While the Twin-Tailed Crusade trundles inexorably across the Mortal Realms, not all is well on the home front. Deep within the twin cities of Hammerhal, a virulent plague threatens to destabilise the heartlands of Sigmar’s faithful. Only Armand Callis, Hanniver Toll, and their eclectic band of compatriots have any chance of rooting out the cause.
You can find out what happens to the city – and enlist the aid of the Saviours of Cinderfall for your own army – this Saturday when Dawnbringers: Book V – Shadow of the Crone goes up for pre-order. But in the meantime, we wanted to know a little more about the would-be heroes who put the Flesh-eater Courts to the sword in last week’s episode of Battle Report on Warhammer+.
This article contains a few spoilers for the Black Library story City of Secrets by Nick Horth. You have been warned.
Hanniver Toll, a witch-hunting agent of the Order of Azyr,* was first seen when he was sent to the city of Excelsis to investigate the murder of a patrol of Coldguard Freeguilders. There, he and his duardin partner Kazrug discovered the sole survivor – who had been blamed for betraying his comrades. His name? Corporal Armand Callis.
During the attack that killed his men, Callis was exposed to the celestial energies of some shattered glimmerings,** and witnessed a vision of the city’s destruction. Given the size of the reward for Callis – and his otherwise exemplary record – the wily Toll suspected foul play and eventually proved his new friend’s innocence in front of the High Arbiter Ortam Vermyre.
Unfortunately, Vermyre was at the centre of the plot, and imprisoned Callis and Toll before unleashing his Tzeentchian Cult of the Fated Path on the city. They escaped, warned a Lord-Veritant of the Knights Excelsior, and set out to bring Vermyre down while the remaining Freeguilders and Stormcast Eternals broke the cult’s hold on the city.
Soon after, Callis joined Toll in the Order of Azyr rather than continue his service in the Coldguard, and the two had several more adventures cleaning up the last dregs of Vermyre’s revolt.*** Now, they have recruited a new rogue’s gallery of specialists to investigate the Kingsblood Curse ravaging Hammerhal – an information broker, a master thief, and the indomitable keeper of the key to the city.
We saw some of their rules last week, but the Saviours of Cinderfall have more to offer. The well-practised breaking-and-entering skills of Lyssa Revenya allow the whole band to infiltrate deep into the battlefield, using the Silent as Death ability to pop up where the enemy least expects them.
The rules for these heroes – along with their personal Regiment of Renown – will be available in Dawnbringers: Book V – Shadow of the Crone, but they’re cropping up in other games too. You can field the whole team as a custom warband in Warcry, or take the long road to Ulfenkarn with rules as individual heroes in Warhammer Quest: Cursed City.
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You can recruit your own Callis and Toll when the Saviours of Cinderfall go on pre-order this Saturday, and add them to your Order armies with the Saviours of Cinderfall Regiment of Renown. Or, simply enlist Toll’s Companions into your Cities of Sigmar regiment – and make sure to pick up Callis & Toll by David Annandale when it also goes on pre-order to find out what the duo were up to just before their fateful encounter in the depths of Hammerfall.
* The same organisation that Galen and Doralia ven Denst belong to, in fact.
** The standard currency in Excelsis for high-end transactions, mined from a fallen shard of Mallus.
*** As seen in The Old Ways and The Silver Shard, both by Nick Horth.