Some time after Iyannas death on Rust, Ozzy and his army disappeared from the Faustian system. Drachs unspeakable acts on Acadia had set forces in motion, forces that opened rifts in old wounds, wounds that had not been open since the Storm of Magnus was created. There was no way the Dark City Jesters could deal with this threat on their own. Ozzy and Drach therefore planned every detail for luring their enemies to the Gehenna system, if it all went as planned, they might have a chance.

Craftowrld Eldar:

The first to follow was the Craftworlds new leader: Iona. Ozzy didn’t really have to work for this one, revenge for the fallen was inevitable. They settled upon the familiar Maiden world of Avaritia.

Black Scorpions:

They didn’t need much motivation, but after their Librarian Stokahn foresaw what was going on there, they followed in Ionas footsteps, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Where these visions came from, and if they were true they didn’t know, just like Ozzy had planned. Tactically wise, they settled on Superbia.

Krieg:

After refilling the ranks, pondering over why the commissars were calling the last campaign a victory, orders came in to set course for the Gehenna system for a surveillance mission. The orders came from “Castus Mendoza of the Ordo Xenos”, or Hershey Barkley, the local call-boy as they called him in the red districts of Venerea on Luxuria. Ozzy knew the power of the Inquisitorial Rosette, and how to manipulate even mighty men into doing his will in the name of the Corpse Emperor. The entire Regiment embarked upon the barren moons of Ira.

Genestealers:

The local miners on Luxuria had been harassed by the Jesters for a few months now. Ozzy had been smart about it and only hunted during night, not getting detected. This allowed for slaves to be taken, but at the same time keeping them as allies for the inevitable battles to come. Reports came in that some of them had started to change color and behave above average aggressively.

Crimson Slaughter:

An unexpected guest to say the least. Rumors of great advances by the traitor legions were well known even in these sectors. Using ancient Eldar technology and combining it with Drachs experiments, the refinement of their victims suffering would send out a sonic wave. The goal was to attract Tyranids and Necrons, the result was however very different.

For full size map, click here

The Craftworld Eldar was quick to send out an expeditionary force to the planet not registered in the records. Later we would learn the planet to be Acadia, and the first stop for the Crimson Slaughter. A battle between the two fierce forces ensued at the Camp Watts on Acadias black moon, but the Crimson Slaughter would find themself overwhelmed and quickly retreat towards the systems stars. During the battle both factions had noticed two pillars which seemed to be affecting some of the weaker warriors, but had no influence of immediate danger. Iona suspected that forces of Chaos were interfering here, but it must have lacked something. Kranon didn’t seem bothered by the phenomenon at all.

Before Ionas pursuit, she would name the moon Éasca, in memory of the offensively easy fight they had.

A few days later, on the moon of Dis the Krieg XVIIth Regiment was being invaded by the Black Scorpions. The reason for this unprovoked attack was a scheme set up by Ozzy to set the invaders up against eachother, creating the need to get a solid foothold in the sector. Through his corrupted affiliate Inquisitor Castus Mendoza of the Ordo Xenos the XVII.th Regiment was yet again assured of the Black Scorpions heresy. The Black Scorpions would however during a delicate point of interaction with Drach catch a spy, a mutant nonetheless, clearly sent by the XVIIth. Even though both sides suspected that other factors were involved here, these actions would not go unpunished, and dialogue was not their strongest suit.

For full size map, click here

The battle was a grim one. The attack was launched right outside of Acrimon in Sector1: Dorn. Vast numbers was deployed by each side , great numbers lost, but in the end the Black Scorpions had wiped out all enemies of greater significance and left the moon of Dis. During the battle they found a relic, The Diary of Belloch The Unconquered. Seemingly unimportant to an Astartes, his Librarians insisted they take it with them, praising it’s “alluring aura”. This was not a part of Ozzys plan and things just got a whole lot worse.

In the second week, yet more confusion would ensue. The Crimson Slaughter attacked Dis as well, they attacked an outpost in the northern regions of Sector4: Amon. Colonel Bromhead didn’t care about the minor differences in color and was sure he was fighting the Black Scorpions yet again. This time great victory came to the Colonel, not a moment too soon.

During these two weeks the pieces in Ozzys puzzle was falling into place one by one, but even if his enemies was fighting eachother as well, the unavoidable fact of the Demons presence was closing day by day. A few months ago while dealing drugs to Fabius and Lucius he was given a gift, a small necklace with a deep red jewel. They told him it was for good luck and to establish trust. Ozzy gave it no second thought as shiny things could always be traded for services in the Wych cults. Little did he know that this was one of the lost Hellstones and the entire Crimson Fists fleet was coming for it.

At the current time he had sent out a messenger to Iona to arrange a meeting between her and Ozzy.

This upset Frank greatly, peace was not what he needed right now. He has not seen battle for months and was growing restless. Without Ozzys consent, he headed straight for Dis, thinking it should be weakened after the last 2 attacks. This was again, not at all was Ozzy intended and he had to follow to ensure the XVII’th was allowed to continue their operations on these moons.

Frank headed straight for the enemies front lines, his Trueborn backup had barely made it to the battlefield. Over the dead bodies and rubble on the ground outside Acrimon he swung his sword before there was even any targets, ignoring all the heavy weapons blasting everything they had at him. Ozzy set up a flak defence while observing Franks odd behaviour and utter lack of tactical judgement. The Kreig regiment had always fascinated Ozzy, he had seen time and time again the main bulk of their ammunition being wasted by not even hitting their target. The tradition of blowing oneself’s face off with shiny blue guns was also captivating. While pondering over these oddities a Vendetta gunship came and shot his face off, leaving him in need of Drachs unorthodox services yet again. Frank somehow survived the battle having obliterated everything in his path. He calmed down for now.

Iona had kindly accepted Ozzys invitation by killing his messenger. They were set for negotiations on Invidias Cliffs of Cain.

For full size map, click here

Both sides was very cautious as trust were not at all on todays agenda. Little were said before both the Crimson Slaughter and the Black Scorpions showed up. Ozzy disappeared into his webway portal before even the first shot was fired. Almost a hundred Cultists that was recruited from Luxuria came out of the several small barracks and stormed the enemy’s. Iona fought alongside, for now, with one eye open. The Astartes both seemed a bit distrusting of eachother, but pushed on as if they had a common goal. Just 20 minutes of fighting had passed when all of a sudden Ozzy appeared from the webway in the middle of no mans land. Seconds later, an enormous creature came out of the same portal, storming after Ozzy. It was alluring but abominable, it was elegant but clumsy, it was as tall as three terminators and had a sword the size of a Chimera. It chased Ozzy over the battlefield randomly hitting anything in its path, as it’s focus was on Ozzy, only a few brave Black Scorpions was stupid enough to get in its way and therefore die. When it caught up Ozzy lashed his Agoniser around the creature’s arm and stopped it from hitting him straight on. His Shadow Field saved him again and again, but before it could strike what would seem to be a final blow, Ozzy took them both into the webway.

The battle on Invidia would continue for another hour, always falling in the Eldars favour. During the battles final stages, the Black Scorpions started shooting at the Crimson Slaughter. The Craftworld Eldar and Dark Eldar opened fire at eachother as well, the battle was over.

All Ozzy wanted from this was for all forces in the system to realize the grandity of the threat it was facing. Not only that, but also to get them to care, which had proven more difficult than intended. Now though, Iona had seen the servant of She Who Thirsts, a Greater Deamon of Slaanesh just meters away. It was real. The Black Scorpions got confirmation of their stolen intel from the XVII.th, this system was home to “some serious heresy”. The triggerhappy Trueborn sailorboys of the Ravagers had messed up any chance of cooperation between the Craftworld and the Dark Eldar. This forced Ozzy to look to Luxuria and it’s mining city of Venerea. An undersupplied force of Astra Militarum was mining here, they were however… a bit strange.

A great relationship was built up between the locals and Ozzys men by trade in goods and services. Daily attacks from the Cultists in the north required constant reinforcements, something that was in short supply.

Just 12 days after the battle on Invidia, Iona launched her attack on Luxuria. She didn’t come alone however, the XVII’th had heard rumors about “some serious heresy”, and decided to join the Xenos scum and get revenge. The attack was launched from the nort of Venerea.

For full size map, click here

During the battle, a Vortex appeared and started to dance around with devastating force. Even though it put fear in every living thing on the battlefield it went straight for Ozzys men, killing a few, mutating some, paralyzing others and creating havoc. Iona had brought 3 Wraithknights, but it would be of little importance, as the local guardsmen showed their true nature. Genestealers everywhere, tearing everything down, scratch by scratch. The XVII’th had brought its specialist tanks to deal with the Dark Eldar threat, but yet again, their aim was not up to par. It was suspected that some of the tanks was tainted by chaos. Pending further investigation. The battle would end in a decisive victory for the locals and Ozzy.