April A to Z - Z is for Zharradon Marr

He needs to feed his
 pets properly.

Appears in:  Creature of Havoc (Fighting Fantasy 24) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Zharradon Marr is one of the Demonic three.  After his apprentiship ended with the murder of his master, he managed to get ownership of a gold mine and with the gold, he bought a training ground for his soldiers and mananged to capture a flying ship.  He is currently experimenting with creating new creatures with the aim of making a perfect monster for war.

Prominence:  Creature of Havoc has a very in depth background which highlights a lot of people from Marr's life.  You can meet most of these people in your wanderings.  9/10.

Hardness:  You cannot kill Zharradon Marr and if you annoy him, he will use his magic on you.  you can only win if you have a crystal club and the vapours of life.  And even then, you don't kill him.  you only destroy the portal to his dimension.  10/10.

Ambition: Marr wants to conquer Allansia 9/10.

Style:  Zharradon Marr has worked hard to get a smooth operation and a big organisation.  He has a cool flying ship, a castle in a forest and a gold mine.  His most trusted henchmen are very individual with the half troll Thugruff, the sadistic Darramous and the sick and wrong Quimmel Bone amongst many others.  8/10.

Diabolical genius:  Marr can create life forms.  You are his creation and your whole quest is a test of your abilities.  Marr has several sadistic traps such as a portal that creates endless chaos warriors, a robe that causes hunger and a zombie that shoots flames out of its eyes.  9/10.

Total score:  Marr is a tough adversary to get the better of and you don't actually kill him in the end.  You can only destroy his portal.  45/50.

April A to Z - D is for Darramous

I think there's a picture of Darramous 
in the Trolltooth wars, but I don't 
have a copy at the moment.,
So here is a picture of a cat.

Appears in:  Creature of Havoc (Fighting Fantasy 24) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Darramous is an undead half elf sorcerer, who, when he's not trying to get into more demographic groups, is running a gold mine for Zharradon Marr.  He took the position from a wizard called Hannicus who was far too lenient for Darramous and had strange ideas like paying the miners.  Darramous blinded Hannicus and made the miners his slaves.

Prominence:  He's in one scene in the book.  1/10.

Hardness:  Daramous cannot be killed by normal weapons and if you fail to kill him quickly, he'll use his powerful magic on you.  You can only kill him with Hannicus's ring.  8/10.

Ambition:  Can't be very high if he's content running a gold mine for someone else.  1/10.

Style:  His gold mine certainly is a sick and messed up place, crawling with weird beasts and dangerous traps.  He also gets bonus marks for being half elf, undead and a magic user.  I bet the convention for undead half elf magic users is pretty quiet.  6/10.

Diabolical genius:  Darramous doesn't really get a chance to shine since anything that you encounter might be down to his boss's diabolocal genius.  4/10.

Total score:  He's interesting, but he needs an evil plot of his own to really shine.  20/50.