Join me as I review Stormblade by Nancy Varian Berberick, live! Share your thoughts on this second novel in the Dragonlance Heroes series, released on September 12, 1988 by TSR Inc. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/47Lhh6l
About Stormblade
A shaft of argent starlight touched by the Forge of Reorx
Hilted and gemmed in the blood of heroes
Unite! Mountain dwarves of Thorbardin
A kingsword at last, at last.
Deep in the cavern kingdom of Thorbardin, the powerful Stormblade is secretly crafted by an elderly dwarf-master. A Kingsword, it is intended to break the deadlock among the ruling council of Thanes.
When Stormblade is stolen and turns up years later, a series of exciting and deadly events are set in motion. Only a heroic dwarf knows the magic of the legendary blade, and he sets out to recover the lost weapon. To do so, he must travel to a land rife with war and treachery.
Review
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Darkember the 30th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of Stormblade by Nancy Varian Berberick. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this YouTube channel, 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. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
I had completely forgotten this novel. I am sure I read it as a child, but for the life of me, nothing I read is familiar. That being said, I am really enjoying this. It is set after the Heroes of the Lance liberate the prisoners from Pax Tharkas, and are headed across the Kalkhist Mountains toward Thorbardin. Naturally, this is worrying the dwarves as they, for the most part, don’t want any humans or anyone for that matter in their halls. Simultaneously, a dwarven smith named Isarn Hammerfell crafter the first kingsblade in three hundred years. This is important because with the death of the last king Duncan, the Hammer of Kharas went missing and without it, there can not be a true king of Thorbardin. However, if one of the thanes have the kingsblade, they can rule as king regent. So the Hylar and Thiewar thanes are furiously searching for it. The blade went missing after being constructed.
I also like that Verminaard is alive and his dragon Ember is regularly patrolling their lands in Abanasinia. This lines up perfectly with the AD&D modules, though it doesn’t line up with chronicles, so I wonder if readers were confused? In either case, both thanes have sent parties searching for the sword as they argue over the coming prisoners. The sword was spotted in the possession of a human ranger named Hauk, who is part of a freedom fighting party making guerilla attacks on the red dragonarmy. Hauk is in the town of Long Ridge, which is controlled by Verminaard’s agent, Carvath. He enters a tavern and two dwarves see his sword and make a wager for it. Hauk wins the wager and ends up secretly giving the sword to a barmaid named Kelida. She soon falls in love with him, and searches for him, to give back the sword, but he was abducted by the Thiewar thane. He is being tortured for its whereabouts. I suspect he saw his abduction coming and got rid of the sword to protect it, though I am not sure if he is aware of its significance.
The other group searching for the sword on behalf of the Hylar thane is led by Stanach Hammerfell. His partner Kyan red-axe was murdered and his human mage Piper is waiting for him to leave the town. He comes across a Kender named Lavim Springtoe who gets into trouble and Stanach helps him out of it. The elf ranger that was with Hauk named Tyorl finds Kelida and asks her to hold onto the sword for when Hauk comes looking for it again, but they are attacked by draconians. This is when the whole good guy group comes together between Stanach, Lavim, Kalida and Tyorl. Stanach tells the story of the sword after seeing Kelida with it and plans to claim it at any cost.
As Stanach plans to steal the sword and have Piper teleport them to Thorbardin, Piper is being tortured by the Daewar’s agents. The villains contact Realgar letting him know what is going on and they plan to torture and kill Piper afterward. Piper uses his last bit of strength to teleport himself to near where he was supposed to meet Stanach. He is discovered by Kalida who calls everyone to her, and Piper slowly dies. But his flute had a spell that trapped his soul. So the first person to use it would call Pipers ghost to him. Stanach builds a cairn and mourns his friend, and convinces everyone to travel to Thorbardin. However, Tyrol wants to stop at his ranger group first, as it’s nearby.
The black dragon Darknight is ordered by Verminaard to be Realgar’s mount and help him claim the sword and ultimately rule Thorbardin as Verminaard wants it as his forward base. The human refugees are accepted into Thorbardin, and Realgar is furious. He is ready to claim the kingdom and overturn the ruling as soon as he gets the sword. Little does Realgar know that Verminaard doesn’t care at all about him and will take the kingdom over once the council of thanes is dissolved.
Realgar’s agents track the heroes and capture Stanach, who leaves the flute in between rocks. He is tortured in a nearby cave. Lavim the kender goes looking for Stanach and finds the flute. He plays the tune and Piper’s ghost tells him about Stanach and the Thiewar dwarves. Lavim returns to the heroes who enter a cave to find Stanach, and Lavin uses the flute’s magic to create a stinking cloud, saving Stanach, though he will never use his broken hand again. This is such a fun read and the author is doing an amazing job differentiating between all the characters’ motivations and actions. You really feel the individual characters coming through on both the good and bad sides. I am really enjoying it.
As Tyorl goes after the dwarf that tortured Stanach, he leaves the cave to see the dwarves corpse with an arrow in it, Finn’s arrow. Finn and his remaining rangers greet their friend and learn of Hauk’s capture. They decide to stay and heal Stanach as Lavim goes wandering with Piper in his mind. Verminaard meets with Darknight in the skies above and Ember starts a wildfire that rages toward Thorbardin. Darknight then collects Agus and attacks the heroes as they flee the wildfire.
Kelida is captured, but Stanach pulls himself up on the dragon’s back to protect her, and throws Agus to his doom. The dragon takes his two prizes to Realgar in Thorbardin and Realgar claims the sword. Hauk is saved by a mad Isarn, who takes him to Stanach and Kalida. Meanwhile the remaining heroes are fleeing from the wildfire, and the kender uses the magic of the flute to teleport them to a swamp which is also burning, but is days closer to Thorbardin. Hornfel in the dwarven Kingdom is making friends with Tanis Half-Elven and Goldmoon, then leaves to watch the wildfire that is approaching. He is met there by Realgar who attacks with Stormblade.
Hauk, Stanach and Kalida stay with Isarn as he dies, and search for a way out, ending up where Hornfel is being attacked. They help him escape the first assasination wave, and as Realgar plans the next, they get geared up for their last stand. This is an intense end, but the narrative leaps forward and back between events within the same group so much at times, it feels like the book was written out of order and just left that way. It’s a bit jumbled, but only in this last third. It’s really odd. Just before Realgar attacks again, Lavin comes through the North Gatehouse, followed shortly by Tyorl, Finn and other rangers, just in time for the massive fight.
As Gneiss tasks Sturm, Caramon and Tanis to guard Thorbardin from the usurpers, he heads to find Hornfel, unaware of the dire situation he is in. The battle is brutal. Kelida is dropped but survives. Tyrol is near death and Realgar is single handedly fighting Hornfel when the Black Dragon casts darkness and fear. As Realgar and Hornfel fight to the death, a dying Tyorl allows Piper’s ghost to guide his aim and they kill the black dragon, dropping the spells. Hornfel struggles and kicks Realgar out the gate over a cliff to his death, grabbing the Stormblade as it falls.
We then cut to a few days later as Lavim is told where the Hammer of Kharas is and they all gather for Tyorl’s funeral. At the end Lavim tells Hornfell the hammer is in Duncans tomb and the heroes all agree to find it. This is in stark contrast to both the modules and the novels. It was clearly noted that the companions found the hammer, so why did the author end this novel this way? What happened to the heroes that tried to find the hammer from this book? We know that while the companions are in Thorbardin, Tasslehoff and Flint find the hammer, and with Verminaard still alive, he sneaks into Thorbardin and confronts the companions in the module, so it doesn’t makes sense as an ending, other than it being a happy and hopeful ending.
I look forward to reading the Gates of Thorbardin which is the sequel to this though I don’t think it references these heroes at all. All in all, I really enjoyed this novel and only remembered the last third of it from my first reading. I would highly recommend it to any Dragonlance or dwarf fan, as it presents the political difficulties of Thorbardin in an interesting way.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Stormblade by Nancy Varian Berberick. What do you think about Verminaard being alive? Did it confuse you when you first read it if you didn’t know about the modules? And finally did these heroes ever find the Hammer of Kharas? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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