Synopsis The
back-story of
Nox is explained through location
loading screens. Some decades before Jack's arrival to the Land of Nox (the eponymous fictional setting of the game), a group of Necromancers attempted to seize control over the world but was stopped by the legendary
hero Jandor wielding an
artifact weapon named "the Staff of Oblivion". Following the Necromancers' defeat, Jandor trapped their souls within the magical Orb, which the Arch-Wizard Horvath then transported to another dimension later revealed to be modern Earth. One of Jandor's last deeds of the war was saving a female infant he found in the Necromancers' lair: unsure what to do with a possible Necromancer offspring, he left the girl in the care of an
Ogre village. He then disassembled the Staff and gave each piece to one of the three powerful factions in the game: the Fire Knights of the
fortress Dün Mir (the Halberd of Horrendous), the wizards of Castle Galava (the Heart of Nox), and the conjurers' Temple of Ix (the Weirdling Beast). After this, he assumed the nickname "Airship Captain", under which he plays a mentor role to the player throughout the game. The game opens with a pre-rendered video of a grown-up Hecubah, the Necromancer girl, who has rediscovered her roots and proclaimed herself the Queen of Necromancers, summoning the Orb back from Earth to greatly increase her power. However, her magic also transports the current owner of the artifact, Jack (who believes it to be a fireplace mantel decoration), to the Land of Nox. Jack lands on Jandor's
airship and at this point, the storylines branch, depending on the player's selection of character class. The warriors start the game near the subterranean fortress of Dün Mir; conjurers, near the Village of Ix; and wizards, near Castle Galava. Upon completing any one of the storylines, the Airship Captain's voice during the rolling credits prompts the player to complete the game using another class. • Upon reaching Dün Mir, the warrior characters must go through the Gauntlet, a labyrinth full of monsters, to prove their skills to the Warlord Horrendous and to gain the rank of a "Fire Knight". Horrendous then sends the player to the Village of Ix to help the conjurers get rid of
hedgehog-like monsters harassing the settlement. On the way back, Jack runs into some undead and to investigate them, the Airship Captain transports him to the Field of Valor, the battlefield-turned-graveyard of the Necromancer war. In the crypts beneath the Field, the player first encounters Hecubah and has to fight one of her Necromancer henchmen and many undead. Jack exits the crypts to find the nearby city of Brin devastated by an Ogre invasion and is entrusted with rescuing a group of women taken to the Ogre village of Grok Torr. Afterwards, Jandor arrives and tells Jack to reassemble the Staff of Oblivion and to defeat Hecubah with it. The first part to retrieve is the
Halberd of Horrendous so Jack returns to Dün Mir, now besieged by undead, and witnesses Hecubah killing the Warlord. He is able to retrieve the Halberd and travels to Castle Galava to collect the second part of the Staff, the Heart of Nox, guarded by hostile wizards. The third part is the Weirdling, a living creature kept in the Temple of Ix and guarded by powerful monsters. The final part is the Orb itself, so Jack has to find his way to the Necromancers' Land of the Dead through the Dismal Swamp. Upon reassembling the Staff, he follows Hecubah to the
Underworld and defeats her in the climactic final battle. After her death, Jack is immediately transferred back to Earth through a magical portal. • The conjurers start the game in the vicinity of the Village of Ix. Jack's first tasks are to locate his future mentor Aldwyn and to clear out the same monster lair as in the warrior's storyline. The third task is to rescue the
Mana Mine workers near Ix who were befallen by monsters and scattered. Suspecting Hecubah behind the Mana Mine incident, the Airship Captain sends Jack to the Field of Valor. This part of the game is identical to the warrior's route, except that the conjurer must retrieve the Arch-Wizard Horvath's Amulet of Teleportation from Grok Torr instead of rescuing Brin women. Upon retrieving the Halberd of late Horrendous, Jack travels to Galava to find it overrun by the Ogres. Unlike the warrior, the conjurer is assisted by the wizards, and Horvath sacrifices himself to let Jack escape Hecubah. Retrieving the Weirdling and the rest of the game is identical to the warrior's storyline but the finale is different: using his abilities to possess Hecubah's Ogre bodyguards, Jack entraps her soul within the Orb, and the ending video sees Jandor pondering how to transport him back home. • The wizards route begins near Castle Galava, where Jack is tutored by Arch-Wizard Horvath. The first task is to locate Horvath's missing apprentice whose death prompts the Arch-Wizard to replace him with Jack. Now a wizard apprentice, the protagonist performs multiple duties around Galava, one of which sees him fighting a Necromancer. Like in the other two storylines, the Airship Captain transports Jack to the Field of Valor after this, and the plot remains the same except that Horvath himself must be rescued from the Ogre village. Unlike the warrior and the conjurer, however, the wizard has to take the Halberd from Horrendous by killing him. Jack returns to Castle Galava where Horvath hands him the Heart of Nox before being killed by Hecubah, who also teleports Jack to the Underworld. After escaping it, Jack retrieves the Weirdling and travels to the Land of the Dead like in the other routes. However, the wizard characters receive a
twist ending wherein upon being defeated, Hecubah turns into an apparently innocent and
amnesiac version of herself. Jack's final words in the game suggest that he stays in the Land of Nox with the
redeemed Hecubah.
Characters • Jack Mower is the protagonist of the game. At the beginning of the story, he lives in a trailer with his girlfriend Tina on Earth and is the owner of the Orb. After Hecubah's magic transports him to the Land of Nox along with the Orb and his
TV set, he is tutored by Jandor and either Horrendous, Aldwyn, or Horvath to become the new
hero of Nox. In the warrior route, Jack returns to Earth; in the conjurer route, his return home is left uncertain; and in the wizard route, he stays in Nox. He is voiced by
Seann William Scott. • Hecubah is the self-proclaimed Queen of Necromancers and the chief
antagonist of the game. Her origins are unknown, as Jandor found her in the Land of the Dead after the Necromancer war and left her in care of an Ogre village. Her magic summons both the Orb and Jack to the Land of Nox, eventually leading to her demise. Jack kills her in both the warrior and the conjurer routes but as a wizard, he is able to purify her soul, turning her into an innocent and amnesiac version of herself. She is voiced by
Joanna Cassidy. • Jandor, also known as the "Airship Captain", is the legendary hero of the Necromancer war who defeated the Necromancer army with the Staff of Oblivion. After that, he assumed the identity of an eccentric old
airship captain, who plays mentor role to Jack throughout the game. His real identity is revealed half-way through the game, when he instructs Jack to reassemble the Staff. He is voiced by
Alan Oppenheimer. • Warlord Horrendous is the leader of the Fire
Knights of the fortress Dün Mir and the guardian of the first piece of the Staff of Oblivion, the Halberd named after him. In the warrior route, he tutors Jack for a short time before sending him to the Village of Ix. In all storylines, Horrendous is killed before Jack acquires the Halberd, either by Hecubah or by Jack himself (as a wizard). He is voiced by
Mark Rolston. • Aldwyn the Conjurer is the most powerful conjurer in the Land of Nox, who briefly tutors Jack in the conjurer route. He is loosely affiliated with the Temple of Ix, where the Weirdling is kept, and lives far to the east of the Village of Ix. He is brother of Mordwyn the Druggist. Aldwyn is voiced by
Warren Burton. • Arch-Wizard Horvath is the head of the wizards of Castle Galava, where the Heart of Nox, the second part of the Staff of Oblivion, is kept. He doesn't appear in the warrior route but is a prominent figure in the wizard's one, wherein he first accepts Jack as his apprentice, is then saved by him from the Ogre village, and finally sacrifices himself to let Jack escape Hecubah. He is voiced by
Ian Abercrombie. • Morgan Lightfingers is a notorious thief and
con artist whom all classes meet under different circumstances: the Wizard must capture him early in the game, while the Warrior must cooperate with him to escape from Castle Galava prison; to the Conjurer, Morgan simply sells a cheap bow. He is voiced by Warren Burton. • Mordwyn the Druggist is Aldwyn's brother who lives in the Dismal Swamp and appears late in every game route to briefly assist Jack on his quest. He is voiced by Bill Woodsen, who also provides the
narrator voice in the game. • Gearhart is the chief
engineer of Dün Mir whose commendation is necessary for Jack to apply for a Fire Knight rank. He is voiced by
Mike Booth, who was also the author of the original concept of the game and its lead programmer. • Mayor Theogrin is the cowardly chief of the Village of Ix. He plays a minor role in warrior and conjurer routes. He is voiced by
Lee Perry. • Tina is Jack's girlfriend on Earth who appears in the intro and the warrior ending video. She is voiced by Susan Chesler. ==Development==