Aballister
Aballister Bonaduce is a level 12 wizard and the main antagonist of The Cleric Quintet novel series set in the Forgotten Realms. He is the leader of the triumvirate of Castle Trinity, and the enemy of his son, the cleric Cadderly Bonaduce.
Appearance[]
By the time of the Cleric Quintet events, Aballister has spent several gruelling years searching for the components of the Most Fatal Horror potion. His body is lean and worn out by the hard work and the stress involved.
Personality[]
Aballister is calm, calculating and ruthless. He wants to be the leader who conquers the land surrounding Castle Trinity. He is quick to notice weaknesses in others and even quicker in exploiting it with a spiteful and snarky comment or a deadly spell. He seemed to have some fondness for his imp familiar, Druzil.
Aballister is a schemer and plotter, not a mage who goes out to confront his enemies face to face. He prefers to send expendable lackeys and hired thugs to deal with his problems while he remains in the background to further his plans. Not only this allows him to be safe from the many traps and followers that stand between him and his enemies, it also allows him to spy on those same lackeys so they do not try to make a grab for power while he is not around.
Aballister is a power hungry villain, pure and simple. He is wise enough to know that he needs allies to achieve his goals, and he found them at Castle Trinity, the cleric Barjin and the half-ogre fighter Ragnor. Once he found out Cadderly is his son, Aballister became determined to prove himself as the superior member of the Bonaduce family, especially since Cadderly was able to thwart every scheme the mage devised.
Biography[]
Aballister murdered his wife many years ago, and left their newborn son, Cadderly on the doorstep of the Edificant Library to be raised by the priests of Deneir and Oghma, gods of knowledge and writing. Aballister couldn't be bothered to raise his own son, as the baby boy would have distracted him from his studies of magic and the ascension through the ranks of Castle Trinity.
Years later, in 1360 DR, Aballister is the most powerful wizard in Castle Trinity when the leaders there decided to started their campaign of conquest. Aballister spent the past few years gathering the ingredients for the Most Fatal Horror, a legendary potion invented by Talona, goddess of poison and sickness.
With the potion ready, the chief cleric of the Castle, Barjin asked the permission to use the potion. He placed it in the cellars of the Edificant Library, where it caused all the people who breathed its toxic vapours to go insane. Cadderly, now a priest of Deneir, defeated Barjin and got rid of the potion.
Castle Trinity's next operation was to invade forest Shilmista and kill the elves there. Ragnor the half-ogre led the attack, but he was also defeated by Cadderly and his companions Danica and the Bouldershoulder brothers.
Aballister then hired Ghost, a member of the Night Masks from Westgate to assassinate Cadderly. He too was eventually defeated.
Cadderly and his friends started the counterattack and travelled to Castle Trinity itself. There, they overcome many traps and nearly infinite number of guards until they came face to face with Aballister. He and Cadderly battled each other with their arcane and clerical spells respectively, and although Aballister had more magic power, Cadderly's faith and will were stronger and saved the day, killing his evil father.