The Mark of Tzeentch
Arek Daemonclaw was a mighty Champion of Tzeentch and Chaos Lord who in recent times united a large army of Chaos Warriors and went south to sack the Kislevite city of Praag.[1a][2][3]
In his former life, Daemonclaw was originally a nobleman who became disillusioned with the increasingly corrupt direction of the Empire and slowly turned to the worship of Chaos, seeking out various forbidden tomes and gaining knowledge by infiltrating Chaos Cults dedicated to Tzeentch.
After journeying to the Chaos Wastes he finally pledged himself to Tzeentch and over the next century was granted many "gifts" for his dedication to the Changer of Ways. After meeting the mages Kelmain Blackstaff and Lhoigor Goldenrod, Daemonclaw rose to power in the Wastes, gathering an army of tens of thousands of the Warriors of Chaos before marching on Kislev. However, Daemonclaw's assault came to naught, for he was slain at the resulting Battle of Praag by the Dwarf Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson.
History[]
Arek was a former noble of the Empire but fought his way to the Chaos Wastes where he gained glory, honour and plunder, but most importantly more followers. In time, Daemonclaw managed to gather a massive army of the Warriors of Chaos, which Gotrek and Felix saw when they emerged from the Chaos Wastes in their Dwarfen airship Spirit of Grungni. The two heroes saw a massive sea of Chaos Warriors all converging on the High Pass and pouring into Kislev like a massive flood.
Daemonclaw knew that this massive army would not hold together for the coming Chaos incursion and would soon disperse into factional infighting as was common among Chaos armies if their battle lust was quickly satiated. Due to this fear, against the advice of his two advisors and tacticians, the sorcerers Kelmain Blackstaff and Lhoigor Goldenrod, Daemonclaw launched his massive army at the gates of the city of Praag, hoping to capture the metropolis before the frigid winter of Kislev approached.
However, due to Daemonclaw's arrogance, the twin sorcerers had already foreseen the outcome of this invasion, and warned the Chaos Lord about Gotrek. Despite the warning, Daemonclaw launched his attack. Even though his forces breached the first great wall of Praag, and nearly killed Gotrek with their artillery, the Chaos Champion and the Dwarf Slayer faced each other in the midst of the chaos consuming the streets of Praag.
However, Gotrek ultimately claimed victory in their duel when he cleaved the head of Chaos Lord from his shoulders and displayed it to the invading Chaos army, who fled the Kislevite city in utter panic as they realised their supposedly invincible leader was now quite dead.[1a]
News also soon reached Praag that a massive Kislevite army numbering thousands of cavalrymen had descended on the Chaos army's line of retreat and slaughtered most of its Chaos Warriors. The twin sorcerers' prophecy had proven correct, and both had fled the battle long before Daemonclaw's army had breached the first wall of Praag.[1a]