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 the crystalline walls
run red?)

And in the glooming chambers of our shadowed
sanctum, we wait, half-mad with

terror,

To reap the slaughterous harvest which we have
sown...

[The Chronicler of the Cataclysm:]

And beyond the vortex, the churning black waters
of the void did disgorge the

Dwellers in Eternal Shadow,

And upon a horde of winged horrors, brandishing
swords of ebon flame, they

rode out from the Gate...

And a terrible silence fell upon Kor-Avul-Thaa...

[The Echoes of the Oracle:]

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?

[The Chronicler of the Cataclysm:]

The Chronicles of Time speak of only two other
instances when the sky did

split wide and bleed forth such a torrent of
horror as that which assailed

Kor-Avul-Thaa... One of those times was the
fateful eve when the moon burned

black over ancient Lemuria, as a legion of
ravening fiends emerged from the

Outer Darkness to visit catastrophe upon that
realm... And the other... the

other manifestation of such a staggering cosmic
evil is recorded only in the

ancient Scrolls of the Third Circle, a
dark collectio n of terrifying

blasphemies which was believed to have been
burned by the Order of Kl'aa at

roughly the same time as the first Tome of
Shadows was discovered deep within

the Black Pyramid... These scrolls speak
disturbingly of visitations to our

earth by creatures from a terrible place
known as the Black Galaxy...

creatures which were able to span the vast
expanses of time and space

separating our world from theirs in their
great dark chariots, bringing

pestilence and carnage whenever they set foot
upon the earth... And yet, the

scrolls also speak of the Others, known by some
ancient, long-dead tribes as

the Travelling Ones... beings who did stand
against the denizens of the Black

Galaxy and wage war with them across the
nighted void. It is said that t he

Travelling Ones sailed the star-seas in huge
silvern spheres ringed with a

myriad pulsing lights, and that in a great
battle they drove their shadowy

foes back to the Black Galaxy... but at a
great cost... The Travelling Ones

were drained of their cos mic powers and cast
into a deep slumber, and some

say that they remain here still, hidden in
mysterious, secret places, awaiting

the time of their reawakening. It was ascertained
by those mages who found the

Tome of Shadows that certain gateways existed
linking our world and the Black

Galaxy, just as maps carved into the stone
walls of ancient tombs displayed

the pathway to the terrifying realm through
the eternal blackness of the

void... and within the sinister pages of the
dread book were the arcane k

eys... the rites to open wide these gates and
give the dark wanderers beyond

the freedom to roam the earth once again... And
the darkling lords did descend

upon Kor-Avul-Thaa to claim their splendid
prize, and enthrone themselves

within the glittering walls...

[The Echoes of the Oracle:]

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...

[The Brotherhood:]

By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, in Kor-Avuk-Thaa,
darkness reigns eternal...

Nevermore shall the city glimmer, for now the
crystalline walls gleam black...

Ever black...

And so it was that the bedazzling and splendid
Kor-Avul-Thaa did become

the City of Shadows, a sinister fortress of
elder fiends and fearsome beasts,

unleashed by the meddlings of mortals aspiring to
dark thresholds of forbidden

knowledge and arcane powe r, a nightmare city
shunned and feared by all. And

not since the sinking of Atlantis was the
fall of a realm so sorely

lamented...

[From the Journals of Sage Daelun]

[Lyrics: Byron]

[Music: Jonny and Chris Maudling]