The Fall of Nystol and Other Tales

(with illustrations by author) 375 pages

The Nomads of Sardu: A hundred years have past since Nystol fell. Abbot Cromna, hearing rumors of a lost library in the basements of Nystol's ruins, dares to travel across the forbidden lands in order to obtain a forbidden book...he risks his own life, but will a Man of God risk the lives of others to obtain the knowledge? 

Sage of the Eldark: A desert-dwelling philosopher seeks only solitude and simple resignation to Eternal Being. One night an unexpected traveler knocks on the door of his humble hermitage. The haggard stranger turns out to be a believer in the barbaric new god "The Nazarene," and has need of refuge. He has stunning news to offer and words of wisdom. But something has been following him, something not of God... AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOK NOW Available

The Dice of Golgotha: Two vainglorious and secret treasure-hunters are hiding in an apartment in the run-down town of Whigg, ready to take on all hell. They worry however that they are being stalked by wicked monk-assassins. A clandestine and anonymous messenger knocks, requesting audience, offering them knowledge of a treasure undreamt of. Who is it and what does hew really want? Should they even open the door for him?

 The Wizard who could not Die:  As the rear cohort of Whitehawk celebrates victory with wine and song, the overthrown dwarf-emperor suddenly appears at the entrance of the tent. The dwarf-emperor Nergalfin, his army scattered, has somehow escaped both death and capture. The mad dwarf persuades them and proposes to lead them into the depths of earth, knowing a secret passage beneath the desert, a passage to Nystol, the collegium of wizardic towers. He will take his revenge on the wizard-city which betrayed him, and at the same time reward the soldiers with magic treasure. After all, with no booty to return home from their war-labors, how could the soldiers refuse? ...but one wizardic tower stands in the way, and the wizard of that tower cannot die...

Last Days of the Magi. A Half-elf and gnome share some good conversation and fine leaf together during their long imprisonment. The valraph describes in exhaustive detail how Nystol, the great mistress of all the world which once served men with wisdom and wholesome magic, became corrupted unto wickedness. He recounts the intellectual conspiracy to seize the fonts of philosophy and authority, and how envy and division ended all that was good and noble in Nystol.

The Fall of Nystol: Like the beast that leans close upon Jerusalem, the Maharim barbarians of the Northern forests wait at the colossal bronze gate to enter the civil lands and head across the desert for Nystol. Finally the creature Gulathar retrieves the key from the caverns of an ancient worm and the conspiracy is ready to ferment. When the propitious day arrives the barbarians paint their torsos with marks of fury and the gates are opened. The great collegium of magic-users has no defense against them, no realm would dare ally with the accursed sorcerers. Ten thousand horsemen ride forth from the gates trampling Gulathar. Eager for mayhem and spoil, they cross the Dry Blood Dunes to finally burn down that bane upon the world of men. They arrive at the prescribed time, the week of the hyperlyptic alignment when all magic is suspended. The wizards worry not, but bicker over details while the barbarians sharpen their axes. Little do they know that laying in their bosom is a viper who will let in the barbarians to the mesa steps. But who among them can oppose the new master of Nystol, an antichrist, the dark magus Simon Invernalius?