Alondrin the Betrayer

Alondrin is a fictional character first appearing as the main antagonist of the Ravenloft (Product Line) novel Dance of the Dead (Novel), where he serves as the primary nemesis of Larissa Snowmane. Alondrin is mentioned in Snowmane's background as part of her writeup as an NPC in the 2nd Edition Champions of the Mists sourcebook.

In world, Alondrin ("Lond" as he preferred to be called) was a necromancer who reanimated the crew of the River Dancer into zombies for Captain Raoul Dumont in exchange for being smuggled out of Souragne. Both he and Dumont met their ends when Larissa Snowmane performed her Dance of the Dead.

Biography

Alondrin the Betrayer, as he would eventually become to be known, was not always the evil man who wielded blood magic and so casually violated the dead. At one time, he was the bocoru (shaman) of Port d'Elhour. He was the student, the best student, and even the lover, of the Maiden of the Swamp. However, the powers to make life grow and work magic in line with nature eventually failed to satisfy Alondrin's thirst for power. The fruit and flower magic taught to him by the Maiden could not be used to bind the world to his selfish desires, so he turned elsewhere.

To feed his lust for power, Lond took up blood magic and bone magic, with a focus on necromancy, turning his back on his former duties and upon the Swamp Maiden herself. Lond achieved great power with the "magic of blood and bone, more so than if he had stayed with fruit and flower magic." Alondrin eventually created or learned a way to create intelligent zombies through the use of a magical powder. Using this method, Alondrin not only controlled the bodies of his victims, but also their very souls.

However, trafficking with such dark forces came at a horrible price, as his body became scarred as he accessed even his own blood and his body warped with the gradual loss of his humanity. Alondrin took to covering his body in heavy robes in order to disguise his disfigurement. His soul and mind became twisted as well, as he sought to feed upon human emotion much like the feu follet or the will o'wisp, but he only succeeding in gaining sadistic glee from inflicting pain upon others. With Alondrin's betrayal of his post, his people were left without a connection to the ways of nature and the spirits. Disease overtook the unfortunate, and the misfortune of the swamp overtook those ignorant of its dangers.

Eventually, Alondrin felt that Souragne held no more secrets for him; that to keep extending his skill in arcane knowledge, he must escape the domain. To this end, he approached Captain Raoul Dumont after the latter's arrival in Port d'Elhour in his magical riverboat, La Demoiselle du Musarde, to make a deal. Lond offered his services to Dumont in exchange for passage out of Souragne. Such services included the reanimation of Brynn and eventually the rest of the ship's crew (save for its pilots and actors) as intelligent zombies able to pass for the living and capable of using the skills they had wielded in life.

The plans of Alondrin and Dumont began to unravel when Willen revealed these to Larissa Snowmane and sent her to get help from the Maiden of the Swamp. At the [{Maiden's Isle]], the Maiden trained Larissa much as she had once trained Alondrin. When Larissa approached Anton Misroi, lord of Souragne, for permission to attack La Demoiselle, he taught her his most powerful magic, the Dance of the Dead. Misroi hated not Alondrin's ambition or wanton reanimation of zombies, but rather his desire and will to leave without Misroi's blessing.

Armed with the lessons taught to her by two loa and backed by many creatures of the swamp, Larissa led an assault upon the ship and its zombies. Over the course of the attack, Dumont saw one of his arms taken off and Lond saw many of his zombies destroyed. A powerful mage with mastery over the dead, Alondrin replaced Dumont's severed limb by grafting an undead one onto the horrified riverboat captain. Furthermore, Alondrin's power enabled him to turn many of his former attackers into new replacement zombie minions.

Eventually, Larissa's luck began to run out. Her energy waning and her forces whittled down, she faced the imminent wrath of Lond. Although evil, Dumont intercepted Alondrin's attacks and attacked his former ally. However, Alondrin called upon the arm he had grafted onto Dumont to pluck out the heart of its living host. With Dumont deceased, Larissa faced Alondrin alone. Her back against the wall, Larissa called upon the Dance of the Dead. Alondrin was powerful enough to somehow survive its attack and gloat about it, yet he met an ironic end in the deluge of zombies called in the aftermath of the dance.