Mordheim Italia Facebook page #januhunters2021 contest entry

 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...

A hooded figure crept silently into the forge illuminated by Morrslieb's sinister light filtering through the skylight. The large bronze bell had been out of the mold for just a few hours and was still emanating heat. The cultist approached the bell and intoning a blasphemous chant sprinkled it with a few pinches of a fluorescent powder from a velvet pouch he took from the depths of his robe ...

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.

Then he heard a very deep voice, like a thunder that frightens enemies but comforts those who have faith: “Innozenz you are a faithful and courageous servant. I give you back the hearing that the disease had deprived you of. Go to Mordheim, lend your ear to the pleas of the desperate and mercilessly strike the wicked and the corrupt!”. 

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...