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Ktandeo, "Warrior God" of Desci, Son of Anservial and Ares, Lord of the South of Smowlark, Last of the Red Crests.

Ktandeo, son of Ares, "Warrior God", Lord of the South of Smowlark Island

Race: half-divine, half-human, Son of the Enmarch People

Mother: Anservial, Daughter of Desci from Mount Manechest in the Sahtgarte Mountains

Father: Ares, Son of Zeus

Wife: Lady Elatie

Early Life

His Mother Anservial, and the Birth of Ktandeo

Warrior God is the son of Ares, born to the mercurial warrioress Anservial, a commoner and member of the Red Crests, an adventuring party who had by that time conquered with their army the whole of the Smerdennin Isles, a lush archipelago well known for its tyrannical wizard-king Mantris and his ettin army. Their own wizard-warrior Malran took the throne after it was won by the Red Crests. Anservial became a fascination for Ares, and in her appeals for a child (for all men were intimidated by her), Ares raped her and gave her a warrior god son. Jealous of this however, Aphrodite cursed Anservial in that all men were for thereafter obsessed with her. She was forced to flee to her home amongst the Enmarch peoples of the Sahtgarte Mountains. She lived high on Mount Manechest, amongst storm giants loyal to Kronus, until her death in a massive battle against fire giants only a few years later. Thought to be a god by the remaining storm giants for his prodigious strength, he eventually was beseeched by the townspeople below to join an adventuring party. He never managed to return to the Smerdennin Islands.

Early Adventures

Meeting the Red Crests

The Sahtgarte Mountains near Desci, the land of Ktandeo's birth.

"Warrior God" was rediscovered by the mighty Red Crests already late in their career, when they returned to the Enmarch Penninsula upon the Continent. There, at the village of Desci, near Mount Manechest amongst the Sahtgarte Mountains, they came to the home of their former and long dead companion, Anservial. At Desci they heard of the incredible strength of a young man from the top of the mountain, a young man who was raised amongst the storm giants. Coming before the storm giants, the Red Crests learned that this young man was none other than the son of their slain companion Anservial. The young man had no name, but the giants said that it was certain that because he was so fierce and so strong that he could be nothing other than the son of the War God. Amused and half believing this legend, the Red Crests adopted the son of Anservial, and called him Warrior God.

Adventures with the Red Crests

Little is known of Warrior God's early adventures with the Red Crests. Certainly the Red Crests were already mighty when they met the son of Anservial, mighty enough that they wielded great magic, magic which they shared with Warrior God readily enough. Under their ready tutelage Warrior God quickly proved to be a mighty fighter, and won renown and respect. His adventures with the Red Crests took him throughout the Enmarch Penninsula, and even to the Spells of Illesse, the celestial landscape beyond the bounds of the world Illessia itself. By the end of his adventures with the Red Crests, Warrior God had earned himself strong armor, sword and even a girdle of magical strength which magnified his already great power many times over.

Zhor, the Mul and Initial Adventures Under the Dark the Sun

Having taken his leave of the Red Crests for a time, Warrior God adventured in the Sahtgarte Mountains, his homelands. There at a mountain inn, in a supreme act of fate, Warrior God fell into a magical gateway, leading him to the city of Tyr and the world of Athas, the world of the Dark Sun.

Instantly Warrior God found himself confused with a young half-elf and a mul, being chased by templars, lead amongst them being Khantane, a villain who was to plague Warrior God for many years. Unable to find a way to return to his home world, Warrior God joined the odd company of the half-elf named Zhor and his mul companion.

Finding themselves in a battle with the evil Khantane and his minions, the Mists of Ravenloft presented themselves, whisking away the great evil of Khantane along with his adversaries. This was their first journey to the Demi-Plane of Dread, where they met several natives who joined in their adventures, including a young warrior named William and a native of Athas named Alteric, a thief. At length, the mists took Warrior God, Zhor and their mul friend back to Tyr. In Tyr, the various heroes, including William and Alteric, formed a loose group known as the Knights of Tyr, so named and champion by William, an off-worlder. They were founded to resist the evil templars and sorcerer-king of Tyr.

Intent on finding a magical gateway the would lead back to his own world, Warrior God and his companions instead found an alternative gateway outside of Tyr, which led them to another plane of existence.

Warrior God, Zhor, the Mul, the Beastlands and Beyond

Arriving upon the Beastlands, Warrior God and his companions Zhor and their mul friend found themselves in a war between men with muskets and even cannon. The war was a great one, fought amongst an infinite forest. But Warrior God and his companions escaped the suspicious musketeer soldiers after much trouble. Adventuring through the woods, they found that Khantane had followed them to the Beastlands via the same magical portal, and had brought Tyrian soldiers and templars to assist him. These were at length outwitted and defeated, although Khantane himself managed to escape with his life.

Helping locals resist a great evil, Warrior God, Zhor and their mul companion descended upon a medusa and her minions upon a strange island, and slew her. They escaped Khantane again, but this time with Zhor's new power, enabling him to physically travel throughout the planes. They traveled to the Astral Plane.

In the Astral Plane, they had several adventures, but these adventures culminated in being captured by the githyanki. They were taken to their adamant citadel, but managed to escape. There on the fortress, they seized from the castle's supreme commander his powerful special silver sword. The githyanki were enraged, and although the heroes escaped, they would never forget the theft.

At length, the heroes reached Sigil, the City of Doors. Here they had even more adventures, but in the end they discovered a portal leading back to Athas. Warrior God, his heart guided to bring aid to that dying world, followed Zhor back to the world of the Dark Sun.

Nearly three years before the liberation of the city-state of Tyr, Zhor, Warrior God and their mul companion escaped from the Happy Hunting Grounds and to the Silver Void. There, amidst several adventures, they were captured by the githyanki and held so as to be inspected by their supreme commander. Instead, Zhor used his powers and stole the supreme commander's special silver sword, a weapon of great power. Although this weapon was lost to Zhor, the githyanki have never forgotten this theft. Almost twenty years later, the githyanki still remembered the face of Ktandeo upon his return to the Astral Plane, even though he was but a companion of the actual thief. They demanded the return of the blade, and will do almost anything to capture Ktandeo so as to torture him for the weapon's location.

Adventures in Athas

Warrior God and his companions were criminals in Tyr, and so fled. Constantly on the move, and pushed by the impetus of the psionic-wizard Zhor to find greater and greater power, the small party undertook a great many travels and adventures. Zhor betrayed the preserver-wizards of Tyr when they asked for his aid, and now chased by them as well, the party traveled into the Ringing Mountains, and even crossed into the Forest Ridge and even beyond. A mighty ranger and friend of the Preservers found them and punished Zhor by cutting open his flesh with a sword of wounding, afflicting him with permanent vertical scars running up his face and the full length of the his body. Thus shamed but released, Zhor led the party as far as the Dragon Crown Mountains, where they were approached by secretive psionicists and preservers who tried to possess the party to join the Preserver cause. Zhor reluctantly agreed.

Teleported back to Tyr, the heroes after a time were sent to discover mighty magical powers to rival the power of the sorcerer-kings of Athas. Several adventures amidst the ruins of Athas and on ruined merchant expeditions found new and mighty magic for Zhor to command, but saw Warrior God ever weaker compared to his magical and psionic companion, who became ever more imperious over Warrior God and their mul companion.

Sent by the Veiled Alliance on a new quest for a mighty magical item, they traveled across Athas and through Salt View with many adventures, then came to the city-state of Balic, where Zhor was captured. Drawing the interest of king Androponis himself, Zhor and the monarch nearly destroyed each other with the power of the Way, trying to disintegrate one another. Zhor managed to escape in the confusion. Finding that agents of Khantane were chasing them, they left the city. They adventured in the Sea of Silt for a time, resting at various villages and islands. After a considerable amount of time they even met Fylo, the giant friend of Agis of Asticles, and walked upon the Isle of the Oracle, where the Dark Lens lay. They did not however discover the Lens, and so at length left the sea and journeyed inland, intending to return to Tyr. Zhor used the Way, but having difficulty in the Gray, they descended back from the Gray near Nibenay.

The Heroes in Nibenay

The heroes reached Nibenay, looking for aid from the Veiled Alliance against the defilers. Meeting them, Zhor once again offended the Veiled Alliance of Athas with his arrogance and betrayal. They fled in a magical duel, which brought the Nibenese templars. They were at length and after much death captured, and were for a time imprisoned. Condemned for preserver magic and for harming the city templars, the heroes were thrown into the great arena of Nibanay, but prevailed, even against mighty beasts. A faction of the Veiled Alliance of Nibenay aided in their escape.

Humbled by his recent plight, Zhor summoned up all his magic and psionic might and left the company of Warrior God. Zhor flew to the highest tower of the sorcerer-king Nibenay's palace, the Naggaramakum, and blasted a great hole in the palace wall. Daring to fight the sorcerer-king himself, Zhor wounded the monarch, but not before being nearly killed himself. Zhor teleported away to further his own adventures, leaving Ktandeo alone.

Warrior God on Athas

Warrior God left the company of the mul, and once again returned to Tyr, where he became involved with the successful revolutionaries there, who had recently overthrown their king and fended off the armies of Urik. He came to their assistance, but once again encountered his companion Zhor, whom himself became an agent of the revolutionaries. Zhor attempted to use the Way to influence Sadira, the revolutionary leader and wizard amongst them. Disaster followed, but nonetheless Warrior God and Zhor assisted the revolutionaries in routing out the threats of former templars to the city. Once again they faced Khantane, now with a steel mask over his face due to injuries, who was chased out of the city

Valistor and the Lake of Golden Dreams

Warrior God and Zhor now focused more upon Khantane, who apparently had just given his loyalty to a powerful defiler named Valistor, who was building a town amidst the Smoking Crown Mountains east of Urik. With a force allied to Tyr, they helped destroyed one of Valistor's mercenary armies, which had designs on allies of Tyr. Khantane had led this army, but once again fled.

Seeing that this Valistor was becoming a great threat, Warrior God and Zhor traveled north to Urik, and fought a t'liz (undead arch-defiler) allied to Valistor. Finding certain templars of Urik interested in destroying the petty rival that was building a town so close to his own city, the two heroes came with Urikan allies to the Lake of Golden Dreams. Here, Warrior God ventured down into the boiling waters via magical protection, but was nearly killed when the party on the surface was ambushed by a force led by now Lord Khantane.

Lord Khantane attempted to have Zhor join with him in loyalty to Valistor, and even invited he and Warrior God to Valistor's court in the Smoking Crown Mountains. There, they met Valistor, who was nearing power enough to become a sorcerer-king himself. Valistor even claimed that he was protected by the other sorcerer-kings, and that he would soon have magic enough to make subject much of Athas. Zhor and Warrior God instead insulted Valistor, and teleported away.

Not long after Zhor and Warrior God helped destroy yet another caravan army belonging to Valistor that was threatening Balic, whose king was now absent.

Lord Khantane meanwhile had once again been absorbed by the Mists of Ravenloft, which came even to take Zhor, Warrior God and their mul friend for a time. Khantane, now being undead and all the more powerful, nonetheless still failed to kill the heroes. The Mists at last relented and returned the heroes to Athas along with Khantane, although Zhor and Warrior God were deposited back in Nibenay.

Alteric and the Gold Plot

Learning from the Nibenese Veiled Alliance that defilers loyal to Nibenay were interested in Walis the last gold mine of Athas, the heroes traveled there. While at Walis, they learned that their old companion Alteric, who had become a great thief lord, and Nibenay were going to attempt to destroy the gold of Walis so as to increase the value of the immense amounts of the metal Alteric and Nibenay already possessed. The heroes succeeded in stopping this, but not without being attacked by king Nibenay himself. Zhor and Warrior God were nearly killed, but Zhor once again used the Way and they fled back to Tyr.

Alteric and Zhor had a long history going back over a decade. They had been friends once, both being allies to a group known as the Knights (to use that ancient word) of Tyr, but with the dissolution of the Knights, Alteric had found other pursuits. He became an assassin, a murderer and a master of men, and before long he controlled a vast criminal network over all the Tablelands, and elevated himself to a power great enough to make deals with sorcerer-kings. Unfortunately for Alteric, this power was only fleeting, but nevertheless, the arch-rogue had continued to be a thorn in Zhor’s side for years afterwards. It was Alteric who had destroyed Zhor’s own crime ring and sunken his base in the Silt Sea, chasing him off-world, and although those days of evil were long over, Zhor still owed his old nemesis a serious payback. And hopefully, Zhor thought, a final one. -From the Chronicles of Zhor, Book X

Soon after this, Zhor and Warrior God teleported across Athas to assist in chaos with the Order in the Dragon Crown Mountains in the Hinterlands. They aided a power preserver and avangion in this, namely the Sage, but Zhor mocked the cause of the powerful wizard, and so neither Warrior God nor Zhor assisted further in the Sage's plans regarding the Dragon Crown Mountains and the mysterious palace at the center of it.

Zhor Betrays the Veiled Alliance and the Druid Council of Athas

Zhor and Warrior God, returned to Tyr, found that they were invited to a very secret meeting of mighty preservers and druids at a remote mountain far to the north of the Tablelands. Zhor, full of "haughtiness and arrogance" flaunted the intense security of the event, which brought about disaster, as can be read below from the Chronicles of Zhor.

During the twelfth Free Year of Tyr, five years before that time, the second Council of Druids was held in the great hills north of Urik. The druids were the last keepers of Athas, the protectors of what land the defilers had not yet ravaged and sucked. Long ago the sorcerer-kings had declared war on the druids, and ever since, these priests of nature and life had been slowly exterminated, until they were virtually no more. By now there were no more than a few druids, here and there, wandering off in the deserts, protecting what little left they could find. Yet despite the destruction vented upon them by the sorcerer-kings, the druids did not fade out. No, on the contrary they learned how to survive, slowly growing once again in numbers, enough so that by the twelfth Free Year of Tyr, they could regroup to discuss the demise of the remaining sorcerer-kings.

And not just druids attended either. Within the ultra secret meeting amongst the mountains, all those who believed in the future of Athas came to be there. Preservers. Warriors of faith and virtue (what few there were). Priests of the four great elements, as well as priests of rain. Two spirits of the lands attended, as did three elementals. But most importantly of all, the only three avangions on Athas, Kornugard, the Sage, and Oronis, the King of the secret city of New Kurn, were present. It was they, these hopes of Athas, who orchestrated the whole council, and it was they who were the first great hopes and pillars to the cause of good, if there were such a thing on that cursed planet. Their presence there was a great risk, but they deigned it all worth it.

The Druid Council was to be the meeting of hope for Athas, and it would have been, but the defilers were near.

Great spells protected the meeting within the mountains, the psionic enchantments of the avangions themselves, but still all was breached. Zhor of Tyr, who had begrudgingly attended, did so with particular malevolence and disregard for the absolute security of the meeting. His haughtiness and arrogance had cost them dearly that day.

Zhor was tracked to the meeting by the Shadow King’s assassins, and hardly had it begun, when it disrupted. Almost half those attending perished. Even Zhor narrowly escaped. Although the three avangions escaped, their existence was now known and exposed. The entire council was a disaster, and the druid resistance suffered a defeat they might likely never recover from.

-from the Chronicles of Zhor, Book VI

Warrior God only narrowly escaped the mass murder, but this time he did so apart from Zhor, who was chased by the very best of Nibenay's warriors.

The Fall of Lord Khantane and Valistor and the Death of Warrior God

With the destruction of the Second Druidic Council and the exile of Zhor from the preservers and druids of the world, Zhor spent a long time away from Warrior God.

Warrior God had fled with the shared magic of the preservers when Nibenay's massacre came. Into the wilderness Warrior God went, having several adventures until he at length found himself in a ragtag band of preservers and druids near Urik who were planning to destroy the army of Valistor.

Almost at the same time of the destruction of the Druid Council, king Hamanu of Urik had at last brought his army and destroyed Valistoria, the walled town being constructed as the city of Valistor. Valistor had escaped to his army, which wielded a powerful magical item which could threaten even the sorcerer-kings themselves.

The armies of Urik, Nibenay and even Tyr came to deal with this threat, and met Valistor's army in the valleys between the Smoking Crown Mountains and the Lake of Golden Dreams. Warrior God fought in this battle, killing many warriors loyal to Valistor. Zhor on the other hand absorbed with his psionic powers the mighty spells of Valistor and his lieutenant Lord Khantane, then used the golden magic orb of Valistor to channel the energy right back upon Valistor, Khantane and their army. All were destroyed, and Valistor's power was thrown down forever, even if the golden orb was from that time on no more.

In the aftermath of the battle, Warrior God, weary and wounded, wandered after other defilers, as it was thought that since so many were gathered for the battle, a great many of them could be thus killed all at once. Hearing strange noises from a perch far and away up the Smoking Crown Mountains, Warrior God climbed up a crevasse to see what it was he heard. He beheld there the three remaining sorcerer-kings. King Hamanu and Nibenay he knew, but Warrior God did not recognize the monstrous draconic and skeletal form of King Dregoth. Warrior God overheard their plans to divide Athas amongst themselves, but was discovered. Alas, he was consumed by the super-heated sand and fiery breath of Dregoth of Guistenal.

Dregoth, the undead dragon-king of Guistenal, destroyed Warrior God with his breath of fire and super-heated sand after the Battle of the Lake of Golden Dreams, in the 13th Free Year of Tyr. Warrior God did not know his killer at the time, but has since learned. Dregoth remains the most powerful foe Warrior God has ever faced.

The Resurrection of Ktandeo, and the His Appearance in Dantareth

By Free Year 15, Zhor had begun a great thieving guild battle between himself and Alteric, with Zhor in the east and Alteric in the west of the Tablelands. Wishing the return of his friend and a supremely capable and trustworthy bodyguard, Zhor sent agents to the gorge of Warrior God's death, and found there a speck of grease on a rock; all that remained of Warrior God. This speck was taken to a necromancer, who from this tiny bit of nothing grew a whole body: Warrior God's. With a powerful wish he was returned to life, Warrior God reborn.

Now distancing himself from the scandalous name of Warrior God, he now tookt the name Ktandeo, after the mentor of Sadira of Tyr. Marching with Zhor's agents towards Balic, they were intercepted by a great tribe of thri-kreen while staying at a ruined mud fort. Ktandeo only barely escaped with his life, but slew a huge number of thri'kreen warriors.

After this, Ktandeo continued towards Balic, where he was met by more of Zhor's agents, although not by Zhor himself. He was there taken to a gladiatorial school, one of the finest in Athas, where for three years Ktandeo studied every weapon and style of fighting he could master. He trained mightily, and in the end became a fully trained Athasian gladiator, ready to assist Zhor in the increasingly amoral and criminal activities he was pursuing.

Not long after, Zhor and Ktandeo were reunited deep into the Silt Sea, upon an atoll whose inhabitants had never seen land.

By this time, Zhor's agents had already discovered another magical portal, leading to sea of water instead of a sea of silt. After the loss of several agents who failed to return from the portal, Zhor and Ktandeo entered, only to discover the portal was one way.

Ktandeo, Zhor and the Gondolas of Dantareth

The plenty of the world of Dantareth stunned Zhor and made Ktandeo miss his home on Illessia. They traveled inland, until eventually they reached Urstwater. Eventually, they became involved with the...

The Return of Ktandeo to the World of Illessia, or the Spells of Illesse

The Red Crests

The original adventuring party of Ktandeo son of Anservial, the original Red Crests are now mostly deceased or retired. Ktandeo was the last member to join the party of the Red Crests, who allowed him into their ranks due to his legendary strength and because he was his mother's son. The original members are listed below, followed by their progeny, who although not linked together in their own adventuring party, still hold some respect for the relationships once held by their parents.

Anservial the Warrioress (KIA) ---> Ktandeo, Lord of the South of Smowlark Island, vassal lord of King Malran II

Malran the Warrrior-Wizard King (deceased) ---> Malran II, King of the Smerdennin Islands and the Enmarchians

Bassilian the Warrior (in dotage) ---> Kasseran, a vassal lord of Malran II

Gyvenian, a Mighty Wizard (an immortal wizard)

Narnewal (a mighty wizard-king of a southern island)

Cosmology of Illesia, the Spells of Illesse

In the beginning was Illesse, mistress of all the magic of the world. She waved her wand and the primordial wizards were created. Each drew from the Well of Elements and created their own realm and all the creatures upon it, which Illesse blessed with life.

The Lord of Earth was Endolsis, who collected the debris from the other lords to create the world, which he named Illessia after his mother. This world pleased Illesse over all others, and for his ingenuity Illesse gave to him her wand and blessed his world with the most fantastic and beautiful of life. Endolsis crafted magical gate ways with his new wand so that all the other Lords and their kin might visit and people his world, making it by far the most beautiful. Pleased himself, Endolsis crafted a fabulous wizard’s tower on a mountain, and ruled benevolently over his folk and all the universe.

It is said that so much magic was what brought the phaerimm, who came in a great tide to devour the Spells of Illesse. The lords threw much magic to defend their own realms, creating great spells, but the phaerimm, unaffected, headed straight for the Tower of Endolsis and the Wand of Illesse. Illesse herself flooded the heavens with comets, meteors, galaxies and stars, but all the spells failed to stop all the phaerimm. Endolsis used his wand to create the great magic of spell rivers to sweep the phaerimm away, which became what is now the Celestial Ribbon, a dazzling column of magic which is still extant. The phaerimm still came however, and so Endolsis crafted his greatest spell, sacrificing himself so that all the phaerimm would turn to stone. They are stone even now, forming the great asteroid belts. It is said that the lesser phaerimm survive in these astral stones even until today, raining down their wrath upon Endolsis’ world, as well as those of the others.

Illesse now crafted the aasimon to watch the borders, but saddened by her son’s death, said she wished to return from whence she came. She gave her wand now to Crosander, Lord of Solar Kingdoms, giving him charge of all aasimon. Illesse then walked the Star Path to realms unknown.

Illessia rests in a clustered solar system, itself but one of fourteen planets the revolve very closely to one another, creating bridges between them from time to time. It itself has three moons. The Celestial Ribbon still stems from the Tower of Endolsis, a radiant pink stream of magical plasma which twists and runs up into the heavens. The whole solar system is called the Spells of Illesse.

With Endolsis’ death, the sparks from his body became those of other wizards, the sparks from the wand becoming the great artifacts which even now are still unearthed upon the world. Upon awakening, these first mortal wizards wondered in their new power, and emulating Endolsis, built towers of their own. Many became great masters of mage craft, and through great accomplishments were raised to celestial dignity, where they were given control of their own solar kingdoms in Crosander’s dominion. These wizards thus became demi-gods, and the people which they ruled became their loyal devotees.

Later History of Illessia

Centuries ago, the Olympic pantheon invaded the world, and displaced most of the old gods. The Olympians mostly dominate the islands to the west of the great continent of the world.

The Quest to Save Virgil from the Eighth

Zhor's Letter to Ktandeo, Given to Him By the Dwarf Artan Upon Their Meeting on the Astral Plane

Dear Warrior God,

My dear friend, for a second time we have long been apart, and I have wondered if you are well, what happened with you and the Dantareth warrioress Elatie, and if you still practice the sword, or have gone into a retirement. I have stolen magic from a vault of our old enemy King Androponis, and it is very powerful indeed, strong enough to see you in my mind's eye for at least a moment, even from Athas. And where do I find you? Adrift in the Astral Plane! Alas, I am consumed with toils here that I need not burden you with, but which prevent me from coming to aid your personally.

Instead, I send you a trusted agent, a hardy denizen of the Silt Sea who has a most special gift; the ability to leave Athas! He is young for his race, but already has a vibrant skill with the Way, and an interest in the martial arts. In any case, he longs to leave Athas, and so I shall teach him and send him to you, in the hopes that he may bring you some aid, that he will learn under your wing, and that when he returns he may tell me what you quest for again. I am sorry I cannot send more, but my youthful dwarf friend might surprise you yet. I have never seen his talent before... it is as if he is divorced from Athas, and unaffected by the Gray which makes it near impossible to leave.

In any case, I wish I could be with you, in the Astral once again, as we adventured there oh so many years ago. Please treat this friend whom I send in my place with kindness and patience, and may he aid you well. If you are in great duress, he will return to Athas, and if possible, I will come to your succor.

May the gods of your home treat you well, your friend by the Sword,

-Zhor of the Hi'pachi

The Black Mantle, the ultraloth who interdicted Ktandeo and his companions at the town of Madhouse, in the depths of Pandemonium. After coming into the possession of the Key of Mechanus, the Black Mantle and his minions came to take the Key by force. In his hands he bore a terrible dark two-handed sword blazing with black power. Before the Black Mantle could come to use his great sword against his friends, Ktandeo leaped down from his hiding place and wrested the Black Mantle's mighty blade from the ultra-daemon's very hand. Very soon after, Ktandeo returned to his home world of Illessia and to the great wizard-tower home of his mother's friend Gyvenian. There, atop Gyvenian's mighty tower, Ktandeo threw the Black Mantle's sword into the sea. Some time later, during the assault by Ktandeo and his friends upon the dungeon domain of the lich Enco, the powerful priests of Nergal summoned a daemon, and so came forth the Black Mantle. The ultraloth chased the heroes past the vampire lairs and to the bronze doors of Enco's private domain. There, the great eladrin once known to the heroes as the bard Rabaros, but now blazing in his true form of angelic fire, sealed the way and faced Black Mantle by himself. The ultimate fate of either Rabaros or the Black Mantle remains unknown.

The bloated original body of Marquese Enco Salorini. The lich lord of the city Tarona de la Fierta on the Astral Plane, he was the slayer of Ktandeo, son of the Warrior God. Using a macabre spell of death, Ktandeo was seized by a black demon and gibbeted on a cruel iron hook. As Ares denies his son death save for by the sword, the demi-god hangs there still, awaiting his salvation, the victim of too-mighty spells.