The Corruption

Vescteseg prowled his throne room angrily, for his last experiment had perished and he was lacking in Entorithi to tinker with. His current project in the caverns below his citadel is where he corrupted flesh and made it his, and where every minion of his could trace its lineage to. Then, he froze, standing absolutely still in order to take in the magnificence of his throne room to calm him down before he broke something again.

The walls were made of magnificent basalt stone, quarried by the undead, carved and shaped by his Alfar, with disturbingly delightful carvings all over the massive bricks. The throne itself was made of black Iron, with the foot of the throne surrounded by human skulls. The remains of a human Army that had marched to drive the Corruption back. That army's general now led a legion of Vescteseg's undead. Fitting in his eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, a thrum of energy batted behind his eyes, in his skull. A summons from his "King" of all things. Rolling his eyes he decided to go just for a thrill. Going to the center of the room, he slammed his warhammer on the ground. The skulls at the foot of his throne rolled forward and formed a perfect circle in front of Vescteseg's feet, and he leaped in.

The portal opened in the middle of the ceiling and he fell through, and when he landed his fall created a small crater in the floor. Slamming the hammer into the ground to help himself, which in the process created another crater, he swaggered over to Lycaon, contemptuously brushing past the other gods. He mockingly bowed before the king of the gods, and said "Greetings oh mighty Lycaon, God of Order and High King of the gods, I the humble Vescteseg have come as you have summoned." His voice seeming to have an extra note of sarcasm on the words King and humble...

Ulm's stride was stopped to a halt by a brief flash in front of his face, well above the clouds that lay upon the land below. There in the air hovered the wretch of a host in this vile joke of a realm. His face twisted into a bestial expression of scorn. In a booming and condescending voice he spoke:

"What brings me to your fair land? To walk on your fair soil that serves only to wound the feet that strengthen it? To breathe your fair atmosphere of noxious air that carries the whisper of desolation? To see your fair people whom have sold their soul to a pretender god of corruption, only to become mindless husks of their former selves to serve as puppets?"

Towards the end the tone of his voice grew sharper and more savage, but he calmed his breath soon after. He further spoke:

"I have come to bathe in the Baleful Cauldron, my skin grows itchy and covered in the dust of ages. You will grant pass to this creation of mine, and i will ensure our relations will keep steady regardless of my opinion towards you."

Of all the Pretenders, Vescteseg was perhaps towards the bottom in his list of favourites, though none were really that likable to begin with.

Vescteseg placed a hand upon his heart in mock indignation at the Titan's harsh words. Eyeing Ulm more carefully, he said "O Titan, you wound me deeply with your accusations! I of course shall grant you access to that which is your creation. I only ask that you tread carefully, and avoid breaking any of my creations. They tend to be rather.... Tempermental. And I doubt even one such as you could deal with thousands of that which is already dead..." And then just as he finished his little statement Klethi appeared as well, babbling like a brook, and about as useful to Vescteseg as one. Rolling his eyes, He said once again "Well, I i bid thee both welcome to mine realm, and may you both find that which you seek. Fare thee well, for I have matters I need to attend to in my capitol. With this parting statement, he departed the scene, leaving the Titan and the Goddess to talk as they wished.

Vescteseg placed a hand upon his heart in mock indignation at the Titan's harsh words. Eyeing Ulm more carefully, he said "O Titan, you wound me deeply with your accusations! I of course shall grant you access to that which is your creation. I only ask that you tread carefully, and avoid breaking any of my creations. They tend to be rather.... Tempermental. And I doubt even one such as you could deal with thousands of that which is already dead..." And then just as he finished his little statement Klethi appeared as well, babbling like a brook, and about as useful to Vescteseg as one. Rolling his eyes, He said once again "Well, I i bid thee both welcome to mine realm, and may you both find that which you seek. Fare thee well, for I have matters I need to attend to in my capitol. With this parting statement, he departed the scene, leaving the Titan and the Goddess to talk as they wished.

Ulm was both amused and satisfied to see that Vesceteseg showed submission to him. His bestial face twisted into a grin and he spoke again with booming voice:

"Most excellent. You choose wisely to benefit the both of us. Now step aside and i'll-"

As he spoke, a buzzing sound grew louder in his ear. At first he did not pay attention, but soon it grew so irritating that his speech was stopped. His grin was gone and he turned his head slightly to the left and there it was, a puny elf floating in the air. Through a train of thought Ulm figured that the noise was coming from the elf, possibly one of the pretenders. He snapped out of his cycle of deep loathing to recognize the insect as Klethi, the Goddess of Compulsive Gambling. She was currently babbling an empty threat about invading Heimstaed, to which Ulm, in response, let out a roaring laugh. In a splitsecond he spread his consciousness to the Stonewardens around the mountains, only to prove Klethi's threat baseless.

"For a halfwit jester you spin tales most ridiculous and unbelievable in nature. For the benefit of your dear peoples i shall pass this empty threat as another one of your tricks. What, you expect me to open my gates for your carnival and march into the Undervaults? Allow me to laugh even harder!"

He began striding away towards the Cauldron, laughing as he went.

"Go sing your songs to Lycaeon and his band of buffoons. I care not for your tricks."

But as he finished, he felt something snap in the back of his head. He turned around and stared at Klethi the way a cow stares at an oncoming train. He spoke with a calm tone:

"Did you just mention adamant?"

The mention of adamant was too specific for the little bugger. Why would they covet that? Surely they would first take the store of gems he had in the Undervaults. Besides, he had plans for this green metal, he would not let go of it so surely. . .

Klethi smiled the wide, dangerous smile she did while plotting the deaths of demigods. "I would assume by now you've asked your subjects what condition your realm is in, and what interlopers may have invaded it." She laughed. "I would call you a liar if you said anything could detect the guileful, witty, cunning elf that has made you his fool!" She hovered after Ulm (much of the pain and suffering happened as results of Klethi's disfavor, but even with all the warriors and betrayed lovers she'd tripped, disarmed, or fooled and sent here, The Corruption was not somewhere she was fond of touching). She laughed again her two-syllable triumphant chuckle. "I see now that you realize just what you loose at misunderestimating the race you call my people, Ulm. I'd think the sooner you apologize to the tree-people the more opportune; it may be even now that your stolen metals are being forged against you. Soon you will join the other old gods in ruination, unless you..." she thought about it. There wasn't much that she wanted that Ulm could offer; ennui was difficult to cure in material goods. "...unless you..." she tapped her chin. "...commission your finest craftsman to make... a large pair of twenty-sided die. From impenetrable, unshatterable glass. The twenties shall be images of my favor, and the ones symbols of my displeasure. Anything less and I cannot promise you'll ever see Heimstaed again. Perhaps I will make it my vacation home. And I could auction your belongings off to charity. An elf-helping charity, of course." She turned to look at Vescteseg. "Or maybe I'll give him the adamant, and I'll let him take your mountain from you. He's already taken your cauldron away. I'm surprised he hasn't knocked you out of the runnings yet altogether, with or without it." She shrugged. "So have those dice commissioned, or I won't be able to say I didn't give you a fair warning. Not that any warning could come in time to prevent the Fenris from burglarizing your home, though."

Ulm was growing tired of this display. The lava-bath had to wait, the pretenders were surely up to something, they coveted the adamant for whatever reason. He hated the fact that Klethi got him to return, soon she'll claim that she got the mighty titan to turn back and run back home paranoid. Phah! He had all right to be angry and paranoid when a group of ascendant whores wanted his head on a platter for being the only titan left since the other titans were-. . . . were-. . .
He couldn't really remember where the others went, this was really starting to bug him. Doesn't matter, the pretenders were up to something again. It was time to put his designs into fruition.

He made a sharp turn and began striding back towards Heimstaed. To Klethi he said with a booming and angry voice:

"I will not take any further lip from an insolent brat! I have nothing to apologize to a race of failures, much less to you, a spineless bug who has to resort to a cheap gimmick to attain power! You will cease your threats and ridicule, for you do not understand the consequences you face! Now begone! I must return to the Underforges, for i must complete designs that rival the immaterium!"

He cared not if Klethi followed him, he was going to ignore her completely from now on. He was going to return to the Underforge and mold the perfect life form, a fusion of flesh and metal. He knew that it would have use in events to come, if the pretenders were truly trying to steal the adamant. He did not understand what properties it had that were worth coveting . . .