VISTILANTUS
CASSANDRA
GALTHUS
This was Vistilantus, the man most likely to be mentioned by name when anyone speaks of fear. I had the good fortune of only meeting him once, a meeting during which I tried to remain hidden behind a stack of plates in the Woo Hoo Tavern, but here follows my telling of a warlock whose memory will always remain in our hearts, whether we like it or not.
Much of Vistilantus doings remain in the shadows, only fragments of which have been brought into light, but the most common tale of his origins tells that the storms raged worse than ever before on the night he was born. His mother, so the legends say, was impregnated by a bolt of lightning and was burnt to death when bringing the child to the world. It is also said the rumbling voices of thunder rolling over the sky spoke to him at a young age and lead him to take to the art of magic.
While still a young elf growing up in a small village under the guidance of a man named Cisteli, this was just what Vistilantus did. Days and nights he spent bent over ancient scolls and tomes immersing himself in its secrets, driven by what has always seemed to be the one thing he wanted above all else...power. Upon nearing his eighteenth birthday Vistilantus had decided to leave the village for something greater, not letting anything or anyone stop him from doing so. On a dark night he left to find a man standing in his way telling him to turn back, and firm in his intentions killed the man right then and there. The dead body on the ground was that of the man who brought him up as his own, Cisteli. Thus starts the death and destruction that followed him and his shadow dragon "Deathbringer" around wherever they went.
Vistilantus was the founder and master of the Weavers of the Dark Flame, one of the original clans of Moorgate. A clan which has among other things been responsible for the killing of all Moorgates town guards. The deed was performed by treacherously leaving them baskets of poisoned fruit. It is uncertain how many innocent family members of those town guards had to be buried because of this attack on a group that was seen as the enemy, but reports of the crimes commited and unsafety of the streets after the event are nothing but tales of pure horror.
On day 6 of Hallow Month in the year 148, Vistilantus died. A wayward dagger flying from Cassandras herb pouch punctured his lung while he was in the midst of performing one of his horrible deeds in the skypiercing, obsidian tower in a back corner of the Dark Blizzard Pass that he called home. The evil warlock was instantly buried at the base of Star Point, and I dare guess many a citizen of Moorgate breathed a little more at ease on that day. This was however not the end of darkness. Not long after his death the dark queen Leoni listened to the prayers of his people and brought him back to life. At least she almost did. He was brought back with a decaying body, engulfed by a soft red glow. He was brought back as a lich, living at the will of Leoni and, as she said, breathing her breath. Although the action was not to Vistilantus liking, the words he spoke on that day report of what he desired: "Perhaps breathing the breath of an immortal may grant further power..."
Among the notorious tales about Vistilantus is the duel between him and Penilord in the mountains of the pass. So many demons and dragons were summoned on that day that the very lands were darkened as their masses blocked the sun. In the end, the first warlock of Cosrin was dead. Vistilantus had managed to turn Penilords own golems against him and take possession of his soul.
There are other tales as well, of how the streets of Moorgate were filled with dragons upon finding an old scroll of Morlends, of how he turned the strongest fighter in the lands, Dr.Pepper, over to the dark side in 156, and of how he sailed with the Dark Arrow side by side with the foulest elements of the lands, destroying the entire Moorgate Royal Fleet. The strangest story, though, is somehow connected to both his appearing and final disappearance from the lands. The story tells of a woman named Gwindle who was threatened to be killed by Morlend in order to make the warlock his slave. Vistilantus yielded and was transformed into the evil being he was known as. It further tells of how, in the year 164, Vistilantus was somehow overmanned by his former apprentice Arcadain, later the Guild Master of the mages. Arcadain placed an old white pearl ring on the warlocks finger, a ring that instantly brought him pain beyond what a man of less power could bare, along with new vision, or old vision? Vistilantus, in light of what he had been, what he had done, begged those present to give him the mercy of his death. Although Fjorgynn refused, Cynthor drove a great number of arrows through Vistilantus chest, but death would not arrive. Remembering how he had been given life back, Vistilantus finally managed to bury his own dagger into his body...and he was gone. What happened to him after that can only be accounted for by the ancient seers. If you look into a crystal ball of theirs, all they will show you though is a tall elf walking on a path through the woods and arriving at a small cottage. A man coming home to his wife. And the same man with a puzzled expression on his face as he toys with his white pearl engagement ring and gives his wife a kiss...
I am not sprite to tell you what is the real story of the man whose very name makes my heart jump and forces me to throw a worried glance over my shoulder, but I can tell you that there is no doubt Vistilantus is one of the...
TRUE LEGENDS OF COSRIN!