Horns
Prolouge: Call of the Beastmen
The lights of the village were blooming when dusk came to the destitute hovel, peasants slogged back to their straw-hewn cottages, their bones ached from the tilling of their noble-owned farms, being embraced by the warm heath that their fires and families can provide.
The families of the village were able to find a time of bliss in their never-ending tasks of tending large fields of growing crops.
When the sun goes down and the house fires are lit, it was almost second nature to have supper ready, it was bland yes, it was light as well, but it was a family dinner for each family nonetheless, having so little can make such a small treasure be cherished so much.
It was going to be a peaceful and harmless night, a dusk of mild merriment and cold calm.
That is until, the village heard the call.
A surge of warhorns, bestial roars and pained screams were heard far away from the village, deep within the forests around the state of Mordheim, where this village takes hold in.
The village's murmurs of relaxation were instantly turned to a ghostly hallow, the torches and fires began to shift around each other as the villagers brought themselves together in the crossroads of the town, torches in hand, the peasants began to discuss amongst themselves for they all know what was heard.
It was the call of the Beastmen.
The land of Mordheim, was a temperate land surrounded by the black-tail mountains, a massive mountain range that isolated the human empire state from the rest of the world.
Humans of Mordheim never experienced the savage tide of Greenskins that plagues the world with violence and suffering, nor have they experienced the greed of the dwarven kingdoms and their petty desire for glittering gold.
They have never experienced such folly, the only horror that they must face were the Beastmen that hid in the many dimmed forests of Mordheim.
No one in Mordheim knows the origins of the Beastmen.
Priests and chaplains believed that they were once humans that were cursed because of their apparent sin. Mages and court wizards believe that were the result of arcane mutations and experiments, and the common folk believed that they are living nightmares come to life.
No matter where they came from or how they were born into this world, the presence of the vile Beastmen are constant throughout the land.
It's not too hard to distinguish a Beastmen compared to a normal man, usually standing two feet taller than a normal human, they bear the head and legs of various animals, the most common are usually the heads of cattle or goats, furred snouts and massive hooves.
Some have been seen with traits of other animals as well, some bear the lower body of a horse while some had mouth that were akin to raven beaks, their overall body, however, is noticeably Humanoid, with the chest and arms resembling that of a Man.
They are capable of walking in an upright posture, but some have been known to walk on all fours. Their matted hair is encrusted with blood and dung, a haven for fat ticks and colonies of fleas that keep the Beastmen in a constant state of agitation. Due to their harsh living, a Beastmen is also naturally strong and well-muscled.
The villagers began to panic as they heard the roars and screams became more pronounced, indicating that they were going to raid this village and destroy everything, it was the way of the Beastmen, they do not know of civility, they do not know of order, they only desire the destruction of men.
The villager's petty squabbling only rewarded them a sour death, slow was there way to deal with danger as the Beastmen came into the village in lightning speed, roaring and growling as the villagers began to wail in terror as they scrambled to run away.
The thumping of the Beastmen's hooves ranged like a full-round of handcannons as they destroyed everything in their path, breaking down cottages and cleaving peasants into pieces with their crude blades and axes, blood was spilled and chilling screams was heard.
It took a long time to create a small village like that, and only in an instant, it was all erased from memory, there was no survivors, they were outrunned, outnumbered and outmatched, the Beastmen roared in victorious glee, enjoying their spoils of their raid.
The Call of the Beastmen were heard and they will do stop at nothing for the destruction of all of Mordheim.