The steep sided Demon Crags echoed with hundreds of thousands of raised voices, the crescendo shaking the very rocks around them as clawed and booted feet stomped in jubilation. Ranks of Chaos Dwarven warriors, clad in gleaming bronzed mail, stood at attention on one side of the canyon, a chittering horde of pestilent scrap-clad Skaven mulled on the other, neither side choosing to mix. Beyond the front ranks of the Chaos Dwarves skulked units of Hobgoblins, weedy beings lurking in the shadows and waiting to ambush rivals under the cover of the assembled armies. The army of the ratmen was too numerous to be contained in one side of the canyon and so their numbers spilled out beyond the valley, tails thumping the ground, clawed paws beating upon rusty shields, all the while bathed in the sinister red glow of the volcanoes.

Resting upon a rough-hewn dais of volcanic rock, two ornate palanquins faced the assembled monsters. Seated upon the right was an ancient Chaos Dwarf sorcerer. Stoic and unmoving, Mingol Hellbeard suffered long from the Sorcerer’s Curse, the magical malady that haunted all Mages of Hashut. A slow and unstoppable change brought about by constant magic use would turn the body of the sorcerer to stone, starting at the toes and working it way inexorably upwards. That Mingol’s body was stone from the chest down spoke volumes as to the age of the evil Dwarf. On the palanquin to his left slouched Anthraxus Pox, sinister major domo for Lord Nurglich of Clan Pestilens. The pox ridden Skaven hacked continuously into a blood soaked rag; oblivious to the stream of corruption he spewed into the air with each wheezing cough. Over 400 years of wickedness existed between the two leaders of the unholy alliance, each outlasting rivals and supporters alike.

“Members of the Dark Pact! Hear my words and remember!” intoned Mingol. “Too long has the sun burned bright over the lands of Cathay, while we dwell in the darkness of ash and earth. The humans before us are now undone, their armies dwindle and their borders become weak and assailed. The time for us to strike is now, a hammer blow of fire and shadow to claim their treasures and their people for ourselves!”

The Chaos Dwarves roared their approval as their leader spoke, voices raised in praise to Hashut. Mingol raised a gnarled hand for silence as Anthraxus Pox slid from his perch and scurried from his palanquin to the edge of the dais.

“Greet-greet brethren! Long, long have we waited for a chance to steal the wonders of the lands of the humans beyond the peaks. With the help-help of the demon beard, we have enough weapons to bring doom-doom to the fat beards and the humans beyond the peaks and take-take their young and their magics! Fight-fight now we must! The time of man is done-done! Make war-war!”

As more and more of the ratmen joined the chanting Chaos Dwarves, the Demon Crag erupted into flame, lava rocketing skywards as the peaks trembled, smoke and ash raining down upon the assembled monsters as they surged out of the canyon towards an unsuspecting Cathay…

Background

Several centuries ago at the height of his powers, Mingol Hellbeard discovered that the Sorcerer’s Curse had taken hold of his body and the agonizing transformation from flesh to stone had begun. Despair gripped him as he realized his time among the living was now finite and haunted by dreams of death he became obsessed with finding a way to halt or even reverse the process. He pored over ancient half-forgotten manuscripts, delving night and day into mouldering texts and pursuing clues in the stories of past ages but he discovered nothing of value and his fervent prayers to Hashut went unanswered. For the first time in decades, fear overcame him and desperate to prevent his transformation Mingol left the Dark Lands with a small army in search of a cure. His travels led him to the dark corners of the world, from the horrid and twisted plains of the Chaos Wastes to the Necropolises of the scorched deserts of Khemri and to the steaming jungles of the Southlands but he made little progress.

It was in the Southlands, exploring a series of ruins carved with strange symbols that throbbed with a sickly green light and seemed to flex and distort and slip out of view that Mingol and his army was captured by Skaven of Clan Pestilens who were mining a vein of freshly discovered warpstone. The Skaven held him for years, subjecting him and his army to a experiment with a succession of increasingly deadly diseases. One by one the Dwarves died in agony, the contagions rotting their bodies from the inside, but not one disease overcame the stony constitution of the Dwarven Sorcerer. By now increasingly desperate, the curse having crept up to his knees leaving him unable to move, Mingol described the nature of his condition to the Plague Priest Anthraxus Pox. Fascinated by the curse and its potential to nullify even the most potent strains of his diseases the Pontifex offered Mingol a deal. He would find a way to reverse the malady of stone in exchange for Mingol’s help in acquiring the technology of the ancient Empire of Cathay and the slaves required to utilize it, for the secrets of the East reputedly contain new and powerful ways to improve his contageons and the slaves they aquired would make excellent test subjects. Mingol could even share in the spoils, for his agents in Clan Eshin assured him that Cathay stood on the brink of collapse and that an incursion of sufficient strength was likely to succeed. Mingol had little choice and the unholy alliance between the Chaos Dwarves and the Skaven was made.

It is seldom that an alliance between two such devious and untrustworthy races occurs and more seldom still that it actually endures. There can be little doubt that Mingol and Anthraxus stand on thin ice, each doubtless seeking a way to undo their ally, when the time is right, but for now their goals are entwined and they prepare to fall upon an unsuspecting Cathay.

GM’s Note

As a player in the Dark Pact you are one of the Skaven or Chaos Dwarf war masters, commanding legions of your troops in the field. Your task, as befits your nature and your alliance, is more devious and convoluted than the brutal destruction sought by The Annointed. You know that with the unstable nature of your alliance, the Dark Pact will never manage to snatch Cathay from the hands of five invading armies and humanities largest Military force. Instead your approach is more opportunistic. You aim to strike into Cathay, weakening the Empire of the Dragon and creating sufficient opportunity to acquire its arcane secrets, contained in ancient scrolls stored in its Temples and Colleges of Magic, so that you can apply them to the creation of new and more destructive forms of weaponry. Of course, you will need a workforce capable of dedicating themselves tirelessly to the pursuit of your goal and fortunately, with its people weakened by hunger and vastly under defended, Cathay also contains a bountiful concentration of potential slaves ready to assist in the creation and testing of your discoveries.

You will be targeted as an enemy by Cathay and her allies, and you must choose whether to strike hard and awaken the dragon or to seek to divert its attention onto other targets, leaving you free to pursue your own goals. Alliances are particularly useful fin this regard! Within Cathay itself there are many individuals who can be persuaded to help you, if the message is delivered correctly, but some will truly have access to the information you seek while others will simply pretend. You must choose wisely and never let loyalty to an ally come before the goals of your faction. The Cathayans are not prepared for the multiple strikes assailing their borders and your forces moving in from the West have a chance to take a lot of frontier territory before the Imperials can react.

Still questions surround this faction like no othermarching on Cathay. Can the alliance last without one side seeking to betray the other? What has Mingol told his armies of his motives and his deal with the Skaven? Does Anthraxus really intend to hand over half of what is found and reverse Mingol's condition? All will become clear in time, but for now the fat rich lands of Cathay stand before you. Make sure your harvest is plentiful…