The story

The Comet

Across the world, a blazing star was seen streaking through the heavens.

In the Empire, priests claimed they saw the sacred twin tail of Sigmar burning in the sky. In darker corners of the world, sorcerers whispered of warpstone falling from the firmament. Skaven seers shrieked with religious ecstasy at the arrival of a vast God-Stone. Ogre prophets declared that a second Maw had descended from the heavens.

Then the star vanished beyond the western horizon.

Within weeks, word spread among merchants, captains, and explorers: the comet had fallen somewhere deep within Lustria. Whether holy relic, divine omen, or unimaginable source of warpstone, the object quickly gained a name among those who sought it: the Jewel of Lustria.

The Expedition

Each player commands a small expedition gathered to pursue the Jewel of Lustria. These are not full armies, but warbands of adventurers, mercenaries, hardened soldiers, strange specialists, and ambitious leaders.

Many other expeditions roam the region as well. Smaller treasure-hunting parties, hired scouts, rival scholars, jungle hunters, and opportunists all crowd the same frontier. The deeper one travels into Lustria, the more inevitable conflict becomes.

Scenario I — Landing in the Green Hell

The expeditions arrive along the Lustrian coast within days of one another. Ships anchor along narrow beaches while scouts push cautiously into the jungle. Supplies are unloaded, camps established, and guides hired.

Rival expeditions encounter each other almost immediately as they attempt to secure footholds and begin the march inland. Small clashes erupt over landing sites, provisions, and intelligence.

These battles represent early skirmishes between competing expeditions establishing themselves along the coast.

Scenario II — Star Charts of the Old Ones

Lustria is vast and unfamiliar to most outsiders. Finding the exact site of the comet's impact by guesswork alone would take far too long.

Fortunately, the ancient Lizardmen once built observatories throughout the region to track celestial events. Within these ruined structures are star charts and astronomical records that may reveal the comet's true path.

Expeditions raid abandoned temple ruins in search of these charts, fighting among broken observatories where previous raiders may have overlooked priceless records.

Parallel battles represent separate observatory ruins being searched at the same time. Victorious expeditions gain the clearest path inland.

Scenario III — Crossing the Jade Vein

Guided by the star charts, the expeditions push deeper into the jungle until they reach a massive river known among explorers as the Jade Vein.

This immense waterway cuts across the region for miles in both directions. Marching around it would delay an expedition so badly that rivals would almost certainly reach the Jewel first.

The only option is to secure a crossing. Ancient bridges, broken causeways, and dangerous fords become the sites of bitter clashes as rival warbands struggle for passage deeper inland.

Parallel battles represent separate crossings along the same great river.

Scenario IV — The Tyrant of Xhotl-Tlan

Beyond the Jade Vein lies a feared stretch of jungle known as Xhotl-Tlan, the Valley of the Ancient Tyrant. There prowls an ancient Dread Saurian known to local hunters as K'thul-Xah, the Last Devourer.

For generations the beast has ruled the valley, destroying hunting parties, caravans, and expeditions alike. Even the best jungle trackers refuse to guide travelers through its domain while it still lives.

Now, with many armed expeditions gathered in the region, the hunters of the valley see their chance. Each has sworn an oath to personally slay the beast, though none could hope to do so alone.

They offer a bargain: help them kill the tyrant, and they will guide the expeditions onward through the most dangerous reaches of the jungle. They will continue to travel with the expedition afterward as navigators, though not as fighters.

The killing blow matters deeply to them. Pride, oath, and glory all demand that they—or the expedition favored by them—be credited with the monster's death. Though they will honor their agreement regardless, they promise greater rewards to the warband that grants them the most glorious outcome.

In addition to the main expeditions, smaller mercenary companies and lesser treasure-hunters converge on the hunt, creating a chaotic struggle around the beast.

Scenario V — Locating the Crater

After the tyrant falls, the expeditions press on. The star charts have guided them as far as they can, but the dense jungle canopy and broken terrain still conceal the exact location of the Jewel.

Different expeditions pursue different methods to find the impact site. Some seek the highest shattered ridges created by the comet's fall. Others turn to ancient Lizardmen instruments, hoping old observatories can still reveal what the jungle hides.

Scenario V-A — The Shattered Ridge

The comet's descent violently reshaped the landscape. Ridges of broken stone rise above the jungle canopy, while landslides and shattered cliffs create a maze of narrow passes.

Warbands race through this broken terrain seeking the highest ridge from which the crater can finally be seen. Rival expeditions collide while forcing their way through the same rocky bottlenecks.

Scenario V-B — The Temple Observatory

Not all expeditions trust the shattered ridges alone. Some search for one of the surviving Lizardmen observatories, believing its celestial instruments can be turned downward to reveal the impact site with precision.

Deep in the jungle stands a ruined observatory whose upper terraces rise above the canopy. Within it are ancient lensing artifacts once used to track the comet in the heavens—artifacts that may still be used to locate it upon the earth.

Warbands struggle through ruined halls, overgrown courtyards, and broken terraces to seize control of the observatory and gain the final bearing toward the Jewel.

Scenario VI — The Crater City

At last the truth is revealed. The comet did not fall into empty jungle, but into the center of an ancient Lustrian city.

The magical architecture of the Old Ones absorbed much of the physical destruction, leaving the city's plazas, temples, and terraces eerily intact. Yet when the meteor struck, a violent wave of warpstone energy swept through the city and killed every living creature instantly.

Ashen silhouettes still mark where Lizardmen once stood. At the heart of the silent ruins lies a vast crater, and within it rests the Jewel of Lustria.

One alliance reaches the city first and fortifies the approaches around the crater. The others follow soon after. Ancient defenses, shattered walls, temple terraces, and the city's dense urban core become the stage for the final struggle.

Alliances are made out of necessity, not trust. When the battle begins, all know that whoever controls the crater will claim a prize capable of reshaping the fate of the world.