Warduke Prince of the Damned?! A More Moorcockian Dive & Speculation Into XL1 Quest for the Heartstone By Michael L. Gray For Expert Dungeons & Dragons

We know that the cold, cruel, & calculating Warduke remains one of the most popular of 'The Dungeons & Dragons' cartoon but is there far more going on under the red glowing eyes of the bat winged helm?! Whom does Warduke really serve!? And is there a Moorcock connection?!


“A heart of stone, beyond the mist you’ll find,” Loftos said softly. “The heartstone will tell you who should be your king.”

“But where is this stone? How will I find it?” the queen asked.

“The stone was stolen over 50 years ago by Dahnakriss the Master Thief. He Who Watches originally gave the tiny, heartshaped stone to Qasmar, who was the King of Ghyr during the Prism Wars. During these wars, Qasmar used the stone to see into the hearts of men, and was so able to choose his friends and allies. Soon after the war, the magical stone vanished from Castle Ghyr’s supposedly thief-proof vaults. Until now, no one knew what had become of the heartstone. According to He Who Watches, it lies north, in the great Mountains of Ice.

“We must convince a party of adventurers to retrieve the stone and bring it back to us. But we must be very careful. No one must know of the stone’s power, especially not those who would aspire to the throne. Even those we hire to find the stone should not know of its strength!

XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. 

And just like that two champions of chaos & law were created from the ground up. Pureheart the paladin & Warduke mortal enemies for all times each representing far more then they seem. The two are representatives of powers beyond the pale in 'the Realms'. According to the official back story he was a simple lowly fighter given almost supernatural power by the heartstone.


Now lets dive back into the fray with four characters cut from the opposite sides of the cloth. Warduke himself is a study in contrasts but its his own nature that bares out the curse that comes from the Heartstone ;" Both were exposed to the Heartstone, and Warduke’s cruel nature was brought out while Pureheart’s just nature became stronger…." The heartstone manipulates its victims traits into the best or worst alignments & personality that they can be.  The heartstone literally is advancing its own agenda giving more power to both law & chaos within 'The Realms' & Mystara in the form of champions.

[He] especially hates Pureheart, who he feels wastes his time protecting the weak and helpless. “A true fighter,” Warduke feels, “makes himself rich and powerful by the strength of his sword arm. He takes what he can—if you would keep your possessions, kill those who seek to take them.” He calls his sword “Nightwind.”"
I've said this before I think that the power of Warduke isn't the man himself but his accouterments & sword. I think the helm is an artifact similar to Frazetta's Deathdealer paperbacks & Deathdealer comic books by Glen Danzig. 

This also goes a long way to explaining some of the inconsistencies that we see in appearances, levels, etc. going all of the way back to Warduke's official inclusion in Wizards of the Coast's 'official' canon on the character here.  But imagine the tragic circumstances surroundings Strongheart the paladin whose hunted, and tried to defeat his friend so many times only to have the knowledge that he's trapped within his own body & mind!? Very dark stuff indeed. 

But surely there's not an Elric analog of the Pureheart/Warduke relationship in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythologies is there?! Meet " Prince Gaynor Paul St Odhran Badehoff-Krasny von Minct, known as Gaynor the Damned, Gunnar the Doomed, and Paul Minct, is a fallen knight of the Cosmic Balance. "

 A cursed & damned  champion of Chaos. He is an arch enemy of Elric of Melniboné, Ulrich Von Bek, Oona Von Bek, Prince Corum and The Rose, and has crossed swords with Elric of Melniboné. In the guise of Paul Minct, Gaynor antagonizes Jack Karaquazian, Sam Oakenhurst, The Rose and Colinda Dovero.

Gaynor is responsible for the destruction of a universe dear to The Rose, and this has earned Gaynor her eternal hatred. Gaynor seeks the Holy Grail to be reconciled with the Balance, or else to die and drag all of the Multiverse into Limbo."

Prince Gaynor  too appears in Kuntz & Ward's Deities & Demigods borne on the  whims of Chaos to serve in every single major conflict of Law & Chaos. He would definitely seek out the heartstone from  XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. 

But Gaynor very cursed chaotic nature with Elric makes eerie parallels with the Pureheart & Warduke relationship dynamic & Gaynor is tied into the immortal  existence of the Eternal Champion;" In Corum's universe, Gaynor served Xiombarg and led an army of Chaos against the city of Halwyg-nan-Vake. Corum defeated him and removed his visor, exposing his face and banishing him from Corum's universe to continue his torment elsewhere."

Even  Gaynor gear & weapons look very similar to Warduke?! So is there a prophecy or two tied into the fate of 'The Realms' wrapped around Warduke?! 

XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray leads to more adventure opportunities & questions then answers for me. But here are ten of them right off the top of my head. 

1. Does the heartstone have a Greyhawk analog & if so will there be more conflict & chaos that it inflicts on Oerth. Could some of the wars & conflict be because of it. 
2. Are 'The Realms' subject to other darker & sinister incursions of chaos & could Tiamat's relationship with 'the Realms' be tied directly into this. 
3. Do the lords of order have a stake in 'The Realms' & if so how!? 
4. XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray tie into the greater cosmic chess game of the Eternal Champion in ways that affect Venger & his dark master. 
5. Could the 'Nameless One' be the source of Warduke's dark power?! Is this why he's so cavilier in his relationship with Venger in the D&D cartoon episode 'In Search of the Dungeon Master'. 
6. Could Elric or one of the other Eternal Champions pop up in the Realms searching for one of the artifacts that 'young pupils' destroyed?! If so would this put the albino prince in a direct confrontation with the Dungeon Master or Venger for that matter!?
7. What of the other powerful NPC's mentioned & outlined in AC1 The Shady Inn?! Could they have more then a vested interest in fate of Warduke. 
8. With his nightmare mount Warduke could theorically travel the planes including making appearances on Greyhawk during his time as a mercenary. Why was he on Greyhawk!? Did he cross swords with Gord Gary Gygax's renegade theif,  cat lord, & champion of balance?! 
9. Whose personality or mind are in charge of Warduke & what is this person's actual agenda in 'the realms'. 
10. Could Warduke be planning & building up some hidden agenda far more dangerous then Venger's?! 

'Of Albino Princes & Heartstones' A Deeper Moorcockian Dive Into XL1 Quest for the Heartstone By Michael L. Gray For Expert Dungeons & Dragons

“Elric knew that everything that existed had its opposite. In danger he might find peace. And yet, of course, in peace there was danger. Being an imperfect creature in an imperfect world he would always know paradox. And that was why in paradox there was always a kind of truth. That was why philosophers and soothsayers flourished. In a perfect world there would be no place for them. In an imperfect world the mysteries were always without solution and that was why there was always a great choice of solutions.”
― Michael Moorcock, The Elric Saga Part I



'Does the 'Realms' have an artifact that overlaps several campaign settings at once & does said artifact sew chaos on wide range of venues?' this was the question lasting night that I asked myself thumbing through my archives. One of the modules from the classic era that comes up quite obviously is XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. Now by no means is this a fantastic module or even a great module as its a licencing tie in between the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, the D&D cartoon action figures, several lost cartoon action figures that appear as NPC's & the grand game itself. I don't want to get lost too much in the history of XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray..



I'd like to point out the fact that the vaults of Pandius website article  'Mystara Module and Placement'  by Andrew Theisen has the following ; "XL-1: Quest for the Heartstone
Location: Ghyr
Location Notes: The module takes place near the kingdom of Ghyr, located near the Mountains of Ice, which are not explicitly located on Mystara.
Time Period: Pre-1000 AC or 1001-1004 AC
Staging Suggestions: The module can pretty well be placed anywhere in a mountainous region. A likely location is somewhere near the Icereach Mountains of Norwold.
Continuity Problems: The module can pretty well take place at any time. If one assumes that the LJN Toy Characters are the NPCs who take part in it, it could create some continuity problems. Strongheart and Mercion are listed as King and Queen of Ierendi in module X10, and they (along with Figgen, Elkhorn, Ringlerun, and Peralay) are described as being retired from adventuring (as well as being Companion level characters). This would then mean that XL-1 must take place either before 1000 AC (when Palfrit and Marianne rule Ierendi), or between 1000 AC and 1005-1006 AC (when the Master of Hule invades the Known World). As Strongheart and Figgen are both mentioned in Gaz4, either of these choices would fit. From their histories, the LJN characters did take place in some kind of Heartstone Quest, though it need not necessarily be module XL-1 itself; the DM could assume they were part of an earlier quest, thus avoiding continuity problems and allowing his players to run the module as suits their campaign.
References: AC1, X10 (p.16), Gaz4 (p.23)"

So not only do Pureheart & Warduke appear within 'The Realms' or version of them but they also appear in Mystara. Was Mystara at some point going to take on 'The Realms' when the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was on the airwaves?!
But the hearthstone itself is still out there in the planes spinning its web of destiny & weirdness. And this dear friends is where & when we might pick campaign events. XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray isn't a fantastic module but its got several things going for it. The module has all of the heavy hitters of the D&D cartoon built right in. With the right group of players it has potential to be a blast. But what if the Heartstone is far more then it seems?! 


The Heartstone itself & its properties remind me of several of the artifacts from a certain albino prince's adventures. Hear me out here. Michael Moorcock's Elric saga has any number of chaotic, lawful, & highly dangerous artifacts. What if the heartstone is 'The Realms' & Mystara's equivalent? The Heartstone is a heavy hitter artifact able to change the alignment, personality traits, and even the stats of NPC's. The heartstone is key to the creation of Warduke himself. In the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon every other episode there's literally an artifact level magic item that the 'young pupils' are delving for.



Since we've got all of the Stormbringer mythology from the Elric saga in Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Deities & Demigods.



It stands to reason that Elric could indeed theoretically cross swords with Warduke himself if the campaign need arises. The question is do these artifacts that the kids of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon are questing for have far more value then simply getting those kids home?!



 XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray answers this question quite nicely as the fate of a kingdom hangs quite literally in the balance. Again there's some weird parallels between the Elric saga & a tie in module for the D&D cartoon.
But could  XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray be used as the jump off point for an Eternal Champion Expert level D&D module campaign with Moorcock influences or darker?! In a word quite easily. Here are ten reasons why this would work: 

1. XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray introduces all of the heavy hitters of an alternative D&D cartoon style campaign & with a simple DM push they can become all that much more Sword & Sorcery style. 
2. The PC's following in the foot steps of Elric is easily done & they don't even have to meet the albino prince for that matter! Or the young pupils for that matter. 
3. In a campaign back in the Nineties I had my players cross swords with Warduke & they didn't survive. 
4. This is where D&D Expert set, Mentzer/BECMI version of D&D shines crossed over with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. 
5. There were a number of artifacts that the 'young pupils' umm destroyed that could still be out in 'The Realms' causing trouble. 
6. Venger is powerful enough to cross from 'The Realms' into Greyhawk, & Mystara especially if he's expanding his power base. Venger crossing swords with Elric is a frightening prospect. Yes Elric might wipe the floor with em. But the destruction wrought on a campaign world?! 
7. Elric might be questing for the heartstone for a client to restore the sanity of a person or cure some alignment curse. 
8. Then there's that pesky kingdom up for grabs at the end of XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. One of my players brought up the fact that the PC's might want to take it over. Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg is perfect for this. 
9. If we push the D&D cartoon into a Sword & Sorcery light, it becomes quite dark, dangerous, and really deadly. It wouldn't take much at all to go all out in a Conan or Stormbringer style D&D cartoon campaign. 
10. XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray is a solid campaign jump off point for a D&D cartoon style floor level campaign. Done right this could introduce a whole new Sword & Sorcery group of players to a very nice Eternal champion game. 

The Specter of Kelek the Cruel & Fan Speculation From XL1: "Quest for the Heartstone" (1984), by Michael L. Gray.

"The king is dead. And the queen is in trouble. She has chosen you to find the fabled heartstone, which is buried somewhere deep in the Mountains of Ice.

 

Is the gem in the hands of the corrupt Master Thief? Has he harnessed its powers for his own vile purposes? Or does it lie unguarded in the frozen ranges to the north, which teem with horrible creatures?"

 

Right so life has been playing squeeze play with me again & work has been very busy but just last night I was speaking with a friend about  XL1: "Quest for the Heartstone" (1984), by Michael L. Gray.  XL remains the first and only adventure in the "XL" series for Expert D&D. It was published in 1984 during the Frank Mentzer D&D era. According to everything I've read in White Dwarf & wiki  its a terrible module; Graham Staplehurst reviewed Quest for the Heartstone for White Dwarf, and gave it 4/10 overall, calling it, "no more than a sales exercise for AD&D Action Toys".^[3] Staplehurst felt that the module was "very reminiscent of everyone's first dungeon: a collection of randomly placed monsters with a random selection of Good Guys going off after some magic item and having to hack through them," criticizing that "No thought has gone into this at all, as far as I can see, although TSR have done their best with the artwork and maps to try and remedy the situation."^[3] Staplehurst pointed out some of the many references within the module to the LJN AD&D toy line ("You may use the Five-headed Hydra Bendable Monster for this encounter", and "the Dragonne monsters produced by LJN Toys Ltd"), noting that "As the adventure progresses ... it merely degenerates into excuses to introduce monsters that happen to be in the TSR figures or LJN range."^[3] He also pointed out some of the more bizarre encounters of the adventure, such as two giant crab spiders living in a cabin, and the "Golem Storage Room"
But that's not really the focus here & instead I want to speak about one of the most dangerous NPC bastards that your party of adventures  can encounter. I'm speaking of Kelek the Cruel & XL1 The Quest For the Heart Stone would take place long before the Season 1 Dungeons & Dragons cartoon episode "Valley of The Unicorns".  During XL1: "Quest for the Heartstone Kelek is a mere 7th level wizard of some renowned. 

Between the events of XL1: "Quest for the Heartstone  & the "Valley Of The Unicorns" cartoon episode Kelek gained Venger as a demi god demonic patron.
Yup that's right I said demi god DCC style patron. Over & over again the evil Venger survived being 'destroyed' by the Dungeon Master's Young Ones. Kelek was completely obsessed with gaining  immortality & in Venger's service went to tenth or beyond level as a wizard. He has moved from Mystara to the Realms where he helps Warduke during Venger's campaign of terror to bring the Realms to heel. Afterward he would join Warduke on Greyhawk during the Greyhawk Wars. Possibly in the service of Luz after escaping the prison of Venger from the "Valley of The Unicorns".  In Luz's service he becomes even more dangerous making pacts with the 'unnameable' Venger's Abyssal patron. Helping broker deals on Warduke's behalf for rebuilding the Horned Society, and was instrumental in eventually helping Warduke become  a Hierarch himself. This didn't take long & he cut infernal & Abyssial deals towards the ultimate goal of lichdom. 



By this time Kelek had learned to stay to the background & finally after helping Warduke build his base of power & continue his existence.  Kelek gained lichdom & immortality of a sort. He's run afoul of Gort The Rogue once but that encountered led to a hasty retreat back to his own backwater planar base. He's really maintained a low profile because he still fears the wraith of Venger. There's a lot of bad blood between him & his old patron. Kelek the Cruel has quietly been building a large army of gnolls, orcs, & other humanoids on the far end of a Prime Material plane.

He often now employs parties of adventurers to recover relics, occult treasures, scrolls, etc for him. Kelek pays on time but often takes a swift revenge on any who cross his path with his own assassins. Rumors are spoken of him building his own power base with an aim of returning to his own home plane of Mystara for a bid to take over a nation or two. The ultimate goal could be revenge against Venger at some point.