The route travelled by Lord Tepec-Inzi and his army to recover the Star Stela.
Lord Tepec-Inzi was a Slann Mage-Priest who lead an army against Dark Elves of Naggaroth after the theft of the Star Stela of Quetli. Using the Black Way — a series of water-filled caverns stretching for many thousands of miles beneath the earth — the Dark Elves began a series of raids on the domains of Lustria, culminating in the year 315 with the theft of the most sacred Star Stela of Quetli from Itza.[1a] He sensed the ramifications of the Star Stela in the wrong hands, mustered an army and transported it all the way to the grey shores of Ashen Coast to intercept the Dark Elves. He left the battle plan in the hands of his trusted Saurus leader, Gor-Rok, who personally retrieved the item.[2a]
History[]
For centuries, the Mage-Priests had meditated upon the nature of the Elves' dark kin, attempting to discern their place within the plans of the Old Ones and whether their actions should be tolerated or punished. The decision, however, was made for them, for the Druchii used their secret way to launch an attack directly into the heart of the Lizardmen empire, stealing one of its most sacred artefacts from perhaps the most heavily guarded vault in the land. To what use the Dark Elves intended to put the sacred artefact was beyond the Slann, but they could not allow the Druchii Sorceresses to harness its power, nor to sully its purity with their dark magicks. The master Mage-Priest Lord Tepec-Inzi, roused from a decades-long meditative trance by the turmoil of his fellows' thoughts, determined to recover the Star Stela and thwart whatever mischief the Druchii had in mind.[1a]
Marshalling the host of Itza, Lord Tepec-Inzi travelled northwest, to the northernmost temple-city of Hexoatl. The Chronicles state that the journey was accomplished in an impossible time, suggesting that the Mage-Priest impelled his army to travel faster than any mortal could hope, or that he employed some manner of grand spell in order to cover the 1,500 miles between the two. At Hexoatl, Lord Mazdamundi granted Lord Tepec-Inzi the greater part of the Sacred Host of his city. His force thus doubled in number, the Mage-Priest led a vast horde of Lizardmen north into the Forest of Ash and along the grey shores of the Ashen Coast. At the mouth of the Witch Sea, the Mage-Lord intercepted the Dark Elves, whose raiding vessels were emerging from the Black Way, having surfaced at the Witch Gate.[1a]
As the raiders passed the narrow straits leading into the Boiling Sea, Tepec-Inzi struck, unleashing a sorcerous blast of such potency that the waters rose and dashed the Dark Elves' ships against the rocks, killing many hundreds of Druchii in an instant and forcing the survivors to form hasty lines upon the beaches. The battle that ensued was bloody in the extreme, for the Dark Elves were cornered by the Lizardmen, backed up against the cruel sea, and could expect no quarter from those whose holiest of artefacts they had plundered. Though the bulk of the Druchii were slaughtered, a number of Dark Elves did affect an escape, and these carried with them the sacred Star Stela.[1a]
It would be many months before the Mage-Priest brought these survivors to ground, and many battles were fought against the cruel denizens of the chill land of Naggaroth. But triumph Lord Tepec-Inzi did, and he returned to Itza ten months after the theft of the Star Stela, returning it to its rightful place at the heart of the Lizardmen empire.[1a]