Following some epic adventures in “The Hand of Vaprak” and “The Dragonreach Saga,” the Forgotten Realms comic series pivoted toward some more personal stories. After all, we had seen the crew of the Realms Master in action, but aside from Agrivar, whose struggles we were familiar with from his previous adventures in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons title, we didn’t know much about the unusual crew.

First up for examination: Captain Dwalimor Omen. We know he’s hunting artifacts throughout the Realms, but why?

Not at His Best

The issue kicks off with Foxy charging into Dwalimor’s quarters and getting blasted out by a gust of wind spell. Dwalimor is feeling ill and poring over his notes about artifacts. (Among the cards we see are the Hand of Vaprak, which the crew dealt with earlier, as well as Selûne’s Eye and the Moonpenguin of Boof from the AD&D comics.)

Most on the crew shrug off Dwalimor’s outburst as him simply being grumpy. Minder knows him better, however, and goes to console him.

While Minder helps Dwalimor deal with chronic pain, Agrivar and Ishi spar on the ship’s deck. The paladin gets the upper hand at first, disarming Ishi, but graciously gives her weapon back so the match can continue. This proves to be his downfall.

After the match, Vartan asks Foxy about the link between the Captain and Minder. Foxy doesn’t know the exact details, but he knows enough to provide us with some backstory. Dwalimor and Minder were once adventuring companions, but they met with peril when facing a thing called a “Crystalgriff.”

With one companion dead, Dwalimor saved his remaining friend by transporting her soul into the body of a golem. There may be magic that can restore Minder’s original body, but the spell would be dangerous and the golem won’t let her friend risk it.

It’s all a very interesting tale, but not for Vartan, who falls asleep during it.

What Dreams May Come

Vartan falls into a restless sleep (this was before D&D lore established that elves don’t sleep but instead meditate) and dreams of a tentacled monster killing his companions.

The dream is actually a warning from Labelas Enoreth, Vartan’s god and somehow who designated him as a pawn in the previous story. Despite being good-aligned, Labelas is something of an old school deity who doesn’t care much for mortals. As such, he encourages his cleric to save himself and leave his friends to die.

Soon, that dream becomes a reality as sahuagin pirates riding a giant squid attack the ship.

The commotion brings Dwalimor and Minder out of the captain’s quarters, but Captain Omen has prepared only divination spells today.

That’s a big mistake, in my opinion. I know that D&D mages have flexibility due to their ability to prepare new spells every day, but some things just come standard. My spellcasters always kept at least one offensive spell of every level prepared, because random encounters love to get you when you’re not paying attention.

It’s Captain-ing Time

Despite reeling in pain and not having the proper spells prepared, Dwalimor thinks on his feet rather well.

Earlier in the comic, Minder told Dwalimor to find a reason to live. Now he does so, aided by the fact that he doesn’t want to become a squid’s dinner. The new coordinates transport the Realms Master about 100 feet above the giant squid. The ship lands with a thud on top of the monster, and gravity does the rest.

And thus our story reaches its conclusion. Personally, I love vignettes like these; not everything needs to be a six-issue epic. We get some fun action, nice character moments, and insight into the relationship between Dwalimor and Minder–not to mention the continued seeding of some future plots, such as Vartan’s divine dream and the relationship between Agrivar and Ishi. I wish this type of story was more common in modern comics, rather than the “writing for the trade” style which dominates the industry today.

These one-offs aren’t over with, either. Next time around, we have another one…this time exploring the history of one Foxilon Cardluck.

_{Images: DC Comics}