It is written in the ancient legends... that high amidst the moon-swathed
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peaks of the great Mountain of Shadows, hides the aeon-weary threshold of the
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Astral Gate... the portal from our world, to beyond... It is said that one who
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holds the key and knows the empyreal incantation may stand within the ancient
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ring of stones atop the mountain when the stars are correctly aligned, and
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unlock the mystic gate, summoning its sidereal sentinels, thereby attaining
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ultimate enlightenment and wisdom unparalleled...
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[Part 1: THE INVOKING]
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[The Aspirant Reaches The Summit]
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Keepers of the cosmic threshold, my ascent has been fraught with terror,
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deathsteeped, storm-hammered. (These grim mountains are strewn with the bones
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of the ill-fortuned dead.) O' Guardians of the Astral Gate, the spheres blaze
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at last in trine... I hold the Key! (The trinity of stars shall touch the
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circle of stones once more...) The incantation of Xuk'ul is known to me, the
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Orb of Summoning earned with bloodshed! (The crystalline key to the Outer
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Realms and the arcane rite to empower it are at last mine, Seized at
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swordpoint from the citadel of the Black Templars. Enlightenment awaits!)
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Many years ago, the mystic Orb of Summoning was seized by the mysterious
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Black Templars,a band of sombre, plunder seeking knights from the kingdoms to
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the east of the Great Sea. They wrested the sorcerous gem from the ancient
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shrine of Azaimedes, where i t had lain hidden for countless centuries, its
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true power and purpose known only to the dour shamans who tended to the elder
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place of worship. It is said that the tapestry of slaughter woven that day was
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unparalleled in its ferocity, and that the marble walls of the ancient shrine
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were, and still remain, stained vivid crimson with the spilled blood of the
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Orb's keepers.
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Ka-kur-ra, I summon thee,
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Zul'tekh Azor Vol-thoth.
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Mighty Xuk'ul arise,
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Kur'oc Gul-Kor, come forth.
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I hold aloft the pulsing orb, astral spheres, empower the mystic key.
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Ring of elder stones entwined in prophecy, the Rite of Invocation enthralls
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thine power. Replete from drinking deep of darkness, black shapes dancing
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'twixt the stones, Lucent beams lancing forth from the gleaming, cepheid
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stars, a creeping mist ensorcells my tongue...
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A great stillness binds the moon-cloaked mountaintop in glooming
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shackles... (High above, the myriad stars gleam bright against the night sky,
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three more resplendently bedazzling than the others, their sidereal auras
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engulfing the stones...) And the central stone of the ancient ebon ring begins
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to pulsate with a darksome energy... A thunderous maelstrom ablaze with
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writhing celestially spawned power then rends the stygian night... (A vast
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shimmering aperture, a vortex of heliacal fire... the pathway to beyond
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beckons!)
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The Astral Gate is open...
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The Guardians have awakened...
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[XUK'UL:]</i> Impudent mortal! You dare summon us? If 'tis elucidation you
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seek, you shall have it!
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Such searingly terrible stellar majesty... my sanity is lashed like a
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vessel on a storm-wracked sea. What price this invocation? Shall the singing
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stars claim my very mind?
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To countless worlds we travel, riding the endless black seas 'twixt the
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stars... the ebon oceans of infinity... flying through a thousand suns, then
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watching their light fade, as if it were but a flickering candleflame snuffed
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by the wind. As beings of p ure energy we become one with the vastness,
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transcending the ethereal walls of time, spanning at once this celestial
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eternity, and yet existing as no more than a mote of dust within the vista of
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its endlessness... Journeying beyond...
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The threshold looms, (the star-way between dimensions stretches before
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me...) The Gate To That Which Lies Beyond yawns wide... Unspeakable forces
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gibber and pulsate in the Outer Darkness... Elder horrors dwell here, things
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| which were ancient and revelled in sublime galactic malevolence |
