Editing Quest:The Long Night:Sparks at Midnight (section)

==The Green Skies==

The three times seven years pass. Finally, on the seventh second of the seventh minute of the seventh hour of the seventh day of the seventh month, the polar rifts are torn open, and the plague tide is unleashed.

One of the two Exalted leading the charge, Sevenfold Scujon, walks into the World Serpent's breath and flashes aside with some wounds. The other, Qogbeth the Gatherer, is locked into a temporary prison by an entire kingdom of the Penguin Guardians of the polar rifts, and is flung up in hope the orbital defenses will slice it up. Qogbeth manages to break out in time, but doesn't manage to dodge the Serpent's breath. With both Exalted weakened, it takes the Incursion a whole day to bring down the fortress walls of the Penguin Kingdoms; twice what was expected.

As the horde marches south, your fleet rains fire upon it. So does the world, by conjuring up some runed asteroids. It also provides your ships with millimeter-accurate targeting data. Of course, with the amount of power Nurgle burns through, every square kilometer of the horde is revived as soon as you burn it, but wasted power is wasted power. Herds of beasts billions in size trample and blast through the legions. The force passes about fifty kilometers away from your closest cities, far enough to only do minor damage. At the end of the fourth day, it reaches the sea to start crossing onto the Lizardmen continent. Of course, both the land and sea wildlife do everything they can, with the World Serpent, in particular, taking on Slogoth Poxbelly, the mightiest of the Exalted.

By the middle of the sixth day, the first enemies make it across the sea. They are attacked by local wildlife (reanimated to fight them again once slain), blasted with spells, have mountains raised in their way...

None of it is enough against the full fury of Nurgle. Two hours short of a week into the incursion, the Siege of Itza begins. In the meantime, your cities are under pressure, but holding.

The Siege of Itza goes as expected at first. Then, portals open, and two additional foes arrive. Primarch [[Mortarion]], with the best of his Legion, and [[Be'lakor]], the First Daemon Prince.

The First Prince goes to engage The Ancient One, his old pal (no exaggeration here: after sixty million years of duels, they have a lot of mutual respect for each other). Areatha, meanwhile, taps into the Geomantic Web (the planetary ley lines energy network), and casts two prepared rituals. The first one wipes out the Death Guard and the siege gear they brought (Mortarion is wounded but not too much). The second brings to Itza the Fortress Trees of Avernus (giant plants that grow around the polar region and do exactly what you would expect), along with making the space between them an area where The Good Always Wins in the End.

Another Great One, Mother of Death (think Hela from the Norse myths), working alongside He-Who-Walks-Obliquely, manages to banish Mortarion, now missing a few limbs and a good portion of his strength. The fight between the two Time Abysses is evenly matched for now.

In the meantime, your cities are holding with acceptable casualties. A few walls are chipped, but none are breached. Would have been very different if not for your Eldar allies (and if Ridcully was here instead of Itza). The leaders of the enemies attacking you are known as the Court of Bloat and Flies; seven Honoured good at working together to great effect.

Not so much this time. The Eldar manage to clear the path to one. The guy, one Festirstrol Bilgefinger, looks confident about the odds, but right as he's playing Loves me, Loves me not with an Eldar Titan's limbs, Jane shows him this is no time for romance. Permanently.

The Ancient One manages to banish Be'lakor. On the other hand, the daemons manage to wipe out the Trees. The siege of Itza continues to press on. Your cities are hard pressed as well. Nynye are being hit very hard. HWWO takes Mineyev to help them. This time, the guy, after days of fighting, sets off a Vortex Grenade while ''inside'' an Honoured Daemon's mouth.

Poor bastard still fails to die.

As it all happens, Tzeentch, followed by the other three gods watching the show, decides this is the perfect time to chip off a few pieces off Nurgle's domain. And so, eighteen days after the incursion began, the forces of Plague are forced to go home.

The casualties among your forces are heavy, but tolerable. Only two Generals dead. And, most importantly, not a single city was breached.

The next four years are a full-on war against the cults and plagues. A quarter of the population present at the incursion is lost, along with more military. Once again, would have been worse without Eldar help.