It was the second day of searching and so far there had been no clues as to where the pyramid of the four was located, Cord had flown high each down to get a bearing of where they were and so far they had delved deeper into the mountain with no success.

What little provisions they had brought with themselves were gone and his retinue were getting hungry. Soon there would be in fighting, then death, and the consumption of the dead. Glancing over his shoulder he'd prefer the humans to die, he didn't trust the look of an orc or goblin as food and he thought beastmen would be tough. He shook his head; those thoughts were disturbing even to him.

A few beats of his wings and Cord was in the air once more looking of the peaks and troughs of the Middle mountains looking for something constructed by man and not by nature. He'd been flying for almost an hour, his wings ached and he was exhausted certain that soon he would fall from the sky instead of land. Looking back he could just see the specks of his retinue trudging up the path behind him, someone stumbled, a glint of metal, and the retinue stopped. Cord circled back and something caught his eye. He beat his wings steadily and stayed close to his position. A door was carved into the mountainside not very tall but it was there, also a feint path, what he'd mistaken for a goat trailed headed down to the valley and near a small batch of scrub, flying down he saw the bushes were laden with some form of berries. He focused on the location and made sure he remembered it, took to the sky once more and headed back to his retinue. He let his shadow pass over them so they noticed his arrival, the small group that had gathered dispersed around the fallen man. Cord glided low and landed a short distance from the fallen member. It was one of the men, his head had been removed in one single swipe, wither completed by one of the beastmen or an orc for the strength required.

"Why was his head removed?" Cord asked, silence followed "One more time, why was his head removed?" after this he raised his flamer arms and move his hand towards the hilt of his sword.

"He doubted you." 'Second' said simply

"Fine, those who can stomach it, get a fire going and eat. Spread his equipment out, nothing wasted." Cord said turning and beginning to walk back up the mountain towards the hidden path.

*

Returning to the retinue he found the man gone, bones and all. His equipment had been scattered among the rest and a couple of the marauders looked slightly green in complexion after what they had seen.

"I've found a way into the mountain, made by the dwarves with a chaos marker to the door. I think we have found the way of our brethren. Follow" Cord told them and retraced his steps back up the slope his retinue seeming mostly refreshed, the chilled air of the mountain no longer taking as much of a toll on them. The climb was harder than Cord remembered on the second journey,

'Perhaps I should have stopped for some meat?' he thought to himself. His body was aching and his neck itched on the right side, it felt clammy, he'd done more exercise in the past few days than he had in years. It was about time his body began to argue. 'Second' darted in front and began sniffing the air, wide animal nostrils steaming the air back out in the chill. Cord kept walking.

"We are not alone" 'Second said with an ominous tone.

"Outnumbered?" Cord asked not slowing down, 'Second' to his place at his side

"Can't tell; too feint, as if part of the mountain." 'Second' said, his speech was improving exponentially he was talking as a human, Cord glanced down at him, his animal features were lessoning, becoming human. What strange powers did the Chaos sword have?

Reaching the plants 'Second' Held his hand up and asked for Cord to wait while he, the huge orc and one more Tzaangor scouted ahead. 'Second' had caught a scent and wanted to locate it before it located them. They'd reached the edge of the door, 'Second' took a step into the darkness and then returned leaving the orc and Tzaangor either side of the door way weapons drawn.

He moved his way back to Cord, dislodging some loose scree on route back.

"The scent comes from within the mountain" 'Second' said

"Can you tell what it is?" Cord asked curious heading towards the door

"I'd say dwarves, but not the normal drunk ones." 'Second replied

"Let's go say hello, I'll take the front to light our way." Cord said as he reached the door, lifting his top flamer hand high he began to splutter magical fire. The blue-orange light illuminated an ancient dwarven tunnel, lichen and moss covered the ancient faces making them appear warped and misshapen. They moved forward, the light from his flaming fist hardly penetrating the gloom around them. Cord looked up and wondered why people so small needed tunnels so tall.

They walked in silence looking for a clue to their destination, chambers they passed were long empty, grand halls silent, their fire pits long gone cold and the echoes of drunken songs disappeared with the ages.

"'Second'" Cord called over his should

"Yes my champion" he replied at a whisper from his heel

"When did you lose the scent?" Cord Asked

"Just as we entered, it filtered way." 'Second' said

"That is all" Cord said and 'Second' bowed his head a dropped back. Entering another large chamber Cord wondered how many dwarves once lived here for the need of so many feasting halls, it was then that his light glinted on something to one side. He stopped and pointed his second flamer arm in that direction and let a fireball loose. The flaming sphere cast a radiant glow on its path, illuminating more the murky gray stone, moss, lichen and then it flashed over a dais, with an over sized throne chair and the mark of Tzeentch on the arms. Cord changed his path and headed towards the chair looking at the throne of a fellow champion. He moved closer feeling the power that wrought the chair.

When he looked at the large dwarven throne, it was made for a man as big as him, strong square legs almost a foot across each lead straight into the solid sided arms with dwarven runs and knotted artwork finished with a high pointed arched back all in the same gray stone. The back and seat were carved to appear to have padding. Cord stepped forward was about to sit on the throne that called him when a movement caught the corner of his eye, something that was not part of his following retinue. He shut his man eye and peered into the gloom with his crown of flesh. There was another shadow move at the back of the group then another to the side.

"Draw weapons we're surrounded!" Cord shouted, he aimed both his flamer arms in opposite directions and sent roaring flamers in to the darkness, the slow turn illuminated the hall showing a group of dwarves scurrying in the darkness, the brief glints of metal showing that they're armed.

"I am Lord Oelberg, Champion of Tzeentch. Show yourselves as true worshippers of the one lord of chaos and I will let you live." Cord shouted into the darkness.

There was the briefest guttural dwarvish spoken and a single voice rang out

"We will join you. We are lighting our torches." A dwarf shouted out. Cord watched as seven sets of sparks showered around them shortly followed by the eruption of flames as torches ignited. The retinue was bathed in the soft amber glow of firelight. Cord watched from his many eyes as they moved towards them, walking round to meet in their own group. One of the dwarfs looked older, a grey beard and sunken eyes, he was at the head of the small band. It was as they walked forward that he noticed that not a single one of them had a hand of their own instead they all had tentacles instead of arms the ends wrapping around the hafts of the torches to hold them aloft.

"It has been a long time since the lord has sent a new champion for us." The dwarf said moving forward towards the dais where Cord stood

"What happened to the last champion?" Cord asked, his left hand drifting towards his sword.

"He received a call from the Lord of Change to head deeper into the mountains to the pyramid of the four." The dwarf replied

"And you didn't follow him?" Cord asked

"We led the way as instructed but when we got within sight he sent us away saying it was his challenge alone. Slowly the rest of the retinue has died over the years and only us dwarfs have the longevity to wait." The dwarf replied

"What is your name mountain lord?" Cord asked

"Grenvare Stonefist" The dwarf said

"Join us and led us to the pyramid of the four" Cord said taking a step down.

"Yes my champion" The dwarf replied with a bow.

*

The dwarfs spread themselves within the retinue; the light of their torches gave enough to see by letting them see the little used path. They were led to a small chamber showing statues of the fallen in the service of Tzeentch. All were mostly recognise able as their species with only minor mutations but one was an combination of too many creatures, the body of a lion, fore legs of a goat, rear legs the sickly slime nature of a slug, giant feathery wings and a face of a man with horns, distended jaw, a bats nose and ears, and three eyes.

"This" the dwarf gestured "was the first champion I served, he was mutated beyond the realms of sense until he became a pure spawn of chaos, mindless but still a valued member of the retinue his appearance alone terrified our enemies making them easier to kill." Stonefist said with pride, he moved them off through another room and they continue in the torch light gloom for what felt like ages, the mixture of turns and the strange manner of the light coupled with the monotony of the stone work and Cord had the unhappy feeling of being led like a lamb to the slaughter.

Hours passed and time stretch, the darkness continued and soon they were walking along a ledge, Cord not able to fit on the ledge side had to step off the path to the chasm beside and fly while the rest of the retinue edged their way along a path designed for dwarfs.

The crumbling of stone echoed behind Cord, he closed the main eye and saw one of his men waivered at the edge of the precipice, and step back onto the path. Cord had the feeling he was going to need all the men he could get once he was at the pyramid. They continued on the narrow path repeated near misses and Cord's wings began to ache from flying by the time they reached the expanding edge of the path leading to a cavern that was still natural at a glance, but as moving through Cord realised it was forced natural, carved to give the appearance of stalagmites and stalactites.

Cord glanced back, all of his retinue had arrived over the small ledge. It was then he realised that as they moved forward he could see more, a dispersed light was beginning to increase the illumination of the cavern. Soon the dwarf torch bearers where no longer needed and the light from the outside world was all that was needed. Moving on it was no longer the yellow glow of day but the blue white glow of moonlight. The exited to a plateau and looked at the wonder in the valley below.

A pyramid stood before them nestled within a valley that had four sides equal to the four sides of the pyramid, the other mountainsides he could see each had a plataue with a pathway leading down. From his view cord could see the symbol of Tzeentch carved into the side of the pyramid in front of him a pearlescent sheen shine from within showing the ever changing winds of magic.

"My Lord" said a voice from behind Cord

"Sven?" Cord replied looking dismayed at what he saw. He recognised the chaos champion behind him but not the mount or the other creatures that had appeared with him, Sven's temporal instability had made him absent from the entire journey through the mountain.

"I have returned. I cannot be trusted still neither can my beast but the rest will stay with you. You will need the brute strength from these five chaos spawn. You will not be alone within the temple to the four." Sven said.

"I understand" Replied Cord and he gazed at the five spawn, the rest of the retinue now avoided. The first one he looked at was Sven's mount, it was at some point a giant hound, with exaggerated muscles almost human in form but the legs were large tentacles covered in fur, the head was that of a goat the only part that looked like a hound were the twin tails and the neck and back. The second he looked at was a huge spawn with a scaled winged body that was once a dragons with the head of a rat with horns, it shifted slightly and cord saw that there were two heads to the creature and its scales and skin was covered in warts. The third was all sinews and tubes and long tubular body looking like that of a snake ending in two heads that mimic the elastic skin of a Flamer of Tzeentch its brightly coloured skin was also covered in warts and in its arms if held large cleavers in two and the third held a spear. Cord attention was brought low by a small puff of black oily smoke, a tiny warty 'person' he thought stood with an arm that ended in a mace and the other arm moulded to some metallic tube, the head was pointed and a tail whipped behind it. The last one bounced out of the shadows on a single leg a gout of flame erupting from a flamer of Tzeentch's mouth, it was hugely muscular as well with ears surrounding the top of the stretched face.

Gazing upon the collection of spawn he felt the familiar tingle of the change through him, the tendrils from his flamer arms weaved through his muscle up through his throat and into his face, he felt the muscle stretch he closed his main eye and he could still see around, reaching up he felt the horns still in place but his teeth were long and needle like his nose had disappeared to be only two simple slits. He stopped searching then knowing that he'd taken on the facial visage of a Flamer of Tzeentch.

"It is time to collect our reward and destroy any that stand in our way!" Cord Shouted "Follow Me!" and he stepped out onto the path followed by, Tzaangors, beastmen, orcs, goblins, dwarfs, human marauders and a chaos warrior leading a pack of chaos spawn.

As they descend three other chaos warbands left their platforms all with the same plan of taking the pyramid and the power within.