Wayfarer
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| Wayfarer | ||||
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[[File:{{#setmainimage:Wayfarer 1.jpg}}|250px]] | ||||
| Publication information | ||||
| Publisher | ARMADA | |||
| Publication period | November, 1995 | |||
| Number of issues | 5 | |||
| Character(s) | Jared Carthalion | |||
| Creative team | ||||
| Writer(s) | Jeff Gomez | |||
| Illustrator(s) | Val Mayerik | |||
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Wayfarer is a comic series published by Armada beginning in November, 1995. It consists of five volumes and tells the story of Jared Carthalion.
Volume 1: A Need for Monsters
It's 1281 by the reckoning of the Sages of Minorad. On the plains of Urlan in eastern Stonehaven, the wayfarer Jared Carthalion battles a thunder spirit sent by Kadesha, the ruler of the town of Hamath. He defeats the spirit, but at the cost of his sword, Foecleaver. Tired and hungry, Jared heads into town and starts a tavern brawl to steal some food and drink. Kadesha believes Jared is an evil herald of Ravidel, who's conquered all of Stonehaven, but whom Jared believes to be dead. Kadesha enlists the archer Élan d'Avenant, who injures Jared, angering him. He traps her in the roof of the Hamath ziggurat and is about to kill her, when Kristina of the Woods intervenes and teleports him away. An enraged Élan, robbed of her prey, swears to hunt Jared down. In the White Woods of Casindral, Kristina heals Jared's wounds. She reveals to him that she's also a Planeswalker, and teaches him about the colors of magic. She also gives him a repaired Foecleaver, and they prepare to embark on a journey together with her as his mentor.
Volume 2: Forces of Nature
In the spring of the same year, the wayfarer Jared Carthalion and Kristina of the Woods are in the heart of the White Woods of Casindral. She teaches him to bond with a spitting slug named Hoont, before happening into a duel between Exarch Finovar and her Calthyn Elves on one side, and Exarch Amadis and his Kieryn Elves on the other. While they are distracted, Élan d'Avenant sneaks up on them and is about to shoot Jared with her bow, but the branch she is standing on moves from beneath her, dropping her to the forest floor. Jared and Kristina, seemingly unaware of this happening nearby, are invited to join Amadis in Kieryn village, where the bard Renalt tells them of the history of the Quirion Elves. She reveals that the feud with the Calthyn is over the honor of speaking to the newly awoken Great Spirit, a Force of Nature, whose appearance is tied to Ravidel's return. Jared, Kristina, Amadis, and Finovar all journey together to see the Great Spirit. It reveals to Jared that Ravidel is alive and is hunting Liana of Minorad and her three Moxes, while at the same time corrupting the land. Shocked by this, Jared demands that Kristina planeswalk him north to Liana. When she refuses, he immediately abandons her and heads north to save Liana from Ravidel.
Volume 3: Patterns in Chaos
In late summer of the same year, the severely wounded and enraged battlemage Ravidel duels fellow Planeswalker Liana, desiring her three Moxes. He reveals to her that his Master is Taysir, the former lover of Kristina of the Woods. A thousand miles to the south, Kristina catches up to Jared Carthalion in front of an impassable mountain range. She helps Jared blast a hole in the mountain, where they discover a broken Trovash engine guarded by Jared's Shivan Dragon. Over several days, Jared fixes the engine while the dragon teaches him about red magic. They use the engine to burrow through the rest of the mountain range. When they exit on the other side, they find that Ravidel has broken his promise, and laid waste to Minorad, which now lies in ruins. They intercept Ravidel before he can kill Liana, and Jared summons Élan d'Avenant to attack Ravidel. As Ravidel is Élan's true enemy, she obliges Jared and shoots Ravidel in the belly. Ravidel reciprocates, killing her with a blast of fire. Kristina casts a spell to subdue all magic nearby, and Liana hands Jared her Moxes, instructing him to find a device near Corundis that can neutralize Ravidel's Golgothian Sylex. She then casts a spell to send herself and Ravidel into the Abyss.
Volume 4: Lovers & Comrades
In the autumn of the same year, on Jared Carthalion's sixteenth birthday, he and Kristina of the Woods arrive at the Bridge City of Telemar on the back of the Shivan Dragon. They visit the manse of Jared's deceased mother Gwendolyn Carthalion, founder of Telemar. There, they meet the Planeswalker Grenfell Mor, Jared's maternal grandfather, who shares with Jared the story of the Sages of Minorad - Ash Warlord Embereck, Liana of Minorad, Altair of Coloni, as well as Kristina and Grenfell themselves. 1282 years earlier, the sages were attacked by Ravidel and his Scarlet Vizier after the founding of the magic academy at Minorad. Ravidel swore vengeance for his un-asked-for resurrection by Kristina after he'd been killed heroically in a battle against Leshrac and Tevesh Szat. Threatening to wipe the sages and Minorad itself out with his Golgothian Sylex, Ravidel forced the Sages to swear to leave him to his own devices on pain of death. Embereck left in disgust, but the others reluctantly agreed and were handed individual punishments by Ravidel: Altair would wander the plains of Corondor, his mind a blank slate, Liana was indentured to servitude under the Scarlet Vizier for all time, Grenfell was banished to the sand seas of Golthonor, and Kristina would be confined to her woods. After sharing the story with Jared, Grenfell reveals the device that can destroy Ravidel's sylex - a pair of Rust-casting Daggers. Grenfell has one of the two, and Jared is sent to retrieve the second underwater. However, Grenfell betrays Jared and Kristina, blaming them for the death of his daughter, who'd been sacrificed by her husband Adam Carthalion, Jared's father, years earlier. Calling his sentinel Leviathan to attack Jared underwater, Grenfell also ambushes Kristina while she's distracted. Kristina manages to beat Grenfell in the ensuing duel, however, and Jared escapes the Leviathan after suffering some wounds that Kristina heals. The two become lovers that evening, then bring the Rust Daggers to the Great Salt Marshes of Western Golthonor, where they meet Altair of Coloni mounted on the nightmare Caliphear.
Volume 5: Dark Eminence
In the early winter of the same year, near the ruined city-state of Arathoxia, on the southwestern coast of Corondor, the battlemage Ravidel briefly resurrects the Scarlet Vizier as a zombie to torment him and rants about his lust for revenge over any other Planeswalker he's met before destroying him. Nearly two thousand miles to the East, in the swamps of Golthonor, Altair of Coloni and Caliphear has brought Kristina of the Woods and Jared Carthalion to Khone Keep. They beseech the Lord of House Khone to join them against Ravidel, but he refuses, citing recovery from a recent attack by the wizard Coldraith and fear of provoking Ravidel as the main reasons to remain neutral. As they leave, Caliphear teaches Jared about black mana, and brings him and Altair to the Dueling Chasm of Golthonor, while Kristina goes to her woods to prepare. Ravidel shows up and threatens them again with the Golgothian Sylex, but this time Jared has the Rust Daggers and uses them to cast a Shatter spell on the Sylex, destroying it. Caliphear attacks him, but Ravidel casts Unsummon on her and she is whisked away. Kristina arrives after collecting a bag of magic stones, and Ravidel reveals to them all that Taysir of Rabiah, Kristina's former lover, is his new master. Jared summons Hoont, but she is killed by Ravidel's Lord of the Pit. Altair sacrifices himself to destroy the Demon, but Ravidel steals the three Moxes from Kristina and uses them to send out a beacon across the Blind Eternities for other Planeswalkers to follow. Jared destroys the ground under Ravidel who falls into the chasm but is at risk of the same fate himself. With Kristina out cold, he has nobody else to teleport him away. Then Daria, Taysir's daughter, appears, having followed the Mox Beacon. She helps him trigger his Planeswalker's spark, and he Planeswalks away from the destruction with Kristina, who wakes up. They arrive near Quirion and prepare for the now-inevitable Planeswalker War.
Covers
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Volume 1: A Need for Monsters
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Volume 2: Forces of Nature
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Volume 3: Patterns in Chaos
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Volume 4: Lovers & Comrades
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Volume 5: Dark Eminence
