Manslayer (Novel)

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Manslayer
G&FManslayer.jpg
Author(s) Nathan Long
Preceded by Orcslayer
Followed by Elfslayer


Manslayer is the ninth novel in the Gotrek & Felix (novel series) by Nathan Long.

Cover Description

Reunited with their old friend, the insane dwarf engineer Malakai Makaisson, Gotrek and Felix travel once again on his mighty airship The Spirit of Grungni as they head north to join in the war against the vast hordes of Chaos that threaten the lands of men. But when a series of suspicious accidents threaten to end their journey prematurely - and permanently - it becomes clear that saboteurs are at work. Gotrek and Felix must work quickly to find the culprits before it's too late.

Plot Summary

Travelling north on their way to seek Gotrek's doom in the Storm of Chaos, Gotrek and Felix arrive in the city of Nuln, where they once lived many years before. Shortly after arriving they spot the Spirit of Grungni, a dwarfen airship upon which they once sailed into the Chaos Wastes, and chase it to the College of Engineering. There they are reunited with Malakai Makaisson, who promises Gotrek a lift to Middenheim and the siege raging there if he and Felix can wait for the Spirit of Grungni to be loaded with cannons currently under construction at the College. Though impatient as ever to seek his doom Gotrek agrees, and he and Felix witness one of the cannons being consecrated with the ashes of a fallen Imperial hero.[1a]

Gotrek and Felix accompany the gunnery school engineers to a test-firing of the cannon, but on the return journey the group is mobbed by anti-establishment activists called the Cult of the Cleansing Flame, who try to tip the cannon into the river. Deciding to investigate the group whilst they wait for the airship to be ready, Gotrek and Felix track the cult to their lair and there encounter Ulrika, their first meeting with her since she was transformed into a vampire two decades earlier. She reveals that there is more to the cult than meets the eye, and that she is hunting them on behalf of her mistress. Though Felix is shocked by the reunion and Gotrek is mistrustful of her vampire nature, both agree to work with her.[1b]

Gotrek and Felix's knowledge of Ulrika's identity proves a problem for her mistress, who operates her vampire coven in Nuln under conditions of strictest secrecy out of fear of human reprisals, and Ulrika brings Felix to her base to vouch for him. Whilst there, other vampires arrive and threaten reprisals if Felix's involvement exposes their activities. Eventually, Gotrek and Felix discover that the Cult of the Cleansing Flame are Chaos cultists dedicated to Tzeentch who plan to collapse the College of Engineering using blackpowder barrels placed in the sewers. The vampires of Nuln and their various lackeys join Gotrek and Felix in the attack and the cultists are defeated, but the vampires then turn on Gotrek and Felix, and Ulrika is torn between obeying her mistress and her feelings for Felix. Unable to resolve her quandary, she flees. Gotrek and Felix barely escape the vampires.[1c]

Returning to the College, Gotrek and Felix are arrested for their various misdemeanours, including killing a captain of the watch who was in league with the cult. Deducing that the cult's mysterious leader is still at large, they escape and steal a gyrocopter to board the Spirit of Grungni, where a wizard associated with the cannons' construction reveals himself to be the mastermind behind a plot to taint the cannons with warpstone and have them bring down the gates of Middenheim, ensuring a Chaos victory. The wizard uses his power to create a sorcerous golem with the cannons for its limbs and Gotrek and Felix are both almost killed in the ensuing battle, but they eventually triumph just in time to escape the Spirit of Grungni as it explodes.[1d]

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