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Synopsis

The story of Dargem from Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss.

Biography[]

Dargem Llywellyn was born in Nighon. His mother, whose face he had long forgotten, weaved spells over his cradle to teach him earth magic. Dargem had a home that was inconspicuous from the outside. The insides were adorned with many items that he had brought from Nighon, as well as newer ones that he obtained during his travels. He rarely received guests, but sometimes jokingly called his living room the "Museum of Dargem" which tended to impress them, especially the females.

In his past, Dargem was an apprentice warlock in the dungeons of Nighon and said to have captured a fort alone. Dargem tried to buy the Helmet of Anduran from Tor Anwyn, the leader of the warlocks of Nighon, to study it. When Tor refused to sell the helmet, Dargem stole it from him, which ended his career as a warlock. It was mostly likely after this event that he left Nighon and turned to piracy and mercenary work. When he was beginning his career as a mercenary, Dargem was hired by Ergon, a barbarian from the north of the nation Enroth, and traveled to AvLee for the job.

In his early days as a Regnan pirate, Dargem was friends with fellow pirate Miriam. Dargem also led a band of pirates; he was quite young to be in such a position and kept his crew in line through fear and threats, killing anyone who angered him via magic. His crew often collected rich booty easily due to the advantage of his air magic. Dargem traded with Burton, the capital of the nation Terra Nova on mainland Jadame, to supply his fleet. When legal sources of trade became available, Burton ended their business with the pirates, which enraged Dargem. In retaliation, he and his pirates raided Burton, blockaded the trade routes of the city and plundered the supply wagons.

At some point, Dargem's authority was challenged by a member of his crew, Boyd, who wanted to take his place. Dargem tolerated him for a long time, hoping he would give up, but resorted to making an example of him by killing him in a manner that was considered extremely cruel even by pirate standards: Boyd was hanged in the blazing sun, but the noose was placed such that he would not immediately be suffocated – he was fed to the seagulls as he died. On Jadame, Dargem traded his bones to a grim-looking gangrel for a feather hat.

The Burton townsfolk told many stories of Dargem's atrocities, including one about his killing of Boyd. Boyd was reanimated into a skeleton and determined to exact vengeance on Dargem. Upon hearing about Boyd, the halfling hero Henrietta allied with him against Dargem. A captured spy of Dargem tipped them that his main fortress was located on an island surrounded by impregnable cliffs. After the forces of Henrietta and Frederick, aided by Boyd, defeated Dargem and his army, Henrietta left Boyd alone with Dargem to have his revenge. Dargem lost the fight with Boyd, then begged him not to punish him in the same measure as he did to him, so Boyd buried him alive. Dargem survived by using air magic to make space for breathing and blow away the sand. He subsequently fled to Regna.

As Dargem was enjoying an evening at his favorite establishment, drinking aged AvLeean red wine with old acquaintances and entertaining them with a story of his recent encounters in Terra Nova, his services were sought by a mysterious woman named Stella, who had chosen Dargem for a task she believed to be well-suited for him: Dargem had to travel to Nighon and deliver a Dragon Scale Shield to the town Maramec. Stella surprised Dargem with her knowledge that he was a Nighonian mage who liked to collect rare artifacts, and promised to allow him to participate in an expedition to locate one such legendary artifact – which she could not disclose at that time – if he completed the mission in Nighon. She gave him a hefty purse of gold to supply him for the job. Dargem was reluctant to return to Nighon, as the natives were unfriendly to surface dwellers – which meant he would not be welcomed by his former friends and colleagues. He felt something was not quite right with the story surrounding the artifact, but still decided to fulfill the mission.

Dargem and his crew established a base in a former Erathian fort in Regna to muster their forces. He considered finding help from the residents of the free pirate settlements on the shore, though for a price, as well as his friend Miriam, whom he remembered used to roam the nearby waters. Although it was no easy or cheap effort, Dargem rekindled some of his old connections and learned there was currently a civil war in Nighon started by Mutare, whom he never heard of but felt uncomfortable hearing her name. He decided to hurry up when he learned his former colleagues were enlisting dragons to stop him. While he was carrying out the mission, Dargem rescued Miriam from a prison and reunited with her. Miriam gave him a tincture made with the roots of a special cactus found only in the middle of Nighon on the surface. When he drank it, he saw the world suddenly taking on the hues of the rainbow. When Dargem entered the caves of Nighon, he had an extremely unpleasant feeling about the place but succeeded in reaching Maramec and giving the shield to someone meeting him there.

Afterwards, Dargem met with Stella at a prearranged place, eager to set out on the expedition. Stella handed him a bag of ducats, but had another task for him that was preliminary to the expedition. Dargem now had to defend the young barbarian chieftain Kilgor, who had requested the aid of mercenaries, from the combined forces of Bracada and Erathia. The reward money would be used to finance the expedition. Dargem became the captain of a unit that approached from the sea and land to support the forces defending Kilgor's headquarters of Fort Wildblade. Kilgor placed an auxiliary fort for them and sent Dargem a liaison officer, the orc Gruezak, whom Dargem treated with disrespect and viewed as useless. Dargem received a letter from Kilgor, who commanded him to provide assistance to his forces and voiced affinity for his lack of honor. Kilgor's spies reported to Dargem of several generals preparing a strike at Fort Wildblade and that one by one, each of their armies would be magically transported to the domain of the stronghold through an arcane ritual of the Bracadan wizards. Once in a while, Dargem received a report with information on each general that was arriving soon. In the meantime, Dargem experienced other events. He was unobservant and scornful of the barbarians, and disgusted by the orcs' culture of eating. Dargem saved a fellow mercenary, Murdoch, who decided to accompany Dargem on his adventures but only for a limited time as he needed to return to Jadame sooner or later. Dargem was about to ask Murdoch to kill Henrietta if he ever saw her, but refrained as he did not want to tell him about his failure. He also freed a fellow pirate, Elmore, from prison. Elmore offered Dargem some disgusting-looking paste that was made from rare mountain berries and eaten by barbarians to grow stronger. Dargem began to think Elmore and Miriam were conspiring, but reluctantly ate some, which improved his vision and movements. Dargem encountered phantoms that disappeared in front of him and left behind treasure, as well as the legendary Flying Jadamean, a ship said to bring bad luck. He attacked a halfling farmstead in rage, having developed a hatred for the creatures since they ousted him from Jadame, and laughed as he did. Dargem had a dream that he worked at an observatory that was lost in the mountains and equipped with huge telescopes that transmitted information to a crystal ball, in the middle of the night. The feed from them began to stutter, so he had to go out into the mountains to check even though he feared the danger. As he tried to mount his pony from the stable, he fell and woke up.

After three months of assisting Kilgor, Dargem met with Stella again, at the pier of a harbor near Krewlod. He delivered her his rewards, a chest of silver dragged by some goblins. When Dargem, irritated by the requirements for his participation, decided to withdraw from the expedition, Stella revealed the artifact they were seeking was the Horn of the Abyss. Dargem believed it to be a myth, but as Stella was about to leave he asked her if she believed in the Horn's existence. Stella convinced him he would not be wasting efforts and they now just had to make the final preparations. Dargem changed his mind and stayed. Stella informed him they needed to prepare no fewer than five caravels for the expedition, preferably from elven pine, but the problem was the elves would not trade with pirates and using smuggler channels would be too time-consuming and costly. Dargem planned to raid AvLee instead. Stella and her masters only allowed Dargem three months to complete the mission.

Upon sailing to AvLee, Dargem sent a quick-witted sailor to reconnoiter. Dargem learned from him of an elf settlement in the south, including a fort, where he then established a base of operations. Most of the sawmills were controlled by druids and not well-suited for mass harvesting of timber, so Dargem also slaughtered dendroids for wood. As he traversed the land, Dargem discovered that minotaurs had already invaded the area and was alerted by sentries of troglodytes near his fort at night. Almost four weeks into the journey, Dargem became aware of the situation when he received a letter from Tor Anwyn, who expressed he was upset at Dargem becoming a thief from his recent actions in Maramec and warned that he had sent the overlord Gunnar to kill him. Dargem was frustrated at the inconvenience brought to his mission but knew that he could leave the elves to fight Gunnar as well. By the next night, the elves found out why Dargem had come to AvLee and started to ransack his warehouse every week, stealing only timber. In the day, a huge seabird dropped a message over his camp, in a stone wrapped in sealskin with a note scrawled on the leather. It was from Dargem's longtime lieutenant Bess, who had stayed in Jadame after he left. Dargem read that the halflings in Jadame were at war with each other, which gratified him. After having spent two months on the operation, Dargem sent an assurance to Stella and her masters that he had everything under control and would soon be finished. Within the next month, he accumulated 300 units of wood.

Dargem invited Stella to his home for their next meeting. They were sitting in the living room when Stella decided that Dargem should meet her masters. A moment later, an enchantress appeared from a magic window, introducing herself as Casmetra of the Noraston Sorceress Guild. Casmetra informed Dargem that they needed a reliable source of knowledge to confirm the exact location of the vault containing the Horn of the Abyss. For his next task, Dargem had to travel to Deyja to find clues in Archibald Ironfist's library, which Kastore, the new King of Deyja, had ordered to be transported to Doom Castle, the central book depository of Deyja. Before the trip, he met with Gunnar near a burned down elven village. Gunnar, ashamed of his failure, asked Dargem to kill him, but Dargem had him write a letter to Anwyn claiming he had succeeded and offered to give a personal item of his as proof, in exchange for Gunnar assisting him in the mission to Deyja. He set up camp near Gunnar's. They planned to travel through underground tunnels in the heart of Deyja, though the necromancers had posted guard in them. In addition, a troglodyte had found a note in the dungeon from the advisor to Kastore, Maximus, who demanded Dargem and his army to leave. A week after proceeding with the journey, Dargem considered setting up an auction of the Horn of the Abyss and securing a fortune. He was excited about finding the artifact and wanted to keep it for himself rather than giving it to Casmetra, which he regarded as unfair since he had spent so much effort for the expedition. Ten days later, Gunnar's scouts reported there was only one exit from the tunnels to the surface. There was a fierce resistance led by Maximus at the Doom Castle, so Dargem focused on preparing well for the assault. 16 days later, Dargem's men found another note from Maximus, who told Dargem to prepare for war and insultingly addressed him as "Mister Mustache". This incited a response from Dargem, who a week later replied to Maximus. He mocked his love for cactus and zombie spleen tincture, calling him the name "Cactusis", and told him to flee, suggesting Krewlod to be a place for him. Dargem reached the middle of Deyja from underground and captured Doom Castle, defeating Maximus and his force.

Dargem plundered the library, taking a great deal of papers and scrolls, though he did not have time to study them. Casmetra was confident that the Horn of the Abyss rested in a dungeon on the Island of the Vengeful Serpent, which was part of a mysterious archipelago near Tatalia. She promised Dargem she would check on his progress over time. Casmetra told Dargem he needed to find the keys to reach the Guardian, whom he had to defeat, and gave him a scroll of a map which she instructed him to only read after he was close to the target. Dargem suspected Casmetra to be plotting against her, but realized her plan to distract the lizardmen from him. Casmetra assured him she and her witches would do so, but it would be unlikely to last over three months.

While the sorceress' fleet sailed for the coast of Tatalia, three caravels led by Dargem headed toward the archipelago. Dargem was suddenly hit by a storm and forced to make a sharp turn that took the crew away from his other two ships. The ship took heavy damage, so they had to immediately moor at the first island they sailed by. Dargem went down to the sandy beach with a group of mercenaries and burned with impatience at the fact that the ship needed extensive repairs. He unraveled the scroll and was confused that the map bore little to no markings, except for a couple of obscure icons with captions reading where the Horn and Guardian were. Some incantations to dispel some illusions were written in the map, but the illusions were not marked either. One of the men assessed the damage of the ship and concluded it would take at least a week and a half to fix the smashed side of the hull. While it was being repaired, Dargem and his crew had to find a source of water, some supplies and two other ships. On another side of the island, Dargem found his other two ships wrecked on the shore along with the bodies of his men, all killed by orcs. He ordered a search of the wreckage and corpses for anything valuable. He found the survivors taking shelter in a nearby hut, all gravely injured and barely able to walk, and healed them via a ritual using 15 gems. Dargem and his crew soon defeated the barbarian Fangtooth and his force of "savages", and took their town. While exploring the island, they came across a thatched hut. Dargem drew his cutlass and activated an ice beam but they only met a decrepit, harmless-looking orc shaman. The orc guessed that Dargem wanted to enter the Dungeon of the Vengeful Serpent and called him "umie", a word that Dargem did not understand but prompted him to threaten to freeze the orc's head and crack it open if it meant an insult. The shaman dissuaded Dargem from harming him and revealed he needed to find eight pendants to enter the Guardian's dungeon. Six of them were hidden in different parts of the island, and the other two were in the possession of a local pirate and a "Dead God" respectively. When Dargem asked what the latter was, the shaman cackled ominously without answering, before inviting Dargem inside and showing him some of the pendants in his magic cauldron. Dargem had also been spending a long time wondering who the Guardian could be and, within nine days of his journey, determined it could only be an azure dragon.

15 days into his journey, Dargem received a message from Casmetra, who reproached him for his slow progress and sparingly described her first encounter with the Tatalians. A week later, Dargem saw flashes of lightning on the horizon, glimpses of the war that Casmetra was waging on the Tatalians. He was only mildly annoyed by her grievances and pleased that she was toiling in vain – in fact, he took pleasure imagining her face contorted with anger. Over time, Dargem grew suspicious of her motives and came to believe Casmetra was swindling him. His theory was reinforced when he heard about people who died looking for the Horn of the Abyss from the locals of the archipelago, as well as their amusement in counting the number of deaths and placing related bets. He surmised that Casmetra had sent others to find the artifact before him. In addition, Dargem heard from the locals that another infamous pirate, Black Balfour, had been traveling in the islands for several weeks. Suspecting that Casmetra had lured Balfour here to kill him and prevent him from taking the Horn for himself, Dargem decided to kill Balfour with a lightning bolt and find Casmetra next, thinking of finding out her real age and killing her.

Furthermore, Dargem was troubled by the reports of the Dead God. He additionally found a message scrawled on a rock warning him of the Dead God. Dargem suspected the Dead God could be Boyd, though he believed Boyd was probably thousands of miles away, if not already killed by priest or knight. However, his suspicions were confirmed when he felt an ominous wind blowing again, transpiring in the same manner as during the storm he encountered on the way to the archipelago. Dargem raised his head in the sky, swearing to kill Boyd. A sailor tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was all right, startling him. Dargem dropped his hat, which the sailor immediately picked up and shoved into his hands. The crew cheered at his declaration that he would kill Boyd and send him to the bottom of the sea. As such, Dargem defeated Boyd in battle and acquired Pendant of Second Sight from him.

During his mission, Dargem reunited with Miriam and Elmore. He freed the nymph captain Cassiopeia and the ranger Siagum from prison, having heard about the latter from a bard girl he met who offered him a drink and an exchange of stories. Earlier, he had also found an abandoned mercenary camp that seemed to have been set up by thugs that the azure dragons had scared away. When he found the Island of the Vengeful Serpent, Dargem carefully studied the surface and realized the azure dragons could crystallize any matter with their breath. After gaining possession of the eight pendants, Dargem entered the dungeon of the Guardian. He saw the remains of those who had previously come to the place, in the form of piles of ice salt on the ground. Dargem defeated the azure dragons and proceeded with the search.

In the underground labyrinth, Dargem faced traps and illusions and encountered sea serpents guarding the Horn of the Abyss as well as crazed pirates roaming the place. One of his pirates, Sandra, appeared to have turned into a monster in front of him and he had to kill her. Eventually, almost all of his men were killed. Dargem barely escaped alive and was put in a dilapidated prison apparently built from the wreckage of ships.

When Casmetra joined pirate brothers Jeremy and Bidley on a quest to obtain the Horn of the Abyss, Bidley and his crew entered the labyrinth while Jeremy and Casmetra had to stay behind. Bidley found several pages of Dargem's diary scattered throughout the maze. Dargem spotted and called Bidley, before convincing Bidley to free him by promising to let him take the Horn and offering to help him fight past the illusions. However, once they found the Horn of the Abyss, Dargem knocked Bidley out with a blow to the head and grabbed the Horn. A subsequent chain reaction formed an island, and Dargem summoned a boat, before fleeing with the artifact and taking Bidley as his hostage. Jeremy and Casmetra pursued him for a while, but Dargem disappeared behind an island. While Jeremy and Casmetra gathered reinforcements, Dargem's raiders began to attack their supply ships every two weeks. Jeremy wrote a letter to Dargem, demanding him to release Bidley and give them the Horn and promising to allow Dargem and his men to leave the island unharmed in return. Dargem replied weeks later with refusal to follow Jeremy's requests, claiming he deserved the Horn of the Abyss, although he had not figured out how to use it, and would free Bidley if Jeremy did not look for him. Jeremy briefly considered Dargem's words, but Casmetra persuaded him that Dargem would only kill Bidley if they left.

When Jeremy and Casmetra hurried into his fortress, Dargem left Bidley, grabbed the Horn and ran to the highest tower. Casmetra yelled at him to give her the Horn, but a scared Dargem refused. Dargem was then about to blow the Horn, when Casmetra threw a spell at him, following which an explosion destroyed half of the fortress. A whirlpool was created in the process, sending Dargem, Casmetra, Jeremy and Bidley into different locations.

Casmetra secured the Horn of the Abyss, but was defeated by Jeremy, Bidley and the nix leader Tark. Bidley retrieved the Horn and became the Pirate King as a result, but there were still other factions that wished to take the Horn away from him. Among his opponents was Dargem, who had gathered an army of mercenaries and captains that disliked Bidley and also recruited warlocks of Nighon into his cause. Dargem had promised to give them the artifact, although he only wanted to claim it himself and have revenge. Nevertheless, Dargem and his allies were defeated by the army of Bidley, Jeremy and Tark. It is unknown if Dargem survived the battle, but if so he likely perished years later in the Reckoning.

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