They had all been there, after all.
And then, after that, Igni had heard of the man who stood up to the Invincible Lord of Death and Decay. The Dark Hero, Momon, who gallantly sacrificed his own freedom to become the check on the undead king’s reign of terror.
Igni did not much like heroes. He knew what sort of people ended up being called heroes. But Momon was different.
The stories of Momon spoke of a warrior in jet-black plate armor, swathed in a red cloak that swirled around him, wielding a pair of gigantic greatswords, one to each hand. They told of how he had subjugated the legendary beast known as the Wise King of the Forest, how he mowed through the army of the dead besieging E-Rantel from its cemeteries and slew the members of Zuranon masterminding the event, of his dispatch of a Gigant Basilisk, of how he dueled Jaldabaoth the Archfiend during the Royal Capital’s demonic uprising amidst a storm of hellfire.
Yet he was not simply a warrior. People spoke of his virtue; of how he refused to put his own personal gain before that of others. They said that when the Golden Princess called him away from meeting his fellow adventurers, he refused her, because they had come first. During the demonic disturbance, he took his time out to rescue a beleaguered group of city guards. When the Sorcerer-King’s beautiful aide made to slay a hapless child, he defied her, and bought their safety at the cost of his own liberty. He treated everyone he met with respect and did what he could to help all who sought his aid.
Igni’s cynical resistance was worn down by the stories of Momon’s mercy, and he soon came to believe, as did many others, that Momon was a true hero.
This was why he had put Momon’s name forward to the Elder Council at first. By himself, he could not begin to muster up the coin needed to hire Momon’s services; but the dwarves still had much gold and platinum in their coffers. He put his hope in their vision.
He should not have bothered.
“What can one man do,” they replied, “When entire armies have failed?”
And then Momon became the vassal of the Sorcerer-King, and that point was moot.
He received news that the 12th crusade ended in failure, and Igni began to lose hope.
Then, he received a message from the Council. It was a simple missive of five words.
We want to hire Momon.