Xenoarchaeologist Part III Episode 1 Recap

[Farseer Petriel]

Hello Eurobricks!

This is a recap of the third part of Xenoarchaeologist, The Hour of Chaos. Or, to be correct, the first episode of the recap. The third part consists of three distinctive episodes and contains lots of events, so I decided to retell it in three posts. The names of the episodes were invented especially for these recaps.

The Hour of Chaos is the finale of Xenoarchaeologist trilogy. Unlike the two first parts, it isn't connected with something in Adventurers mythos, but a separate story which concludes the plot lines of Donner, Farseer and Kruger. It was published in 2014 on the Russian Fan Forum of LEGO but wasn't translated for Eurobricks even partially. So this is the brief recap of The Hour of Chaos in English.

Warhammer 40000 universe belongs to Games Workshop Ltd. Most of the characters and locations in the story are original.

The recap of the first part, The Pyramid of the Dead, can be found here.

The recap of the second part, The Jungle of Doom, can be found here.

 

WARHAMMER 40000: XENOARCHAEOLOGIST

PART THREE: THE HOUR OF CHAOS

RECAP

EPISODE ONE: THE HUMAN HIVE

 

Prologue

In an aristocratic castle on Krieg, noble baron Mannfred von Kruger tells his son, Sam, to leave the planet. Even Sam's favorite dog must stay but not him. Mannfred doesn't explain the reason for this but he is genuinely worried.

 

Over a thousand years later, a working-class family lives in a housing block in Hive Primus of Necromunda. At the supper, a boy shows his parents his made-up map of an alien world but his father is annoyed at him. This boy's name is Johann Donner.

Many years later he is picked by Illinois James, a wandering Inquisitor and xenoarchaeologist, to be his student. Donner accompanies James on several missions in alien worlds. On one such mission, they have to steal a crystal at mysterious ruins but are surrounded by three separate forces of Orks, Eldar and Tau. Johann and Illinois quickly take the crystal and run away from overwhelming alien armies.

When it came time, Donner kneels before Lord Stanislav Vigilansky, the Grand Master of Inquisition on planet Spiridonia, in a gothic Imperial cathedral. Vigilansky appoints him a new Inquisitor. Illinois James and tech-priest Charles Kilrus are highly proud of their apprentice. James gives Johann his old, adventure- and battle-worn hat.

 

But in the present day, Vigilansky gathers other Inquisitors in the same cathedral on Spiridonia and accuses Donner for befriending vile Eldar and murdering Inquisitor Albrecht Hammer. Stanislav labels Johann the heretic and declares the hunt for him.

 

Separated by many light years from Spiridonia, the Farseer meditates in his room on the Eldar craftworld. He recalls the Fall of the Eldar and the tragic fate of his sister. Eyla, Exarch of the Howling Banshees, enters his room to talk about Autarch Erestril who sacrificed himself in battle with Tyranids on Smert. The Farseer tells Eyla about his woes and she is shocked that he shares his emotions with her. After the departure of his sister, he feels very lonely and devastated but hides this beneath the mask of calm and reasonable figure. Eyla comforts the Farseer and he gives her Erestril's power sword and shuriken pistol. When she leaves, the Farseer receives a message from Moyaz, one of his trusted Rangers. Moyaz tells him that he found Samuel Kruger in Burton system. The Farseer realizes it's time to help his new human friend to deal with his archenemy.

 

In the hive city of Burtonopolis, the adult Samuel Kruger oversees the grey, polluted sky in a luxurious penthouse.

With Rudolph Steiner, Gunslinger, rogue psyker Cassandra Dexter and Ogryn nicknamed Bonehead he prepares crates of blood for some disgusting Chaos ritual. Then Kruger discusses some treasures with Julio Palomar, a rogue trader selling drugs and Chaos artifacts on black markets. Kruger is determined to bring his plans into life.

 

The story

Johann Donner's Inquisitorial cruiser, The Emperor's Lightning, flies through the open space in the search of Samuel Kruger. As many Imperial spaceships, it looks like an ornate gothic cathedral.

Donner finds a strange white item in his small and cozy cabin. It's an Eldar wraithbone, a psychically-active material. Donner takes the wraithbone and reveals a projection of Farseer. The Eldar tells him that his Rangers found Kruger on Burton Primaris. The Farseer also remarks that due to Imperial hunt for Donner it's better to go there through Webway gates, one of which is on Memnon, a nearby moon. The Eldar would join Johann in the Webway later.

On the bridge, Donner, Charles Kilrus and Patricia Red discuss the news with Captain Harold Kane. They decide to land on Memnon and to find the Eldar gate.

 

An Arvus lighter delivers Donner, Kilrus and Red from the ship to Memnon.

After arrival to the desert moon under green sky and sandstorms, they ride their Land Speeder to find the Webway portal.

The local feral Orks chase the Land Speeder with their Deff Koptaz. But they fail to hit it down because of deflector shields installed by Kilrus.

Donner finds the Wevbway gate and the Farseer near them. They fly through the portal on the Land Speeder and leave Memnon and the Orks forever.

 

The Farseer brings Donner and his retinue to his craftworld again.

Under the domes aboard this gigantic space vessel, the humans see white, clean and shiny Eldar structures. They emerge from the Webway at the main square near some mysterious gates. The Farseer is pleased to see his old friends again. But other Eldar, such as Farseer Temaniel who is his apprentice, are not satisfied to see "primitive monkeys" in their sacred craftworld.

The Farseer leads Donner, Kilrus and Patricia above verdant Eldar gardens.

They end up in a dining room where the Farseer feeds them with surprisingly nutritious vegetables and Murzion, his pet Gyrinx, with fish. The Eldar tells that Kruger hides in Burtonopolis, the capital city of Burton Primaris. Donner decides to go there incognito.

Donner, Kilrus and Red dress as civilians and return to the main square. Kilrus hides his bionically-enhanced body under the suit of some old and wise professor. The Farseer hides his true appearance under a human illusion. Disguised, the heroes go through the Webway gate to Burton Primaris.

 

They emerge in a countryside which is not consumed by growing city jungle yet, near farms and cows. The Webway gate standing near the road is invisible for humans. Donner, Kilrus, Red and the Farseer, as ordinary Imperial ciivilians, catch a flyer bus to Burtonopolis and leave.

Burtonopolis is an enormous hive city filled with people. Farseer who got used to loneliness in the craftworld, is disoriented and disgusted by human lifestyle. He is also shocked by an Inquisitor who arrests a man only for some fancy clothes.

Donner and Kilrus find an apartment which used to be one of Illinois James' hideouts, and use it as their headquarters. As it's nearly impossible to find Kruger in the very large city without access to bureaucratic data, Johann decides to infiltrate the Imperial Administratum. Patricia, as a former clerk, needs to apply for an admiistrative job to find Kruger in their network.

 

Next morning, Patricia and the Farseer move to the Administratum building. The city is busy and crowded, with flyers sweeping between the streets and citizens hurrying to their work.

Patricia and the Farseer go to Imperial Square by underground train. The Eldar wonders how so many humans tolerate each other in a narrow carriage.

The Administratum building towers on Imperial Square. In the center of the square stands the globe of Burtonopolis before it was colonized by the Imperium. Patricia joins the crowd of clerks and moves to the Administratum entrance. The Farseer stays waiting for her.

After lots of queues and bureaucratic procedures, Patricia manages to enter the main office which is on the eagle-shaped top of Administratum skyscraper.

Patricia appears in front of the local Master of Administratum. She presents herself as Linda Storm from Burton Secundus and shows documents faked by Kilrus. The Master accepts her as a new clerk of Administratum and says that she needed to start her work next day.

 

Meanwhile in his penthouse, Kruger meets the Crimson Prophet. This enigmatic psyker leads the Right Path, the sect of Chaos cultists operating on Burton Primaris. The Crimson Prophet was an Imperial sanctioned psyker but after a battle with Chaos Space Marines he decided to betray the Imperium. Currently he is sworn to Tzeentch, the Chaos God of change, mutation and magic, and a daemon of this God lives in his head. The Crimson Prophet hates the Imperium and wants to take over Fergus McCracken, the corrupt Governor of Burton system. Kruger offers his help but the Prophet hates the off-worlders too and trusts only the Burtonites. But Kruger says that he's got a trump card - something called Belthazor. The Crimson Prophet starts to respect Samuel and makes an alliance with him.

 

Meanwhile, Patricia and the Farseer return home from the Administratum. They visit Ultramart, the local store named after a Space Marines Chapter, to buy food and uniform for Red, and the Farseer wonders about the concept of supermarket. He wants to take the food with him and doesn't understand that he needs to pay near the exit.

Kilrus makes an upgraded data slate which can be used to extract data from Administratum network. Patricia needs to bring it to her workplace but it's difficult to pass through the Securitas who check and take every undesirable electronic devices. So the Farseer needs to replace one guard.

 

Next day, Patricia and the Farseer go to the Administratum again. Donner and Kilrus follow them taking the next train.

The Eldar mind controls a Securitas to leave his post and stuns him with a cane. Then the Farseer uses an illusion to look like a guard.

He passes Patricia with her improved data slate, and she is ready to start her work.

Administratum clerks, dressed in uniforms, sit in rows at their cogitators, processing data under the supervision of Ordinates. When the superiors don't see, Patricia takes her data slate and starts the uploading.

 

When Patricia is over with her work, she leaves the building and reunites with Donner, Kilrus and the Farseer. But they are quickly ambushed by the Gunslinger and other Kruger's henchmen. They realize that the infiltration to Administratum was a trap orchestrated by their enemy.

The heroes jump on an underground train, and Kruger's henchmen follow them. They fight on the roof of the train.

Donner, Kilrus, Red and Farseer deal with ordinary humans but are overpowered by the Gunslinger, a cyborg with a lascannon instead of one arm. They move to the end of the train and jump off its roof.

The Gunslinger stays atop the train, firing his cannon, but is suddenly hit by a bridge.

 

The heroes end up in the Underhive, lower city levels inhabited by gangs and drug addicts. The Farseer uses his mind control to evade one such gang.

Suddenly they see a familiar figure. It's Magos Eugenius Nikitus, a tech-priest of Adeptus Mechanicus and their friend.

 

In the mean time, the damaged Gunslinger returns to Kruger's penthouse. Samuel is disappointed that Donner was alive and orders to start the ritual.

 

Inquisitor Hecate Llorona, the same one who arrested a man for his fancy clothes, sweeps the Underhive in the search for Johann Donner. She was called by a squad of Arbiters who witnessed Donner fighting on the train roof.

 

Eugenius brings Donner to his underground laboratory where he conducts his experiments. The Zodiac, his old cruiser, was requisitioned by Archmagos Zeekus, and he needed to continue his research in another place. As always, Eugenius is accompanied by Thorvald Ragnarsson, his faithful Squat student.

Thorvald mocks the Farseer for being the Eldar, and the irritated psyker changes his appearance several times using illusions. At one point, he recalls Inquisitor Llorona and absurd laws of the Imperium.

Later the Farseer calms down and uses his illusions to pass as a servitor, a cyborg made for manual labor, and returns to Donner's headquarters to retrieve armor and weapons.

The heroes leave civilian clothes and return to their familiar appearances and weapons. They turn on Patricia's data slate and find out that Kruger hides in a penthouse in Panem Building, under the alias of Baron Samuel von Barron.

Eugenius uses the electro-riser, one of his inventions, to climb the skyscraper and to reach the penthouse.

Donner, Kilrus, Patricia, Eugenius, Thorvald and the Farseer climb the Panem Building and look for Kruger.

They find the heretic on the rooftop, performing some ritual. The eight-pointed star of Chaos is painted with blood on the roof. A rogue psyker, Cassandra Dexter, reads spells, and Kruger, Steiner, Gunslinger, Palomar and Bonehead are watching her.

Donner and Kruger fight on the rooftop, kilometers above the surface of Burton Primaris. But the Inquisitor is late to interrupt the ritual. A space hulk appears in Burton system, and the coming of Belthazor is inevitable.

Kruger and his men are outdone by Donner and his friends. The heretics teleport to their ship which is crewed by servitors under Calculus, a cyborg which serves as Kruger's captain.

Meanwhile, Donner is surrounded by Hecate Llorona and her retinue. She declares the anathema and prepares to burn Johann and is friends as heretics but Donner teleports away too - to The Emperor's Lighning which emerged from the warp near Burton Primaris.

Donner's cruiser leaves the hive world to find a mysterious space hulk that Kruger summoned.

 

To be continued...

 

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked the story and that my work is not vain.