The Golden Gates of Vanity are a mysterious and treacherous realm within the Void of Infinitum, encountered by A'dunn Thundercrash during his journey through the nightmarish realm of eternal cosmos. It is a place where the grandeur of wealth and the intoxication of power blend into a prison of endless delusion and self-obsession. Here, A’dunn was lured into a confrontation with Theodric Vonner, a former mage of the Cult of Infinitum, who had twisted his mind and soul in pursuit of the infinite.
A’dunn’s arrival in the Golden Gates of Vanity was both chaotic and violent. After tumbling through the ever-shifting, infinite layers of the Abyss, he crashed into a chain of floating asteroids, which were held together only by golden bands of light that shimmered ominously in the endless void. These light bridges twisted and coiled around the floating rocks, forming fragile paths between them. Bruised and disoriented from his fall, A’dunn stumbled across the glowing light bridges, their brightness nearly blinding against the darkness of the void beyond. The light itself seemed to hum with an eerie, beckoning energy, leading him to the center of this twisted realm.
At the heart of the floating islands, A’dunn came upon an opulent pile of gold and gemstones, a bounty so vast it seemed unnatural. The wealth was meticulously arranged, as though each coin and gem had been placed with obsessive care. Sitting atop the golden pile was Theodric Vonner, once a brilliant mage, now a madman lost in the depths of his own vanity.
Theodric was dressed in fine, regal robes of blue, adorned with the silver infinity symbol of his former cult. He leaned back in ecstatic pleasure, letting gold run through his fingers, his eyes reflecting the void beyond his small island of paradise. His voice, laced with both derision and madness, echoed through the void as he addressed A’dunn. Theodric’s eyes gleamed with twisted joy as he goaded A’dunn, urging him to admire the treasure, but his pleasure quickly gave way to scorn. He scolded A’dunn, speaking venomously about his heritage.
The mage’s manic ramblings soon devolved into an argument between the two, with both men’s egos clashing violently. A’dunn, unwilling to be cowed by Theodric’s taunts, stood his ground, challenging the mage’s delusions of grandeur. The argument escalated as Theodric’s words became increasingly incoherent, his grasp on reality slipping further into madness. The confrontation between A’dunn and Theodric reached its peak when the mage, driven by his vanity and hatred, attempted to suffocate A’dunn in molten gold. With a flick of his hand, the pile of gold around them began to melt, flowing like liquid fire as it threatened to engulf A’dunn.
A brief but intense battle ensued, with A’dunn narrowly escaping the molten gold’s grasp. The floating islands around them trembled, and the golden light bridges flickered with instability as their power clashed. Despite Theodric’s initial confidence, A’dunn’s strength and determination forced the mage to battle over who truly was more regal. But before A’dunn could land the final blow, Theodric transformed. His body warped and twisted into a monstrous, astral terror—a hideous reflection of the vanity that had consumed him. The once-suave mage now stood as a creature of shifting, twisted limbs and ethereal energy, towering over A’dunn with unnatural might.
In his new form, Theodric unleashed the full power of his Rift Energy, imprisoning A’dunn in a twisted pocket dimension—a sea of gold and gemstones that stretched out endlessly. Here, A’dunn was buried beneath a crushing weight of frivolous wealth and treasure, the very things that Theodric worshipped.
Trapped in the shimmering, suffocating sea of wealth, A’dunn was left alone with his thoughts. The silence around him was deafening, and the crushing isolation began to wear on his mind. The longer he remained entombed beneath the gold and gemstones, the more he began to lose his grip on reality, his thoughts growing increasingly disjointed as the weight of vanity pressed down upon him.
Imprisoned in Theodric’s pocket dimension of vanity, A’dunn slowly began to descend into madness. With no one to speak to and no escape from the endless glittering sea of wealth, he was left to confront the darkest parts of his own mind. The gold that surrounded him seemed to whisper of failure and arrogance, eroding his once-unshakable will.
Over time, A’dunn’s once-strong sense of self began to fracture. His thoughts spiraled into incoherent ramblings, as the isolation gnawed away at his sanity. Left alone in the golden prison of his enemy’s making, A’dunn Thundercrash would face his greatest challenge yet: escaping not only the clutches of Theodric Vonner, but the slow, creeping decay of his own mind.