Kor-Avul-Thaa... finest jewel in the crown of a realm of sublime glory,
greatest city in the Middle Kingdoms, mayhap all the world... Its splendid
walls of shimmering crystal could be seen from a hundred leagues distant,
kissed by the golden rays of the sun, or caressed by the ethereal fingers of a
midnight moon. Its magnificent spires and citadels, built by generations of
kings from the resplendent gifts hewn from the ancient bosom of the sacred
Crystal Mountains, had oft' times been the bitter envy of rival emperors, and
many were the sieges which Kor-Avul-Thaa had withstood and repulsed over the
centuries, for powerful sorcerers did weave great spells of protection about
the dazzling towers, and none may have passed unbidden through the vast
sapphir ean gates of mighty Kor-Avul-Thaa...
From the Journals of Sage Daelun
[The Oracle of Kor-Avul-Thaa:]
The sky rent asunder... black-winged devils surge forth from the void...
A maelstrom of crimson fire burns above us... what carnage has thou wrought?
Not sword, ballistae, nor burning brand
Could e'er these walls aspire to breach,
Yet now the city's fall is nigh,
As elder rites black fiends unleash.
High Lord of the Brotherhood of Dark Elucidation (Keepers of the
Forbidden Books of the First Cataclysm): By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, such
ancient secrets we discovered within these sinistrous, worm-worn pages,
Etched with darksome glyphs and sigils, bound with fearsome spells, An
eldritch tide of stygian sorceries unfettered by the forbidden Tome of
Shadows...
Now thunderous cataclysm befalls the gleaming Kor-Avul-Thaa (The mystic
gate stands open!) The Xytaxehedron held to the stars... the incantation
uttered with eager tongues... (What long-shackled powers of the elder dark
have our conjurings loosed?)
By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, the vortex blackens the stars above,
A vast plague of amorphous horrors descends to rend with fang and talon,
(As with torrents of blood t