"Kitten!" The stranger, apparently known as Cegorach, which was a strange name, exclaimed as he turned to the Lord-Commander. My eyes narrowed. This stranger was a friend of the God-Emperor or, at the very least, an acquaintance of some kind and was, therefore, above my mortal judgement, but something about him just seemed...odd. [Concept Shaping], for instance, struggled to make sense of who or what he was. But I knew, at a glance, that this...formwas little more than a projection, same as the God-Emperor Joshua, actually. Though, I suppose my suspicions may have been misplaced; after all, thiscreature was inhuman, true, but I felt no malice from it. And, most importantly, if the God-Emperor himself vouched for it, then who was I to question his divine will? "It's good to see you again, after all this time. How are things with Shadowsun?"

"No, please, don't call me that and please don't mention that abominable name in my presence." The Lord-Commander sighed and shook his head. [Concept Shaping] simply informed me that this particular topic was not at all of interest for the Lord-Commander. "Fucking Tau..."

I raised a brow. What's a Tau? Never heard of them or it.

Tau... nope – not even familiar. But, if I had to guess, extrapolating entirely on the Lord-Commander's... feelings on the matter and the venom with which he spoke of them, it seemed likely that these Tau were, in fact, a grouping of some kind, perhaps something akin to the Inquisition? And this Shadowsun person was a part of them. It was then much easier to conclude that Lord-Commander Garahm and Shadowsun must've been somewhat close in the distant past, until they separated in a... probably not violent, but not amicably fashion; the fact that Shadowun was still alive, as evident by Cegorach's question, meant that the cause for their quarrel hadn't been anything that endangered the Imperium, the God-Emperor, or the citizens. Therefore, Lord-Commander Garahm once had a trusted companion who went by the name of Shadowsun, they likely were together for quite some time, before parting ways on terrible conditions.

So, this Shadowsun individual was a former colleague of his – an ex.

"T'is alright, Lord-Commander," Khars said, patting Garahm on the shoulder. Cegorach, meanwhile, cackled. "The Tau miscreants are, indeed, abominations of the highest order, always keeping themselves at a distance and never fighting in glorious melee."

"Indeed, Lord-Commander," Whamuu added. "The- wait, you seriously still miss her, do you?"

Lord-Commander Garahm slammed both of his fists on the table and stood up to point a finger at Whamuu. I thought he'd roar or something, but the eight foot tall man looked just about ready to choke back a sob. "That never happened! Not-fucking-canon!"

What in the God-Emperor's name was going on here?

The God-Emperor chuckled, before clearing his throat. "We have a game to play, yes?"

"My glorious overlord," Khars said, turning to the God-Emperor, whose cover was just blown. I wondered, for a moment, what Duncan thought of all of this or if he'd done the smart thing and just decided to ignore everyone and everything; I wasn't sure. "Your guest does not yet possess a character."

"Ah, yes, of course." Cegorach chuckled. "How silly of me. I'll play the same character I played in my last game; I shall be Alastor, merchant extraordinaire, maker of deals and trader of secrets, occasional hero and spy, lover and killer."

The Lord-Commander huffed, nodded, and then went back to his seat. "Right. Let's begin."

And then, curiously, I received a quest.

Quest Received!
Figure Out the Purpose of the Game!
Optional 1: What are the Custodians actually talking about? Separate Fact from Fiction
Optional 2: Figure Out Who Cegorach Truly is
Reward/s:
1 Random Skill
1 Random Passive
Optional Reward 1: Random Epic Skill
Optional Reward 2: Random Mythic Skill

Well, that was interesting. As the quest implied, there seemed to be a hidden agenda within the game itself. I didn't find it suspicious, seeing as the Master of Mankind himself was here, but I did find it odd. Still, the quest was a very good incentive for me to play properly and to pay attention to everything that was going on within the game. Hopefully, it wasn't anything malicious. The optional quests made no sense. But, once again, the God Emperor of Mankind, Joshua, had my full trust; there was no need to be worried. The only one here that seemed out of place was Duncan, oddly enough, as Katarinya didn't seem at all bothered by anyone, including Cegorach.

[Concept Shaping], I figured, should help a lot with immersing myself in the game.

"You will begin in the Old World, in the lands of the Empire of Sigmor, ruled by Emperor Karl Frank himself, the latest wielder of J'son Maraz and the bane of the Greenskins." Lord-Commander Garahm began and, already, I liked this Karl Frank character. The manner with which he spoke also indicated that he'd played this game... many times before. "You are a gathering of strangers and adventurers who met, by chance, on the road to the city of Norseland. Your are no one and nothing, nameless wanderers who've done nothing of note in their lives and would leave nothing in the pages of history should you perish now, but, perhaps, if you play your cards right and make the right decisions, then you'll have the chance to become legends and heroes in your own right... except for Pip; by the player's own backstory, Pip is wanted in every single city in the civilized world for the crimes of murder and cannibalism. But, since the kid can't play if we follow that weird backstory, I'll just make it so that no one's sure what Pip looks like or is even remotely aware of his status as a Halfling."

"Yey!" Katarinya raised her hands in the air, eliciting a chuckle from both the God-Emperor, Joshua, and the stranger, Cegorach.

I glanced at the table and the map had shifted, revealing to us the local area that indicated our current location, ourselves outlined in various red dots with names attached to them. It seemed like we were nowhere close to any city, but there was a road and it probably led to Norseland. We were gathered around a campfire of sorts and, thankfully, Pip was not the cook.

"You lot find yourselves in a formerly-abandoned base camp, just twenty miles outside of Norseland; once frequented by weary travelers, but has since been left to the elements after reports indicated that roving bands of marauding Ogres and Orks had taken shelter in the nearby Hellwood and established raiding camps and supply lines." Garahm explained. And, through [Concept Shaping], I saw, quite vividly at that, the scene that he was describing – strangers huddled together around a roaring flame, a field of snow around them, and a thunderous gray sky overhead. Tall, dark trees surrounded us and the winds howled at our ears. There was a blizzard on the way, apparently, and the only way that any of us were going to live through this was if we huddled around the roaring magical flame, which was enchanted so it stayed nice and hot no matter how cold it got around us.

This was a hellish place, I'll admit, but it certainly had its own beauty. I glanced down and I had become, well, Perry, the character I'd created. I'd worn thick, ceremonial robes and a heavy chain around my neck, indicating my faith in... what was it again? Aha! The Church of the One.

Hanging by a tripod, right over the open flame was a large metal cauldron, where a bunch of dried meats and vegetables simmered in a nameless stew – not meant to be tasty, but meant to be filling and hearty. As for what was actually in it, I had no idea, but it probably wasn't poisoned, which was the only thing that mattered in this sort of weather.

We'd put up our tents around the flame, eight for the eight of us, who'd somehow found each other on this wild journey. My companions stayed to themselves, keeping quiet about who they were and where they come from. I suppose that didn't matter.

"Suddenly, all eight of you hear a rustling in the woods, followed by heavy thuds and metallic sounds." Lord-Commander Garahm said. "What do you do?"

So, this must be the first crossroad, I figured. The game ran on the decisions made by the players themselves. It was a story, in essence, that we, the players, created. Lord-Commander Garahm brought up a single die, which he bounced between his fingers in a casual display of impossible dexterity. "Would anyone like to do anything?"

"I would like to inspect the source of the noise," Whamuu raised his hand. "My special boy, Wam, is a master of stealth. Surely, he can investigate and find out what's causing the disturbance, while remaining unseen, yes?"

Garahm shrugged. "Sure, but we'll have to do a stealth check once you get there."

"I have a better idea!" The God-Emperor, Joshua, raised a hand as he scanned the data-sheet that held all his starting spells and skills. I had one like it, but mine were called miracles, which I was able to manifest by praying to the One – mostly things that could heal or inspire my allies to fight harder than before. Beyond that, I'd just have to bonk any enemy I encountered, using my mace, and hope for the best. Lord-Commander Garahm turned to the Emperor, who then grinned. And, honestly, something about that grin kind of disturbed me. "I roll to set the forest on fire! I cast Fire Storm at the trees! They can't hide behind the forest if there's no forest."

"Wait-" Lord-Commander Garahm protested, clearly, but was cut off when a small bundle of energy interrupted him.

"Yes!" Katarinya fist bumped the God-Emperor of Mankind and cackled with him.

Cegorach merely smiled and shook his head. "Ah, yes, it's happening faster than I thought it would."

I raised a brow and asked no one in particular, "What is happening?"

Whamuu turned to me. "Our Glorious Overlord has a habit of derailing every single game he's been a part of. So, Kitte- I mean, Lord-Commander Garahm has to make sure to craft a game that cannot be derailed each and every single time; he's getting better, but our Glorious Overlord has yet to find a campaign he could not derail into oblivion."

"If he can't fix the campaign, then he just punishes us – and not in a good way." Eshidisi added.

"Fine!" Lord-Commander Garahm seethed as he turned to his panels, reading a thousand words each moment, before he clearly found what he was looking for. He then took a dice and threw it into the bowl at the center of the table. "Oh good. Failure. Your attempt to cast a fire storm misfired and has now ignited the copious body oil all over Karakor... who was naked for some reason."

"Aaaaagh!" I heard Karakor's, Khars' character, scream with [Concept Shaping] as the God-Emperor's character, also named Joshua, accidentally set the oiled up man aflame.

"Wait, I'll save you!" I said. Eh, might as well join in on the fun. I'd honestly not expected something like this happening on... the introduction. Analyzing the situation, I figured the biggest problem was the fact that one of my allies was currently on fire and rolling on the ground; extinguishing the flames would've been much easier if he hadn't doused himself in body oil beforehand, which was also apparently the flammable kind of oil. "I pray to the One for a Healing Miracle for Karakor!"

Lord-Commander Garahm rolled a dice and nodded. "Your fervent prayer successfully reaches the One and the deity decides to spare Karakor, the Barbarian, of his toasty fate. The flames around his body disappear and he is healed slightly."

"Well, now that's over." I said. "It can't get any worse, right?"

Duncan sighed. "You shouldn't have said that, my lord."