Mordraneth is the primary villain and final enemy of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Stealer of Souls. He is a hugely powerful necromancer and illusionist who threatens the entire world of Titan. He is the archenemy and the evil counterpart of to the Great Mage Vanestin, who hires the playable character to put an end to his threat.
About Mordraneth[]
Mordraneth is a dark wizard whose mere name strikes fear in the heart of everyone in Titan. The narration states that his origins are unknown. As such, no one knows when he was born and where he learnt magic, but what his sure is that he owns a large domain in the continent of Allansia, which he either inherited or more likely conquered, and that he wants to take over the entire world.
Mordraneth looks like a classic evil mage in black robes, cape and hood, with his face always hidden in shadows. He is often labelled as a demonic being, sporting evil-looking features such as his shinning green eyes.
His few lines depict a cruel, sadistic, impatient, arrogant and scornful man, who revels in taunting his foes and laughs when he harms them; yet he praises their valour (though he still considers them beneath him) and proves cautious and determined. He is very proud of his might and despises when his secrets are discovered by "inferiors", stopping at nothing to discover how they did so. He can display cruel mercy at times, as he "merely" cut the arm of a dwarf veteran whom the playable character met before the start of the game.
He controls an army of monsters, undeads and corrupt humans, and he has many spies all over Allansia and the continent of the Old World, if not Titan as a whole. Mordraneth taught dark magic and armed combat to his many pupils, referred to as the “Dark Priests”, who are his most powerful and trusted followers.
Mordraneth is in permanent conflict with the mages of Pollua, capital of the country of Lendleland in the continent of the Old World, led by the Great Mage Vanestin, who keep foiling his schemes for world domination.
Powers and Abilities[]
Mordraneth is far and away one of the most powerful wizards ever seen in Titan, rivalling if not surpassing Oldoran Zagor, Balthus Dire, Zharradan Marr, Razaak and the Snow Witch themselves. Among the many evil mages of the Fighting Fantasy series, he is among the only three bearing the title of archmage (along with Xakhaz and the Archmage of Mampang). While Mordraneth is the weakest among them in terms of fighting skills, judging from his magical prowess marks him as the mightiest in terms of sheer magical abilities.
His already great power is vastly amplified by the countless souls he steals from his victims, as he drains near limitless energy, knowledge and power from them. He is a highly skilled practitioner of regular Dark Magic but he mostly specializes in both Necromancy and Illusionism.
Mordraneth is able to raise undeads from the grave at will and to capture the souls of the deads, but he is notable for his ability to extract the worst fears from the souls of dead people, especially his victims, and to bring them into existence under the shape of nightmarish illusions monstrously amplified.
These illusory nightmares are made almost real and prove extremely dangerous: a hydrophobia will create a tidal wave, a claustrophobia will make walls get gradually closer to squeeze people, a fear of the dark will create thick darkness able to engulf everything, and finally a fear of snakes or monsters (should they be imaginary) will bring them into existence; the strongest of these nightmares being immune to dispelling magic. This fearsome ability does not only stem from Mordraneth's Necromancy but also from his mastery of illusions, which he mixes skilfully.
Mordraneth is also able to disturb the balance of the magical forces in a given place, so that no one would be able to cast magic in said places any longer. The only way to circumvent this is to adapt one's magic to the disrupted balance, something only Mordraneth and his worthiest pupils know. Mordraneth also devised several spells (mostly dangerous magical attacks) which he taught to his pupils.
Moreover, Mordraneth can warp reality itself to some extent, as demonstrated when he turned the mere caverns of the Steel Crypts into a magnificent and luxurious subterranean palace, also when he created the Empire of Illusion, an extra-dimensional plane filled with his illusionary nightmares, that somehow expands the aforementioned caverns. He is also fully aware of everything that occur within his lair and he can talk or appear to anyone inside it.
In addition, Mordraneth is a very skilled swordsman who uses a sabre in battle, and a highly intelligent tactician, whose foes acknowledge his cunning, able to set clever traps and to turn his enemies' strategies to his advantage.
In Stealer of Souls[]
The playable character is a famed mercenary hired by Vanestin, the Great Mage of Pollua, who requests their help in his war against Mordraneth. One of his agents, the wizard Alsander was captured after spy work in which he discovered a major scheme of the Wicked One. He is kept captive on one of Mordraneth secondary bases, the Island of Despair.
Vanestin sends the hero to the Isle of Despair and save Alsander, while he sent ships full of his bests mages and warriors towards Mordraneth's domain; faking a high-scale attack to attract his attention. Vanestin cannot send a wizard, as the only magic which works inside Mordraneth's lairs is his own, and a group of warriors would be easily spotted by the enemy. When the hero sets foot on the island, they can enlist the help of the Sea Giant and of the native tribe of the Kiriabous, before entering the Steel Crypts where Alsander is kept prisoner. They must remain wary, as the Crypts are a maze full of monsters and traps, rather long and perilous to travel through. The deadliest foes faced being the Dark Priests, who were well taught by Mordraneth, the chief of his guards, a frightening Death Skull and a fearsome Skeletal Warrior.
- The first Dark Priest ambushes the hero shape-shifted as a captive. If they fall for his trick, he casts a spell that engulfs them in a shadowy sphere and costs 6 stamina points. He is a tough opponent with 9 in skill (power level) and 13 in stamina (life-points) who fights with a club.
- The second Dark Priest conjures a flurry of energy darts that must be dodged, or else it costs over a dice roll worth of stamina. He fights with a double flail and has 9 in skill and 12 in stamina.
- The young chief of the guard can provide precious indication to reach Alsander, if the hero pretends to be the master torturer whom they expect. If they fail to fool him or attack him outright, he proves a frail yet nimble and dangerous foe, who wields a dagger with 9 in skill and 7 in stamina.
- The Death Skull has 9 in skill and 10 in stamina. It fights with its jaws and the streams of blood from its eye-sockets, but the demonic vibrations it radiates cost 1 skill point for the battle and 2 stamina points before the hero can even raise their sword.
- The Skeletal Warrior is a powerful foe with 10 in skill and 10 in stamina, who wields a great broadsword. It is advised to avoid fighting it.
Later, the hero rescue Alsander from a vicious half-ogre torturer with 8 in skill and 14 in stamina. They can either attack at once or pretend to be a master torturer. If they free Alsander without killing the half-ogre, Alsander with throw a fireball costing him 6 stamina points.
Alsander was tortured because Mordraneth wants to know how he could discover how to spell-cast inside his lair. Alsander then reveals that the whole situation is in fact a very clever trap devised by Mordraneth, who secretly based himself in the depths of the Steel Crypts. The Wicked One arranged everything to make it look like he remained in his domain, for Vanestin to concentrate his forces on an empty target. He then turned Vanestin's trick against him, and is now ready to strike from behind and get rid of his defenceless archenemy for good.
Mordraneth devised a way to turn the worst fears of his victims into illusions, and he prepared an immense army of these dangerous nightmares. An army which would grow along with the casualties it would cause, enabling him to take over the entire world of Titan. Alsander then gives the hero many indications and teaches them several useful spells, before teleporting back to Pollua to warn Vanestin. Yet, should Vanestin be warned he still would not be able to call back his forces on time. This makes the hero the only one who can prevent the Wicked One from enacting his plan.
As such, they venture into the Empire of Illusions, filled with Mordraneth's countless illusionary nightmares. Said nightmares will prove very dangerous, as facing them without a trick often leads to a very painful demise and that the Anti-Illusion spell alone is seldom useful against the strongest ones. The hero will need several artifacts to overcome the nightmares safely. (The most dangerous being the claustrophobia, the Blue Dragon, the pit full of snakes and the Mammoth Spider.) Finally, they enter the Wicked One's palace.
- The Mammoth Spider is a bothersome foe with 8 in skill and 12 in stamina, who emits waves of pure fright that cost 1 skill point for the battle and 2 stamina points. The hero can destroy it without fight by wearing a bandana, but the Anti-Illusion spell will only cost it 4 stamina points.
Facing Mordraneth[]
Mordraneth first casts a Fireball spell that must be dodged lest it costs 6 stamina points (only 1 with magic ring). The hero can also cast a spell of their own and engage an attack round against their enemy. (The one who wins will strike the other with his spell.) A successful Fireball spell costs him 6 stamina points, and a successful Speed spell enables the hero to reach him before he can spell-cast and wound him before engaging the decisive duel.
Then, they need to climb the staircases to reach the Stealer of Souls, knowing that he can cast a Firebolt spell costing 4 (or 1) stamina points, or a deadly spell conjuring thousands of dark energy wires that can kill the hero outright. Wearing a silver ring dispels the attack, otherwise it must be dodged and automatically costs 4 stamina points. At last, the hero can take on Mordraneth: a powerful and dangerous enemy with 10 in skill (only 2 points below the maximum) and 17 in stamina, who fights with a sabre.
While challenging, Mordraneth is less impressive than the formidable final enemies that the author would create later, such as the fearsome Count Reiner Heydrich and the nightmarish Night Dragon. With the maximum skill score, he can be gotten rid of without major trouble.
With the wretched archmage dead and gone, every soul in his grasp is freed from its torment and departs to the Afterlife, while his Empire of Illusion vanishes from existence, leaving the hero free to exit the caves towards Pollua to savour their triumph.
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 Villains
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Dark Gods Demon Princes of Titan Allansia Khul Old World Others | ||