Malign Portents: Dark Tales Herald The Grim Fate Of Heroes
The latest stories from the Malign Portents highlight a pair of desperate last stands, and showcase the beleaguered forces of the living, falling prey to more and more of the shambling masses of the undead. Things seem awfully dire in the Mortal Realms.
If you’ve been following along with the overall narrative of the Age of Sigmar, you’ve no doubt been aware that Nagash is plotting some big master plan that is going to throw the Mortal Realms into…well…chaos isn’t the right word, because when GW is involved, Chaos is capitalized and usually means either Abaddon the Despoiler is trying to prove that he can wear big boy pants (he can’t) or that Archaon the Everchosen is hanging out looking like the cover of a metal album.
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But the point is Nagash’s plans have far-reaching implications. Whatever the true goal of his dark rituals are, the (un)lives of everyone will doubtless be impacted by it. Whether it’s harrowing crises that temper heroes, or a drowning tide of undeath that swallow vast swaths of land and people, devouring heroes and consuming even fate itself.
This is the crux of a story featuring the Ogors of the Beastclaw Raiders. A Beastclaw Chieftain, Bjorgulf, chosen by prophecy to end the Everwinter has led his forces to the realm of death in search of the carcass of a dead god upon which they will feast. There they run into a detachment of Freeguild forces, who engage them only to find out that neither army is prepared for what comes next, and not even prophecy can match Nagash’s will.
Then of course there’s the story of Tallowreach, an isolated mountain village that’s bathed in the sickly, wan light of a celestial body of ill-omen. Named the Wyrmstar, and known for its ill-omened light which causes all who dwell under it to seem rotten and decayed. A wasting disease spreads to all under its light, causing them to turn undead and rise to devour their fellows. Little by little the town destroys itself, and only Duardin sky-merchants are there to try and profit from the misfortune, selling passage on their ship.
It ends about as you might expect–another hero’s life cut short by the rising tide of death that is sweeping through the Mortal Realms.
What new horrors will the Malign Portents hold for the mortal realms? Where will the stories take us next? Stay tuned to find out.
