Ciao!
The Mordheim Italia Facebook page issued a little nice hobby contest which I was happy to participate to.
Rules were simple: post a picture of a model from the Witch Hunters range (witch hunter, warrior-priest, flagellant, zealot or warhound) together with some character story or background. The community then shall vote the one they like the most. You can go and search for #januhunters2021 to see all entries!
I do not own a Witch Hunters warband (yet), but I had a 6th ed warrior-priest craving for a new paintjob (and a round base, Sigmar forgive me!) so I threw him in the stripping pot of doom and got at it.
Here the final result.
Let me now introduce you Father Innozenz and his story...
Innozenz hurried down the stairs that led from the scriptorium to the courtyard. His brothers were already all gathered to attend the ceremony of consecration and inauguration of the new bell. As a result of complications from ear infection as a child, he was deaf in both ears and his family, wealthy beer merchants from Pfieldorf, had initiated him into monastic life. Innozenz had thus become a skilled amanuensis and an honest prelate living a peaceful and quiet life within the monastery walls.
Not being able to hear the sound of the new
bell forged in the renowned foundries of Nuln, which would have brought
prestige and importance to the monastery, deeply saddened him but he was still
happy to be able to participate to this event and experience the emotion of
this moment through the enthusiasm of his brothers.
After the Abbot's speech, the long-awaited
moment finally came. The bell monk made the Sign of the Hammer and pulled the
rope that operated the bell. Innozenz heard nothing but remained hypnotized by
the rhythmic swinging of the bell. When he had counted seven strokes he came to
his senses and was shocked by the scene before his eyes.
The bodies of his brethren were monstrously
deformed: huge swollen bellies pierced with broken bones, worm-infested mouths
and ears oozing purulent humors, eyes in unnatural numbers and positions turning
to him with a disgusting expression of violence and commiseration.
In a moment the amanuensis realized that he was facing the manifestation of one of the purest essences of Chaos.
As the crowd of corrupt monks surrounded him,
he knelt down and gathered his whole soul in a last and desperate prayer:
"Sigmar give me the strength to save my brothers and defeat your enemies.”
Sigmar listened to him.
A golden aura enveloped him, his faith became
armor and his fury became hammer. Transfigured by the spirit of Sigmar, he
threw himself into the ranks of the possessed, sending them back to the hell
from which they had come with holy hammer blows. Sigmar was with him and he was
unstoppable.
With a prodigious leap he found himself on the
ledge at the top of the bell tower where a cloud of flies and unclean beings
swarmed around the cursed bell. Wicked tentacles protruded from the inside
while disgusting ooze exuded from the bell that was transmuting from bronze
into decaying organic matter, tingling with larvae and worms.
Innozenz raised his arms and struck a mighty
blow against that demonic instrument. There was a flash of light and then
everything went dark...
He woke up a few days later, lying on the grass
in the clearing in front of the monastery. There was no one around and apart
from the ruins of the tower, nothing testified to the terrible battle that had
taken place. There was something else strange... he heard! He could hear the
rustle of the wind in the trees and the warble of birds.
Innozenz staggered to his feet, made the Sign
of the Hammer, and rising a song of praise set off for the City of the Damned.
Along the way many called him but he went straight on his way, he did not hear
them, he had been deaf since he was a child...
