The first Warhammer Horror short story to get a standalone ebook release – and Book 1 of the Digital Horror Week 2019 collection – David Annandale’s The Hunt is an unconventional Age of Sigmar story of guilt, fear, and ghosts both literal and metaphorical. In the Free City of Everyth, in the Realm of Ghur, witch hunter Bered Davan waits for his doom to find him, spending his final moments torn between duty and shame. When a figure from his past calls for him, dredging up painful old emotions, Davan determines to follow his calling and hope for some kind of forgiveness.
Told in an unusual second person voice, as though the reader is being regaled with their own dark story, it’s a tale that grows progressively creepier, gradually breaking Davan down as the physical (well, sort of) manifestation of his guilt and shame bears down upon him. Focused as it is on the inner torment of a man worn down and at the end of his endurance, it’s a long way from the light and hope of early Age of Sigmar stories, reminiscent instead of the seedy gloom of old-school Warhammer tales. This is slow-burn, unsettling horror writing, the sort of story which becomes increasingly sinister upon further reflection, illustrating the potential of Age of Sigmar for low-key character drama as well as the usual bombast.
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