The heroes of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms lines were part of the same adventure in “Jammers,” but they never actually crossed paths. The 1990 Forgotten Realms Annual changes that, as the crew of the Realms Master drops anchor in Waterdeep and runs headlong into the adventures who live at Selûne’s Smile.

A Trip to Waterdeep

Our story kicks off with Captain Omen giving a stern talk to his crew. They are about to stop in Waterdeep, where the Captain hopes to peacefully procure and dispose of the Eye of Selûne (previously seen in “The Gathering“). However, trips to Baldur’s Gate and Saerloon turned into disasters, and Omen thus orders everyone aboard the Realms Master to be on their best behavior.

However, as soon as the crew sets foot in Waterdeep’s crowded streets, they split up. Agrivar spots his half-sister Kyriani…

…while Minder spots Onyx the Invincible and shows an immediate infatuation with the dwarf.

While Dwalimor is willing to let the crew have their fun, he doesn’t realize that trouble is already close at hand.

The Return of Imgig Zu?

Following Kyriani, Agrivar quickly finds that she is meeting with some shady associates. Apparently, a cult of Imgig Zu, the villain who crippled Agrivar’s father and once manipulated Kyri’s good and evil sides, seeks to restore him to the Realms…and Kyri seems to be helping them.

The coloring on the drow here is a bit of a miss. I imagine the art notes probably said, “black elf,” and the colorist went for an African look rather than an elf whose skin was literally the color black. That’s really unfortunate because D&D has a long and not-so-proud history of portraying non-white individuals as evil. Drow already have their problems as both the only dark-skinned and traditionally evil elves, and making one more explicitly close to a real-world ethnicity only makes matters worse.

Agrivar spies on the meeting, but an ogre henchman quickly discovers him.

Kyri doesn’t seem to be playing around, and she only gets more vicious one she has a paralyzed Agrivar in her clutches.

We’re only ten pages in, so it’s a fair bet that Agrivar isn’t really turned into a pile of ash. Still, it’s not exactly the way fans might have hoped for a crossover between these two titles to begin.

A Meeting of Warriors

Meanwhile, a pickpocket tries his luck on Ishi and doesn’t get far before he runs into her counterpart from the other title…

Vajra has a nice meta-joke about the format of stat blocks in the Monster Manual. She and Ishi choose to let the failed pickpocket go, knowing that he hasn’t learned his lesson. Then they share a greeting that is quite a bit warmer than what Agrivar got from his sister.

Vajra isn’t just there to make friends, however. She’s following a shady character in a floppy hat who is bound for a temple of Gond, god of artificers and inventions.

The man in the floppy hat is selling an explosive known as smoke powder to more cultists of Imgig Zu who are apparently ready to assault Selûne’s Smile. Ishi and Vajra have some thoughts about that.

Ishi and Vajra do well in battle, aided slightly by the fact that firearms in AD&D tend to be unreliable and dangerous to the wielders at times…

Finally, Ishi disposes of the smoke powder by putting on a fireworks display.

So the cult of Imgig Zu is making multiple moves in Waterdeep, but they unfortunately chose the exact moment that an entirely new group of adventurers shows up to provide reinforcements.

Onyx’s Troubles

At the same time that Ishi is meeting Vajra, Onyx the Invincible notices Minder following him. Having already dealt with a frost giant stalking him, he’s not keen on another large-size shadow. However, right after giving Minder the slip, he runs into a familiar yuan-ti.

Onyx does what he does best and leaps into battle without considering the situation. As normal, it ends badly for him.

Luckily for Onyx, Minder has picked up the trail and comes in with a vengeance.

Kyri is also around, having retrieved some poison, but since her spells won’t do anything to stop a golem she instead helps the yuan-ti escape and calls it a night.

After Minder has rescued Onyx, she has a question of romance to ask him…

The remaining thugs stop Minder with a gray ooze that can eat through her metal body, but Onyx is quick to lend aid to a fellow dwarf.

Minder survives with just a bit of tarnishing. As a skilled craftsman, Onyx offers his aid…in more ways than one.

And then, not far away, the timeline syncs back up as we see the results of Ishi and Vajra’s adventure from afar…

It might seem odd that Minder goes all heart-eyes at the mere sight of Onyx, but at this point in the history of the Forgotten Realms dwarves had been in a long decline. The sudden birth of many dwarven twins replenished their declining numbers, but that was still only about 50 years ago (only long enough for newly-born dwarves to reach a state of relative young adulthood). A strong dwarven presence wouldn’t be felt in the Realms for a while yet. Thus, Minder spotting one of her own people, let alone a handsome specimen like Onyx, and deciding to run off for some companionship isn’t very far-fetched.

Interlude with Vartan

Meanwhile, Vartan has quickly abandoned chasing after Agrivar in favor of flirting with some ladies. For a guy who claims not to be interested in human women, he certainly seems interested in human women.

If the art looks slightly inconsistent through these stories, it’s because each section was done by a different crew. Agrivar and Kyri’s adventure was done by Eric Kachelhofer and Dave Simons, Ishi and Vajra were drawn and inked by Dan Reed and Paul Abrams, and Minder and Onyx’s escapades were presented by Tom Lyle and Bob Downs. Ken Penders handles this chapter. That’s a lot of artists for one issue, but I imagine it was necessary to get the annual out in time without having to disrupt the pace of the existing monthly book.

Vartan is, unfortunately, flirting with married women…as in, they’re all married to the same man.

Looking to save his hide, Vartan dives through the window and tries to abscond with the first mount he finds. It does not go as he expected.

Timoth helps Vartan escape, but they soon come across another scene: a drow and some masked men stealing a statue of a mind flayer.

The statue is actually not a statue at all, but rather the illithid that got turned to stone by Xanathar back in “Catspaw.” Interestingly, despite this issue looping in so many previous stories, you can generally get by without having read the other comics. A new reader knows Imgig Zu is a big bad evil guy, that Timoth encountered the petrified mind flayer before, and that Agrivar and Kyri are siblings. The storytelling here creates the feeling of a very lived-in world without dredging up too much confusing continuity.

Timoth and Vartan chase down the wagon carrying the illithid, much to Vartan’s dismay.

Timoth catches up to the horses and redirects them, causing the wagon to flip. The mind flayer shatters, so that threat is dealt with. The commotion brings the other nearby adventurers running, so our heroes are (mostly) together again.

So now…the story paired up the two siblings (Agrivar and Kyri), the two warriors (Ishi and Vajra), the two dwarves (Minder and Onyx), and the two “helper” party members (Timoth and Vartan). Who’s next…?

Rogues’ Gallery

Not far away, in a chapter drawn by Eric Kachelhofer and inked by Aldrin and Micket Ritter, Foxy discovers the smoking crater that Ishi and Vajra created. While he’s examining it, he runs into an old acquaintance…

It makes perfect sense that Conner and Foxy know each other, since they’re both worldly rogues and they likely run in some of the same circles.

Conner convinces Foxy to head into the hole to get the gemstone, offering the halfling the better part of a 65/35 split after they fence it. Foxy goes in but knows perfectly well that trouble often follows Conner.

As soon as he retrieves the gem, Foxy finds himself under attack from a headless golem.

Sorry, Foxy…Minder’s taken.

Unable to harm the creature, Conner sends Foxy off to get some help from someone more powerful.

Conner, meanwhile, decides to call it a day.

It’s hard to tell whether Conner previously made an enemy of Dwalimor or if he simply knows that the Halruaan’s magic will cause utter chaos. Knowing Conner, it’s likely both.

Dwalimor Omen, Ladies’ Man

Meanwhile, Tom Raney and Jerry Acerno take over art chores while Dwalimor puts on the charm in an attempt to obtain the Eye of Selûne.

I know Dwalimor isn’t sincere here, but I could totally ship him and Luna. Maybe it’s just my own advancing age, but I’m a sucker for older people sparking a flame.

Unfortunately, Dwalimor’s flirting is…middling at best.

As soon as Luna reveals the Eye, the drow, yuan-ti, and Kyri show up to take it. Luna dives in front of a poisoned crossbow bolt intended for Dwalimor, and a fight begins. However, as one might expect, someone changes sides.

And the battle is joined…

Naturally, Kyri didn’t kill Agrivar but merely made it look like he was disintegrated. It’s a trick she pulled off before back in “The Spirit of Myrrth.” In game terms, there’s no way she pulls that off as a 2nd-edition mage, but I bet Kyri’s player is the DM’s girlfriend who gets special rules made up just for her.

The drow tries to cut her losses by pointing out that she still has minions that give her a numbers advantage. That also doesn’t last long.

A two-page splash panel follows in which the bad guys just get their butts handed to them.

In superhero comics, a crossover issue usually means a huge threat that requires all heroes to unite and defeat in an epic battle. It’s pretty fun to go a different way, where the villains of this story might have succeeded if they hadn’t picked the one night where their enemies were doubled and they had no chance.

Oh, but what about Foxy’s headless golem? Well, that gets dispatched in a similarly unceremonious way.

And thus, all that is left is some celebratory drinking and the question of what happens to the Eye of Selûne.

And thus, Dwalimor gets a taste of his own medicine. Through Luna’s charms, he walks away with a key meant to release Imgig Zu but no magical Eye.

But all’s well that ends well, and everybody gets to live happily ever after…

…so long as they succeed at their Carpentry proficiency checks.

“Waterdhavian Nights” is an A-plus crossover. Despite a slew of artists doing the pages, the look stays largely consistent. The storytelling is the type of fun, off-beat story that author Jeff Grubb perfected in the pages of the Forgotten Realms comics. Each character from both titles gets to shine in their own unique way, and the pairings for each segment create some very memorable moments. About the only person who got shortchanged here was Agrivar, which is a shame because I would have liked to see more of a reunion between him and his sister. Nonetheless, showing off Kyri’s “evil” side showed how much she had changed from the last time she met her brother.

The Realms Master leaves Waterdeep for further adventures after this, but we’re going to stick around the city for a while and see the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic through to its conclusion. As for Dwalimor’s crew, we’ll circle back with them when it’s time to finally delve into the Time of Troubles.

_{Images: DC Comics}