Pools of Darkness [BOOKS]

Pools of Darkness is a semi-sequel to Pool of Radiance, set a decade after the events in that novel.  The three main characters are back: Ren, the ranger-thief, is still adventuring on his own, while Tarl and Shal have gotten married and have settled down in Phlan.  The plot of the book concerns a far-fetched plan (if such things are possible in fantasy novels) by the evil god Bane to kidnap several cities from the Moonsea and drain the souls of the inhabitants.  Well, Phlan doesn't plan to go down without a fight, and withstands a lengthy siege by an army led by a Red Wizard of Thay named Marcus and a pit fiend.  Some new heroes are also introduced, including a couple of unmemorable druids, a wizard, and a kinda cool undead paladin named Miltiades.  For me, it was overall rather mediocre--but I don't have any recollection of playing the computer game it was based on, so there's also no nostalgia factor like there was for Radiance.