Let’s learn all about the second Death Knight to walk Krynn, Lord Ausric Krell. Buy Dragonlance Campaign Setting: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/28592/dragonlance-campaign-setting-3-5?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
Not all Death Knights are made equal.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the Death Knight, Lord Ausric Krell. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Dark Disciple Trilogy and the Dragonlance Campaign Setting sourcebook for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
We were first introduced to Lord Ausric Krell, also known as The Betrayer, in Margaret Weis’ Dark Disciple trilogy. Learning that there was another Death Knight on Krynn was a bit of a shock, especially after Lord Soth’s less than thrilling end in the War of Souls Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I believe Lord Krell was created to be a power balance for Mina, for she was favored by the Lord of Death, the God Chemosh. And yet, in every scene we share with Lord Krell, he pales in comparison, as it is impossible not to compare him to Lord Soth. Lord Krell is a coward at heart. He is petty and mean. He has no semblance of honor which begs the question, why is he a Death Knight and not a tortured soul instead? Why make what was once a terrifying creature, a Death Knight, into the butt of a series of poor jokes? Let’s look at Lord Krell’s past and see what we can discern from this truly original, and not in a good way, Death K night.
Lord Ausric Krell was raised in Nordmaar. When Lord Ariakan was forming his Knights of Takhisis, years after the War of the Lance, He personally recruited Lord Krell into the Knighthood. And to be fair, Lord Krell was a talented and effective knight, as he quickly rose to the rank of Night Warrior, serving and fighting directly beneath Lord Ariakan in the Chaos War. But Lord Krell was a bit of a shit disturber, to put it lightly. He held no sense of honor, consistently engaging in dishonorable behavior and worse, he excelled at disobeying every single tenant of the knights of Takhisis! Why he was kept around and elevated in the order is truly beyond me.
Lord Krell was constantly plotting against Lord Ariakan, and one might fall back on the old DragonLance trope of evil always feeds upon itself, but that was broken by the Knights of Takhisis. Their order was an infernal mirror to the Knights of Solamnia, honor, order, and all. During the final battle in the Chaos War, Lord Krell poisoned Ariakan’s horse, which led to his death in battle. But anyone who might have discovered Ausric’s treachery died in that battle, including Lord Krell himself. And this is where Lord Krell either made a mistake of ignorance or stupidity, I will let the audience decide. For Lord Ariakan Ariakas was the son of Lord Duulkat Ariakas and the evil Goddess Zeboim! How anyone who was raised on Krynn could think they could get away with any semblance of treachery against the son of a god and the leader of the Queen of Darkness’ knighthood is beyond me.
As soon as Zeboim discovered Krell’s treachery, she set her mind to revenge. It was she who cursed Lord Krell to be a Death Knight, so that she could exact eternal torment on this traitor. You can only imagine Ausric’s surprise when he awoke after death to find himself returned to Storm’s Keep, the secret base of the Knights of Takhisis, now abandoned. Now home to the dead, the only activity were the constant waves crashing against its cliffs. Ausric discovered himself this powerful being who was impotent to act. Unbeknownst to him, he could have left the Keep when Takhisis stole the world away, and when he learned this he was beside himself with rage. He beseeched Chemosh the God of Undeath to aid him in return for his faithful service.
It’s at this point that I would not take that call if I were Chemosh. If you know anything about Krell, just let it go to voicemail. But Chemosh decided to use Mina to rescue the Death Knight. She ended up smashing his helmet off his head, delivering it to Chemosh who brought him back. Then he sent him back to Storm’s Keep with Ariakas’ spirit trapped as a Khas piece. Krell would once again be bested but this time by an aspect of Majare, a giant Praying Mantis, on behalf of Zeboim! With Mina missing, Krell defeated for a second time once would assume Chemosh would be done with this Death Knight, but no! Chemosh promoted him to commander of the Beloved and everyone can guess how that went.
Krell was stationed at Castle Beloved, attempting to train the Beloved in the art of war but they only followed Mina. Now that Chemosh was frustrated with Mina, Krell saw his opportunity to sow further division between her and his new god. He was sent to spy on her, and Krell returned to Chemosh with lies of betrayal. She was summarily dismissed by Chemosh to train the Beloved, but Krell was not done. He attempted to kill Mina but instead found a wrathful being who turned him back into a human! Krell cowered before Mina and returned to Chemosh to share his sorry mortal state. Chemosh was still not done with him and turned him into a Bone Acolyte, sending him in search of Mina. Krell was bested yet again by Mina and Chemosh bestowed three Bone Warriors into Krell’s service. They raised Solace to kill Rhys Mason who was traveling with Mina, and Krell was bested this time by the kender Nightshade after having victory in his grasp over Mina and Rhys. In the end, Mistress Jenna aided the party and Rhys defeated Lord Krell, once Death Knight, now Bone Acolyte.
Lord Ausric Krell’s legacy is one of betrayal. He has no semblance of honor, and very little intellect, having only touched a single book in his lifetime and he didn’t even read it. He constantly schemed against those who granted him positions of power, and knowing this, even the gods put their faith in him. If this doesn’t make the gods look as foolish as any bad middle manager, I don’t know what would. I genuinely feel that the Dark Disciple Trilogy would have been infinitely stronger with some development work on Krell, as he and those around him are what made what could have been an epic triumph of a trilogy into little more than an accidental farce.
I don’t believe Dragonlance will have another Death Knight after Lord Soth and Lord Krell, and after Krell, how could anyone take them seriously if another was created? It was the petty ambitions of Krell that led to his death, it was the petty revenge of Zeboim for bringing him back, and the petty ambition of Chemosh for keeping him around. Not to beat an already dead and useless horse, but Lord Ausric Krell is the perfect example of style over substance and the utter failure of both. I for one, hope we never see another character like him in Dragonlance, and with Wizards of the Coast ignoring their most potentially profitable campaign setting, I don’t believe we ever will.
Outro
But that is all the time I have to talk about the Death Knight Lord Ausric Krell. What do you think of this second Death Knight of Krynn? Did his legacy warrant him being a Death Knight? And finally, what do you think of his involvement with Chemosh against Mina? Leave a comment below.
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There is no such thing as disaster – merely opportunity.
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