BOOK 1 | CHAPTER 1: THE URTHLOTHGAR DESECRATION

Fig. 1

 Fig. 2

The Group were slaves. Before they were slaves The Group were villagers. Their village was a way station for caravans crossing The Plains Of Dust. They lived in peace. The Almighty Light And Glory conquered their nation, Desert Area 5. The Almighty Light And Glory took their village. The Almighty Light And Glory broke their lives as if smashing a clay pot.


The Group worked as slaves in the quarry beside the town. The Group was manacled together. They broke rocks searching for The Ore. The Ore was green. The Ore was strange to The Group. It was different from the orange and tan dust and stones of the countryside. They worked under the twin suns of Urthlothgar 1. When The Group worked slow, the Whipmaster would open their backs. There was a tunnel in the quarry. The Almighty Light And Glory lead The People From The Village inside the tunnel. The People From The Village were fellows and family of The Group working as slaves in the quarry. The Group watched their fellows and families go in the tunnel. None came out of the tunnel.

Fig. 3

The Riders In Black Armor approached their village. The Riders In Black Armor wore black capes. They were like shadows on horses. Their helms were frightful. Some held staffs with angry geometric shapes on top. Black clouds coalesced above the village.


The Whipmaster watched the riders enter the village. The Group attacked The Whipmaster. They put an axe in his neck. They took keys and unchained themselves. The Group was free. The Group went into the tunnel. The tunnel was dark, but there was a glow in the darkness. There was warmth and it was damp. Lichen and moss appeared deeper in the tunnel. A long shape moved in the darkness before The Group.

Fig. 4

The Large Worm blocked their way. The Large Worm was pink and bloated with blood. The Large Worm was as long as six men. A man from The Group struck at the worm. The Large Worm vomited on the man. His face and skull melted into his chest. Some in The Group tried to jump over the worm, but failed. A Man from The Group put a pitchfork in the head of the worm. The Group went further down the tunnel.


On the ceiling was a tapered tube of flesh. Vyncent, the Caravan Guard, from The Group, cut it with a sword. Fluid filling the tube fell from the wound onto his face. The fluid was full of eggs. The eggs went into Vyncent's face pores. Vyncent was unaware of the eggs. The Group went further into the tunnel. The light in the darkness grew stronger.


The tunnel opened up into a space. The Group saw a fire in the space. Shadows passed in front of the fire. The space was as big as a large room. There were five people in the space. There were four men and one woman. The woman sat by the fire. The men stood. The people were covered with fine fur. Some fur was orange and some was purple. Other fur was blue. They were naked but for a single leather thong around their waists. On the thong hung a pouch. They carried long, slender tubes. Near the end of the tube was a pouch. The people had growths on their bodies. The growths looked like slack dog faces and were on the peoples' shoulders, hips and knees. They were The People With The Dog Faces. They were eating a baby.

Fig. 5

There were cages in the space. In the cages were some family of the group. Above the fire was a man hanging on bars. The bars hung from the ceiling on chains. The man was hanging in a squat position. There was a plate under him. When the man made feces, the plate caught the man's feces. The plate was over the fire. The fire dried the feces on the plate. The Woman With The Dog Faces put the dried feces in a stone bowl. The woman crushed the feces into powder in the bowl with a stone pestle.



Fig. 6

One of The Men With The Dog Faces blew into his tube toward a man in The Group. A cloud came from the end of the tube and went into the man's nose and mouth and he died. The Group slew The Men With The Dog Faces with their weapons. A man from The Group addressed The Woman With The Dog Faces. She upended the contents of her bowl onto the man from The Group. The contents went into the man's nose and mouth and he died. The Group slew The Woman With The Dog Faces with their weapons.

Fig. 7

Beyond the space, the tunnel continued and The Group followed the tunnel. The tunnel became another room. The room was made of stone blocks. There were cracked columns supporting the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a bath. In the bath was a white liquid and black liquid. The black liquid sparkled. The two liquids repelled each other. There were bodies of People With The Dog Faces on the floor of the room. Their limbs were tense. There was an alter at the far end of the room. A man from The Group attempted to put a body in the bath of liquid. The liquid lept from the bath and into the man's throat. The man's body pushed the liquid out. The Group went around the bath and to the alter. There was a scepter on the alter. The scepter was black and metal. On top of the scepter was an impossible geometric shape. Vyncent, The Caravan Guard, from The Group, took the scepter.



Fig. 8

There were stairs behind the alter. The Group went down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a stone platform. Beyond the stone platform was a vast cavern. The cavern stretched beyond the horizon. There was a single light source in the distance, high above. Some in The Group, could see through the darkness. They saw thousands of buildings. They saw the buildings were on the chest of a person lying on their back. The person's form stretched from the right horizon to the left horizon, filling the vast cavern. The platform The Group stood on broke and fell away from them. The Group fell into the darkness.


There was a field of blue and gray clouds beneath them. The Group fell through the clouds. Under the clouds was a large pink crystal face. The face blew air under them to cushion their fall. The Group landed on the side of the crystal face. The air did not cushion everyone. Some died from the impact. The Group was in a cavern. Blue and gray clouds were in the cavern high above. In the cavern was a bridge made out of pink crystal. The bridge crossed an underground lake to an island, like a camel's hump, far in the distance. The island was covered in grass. The grass glowed like an emerald. On the top of the island was a crowd of Riders In Black Armor. In the center of the crowd was a Rider In Black Armor twice the size of a man. The Tall Rider In Black Armor held a warhammer above his head. Over his shoulder was a sphere. The sphere hovered in the air. The sphere was made of interlocking pieces of stone. The pieces were strange shapes in constant motion. The sphere remained a sphere. Black light poured out from the center of the sphere between the stone pieces. The Group walked across the bridge to the island.

Fig. 9

The Cave Jelly fell on Arthund, The Trapper, from The Group. The Cave Jelly covered Arthund's head. The Cave Jelly conquered Arthund's mind and controlled his movements. The Cave Jelly made Arthund swing his club at Vyncent. Arthund hit Vyncent's head and slew him. Another man in The Group had a Cave Jelly on his head. His mind was not conquered by The Cave Jelly. He could not lift The Cave Jelly off his head. He slew The Cave Jelly with his pitchfork. The Cave Jelly fell from him. Symund, The Orphan, from The Group, slew The Cave Jelly on Arthund's head. Arthund's mind was permanently damaged by The Cave Jelly.



Fig. 10

Fig. 11

The Group continued across the bridge. When they arrived on the island the Riders In Black Armor said, You must join Urthlothgar. The Group declined. The Riders In Black Armor drew their blades. The Group attacked The Riders In Black Armor. The Riders In Black Armor raised their steel.


Fig. 12

The Tall Rider In Black Armor struck the sphere made of stone pieces with his warhammer. The sphere shattered. Urthlothgar rose from the lake in the cavern. Urthlothgar surrounded the island. Urthlothgar was endless acres of flesh. Urthlothgar was a rainbow of bruises and bubbling skin. Pustules grew on Urthlothgar and burst fluid. The fluid formed into human appendages and limbs. The appendages and limbs melted back into Urthlothgar. The ten thousand eyes of Urthlothgar opened. The hundred thousand tentacles of Urthlothgar raged high above. The tentacles were a forest. The tentacles were a storm. The mouth of Urthlothgar opened. Urthlothgar inhaled all the air in the cavern. Some men from The Group died. Some minds of men from The Group were permanently damaged.



Fig. 13

Urthlothgar exhaled poison air. Some men from The Group died. Some minds of men from The Group were permanently damaged. The mouth of Urthlothgar was a field of energy. The energy was blue and purple. The energy flashed. Bolts of electricity ran across the energy field. Urthlothgar inhaled again and sucked The Group and The Riders In Black Armor into the energy field.


Darkness mixed with unknown colors. The colors made tunnel. The tunnel went on for eternity.


The Group woke. They sat on a piece of stone. The stone rocked back and forth. The stone sat on a hill. The stone was surrounded by a circle of other stone shapes. The Group, who survived were Symund, The Orphan, Arthund, The Trapper, Masym, The Costermonger, and Ferthelm, The Trapper. Symunds skin turned white as bone. Arthund's eyes bulged unblinking. As did Masym's. Ferthelm's eyes turned blood red. They were The Four Who Survived. To the left was a forest of twisted black trees. To the right was a cliff. Beyond the cliff was a desert. In the desert were enormous geometric shapes, as if a graveyard of forgotten forms. In front of The Four Who Survived was gentle-sloping hill of pink and blue grass. The hill descended to a village. The structures in the village were made of gray clay. Beyond the village was an enormous city in the distance. The city was as tall as a mountain. The spires of the city were silhouettes against the deep red sky. The single setting sun was a plate of molten iron behind a curtain of smoke. Two silver-metal droplets flew high overhead. The two droplets made an angry sound.

Fig. 14

Fig. 1 - "Knight of Knowing," Benjamin Marra
Fig. 2 - "Wizard Commander," Benjamin Marra 
Fig. 3 - "The Whipmaster," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 4 - "The Large Worm vomited acid on the head of The Man From The Group," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 5 - "Captured man hung in squat position," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 6 - "A Man With Dead Dog Faces," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 7 - "Scepter of Pure Chaos," Benjamin Marra
Fig. 8 - "Underground City of the Fallen God," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 9 - "A man from The Group, controlled by a Cave Jelly, strikes and kills an ally," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 10 - "The Riders In Black Armor, Strike Soldier and Conqueror Cleric classes," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 11 - "A Rider In Black Armor, Strike Soldier with Squad Great Weapon," Benjamin Marra
Fig. 12 - "The Tall Rider In Black Armor with warhammer," Benjamin Marra
Fig. 13 - "Urthlothgar Rises," Benjamin Marra

Fig. 14 - "Survivors," Benjamin Marra