Echoes of Nihilus - Phase 1: Invasion

 

Echoes of Nihilus is the Crusade Campaign that D J is currently running at his gaming club that is nearing its conclusion. Whilst there will be a brand new campaign starting in the next few months, we thought we would do a write up of the narrative that has happened so far in the campaign as a prelude for what's to come. We would like to thank all the amazing players who have participated in and contributed to the fantastic lore that has made all this possible!

Table of Contents

• Prologue
• Phase 1 - Invasion
• Phase 2 - Predation
• Phase 3 - Eradication
• End Game/Conclusion
  
  

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The Nulla Faculta PDF were a Imperial Guard regiment who had been dispatched to Ultrus Prime's surface to help repel the Tyranid invasion as soon as the Khertet Dynasty's warning had been issued, and they had already set up camp in a manufactorum they had discovered abandoned to the east of the capital city of Nihmian's Pass. Whilst stocking up on munitions and other supplies, the platoons of the Nulla Faculta PDF found themselves besieged by Iron Warrior Heretic Astartes without warning. The Iron Warrior warband known as "His Second Sons" had a long standing vendetta against  the accursed Inquisitor Le Roy and had received intelligence that he had made planet fall alongside a regiment of Astra Militarum. After a fierce battle between the two armies the Imperial Guard were able to force the Iron Warriors to retreat before moving out to destroy a Tyranid invasion swarm that had just touched down from orbit to the west. However the Iron Warriors had in actuality feigned their defeat after realising their nemesis was not amongst the Nulla Faculta's numbers and made their way south to continue their mission for vengeance.

The Iron Warriors true target, the Harkillian 808th meanwhile prepared to move north to ambush the Thousand Sons but were caught off guard by the hordes of invasion organisms that rained down on them from above. Le Roy and his forces managed to dispatch the Tyranids they now had to contend with but their absence in the battle with the Hedarai Vultures left the Blood Angels disadvantaged and the Thousand Sons cabal were able to use their sorcery to escape the clutches of the Imperium. Left stranded with no leads as to where their target might have gone, the two Imperial forces regrouped and dispatched the remainder of the Tyranid organisms in the area as well as the handful of Orks that had made it past the Khertet Dynasty's beach blockade despite it being reported that the Necrons successfully drove off the WAAAGH!! - this left the Inquisitor already concerned with the reliability of their new found allies.

To the west, two more Necron Dynasties - the Arkos and the Xenniset Dynasties had somehow remained undiscovered for the past several years and had staunchly guarded the territory they occupied all that time, though how they were not constantly at war being so close to one another or how they escaped the same fate as their fellow Necrons of the Khertet Dynasty remains a mystery. After decades of inactivity, the web way gates that were located in Arkos territory suddenly became active and Aeldari of the Iyanden Craftworld began pouring through the portals, suddenly found themselves immediately attacked by the native Necrons. Having successfully closed the web way gates behind them before any major damage could be done, the Aeldari swiftly made their way past the Arkos legions to do battle with the Xenniset Dynasty, who had found themselves falling back from a Tyranid invasion swarm themselves and into the ancient adversaries, their guardian protocols automatically enacting to force them into defending their territory. The Arkos Dynasty meanwhile found themselves ambushed by the Khertet Dynasty backed up by a number of Destroyer Cult units, the latter of which were soundly defeated but not before the Lord-turned-Lokhust Lord Zarakeph activated an Arkos tomb node, infecting it with the Destroyer virus and calling forth Szarazs the Charnel King, the original Phaeron of the Khertet Dynasty that had been stalking the blighted landscape for many years and using his irresistible command protocols to infect his subjects with the compulsion to destroy.

On the other side of the planet the Aeldari's dark cousins, the Drukhari or, more specifically, Drukhari of the Slumbering Horror Kabal had materialised through a web way portal of their own, their own sadistic senses sniffing out the opportunity to reap the flesh of unsuspecting Imperial citizens whilst the latter's attention was focused on the larger threat of the Tyranids. This plan had been delayed however as the Preceptor Battalion of Mentor Space Marine made planet fall in the vicinity they materialised from. Tasked with using their experimental weaponry to battle the Tyranid threat, the Mentors seized the opportunity to extract the poisons utilised by the Drukhari in order to test their effectiveness against the hive fleet organisms. The extraction mission failed however, and the Mentors were forced to deploy against the Tyranid swarms armed with just the weapons they were equipped with. The Drukhari meanwhile, not accepting that their prey had gotten away attempted to pursue the surviving Astartes to eradicate them completely but found themselves instead ambushed by a warband of Emperor's Children, though for what purpose or why they even came to Ultrus Prime to begin with was known only to the Heretic Astartes themselves.

Hidden away from the majority of the fighting were the Renegade Guard regiment that called themselves the "Unseen", a name that was awarded for good reason. During their mission to disrupt the Imperial infrastructure from the shadows the Unseen had run into the Iron Warriors heading south from their battle with the Nulla Faculta PDF. Orkhan, the leader of the platoon, attempted to approach His Second Sons to form an alliance against the Imperium, however they were met with hostility as the Iron Warriors once more mistook them for the regiment containing Inquisitor Le Roy in their blind hatred. The outcome once again concluded with the Iron Warriors retreating upon realising their nemesis was nowhere to be found.

An earth shattering explosion could be felt in the distance as the city of Nihmian's Pass began to crumble, the sisters of the Adepta Sororitas successful in their mission to bring down the city of Nihmian's Pass despite the Tyranid organisms invading the capital. An echo of remorse rippled throughout the Imperial forces as the failure to defend the largest settlement of Imperial survivors was felt by all...

- D J Driver