Veyron Van Drën woke from his dream with a start, amidst cold sweats and chills, he swore he saw the shadow creature’s eyes in the corners of his room, but as the fog of sleep lifted, there was nothing to behold aside from an empty corner. Veyron had been residing at the church of Sigmar atop the mount since the events that turned a piece of Ghur into the Scarlands. He had been atoning for his sins, seeking forgivenessa and repenting. No matter how long he had been there, granted asylum, and even absolved by the priest, he could not shake the shadow of the past and the voices whispered in his ear at night, calling him back to darkness.
Although the church had absolved Veyron, the law had not. So long as he remained in the church, he was safe, but if he were to leave without atoning by means of the law, he would be persecuted to the fullest by the Order of Azyr on high. There are very few ways of doing this and only one practical one: Taking the Coin Malleus and joining a Dawnbringer Crusade, and hopefully surviving long enough to enjoy his newfound freedom. And so it was, the day the Dawnbringer Crusade was set to leave from the nearby municipality, but also so was the day after a missive was received by the church bearing Veyron’s name.
The missive contained within an urgent plea for help from Veyron’s former Lieutenant, Le’ertha Leafwind, A wood-elf Corsair who was now Captain of her own crew and vessel. Veyron’s daughter; Johanna, was also aboard this vessel, part of Le’ertha’s crew. Le’ertha and crew had departed to a certain Slidecrown Isle amidst the Sea of Elemental Truths some time ago, at the behest of a certain lucrative payee. Le’ertha and crew had successfully made the voyage, even establishing a beachhead amongst the island’s coast, but when it came time to move across the island, to dam the waters and take more ground, the crew had become entrenched among the raging battles. Thus, Le’ertha was requesting that Veyron muster a force of his own and attempt the journey across the sea, reinforcing them, ‘lest the worst befall the newfound captain, her crew, and Veyron’s daughter.
This left Veyron with a great dilemma, to leave the church without accompanying the Dawnbringer Crusade meant that he would be an outlaw again, something he dread to think about, because it was this very thing that had lead him to the darkness of chaos before, and he was lucky to escape it’s grasp once, he was not confident about resisting it’s power again.
And so it was, that Veyron was not alone in recieving this missive, for atop the hill opposite the church sat Morribad the Untimely, A portent of Doom and Harbinger of Decay in his own right. A lord of Chaos and enemy of the free people’s and forces of Order, Morribad peered through Veyron’s window, plotting his next move. All the while, the Skaven assassin that Morribad had tasked with obtaining the missive had already begun his infiltration of the church.
To further complicate matters, the missive had come in the night, far past churches curfew and Veyron’s newfound bedtime, it wouldn’t have been right to stay up and read it, and not only that, but upon waking, it was required that the first action of his day must be to attend the chapel on the grounds and pray to Sigmar. Thus, the missive sat untouched on Veyron’s bedside table.
The Skaven assassin, Pestimus, made his way over the walls of the compund, and through its narrow alleyways, easily avoiding detection, until he came to the housing compound. Many a priest and pauper were just waking around what was now dawn and heading to the chapel for their early morning prayer. Under the dim light Pestimus made his way to Veyron’s doorway, and just as he entered, he ran straight into the man whose bedroom he was infiltrating. He had made his too early, but he had not wanted to wait until the sun rose fully, a huge mistake. The Skaven was not caught off guard as Veyron was however, and leaped at the man, brandishing his knives. Veyron was no slouch however and caught the giant ratman in the air, wrestling it to the ground.
The Skaven bit at Veyron’s throat, tearing a superficial chunk of flesh from it, but enough to send Veyron reeling, and screaming. The Skaven knew that if he stayed any longer he was like a fish in a barrel, so he took off back out the door that he came, scaled the walls out of the compound, and reported failure to his master in shame.
And so it was, Veyron stuffed the missive in his pocket to be sure it was not what the Skaven was after and attended his prayers, not before the grounds were alerted and security raised of course, but no sign of the Skaven was found and the random attack left a mystery. It was decided once Veyron had read it however, that he would bring reinforcements to the Slidcrown Isle amidst the Sea of Elemental Truths, but also, with Morribad and the Skaven retinue in tow, he would unwittingly be bringing more enemies with him as well.
