The Banker of Bones

The Banker of Bones routinely goes by the name Nicholas Black. Appearing as a nightmarish caricature of a person, the Banker is anything but human.

Legend says that the Banker of Bones was scorned long ago by an acolyte of one of the High Gods. After this event, the Banker vowed vengeance. For thirty-eight years he traveled the Dark Ring, searching for something that he could use to wound his immortal quarry. Upon a field filled with bones in the heart of the Nyxian homeland his journey came to an end.

It is unclear whether or not the Banker themself knows exactly what occurred. Those who have been able to survive an encounter with Banker of Bones have said they begin to weep uncontrollably when even attempting to remember the event.

Since that day, the Banker of Bones has committed numerous atrocities in the name of his Account. Stories dealing with the Banker appearing in a settlement and slowly inflicting their horrors upon the inhabitants over the course of several days. Few survive the Banker. One of his favorite games is to gather people in his “bank” and pluck out their femur bones. This process is especially cruel since the femurs are pulled from hollowed out eye sockets. The Banker keeps their victims alive during this process, never letting them succumb to their brutal injuries.

Nicholas Black occasionally takes a few children away with him after his arrival. With promises of games and sweet treats, the Banker wraps his victims in human sinew taken from what once were their friends, loved ones, and parents. Only a handful of these children have ever been seen again after being taken by the Banker of Bones. All have either been dead, deformed, turned monstrous, or their minds broken beyond repair.

“Who’s holding my hand? Doctor, WHO IS HOLDING MY HAND!?” - Isaac Alstead, recovered 9 years after being taken by the Banker of Bones. Found as a quadruple amputee hung above a temple to Ishin (High God). Isaac was taken into the care of the Ard Magos. These were Issac’s last words before Isaac had surgey performed on him by an entity not within the fortress of the Ard Magos.

Adventurers who attempt to fight the Banker of Bones have never fared well. Most are killed brutally while others are twisted into impossible forms for the enjoyment of the Banker. There have been multiple instances of particularly powerful aether souls seeming to “kill” the Nicholas Black but these events only seem to prevent his reappearance for a period of sixty-three to eighty-one years.

As of 777 A.R., there is belief that the Banker of Bones may have connections to the Cult of Lourdes and the Flesh Tithe.