Emerald Serpent reclaim Tarlius

The Emerald Serpent had been brooding over their recent defeats and their humiliation at the hands of warsmith Stahl. Their daemon prince Marcus Lupane, brother of Andreos, still languished as a guest of the Iron Warrior’s leader. With the Death Guard now reigning as the masters of chaos in the Expanse, the Emerald Serpent had lost considerable influence and power, so Andreos put into action a plan to restore the favour of the faction in the eyes of the gods. 

The chaos forces, once again relying on the intervention of the Thousand Son’s primarch Magnus, added a further chaos power to their pantheon, reaching a pact with grandfather nurgle in order to augment their forces. Now reinforced, the Emerald Serpent launched a major offensive in Tarlius III, where crusade forces had gained a foothold. They fell upon the Dark Angels’ base, using a shard of Magnus to draw the fire of the astartes long enough for the plaguebearers to close on the space marine lines. A vicious and bloody battle developed on the barren plains of the planet, as the traitors and their daemonic allies tore into their enemy. The Dark Angels put up a stubborn resistance but eventually were overrun by the Emerald Serpent, whose force showed much needed durability with the addition of the devotees of nurgle. 

Abandoning Tarlius III, the imperial force retreated to the cold icy wastes of the outermost planet, hoping to defend the imperial base and star port erected at the beginning of the Tarlius invasion. The defence of the base had been left to the Novgorod Guard and House Stroganoff, a defence which was a formidable obstacle for the Serpent to overcome. 

The imperium were hopeful that the defence would buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive, but the resurgent chaos forces proved a more difficult challenge than previous incarnations. Magnus was able to charge the largest of House Stroganoff’s knights, while the others were pulled down by daemonic entities. The Novgorod Guard put up a strong defence but eventually it was clear that the imperium would not be able to rescue the situation. The battle for the spaceport was lost, and with it the hope of holding on to a foothold in the Tarlius system. The systems itself was abandoned to the forces of chaos as the imperium looked instead to refocus their efforts at Mordecai. However the Emerald Serpent had proved they were a reinvigorated force to be reckoned with.