One of two David Annandale short stories first published in the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Fyreslayers anthology, Shattered Crucible follows the Krelstrag Lodge as, guided by a vision of victory and an ancient oath, its armies set out on a perilous journey to bring their wrath to whatever enemies await. Leaving their isolated lodge and crossing molten ocean and Chaos-warped land in search of long-forgotten kin, the Fyreslayers are horrified at the decay and corruption they find all around as they’re tested in both body and spirit.
Like The Volturung Road and Four Thousand Days, it’s a quest-style story playing on the Fyreslayers’ dwarven stoicness and determination. Thankfully, while there’s plenty of close quarters fighting over the course of the journey, there’s also a pleasing amount of exploration into the Fyreslayer way of war that takes place away from the action scenes. While it doesn’t go into the detail of how ur-gold runes work (see those other stories for that) for example, it sheds some really interesting light on the two main characters’ relationship and how their powers and positions interact. There are the occasional obvious new-faction explanations scattered throughout, but these don’t distract from what is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written and entertaining story.
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