Gravemound of the Horserer

North of the centre of the Cooking Canyon lays a blackened hill, onto which no blade of grass has grown in centuries. Sometimes the treeless top of this bleak hill is visited by shadowy necromancers, raising abominations from its dark soil, for buried beneath is the dark Horserer and his warhost.

## The Horserer

### Early live

For years a discussion has been going on in Ozul-Saba about whatever or not the city should do oppose the Biomancers of the nearby Lusuium. Some argued that it was not okay to experiment on sentient live and that the city should stop trading with Lusuium, with the more extreme members arguing that they should put a stop to Lusuium's experiments with force. On the other side where those who argued that any experimentation in the name of progress was a worthy endeavour, with the more radical even thinking aloud that perhaps Ozul-Saba should start doing similar experiments. No side had a clear majority, though slightly more where anti-Lusuium than pro. Leading the city to do nothing until and continue debating.

The loudest voice opposing the biomancers was a wizard and prince named Manfred Lequin. He was fed-up with the city's politicking and decided to lead a small militia of like-minded individual to destroy Lusuium themselves. When he rode out his militia was 200 man strong. He lead them from the fore on a black horse, named Lotus, and they travelled for two weeks before arriving at the lava mote that surrounded the Hellish fortress. Lequin cast a spell that cooled the lava, creating a bridge across which his army could cross. They entered the volcanic rock cave until the reached black iron gates. Spirits where high amongst the militia, believing that they where about to destroy Lusuium, until the sound of a metal hatch opening was heard.

Out from that hatch poured an inferno of mutagenic flames, and the militia members discovered all to late that they were funnelled into a trap with no place to hide. The fire washed over them, rapidly evolving and devolving until they where turned into pools of primordial ooze. Compared to the brave prince leading them they were the lucky ones. Lequin felt his skin slowly melt like butter in a pan, and his body began to sink into that of his horse. As he sank deeper and deeper into the blurry form of his once noble steed he desperately tried to grasp for anything to hold onto to, but even if there was such a thing nearby that had not melted or burned already it would have just passed through his sludgy hands. Even their very souls began to melt together into a fleshy blob. Unknown to Lequin Lotus had a dark and blackened soul, and it overshadowed everything that was bright and good inside of Lequin. After a little while the mutating blob began to stabilise. It had turned into the form a man, with the head of a black horse. Inside of this creature only the intelligence and mastery of the arcane that Lequin possessed had remained. When the Biomancers came to see what all the commotion was about and to collected the primordial ooze for their tanks they found the Horse-headed man. Fascinated by this strange test result they took him in, and began taking care of their new found experiment.

### Rise of the Horserer

The creature called itself the Horserer and it had a dark desire to go to war against the world. The biomancers saw in this an opportunity to field test some of their creations and to clear their stocks of anything they weren't able to sell. They clothed the Horserer in similar black robes and arcane gauntlets as they wore themselves and provided him with a legion of monstrosity for what the Horserer now called his dark crusade. They escorted the Horserer and his warhost out of the northern end of the Cooking Canyon and secretly send out a few poachers and scribes to observe this new experiment and to report the results.

Town after town was annihilated by the Horserer's black crusade. News spread all across the the Oroborian empire and beyond of this dark host. The Pyrulos countryside was ablaze and many peasants were devoured by the many hungry mounts of the host. Following the trail of settlements the warhost slowly made its way east, much to the relieve of prince Sar-Thedronus and much to the chagrin of Stahlaz. Dragon-prince Stahlaz send out an invitation to all to join his forces in opposition to the Horserer's black crusade. The Feronan army, lead by Gertof van der Waal, was joined by a company of Kamaitachi knights lead by chapter master Jaleel Griffin, a group of Oxströnd berserkers lead by thane Christoph Svan, and troop of Khargan riders lead by Arbala Koss. They rode out so they might meet the Horserer's warhost on the very border of Ferona and Pyrulos.

### Battle of Craven Hill

Near a hilltop, known in those days as Craven Hill, the forces of Ferona and the Horserer met. At the start of the battle the death hounds who were terrible false centaurs with the lower body of a greyhound and the upper body of a skeletal humanoid rode out to flank the Feronans and ravage their backline with deadly impurity. But Koss and her riders stood vanguard and rained volley after volley at the death hounds, always slightly out of reach thanks to swiftness of Khargan warhorses. With the cavalry engaged in skirmish the main army could charge the black crusade. Thane Svan and his berserkers were the first into the fray, screaming a prayer to the war goddess Erah as they jumped into a sea of snapping claws, gnashing teeth, and wriggling tentacles. The rest of the army soon followed and the first volley of gunfire was released into the mutant horde, slaying many, but as the guns fell silent they were replaced with the sound of buzzing flying over the front line. A swarm of horrifying spider-eagles with membranous wings flew over to attack the cannonade crews in the back. They would soon find out the folly of their task as chapter master Griffin had stayed back to oversee the battle field. With a whip of lightning he pulled the first one to the ground before slashing it in two with his wind blade.

The Horserer was not sitting idly however, for from atop the Craven Hill he unleashed a barrage of dark sorceries that created holes of pure darkness on the frontline. Man and mutant alike were torn limb for limb if they found themselves unlucky enough to be standing nearby. The Kamaitachi knights, who had stood back and supported the battle with their spell craft, now rushed down the holes in the frontline that had formed and engaged horrific shark-headed trolls and stitched together monstrosities.

### Death of the Horserer

The Khargan riders drove off most of the death hounds, but took heavy loses in the process. Arbala Koss had battled the commander of the death hounds, a creature with the lower body of a dire wolf and the upper body of a lycanthrope named Castro. She held him for a time with her spear before he got a grasp on one of her arms; he dug his claws into the flesh and Koss gave a pained scream before he tore her arm off and pulled her from her horse. Koss fell to the ground, blood gushing from the wound. She was barely able to stay conscious and Castro went in for the kill, but as he charged her she managed to raise her spear in defiance and impaled her hated foe before slipping into darkness for the final time.

The berserkers had all fallen, slaying many of the black host before being overwhelmed and giving the frontline the time they needed to slowly widdle down the mutant forces. Their bold leader, thane Christoph Svan, was the last of the Oxtrönders to stand. His twin axes never stopped hacking down the bloated blobs of sinew and hair around him, but he felt he began to tire and lose his concentration. Then from behind the grey clouds a single ray of sunlight fell down upon Svan's face and a tear of joy rolled down his cheek. "Souls for the Soul Sun!" he screamed. He tightened his grip on both his axe, stretched out his arms, and began spinning around into the enemy horde. He disappeared into a tornado of blood and gore and nobody ever saw him again.

Gertof van der Waal began charging at the Horserer, but as he approached the ground began to tremble and a gigantic monster, larger than any other on the battle field, sprang fort. It was a stitched together creature, made out of several giant worms with the head of a dragon and the arms and legs of six giants attached to it. The top row of hands were replaced with drills, the second row with wrecking balls, and the bottom row with hooked blades. It would have devoured Gertof van der Waal if chapter master Jaleel Griffin wasn't nearby to engage the monster in battle. Griffin's wind blade deflected the blows of the creatures many weapons, but its leathery skin proved too thick to cut. Griffin realised that his only hope to defeat this beast was to defeat it from the inside. He climbed upon the back of the creature, forcing it to twist its neck and snap at him. As the maw opened wide he jumped in, and fell into the creatures acidic stomach. The inside was soft and squishy, and Griffin's blade slashed through it like butter, but as the creatures stomach burst open and the chapter master fell out he had already succumbed to the burning acid and his remaining knight returned him south the be buried in their chapter house's catacomb.

Van der Waal finally reached the Horserer atop the Craven Hill. The Horserer tried to curse van der Waal with dark thought and self thought, and van der Waal felt his posture slowly falling. But with a roar he resisted the spell and stabbed his foe. The Horserer died with a hellish neigh. Where the Horserer's fell blood touched the ground the earth darkened and the vegetation died. But as van der Waal tried stepping away he felt something slip from his side and realised he had been stabbed by the Horserer's dark blade; a cursed sword made by the smiths at Othlest Inod enhanced by dark enchantments. Van der Waal felt his body already starting to mutate but before he could succumbed he ended his own life. Such the Horserer's dark influences died and the war was won at great cost.