Hordes: Metamorphosis

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Hordes: Metamorphosis

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Release Date 2009
Pages 177
Preceded by Hordes: Evolution
Followed by Hordes: Primal MkII
Hordes: Metamorphosis is the second expansion book of the first edition of Hordes, released in 2009.

Story

Following their victory at the Castle of the Keys, the Legion of Everblight flees from the pursuing armies of the Circle Orboros to the Hawksmire River. Everblight withdraws his mind from his warlocks to focus on a battle of wills against Pyromalfic, only giving them an order to head to Ios, while Thagrosh is consumed by both physical and mental suffering. Vayl Hallyr and Saeryn learn they can use their sorcery to draw away the blight permeating Thagrosh's flesh. When the Legion reach the southern mountains of Ios, they split their forces according to Everblight's directive. Vayl and Saeryn would take Thagrosh through the tunnels to the passage under Ios to the mountains beyond, while Rhyas and Lylyth would take the troops and dragonspawn and lead their pursuers in other directions.

The Circle forces pursue the Legion to the north, with Baldur ranging ahead, but most of their strength is with Morvahna in the back. Baldur plans to drive the enemy into the Ring of Willows in the Glimmerwood and make use of the wolds guarding that sacred site. When word reaches Morvahna of the Legion's movement to the west, she sends Kaya to lead a small strike force and help Baldur, while also ordering a wayfarer to send word to Bradigus Thorle to send reinforcements to the Ring of Willows.

When Baldur's army closes on the Legion, Lylyth instantly spots and recognises him. She leads a small group of striders to strike directly at Baldur's position, and after a short fight manages to kill him. Without Baldur, Lylyth is certain that the Circle will not pursue her, and she immediately orders a retreat.

Morvahna arrives at the Circle vanguard only to find Baldur dead, his wold Megalith standing over him and Kaya kneeling before him. Sensing a barest hint of life on Baldur's corpse, Kaya asks Morvahna to heal him, but Morvahna tells her it's impossible. Kaya blames Morvahna of letting Baldur die by keeping too many soldiers to herself, and when Morvahna tells her to continue the chase, she refuses, saying the Legion army is only a distraction, and decides to watch over Baldur.

Archdomina Makeda gathers her officers and declares her intention of marching her army east to overthrow Vinter Raelthorne IV. Before leaving, she summons Lord Tyrant Hexeris, making it clear that she wants to torture and execute him for directing Xerxis' force away to the Castle of the Keys and losing too many men in an ill-conceived battle. However, Makeda doesn't have such a luxury because she needs Hexeris and Zaal to defend and expand the skorne's holdings in the west when she takes the bulk of the army to overthrow the Conqueror. Hexeris accepts, only requesting Makeda to give him access to Void Seer Mordikaar since he has too few soldiers. Hexeris and Mordikaar immediately plan to establish a laboratory in the Castle of the Keys to see if dragon blight could allow a greater influx of void spirits to enter Caen and be enslaved by Mordikaar.

On their way back south, Madrak Ironhide and Borka Kegslayer are joined by random pockets of kriels. At the Dragon's Tongue River, they are attacked by a group of Khadoran soldiers. During the battle, Madrak sees a vision of the Battle of the Tongue in 511 AR, during the Thornwood War. Whenever he would have suffered an injury, Madrak instead finds himself unscathed and another warrior stricken in an increasingly unlikely mishap, and he becomes convinced that this is the influence of Rathrok. As Calandra Truthsayer arrives with a group of trollkin reinforcements, the Khadorans back away. Calandra asks Madrak why he was marching toward a Khadoran fort, and informs him of the state of the war when he was away in the north.

Meanwhile, in the trollkin camp in Crael Valley, during Madrak's absence Major Liam Boylan of the Cygnaran 4th Army requests a meeting with the elders and inform them of the 4th Army's intention to deal with them. Although King Leto Raelthorne orders restraint, he can't ignore Hoarluk Doomshaper's attack on the army hospital train, but since the 4th Army doesn't want to slaughter the trollkin. Believing Doomshaper’s unchecked aggression is jeopardising the United Kriels’ continued survival, the elders decide to facilitate his capture by Cygnaran agents in exchange for a cessation of aggression against Crael Valley and the Gnarls.

After Doomshaper is arrested and Madrak returns to Crael Valley, Kargess and Horthol inform him of what the elders did during his absence, and of how Doomshaper riled the trollkin youth to violence. However, despite what Doomshaper has done to undermine his cause Madrak is still enraged at how the elders betrayed him. Sending word to Calandra to ask for her help and immediately calling a war council, through the information gathered by Grim Angus, Madrak tells Borka to accompany him and assigns Grissel Bloodsong with protecting the people, but not dying to preserve the land that is not their home.

From his prison, Hoarluk Doomshaper calls to his dire trolls for help. The dire trolls, including Mulg the Ancient, hear the call and assault the fort, demolishing it, slaughtering the garrison and freeing Doomshaper. Madrak and Borka arrive at the fort only to discover Doomshaper has escaped.

While pursuing Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador, into the Vescheneg Headlands at Omnipotent Dahlekov’s behest, Krueger the Stormwrath is lured away from his forces and defeated. Sparing his life, the Old Witch speaks to Krueger of the dangers represented by dragons and tells him to study an artifact known as the Wyrmstone, held by Dahlekov at the Shadoweald Barrow, which details the dragons involved in the alliance against Toruk in 1000 BR. Krueger subsequently steals the stone and openly defies Dahlekov when he sends a smoke sending to confront him over the issue.

After studying the Wyrmstone, Krueger arranges a meeting with his old mentor Mohsar and finds out that he has set aside his isolation, and Everblight was not involved in the dragon alliance, which was led by Blighterghast. Defying the orders of all three ruling omnipotents of the Circle Orboros, Krueger begins to gather his army for a trek into the Wyrmwall Mountains, seeking an audience with Blighterghast.

Vinter Raelthorne IV, aware that Makeda has defied his command and even now marches on the Abyssal Fortress, orders Saxon Orrik to ingratiate himself to the skorne under her rule and to operate as a double agent. When Makeda, Xerxis and Morghoul bring the Army of the Western Reaches back to the Abyssal Fortress, he calmly gets rid of her co-conspirators and greets her from the ramparts. When the Abyssal Fortress garrison is fighting Makeda's army, Vinter willingly slips away from the fortress. Although troubled by Vinter's disappearance, Makeda declares herself Supreme Archdomina of the Skorne Empire and plans to lead an army to reclaim the capital before the houses descend into infighting again, but Morghoul advises her to let the army travel back west, with only himself heading to Halaak to deliver word of Makeda's ascension, seize control of the paingivers and turn them against her enemies, essentially securing the capital.

Six months after entering the tunnels, Thagrosh, Vayl and Saeryn successfully emerge into southern Rhul. By now Thagrosh has recovered from the effects of absorbing Pyromalfic’s athanc. Everblight takes advantage of the transitional state of his athanc to spawn the unique dragonspawn Typhon from a small athanc shard. With Pyromalfic being fully consumed, all of Everblight’s warlocks are strengthened and Thagrosh could complete his transformation into the Messiah - the avatar of Everblight. As he catches sight of a Rhulic town, Thagrosh immediately prepares for a slaughter when waiting for Rhyas, Lylyth and Absylonia.

Cygnaran Scout General Bolden Rebald visits Professor Viktor Pendrake in Caspia following a royal summons. Rebald informs Pendrake of the situation in the north between the trollkin and the 4th Army, which requests his advice on the topic of trollkin. Concerned about the suspicious and sudden enthusiasm to support the war of the corrupt 4th Army, which has long been in the pockets of the disloyal Duke Dergeral of Ceryl, Rebald asks Pendrake to come with the 4th Army to see what's happening. Although Pendrake doesn't want to fight with his corrupt contrymen against his trollkin friends, he eventually accepts when Rebald tells him that no officer will have any authority over him.

Saxon Orrik, after being cajoled by three of Makeda's subordinates into conveying a message for Asheth Magnus that allows him to work as a mercenary for them again, leaves the skorne to search for Magnus. He hopes to gain Magnus' trust and convince him he too has fallen out of favour with Vinter. At Ternon Crag, he manages to arrange a meeting with Stannis Brocker, the local commander of the Steelhead Mercenary Company, who tells him he hasn't seen Magnus in two months. After paying Brocker, Orrik learns from him that Magnus hired the Steelheads to keep the Eastwall reinforcements from helping Caspia when the Protectorate of Menoth occupies the city, possibly so Magnus could enter the city. Brocker further reveals the disappearance of Magnus' lackeys in Caspia and suspects the involvement of Orin Midwinter. Orrik then leaves the Crag to meet with Major Liam Boylan.

Since the capture of Doomshaper didn't go as expected, Boylan decides to deal with the trollkin by a conventional attack. Boylan and Orrik plan to ensure the bulk of the Army's considerable casualties are suffered by Leto loyalists among both the rank-and-file and the junior officers.

When coming to see his trollkin friends before visiting the 4th Army, Viktor Pendrake spots Saxon Orrik making his way toward Crael Valley. Unwilling to track the man and risk an early death, Pendrake decides to send a warning to Rebald.

At the Castle of the Keys, Mohsar the Desertwalker spots a yawning wound in the surface of Caen separating it from Urcaen. He has expected the manifestation to vanish under natural law, only to find it gradually expanding.

At Halaak, Master Tormentor Jyvaash Komorn, the legendary leader of the notorious Bloodrunners, confronts Morghoul, decrying him as an upstart and a heretic. After a short and brutal duel, Morghoul kills Komorn, assumes absolute control over the paingivers, and sets about the immediate subjugation of the capital.

Once Madrak and Borka track Doomshaper down, Madrak agrees to fight alongside him against the humans who wronged them and to discover who among the trollkin elders betrayed him. Madrak chooses to stay away from his own people in order to free himself from the axe Rathrok, the curse of which he believes has brought them nothing but ill fortune. Days later Madrak, Borka, and Doomshaper ambush and massacre a Cygnaran Army column passing through the Gnarls. Madrak hopes this will prevent these armed forces from interfering with his people to the east, unaware this column represents only minor reinforcements marching to join the siege of Crael Valley by Cygnar’s 4th Army.

Meanwhile, after a short siege, Cygnar’s 4th Army succeeds in driving the trollkin from Crael Valley. The trollkin defenders, led by Grissel Bloodsong, Grim Angus and Calandra Truthsayer, manage to inflict a heavy toll on the Cygnarans before withdrawing to the Gnarls with the survivors of Madrak’s kriels.

After an argument with Omnipotent Lortus, Krueger is summoned by Blighterghast who allows him an audience for a yet-to-be revealed debt. Krueger announces to him the defeat and consumption of Pyromalfic by Everblight, and reveals to him the sheer threat that Everblight poses to the rest of the dragons. Blighterghast finds the tale incredulous, as Everblight was defeated and imprisoned by the Iosans three centuries earlier, but decides to spare Krueger's life nonetheless.

Sensing Absylonia's reinforcements coming, Rhyas heads off to join Absylonia while Lylyth stays behind with her archers to harass and maintain pressure on the enemy to keep them off balance. Meanwhile, Morvahna continues her chase of the Legion, being increasingly agitated as her army is constantly harried and worn down by the Legion. Near the Rhulic border, when Thagrosh, Typhon and Absylonia appear with a group of reinforcements, Morvahna orders a retreat, barely escaping with her life as Kaya comes to her aid. With the Circle routed, Rhyas, Lylyth and Absylonia are reunited with Thagrosh, Vayl and Saeryn in their new base in Rhul.

After checking on Pyromalfic in the Castle of the Keys, Blighterghast issues a summons through the athancs of the dragons, this time not against Toruk, but against Everblight. He tries to exclude Toruk and Everblight, but his attempt is not perfect, as both of them still hears its echoes.

Models introduced

Trollbloods

Circle Orboros

Skorne

Legion of Everblight

Minions

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