Warhammer Fantasy Campaign Fluff

Some more fluff from our Fantasy campaign. The Devotees of Elazar suffered a massacre at the hands of a skaven raiding party so this is the fluff to go with that and a change of leadership for my army banner.

Gaizka did not understand what he saw. He had been sent to this shrine by his master to seek the blessing of the gods but the shrine had been despoiled and an effigy of a horned rat had been raised above the altar that now stood open to the elements. A number of large burrows were dotted around the area where the shrine had stood. Gaizka ordered his men to draw their weapons and turned to look at Amador when he heard the approaching hoof-fall.
“Ratmen,” Amador said, his voice ringing with clear distaste. “There could be scores of them in those burrows.”
Gaizka nodded, saying nothing. He hadn’t encountered them but he had heard talk of the ratkin.
“We must retake the shrine, Amador. Rats are not going to deter me,” Gaizka answered, his tone full of scorn for the knight. “Make sure your men are ready.”
Amador turned, his horse snorting angrily he rode away.
Gaizka took his men forward cautiously, he didn’t expect to reach the shrine without resistance. He signalled for the hounds to be sent ahead and the tribesmen goaded them on. The hounds raced before the advancing army and the odd one darted down a burrow before darting back up. One hound darted down a burrow and after a moment there was a terrible yelp then suddenly the ratmen emerged. A tide of matted fur, teeth and rotten smells. From behind a small copse a few of the ratmen pulled a cannon crackling with warpstone energy and Gaizka heard Amador order the mounted tribesmen to run the rat crew down. Mere moments later Amador and his knights went charging past Gaizka and he instantly saw where they were heading. Three giant mutated rat creatures were being goaded forward by whip cracking ratmen. Clearly Amador wanted to stand out in the eyes of the gods. Gaizka smiled to himself. The glory was going to be his and not Amador’s.
“Slaughter them, kill them all!” he ordered as the growth on his back howled with excitement. The Warriors around Gaizka sped their pace towards the rat hordes as they emerged from their burrows. A group of the ratmen emerged not far from Gaizka and his men, they were dressed in green robes and dirtier than their kin, covered in foul pustules and growths and giving off a terrible stench. They saw the chaos warriors and charged towards them with some pace and suddenly they were amongst them, a swirling mess of fur and death. Gaizka saw his heavily armoured warriors being cut down with ease before they could even manage to raise their swords. Suddenly the Warriors began to break away from the combat trying to escape the frenzied onslaught of the plague-ridden ratmen. Gaizka couldn’t help himself but attempt to retreat with them, it was no use though, the ratmen were too fast, their numbers too great. They quickly turned the retreat into a rout cutting down Gaizka’s men without mercy and with ease. Gaizka was knocked from his feet by a cruel blow to the head and darkness followed…
Amador saw the Warriors waver and the whole battle line fell apart stranding him and the mounted tribesmen beyond their comrades. He cursed Gaizka and kicked his horse’s flanks charging recklessly towards the rat ogres, his knights at his side, raising their blades ready to strike. A bolt of energy exploded over the knights and he saw three of them fall from their horses. Only himself and his banner bearer rode on and crashed into the rat ogres. The charge was devastating and one of the creatures was quickly cut down by Amador and another took a vicious cut along its gut from the other knight. What little intelligence the beasts had recognised they were going to be torn apart and they turned tail and fled, their smaller masters left with little choice but to go with them. Amador rode them down, the beasts were easily slain with their backs to him. He surveyed the battlefield. The mounted tribesmen had been blasted by the cannon before they had gotten to it but the two men that were left were harrying the rat crew with their hooked flails not allowing them time to bring it to bear on what was left of the army.
The tribesmen on foot had run down some of the ratmen that had been pelting them using their slings and then had charged into a mass of spear armed rats but had seen their chieftain cut down by a particularly large and vicious ratman. Their nerve had gone and they fled a short distance before someone managed to regain control and they fought back against their pursuing foe but their fight was short lived and soon they turned to flee again but the ratmen were upon them quicker this time and cut them down at their leisure. Amador rode around and saw the mounted tribesmen run down the ratman that had fired the bolt of warp energy at his knights but they in turn were quickly caught by another large group of the creatures and turned to flee their horses keeping them safe. Amador spied yet another group of the ratmen approaching him their spears waving with menace. He rode amongst them cutting down a couple but he was outnumbered and the day was clearly lost. He cursed Gaizka as he signalled the retreat.

*

Gaizka hobbled into the darkened shrine, the head-growth on his back hissed like a cornered cat, sensing the unseen threat that lingered in the air. He’d regained consciousness and with the help of a few of the survivors had managed to slip away from the battlefield, slinking over the mangled corpses of his followers. After an hour or so of wandering in the dark he had encountered Amador. The knight had said little to him, offering a horse and riding in front of him. Amador had led them back to the temple of Elazar that sat just outside the walls of the citadel. Clearly he had wanted Gaizka to have to face his master’s wrath, he didn’t doubt that the knight had been disappointed to see that he had survived the calamitous battle with the ratmen.
“Devoted Gaizka,” a hissed whisper said and the sound echoed around the small shrine. Gaizka fell into prostration and the growth screeched in terror before finally falling silent. “Do explain your presence,” the whisper prompted.
“I have failed you, Master,” Gaizka answered, unable to stop the quivering in his voice. “The vile ratmen had taken some interest in the shrine and we were unable to remove them from it.”
“I know this Gaizka,” the voice replied once more in a whisper but with a hard edge marking the menace behind it. The whisper paused long enough for the growth n Gaizka’s back to let out another terrified shriek and caused Gaizka to wince at the unwelcome outburst. “I ask why you sully this place with your unworthiness?”
“I come to plead for your mercy even though I do not deserve it. I will go back to the shrine and my army will remove the taint of the ratmen…”
“My armies!” the whisper was suddenly a roar. “These people bow to me. You are but a link in the chain.”
A large creature stepped into the flickering light of the candles. Great feathered wings unfurled from its back and long chitinous claws snapped in place of hands. It walked towards the prone Gaizka and prompted him up with a delicate touch of one of those claws.
Gaizka looked up at the bestial but glorious face in awe. His awe was replaced with terror as he felt invisible bonds tighten around him, holding him in place and constricting his breathing. He tried to scream but as he opened his mouth he felt his airways block and he retched against the oppression. The Daemon sliced the bladed inside of a claw down Gaizka’s face, peeling away the skin in a stream of blood and gore.

*

Amador heard the shrill roar of something beyond the dark entrance to the shrine and steadied his steed as it threatened to bolt from the unnatural noise. A chorus of whispers echoed out from the shrine. The whispers divulged dark secrets and promised terrible things, each of them seemed to address Amador. The whispers suddenly increased in pitch and volume becoming a cacophony of hissing and shrieking before falling abruptly silent. Amador looked about him. He stood alone, his knights having moved away from the shrine along with the footmen and the tribesmen.
With a wet thud a mess of flesh, bone, and tattered cloth landed in front of his horse causing it to shriek and buck in terror. Amador kicked the beast’s flanks, angry at its fear, he brought it back around and dismounted.
He reached down to the mess and moved the rags aside, revealing the bloody skull of Gaizka The Warped, it had been completely stripped of flesh. He wrenched it from the neck, tearing sinew and snapping bone to do so. He looked the skull over in his hands and behind the helm a cruel smile spread across scarred lips. He would not have to go through the difficult business of removing the sorcerer now. He dropped the skull on the ground in front of him and stamped a heavy booted foot onto it, splintering the bone into small pieces. Gaizka had not been a worthy servant of their dark patron. Amador was going to prove he, however, was.