A prequel to Code of the Skies, Graeme Lyon’s Age of Sigmar short story Beneath the Rust looks back to the youthful exploits of Borri Kraglan and Harek Steelfist beneath the Rusted Wastes of Chamon. The Kharadron of Barak-Nar have entered into a business arrangement with the Stormcast Eternals of the Sigmarite Brotherhood, but the initial work on a Stormkeep has revealed tunnels running deep beneath the surface, which need exploring before work can continue. The Kharadron and Stormcast delve into the tunnels together, but what lies beneath the surface will test them sorely and come to define Borri’s and Harek’s future.
Set shortly after the end of the Realmgate Wars, it takes a clever approach to showing the lingering effects of Chaos in the Mortal Realms through the rivalry between the two main Kharadron characters. Taken in context of Code of the Skies, it does raise the question of whether it’s better to reveal existing characters’ backstories or retain a little mystery. It’s up to each reader to make up their mind, but for something so crucial it seems a little hasty, and could have done with more time to properly establish the stakes and an important new character. As a standalone adventure, however, it’s action-packed and entertaining, exploring both the Kharadron way of war and another interesting corner of the Realms.
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