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Return of the Damned is another volume in the Dungeons & Dragons “Iconics Series,” mainly following around Redgar and his adventuring life.
Return of the Damned sees Redgar in a Lethal Weapon, death-seeking mood. Looking for the tough, almost suicidal missions, Regdar is chided for being too locked into his lost of token lover Naull (the last encounter of the novella, City of Fire). The Duke commands Regdar to behave more like a true captain, and then some random cult (driven by the blackguard character from City of Fire) begins to assault the Duke’s palace.
Jozan makes an appearance early in the book to drive Regdar into looking for Naull by attacking some slavers that may have seen her. With the plot hook given, the book begins to ratchet up the fighting and bloodshed. Regdar finds some help from among his loyal men, and leads them away on a mission that might return Naull to him.
As the party moves towards the slaver encampment, several random encounters take their toll on the party (two river trolls and a vampire lizardman). At the encampment, Regdar kills a possible slaver only to find out that they are part of the cult that attacked the Duke’s palace. The party gets happier as they discover a stronghold where the cultists are staging their assaults. After a teasing encounter with the blackguard and her hold over Naull, Jozan and Alhandra appear to help Regdar save Naull from her magical enslavement.
This book suffers not in the ways of actions as it does in the ways of character. The characters, even though handled over various books, lack depth that a series over nine books should have. In the end, while a satisfying adventure tale, it doesn’t quite capture the heroic fantasy feel as other books in the series do.
