Presented as earlier without proofreading.

This is the final piece of my notes for the Winter of Warlords campaign. I think I wrote a better summary for it of the FFG’s forums but I can’t even find the thread there anymore…

The last part introduces the “Eldorado” of Grey Mountains – a mountain that consumed all the wealth of the mountains. It was to be the pinnacle of the campaign, a site where the fate of the Old World would be changed.

Now that I think of it, it might have been the working of the gods of chaos that this campaign never played out. It did not include any chaotic elements, only greenskins, men and women of Empire and Bretonnia (some dwarfs, sure) and a whole bunch of monsters and undead.

The Legend of Karag Elgramazaul

According to legends there is a mountain somewhere in the Grey Mountains that the dwarfs call Karag Elgramazul (The Volcano of Weak Metal) and those few men that have heard the legend the Tainted Peak. According to ancient dwarven sagas it is where the mages of Elves cast a terrible spell during the War of Vengeance. The spell drained the all ore from the mountains into the mountain where it created a lake of permanently molten metal.

 

Even dwarfs of the Grey Mountains doubt this legend as there are no written records of such an event and even though some foolish beardlings have tried, no-one has ever found this accursed place.

 

The legend has its roots in reality even though it was of no such magnitude that the legends claim.

 

During the War of Vengeance (or the War of the Beard if asked from high elves) there some fighting at the Grey Mountains as they created a natural border with the lands now known as Bretonnia and Empire. A group of elves were tasked to guard the few waystones set high up on the peaks of the mountains and they tried to serve their orders the best the could.

 

Filled with hatred against the elves the dwarves tracked this band of swordsmen and mages and found that they had erected a waystone on one of the highest peaks of the mountains. Caring not of the reason this was done the dwarven warriors attacked the elves without a moments hesitation and left the elves no other choice than to protect themselves.

 

Before the axes of the dwarfs the elves fell and finally there was left but a single mage to protect the monolith. Seeing the blood-lust in the eyes of the dwarves the mage cast a potent spell of Chamon trying to rid the dwarfs of their weaponry.

 

Either by the power of the waystone or by some other unseen force the spell did what it was supposed to and more. It liquefied the armors and weapons of the dwarfs but also sucked all particles of metal from the dwarfs themselves too. In an instant the top of the mountain had turned into a site of massacre mutilated dwarfs and elves everywhere.

 

The horrible event and the surge of energy were too much for the mind of the elven mage. His mind broke down and he became obsessed by the power of the waystone. The once great obelisk was infused with the metal stripped from the dwarfs, elves and the mountain itself. It became a cruel idol of golden energy that the elf worshiped with sacrifices of blood and magic.

 

The mountain, the dwarfs and the elfs were soon forgotten.

 

The War of Vengeance ended and the Time of Woe began. The dwarfs did not venture to the Grey Mountains as it had always been known for it low quantity and quality of minerals. Now and then a small expedition wandered to the mountain and from those that survived the elven guardian the legend of Karag Elgramazul began.