Lore Quest: The Battle against Nazderon

This article is a work of fiction related to Istaria. It is part of the background Istarian story.

Quest type:	Lore
From NPC(s):	Antoinette
Locations:	Guild of the Artifact Hunters
View this quest in the Quest Tree

Antoinette wants to tell you about the feats of the Gifted some years ago.

Quest text

Welcome, ungrel. We, the Vielo, have witnessed many events in Istaria. We always have stories to tell when some travelers find our caravan and take a rest with us for a night. Stories are a good way to befriend new people. These ones tell us their stories as well and this makes our knowledge grow.

You are a Gifted, aren't you? What about a story about your peers which happened some years ago? Maybe you were with them, but a reminder never hurts! Knowing about your past helps to consider the future. Are you ready? Then let's begin.

Our story happened on 21 A.R.. One day, a Sslik called K'thoss stole a jade statue of a woman in some ruins in the Barasavian Desert. With this action, it accidentally triggered a sandstorm of an unnatural strength.

Travelers were battered by the winds and sand; the wounded were treated at the Tower of Healing. K'thoss itself was nearly blind after staying too long in the sandstorm. Sand Golems appeared and started to attack people. The inhabitants of the villages nearby shut themselves at home fearing for their lives.

The sandstorm subsided after about a week. The sands were moved greatly in the desert and an ancient village was discovered south of Tazoon: the city of Kaiyar. The city was filled with human-sized stone statues.

These statues were reminiscent of the legend of Nazderon, also known as the Dragon-King or the Mage-King, which was told for centuries to scare children. However, this time there was too much evidence to think it was only a coincidence: these statues really were the people of Kaiyar!

Brienaire, the woman Nazderon has chosen, refused to become his bride and fled to Kaiyar for protection. The inhabitants refused to leave her to Nazderon. To punish them, the Dragon-King turned the whole village into stone.

Two Healers, Beithir Deagh and Teana Pluirean, and a scholar, Denge Dusthoof, were sent from the Tower of Healing to investigate this matter and they realized the statues were real people. As Healers, their duty was to lift the curse of Nazderon.

They were helped by the Gifted who collected rare resources to create a spell to cure. With the knowledge of the Dryads who had just returned to the Prime, they managed to cure the villagers.

However, these feats had consequences: as Brienaire feared it, Nazderon, mummified in his pyramid, felt the presence of Brienaire back to life and was reawakened. He started looking for her again.

He sent his mummy warriors, the Magadi, in the desert surrounding Kaiyar. The Gifted and the Kaiyar guards protected the city and prevented them from abducting Brienaire. But after a while Nazderon came in person to the gates of Kaiyar with a massive force. The Gifted weren't able to wound the Mage-King because of his powers.

Fortunately, Nazderon's High Priest, Kiruu, was reawakened as a mummy at the same time and he was willing to stop this madness. Kiruu, a Priest of Nyrevin, has followed Nazderon during his life and he was the one who gave him the power to turn Kaiyar's people to stone. He was sacrificed with other priests of Nyrevin when Nazderon was mummified to wait his for bride's return.

Disgruntled both for being sacrificed and reawakened, he taught the Gifted Nazderon's weakness: the blood of the Magadi who were linked to his own life force. By reforging one of the Magadi's blades into an Athame, the Gifted were able to collect ichors from the Magadi blood with this dagger. The Gifted coated their own weapons with the ichor and could defeat Nazderon at last.

Nazderon destroyed, the people of Kaiyar was free from his threat and curse and Brienaire were grateful.

She still lives at Kaiyar with the Healers who lifted the curse. You should visit them if you want to know more about their story.

These events took place more than a decade ago. However, I feel that everything isn't over yet and we may hear about Nazderon again.

When we, the Vielo, move to a place, there is usually a reason, a vision, a feeling that we should be at this place. This may not be only a coincidence.

I hope you enjoyed my story. Safe travels, ungrel.

Steps

• Listen to Antoinette
• The Great Sandstorm
• The Legend of the Lost City
• The Reawakening
• Present and future