Topic: The Fall of the Psion

Veilos Vol

Date: 2009-02-03 16:35 EST
Veilos had been called to war, the fight against the gray elf Verin Fahliell and his armies, and Veilos was not one to refuse a cry for help. After parting with Michiko, Veilos left Rhy'Din, and made his way via dimension gate to Faerun. He arrived just outside the Moonwood, where Illinvoldiel a moon-elf along with a small group of elven warriors and mages greeted him.

"Veilos," the moon-elf started, "It's always good to see you again my friend," he finished with a bow of his head.

"A shame that it had to be under such grave circumstances," was the return greeting from the psion, with a bow of his head in return.

"Indeed, this are grave times, I am glad you've come, we could use your help."

"And my help you shall have. Any news from King Dezoun?"

The elf shook his head then, "Not yet, we've been waiting for you so that we may set off toward his kingdom."

The psion's brow furrowed for a moment, and he nodded with his response. "Well then, I am here, let us be off."

The elf nodded and turned to his warriors, calling out to them in the elven tongue the turned and set off, moving at a pace that was far too swift for any average human to match. But Veilos was hardly the average human, delving deep within his thoughts, the crystals on the back of his hands lit up with the most faint of violet lights.

"Vylos, I need to be faster," Veilos projected his thoughts into the psi-crystal he had been fused with. In response, the glow turned into a light, bright for just a moment, before fading away. Suddenly Veilos could easily match the speed and skill of the elves, and so he ran on with them, matching their speed with ease.

Verin Fahliell

Date: 2009-02-06 13:44 EST
Verin stood at the top of his keep in the Moonshae Isles, staring out the window at the giant crystalline structure that towered in the enormous courtyard below. The gray elf was dressed for battle, wearing shining mithral chain mail with thin and magically treated steel plates. His shoulders were draped in a violet cape with silver silk thread detailing his kingdom's emblem. It was a silver flame with a great oak tree in the foreground and the crossing of curved elven swords in the background; Intricate patterns similar to Celtic knots surrounded the emblem in a detailed frame. At Verin's side there was a slender long sword, sheathed in silver and forged from the most precious of metals, treated with the most powerful of magics.

He hardly looked the part of a conquesting king, or a dark lord, as some had grown accustomed to calling him, hardly looked like the tyrant rival kingdoms accused him of being. For, even if his kingdom was one taken by force, none could deny the aptitude he displayed for ruling. Ambition dos not make one evil and striving for greater things hardly classifies one as corrupt. If one were to look at the capital of his kingdom, the shining city of Elvianstra, they would see a rich and prosperous place, filled with humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and even orc and drow populating the avenues, all living their daily lives peacefully and happily. Now if one saw the cities of Waterdeep, Luskan, or Calimport, before he ruled over them, one would see rampant crime, poverty, and corrupt nobles stepping on the commoners. Now if one went to those cities they would see reconstruction, rebuilding, and reformation. The cities were repairing themselves, returning to their noble and proud roots, becoming peaceful once again.

It was with cities like those in mind, that the gray elf known as Verin Fahliell vanished without a sound or trace, and appeared in the crystal tower constructed by the artifact known as Creshinibon. Standing in the top-most chamber of the tower, he stared at the artifact, which was more commonly called, the Crystal Shard.

"You're no longer needed elf," the shard said to Verin via telepathic communication, and the elf simply smirked and shook his head slowly and deliberately.

"You've mixed us up Creshinibon, it is you who is no longer needed," the elf replied as he walked toward the shard and lifted it from its resting place in the center of the tower.

"What are you doing?" the shard demanded as Verin turned and headed for the exit. Walking down the spiral steps of the crystalline tower, he blocked the shard from his mind, cut off all ways of communication and set his face into a visage of calm determination. While Creshinibon had no way of looking into the elf's mind, it knew. Somehow the shard knew that Verin was setting out to destroy it, and it knew that Verin had a way of doing so as well.

"No!" it bellowed frantically, breaking through his rather meager mental barrier. "Wait! I can still help you! You still need me!" it continued to scream to the elf as he calmly made his way to the bottom of the tower.

Smirking, the elf continued through the halls until he was finally on the ground level of the crystal tower. Waiting for him was one of the largest men he had ever seen, Gorsmoth the Red. Gorsmath was standing on the opposite side of the room, at a height well over seven feet tall, with arms that rippled with thick and powerful muscle, wild and untamed red hair and beard, and slited yellow eyes that gleamed with malicious intent.

"Gorsmoth," Verin greeted the towering man with a nod.

"Fahliell," Gorsmoth replied with a similar movement, "Are you sure of this course of action elf?"

"There is no doubt in my mind," Verin replied with a second nod, "I'll not suffer Creshinibon's existence any longer."

Gorsmoth nodded and lowered his malevolent gaze toward the Crystal Shard and nodded. Just then, the man's eyes widened as Creshinibon pelted his mind with a mental barrage.

"You won't have to?" Gorsmoth replied as he went into a flurry of action. Charging forward, his fist flew for Verin's face in a powerful hook while his other hand lifted toward the hilt of the massive great sword that was strapped diagonally across his back. Sensing the treachery even before it began, the elf was not caught off guard, and rushed forward. Ducking under the fist, he angled his shoulder for the man's chest and rammed into him. Verin might as well have run into a solid stone wall for the impact had him jarred and off balance.

Gorsmoth growled ferociously as he brought the large sword down in a vertical slash for the elf's shoulder. But Verin was an elf, speed saved him as he dropped low, and spun out to the side, drawing his blade as he flew out of the way. Angling so that his sword arm was toward Gorsmoth and the hand that held the shard was away from him, Verin spread his legs slightly, balanced out and set into a ready stance. His emerald gaze narrowed on the towering man, who sneered and charged forward with abandon, slicing vertically at first, then stopped, spun, and bringing the blade up diagonally from hip to shoulder, had the elf doing a quick step to the side and a parry that left his arm numb.

He turned and darted for the door, ducking under a horizontal slash as he started off at a dead run. Verin dove through the door and rolled as he met the ground, sprang up to his feet, and wheeled around to face the tower. Gorsmoth came storming out, charging forward with abandon once more, slicing and stabbing every which way, forcing Verin purely to a defensive posture.

Verin then ducked low as Gorsmoth's latest attack had him stumbling off balance, and the elf rushed around the brute, slicing every which way with his slender sword, scoring painful cuts, but no real damage was dealt. Gorsmoth grew frustrated with the elf, his speed was too much for the large man to handle, he twisted and turned, trying to score a hit with that massive weapon of his, only to find that Verin was already moving out of the way, running circles around him. He bellowed in outrage before throwing his sword aside and glaring daggers at the elf. Many would think Gorsmoth just admitted defeat, but the battle was far from over"

Gorsmoth grinned wickedly at the elf, and then it happened, flames erupted around the man, his form grew, shifted, scales spread over his body, great and powerful wings sprouted from his shoulder blades, and he continued to change. In less than a few minutes, Gorsmoth the man, was replaced by Gorsmoth the dragon. He stood towering even more so over Verin, with glittering red scales that reflected the sunlight and the light that shone from the crystal tower, with a majestic effect, covering the area in red, yellow, and orange lights. So beautiful was the creature, words cannot do it justice, but its beauty was a fa"ade, for Gorsmoth was anything but beautiful.

Verin knew this would come eventually, thus prepared for it. When Gorsmoth reared his head back, and took a sharp inhalation of breath, the elf jutted the shard outward, toward the dragon.

"If you breath you'll destroy Creshinibon!" he shouted up at the dragon. "Only dragon's fire can harm the Crystal Shard!"

This brought a pause, Gorsmoth exhaled slowly and lowered his serpentine neck a bit.

"Give me the shard," the dragon demanded of the elf, his voice deep and rumbling, like a landslide.

"Creshinibon will be destroyed today, and you'll be the one to do it," was Verin's response.

The great dragon made a sound, that was all too similar to an earthquake, deep and rumbling, low and malicious, a laugh.

"You can't force me to do anything elf."

"But can't I dragon' You forget what I have, what I hold, and who I control?" Verin held up the shard again, and smirked. The top of the crystalline tower lit up with an intense light, it seemed to be drawing the sunlight away from the area. While the shard no longer willingly served Verin, the elf's mind was too powerful, his will was too absolute, the shard could not resist his commands.

Gorsmoth looked up at the tower, and his malicious yellow eyes widened, he had seen the power of that structure before, had seen what was about to happen.

"Destroy the shard, or it will destroy you?choose Gorsmoth, you've little time?" Verin said as he gazed up at the monstrous dragon before him. Gorsmoth knew he had no choice, so he looked down and glared at the elf, then thought"Fine, I'll destroy the shard, but you'll die in my flames as well'so he opened his great maw, reared back, then shot a jet of the most intense white hot flames at the man and the shard.

Verin winced as he saw that oncoming cascade of fire, spiraling super heated death toward him, yet held his ground, he knew that his enchantments would hold firm, knew that the shard would take the brunt of it all, as he had planned for it to. Magic worked around him as fire swept over him, and pushed the flames directly toward the shard. Creshinibon mentally screamed in protest, the shard began to actually writhe in his hand as it lit up, a glowing red from the sheer intensity of the flames. Then like that, a great crack went down the middle, followed by several other such breaks in the artifact, and the shard crumbled away, fell into dust, and was no more.

Behind Verin, the tower too met a similar fate, linked to the shard, it could no longer stand, and thus came crumbling down.

Gorsmoth glared down at the smoke and wreckage, certain that the elf had met his demise. But the smoke began to clear, there was a figure still standing, a stone he thought, a piece of the tower, but"it was far too humanoid in shape. Then as the smoke cleared fully, Gorsmoth saw him, saw Verin Fahliell, standing there with the most smug of grins, staring up at the dragon.

"I thank you for your cooperation Gorsmoth, now your time has come to an end," said the elf. "Branzkul, Arlanzyth! Come!? and like that two great dragons swooped down from the sky, just as large as the mighty Gorsmoth. One, Branzkul, was a malevolent black dragon while Arlanzyth was a ferocious red like Gorsmoth. They tackled the great wyrm, and went into an onslaught of furious attacks even as Verin turned and walked away.