Kilofix Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 For a Death Guard, I enjoyed Blackshield almost as much as I enjoyed Old Night. It was short and the story simple but it brought back old "friends" and some small plot points that I felt enriched the overall storyline. 1. Morturg and Decima make a re-appearance though Morturg didn't entirely survive Isstvan 2. Morturg's psychic abilities are demonstrated 3. Morturg's adversary here is Khorak of the Deathshroud; who went along with the Isstvan action but abandoned Mortarion when Mortarion sacrificed the other Deathshroud on Molech 3b. Khorak almost sides with Morturg save but for the display of Morturg's psychic power, at which point, Khorak also rails against Morturg <- Edit: forgot this important point previously 4. Morturg laments Khorak's eventual death and wonders if it would have been possible to have set Khorak against Mortarion 5. Morturg and Decima are heading back to Terra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandlemad Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Sounds interesting. Could you elaborate on what you mean by point 1? Mortug's line intrigued me from the preview. What's Decima like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helterskelter Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Sounds interesting. Could you elaborate on what you mean by point 1? Mortug's line intrigued me from the preview. What's Decima like? His face probably looks like chewed southern fried chicken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilofix Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 Sounds interesting. Could you elaborate on what you mean by point 1? Mortug's line intrigued me from the preview. What's Decima like? Not that much description of Decima himself but he survived and also managed to recover and rebuild Morturg after the latter was more or less "killed" on Isstvan III with only his psychic power sustaining him (does this foreshadow the Emperor in some way? Hmm...). Anyway, Morturg is now a whole lot of machine himself too. He has his own Blackshield Warband operating out of a strike cruiser called the Malice. It is implied that quite some Death Guard are with him, amongst other shattered legions. In this story, Morturg survives a Bolter headshot (without a helmet) due to his psychic ability (from the FW HH books - he has Biomancy - Endurance). Khorak, his adversary in this story (but who wasn't the one who shot Morturg), might have ended up siding with Morturg but upon seeing that psychic display, calls Morturg a witch / sorcerer and ends up railing against Morturg. The irony is that Khorak participated in the Isstvan action thinking it deserving, but ends up a traitor of sorts to both Mortarion and Morturg. Which may imply that Mortarion and Morturg are not really that different in terms of their use of the warp in circumstances? Anyway, at the end, Morturg and Decima decide to head back to Terra instead of hunting pockets of renegade legions as they were doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ncarnadine Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 I'll have to grab this story for sure! Very, very happy that Wraight is doing more Death Guard outside of Mortarion's appearances in his books. Also, fun fact: Khorak first showed up with an art/profile page in Horus Heresy II: Massacre. Wraight seems to really like to pluck characters from those books. He did it with Konenos in Path of Heaven as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Loss Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 I'll have to grab this story for sure! Very, very happy that Wraight is doing more Death Guard outside of Mortarion's appearances in his books. Also, fun fact: Khorak first showed up with an art/profile page in Horus Heresy II: Massacre. Wraight seems to really like to pluck characters from those books. He did it with Konenos in Path of Heaven as well. Let's hope this is a warmup for a full DG novel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veterannoob Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I'll have to grab this story for sure! Very, very happy that Wraight is doing more Death Guard outside of Mortarion's appearances in his books. Also, fun fact: Khorak first showed up with an art/profile page in Horus Heresy II: Massacre. Wraight seems to really like to pluck characters from those books. He did it with Konenos in Path of Heaven as well. Let's hope this is a warmup for a full DG novel! It's coming...I know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelborn Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 You're saying this as you're wishing this to happen or you actually KNOW that this will happen? :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Loss Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Normally don't buy BL's short stories as I tend to view them as overpriced but boy was this worth it. Loved the descriptions of the wargear and characters in it too, tons of personality for characters that live and die in the space of a few pages. Fully recommend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drooling blood Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 It was pretty damn good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carach Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Ive been waiting for another week of nugget reads for what feels like eternity. Some are a bit .. filler-ish but you do get some gems in here and they certainly fill the more boring times at work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Golem Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I really really hope we get a full Death Guard novel by Chris Wraight. Covering their transformation before Terra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluntblade Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I might have to get this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carach Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Its a good short read. Though not sure how you feel about yet more dead people coming back to life.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tymell Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Its a good short read. Though not sure how you feel about yet more dead people coming back to life.. Morturg? To be fair, he was never dead, Forge World's Book I said he survived Isstvan III, and Book VI talked about him in the Ghoul Stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Morturg and Decima are a nice pair, lol. Truly efficient in command and on the field Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilofix Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Its a good short read. Though not sure how you feel about yet more dead people coming back to life.. Morturg? To be fair, he was never dead, Forge World's Book I said he survived Isstvan III, and Book VI talked about him in the Ghoul Stars. It just so happens that he was only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuskRaider Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 So... with Khorak... do they get into anything about the Deathshroud? I know they take a vow of silence, do they explain anything about that or has that been thrown to the wayside? I know in Massacre I believe, they have a Deathshroud commander or something, and in another story or two they have them speaking. Any word on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaguecaster Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I really really hope we get a full Death Guard novel by Chris Wraight. Covering their transformation before Terra.I hope so too, kinda sucks the only real death guard novel is more about the traitor Garro than the true Death guard I really want to see a novel about them becoming plague marines. Though a full black shield novel would be nice as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilofix Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 So... with Khorak... do they get into anything about the Deathshroud? I know they take a vow of silence, do they explain anything about that or has that been thrown to the wayside? I know in Massacre I believe, they have a Deathshroud commander or something, and in another story or two they have them speaking. Any word on that? There are some cryptic recollections by Khorak about how he gave up his name upon joining the Deathshroud but took his name back when he left the Deathshroud. Maybe someone can read more into it than I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Its a good short read. Though not sure how you feel about yet more dead people coming back to life.. Morturg? To be fair, he was never dead, Forge World's Book I said he survived Isstvan III, and Book VI talked about him in the Ghoul Stars. It just so happens that he was only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. No one stays dead in Horus Heresy nowdays I'm Alpharius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluntblade Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Kelborn's Super Dead point still stand. Ferrus and Saul Tarvitz, for example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandlemad Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 So... with Khorak... do they get into anything about the Deathshroud? I know they take a vow of silence, do they explain anything about that or has that been thrown to the wayside? I know in Massacre I believe, they have a Deathshroud commander or something, and in another story or two they have them speaking. Any word on that? There are some cryptic recollections by Khorak about how he gave up his name upon joining the Deathshroud but took his name back when he left the Deathshroud. Maybe someone can read more into it than I. It's a neat way of dealing with Khorak appearing with a name in Massacre, as LetsYouDown pointed out. Tbh when I first saw the profile by FW I thought 'ha, they goofed, Deathshroud members are supposed to be nameless and anonymous' so the spoilered content a deliberate and nicely done way of reconciling that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 So... with Khorak... do they get into anything about the Deathshroud? I know they take a vow of silence, do they explain anything about that or has that been thrown to the wayside? I know in Massacre I believe, they have a Deathshroud commander or something, and in another story or two they have them speaking. Any word on that? There are some cryptic recollections by Khorak about how he gave up his name upon joining the Deathshroud but took his name back when he left the Deathshroud. Maybe someone can read more into it than I. It's a neat way of dealing with Khorak appearing with a name in Massacre, as LetsYouDown pointed out. Tbh when I first saw the profile by FW I thought 'ha, they goofed, Deathshroud members are supposed to be nameless and anonymous' so the spoilered content a deliberate and nicely done way of reconciling that. Agreed on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morovir Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I just noticed, in the same way, Caipha Morarg (Mortarion's equerry in Vengeful Spirit) was first mentioned in Betrayal (page 131) (famed for his CSM backpack). Nice to see the Death Guard characters being tied in from the Forgeworld books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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