Night had wrapped its inky chill around the World's Edge Mountains. Watchfires from the camps of two armies blazed in the night, casting an ominous red glow across the valley floor. The smaller force sheltered itself near the yawning crevice of blackness from which they had emerged after months of navigating the perilous Underway.
Now, they made ready to sweep the valley clear of human and Dwarf settlers, bringing back slaves and plunder to their faraway cities in the New World. Dark-cloaked riders and small bands of Scouts slipped out of camp to take up advance positions for the next day's battle. Pale, crossbow-armed sentries ringed the encampment, keen eyes searching the night for any unexpected threat. Unwholesome energies crackled around Sorcerer Vathek's tent as he gathered magical power through arcane and unmentionable private rites.
The rest of the Dark Elves quietly readied their armaments, or sipped spiced blood-wine to keep away the chill. None bothered to try to fall asleep; as heartless and cruel as the Dark Elves were, none relished the nightmares which would surely visit any who slumbered within earshot of the Witch Elves dancing and chanting around the Cauldron of Blood which boiled and frothed in the lee of the great sundered outcropping.
A single sentry caught a chance glance of the Witch Elf ceremony and stood shuddering, unable to look away as the coven-sisters wailed and thrashed in a circle around the great cauldron. The sentry's crossbow dropped from his nerveless grasp as Crone Hellebron stood naked before the cauldron, raised her bloodied arms and shrieked out terrible, ancient entreaties - entreaties soon enough answered, as a vaguely female head and shoulders broke the bubbling surface of the cauldron.
The dripping figure clambered out to stand swaying before the Hag Queen; it was soon followed by a second, then a third, then more until eight of the supernatural forms ringed Khaine's Cauldron. As the first streaks of predawn light broke over the eastern wall of the valley, a rising, hideous chorus of keening cries washed over the Dark Elf force. Crossbowmen, knights and spearmen ran to take up their positions. The Witch Elves and newly-summoned Furies moved to the fore. Across the valley, the settler militia heard the echoing wails of their own doom...
Those Dark Elf women who seek admission to the Brides of Khaine face terrible perils to body and soul. Initiates must pass many dangerous rites of initiation before entering into the mysteries of a Witch Elf Coven. Not all survive. Tests such as the Scorpion Palm Rite and the Dance of Wheels can prove fatal to those who lack grace, strength or savagery, while the Test of Eyes and the Game of Seven offer hideous consequences for any whose minds and spirits are not utterly devoted to the many ways of murder, bloodshed and pain.
Finally, there are those who are taken mysteriously during the most sacrosanct rituals of the Death Night. The ways of the Blood Red God are such that those who pledge themselves to him in that unhallowed hour are sometimes favored -- or cursed -- by Khaine's Embrace. Drawn wailing into the warp, their mortal selves are never seen again; only through certain special invocations kept secret by the Hag Queens do these transformed souls ever return to this plane, as the daemonic beings known as the Furies of Khaine.
Your army may include one regiment of Furies. These are Lesser Daemons of Khaela Mensha Khaine, and conform to all special rules regarding daemons in WHFB 4th edition (see Chaos boxed set for details). The Furies of Khaine are terrible to behold, sporting venomous black talons nearly a foot long which drip caustic blood that sears at a touch. Their keening cries strike dread into the hearts of the sturdiest heroes, and their appetite for bloodshed and suffering is insatiable.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
| Fury | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 10 |
Save: Furies have a daemonic aura save of 4+ which is negated by magical weapons as described in the Chaos Bestiary.
Special Rules: A unit of Furies causes fear as described in the Psychology section of the rulebook.
Talons: The terrible rending talons of the Furies exude venomous ichor which ravages living tissue and induces unendurable agony. Furies inflict not 1 but 1D3 wounds in combat.
Keening: The horrific wailing cries of the Furies are capable of paralyzing enemies on the battlefield. All foes within 3" of the Furies suffer a -1 penalty to their WS.
Written by Tox