This is the Siege of Lugganath. This entire chapter will detail the siege, as well as the Farseers of Merekwoad's attempts to rescue Isha. Will they succeed? Read on to find out.
Command ship of the Doom of the Void- Bridge
The domes of Lugganath were beset on all sides by massive, black ships. In comparison to the small, maneuverable Eldar ships, these ships were massive blocks of metal, bristling with weaponry. Tiny Eldar fighters darted around the lumbering enemy fighters with such precision. They reminded Harry of the Irish chasers that he had seen at the Quidditch World Cup in his fourth year, but the pilots of these fighters were perhaps even more skilled than them. But they were fighting a losing battle. The enemy force was far too numerous for them to win. Not without help, anyway.
"Are your void suits secure?" asked Seltac, one of Arunion's lieutenants. He was just finished prepping their transport for take-off. Harry looked back at the others, who all nodded.
"We're ready," said Harry.
Seltac manoeuvred the transport out of the ship, cloaking it on exiting the Command Ship.
"We will disembark at the Hall of Eternal Welcomes," said Alara "And fight our way up to the council chambers. Hopefully that will attract Nurgle's attention. Keep your voidsuits on at all times. The Death Guard and the forces of Nurgle are fans of releasing airborne toxins."
Harry drew the Elder Wand, as the others drew they're own. Each also carried a Lasblaster, a weapon often used by the Corsairs to lay down fire from a distance, over they're shoulder. While spells, in theory, had infinite range, being able to aim such spells at this distance was another matter entirely. In addition, each carried a single sachet of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, something to give them an additional edge over their opponents. Fred and George, of course, also had many of their weaponised pranks ready to use in defeating the invaders, but were holding them in reserve for the second part of the plan, when Nurgle would send many more warriors to attack the Craftworld.
As soon as they left the ship, they were immediately firing off spells: stunners, hexes, charms, even a few transfigurations. The armoured, hulking forms of the Death Guard turned to face their new foes. The stunning spells merely bounced off their armour, while the hexes only seemed to annoy them. The only effective attack seemed to be Hermione's transfiguration magic. The spell hit one of the lead Death Guard's weapons, turning it into sand, which fell between his fingers, and was lost. The Death Guard that had weapons left turned them on Hermione, their perception of the biggest threat to them, but several shield charms intercepted the explosive shells coming from the boltguns. However, the Death Guard's distraction allowed the Warlock leading the Guardians defending this particular corridor to embolden his warriors to rally and fire back, as psychic flame leapt from the Warlock's fingers, reducing the weaponless Death Guard to little more than atoms, as the relentless battering of shuriken cut the remaining Death Guard to pieces.
"Merekwoad sends aid," said Alara, talking to the Warlock, as he was pulling an injured Guardian back behind some cover "What's the situation?"
"The Mon-keigh stooped lower than we anticipated," said the Warlock, glaring at the wizards "They targeted our civilian domes first. The aspects were deployed to protect where we foresaw the enemy would strike, and we were very wrong."
"The curse of the Seers of Lugganath," said Alara, as the wizards came forward, Hermione picked up the Guardian's weapon, abandoned and broken, on the ground of the Craftworld. She tapped it with her wand, and said "Reparo." The Shuriken Catapult reassembled itself into working condition, as she handed it back to the injured Guardian.
"Our visions of the future have been clouded in doubt since the plague, since the fall of the Seers," said the Warlock "Our luck seems to just get worse."
"There is still hope," said Alara "What's your plan?"
"We can't defend this dome with the forces we have left," said the Warlock "We shall fall back to the Dome of A Thousand Stars and set up defensive positions. The Aspect Warriors stationed there should be able to hold back the next wave. Farseer Kiliathe leads the defence there. He should be grateful for your aid." The Warlock did not sound convinced about that last statement.
The Warlock signalled for his squad to follow him, as he led the way to the second dome. If the first dome once looked like a simple, open area made to accommodate ships, the Dome of A Thousand Stars was extraordinarily built up. Built as quarters for those on the Path of Dreaming, Alara knew, the area had many apartments with windows looking out into the void, as well as chairs laid back to allow Eldar to lose themselves in the majesty of the universe. It was very different now. Many of the corridors had been blocked off, while those that hadn't had many Eldar Aspect Warriors ready to fire down from the windows on either side. The Warlock that had been leading them sent his warriors to reinforce the main battle line. Two of them began setting up their shuriken cannon heavy weapon platform.
The Warlock led them to where an Eldar clad in the robes of a high-ranking Farseer examined runes spinning around his head, far too fast for the human eye to see.
For a few moments, the Farseer did not even acknowledge their presence. Then, the runes stopped spinning round him, and moved to slowly orbit his left arm, and he looked over.
"Why have you brought Mon-keigh onto my Craftworld, Alara?" said the Farseer.
"Merekwoad sends its warriors to aid their ally in a time of need," said Alara "Its new allies have also come to Lugganath's aid."
"New allies?" asked Kilathe "I did not know that Merekwoad had aligned itself with the Great Deceiver."
"You know me better than that, old friend," said Alara "Tzeentch holds no sway over my heart."
"I also know you have another motive for being here," said Kilathe, then his voice turned spiteful "Aiding the home you abandoned for dead long ago is not your only motivation. I do not trust you." "We do not need your trust," said Alara "Only your cooperation. While we may have different motives, we have similar goals. Can we not agree to work together for now?
"Very well," said Kilathe "I have Bonesingers going along the battlelines and shoring up the defences. If your new allies are able to aid in that, they would be much appreciated."
Professor Flitwick and Hermione went up and down the battleline casting unbreakable charms on the barricades, as Fred and George reached into their bags and began setting up traps in-front of the battle-line. They had modified their portable swamps to contain an Incendio spell that triggered on impact and burn bright and fast, doing as much damage as they could. They had barely managed to get the traps in-place, when they heard the marching of booted feet, and the rumble of several war machines.
"Ok, remember what Arunion said," said Alara "Put up your gas protection now."
All of the wizards placed bubble head charms on themselves, as well as casting Impervious charms on the void suits covering their bodies to repel the Death Guard's toxic weapons. Three futuristic-looking tanks, about three quarter the size of Hagrid's half-brother Grawp were rolling down the centre of the Craftworld's corridor.
Its four massive cannons fired massive beams of red light towards the Eldar battle line. Working together, along with the defences' set-up and fortified by Flitwick and Hermione, wizards along the battle line cast the Shield charm. Sweat poured from Harry's face. Even with several wizards working in tandem, and with the magically strengthened defences that Hermione and Professor Flitwick had set up, the force of the weaponry on these tanks was putting a lot of strain on all of the wizards. Luckily, the beams of energy didn't last too long, as the front of the tanks opened, and much heavier armoured versions of the armoured warriors they had fought earlier emerged. They advanced slowly, directly into the traps set by Fred and George. The heavily armoured warriors walked through the bluebell fire produced by the swamp traps without really taking any damage, but the sheer weight of their armour meant that they were rapidly sinking into the portable swamp.
"Do you possess magic to blow up objects?" Alara's voice was clear in their ears, as the loud whine of Shuriken Catapults as the Eldar began to return fire.
Harry looked around at the others, who were casting spells as quickly as they could. Hermione looked over at him, and nodded.
"Confringo!" shouted Harry, firing an exploding curse directly at the middle tank, as Hermione did the same. Both exploding curses, fired from different positions on the battle line hit the tank at the same time. Ripples of magical energy pulsed from the point the two spells hit, and then those sections of the tanks exploded. The effect was greater than Harry had anticipated, the explosion was a lot bigger than Harry though it would be, taking down four of the heavily armoured warriors that had come out of that particular tank. The fifth one that had come out of that tank put up his hands and began chanting, and as he did, what appeared to be a mirage appeared in the air, and when the mirage had faded, some of the same disgusting, green creatures Harry had seen in his vision were now standing in the portable swamp, but standing on-top of it, as if they were not really there, but their smell, and Harry felt a strange feeling, but one he recognised. These creatures radiated the same coldness, the same aura of despair that Harry felt every time that Dementors were near him. Harry knew exactly what he had to do. Summoning the happiest memory that he could muster, Harry pointed his wand and uttered the words that had saved him many times in the past.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag burst from the end of his wand, and cantered towards what Harry assumed were daemons from the descriptions he had gotten from the Eldar, Dean and Seamus. The daemons retreated from the light of his patronus, but eventually recovered and came in to attack with their steaming blades. Other portals were appearing from other points, as more of these creatures were joining the fray. The good news was their plan was working. Harry's patronus speared several of the daemons with its antlers. The daemons vanished back from where they had come. More daemons were converging on Harry's patronus, but he heard a chorus of 'Expecto Patronum.' As the other assembled wizards summoned their own patronuses to aid him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some Eldar wearing orange and yellow armour coming out of some hidden corridors, and opening fire on the remaining two tanks, taking them down, then turning their attention to the ones summoning these daemons. While the patronuses were doing their part in keeping the daemons at bay, there were still at least 60 daemons, opposing less than a dozen patronuses. Harry saw Hermione's Ostrich patronus take a steaming blade through its ribcage, and fade as Hermione was driven to one knee by the force of the attack. The patronuses were having another effect, however. The craftworld corridor floor glowed wherever the patronuses stepped, and seemed to bolster their efforts to take down the daemons.
Harry also saw tiny, metallic spiders emerge from the ground, and swarm around the daemons, flickering in and out of existence as they bit and stabbed at the daemons, banishing many of the abominations back from whence they came. One of the two summoners, still engaged with the orange and yellow-armoured Eldar, suddenly turned and threw green fire at one of his fellows, reducing him to cinders. Then the armoured summoner began to grow, his armour giving way as he outgrew it four times, towering over the orange and yellow armoured Eldar as his head grew horns and morphed into a horrific visage. Great wings grew on his back.
The Warp- Merekwoad's Rescue Force
The diversion appeared to be working. Merekwoad's Seers were moving through Nurgle's realm without resistance. Avoiding massive displays of psychic power, for fear of attracting Nurgle's children. It appeared that the vast majority of Nurgle's followers were occupied elsewhere: either guarding his borders from the rest of the Chaos Gods, or fighting in the Siege of Lugganath, but the Seers of Merekwoad did not wish to take any chances. Irthan wore the crown Isha had sent with the Harry Potter, which appeared to be offering the group additional protection, freeing up the majority of their psychic might for combat.
Eventually they encountered resistance: billions of nurglings swarm over the Farseers trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, but Irthan and his comrades destroy the Nurglings without even breaking a sweat as they continue. The second wave is Plague Drones: massive flies, ridden by Plaguebearer Daemons, backed up by the Beasts of Nurgle, which drove them back, but they rallied and pushed back, their psychic fire burning away the Beasts as the Plague Drones circled around for another pass, the decaying energy of the daemons slowly whittling down the Farseers' psychic defences. The daemons were trying to fight a war of attrition, a war that the Farseers couldn't hope to win. Irthan waited until the Drones swooped again, then burned a good chunk of them with psychic fire, while the rest were dispatched by the rest of his council. They were making good progress, unfortunately, the challenges they were facing right now paled in comparison to what they would find when they reached Nurgle's Mansion.
Craftworld Lugganath- Dome of a Thousand Stars
The Daemon Prince swept it's sword through the Fire Dragons, slicing both squads in half with a single swing. As his sword swept through the air, it creates more portals, allowing more daemons to bleed into the material realm. Plague Drones, Beasts of Nurgle and Plague Bearers swarming towards the battle line.
Alara looked at the sword that the Daemon Prince was using. It was clearly a daemon weapon. She could feel power radiating off it, it almost made her sick just by looking directly at it. Every time the daemon swung its sword, it was as if the very fabric of reality twisted and rebelled at its passage.
"It's the Rot Prince," Kilathe's voice echoed in her head, his tone fearful "One of Nurgle's most powerful Daemon Princes. We cannot fight this. We have to retreat."
"If we leave him alive, he will call more and more daemons onto your Craftworld," said Alara "We at least need to destroy his weapon. Draw your warriors back, we will deal with the Rot Prince."
"Are you sure?" Kilathe's voice had a hint of what sounded like concern.
"He's not the only one with a few tricks," said Alara "Draw your warriors back. Mine will remain."
"May Kurnous guide you," said Kilathe
"May his arrows strike fast and true," Alara responded. Kilathe and the Guardians began retreating.
"Harry, rally the wizards to me," said Alara "It's time to go on the offensive."
Harry nodded, pointed his wand at the sky, and shot green sparks into the air. All of the wizards assembled around Alara, Flitwick and Hermione in the front, Harry on the left and Fred and George on the right. They moved forwards, Hermione and Flitwick keeping up shield charms to block the green flame that some of the Heralds of Nurgle were throwing at them, while the others fired explosive curses, and keeping up Patronuses to keep the forces of Nurgle from rushing them.
Alara began chanting in the language of the ancient Aeldari, an ancient spell from a time when the Webway was still being forged by the Old Ones. Alara's hands grew blue as she drew a massive circle in the air, big enough for a Wave Serpent to drive through. Once the circle was complete, Alara pushed her hands into the air, and they disappeared, as the wall of the Webway that she had been drawing on fell in, and dozens of Starweavers of the Masque of the Raven's Call. Dozens of Harlequins, garbed in blue and silver, dropped from the Starweavers. Some dropped on top of the flying Plague Drones, slicing the heads off of both rider and mount, before landing on the ground.
The Starweavers were followed by Skyweavers, each piloted by a single Harlequin, with a second Harlequin riding on the back, holding a glaive, opening up with their underslung shuriken cannons. But even with all of these reinforcements, they were still being overwhelmed. The wizards, Alara and their Harlequin allies were fighting back to back against the swarm of Nurgle daemons. The Rot Prince walked towards the cornered defenders. Swinging his sword leisurely through the air, opening portals to the Warp and calling more Daemons to his side. At this point, he didn't even need to kill these heroes himself.
Alara could tell he believed he had already won. This was Nurgle's game, however. As a god of despair, if he could make the defenders give up hope, it would give his daemons power, making victory all the more certain.
She needed to defeat the Rot Prince, or they would be overwhelmed. Finding an opening in the swarm of daemons, Alara darted through the daemon ranks to stand before the Rot Prince.
"Ah," the Rot Prince giggled in glee "Have you come to accept Nurgle's love for all?"
Alara responded by drawing and slashing the Rot Prince's bulging stomach, bile spraying everywhere.
"I think that answers your question, second favoured son of Nurgle," said Alara. The daemon's reaction was exactly what she expected. She jumped backwards to avoid the sword, as more daemons jumped from the breach. She stabbed at the sword as the portal faded, striking the blade, and discharging eldritch energy into the blade. A single crack appeared in the blade. It was small, but it showed that it could be damaged. But the power Alara had used, just to cause a small crack in the blade, had almost destroyed her. She could feel The Thirsting God tugging at her soul, at her sanity. It took all of her willpower just to hold onto her sanity. She could probably get in one more hit like that, but any more and she would be lost, if not her soul, then her sanity would be gone, and she would be no good to anyone. She parried again, as the Daemon tried to hit her again. More daemons came from the breach, but she saw the crack in the blade widening. The powers the blade was playing with was taking a toll on it.
Alara looked back at the embattled defenders. A large portion of the Masque of the Raven's Call had been killed. The wizards and Harlequins were still fighting, but they were fighting a losing battle. Maybe this was all for naught. Maybe continuing to fight was pointless. Maybe she should just curl up and let the Rot Prince kill her. She snapped out of the spell.
"Your foul sorcery has no sway over me," Alara said "I am a priest of the Hunter. I am patient. I am the eternal hunter. The hunt is all that exists. Kurnous, guide my blade, as you've guided my hunt many times before."
Alara stabbed at the blade again, discharging more of the psychic blade's energy into the sword. More cracks spiralled along the blade. It was looking pretty damaged at this point, but Alara had literally been driven to the ground by the effort. She was exhausted, the witch staff in her hand crackled feebly, and went out, her remaining psychic reserves not enough to keep it alight. She could only stare up, weakly, her vision swimming, as she saw the demon raise the sword above its head, and bring it down towards her. Before the sword could hit her, however, it shattered into pieces.
The Rot Prince roared in anger. Drawing his ordinary sword from his belt, he made to slice Alara's neck with it. Alara closed her eyes, ready for the inevitable. From the darkness, she heard the unmistakable sound of the daemon's sword hitting wraithbone.
The Warp- Nurgle's Manse
As they entered the mansion, they expected to have to fight Nurgle's Greater Daemons. Instead, there were several Daemon Princes, but they were locked in combat with Daemon Princes of Slaanesh. Irthan had no idea how the Slaaneshi Princes had gotten this far, but he also didn't know how his team had gotten this far. They had already been in the Warp too long. As one, the Farseers sped up, exploring the rooms of Nurgle' mansion, looking for the cells where Isha was held. The mansion was eerily devoid of daemons. They had expected to meet staunch resistance, but all of Nurgle's forces appeared to be preoccupied elsewhere.
Eventually, they opened a door to find a rotten cell, with an Eldar trapped within, weakened from recently being fed one of Nurgle's concoctions. Irthan burned off the lock of the cell, and with help from the other members of the council, they carried the unconscious goddess out of the mansion.
As they began making the journey back to the Craftworld, they were immediately ambushed. Three Keepers of Secrets twirled their six blades, ready to destroy the Eldar goddess once and for all, and drink deep of the Eldar souls that have wandered so willingly into their midst.
Craftworld Lugganath- The Dome of a Thousand Stars
Alara opened her eyes. The unmistakable sight of The Solitaire stood above her, the long, thin translucent tube that was the Harlequin's Kiss the only thing preventing the warpmetal blade from slicing her down the middle. The daemon roared at its new challenger, bringing its sword round to strike at the harlequin, but hit only empty air. Alara, barely able to move her head with tiredness, looked over at the remaining defenders. It appeared that the Troupe Masters of the Raven's Call were the only remainder of the Harlequin reinforcements. The wizards were doing their best to call upon their magic to conjure the silver creatures that had been so effective against the daemons before, but they appeared to only be able to create shimmering light. They were instead using their shield spells to protect the Troupe Masters, as they continued fighting against the daemon assault. There were no more daemons coming from the Warp, but the sheer weight of numbers of the daemons already summoned was overwhelming the last few defenders. As she turned her head back to the Rot Prince and the Solitaire, she watched as he stabbed his Harlequin's Kiss into the Daemon's chest, causing him to fade back into the Warp.
As he did so, the forms of the other daemons flickered. It was apparent that the main thing keeping them anchored to the material realm was the Rot Prince himself. As she watched, the wizard called Harry Potter finally managed to produce the stag that he had summoned before, which began charging down the remaining daemons, which were losing their grip on reality every moment. As she saw the last daemon fade back into the Warp, her vision faded, and she fell into unconsciousness.
The Warp- Nurgle's Garden
Isha's eyes fluttered. Still suffering the aftereffects of Nurgle's last plague, she was unable to do much else. Instead, she reached out with her other senses. She could sense several of her children around her, as well as servants of the Thirsting God. She heard the words of Irthan, one whose prayers she had been unable to answer, but who continued to pray to her, despite the fact he believed her to be dead. She heard his voice, as he spoke to the servants of Slaanesh.
"You do not want to be here M'krsan," said Irthan "The Rot Prince has fallen. Soon, he and the daemons he commands shall return here. They will not take kindly to uninvited guests.
"Indeed," said the beautiful voice of the Greater Daemon "Who do you think they will treat more unkindly, Eldar? But I'm feeling merciful today. Hand over the goddess, and we'll let you walk away."
"Do not play games with me, M'krsan," said Irthan "My loyalties lie with the Goddess of the Harvest. The way I see it, you have two options here: fight us here, and trust me we will give you a fight you won't forget and then deal with Nurgle's forces after you've already been greatly weakened, or leave, return to your realm, and leave your prize. One way will almost certainly result in your destruction, the other you have a chance of survival. What will it be, M'krsan?"
Isha felt the Greater Daemons retreating, as the Farseers of Merekwoad began speeding back from whence they had come. She felt the weight of Nurgle's influence leave her, as they crossed the barrier between materium and immaterium. After such a long time, she was finally free.
Wow, this is a really long chapter. Sorry for the wait, I find battle scenes some of the most difficult to write, so this may be a weak chapter, but I hope you enjoy it, anyway.
Warp Spiders- Those tiny metallic spiders that were attracted by the patronuses to fight the daemons. Also one of the Aspect Warriors of the Eldar.
Isha- Eldar goddess of life and the harvest. One of the two gods credited with creating the Eldar as a species (along with her husband Kurnous). Formerly a prisoner in Nurgle's throneroom.
Kurnous the Hunter- Eldar god of the hunt, and husband of Isha. The other god credited with creating the Eldar species.
Khaine the Bloody Handed- Eldar god of war and murder. The warrior paths of the Eldar are based on his aspects in Eldar myth. Actually one of the last three surviving Eldar gods (Cegorach and Isha being the other two)
Cegorach the Laughing One- Eldar goddess of myrth and trickery. Patron god of the Harlequins.
Note: the fact that Isha and Kurnous were credited with creating the Eldar species is mostly in the Eldar mythic cycles. The Eldar were, in-fact, created by the Old Ones. The Eldar supposedly created their own gods in some way, but I haven't read that fluff, so not sure if its accurate.