Nicholas came back from the crusade in the king's retinue. They landed at Split in Dalmatia on 21 December 1396. Before the end of the year, the burghers of Split elected Nicholas their count. The king and Nicholas put an end to the movements of the supporters of Ladislaus of Naples in the Dalmatian towns before hurrying to Križevci. The two Lackfis were summoned to the town where they were captured and murdered on 27 February 1397. Historian László Markó says, Nicholas and Hermann of Celje enticed them to come to Slavonia to facilitate their murder. Another historian, Elemér Mályusz, emphasizes that the exact circumstances of the purge are unknown, but he proposes that John Kanizsai, Archbishop of Esztergom, was most probably its initiator. After the "Bloody Sabor of Križevci" Sigismund made Nicholas Ban of Slavonia.