Editing Quest:The Long Night:Volume Two:The Rise (section)

=Living and Preparing=

Syr gave birth to a son; a cute little boy named Tormod.

You ask locals about helping with the Tyranids. Areatha points out a local dolphin species that has anti-hive mind abilities. The Nynye agree to help with some anti-Tyranid poisons, so long as they get samples. You ask Dalv whether HWWO can help with that. Next week, your Magos Biologis finds a [[Norn Queen]] corpse stuffed into one of his fridges.

In the Council meeting, a rather unexpected decision is made. Instead of letting the Tyranids grind through the nearby Chaos polity and Ork worlds, you will instead fight on the far side of them, to avoid the bugs gorging themselves too big. Bombardment is to be used when possible, Exterminatus when necessary. The Eldar are sending their forces (may send more if we call in some of that favour). Local humans are to be protected as much as reasonably possible.

Meanwhile, you establish contact with the Lizardmen.

==Lizardmen==

The Lizardmen are the most powerful and respected of the Peoples of Avernus. Unfortunately, they are currently divided. Once, they were ruled by the [[Slann]], the God-Priest lieutenants of the Old Ones and all but unmatched Psykers. However, around the end of the War in Heaven, the Slann were wiped out, and ever since, the two kingdoms, Skink and Saurus, have been at near constant war due to blaming each other for letting that happen. In addition to getting their people divided, the loss of the leaders also limits their numbers, since only the Slann could build the Birthing Pools they require to reproduce.

They do still have a few things in common. They both still have the First City, Itza, the center of their civilization, the tomb of the Slann, and a bastion which countless thousands of Daemon Incursions have assaulted to be destroyed. And they have the Ancient One; a veteran hero of the War of Heaven, a mortal before whom the Exalted flee.

The Skinks can trade War Beasts to you, while the Saurus can trade relic weapons. It's a tough choice. Fortunately, Saint Lin manages to talk both sides into a ceasefire, allowing you to trade with both.

==The Great Idiot==

Meanwhile, Ridcully has managed to divine the location and plans of Arhra. It seems he's trying to revive Khaine upon the world where the latter slew [[Nightbringer]]. For that, he's using all the Avatars gathered. There were nine hundred. The Eldar still have twelve.

You can probably see the tiny problem the number he has presents...

As soon as they get wind of that, the Phoenix Lords run to stop him, taking along eleven of the remaining Avatars. You can assume they are cursing hard enough to make a pre-Fall Eldar faint.

By the time they arrive, the ritual is close to completion. The site is besieged by countless Daemons of Khorne, including Angron himself.

Desperate, the Phoenix Lords merge with the Avatars, becoming minor gods themselves. The Daemons are driven back.

But they are too late. The eighth day is here, and the collected shards merge into an Avatar, not of Khaine, but of Khorne. With all the Phoenix Avatars and Arhra against it, the Avatar is forced to flee, but remains intact. Arhra then flees as well, still claiming he did everything correctly and it's the others' fault.

==Bold Plans==

It appears Abaddon is now fully aware of the Tyranid threat, and has dispatched task forces to deal with every Splinter Fleet not headed for his enemies. That's good on the galactic scale, but means trouble for you, since it means a huge Black Imperium fleet headed your way.

After some thought, you come up with your craziest plan ever. If Vlad had managed to spend centuries undiscovered as an Imperium Commissar, surely he can spend a few more years pretending to be a Chaos Lord.

And so, him and He-Who-Walks-Obliquely massacre the leaders of that task force, with Vlad pretending to be a survivor and now in charge.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, continues talks with the Lizardmen, hoping to turn the ceasefire into actual peace. The Krork have agreed to send an emissary to help him.

At the same time, he works on another plan. Knowing he doesn't have long, the Saint intends to go out in a truly spectacular fashion. For years now, you've been asking everyone on Avernus and beyond if they can help him with one final ritual.

To heal Primarch Guilliman.

Meanwhile, the Tyranids, despite your efforts, have reached the Chaos polity. While they are much weaker now, they are expected to be back at their old strength or near so by the time they chew through. That gives you a couple of decades to prepare. 

Vlad does manage to infiltrate the fleet and steer it away. The target is a large WAAAGH! chosen by the Eldar, so hopefully, should the plot be discovered, they're the ones who will be blamed.

Peace talks, likewise, are surprisingly successful. Hopefully, it will last. Lin even gets a Paragon trait.

Before the final plan can be carried out, however, there is one final problem.