Nythera’s Northlands saga
Guwio after the retreat
Adak Amaroq welcomed the Hero back to Guwio. Aisha’s army had withdrawn and the village had started repairing the damage, though Adak did not know why the dragons had pulled back. Nythera was waiting at the bonfire with a plan to use the lull to reach the Frostdrake queen.
Nythera proposed two approaches to the fortress. She would lead an assault through the front gate, while Adak could guide an attempt to slip in through the rear. Both routes led into the same mountain, and the Hero could choose which entrance to open.
Two ways into the fortress
On the front route, Nythera first wanted the FrostWyrms dealt with so they could not ambush Guwio in her absence. A mysterious stone recovered during the search for a key went to George Forge-man, who extracted a Chaos Gemerald. Five more stones supplied the rest of the Gemeralds for the six fissures in the gate. The resulting key gave the Hero a way to break through.
The rear route used a cipher instead. An imprint of the lock and a Snow Golem’s notes gave the party a starting point. Aisha’s minions let slip four numbers, but the lock used runes. A Rosetta Rune supplied the means to translate the combination and open the rear door. From either entrance, the common route continued into the cave and past a Water Draconian.
Aisha’s trap
Inside, Aisha said she had pulled back her army to lure them into the fortress. She had expected Nythera and the Hero to rush into the fortress, where she could confront them on her own ground. The Hero called for her surrender. Aisha mocked the challenge, and Nythera asked the Hero to hold her off while she prepared something of her own.
The Hero took on Aisha’s Drake. Aisha then assumed a dragon form herself. When Nythera returned, the Hero tried to stop her from going further. Nythera insisted the decision was hers and justified it as a sacrifice for the greater good. Magenta light gathered around Nythera’s hand. She took dragon form, and the two dragons’ beams met.
The cost of Nythera’s choice
Nythera asked the Hero to go back to Guwio and tell Adak he had nothing more to fear for the moment. Alone, she marveled at the power she had tapped and recoiled from it in the same breath. She knew it was Chaos and called it evil.
Xing and Xang appeared at her sides. They offered friendship and claimed they could guide her onto the right path. Back in Guwio, Adak could not find Nythera. Adak sent the Hero up the mountain to see whether King Coal could help find her.
Old King Coal’s cold
King Coal was too ill to talk at first. Rime warned the Hero about the force of the king’s sneezes, which had already blown Rime down the mountain. Nurse Marie-Neige put the Hero to work gathering ingredients for a snow cone to hydrate the king, gathering items to cool the king down, and recovering the stolen Chill Pills.
Coal felt well enough to speak after the nurse’s treatment, but the illness lingered. He used ice magic to shrink the Hero so they could fight the creatures responsible inside his body. After five rounds of germs and a final encounter with the Rhinovirus, the king reported feeling better and asked the Hero to tell Adak. Adak still had no news from the king about Nythera, but had found her footprints leading into a forest northeast of Guwio.
Tracks in the blinding snow
Nythera’s tracks vanished at the edge of a forest where the falling snow made the paths impossible to follow by sight. At Adak’s suggestion, the Hero searched the forest’s chests for ten Chaos Crystals. George Forge-man used them to make a Chaos Positioning Spell that could lead the Hero to Nythera.
The Hero found Nythera among glowing crystals. She claimed Chaos had given her foresight and that her mind had never been clearer. When the Hero refused to return to Guwio alone, Nythera said she had expected that answer from a friend whose behavior she found predictable.
A friend chooses Chaos
The Hero pleaded with Nythera to turn back. Nythera told the Hero they could choose whether to fight. When the Hero refused to let a friend succumb to Chaos, Nythera answered that she welcomed it willingly. She took dragon form.
After the clash, Nythera accused the Hero of attacking a friend. The Hero insisted that Nythera had attacked first. Nythera now spoke of Chaos as her new friend and declared that Lore could never contain its full potential. She flew off seeking a world where she believed she could unleash it.
The portal into the Void
Nythera’s flight scattered Void Splinters over the Northlands. The Hero gathered them in the forest and brought them back to Adak. When the pieces fused, a portal appeared. The Hero crossed it in pursuit of Nythera.
Inside the Void, the Hero met a surprisingly talkative Void Larva. It introduced itself as a minion of the Great Void Dragon and said it knew why its master had summoned the half-dragon mage. The Larva described Void as the element of its own realm and Chaos as the closest counterpart it knew in Lore. It urged the Hero to hurry before its master made use of Nythera’s willingness to sacrifice everything for power.
Four spheres and a bargain
The Larva tested the Hero against its own kind and against Void Elementals before explaining how to open the lair. The Hero had to recover red, blue, green, and yellow Void Spheres from powerful Chaos figures in Lore, then carry them to the heart of the Void.
The Great Void Dragon welcomed Nythera and encouraged her belief that Chaos had fixed her destiny. He then demanded she sacrifice herself to him so he could become supreme in both realms. Nythera offered to join forces instead. He rejected the offer, told her that only one dragon could be the greatest, and turned on her. The Hero intervened, still certain that their friend could be saved.
Nythera’s freedom
After defeating the Great Void Dragon, the Hero found Nythera still afraid that she had to fulfill the destiny he had pronounced. The Hero reminded her that she had chosen Chaos and could choose a different path. Nythera thanked the friend who had kept coming after her, even when she had pushed them away.
The two left the Void and returned to Guwio, where the villagers welcomed Nythera home. She suggested they get to work repairing the village. The closing image returned to Xing and Xang, leaving their interest in Nythera unresolved.
Other errands in the Northlands
The same locations offered other work. George could trade an Ice Diamond for Frozen Coal, and Nythera had a separate commission involving Knave1 and a spell for travel to the Void. That commission used a Chaos Gemerald Cluster and shards as payment for the spell.
The Void Larva also had separate business for the Loremaster’s visitor. It said Mariel was hiding in the Void and directed the Hero to gather Void Energy and look to the stars when the route ran out. That search belongs with Mariel and the egg.