Nick Kyme’s first Age of Sigmar audio drama, The Imprecations of Daemons sees a Stormcast Eternal revisit the birthplace of her former self to aid her family and confront an old enemy long thought defeated. Over a decade after being borne away by Sigmar to become a Stormcast, Malleon – formerly Mallaeh – returns to the Iron Fastness at the request of her sister Galaeda, to assist their father with a task too great for the old warrior-priest. She finds her home much changed from what she remembers, both the land and the people turned bitter and in great need of Sigmar’s light.
Pitched far from the usual Stormcast-centric tales, with Malleon out of armour and the conflict kept smaller-scale and much more personal, it’s a story that looks at the cost that being spirited away to become a Stormcast Eternal inflicts upon the people left behind. As Malleon meets with her sister and tries to understand what she’s being called upon to do, she recalls the events leading up to her ascension to Azyr and is forced to confront the impact that her absence has had on her family. Structured using flashbacks which gradually tie the two time periods together, along the way we find out what set her family on its path, who the enemy is that haunts them so painfully, and what happened to see Malleon called to Azyr and her family so damaged.
As an entirely narration-free audio drama, a lot rests on the performances of the four-strong cast and the standard of the music and sound design…but this is a Black Library audio so it comfortably succeeds on both counts. The absence of narration does throw up some challenges – at times it’s a little tricky to follow what’s happening, while other times there’s an overabundance of exposition in the dialogue as characters slightly clunkily describe what’s happening – but for the most part it helps keep the story tightly focused and enjoyably personal. With such a small cast they all have plenty to work with, not least Beth Chalmers who does double duty as both Mallaeh and Malleon, but they all do sterling work bringing Kyme’s script to vibrant – and at times throat-shredding – life.
Considering the title and the characters it’s not really a spoiler to say that this story features a wonderfully Warhammer-esque exorcism, or that the fantastically satisfying (i.e. grisly and squidgy) SFX make it a strangely enjoyable event to listen to. There’s more to this than just an excuse for an exorcism though, and it does a good job of showing an interestingly human side to a Stormcast, and examining how they’re perceived by the mortals they leave behind them. On the surface it might seem a straightforward story of good versus evil but in fact it inhabits that interesting grey area which Age of Sigmar is increasingly exploring, of characters who aren’t ‘just good’ but are realistically complicated, with depth and complexity that makes them less easily-pigeonholed but much more interesting. Steering clear of the grand, sweeping scale of the Mortal Realms in favour of close-focus character-led drama, it’s a really enjoyable story which suits the audio medium well.
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