From Game Memo 15

Gelert's Karmanian document

This is just a summary, the original is in Gelert's possession. He said it was found in the eaves - his Ma chucked it out during a spring clean - and he had it translated. Much of the original was illegible due to water / mould damage.

The document relates how Syranthir Forefront, the founder of Karmania, came to the Greylands and had his army eaten by a Daemon under the control of Yolande. He assigned some bloke callled Rokaris to sort out the problem, who collected together four other heroes who together knocked off the Daemon and crushed Yolande. Rokaris then ruled the area. Also mentioned: Nubimon, Ulathor, Dragon Allies.

In the fifth year of the Pacification the advance forces of Syranthir under Chyrocostas penetrated the area known as the Greylands. There was organised and effective resistance, mainly because of the strength of the cult known as Yolande, an evil religion of sentient sacrifice which ruled the local Droods through fear. They put up desperate opposition, but were not numerous enough to face the King's Men in open battle, favouring assassins and cowardly night raids.

Syranthir himself came to the troubled area the next year with a force of 2,000 infantry and 300 cavalry to march upon their holy places and eradicate them. However when he approached their mountain fastness a gigantic daemon appeared and devoured nigh on all the force with Unholy Powers. It pursued the survivors all the way back to Haranglat Lake, where the Dragon Allies turned it back through Arcane Rituals which cost them sorely.

For years the daemon seemed only partially allied to the Yolande cult and ranged back and forth, ravaging their own lands almost as much as the King's. But gradually the Yolandeans learned to ally it more closely and the General worried that the cult would soon drive it permanently south. The only effective way of turning it back thus far had proved propitiatory sacrifice of prisoners and slaves, and these were fast running out. The Dragon Allies had withdrawn to their mysterious lands far south after their pact had expired. Syranthir assigned Rokaris, a senior sorceror-priest of Karmanos, to look into the problems posed by the cult & the Daemon. Through Questioning captives, Rokaris found that the Daemon, Mortarex by name, had really been summoned by the General's old enemy Nubimon (may his name be cursed), who had done this for the Yolandeans on condition that they use it against Syranthir, to divert his energies from those who had driven him East. Like all others who dealt with Nubimon, the Yolandeans were now regretting his largesse.

[ The reader would now understand where the Carmanian phrase "a Nubimon's Gift" comes from i.e., "Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts". ]

He discovered that the monster had vulnerabilities that might be exploitable. This inspired him to undertake a years-long quest to the North to discover the secrets of the obscure go###...

?fh smudge ??!@ nn mouldmark �L�� #### � ### ###¡#�F" ######. And so concluding the third test, they returned armed with the neccessary rituals and the foci, formed into amulets.

On their return, the five heroes infiltrated near to the Yolande stronghold. This was relatively easy as they did not expect a small force to approach their centre, particularly from the north. Using the foci they ########### ########## [water damage[ ############# ###### #### ###### ################# ################### ###################### ############# ############ ###ritual###### ##################### ######## ############## ################ ######### ####### ########### ###################### ############## ################### ###################### ############# ############ ######### ####### ########### ###################### ############## ########################## ##### ########## protected by the Cloak of V######## ######### ### ############# ####### ####### ##########e Rune ##### ############# #### ################# ax raged, but was bound by his own god's powers. ######################################################### as planned. They attacked the stronghold, making out that they were trying to assassinate someone there but were 'discovered' as they tried to enter the Tower in disguise. As expected, the cultists and Daemon chased them with a great and blinding bloodlust. ####### ############### ########## ################# ############################ ############################# ##### ################ ############ ###### ### ##### ############ ################### ############################## ########### ############# #################### ######### ####################### ################################ ################## ################# ####### ##################### ############the huge Mortarex waded out after them, slavering and howling. The heroes saw that the cult had gained sufficient mastery over it now that it was being ridden by several priests, and prayed that their plan would succeed for if it did not, Karmania would surely fall to the unspeakable sect. Mort###### #####Even as they called upon Mastakos for more spe### ########x struck with #### ######### ## ###### ######### ### ##### ##### ### ######### Mor##### ###### #### ###### #### ###### #### heroes turned back and finished off most of the Yolandean priests who had been sorely weakened & demoralised by this unexpected turn of events.

They bound the spirit Crionax to guard Mortarex's corpse "until Karmanos died" ( an antiquated phrase meaning "until the End of Time" ) lest the Yolandeans try to resurrect it. The Yolandeans were broken and Syranthir liberated the area the next year, for once welcomed by the local Droods who became some of the Empire's most loyal subjects. When Rokaris retired as high sorcerer-priest, he was offered sovereignty of the area and ruled for several years, founding the Ulathor dynasty before dying.

######### ######### #### ######## ### ######### #### ###### ###### ###### ### ######## ###### ########## #######

####### ### ##### #### ##### ### ##### #### #### ### #### ### ##### One #### ### #####mmand him; One ##### to brave his wrath, One charm to pin him down And four charms to bind him.

[ That is the end of the document. On seeing the concluding poem, any Carmanian reader making an INT * 5 roll is reminded of the nursery rhyme sung by Carmanian children starting a game of 'Bind the lad':

The game is played by everyone circling a chosen 'Kronner', like Ring-a-Roses around a central child. As the circlers chant the rhyme and wind a twine around the Kronner, they take turns tossing a stone or snowball at them as the word 'stone' is sung. At the end of the rhyme the circlers scatter as the Kronner unwinds themselves as quickly as possible. From here on it is like a regular game of Catch with the Kronner as 'It' except that one of the circlers holds the 'Kronner stone' which they can present to the Kronner and which he must not approach directly. The non-Kronner players are safe if they stay in a pre-agreed 'Safe Circle.' ]

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