The Helots of the Half-Light Mirror had come for Emberstone, scouring the eastern outskirts of Finsterwald, their twisted banners rising above the burning ruins of shattered villages. But their pillaging would not go unanswered. Baron Edgar von Schattenmeer descended upon them with his Forsaken Triumvirate, his monstrous Vargheists soaring into the fray. With them rode Isolde von Schattenmeer and her knights, seeking to encircle the warband and cut them down from the flanks.
Yet the Helots had their own horrors to unleash. As Isolde led her knights into the shadow of a graveyard hill, the warriors of Chaos met them in brutal combat. Clad in corrupted steel and driven by unholy purpose, the Helots held firm, and then the sorcerer-lord struck. Twisting the winds of dark magic, he shattered Isolde’s formations, leaving her knights vulnerable. A monstrous Chaos Lord atop a Karkadrak then thundered into the melee, his axe reaping vampires like wheat. Isolde barely survived the slaughter, left broken and bleeding as her surviving knights were forced into retreat, leaving the Helots victorious on the field and their prize—stolen Emberstone shards—secure in their grasp.
Meanwhile, Edgar had already claimed his own victory. He had not come for Emberstone—he had come for the Mindstealer Sphiranx. The Helots’ sorcerous beast had barely sensed its doom before the Forsaken Triumvirate descended upon it, tearing it apart in a frenzy of hunger and violence. Its severed head was claimed as Edgar’s trophy, its lifeless eyes reflecting the burning village. With his giant bats swooping down to secure the remaining Emberstone, he turned upon the Helots’ Chaos Knights, tearing through them with monstrous precision. Bereft of their cavalry and their beast, the Helots sounded the retreat, abandoning the field.
The village was saved, but there was no triumph in Isolde’s failure. Disgusted by her weakness, Edgar ordered her broken body carried back to Grabsturm Keep, her disgrace complete. As the knights obeyed, the Baron remained, indulging himself in the slaughter of those who had dared to hide from his wrath. The battle was won, but the shadow of Schattenmeer had never loomed darker.