"Not many people know this tale so listen well, events that shook this kingdom to its very foundation all began with arival of a single accursed adventurer, just another fool seeking fame and fortune in ruins of a fallen kingdom, unfortunately one day his team faced annihilation. As a sole survivor of that group a single adventurer crossed half a kingdom to talk to the king for his team was annihilated by a man his highness despised the most.
Voiceless Baron Indulf
As there weren't any noteworthy achievements to his name many people assumed he was just another nameless baron, the only noteworthy thing about him is the territory he controlled was the size of a great duchy, nearly all of the territory beneath the voiceless mountains belonged to him, probably because nobody wanted such a dangerous and unruly territory to begin with so he had no competitors in his barony other than bandits and demonic creatures from over the mountains.
As such the late king paid no heed to the indulfs crazed expansion, Indulf however had other plans. With general lack of funds from the royal city he was forced to use his own treasury to build,expand and preserve his territory. And this of course forced him to make shady dealings with some sinister forces of this world.
Like this years passed and Indulfs mind grew more muddled, and as his reason started disappearing another emotion became prominent inside him. Anger! vast hatred directed at the king for abandoning him to this god forsaken territory, and even when his power was above that of an archduke the king refused to give him a title of duke, as he would forced to fund him heavily.
Led by his hatred Indulf gathered bandits, mountain tribes various mercenaries and even captured some demonic creatures from the mountains to be a part of his growing army. Soon his army numbered five thousand strong, this marked the beginning of his rebellion.
Proclaiming himself "Arch duke Indulf" he led his men to besiege the tower of light, a tower formed by an ancient order of silver knights where they trained most elite fighters. Unfortunately they were very few in numbers with mere 250 true knights residing in the tower. By the time Indulf reached the tower of light his army numbered over 8000 as various vagabonds and bandits came to join the army to plunder and raze.
Setting siege to the tower of light Indulf was determined to finish this quickly, for he had to capture fort nox before the king set his foot on this territory.
Against all the odds the tower of light held for 8 months before it fell, this battle had cost Indulf heavily as he only had around 4500 soldiers left at the end, with 2500 of them dying at hands of the silver knights while the rest deserted as morale fell to its lowest. At the end not a single silver knight was was captured, with all of them dying in combat at the final floor. Even now the outlaws tremble at mention of Grand Master Harding, the grand maester of the order of silver who single handedly slew a hundred men.
With this Pyrrhic victory the tower of light bought enough time for the late king to arrive from the royal city with over ten thousand soldiers that were forged in flames of war, unlike Indulfs make shift army.
Hearing the news that the tower of light had fallen at hands of a lowly baron the king was furious at the loss of his most elite soldiers and his sword mentor Hardin. Unwilling to give Indulf a chance to run away and regroup the late king ambushed him at the royal road, which was considered ridicilous to be ambushed by an army of that size, any decent scout would notice them from a mile away, yet this unexpected ambush caused Indulfs forces to be all but annihilated.
Barely escaping with his life Indulf was pursued by the kings guard all the way until the old road where he was almost killed, but his guards threw away their lives to buy some time for Indulf to run away deep into the old road which barely allowed him to escape with his life for now yet still kings guard was on his trail at all times.
When he was finally forced to enter the fallen kingdom the late king ordered his soldiers to stop the chase, nothing could survive in the fallen kingdom anyway he would surely die soon . A wounded man with no battle skills how could he possibly survive?
And this was the end of Indulfs rebellion and was the last we heard of indulf for some time. But everything changed 20 years ago when a man bearing news of indulf gathering an unholy army, these news shocked the higher ranks. Not only did he not die, but he strived in the old kingdom and made his own faction.
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Shocked and angry at the news the late king immediately started gathering an army to get rid of Indulf once and for all, even if it meant venturing into the fallen kingdom. Soon enough the late king gathered 3 legions of 5000 men each before setting out for the old road where he would face his untimely demise..."
Shivering slightly when mentioning the old road once again he stay silent for a few minutes. Unable to keep my curiosity from asking more questions i open my mouth.
"How do you know all this? what happened inside the old road."
Looking at me with lifeless eyes he starts speaking once again as while chuckling desolately.
"hahaha, its been ages since i spoke this much. This might be hard to believe.. but i was one of 3 generals that entered the old road and fought horrors Indulf tried to unleash unto our kingdom."
Jumping a little at the fact that i was speaking to a general the whole time i widen my eyes and stand up from the chair staring at him unsure what to say.
" Do not worry.. that is what i was in the past the old me died there on that very road...even now i shouldn't be alive but here i am working as a guard in this village. What i was in the past...has nothing to do with me now."
Relaxing slightly i sit down once again before looking at him with curious eyes and a bit reservation.
"Now where did i stop?" He finally takes a deep breath before continuing the story
"As soon as we entered the old road there was an ominous atmosphere in the air as thick mist shrouded our path you could barely see 20 paces ahead of yourself at the time, naturally i gave out orders to stick close together and prepare to assist each other in case anything or anyone decide to use this opportunity to attack us. On the way we heard many roars screeches and even screams but nothing ever attacked us causing everyone to be as tense as a bowstring.
After two days of marching we finally saw the end of the dark road where laid a breathtaking sight other then the various ruins in front of us there lay a great mountain in distance whose peak was entirely covered in snow. right under a mountain there was a tower which was so high that its tip nearly touched the sky it had to be nearly 500 meters tall. To make something like that what kind of kingdom was this? and yet even with its grandness it lay torn open with various portions of it missing.
no matter how grand it was i had an army to manage so i was back to ordering my legion what to do. Under the orders of the king we decided to camp at the mouth of the old road, so nothing can pass by us. After we set our tents up the generals were called to the kings tent, to determine what to do after we find Indulf and where to find him. However...however just as we started talking we were startled by a loud sound that seemed to shake our souls.
It was as if thousands of tortured souls from hell screamed out at the same time, not even having time to be afraid soldiers rushed in with panicked expressions as they gave us a report.
"My lords, they are coming from the old road!"
We immediately rushed out the tent to organize the army, we had a battle to fight and we had to win for they closed of our path to the kingdom, defeat meant death. But even though i knew that i still lost my spirit when i saw our opponent...it just...wasn't right.
From the sides of the old road thousands of black shadows poured out from the mountains as the twilight light illuminated them. Each shadow represented a humanoid creature, but even if they looked like humans they were nothing like us. Their eyes were completely black yet gave off a faint silverish light that glinted with madness,hunger and anger their bodies seemed to be heavily injured...no not injured they seemed as if they were rotting with their yellow-green skins sticking almost to their bones at some parts, their cheeks were completely sunken in almost as if they were mummies.
Yet they ran so fast towards us, like an unrelenting wave of death. It was at this moment that i noticed a figure among them which that did not move at all, his messy long hair covered half his face and the unkempt beard covered the other half. But even from this distance his eyes were still striking, they were completely bloodshot with only a single emotion in them. Insanity, pure and undiluted insanity. The worst thing was that i knew this man... it was the voiceless baron indulf, i found it hard to imagine what caused this man to change so much at the time...It was something i unwillingly found out soon.
I barely managed to gather myself together at the time. Even if others can falter and fail i can not, i had to lead my men"