The Nithron Return

The sun was shining brightly over Hildershall when I returned through its gates, triumphant and proud. In my mind, I could hear the horns of heralds welcoming me back.

Iain Deepwode was at his usual spot, working at his desk. His face lit up when I strode up to him, but I figured it wasn't due to my safe return. His eyes were transfixed upon the crown I held before me.



Taking it carefully from my hands and inspecting it, he whispered to himself "This is not exactly how the Diadem was described in the books..." It was true, the Crown didn't look as magnificent as Iain implied it would be. In fact, it looked fairly mundane, and very faded with age. "Well Signus, you did a good job. Our mages will determine if this is the real Diadem. Its power may not yet be fully awakened. Someone will be along to pay you shortly, but I imagine now you wish me to tell you what this is all about?"

Iain spun a long tale about Agon, centuries ago, and how, somewhere between the fall of the Chaldean Empire and the present day, a race of golden skinned beings called the Nithron reigned over the land.



They were tall, giants by the standards of men, and possessed powerful magical abilities, not least of which was immortality. Death was possible through combat it seemed, as all the Nithron remains found on Agon bore the marks of a violent death.

They were few in number for whatever reason, and lived more as lords rather than a race unto themselves. They ruled over the lesser beings of Agon and used them as tools of war in a game against other Nithron leaders, and forced them to construct colossal buildings and monuments. Some were still around, and as Iain described them, I realized I had seen some before just outside of Sandbrook.


But just as suddenly as they appeared, they died off, taking their magic and secrets with them.




"But now Signus, the dungeons and caches and burial chambers which stored their wealth have begun to fill with terrible monsters again. Guardians. Sealed off from the outside world and gathering dust for centuries, these tombs are now alive, and the artifacts within glow with power. Something is returning, and our organization, the Sons of Riada, seek to use this power. Will you help us track down more artifacts?"


Throughout the story I'd sat in wonder. Until now, it seemed all the great events and deeds of the world were long in the past, buried in history books. Now Agon had become a place of perpetual war without meaning, with not even death as an escape. The Usurper Gods that once drove the conflict have long since fallen silent. How could I not jump at a chance to be a part of real history?

But, I still felt something was wrong. A light was burning in Iain's eyes, a lust not for scholarly mysteries, but for power. Was I right to help this man? Well, maybe this magic would finally give the Humans an edge over our enemies and free us from this purgatory. It would be worth it then, certainly?







A day later I stood outside the ruins of Sandstone, a city that Iain said was once ruled over by a great Nithron King. When he died his central treasure, the Dragontorc, vanished with him. The Sons of Riada were hoping that it had returned to the mortal plane, as the Diadem of Dawn had. It was my job to look for it.



The city was dark and decayed, the stagnant air was filled with grit and sand. Most of the stone buildings had long since collapsed, but a few impressive temples remained. Along the edges of some of the buildings were stone pits. It was not difficult to imagine prisoners getting tossed inside them to fight for sport in a time long passed. Between the buildings, where there was once ground, now existed only shallow sea of mud, as if the entire city were sinking, or perhaps, rising again.



I searched the temples first and it wasn't long before I found the treasure chest I was looking for. Upon opening the chest however, I discovered only some commonplace loot that would hardly be fit for a new recruit.


Baffled, I continued my search. These ruins had no life to them, no creatures or defenders, no magic. I was beginning to think that the Nithron hadn't returned to this particular city. As night fell however, my mind was changed. After hours of silent searching, I felt a wave of energy pass through air and my hair stood on end. I stopped moving to try to hear around me. Silent, save for the occasional gurgle of the mud. I was about to continue my search when I felt a second pulse immediately followed by hissing all around me. Still, I saw nothing, but an overwhelming sense of dread settled over me.

From out of the darkness crept a large number of skeletons, and one cyclopean monster. The sword it held in its skeletal hands was almost twice the length of my entire body. And then, It spoke to me.



"Trespasser." It whispered. The voice felt slimy and rotten, and oozed out over my mind. It was almost enough to make me wretch. My vision darkened and my breathing slowed, and I was transfixed. It took step towards me, arcane energy swirling around its body. "You walk on sacred ground. Here rest the gods you shall not disturb. I keep the land pure for their return. Thou must be purified."

And then, It leveled a blast of energy at my body. I flew backwards into the wall, my instantly feeling weak. Smaller skeletons swarmed towards me, while their dark master simply walked away. I pushed myself to my feet, quaffed a potion. Feeling strengthened I pushed by the minions and charged straight at the retreating monster.



A bubbling hissing noise came from Its mouth as it turned to engage me. It was laughing, and as I drew closer, I didn't blame It. I may as well have been running headlong into a fortified keep. It towered over me, blocking the moon and stars. "The land must be pure, the Dragon must return."

I thrust my sword forward, and hit an invisible force, slowing my swing. Again I struck, this time pushing through the barrier and lodging the sword into the leg of the monster. Hissing laughter again came from it's mouth, and my sword was stuck. It's bones creaked as it raised it's great weapon above its head. I took cover behind my shield, but Its swing easily split the flimsy defense in half, and the blade bit deep into my bones. Screaming, blood pouring from my body, I fell backwards as the sword came down again. Hissing bubbling laughter, and then all was black.



My second "death". It felt worse than the last, much worse. I rose again at the Hildershall bind stone, sick and weak. When I had recovered somewhat, I returned to Iain Deepwode and told him I had decided to abandon the search for the Dragontorc. He was not pleased, but as I told him my story, he understood why. Instead of looking disturbed though, the hunger for power returned to his eyes. He dismissed me, but instructed me to return again some day, with help.

The encounter left me deeply unsettled. I could still hear the voice in my head, making me feel sick and disturbed. I was not yet ready to deal with immortals and Demi gods. Not even mentally. My best option was simply to return to Sanguine and see what Redham would have to say. My time in Hildershall was at an end for now, but from that day a shadow stayed on my mind. Agon had suddenly become something much darker.

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.