once and for all.

The guards stepped toward Khatep, their blades held high, ready to cut him down. In a last ditch attempt at saving himself, Khatep turned toward the casket of souls mounted on his cart, his hand glowing blue for a brief moment before the two Necrarchs stopped him from casting further with an additional leeching spell.

The Necrarchs taunted Khatep one final time, chastising him for thinking a mere soul casket would save him had he been able to complete his spell only for them to both be silenced as a faint *click* emanated from the casket.

The casket unlocked itself and Apophas, the treacherous prince of Numas turned ravenous swarm of flesh-eating scarabs, locusts and winged termites shot out of the casked and descended upon the tomb guards, shredding them within the second before latching onto the two Mortarchs.

W’soran and Melkhior were dumbstruck, the swarm biting, ripping, sucking, pulling, scraping and devouring every morsel of their being before they could even think of a spell capable of thwarting this foe. The swarm was going much further than simply destroying their flesh however, everything from their clothes, their weapons, their bones to even those few organs that still existed within them were on the menu as Apophas’ ceaseless hunger eliminated all trace of W’Soran and Melkhior from the world. They couldn’t possibly regenerate, there was nothing for them to regenerate from.

Apophas flew off into the desert, grateful to the Hierophant for liberating them as the cursed prince went off in search of reclaiming a soul of its own. Meanwhile, Khatep merely took a long sigh, grabbing one of his feet to reattach them to his leg as he bellowed “Fooorr Settraaaa.”

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(Final prelude to Sad & Laugh React)

Khatep fell to the ground and the two Mortarchs commanded the tomb guards to follow them into the eldest of all Mahrak’s pyramids, dragging Khatep by the shoulders as they did so and leaving his shins and feet to gather dust with the cart outside.

The Mortarchs delved deep into the pyramid until they discovered the final resting place of King Phar, ancient rival to Settra, as well as the remains of Phar’s family.

The Mortarchs proceeded to empty the sarcophagus previously occupied by Phar’s queen before shoving Khatep inside it. The Hierophant had been offered his chance to serve the Great Necromancer, he refused, now he would have to face the consequences of his decision as he was forced to spend eternity sealed inside a tomb within a dead city, with no means of escape.

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• Sad React: The Mortarchs went on with their search for the Book of Nagash, undisturbed by the wailing hierophant or any other foe from then on.

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• Laugh React: The Necrarchs were just finished sealing the liche priest away when suddenly a flail spun across the room and struck Melkhior’s skull.

King Phar was awake and he was none too pleased to see his family’s tomb defiled in this manner as he charged forward and proceeded to pound the Mortarchs into submission, swinging his enchanted Flail of Skulls wildly as the Nehekharan king afforded them no opportunity to respond, having trespassed in his domain.

Eventually the two Mortarchs were defeated and Phar chucked their remains into his own coffin before sealing it to keep them there forever.

King Phar emerged from his tomb to see his destroyed city, his people slain, his armies gone. But where there are bodies there are opportunities. Khemri has fallen, it was time for a new empire to take its place. The time for Mahrak resurgence had come!

As for the Grand Hierophant, perhaps Phar will release him some day to aid in his conquest of the Great Deserts, but for now Phar had much greater plans in mind.