Agnoth Harrodsson

Main page: Important Characters

Born: 3054 KH (Aged 74)

Known for a short time as the 'Mad Mage of Mount Baratok', Agnoth is a gifted wizard, and honorary member of the Council of Winyaeltal. His intellect is matched only by his arrogance, and short temper. His ambitions lay in achieving reliable interplanar travel. He knew that all he needed was a suitably powerful magical focus, one of legendary importance. In 3128 KH, the Eye of Kalarel came into his possession. He took it back to his Mansion in the Orothmuk Woods to study its properties, discovered that it had the potential to allow for interplanar transport, something previously severely limited to the Astral Plane and demiplanes.

He was trying to figure out the exact method to travel to the desired plane when he chanced on Barovia. He was lured by Strahd to Ravenloft, and showed him the Eye. Seeking to possess the Eye for himself, Strahd attacked by him, and Agnoth escaped within an inch of his life, tumbling over a waterfall. He found that he was unable to disable the Eye’s ability to transport, and change where it transported him to. He set about studying transmutation, and created rat familiars to help him with his work.

He hired an assistant, Vendra Ulgumar, a young, ambitious half elf who was gifted but arrogant. Impatient to begin studying the Eye, Vendra continued to pester Agnoth to allow her to, to no avail. Frustrated, she sought to find a way to get her hands on the Eye. On an academic trip to Cil-Mir, to stock up on alchemical supplies and scrolls, and attend talks at the Centre for Natural Philosophy, Vendra came into contact with Celestine Brown, the mayor of the city.

She took quickly to the cool, confident Celestine, who praised her magical abilities and remarked on her enormous potential, in contrast to the ever-critical Agnoth. Vendra revealed to Celestine that Agnoth had the Eye. Celestine had been hunting the Eye for several years, and manipulated Vendra into telling her the location of the research site. She promised Vendra that she would take the Eye, make her her assistant, and that they would study its properties together.

A few weeks later, Celestine arrived at the mansion, and Agnoth, in a panic, activated all of his contingency plans at once, turning the house into a death trap. She nevertheless made her way to where the Eye was kept with ease. She and Agnoth dueled one another in front of the Eye. Agnoth, knowing that he would ultimately lose, forced Vendra into Barovia, telling her to find Van Richten and stay with him until he came for her. Agnoth, struck with a Mind Blank spell soon after Vendra left, lost his mind and went mad.

Using his last remaining shred of sanity he used the one powerful scroll he had been saving, a modified Power Word Stun, to immobilize Celestine, before vanishing into Barovia. Rudolph had, at that point, come to consciousness, and saw his master gone and a tiefling lying on the ground, who he promptly carried to the antimagic prison. A group of adventurers arrived soon afterward, and were tricked by Celestine into freeing her.

Gaining Rudolph's trust, they went into Barovia with Celestine, eventually managing to cast Greater Restoration on Agnoth, bringing him back to his usual self. With his help, they disposed of Strahd and freed Barovia. Agnoth, once he got back out, found that the Eye had vanished, and set about looking for a new focus, with the help of both Vendra and Rudolph. With the incursion of the lich Erwin Ciiaran Phoenix III, Agnoth's current state remains unknown, as to whether he is alive or dead.