David Annandale continues his exploration of Neferata in Age of Sigmar with Black Atonement, a short audio drama which sees the Mortarch of Blood getting creative with her punishments. The city of Shadowvel lies outside the borders of Neferatia, yet to Neferata’s eyes it benefits greatly from its proximity to her realm. Displeased with the city and its prideful citizens, she intends to see it destroyed, and employs her prodigious talent for manipulation to make it so. The Maggotkin of Nurgle desire Shadowvel for themselves, but the city’s powerful defences need to be nullified if Neferata’s plan is to succeed.
It’s quite a close focus story, with just three characters, no narration, no real action but plenty of enjoyable dialogue. Essentially it’s just two extended conversations, as Neferata lays out her malicious intentions to her handmaiden Mereneth and then delivers her part of the plan with relish, sinking her claws (metaphorically speaking) into Shadowvel’s heroic, stoic defender. With Emma Gregory’s gleeful performance really bringing out the inhuman savagery behind Neferata’s smoothly civilised facade, this delivers one of the best depictions of the character yet, and despite the apparent simplicity of the plot it’s darkly satisfying to listen as the unspoken elements of Neferata’s scheme play out. You sense that Annandale had fun with this one, and it’s well worth checking out.
This was released as part of the 2018 Black Library Advent Calendar – click here to see the main page for the Advent Calendar, with links to all of the reviews.
Check out the main Age of Sigmar page on Track of Words.
