The Book of War we have called it,

the book of valour and glory,

as well as anguish and sorrow,

that fill our nation's history.

 

What you should learn and remember

from those revered passages,

is that the strength of unity

wards off the worst foes' ravages.

 

Shall you become a commander,

study the acts of forefathers.

To write your own chapter when time comes

and gain respect of your brothers.

Introduction to Warcanto - the Book of War,

being the record of all important battles fought off in

Greatland throughout the millennia. Collected

and inscribed by the Royal Chroniclers Guild of Zak'Har.

 

 

 

It was the time of Great Invasion, the most horrific catastrophe of all that tormented Duul over the centuries. The time of death and chaos, sorrow and pain, when the sky burned and oceans of blood soaked up the earth. But above all it was the time of heroes, when all nations of Duul fought side by side against the abyssal hordes of daemonic Sarhu. Many battles have taken place and most of them got written in the cards of history. But none was so bloody and violent as the terrible battle at the foot of Garread Mountain, on the windy plains of the Tvall Vale. In fact it was the last of the great battles fought off in Greatland, and its direct consequences shaped the future of the whole world of Duæl. Tvall Vale was the place where crafty Aval named Halgval, the commander in chief of the Ultimate Ordeal, lured Demedorr and his army of daemons with cunning stratagem to bring the Great Invasion to an end. But let's tell the tale from the very beginning.

In the 12th year of the Great Invasion, hordes of Sarhu warriors, after destroying most of Greatland's cities and crushing the resistance of Elves and Humans, swarmed the ancient Sheer'Dain forest, fiercely defended by Lidds. The battle of Sheer'Dain lasted for seven long years. In the 19th year of Invasion it seemed that, despite all their power and bravery, Lidds will soon be overcome by amassed daemonic armies. But seven years of their resistance gave Avals enough time to organize the remains of elven and human armies into one coherent force named the Ultimate Ordeal. It was the final resort, the last hope of Greatland nations to change their fate. It was the end of the hot summer, when Halgval and others lead the fastest cavalry units to charge the back of the daemonic army attacking Lidds. After a while of fighting they feigned defeat and ran away. At the sight of the fleeing Enlighteners, Demedorr ordered daemons to break the siege of Sheer'Dain and pursue his greatest enemies. After a week of exhausting chase, Ordeal's units reached the fortifications prepared in Tvall Vale beforehand. Halgval stopped the flight and turned back awaiting for advancing daemons to get close. Frightened Elves and Humans took up their positions and watched as the waves of horrible abyssal horrors flooded the valley. Aware of that, Halgval has spoken. His words filled the soldiers' souls with courage and determination. All fears vanished and they were ready for battle, determined to rather die fighting than yield to Demedorr and live the life of slaves under the daemonic rule forever. Daemons clashed with fortified regiments of mortals and the slaughter began. Demedorr laughed watching countless hordes of daemons charging faint forces of Greatlanders. Blinded with pride and self-confidence, he did not assume that those weak Humans and fragile Elves will pose any real threat to his invincible army. But he forgot about the Dwarfs, and this was the main mistake he made, the one that cost him a victory. Legions of Dwarven Kingdom commanded by the King Almighty Argaill the Unyielding have been waiting silently in the tunnels under Garread Mountain, ready to emerge at the flank of unprepared enemies. On the Halgval's signal, when Humans and Elves withdrew to the rearmost fortifications followed by "victorious" Sarhu, dwarven legions came out of the tunnels and charged daemons. The tide of battle turned, when whole flank of Sarhu army got crushed under the blows of karmitaz-armed dwarven legionists. Surprised Demedorr summoned his dismayed generals and demanded more effort, expecting his daemons to repel the flanking forces. Yet, he did not understand that it was the high time to gather his forces and organize some defences, such great was his pride and anger. And this was his last big mistake, but even without it, Sarhu would probably have lost the battle, because Dwarves and their allies already tasted the flavour of victory and only some huge earthquake or other cataclysm could have stopped them at this moment. The daemonic forces dwindled as resolute Dwarves, guided by mighty Avals, advanced and pressed them as no one did before. The battle lasted for six days. Even though many daemons got killed, the encounter was still not resolved. Demedorr alone brought death to many of the greatest warriors of Duul, numerous Aval retinues died when he emerged at the front line. Even King Argaill in his mightyarmour perished at his hand. It was a terrible sight, the Lord of all Daemons butchering whole regiments as they were nothing more than the flock of helpless sheep. It was that moment, when the most powerful of Avals, the remaining five of the Enlighteners, had to take on their shoulders the burden of responsibility for all their actions in Greatland, for the disturbance of the world's equilibrium, which gave rise to the grave threat of daemonic rule over the whole Duæl.

But fate has come for them before they could devise any clever plan of exterminating Demedorr. Sarhu Lord spotted Avals as they gathered in the middle of Ordeal's forces and rushed to get them, roaring in anger. As he was getting closer, seething with dark magic, Avals suddenly realized that the fury of the greatest of daemons cannot be stopped by any physical means. Their only chance was to cast one of the most powerful enchantments, the Binding Spell, capable of transfixing the most horrible abyssal horrors. Unfortunately, effective casting required time, because the slightest mistake during the chant could cause serious disturbance in the essence flow and even kill the jinxed casters. And the time was what Avals have lacked. Moreover, the spell has never been used in the material part of Duæl before, so Avals could not predict if it will work at all. But they took their chance, as they had nothing left to lose (or perhaps because they could have lost everything). All five started to chant the magical phrases, while Demedorr advanced towards them, transforming every soldier, brave (or stupid) enough to stand in his way, into unrecognizable pulp of armour, flesh and bones. Sarhu Emperor was unstoppable, his power grew with each kill, as he absorbed the life energy from trampled warriors. And he was too fast, too little time left for Avals to finish the spell...

Then one of them - Mulvondil stopped chanting, perceiving the daemon drawing near. He drew his shiny two-handed runesword and jumped forwards to attack Demedorr and give the rest of Avals a few more minutes to successfully finish their casting. He overreached himself terribly. Such great was the fury raging within the Sarhu's dark soul, that the fight lasted mere seconds. Demedorr has just swung his mighty dark scythe and cut Mulvondil in half, breaking the runesword and shattering armour. At this moment everything appeared to be lost, but Sarhu Lord couldn't resist his hunger for souls and wasted precious moments sucking the soul out of the Mulvondil's dying body and devouring it. Sated with power, he turned to the remaining four Avals, but only managed to close his eyes before the dazzling flash. Magical shackles and chains rapidly ensnared Demedorr, immobilizing him right where he stood, over the remains of one of the mightiest beings ever to walk Duul. Mulvondil payed off his debts but his soul was lost forever. Daemon Lord writhed in pain as magical bindings tightened and drained him of all essence. In the final effort, Demedorr focused all his mental powers and channeled his will to his daemonic brothers still fighting the Ordeal's forces. He seized their minds and squashed them in the violent mental grip. Hundreds of dying Sarhu filled the air with terrible screams. Demedorr absorbed essence from their perishing carcasses, hardly enough to perform his last action - casting the spell of teleportation. The strain nearly killed him but he managed to keep consciousness until disappearing in the wisp of smoke.

The battle was over. Remaining Sarhu warriors were mercilessly slain by victorious soldiers of the Ultimate Ordeal, that none of the abyssal nightmares have ever haunted the nations of Duul again.

Though he lost the decisive battle, the Daemon Lord was still alive somewhere, most likely completely exhausted, but alive and very dangerous... As such he could not be left alone, and on the next day, despite their extreme weariness, Avals gathered all able magicians that survived the battle, to help them track Demedorr. They scanned for any traces of essence fluxes throughout the Greatland and finally they perceived the daemon trying to restore his essence. Avals knew that they cannot let him recover. They teleported themselves, together with the regiment of the finest warriors, right to Demedorr's hideout in the far north. Once they reached it, they saw that Sarhu had nearly transformed himself into ethereal form, which would have allowed him to escape to the Abyss. In such state he could neither be killed, nor Avals had enough power to revert the transformation. But one thing they could do. Again, they cast the Binding Spell and locked immobilized Demedorr up in an ancient artifact, the Black Pyramid of Nonentity. It was one of the devices constructed by Avals long time ago, even before the creation of Humans, specially designed to trap and subsequently slowly eliminate Sarhu and their servants from the world. The Pyramid was known to exist simultaneously in both dimensions - Duul and Ael. It inflicted horrible pain on its victim, completely consuming the entrapped daemon's essence. None of the Pyramids' prisoners survived for more than a few centuries inside the artifact. They say that even the souls of unfortunate trapped beings gradually dissolved in the ethereal tissue of the Duæl world, so they could have never returned to life through The Great Contraption. And Demedorr, The Lord Of All Daemons, Abyssal Emperor, The Mightiest Of Sarhu and First Among Master's Children, was supposed to spent the rest of his life, which could even last for the next few millennia, inside such gloomy prison made by puny Avals.

The Pyramid was sealed with multiple powerful runes, indestructible and impossible to remove or open for any mortals who could, by unimaginable chance, come across the artifact. Unimaginable, because the whole Pyramid was subsequently buried deep under the crags of Northern Borders, the most bounding area of the northern Greatland.

Man can say that this event ended the chapter named "The Great Invasion" in the history of Duul. Everything happened at the end of summer, and it seemed that this year's winter would be very hard to survive for tormented Greatland nations, as their countries and cities was mostly razed to dust and no stockpiles were there in storages... But in the late summer of the 21st year of Invasion nobody thought about such details. Everybody was celebrating the greatest and the most important victory in the history of Greatland. Avals returned to Garread Mountain the same day they imprisoned Demedorr. They wanted to honour all of the Ultimate Ordeal's warriors and commanders who died fighting daemons in Tvall Vale, especially their noble brother, member of the Enlighteners, Mulvondil and of course, King Argaill who launched the decisive dwarven assault. At the foot of Garread Mountain, Avals founded the enormous necropolis, where all of the heroes got buried, together with their weapons and armour. In the center, within a deep, underground chambers, the remains of Mulvondil and other Aval commanders and retinues have been buried. To get to those chambers, man had to pass through the specially prepared labyrinth, protected with many magical traps and secured with runic locks. All those safeguards were essential as many powerful artifacts have been buried together with their deceased owners. After sealing the entrance leading to the underground part of the necropolis, Avals mounted a huge, white obelisk in the center, right over the Mulvondil's tomb. It was supposed to symbolize the purity and perfection of the souls of heroes that gave lives for their land and people. Funeral rituals lasted for the whole month, so many corpses were there to bury, so many warriors died fighting Demedorr's hordes... After all, Avals established the Order of the White Stone, which members, recruiting mainly from Dwarves, vowed to protect the remembrance of heroes, as well as their graves.

At the end of the year, when all soldiers have returned home, Avals went to Irqad, almost completely razed at the beginning of Invasion, when daemonic portal landed in the middle of the city, and where Demedorr had established his headquarters. Enlighteners wanted to perform the Ritual of Deliverance, to free all the souls seized by Sarhu in vast numbers of soul cages and other strange artifacts stored in Irqad ruins. During the ritual, Avals perceived the intense activity of the portal, through which Demedorr had lead his army 21 years ago. It seemed that another huge wave of daemons was going to materialize in Duul, to complete what Daemon Lord failed to achieve. Avals knew that Greatland won't withstand second attack of abyssal armies and they made the quick decision. They entered the Sarhu portal with a number of the most powerful daemonic artifacts and released all essence stored inside them. Instant surge of power destroyed the portal in a huge explosion, which has been seen even in the far east - in elven Empire. No one knows what happened with the last of the Enlighteners during the blast. Some would say, that shortly before explosion Avals have returned to Ael to fight the eternal war against Sarhu. Other say that they sacrificed themselves to expiate their pride and ambitions and to protect what has left of Master's creation from complete destruction. For sure, the Enlighteners were never to walk the material world of Duul again, similarly as the rest of Ael inhabitants. As the last functional portals had been destroyed, the dimensions became separated and the new Era, new order, free of direct "divine" interventions, has begun.

 

 

 

 

Reminiscences of great battles and their heroes have slowly faded away, as everyday life concerns occupied the inhabitants of the devastated world. However, the events in Tvall Vale has not been completely forgotten, at least not by the Dwarves and the Order of the White Stone. A couple of years after the Great Invasion they started to raise a temple-fortress, overlooking the whole Tvall Vale and guarding the Aval necropolis. Dagr Kadur was the name of the place - The Memory Keep. Building lasted for dozens of years and finally a temple as tall as the White Obelisk has been erected. For the decades, Dagr Kadur was a quiet and remote place, where dwarven priests and warrior guards of Order of the White Stone, looking after the tombs of heroes, lived their life in peace.

As the years passed, strange things have started to take place in the far north. Buried evil was about to remind the world about its existence, sooner than even the worst prophecy could predict. Demedorr turned out to be much more powerful than Avals thought. Despite being unable to release himself from the Aval prison, he found a wicked way to mess up with the minds and souls of Greatlanders. Black Pyramid wasn't prepared for such strong prisoner, especially as no Avals could interrupt his plans or alert the unaware Dwarves living in its vicinity. With the sole force of his will, which could easily penetrate not only the Pyramid's runic seals, but also kilometers of solid rock, Demedorr possessed Dwarves that came here a few years after the Great Invasion to exploit the rich deposits of Ayzat-Tol. He corrupted their minds and changed them into Volgars - The Condemned. Soon he have risen the whole army of fanatic and pitiless slaves, who excavated the Black Pyramid and pushed it south, destroying everything in its path and threatening the very heart of the Dwarven Kingdom. Volgar's destination was former city of Irqad, transformed into the Desert of Terror by the portal explosion, where raging unstable vortexes of magical energy altered the reality. Demedorr hoped that it will be possible to destroy the runic seals covering the Pyramid with those uncontrollable heavy essence fluxes.

At this time Org'kka tribes dwelling at the foot of the Mount Ugarat, the Ape Mountain, were forced to migrate south. Living in the northern steppes became harder and harder as temperature decreased each year. All because of the dark hole located in the center of the Desert of Terror. It absorbed significant amounts of sun energy, causing the global cooling. Attacks of Volgar who enslaved many Org'kkas for hard work and twisted experiments, made their life not a bit easier... After a great battle, when Volgars had slain Khagan of all Org'kka and many of his finest warriors, the tribes crossed the south pass through the Northern Paths and spread all over the great plains of Tal-Yagal. During the next decades Org'kka have taken over almost the whole Giant Steppe, threatening merchant caravans, settlements and villages located on the borders of Elven Empire, Dwarven Kingdom and the western city-state of Kraakov. Even Lidds, hidden in their sacred forests, weren't safe from Org'kka war-parties.

When Black Pyramid reached the Northern Paths, Dwarves realized that each step further will bring the Dwarven Kingdom closer to its doom, as Demedorr possessed more and more Dwarves on his way. So they put all efforts to stop the Black Pyramid's advance. The front line has been established and regular war with Volgars has started. As nearly all the attention of the Dwarven Kingdom focused on the Northern Paths, nobody noticed that the sacred place of Dagr Kadur is in grave danger. One of the biggest Org'kka tribes - The Dun'gar was approaching Tvall Vale, but nobody has alerted the Order of the White Stone. When Orcs arrived, guards were completely unprepared and despite their determination and devotion, without any support from the Kingdom's Legions, Dagr Kadur was captured and mostly razed by furious Org'kka warriors, who did not find anything valuable inside the temple-fortress. All the priests and warrior guards were killed during the siege and there was no one to notify the king about the tragedy. A few years have passed by the time Dwarves realized that the lack of any signs of life from the Order's priests means trouble. A couple of expeditions were sent to Dagr Kadur for reconnaissance, but none have returned, as Org'kka were very good at tracking prey in the open plains and let no one leave the Tvall Vale alive. As the war with Volgars intensified, Dwarves did not pay enough attention to the case of missing expeditions sent to Dagr Kadur. Until one day, when some minor earthquake revealed underground corridors to the surprised Org'kka shepherd, whose Wak Wak fell into the Aval labyrinth. Curious Dun'gar tribesmen started to explore underground halls and passages. Suddenly one of them got too close to the tomb of one of the Aval commanders and activated magical defences of the place. Strong impulse of essence spread throughout the Greatland, alerting mages in all regions of the continent and killing inquisitive Org'kka explorers. Enchantments which Avals used to safeguard the place, caused strange things begin to happen in the vicinity of the necropolis. The landscape started to change and alter, terrain fluctuated in an unpredictable manner. No one could even predict if an actual path he has been traveling in the morning would bring him back at the evening... At the sight of what they took for the nature's wrath, Org'kka living in the ruins of Dagr Kadur broke their camps and moved away, but after some time the most curious of them returned to search the necropolis for valuable things.

The fastest to react to the impulse were the Dwarves, but because of the war raging in the Northern Paths they couldn't send any reasonable force able to recapture Dagr Kadur from Org'kka. Instead, they formed small scouting teams of experienced soldiers, lead by capable captains, to retrieve the most powerful artifacts, which could be used during the anti-Volgar campaign.

Next were the Lidds living in the Dark Oak Forest. Their priests felt the impulse and decided to send a few packs of Lidd hunters to find a source of the strange anomaly. They knew the story of Mulvondil's death and worried if powerful artifacts, which he had carried, did not get into hands of some careless grave-robbers, threatening the world's equilibrium, still very fragile after the Great Invasion.

Khans of different Org'kka tribes, alerted by their shamans also sent bands of tribal warriors lead by the eager nukhans to check if there is anything to gain from the whole situation.

 

 

Is this just a coincidence? Or is some strong, mystical force joining fates of all these beings with the treasures of Garread Mountain? Will it be the Lidd Pack Leader, who writes down another chapter in the place's history? The hammer-carrying Halgval's Disciple? Or maybe one of the Children of the Wild shall find the way to change the Org'kka ill-fated life of constant wanderers and refugees with no place to call their home? It is hard to say. The fact is that Dwarves, Lidds and Org'kkas shall meet at the foot of the Garread Mountain. It is sure that a fight is unavoidable and that no one shall withdraw. And maybe other Greatland inhabitants will set off to search for ancient powers? The Elves, Humans? Who else will decide to seek fortune within the ruined graveyard of the former masters of the world?

Will it be You?

If so, your quest shall begin soon...