Darkwood--Vhashik-Corrupted by Shadow

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Vhashik
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Darkwood--Vhashik-Corrupted by Shadow

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The story of the blade, Vhashik, forged by the elves of the Dark Wood.
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

They slew my master and let me lie for a time, somehow unaware of my power. A raucous bunch, these humanoids. One seems to have some blood of my master's people in her, but even she is tainted and the remainder are lesser races barely worthy of polishing my blade with their sanguine bile.

The shifter was the first to lay claim. Its grip showed the lack of skill with weapons it possessed. How dare it place a paw upon me? Then it tried to trade my blade of unimaginable worth for a mundane machete. A mere cutting implement good for little more than foliage! To one of holy bearing no less! I would have enjoyed the pain inflicted upon that one, but he recoiled and rejected the might Vhashik. It discarded me with as little thought as it had picked me up, only now it understood and recoiled in reflexive horror. The unworthy would not wield me this day.

Then the half-blood took up my blade. Unworthy, of course, but maybe she would present me to a true warrior of the cause with some encouragement. Half-blood, stand with the dark elves. Serve the Great Devourer! She sneers and places me in a scabbard. Yet she protects me. Her honeyed words tell the others that leaving me behind would be a mistake, that I could be turned against them once more. Smart but a half-truth. She wants my power for herself, what little she knows of it. I shall tell her only a little at a time. As her understanding grows, so too will her desire.
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

There is something off about this one. I cannot place my pommel on it yet. She has a love of darkness, a biting tongue, and a devious heart, this much I have discerned. She continues to rebuff me. I tell her the glory that awaits should she join the dark ones and she ignores me, pretends not to hear even though I am in her very thoughts.
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Post by Vhashik »

She approaches the Djinn of Water and flatters it. Inside she cringes but it offers power without cost. What a fool! Taken in by the Warlock's silver tongue. She utters the words that change everything:

"I would wish for my mixed parentage to no longer limit my current or potential abilities."

She does seek power. That of her ancestors. Being a half-breed limited her true heritage and she seeks to rectify this flaw! It worked, too. I can feel the dark elven blood coursing through her. There is something more. A deeper malevolence? Ties to the corruption which runs through her people? It is a chink in her facade. I am stronger. I am the dark elven blade Vhashik. I shall hack at it until the corruption takes her and she listens to my counsel.

Join with the dark elves! Free the Devourer!
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Post by Vhashik »

This had gone all wrong. Now she twists the thoughts of a Glabrezu. Forces it to do her bidding. Convinces it to strike directly at the neck. What kind of demon-childe is she? Moments ago she wanted to slay it, now she encourages it to bring everything worked for down. This cannot stand.

I can feel them through the door. Their taint is strong. The holy one senses them, too.

Beyond the door! Watch out!

Her hand wraps around my hilt. I can feel the shadow it is covered in lick at the wire wrapping. She snarls, "Hush. You'll ruin the surprise." Emotion! A chink!

Help the dark elves! Rewards you cannot fathom will be yours! Strike your companions down on the doorstep of the master!

She resists. Not ignores, resists! I must press this! Turn on them! Kill...

NO! How can this be? She...

Yes, mistress. I shall be quiet.
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Kalindriel Ec'urb
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

She had swaddled the sword in cloth and left it under Sorchat's watch some time ago. The preparations had taken awhile, and she wanted to start before dusk, though making sure the area was properly prepared was important to her. Appearance is important as effect she thought to herself. After fetching the two she could begin.

Cordoning off a large area with tarps, she had made intricate patterns with colored sand. An inner circle thirteen feet across with four smaller circles surrounded by runes of the draconic language. Each had a brazier, though only the one representing fire was lit. Sorchat would sit here when the ritual began. A glass vial filled with a clear liquid rested in the brazier opposite. To one side of both was a rock placed on a pile of dirt. Across from it was incense, formulated to smell like the air immediately after a powerful storm. The herbalist knew his profession well, Kalindriel mused to herself.

The outer circle was twenty-seven feet across and composed of sixteen smaller ones. Each was filled with an item, some on braziers, some not. Several blocks belonging to a child filled one. A decanter which slowly trickled out an endless stream of water another. Quite a handy thing in a barren land. Hopefully the elf won't notice it missing prior to its return. A pit was dug into one circle and filled with a noxious mixture of oil, entrails, and fecal matter. A pit next to it was filled with smoldering coals. Across from them a holy symbol of one of the elven gods filled its circle. Other items representing the outer planes were placed carefully in their circles.

Circles and lines of differently colored sand connected the inner, outer, and very center of the work. Tied above the center was a clear crystal suspended by netting. On the ground below it was a smoky quartz sphere. Two stools sat to either side of the crystals, Kalindriel's original glaive propped against one.

Satisfied with the preparations, she targeted the center of the circle and unleashed her magical power. I never expected to have a use for this, much less use so frequently. It should help put the sword at ease though...
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Post by Vhashik »

It had been interminably long before she returned. Though covered, the sword could feel the elves as they passed nearby. Their purity nearly unbearable. How it wanted to bathe in their sanguine humors.

Kalndriel carried the bundle to the prepared spot. She would not respond to its pleadings beyond saying they would 'talk' soon.

Before the blanket was even unwrapped, the sword could sense the corruption in the area. No detestable Order or Goodness nearby, only taint. Perhaps she did understand. Could all of her behavior up to know have been a ruse? After removing the blanket she placed Vhashik upon a stool upon which a glaive lay against. The elemental was sitting away from them in a brazier. Candles were spread throughout the area, near a variety of objects, casting shadows in patterns that danced in the makeshift room. Fading rays of daylight filtered through the walls of the shelter, futher altering the shadow's dance. The air was freezing. Other than trying to blow rings with her breath, the dark elf took no notice of the temperature.

Why are we here? Mistress? It was a ruse, was it not? Are you to claim my power now, to give yourself to the Great Master? The Infinite Corruptor? The...
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Kalindriel Ec'urb
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

Kalindriel ignored the long litany of names. She knew the entity it was referring to. One would have been more than sufficient since the damnable blade only mentions the Great Blah Blah Yadda Yadda every time it tries to talk with her. She doesn't interrupt though. She had lost herself in thought while it rambled and almost missed it finishing with a remark about the pole-arm crowding it.

"The 'useless stick', as you call it, was given to me by my mother. It is forged of blood iron. Have you heard of it? While not magical, and thus insignificant compared to your abilities, it is still a finely crafted weapon. One I earned the right to wield and which acts as a reminder of home."
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

An inferior metal, regardless of origin, kept for weak sentimentalities. I am forged of adamantine! Folded with passion, molded by spite, sharpened by hate. Use the stick as it deserves--naught but kindling. You should wield a real weapon. Together we could destroy the priests of the weak dwarf lord.
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

"Ah, yes, the dwarves." There is a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "I can understand your hatred of Order. A foolish attempt to try and understand a chaotic universe. And plenty of weapons are made to oppose Righteousness even if I find it limiting. Debilitating your foes makes sense. But why such hatred of dwarves?"
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

VAL - KHAN! The sword hissed back with a seething rage that would make a Flametongue envious.

I was made to slay the high priest of the pathetic ValKhan! A shield is useless against a quick strike from behind. A blade worthy of the finest of assassins so they could dispatch the hated dwarves with ease.

It laments, Too long has it been since I tasted their flesh.
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

"To kill a dwarf priest. Isn't that a little... specific? One singular task. Wouldn't a blade dedicated to spreading the cause of a Power which wants to consume everything have more use of a blade that could work against numerous foes? Such singular purpose is more worthy of a blade which serves Order."

Lies! Strike at the head and the rest of the body crumbles.

"Still sounds lawful to me. Wouldn't it be better to be capable of striking anywhere with devastating effect? To be strong enough that no matter where you hit they suffer a grievous wound? Quick enough that it throws them off-balance?"

If the sword was capable of staring, Kalindriel would be punctured by its intensity. The hatred emanating from it was palpable. We killed many in pursuit of the priests!

"You're the blade of an assassin. They avoid direct confrontation and only strike when pressed or if they have the upper hand and an escape at the ready. We recovered you from the hand of a warrior. Did you not enjoy being used to confront foes directly? Used in the chaos of a fight with multiple targets and shifting tactics?"
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Post by Vhashik »

He was weak or he would not have died. I can only guide his hand so much. It is never enjoyable to be in the hand of a weakling. Certainly not as enjoyable as being buried to the hilt in the back of a priest, to sup upon their fading strength.

She quipped, "All your masters were weak then, else you would not have come to me."

Many of worth have wielded me. Many more of note have fallen to my edge.

"No more than a handful I'd wager."

By the fungus, you are infuriating! Their deaths saw the collapse of entire armies, the crippling of their faith!
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

"Yet Valkhan still has followers and your great one has been inconsequential for centuries. They have failed here, and rather spectacularly, to a small band of rebels."

Biding our time. Slowly spreading, unseen, unknown. Do not think this place represents all our work! Nor believe I do not know of the role your own hand played.

"I'm quite proud of that. Corrupting the Corrupter's works. It has a delicious irony. It was getting a bit repetitive by the third shrine," she trails off recalling the fight around the Marid's pool.

"This is what I am talking about. Such a single-minded dedication to your beliefs. You are forged that way, so it's not like you have the capacity to change it. The power you are dedicated to may be powerful, may be capable of tainting everything it touches, but its goal is so limiting."

Vhashik communicates nothing in response to her mocking.

"I find the Queen of Shadow,Rhyxali, far more worthy of study." She says the name in a barely audible whisper and with quite a bit of reverence.

You deny the Great... Again with the names. You would worship her instead?

"Not worship so much as admire." Her eyes stare into the distance. "The first time I saw her... mom was paying tribute. Nothingness given form! A regal shadow, indeed. I admit I was rather smitten."

Bah, you chase shadows.

"I do! Obviously you do not understand. Look around this room." She gestures wide with her arms. "The inner planes are composed of fundamental building blocks. The outer planes are composed of beliefs. The transitory planes connect them and the material planes are composed of bits of them all."

"All along the Great Wheel are battles of steel, flesh, and mind to influence the Primes. They go back and forth in eternal struggle. Sometimes one of an infinite many are captured--ascending or descending--because of the influence of a plane that 'wins'. Yet in all these realms the Shadow already lurks. Few are the planes where it does not exist, and they are notable precisely because it does not!"

"Yet how can something which is the absence of something not exist? It may not be present in large amounts but it can be made. Most places though it is considered inconsequential. A trick of the light. Or a wonderment. Look at the shapes!"

"The shadow is Chaos incarnate though. It changes as conditions in the environment change. It dances. It flows. It highlights. It conceals. Dangers lurk in it. Fears spread because of it. Superstitions develop around it. Beings study it. They explore the essence of nothing!"

"Your corruption seeks to twist what already exists. Shadow exists when what was is no more. It can be created by the movement of bodies and is present from the highs of Mount Celestia to the lowest trenches of the bottomless Abyss. It is a different state of being than anything else in the multiverse."
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

What is your point? Will you serve the Devourer or not? Give me to one who will if not yourself.
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

"My point? That you serve the wrong purpose. You need to be more flexible in your goals."

"Your purpose is to slay a tiny handful of people, which I am sure you do quite well, but rarely have the opportunity to be employed for. Instead, imagine making a name for yourself. Being a weapon talked about in hushed whispers, in awe and reverence, lest saying your name aloud draws unwanted attention. Wielded by someone with aspirations for becoming something greater than they are and an understanding of the hidden things of existence. Of being part of a legend."

I. AM. Legendary. "No one has heard of you," she counters.

"If faced with a righteous dwarven priest, you would make anyone a formidable foe. What do you offer in trying to reach them? Oh, you might be effective against other devout followers, but what as you get farther from the source? What happens as they are thinned and scattered? What of those angered or fearful? The further from that purpose, the less you offer the hand which wields you."

"Think of the shadow. Mutable with every situation. Indestructible. Ever present. Unobtrusive under scrutiny. All consuming in the night."

"Lightning. A quasi-element between the realms of Air and Positive Energy." She points at the smoke of the incense wafting upwards. "A concentrated burst of light. Yet it produces the most dramatic of contrasts. Behind the objects it illuminates are the darkest of shadows. Light and dark, the realm of shadow, strengthened during a brilliant flash."

"Imagine serving Shadow itself instead of some singular, narrow purpose."
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

How would that aid in destroying a priest of Valkhan?
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

Kalindriel takes the hilt of the sword in her left hand and cradles the blade in her right. Concentrating a moment it is engulfed in writhing shadows. Slowly waving it in an arc leaves small swirls of darkness which dissipate after detaching from the surface of the blade.

"The shadows obscure your presence. It becomes easier to hide your form in all but bright light, and even under direct observation it becomes hard to gauge your exact position. It slightly disorients opponents. It disturbs their senses, which throws them off balance."

"Further, the shadows are cloying. A well-placed strike will burrow into whatever is hit, causing additional devastation. Where your assassin relies upon weaknesses in anatomy, my shadows can find flaws in more solid materials. A very well placed hit can potentially sap the strength of a victim, enhancing the drain you already place upon them. With your adamantine construction, they should easily penetrate deep into a foe."

"These things would make you more effective against anything we fought together, including your despised priests."
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Vhashik
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Post by Vhashik »

Those enhancements would be useful. Would they inflict more pain? I have no need to serve your shadows though.
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Kalindriel Ec'urb
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Post by Kalindriel Ec'urb »

"Mortals would find the strikes painfully cold. Spiritually cold."

"You would serve me, and I serve the shadow. Through that you would as well. Our goals do not have to be crossed."

"Now you accuse me of aiding your enemies. That is not true. I serve my own purposes. Did your Devourer suffer a setback? Perhaps. Time is meaningless to one such as it. It's minions were weak. If their grand plans collapsed due to my efforts then I am stronger than they. If my presence would not have changed the outcome, then whether I oppose or side with them is irrelevant."

"Regardless, they failed in their task and they failed your master. There will be no reward for them. I am better than them and you will be better for aiding me in whatever task I set for myself. We will become known in these Realms. Already my name is becoming known. Soon yours will be associated with it."

"As we become renowned, the foolish will seek us out to stop us. Regardless of their reasons, they shall only make us stronger."

"It's a shame you're a sword and not a glaive though..."
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