The continuing story of a quack that's gone to the dogs

 We return to brooding with P. N. Elrod's I, Strahd: The War With Azalin, in which we continue the previous Strahd volume and hear the vampire's side of the story that was covered in Gene DeWeese's King of the Dead. Our framing story has the fearless Von Richten listening to his regular book dealer in Mordent agree to consignment sell a book with the further journals of Count Strahd of Barovia. 

So, basically, Azalin arrives in Barovia from his kingdom on Oerth. He and Strahd get on like oil and water, but wind up in a codependant relationship, as both need each other to try to escape the mists. There's also a Vistani prophecy concerning Azalin's arrival, leading to Strahd working more carefully than normal for the years Azalin is trapped in the domain. 

While the "War" is a bit of a misnomer (the only open battle is a big skirmish during a point when Barovia and Darkon shared a border; most of it is married couple bickering between a vampire and a lich), it remains fun reading. Particularly since unlike Azalin, who knows exactly why and how he's being punished, and understands that he could end it at any time, Strahd is fairly circumspect about what's going on in his domain. He understands that additions occasionally crop up on his borders, and everyone begins to forget that they didn't used to be there, but he has no real awareness of exactly what is going on. 

While not as fun as the first vampire confessional, it remains engaging.

The great granddaddy of them all

 So, one of the biggest releases in the Ravenloft line (I think it was the only one released in  Hardcover), and I can now say I've read it 30 years after the fact. 

I, Strahd by P. N. Elrod covers the Dark Lord himself, Strahd, and explains his life story in his own words. (There's a nifty framing device where Van Richten sneaks into Castle Ravenloft and reads Strahd's folio of recollections on Eternity.) 

And what do you know? It's actually both well written and entertaining and not wholesale ripping off other works for plot points!

We hear about it all. Strahd's conquest of the castle from a bad Baron, his brother the Paladin who fell in love with Tatyana, only to have Strahd kill him to make Tatyana love him instead, his deal with the Dark Powers that turned him into a vampire, the greedy soldier who slaughters almost everyone in the castle on the day of Sergei and Tatyana's wedding. We see Strahd bind the land to him, thus causing the mists to encroach...

Oh so much. And so juicy to read. While I assume Elrod had canon that had to be included/not changed for plot purposes, they do a great job keeping the sound of dice rolling in the background out of the plot, fleshing out a character who isn't exactly an anti-hero, but for whom evil is a way of life. 

Honestly, as much as I've avoided this one for a few decades (I thought there were more interesting Dark Lords; the only other P. N. Elrod book I ever tried reading I couldn't get in to), I kind of wish I had read it in release.

In the Lich of time....

 As a warning, along with sporadic library reserves, I found a bunch of old RPG novels among the remnants of mom's house, then found a few other volumes on used book sites, so expect some really odd entries over time. 

Today was King of the Dead by Gene De Weese, which is more or less the origin of Azalin, who's later stories are found in Lord of the Necropolis. (If you click that link, there's an awesome picture attached to the post.) For those not versed in such esoterica, Azalin is a lich who rules the Ravenloft Domain of Darkon, and is pretty much the arch nemesis of Strahd, the Vampire Lord around whom the entire setting is based. Firan, as he was known as a human, started in Oerth, aka the Greyhawk setting, middle son of a King who thoughts magic users were evil. So, because of course he does, Firan learns the arcane arts, manages to get his younger brother possessed, then runs off to follow his mentor somewhere outKingdom. 

He learns tricks to siphon off the life force of those he kills, and becomes king after his eldest brother dies. Firan rules by executing anyone who breaks his laws. He marries, finds out the wife cursed him, erases the curse, and she bears him a son. Irik, named after his possessed younger brother, ends up commiting treason against daddy dearest, since he doesn't agree with Firan's policies. Firan beheads Irik, and then regrets it, thinking he should raise his son and teach him to be more like his father. Well, that doesn't quite go as planned, and Firan starts hearing taunting voices of those he cared about, which in turn leads him to turn himself into a lich. (An observation: most of the art depicting Azalin makes him look a bit like Skeletor right before He-Man kicks his ass.) 

So, Firan eventually gets sucked into the mists and winds up in Barovia. He refers to himself by his old title on Oerth (Aza'Lin), which the Barovians take to be his name. We get a short chapter on his working with and against Strahd, before Azalin enters the mists again, and eventually becomes the leader of his own Dark Domain, and his punishments of never being able to learn new magic, and finding the only way he could fully resurrect his son is to torment himself. Or, he could forgive himself, but that would mean him admitting he was wrong. 

It's fun, and frankly, Azalin more than Strahd understand the nature of the realm and its torments. He's probably the only Darklord who understands how to end his imprisonment, but is too stubborn to do so. 

It's a tad silly in places, but it's a fun read none the less.

On a midnight dark and dreary

And we're back in Sithicus, as Lord Soth faces down his own misrule of the dark domain in Spectre of the Black Rose. In my last post, I mentioned how Soth's imprisonment by the dark powers was mildly controversial, and here, we see his release back to Krynn. (Theoretically for a second time, if one takes the adventure World of Krynn as canon.) 

Essentially, Soth has sat on his armored ass for a very long time letting Sithicus run itself. His torment on Krynn has changed, as his Keep in Sithicus is not quite the same as Dargaard Keep in Ansalon. His skeletal knights and banshee tormentors also change number, as memory in Sithicus is an illusion. 

Which has left Azreal the Dwarven Werebadger to run the country as he sees fit, annoying Magda's daughter Inza. (Magda is alive for the first part of the novel, but we quickly find out her daughter doesn't much like her.) War threatens with Invidia, as the ruler (not the actual Lord) wishes to exterminate the Vistani. 

We also have the mysterious Cobbler, who cuts off people's feet who publicly break oaths; The Whispering Beast, who calls those who break oaths to him as food; and the mysterious White Rose, who has her own connections with Soth. We have Azreal trying to take control of all the shadows of Sithicus, and Inza, who ultimately wants Soth's throne. Almost everyone is plotting with and against everyone else. 

In other words, Gothic Horror.

In the end, Soth regains his memory and returns to Krynn, and we see again how his pride prevents his redemption. Pretty much every other character gets an unhappy ending, which works just as well. 

This was actually a heck of a lot more fun than the first volume, since by this point, we know everyone in here is up to no good, which makes the ending that much more satisfying. Soth is home, so he can find his redemption a few years down the road. (I ordered the War of Souls trilogy today, so I'll eventually get to relive that silliness. Although given that plot line involved Takhisis moving Krynn across the universe, I feel like Soth's sojourn into Ravenloft kind of foreshadowed that plot twist, although I think most readers tend to think of that trilogy as an apology for Dragons of Summer Flame, which seems to be pretty universally despised.) 

If you can find a copy, this is one of the fun ones.

CONTROVERSY!

 Before I get deep into this, let's discuss some of the fun behind James Lowder's Knight of the Black Rose, or what happens when creators clash with property owners. According to the copyright, this got released in 1992, which was after Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis were on the outs with TSR, However, their DragonLance novels and game accessories were quite popular even then. (Of note, the game module that inspired the entire setting of Ravenloft was written by Tracy and his wife..) Anyway, Lord Soth was a secondary antagonist in the DragonLance setting, a Death Knight who was working with Kitiara for his own reasons. His backstory was tragic, and he was an inveterate scene stealer. Plus, he just LOOKED cool. So it wasn't a particularly great surprise that TSR decided to make D&D Reese Cups by having the Mists swallow Soth on Krynn and drop him in the new Gothic Horror setting. Now, he eventually escaped and wound up back on Krynn (with one partial escape assumed to be during The Grand Conjunction as chronicled in the debatebly canon source book World of Krynn), only to die a final and noble death during The War of Souls. As far as Soth's creators are concerned, Soth never left Krynn. As far as D&D canon goes, he did, although most people reconcile it by assuming he escaped to return at the moment of his exit. Anyway, info dump done, let's discuss.

So, we open towards the very end of the Blue Lady's War, when Kitiara went to Palanthus to greet whichever Krynnish god wound up coming out of the dragon portal. (The entire story is told in Legends.) Kitiara dies, and Soth heads back to his lovely Dargaard  Keep with his banshees and skeletal men at arms. However, we expand here on Soth sending his seneschal Caradoc to the Abyss to go get Kitiara's soul, so Soth can reanimate her body to be his eternal companion. (Soth has relationship issues.)

Caradoc winds up hiding Kit's soul, thinking Soth won't return him to mortality. (Mind you, some of the discussions here closely mirror the Planescape setting. Which I think came out somewhere around when this got written.) Soth strangles the ghost (perk of being undead, I suppose), the mists close in, and hey, everyone's in Barovia. 

What follows is a showdown between a Chaotic Evil vampire and Lawful Evil Death Knight. We also meet a Vistani lass named Magda (the Vistani during this era were basically stereotyped Roma, straight out of central casting) and a werebadger named Azreal. They cross Barovia into Gunderak and back, and eventually, Soth winds up in the Mists again, and ultimately refuses redemption, so he becomes the Dark Lord of Sithicus. 

By far the best part of this story is how in depth we plunge into Soth's days before the Curse. We hear the tale throughout DragonLance, but here, we're on Soth's shoulder as he has his first wife killed, married his second, gets expelled from the Knighthood, and ultimately fails in his redemption and gets cursed by wife #2. It adds a lot of humanizing effect onto the character, showing us his tragic nature. He's really a dark mirror image of the stereotypical paladin. Yes, his honor is tarnished and rusted, but the iron is still strong under it all. 

Now, I first read this when it was published, having picked it up at the local bookstore/smoke shop a few blocks from my house. At the time, I had not read the earlier source material, and had no real idea of who Soth was. Now, having read all of it, this made a hell of a lot more sense. I'm really happy I found my copy again, it was fun to reconnect with it after all these years.

Not quite Riverdance.

I knew when I started reading Gene DeWeese's Lord of the Necropolis, this picture was going to show up in the review.

Mainly because it covers, in the timeline of Ravenloft, the Grand Conjunction as well as the rise of the Necropolis from within the kingdom of Darkon during the Requiem, all from the point of view of Azalin, the lich lord of Darkon.

A quick bit of history for those not versed in Dungeons & Dragons who stumbled in to this. Ravenloft was a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons that made it possible to have adventures in cheap rip offs/homages of Gothic horror. The realm got its start (and name) from an adventure centered on a vampire named Strahd, and his rather tragic fall from grace. It proved popular enough that Strahd, his castle, and quite a bit of his domain got sucked into the Ethereal Plane and became the linchpin of a new campaign world of tortured Darklords.

A few problems though. Evidently, this one, unlike its predecessor (King of the Dead, also by DeWeese), is considered non-canonical. Second, the very things that made the adventures so much fun to play through are kind of missing in the prose.

See, the first half of the book deals with Azalin going back to Strahd's Barovia prior to its entrance to the mist. (Using a proxy phylactery embedded in a Vistani ally.) Instead of what happened in the modules, we instead get some silliness about Azalin taking the body of the Lieutenant Strahd killed at the time of the cursing.

Then we get into the Requiem. Wherein Azalin finds a machine made of both science and magic, makes a lesser version, which creates the being that would later rule the Domain of Necropolis as Death, as well as managing to disintegrate Azalin when he enters the bigger version.

Honestly, it wasn't as good as I was hoping, but that's long been an issue with the Ravenloft novels... If the Darklord(s) is the focus, it generally isn't a good read. If they aren't in it at all, or left as a minor character, they usually become quite fun to read, in a cheesy pulpy kind of way. (Although what usually makes the Darklords so boring to read is that they're often rehashing a better source material, like Frankenstein or The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Not always true, as Lord Soth's Entrance and Exit to the mists were actually fun to read, even if legions of Dragonlance fans screamed in protest that their favorite scene stealing Death Knight got yanked out of Krynn.[And let's be honest. Soth's creators weren't happy about it, and Soth's curse in the myths really didn't capture the horror of the curse he had on Krynn. /nerd off] I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that Laurell K. Hamilton wrote a Ravenloft novel at one point. I actually have it on the shelf, but...)

It's a readable book. Azalin is a tragic character in many ways. But it made me long for what White Wolf managed to do long after the heyday of D&D novels... make a book that captures both the spirit and the sense of adventure of the game itself.