The Mystery of the Nithron

With Publius in our ranks, our fortunes continued to increase. We built a name for ourselves in Sandbrook and more and more citizens began requesting tasks from us. We escorted merchants, recovered valuable items, scouted out and brought back word from other cities, and even took out a rather powerful goblin encampment. One of the poor goblins had gotten it into his head that he was a noble, and called himself the Duke of Stabby. Truth be told he was quite a challenge, but he fell like the rest.

Soon, the larger threats of Sandbrook had been dealt with, and we felt it was time to move on to a town that needed us more. Our task was still to drive back the evil creeping across Mercia. We thought this would be best accomplished by splitting up and exploring. So with an agreement to meet at the pub in Sanguine in a week, the three of us set out on our own.


It was good to be traveling my own path again. I didn't stray very far from Sandbrook while I was with Piratejim, and I quickly felt the wanderlust building the further from the Sandbrook I got. But even as I looked forward to the trail, fear crept back into my mind. I had grown too comfortable in the company of my friends, care would have to be taken to make sure I didn't end up on the wrong end of an Ork's greataxe or being hounded by an Alfar raiding party.

As I traveled I found ruins and cities occupied by beasts, evidence of the decay of civilization. I even found a proud Mirdain city completely infested by hivekins.



A bit further south I came to a great mountain rising up next to the river that had originally carried me into Agon. To my surprise, there was a fortified city nestled on the other side of it. Judging from the beam of light coming from it, the city also had a bind stone. The sun was fading quickly, so stopping here to rest and ask around seemed like a logical thing to do.



Apparently my name had traveled a good distance, because the folks of the town were familiar with me, and I was quickly pointed to one Iian Deepwode who had work he needed someone to take care of. After a little searching, I found the man idling by a desk at the far end of town. As I approached he stood and addressed me.

"Ah, so this is the fighter from Sandbrook I heard so much about? I hear that you've come to Hildershall looking for work!"

"It is true, sir," I replied, pleased my reputation had indeed carried outside of town. "Sandbrook can handle itself on it's own for now, and new recruits are coming in soon, so I sought to put my skills to the test elsewhere."

"Well then you've come to the right place, recruit." Iian said grinning. "I have a task of great import that needs to be completed. Something... troubling has resurfaced." Suddenly he stopped, and eyed my silently for a few moments. I shuffled my feet and waited. At last he shook his head and continued, "Skilled though you may be, I think I need to witness it first hand to be sure you can handle my assignment."




"There are important things stirring in the world, things rising again which have not been seen for centuries. If you want to join history in the making you must first prove yourself to me. Outside this city there's a cluster of ghost spiders and a sarlid camp. They have a symbiotic relationship; wherever one shows, the other group is quick to follow. They trouble us little behind our great walls in Hildershall, but travelers are getting torn apart. Take care of them for me, and then we'll talk again." With that he abruptly sat back down at his desk began writing, as if I were already gone.

I wasn't sure how to react. I was a bit insulted, dealing with spiders for a town that isn't even threatened by them? But my curiosity proved to be stronger than my pride. I immediately left out the city gates into the darkening wilderness, planning to tackle the problem before the sun rose again.




I found the spiders easily enough, they glowed green and winked in and out of sight like large fireflies. They were killed swiftly.

The sarlids, however, were a bit of a challenge. They had a strong pack mentality. Whenever I managed to corner one, the others would blast me with magic, weakening and slowing my body, and then they'd close in. It was all I could do to keep their vicious swords for tearing me to ribbons in my weakened state.



However, with a few potions and some ranged fighting, eventually the sarlids and spiders were both finished. Exhausted, I returned to Iian, ready to hear the rest of his tale. He was quite surprised to see me so soon. His surprise only grew when I dropped a bag full of spider legs and sarlid swords on his desk. He looked through the bag, nodded, and stood once more.

"I see you are a hard working recruit, Signus, as well as skilled. Perhaps you are right for this job, though I'm still not convinced you can handle it on your own. What of the other recruits I heard you traveled with?"

"We've gone seperate ways, for now. Whatever you have in mind for me, I'm sure I can handle on my own."

At this Iian frowned and scratched his chin, scrutinizing me. "We shall see. You are strong and bold, but perhaps stealth may be a greater ally in the task to come. This will be your final test, and if you return to me, I will reveal all I know to you." He paused to clear his throat and then continued. "I have a team of archaeologists digging somewhere out west, and they have recently discovered an important tomb. Inside was a legendary crown: the Diadem of Dawn. I had it shipped here immediately, but the caravan was ambushed by troll lords and they took it off to their hovel to the south of here. Recover the Diadem from them, and return it to me."



I wasted no more time. History is a particular weakness of mine. I had never actually heard of the Diadem of Dawn, but I was very eager to learn more. It wasn't far to the hovel, though I could smell it before I saw it. It was a great ditch in the earth, with stone huts and pools of muck inside, a typical place for trolls. With very little thought, I charged straight into the hovel, planning to slay all the beasts and claim the crown from the carnage. I had dealt with trolls before.

I had not, however, dealt with troll lords.




They are massive terrifying beasts, with axes that could easily split a man in half. It did not take longer fighting one before I realized I was completely and utterly outmatched. Like a coward I fled, and continued running, hearing growls behind me. I finally hit the ocean, and collapsed panting and bleeding into the surf. I camped nearby for the night, and in the morning, approached the situation with a much better plan.




After crunching on some very human looking bones, some trolls had drifted off to sleep, and I crept into the camp. I decided to check the small cave like structure in the heart of the hovel first.



As I sneaked into the main chamber and gazed at the skeletons hanging from the ceiling, the gravity of the situation hit me. In this small room was a sleeping troll lord. If I woke him, one shout and the others would come flooding down the tunnels, and there'd be no room to escape. My journey would come to a swift and sudden end.



Shaking slightly, I moved further into the room, and had to stifle a burst of laughter. The chest holding the Diadem of Dawn was sticking out plain as day, and it was right infront of me. They even put it up on a pedestal.






Free of worry, I opened the chest, grabbed the Diadem, and sprinted out the way I came; all idea of stealth cast aside. There was a great roar from inside the cave as my fleeing footsteps woke the troll and he and saw he'd been robbed. His friends began throwing rocks my way and grabbing their weapons, but it was too late. I was out of the pit and out across the plains laughing to myself before most of them could even wake.

And with that, I took off for Hildershall.

The Enemy of My Enemy

Redham was right, of course. I needed to get my mind off of this unsettling existential turn of events. I didn't quite believe it yet, but there was no reason for the old man to be lying to me. Grumbling, I followed Redham to the vault area and put on some fresh gear. "So, what was this you were saying about Centaurs? You don't mean that tribe to the south we were watching, do you?"

"Mm, the very same actually. Seems like there could be a bit of cash in it for us, and we've been wanting to get a closer look at those fancy lookin' centaur weapons."

I frowned at the prospect of facing those bows and swords. "Yes, but we decided we couldn't take them on by ourselves, remember?"

"Right you are. Good to see death didn't rattle your memory too badly." he said with a taunting smile. "I've met someone recently who I think might be able to join us. He's a raw recruit, like we were, but he shows promise. With him, we might be able to take these centaurs, and it gives the new guy a chance to show his mettle, eh? Besides, if we die, we just end up back here."

Sighing, I said "Yes well, even if that is true, death is not a process I'd like to go through again, the agony felt endless last time." Violently shaking my head, I said, "So, where are we to meet this mysterious recruit?" I continued to strap on some pauldrons and shin guards.

"He's going to meet me a little outside of town, and you're going to go on ahead to scout the centaur camp. We'll catch you there at midday." And with that, Redham took off jogging towards the city gate. With no other options left to me, I discarded some of my heavier armor for a stealthier set, took out a bow, and left via the south gate.




The area around the centaur camp was beautiful, the azure lake and emerald trees giving off a feeling of bright serenity. The centaurs themselves looked at peace here; like they weren't out to hurt anyone. I knew better. The beauty was a thin veil for this particularly vicious tribe. They quite enjoyed robbing people along the roads. In this camp, there were some rangers, some armored brutes, and in the center, with an ornate sword and shield, was the chief. Doubts over whether or not we could handle these beasts once against pushed themselves to the front of my mind. They had size, speed, and numbers over us. Hopefully Redham had a plan.




"Ok, so, the three of us will sneak as close as we can, and open fire on the nearest centaur, and hopefully drop him before he gets to us." Piratejim announced to our trio as we stood under a nearby tree.

In a heated and hushed voice, the new recruit Publius exclaimed, "That's the plan? And what happens if this plan should fail?" I was already appreciating the new guy, he seemed to have more sense than Redham, at least.

Redham looked my way and said "Very simple. Our fallback plan is always the same. We run, and live to fight another day!" Leaving no room for objection, he tore off into the glade. I shared a nervous glance with Publius, and reluctantly followed Redham with my bow in hand.



It went about as well as could be expected with such a brilliant plan. After the first arrows flew, they were returned ten fold, as the beasts galloped towards our position, our clever cover unsurprisingly proved to be a poor hiding place. We did manage to split some of them up, and I got a few good hits in with my short sword, but it was quickly apparent that we had to break off or be killed. The centaurs didn't chase too far, and contented themselves with firing at our backs as we fled to the shore.

When we collapsed in a thicket catching our breath, I rounded on Redham "That went well, have any other brilliant plans?" I probably shouldn't have blamed him so much, but I wasn't in the best of moods. Redham opened his mouth to speak but paused when the sound of heavy hooves thundered nearby.



Publius looked around, "Centaurs?" I shook my head, it was too heavy for centaurs, and now that it was closer, I wasn't sure it was hooves that I heard. Poking my head out of our hiding spot, I looked around long enough to see something that made me lock up. Two alfar in full scalemail armor, riding drakes were heading quickly towards our hiding place.

"Alfar! We need to leave, now!" I hissed to the rest. A dark look fell across Publius' face, but he nodded resolutely.

"You two run," he whispered, "I have an idea. Try to get in some arrow shots when you can, but keep your distance. Meet me at the river in 10 minutes" Publius then jumped into the road, and with a savage cry the Alfar were upon him. He zig zagged through the trees with the drakes hot on his heels.

"What is that fool doing?!" I gasped with wide eyes.

Taking out his bow Redham answered, "It's a trap, this is a smart recruit, I think. Hopefully those Alfar don't kill him off too soon." I took out my bow and fired at the pursuing Alfar, landing a few hits into the flanks of the monsters they were riding.  Publius led them straight into the centaur camp, and raised hell. The Alfar halted, surprised by the sudden appearance of a dozen centaurs, but they didn't even have time to move before scores of arrows peppered their mounts and armor. They were huge targets. In the confusion, we slipped away. I got off a few more shots and killed one of the drakes before fleeing back towards the meeting place.

I don't know if the Alfar survived or not, but wounded and unhorsed, they weren't going to be bothering us.

I met with Redham quickly enough, and we waited nervously for Publius to show up. Sure enough, we soon saw him stealing through the trees towards us, and he dropped down, a bit breathless, next to us. Redham embraced him cheering, while I gave him a thump on the back, saying "welcome to our group of madmen, Publius. I think you'll fit in well.

We didn't come away with any loot, but it had been a good learning experience. We left towards Sandbrook with one last glance at the our unlikely saviors.

Making Sense of the Mystic

Red spread across my vision, my body became weightless.

Darkness took me and it felt like I was floating in limbo. Some force was trying to pull me onward, but the sound of several voices were calling me back. They grew in number and volume. Return, remain, never leave.

Each passing moment was stretched and warped, and the void around me began to feel heavy.

With a sound of rushing winds, the tempo of voices increased and I felt myself physically dragged back, and slammed back down into the earth. I had a body again, hands, face, eyes. When I opened mine, my vision was blurred, and my hearing muted. The objects around me soon slipped into focus... the crane, the water wheel, the bind stone, I was standing back in Sandbrook. And there was Piratejim standing before me. Sound returned, he was calling my name...



"Signus! Are you with us again, mate?" He was looking at me with concern, but I could tell that he himself was not feeling too steady. He was swaying, stripped to the waist and covered in blood, though I could see no wounds on him.

"What just happened? Did we get hit by some sort of teleporting spell? Wait, where's all our stuff?" For once Redham had no answers, but someone else was willing to supply one.

"You've both just experienced your first death," a voice said very matter of factly. A tall bearded old man wearing robes stepped forward from his overhang near the bind stone. "For those unfamiliar with how things work on Agon, it can be a bit shocking during the initial experience."

I was not buying the answer. "I'm sorry... but I don't think I heard you correctly. You're saying I just got killed? I don't feel dead." I whispered a joke about senile old folks to Redham.

"Uh, Signus, this is the local Councillor. He's the elder of Sandbrook. I'm surprised you haven't met him already. If he says we died, well then... somehow, we must have." Redham looked over at the Councillor and smiled apologetically.

The old man cleared his throat and continued, "Allow me to explain. Here on Agon, each warrior that swears himself in service here has his soul bound to the land at focus points, like this bind stone. When you are slain in battle, your soul returns here, and you are in a way, reborn." I raised an eyebrow, but the man continued. "It was originally a... ah... technology of sorts, developed by the Mirdain to try to hold back the Alfar. But alas, as war tends to go, it was quickly leaked to everyone else. Now we are fighting in a perpetual purgatory." He shook his head sadly. "People still age, and there are other ways to remove someone from the world for good, but it is not so simple as it once was. But there are limits. Only warriors are allowed to bind themselves here."

I gazed at the stone with suspicion. "That sounds like a very convoluted system. Why hasn't it been improved upon, or spread further?"

Piratejim raised his hand "Ah, I may be able to help with that. I can't speak for other bindstones, but this'n here looks like it was slapped together by the Chaldeans. Many of their secrets were lost when the Alfar broke their Empire. Perhaps no one else knows how to work it?" He looked over at the Councillor who gave an affirming nod.

"Yeah, I'm not buying this, at all. It was a teleport spell, wasn't it?" The old man grumbled and tugged his beard.

"Believe whatever you want, believe a flying hivekin the size of a dragon beamed you here for all I care. But you will keep coming back to this spot, so don't squander the gift." And with that the Councillor began to walk back to his little wooden shed by the road.

Piratejim put his hand on my shoulder and started leading me off to the vault to get some replacement gear. "Come on, let's get back out there. I've got a friend who wants some seasoned fighters to help him reclaim something from a band of centaurs. Perhaps we needed that loss, we were getting pretty full of ourselves..."

I just shrugged and continued on, trying to ignore the fact that my perception of reality had just been entirely shifted. Redham seemed to be accomplishing that with ease. Maybe some centaur hunting is exactly what I needed...