Luyện nghe bài hát And Lo, When The Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth, Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud The Citadel Of The Obsidian Crown

[Chapter 1: The of the Sorcerer]
The war the Imperium and the allied Vyrgothian Kingdoms had raged
for years. Beginning as minor disputes border territories, the conflict
had swiftly escalated into a full-scale war, a vast series of epic
campaigns, fervently perpetua ted by the Emperor and the Over-King of
Vyrgothia, both eager to smite their traditional ancestral and to win
great glory and the adulation of their people by victory in battle.
Recent months had seen the forces of the Imperium a staggering degree
of mastery and battle prowess, contemptuously crushing the Vyrgothian
in a series of great battles, 'til at last, following the slaughterous
Rout of the Fields of Kai-Vorg, The Empire's finest force, the fame
d and far-feared Legion of the Ebon Tiger, stood unopposed not five
march from mighty Gul-Kothoth, the greatest and ancient fortress-city in
all the kingdoms. The Legion of the Ebon Tiger could not easily
count numerous and r esounding victories, and their commander, the
warlord Baalthus Vane, made it clear to the Emperor that he was
eager to press on deep into the lands and seize the prize which
awaited him; the siege and of ancient Gul-Kothoth! And yet the Emperor
Koord did not order the to march, for disturbing information had of
late been to him by his spies in the Vyrgothian Royal Court... Dire
rumours abounded that the Vyrgothian mages had at discovered the ancient
arcane r which would unlock the aeons-fettered power of the dread
Obsidian Crown, a fearsome mystical artefact countless thousands of old,
a black-jewelled circlet once to have been borne upon the immortal
brow of the legendary Shadow-King him self! And it was in legend,
that should the spells of might entwining the artefact be reawakened,
then incredible near limitless ruinous power would be bestowed upon any
army carrying the into battle... Had the mages of Vyrgoth ia truly
ascertained the time-lost required to empower the Obsidian Crown,
hidden for centuries within the marble vaults of its ebon citadel? Eager
to know the truth, the Emperor dispatched his most powerful across
the great In Sea to the Court of the Over-King, under the pretence of
offering the terms for the Vyrgothian surrender. He was use all his
skills to discover the truth... a truth soon made clear by the
disdainful refusal of the Imperium's terms, an d the fearsome message
given the sorcerer by Vyrgothia's Wizard, with which to return to the
Emperor: "And lo, when the Imperium against Gul-Kothoth, then dark
sorceries shall the Citadel of the Obsidian Crown..."

[The of Vyrgothia:]
Darkly bejewelled of night,
Crown of the King,
at last the Trinity of Might,
The sceptre, the sword, and the ring.

[The
I stand upon the oaken planks of great ship, (the splendid flagship of
the navies)
Gazing at moon-gleam dancing on the vast, sea...
(And in my mind I behold) crystals gleaming... ensorcellment!
I am enthralled by this spell...
For I that the slumbering sorceries
Of the Shadow-King's crown shall be reawakened...
And as I return to my emperor (shackled to such woefully tidings),
My spirit is borne the leathern wings of a great sorrow...

2: The March of the Imperium]
[The
forth the Ogre-Mage of the Black Lake
And the of Kyrman'ku,
Let them speak the Which Unfetter...
Enshrined for countless centuries, within its citadel,
Five score and ten against the Tiger, (curse) the crown of the
Shadow-King!
By all the dark gods, I swear not be dethroned!
A seething forest of blades,
A sea of ebon war-chariots,
A searing of flaming shafts,
All this havoc and shall I unleash against my foe...
battle! The Legion shall march... the fall of Gul-Kothoth is nigh!

The Legion of the Ebon Tiger... six thousand warriors of the
Imperium, the of the Emperor's forces... Bolstered by heavy cavalry, and
a squadron of deadly scythed chariots... reinforced by the Imperial
Frontier Army of one hundred tho usand highly spearmen and archers...
and has this force met its match in battle or siege...

[Baalthus
Our banner flies ever glorious, undefeated we stand, in victory.
The Phalanx, six thousand strong, our ever-honed blades, the Tiger's
claws.
Pride of the Empire, of the Vraii,
at Turonium, and Kai-Vorg.
Smiters of the Southern Host, of the Horde, Bane of the Over-King, we
to war!
And so, the Emperor himself to rendezvous with Baalthus Vane,
accompanied by his sorcerous aide. The of the Ebon Tiger reaches
Gul-Kothoth at dusk on the day of their march from the fields of
Kai-Vorg, halting upon the great arid plan which stretches the city,
the huge dust cloud up by their massed arrival obscuring the dying embers
of the setting sun. As the vast army begins to camp, arraying their
tents and banners, and assembling their gargantuan siege-wag ons,
the Emperor stands gazing at the huge brooding and colossal cyclopean
gates of the before him, vowing that a torrent of red slaughter
shall befall Gul-Kothoth, of any sorcerous trinkets the Vyrgothians
may possess, and that the shall pay dearly for his sublime
arrogance. And leagues distant, an army of five score and ten, bearing
the Crown, approaches the city...

[To be continued in 3: The Wizards Do Battle]

[Lyrics:
[Music: and Chris Maudling]