The Sundered Arms

Rating:
Summary: Good mind-candy D&D story
Review: This was one of Lain's better plots, and the character choices were interesting in that for the first time (or at least, as I can recall), there were no humans involved.

Tordek, the dwarf fighter, Vadania the elven druidess, Devis the half-elf bard, and Lidda the halfing rogue hook up to delve deep into a once-Dwarven stronghold that has been taken by evil. They all have a reason: Tordek wants to avenge a wrong against the Dwarven people, Vadania wants to stop the foul forge's sludge from ruining the forest, Devis wants a heroic story, and Lidda ... wants cash.

But! As the story progresses, there's actual character development, especially with Devis (who we've not really seen in a while, and whose serious side gets a bit of brief attention). Tordek's history is explained, and I liked it.

The cohesiveness of Lain's world is a bit off sometimes, and the way that "evil creatures of the week" seem to gang up on the heroes is sometimes a bit amiss, but this had some strength to it. Cursed evil weapons being reforged in hellfire on a profaned Dwarven altar by demonic forces intent on bringing a demon into the world? Oooh yeah.

Can they stop it? Of course they can. They're heroes. THe fun is in the how.

'Nathan

Rating:
Summary: Sundered Grammar
Review: When a chapter is titled "Dissention" (sic), you know the editor is asleep at the switch. There are unfortunately more instances of bad grammar, as well as a quote from The Empire Strikes Back that take this from an average dungeon crawl to less than average.

We have three returning characters, Devis the half-elf Bard, Vadania the druid and Lidda the halfing rogue. Vadania and Lidda re uncharacteristically besotted with Devis though they are both experienced enough to know better, particularly Vadania. Tordek a dwarven fighter is the new iconic addition and Vadania is given a wolverine companion.

That being said, the actual adventure is fairly good. Some really powerful enemies and enchanted weapons with a satisfying ending. It is really too bad that this series suffers from an editor who shows such disregard to the readers by allowing such continuity and basic english mistakes.