Azuth Crummond
"Some half-baked, idiot wizard who thought it was a great idea to throw untrained civilians at the vamp squad. . . . a dumb ass." — Sylvain Vanborin
Azuth Crummond, formerly known as the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok, is an archmage, ally of our heroes, and testament to the hubris of wizards.
The only one of our heroes liable to have heard Azuth's name before they met face-to-face is Ayduin, who may have been present when search parties passed up and down the Sword Coast following his disappearance some 20 years before the party was taken into the mists. He had earned a name for himself as an archmage, and had made a relatively happy life for himself with his former lover, Col.
However, things changed for Azuth when Col was taken and turned by a vampire. Though Azuth helped in the destruction of the vampire who turned Col, he did not get the killing blow, and this left him with a burning sense of vengeance that would not simmer. He developed an obsession with vampires, leading to his discovery of rumours of a powerful vampire mage named Strahd von Zarovich in a lost realm called Barovia. Set on destroying any vampire he could find, Azuth became obsessed with reaching Barovia, and eventually he managed the feat, against all odds.
In an event now about four years past in Barovian time, Azuth rallied the villagers of Barovia, including a very young Doru and several friends of Ismark and Ireena, and led them in a march on Castle Ravenloft. Somewhat unsurprisingly, almost all the villagers died, and Azuth was thought dead too after taking a plunge down Tser Falls.
As time went on, rumours began to spread about the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok, north of Vallaki, who was sometimes seen zapping fish out of the lake and scurrying off with them. It was this mage who Oileán and the other teaghlach cara sought, along with Makar, after the assault on tuama beannaithe that left most of the friendly cailleacha dead. When their path crossed with that of the party, they all went in search of him together, and were able — in part thanks to a tip from Marlyn Mordvinov — to calm him long enough for Oileán to cast Greater Restoration on him, clearing his mind for the first time in years.
Since then, Azuth has helped look after the teaghlach cara, along with several members of the Keepers of the Feather after Strahd's assault on the Wizard of Wines. He seems to be well aware of the foolishness and damage of his past actions — Bodaway saw in a vision from the Raven Queen that Azuth used his own folly to discourage Makar from rash actions of his own.
Recently, Azuth appears to have struck up a romantic relationship with Makar.
Comments