Editing Festus the Leechlord (section)

==The End Times==
Prior to [[Archaon]] selecting the [[Glottkin]] to lead his vanguard assault against the Empire, Festus was approached by none other than [[Ku'Gath]] himself. The Greater Daemon emerged from Festus' cauldron (who knows how he fit in there though) with instructions from Nurgle himself to create a spell of such power that it would tear open a rift between reality and Nurgle's Garden and let it spill into Altdorf. Festus made about preparing the great spell, sacrificing many souls to his pot as well as working tirelessly while the Glottkin, [[Gutrot Spume]] and the [[Maggoth Lords|Maggoth Riders of Icehorn Peak]] beseiged Middenheim, Carroburg, Talabheim, and the Drakwald respectively. Festus' machinations beneath the poor slums of Altdorf caused widespread disease as the plague fumes from his spell wafted through the city, striking down the poor quarter and costing the city valuable resources it would need in the fight to come.

However, this did not go undetected. Newly appointed Supreme Patriarch Gregor Martak, at the behest of one of the sisters of [[Shallya]], urged Reiksmarshal Kurt Hellborg to spare some troops to investigate. However, his pleas went on deaf ears and as a result, Martak left the city to find the then-missing [[Karl Franz]]. All the while, Festus helped severely weaken the defenses of Altdorf even as its defenders tried to rebuild and fortify. His efforts further hastened the plague which caused Hellborg to look like a tyrant guarding and controlling the food supplies and to quell several minor insurrections from the inhabitants. Festus was a shit-stirrer, indeed (excuse the Nurglesque pun).

By the time the three armies converged upon a crippled and plague-riddled Altdorf, Festus set the spell in motion. A massive vortex ripped up through Altdorf, allowing daemonic growths to grow rampant and daemons to rain from the sky. At this point, the assault began from all three armies and Festus made his move. Nurgle was pleased as fuck with his mortal fat friend so he took away all his tiredness from having worked without pause for months and gave him new strength and powers, and even planned to offer Festus [[Daemon Prince|daemonhood]], the ultimate blessing to a champion of Chaos. At this point Ku'Gath came into the mortal realm and burst up out of the cauldron, with growths spreading at a disgustingly rapid pace through the slums. Ku'gath and Festus emerged from the sewers in the poor district with an army of plague-riddled daemons at their back and began an assault on the Temple of Shallya, slaughtering the meager forces of the Empire stationed there. Festus himself directed the Greater Daemon to break into the temple, pointing and goading it and the infernal army to despoil the sacred place.

Almost out of convenience (as if GW would ever do such a thing) Louen Leonceur of [[Bretonnia]] descended and began a brutal if short-lived assault that saw both the former king's hippogryph a bloody mess, as well as the corporeal form of the Plaguefather sent back to the realm of Chaos. Outraged and devastated, Festus lunged at the broken king only to meet [[Vlad von Carstein]] - who had come to aid the human defenders in his bid for Elector Counthood - in single combat. It was a brief assault which seen Vlad 'killed' as Festus spewed corrosive vomit all over him, melting him away. Mere moments later, Vlad, resurrected by his ring, dove onto the bloated and empowered Leechlord, impaling him in the heart with a wooden stake. Festus at first began to laugh away the wound, but ironically the regenerative abilities locked in his fat flesh spilled forth into the wood of the stake. The life-giving energy spread rapidly through him, twisting his form into that of a giant, twisted tree, tearing him apart. With Festus and the Plaguefather now dead, the daemons in that quarter began to give ground rapidly to the massive undead host.