Exile - Chapter 7
Aug. 1st, 2022 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinara posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
i_read_whatSo last time, I reviewed one of Drizzt's stupid journal entries, and as a result, this chapter is a whole lot less suspenseful. Does Belwar remember Drizzt? Did he understand what Drizzt was trying to do? Has he recovered enough from the experience to talk about it?
Thanks to Drizzt's blathering, we pretty much can guess the answers to these questions. But maybe it'll be fun anyway.
So we start off with the arrival of Belwar Dissengulp. Apparently, his status has gone up in the world since his scary experience with the drow ten years ago. He's a "Most Honored Burrow-Warden" now, and he's not completely comfortable with the laurels.
We're not told precisely how he got his rank, but the implication at least is that it's connected to having survived the drow, even "horribly maimed and nearly dead from loss of blood". The poor guy has no idea why he's being brought to meet this random drow, and he really doesn't like having to relive his trauma.
Until, of course, he sees Drizzt's eyes. Drizzt, if you recall, has lavender eyes, which are never really explained (except by the fact that he's a total Mary Sue). Belwar remembers those eyes.
Unfortunately, this leads to an immediate misunderstanding:
“You do know him!” several of the svirfnebli cried together. Belwar held up the handless stumps of his arms, one capped with the mithral head of a pickaxe, the other with the head of a hammer. “This drow, this Drizzt,” he stammered, trying to explain. “Responsible for my condition, he was!”
Some of the others murmured prayers for the doomed drow, thinking the burrow-warden was angered by the memory. “Then King Schnicktick’s decision stands,” one of them said. “The drow is to be executed immediately.”
Aw. I like how much they respect and support him. And of course Belwar corrects their assumption immediately. He asserts quickly that it wasn't Drizzt's decision to sever his hands, but it was Drizzt's idea to return him to Blingdenstone. Drizzt had said "as an example", but Belwar understood that Drizzt was just placating his relatives and that he meant mercy.
It is a little convenient that Belwar could read Drizzt's true intention so well, but to be fair, they did have a fair bit of one-on-one time prior to Dinin's "rescue", so I can buy that Belwar had a better read on the situation than most.
That said, it's clear that the svirfnebli aren't completely above some mind games toward their prisoner. Or maybe it's a test of character, as an hour later, the counselor who had spoke to Drizzt comes to tell him that the king decided he be executed.
“I understand,” Drizzt replied as calmly as he could. “I will offer no resistance to your verdict.” Drizzt considered his shackles for a moment. “Not that I could.”
The svirfneblin stopped and considered the unpredictable prisoner, fully believing in Drizzt’s sincerity. Before he continued, meaning to expand on the events of the day, Drizzt completed his thought.
Anyway, Drizzt's thought is about Guen. He wants Guen's statuette to go to Belwar. He says she'll be a valued companion and a dear friend. And aw. That's pretty sweet, I have to admit.
This leads the counselor to deliver the surprise good news instead:
The svirfneblin shook his hairless head, not to deny Drizzt’s plea, but in simple disbelief. “The king, with much remorse, simply could not allow the risks of keeping you alive,” he said somberly. The deep gnome’s wide mouth turned up in a smile as he quickly added, “But the situation has changed!”
Drizzt cocked his head, hardly daring to hope.
“The burrow-warden remembers you, dark elf,” the svirfneblin proclaimed. “Most Honored Burrow-Warden Belwar Dissengulp has spoken for you and will accept the responsibility of keeping you!”
Yay!
Would have been a better fake out if not for the journal entry. I wonder if those were added later.
Drizzt asks if that means he'll be allowed to live in Blingdenstone, and the answer is that it's yet to be determined. At least for now, though, he'll go stay with Belwar. Fair enough.
We get some nice description of Blingdenstone as a contrast to Menzoberranzan:
Following his release, the walk through the caverns of Blingdenstone was truly an exercise in hope for the beleaguered drow. Drizzt saw every sight in the deep gnome city as a contrast to Menzoberranzan. The dark elves had worked the great cavern of their city into shaped artwork, undeniably beautiful. The deep gnome city, too, was beautiful, but its features remained the natural traits of the stone. Where the drow had taken their cavern as their own, cutting it to their designs and tastes, the svirfnebli had fitted themselves into the native designs of their complex.
Menzoberranzan held a vastness, with a ceiling up beyond sight, that Blingdenstone could not approach. The drow city was a series of individual family castles, each a closed fortress and a house unto itself. In the deep gnome city was a general sense of home, as if the entire complex within the mammoth stone-and-metal doors was a singular structure, a community shelter from the ever-present dangers of the Underdark.
The angles of the svirfneblin city, too, were different. Like the features of the diminutive race, Blingdenstone’s buttresses and tiers were rounded, smooth, and gracefully curving. Conversely, Menzoberranzan was an angular place, as sharp as the point of a stalactite, a place of alleyways and leering terraces. Drizzt considered the two cities distinctive of the races they housed, sharp and soft like the features—and the hearts, Drizzt dared to imagine—of their respective inhabitants.
Pretty cool. I like this a lot.
Anyway, Drizzt is led to Belwar's home, which has a front door. He notes the respectful tone that the guard uses to deliver him and is happy. And we get a passage that...probably could be worded better:
Drizzt took note of the respectful tone of the guard’s voice. He had feared for Belwar on that day a decade and more ago, and had wondered if Dinin’s cutting off the deep gnome’s hands wasn’t more cruel than simply killing the unfortunate creature. Cripples did not fare well in the savage Underdark.
...
Yeah.
I do appreciate the cultural juxtaposition though. Obviously, Menzoberranzan is not a place that encourages care for people with disabilities. That doesn't, of course, mean we can't have a disabled drow, but it would definitely be difficult. (I could imagine, for example, a drow noble whose non-physical abilities are so remarkable that the matron mothers would be willing to provide necessary accommodation. Or maybe a member of Bregan D'arthe. Jarlaxle has some fancy toys and has his own sort of peculiar honor that might permit the idea that he'd share them. Sorry for the tangent, but it annoys me when I see folks imply that you can't play a disabled character in a fantasy setting. I don't think Salvatore's doing that here, but I remember others.)
Anyway, Blingdenstone isn't Menzoberranzan. Belwar is very respected and doing well.
Drizzt saw a somberness in the burrow-warden’s eyes, but the stout pride remained, if a bit diminished. Drizzt did not want to look upon the svirfnebli’s disfigurement; too many unpleasant memories were tied up in that long-ago deed. But inevitably, the drow’s gaze dropped, down Belwar’s barrel-like torso to the ends of his arms, which hung by his side.
Far from his fears, Drizzt’s eyes widened in wonderment when he looked upon Belwar’s “hands.” On the right side, wondrously fitted to cap the stub of his arm, was the blocked head of a hammer crafted of mithral and etched with intricate, fabulous runes and carvings of an earth elemental and some other creatures that Drizzt did not know.
Belwar’s left appendage was no less spectacular. There the deep gnome wielded a two-headed pickaxe, also of mithral and equally crafted in runes and carvings, most notably a dragon taking flight across the flat surface of the instrument’s wider end. Drizzt could sense the magic in Belwar’s hands, and he realized that many other svirfnebli, both artisans and magic-users, had played a part in perfecting the items.
Okay, mithril hands are a pretty fucking awesome accommodation. Go Belwar. And indeed, Drizzt is moved, not just by the beauty of them but their implication, He thinks about the likely fate that someone with Belwar's injuries would have in Menzoberranzan, and how the Blingdenstone folk clearly accepted and cared for Belwar instead.
So Belwar sends the guards away and they get Drizzt situated.
The inside of Belwar’s house was sparsely furnished with a stone table and single stool, several shelves of pots and jugs, and a fire pit with an iron cooking grate. Beyond the rough-hewn entrance to the back room, the room within the small cave, was the deep gnome’s sleeping quarters, empty except for a hammock strung from wall to wall. Another hammock, newly acquired for Drizzt, lay in a heap on the floor, and a leather, mithral-ringed jack hung on the back wall, with a pile of sacks and pouches underneath it.
Aww.
So Belwar and Drizzt asks what brings him here. Drizzt has nowhere else to go. Belwar is impressed that Drizzt survived the wilds for so long, and is interested in hearing about his adventures and why Drizzt has come to a city of his "racial enemies".
So Drizzt tells him. Fortunately, we're spared the repetition and get a simple summary paragraph in its place. Belwar, an empathetic guy, gets Drizzt's loneliness and the fear of losing his...humanity, for lack of a better word, in his focus on savage survival, even without Drizzt spelling it all out explicitly.
Belwar calls Drizzt's story a fine tale, and gets his hammock set up for him, and we end the chapter with Drizzt finally in a hopeful place.
Thanks to Drizzt's blathering, we pretty much can guess the answers to these questions. But maybe it'll be fun anyway.
So we start off with the arrival of Belwar Dissengulp. Apparently, his status has gone up in the world since his scary experience with the drow ten years ago. He's a "Most Honored Burrow-Warden" now, and he's not completely comfortable with the laurels.
We're not told precisely how he got his rank, but the implication at least is that it's connected to having survived the drow, even "horribly maimed and nearly dead from loss of blood". The poor guy has no idea why he's being brought to meet this random drow, and he really doesn't like having to relive his trauma.
Until, of course, he sees Drizzt's eyes. Drizzt, if you recall, has lavender eyes, which are never really explained (except by the fact that he's a total Mary Sue). Belwar remembers those eyes.
Unfortunately, this leads to an immediate misunderstanding:
“You do know him!” several of the svirfnebli cried together. Belwar held up the handless stumps of his arms, one capped with the mithral head of a pickaxe, the other with the head of a hammer. “This drow, this Drizzt,” he stammered, trying to explain. “Responsible for my condition, he was!”
Some of the others murmured prayers for the doomed drow, thinking the burrow-warden was angered by the memory. “Then King Schnicktick’s decision stands,” one of them said. “The drow is to be executed immediately.”
Aw. I like how much they respect and support him. And of course Belwar corrects their assumption immediately. He asserts quickly that it wasn't Drizzt's decision to sever his hands, but it was Drizzt's idea to return him to Blingdenstone. Drizzt had said "as an example", but Belwar understood that Drizzt was just placating his relatives and that he meant mercy.
It is a little convenient that Belwar could read Drizzt's true intention so well, but to be fair, they did have a fair bit of one-on-one time prior to Dinin's "rescue", so I can buy that Belwar had a better read on the situation than most.
That said, it's clear that the svirfnebli aren't completely above some mind games toward their prisoner. Or maybe it's a test of character, as an hour later, the counselor who had spoke to Drizzt comes to tell him that the king decided he be executed.
“I understand,” Drizzt replied as calmly as he could. “I will offer no resistance to your verdict.” Drizzt considered his shackles for a moment. “Not that I could.”
The svirfneblin stopped and considered the unpredictable prisoner, fully believing in Drizzt’s sincerity. Before he continued, meaning to expand on the events of the day, Drizzt completed his thought.
Anyway, Drizzt's thought is about Guen. He wants Guen's statuette to go to Belwar. He says she'll be a valued companion and a dear friend. And aw. That's pretty sweet, I have to admit.
This leads the counselor to deliver the surprise good news instead:
The svirfneblin shook his hairless head, not to deny Drizzt’s plea, but in simple disbelief. “The king, with much remorse, simply could not allow the risks of keeping you alive,” he said somberly. The deep gnome’s wide mouth turned up in a smile as he quickly added, “But the situation has changed!”
Drizzt cocked his head, hardly daring to hope.
“The burrow-warden remembers you, dark elf,” the svirfneblin proclaimed. “Most Honored Burrow-Warden Belwar Dissengulp has spoken for you and will accept the responsibility of keeping you!”
Yay!
Would have been a better fake out if not for the journal entry. I wonder if those were added later.
Drizzt asks if that means he'll be allowed to live in Blingdenstone, and the answer is that it's yet to be determined. At least for now, though, he'll go stay with Belwar. Fair enough.
We get some nice description of Blingdenstone as a contrast to Menzoberranzan:
Following his release, the walk through the caverns of Blingdenstone was truly an exercise in hope for the beleaguered drow. Drizzt saw every sight in the deep gnome city as a contrast to Menzoberranzan. The dark elves had worked the great cavern of their city into shaped artwork, undeniably beautiful. The deep gnome city, too, was beautiful, but its features remained the natural traits of the stone. Where the drow had taken their cavern as their own, cutting it to their designs and tastes, the svirfnebli had fitted themselves into the native designs of their complex.
Menzoberranzan held a vastness, with a ceiling up beyond sight, that Blingdenstone could not approach. The drow city was a series of individual family castles, each a closed fortress and a house unto itself. In the deep gnome city was a general sense of home, as if the entire complex within the mammoth stone-and-metal doors was a singular structure, a community shelter from the ever-present dangers of the Underdark.
The angles of the svirfneblin city, too, were different. Like the features of the diminutive race, Blingdenstone’s buttresses and tiers were rounded, smooth, and gracefully curving. Conversely, Menzoberranzan was an angular place, as sharp as the point of a stalactite, a place of alleyways and leering terraces. Drizzt considered the two cities distinctive of the races they housed, sharp and soft like the features—and the hearts, Drizzt dared to imagine—of their respective inhabitants.
Pretty cool. I like this a lot.
Anyway, Drizzt is led to Belwar's home, which has a front door. He notes the respectful tone that the guard uses to deliver him and is happy. And we get a passage that...probably could be worded better:
Drizzt took note of the respectful tone of the guard’s voice. He had feared for Belwar on that day a decade and more ago, and had wondered if Dinin’s cutting off the deep gnome’s hands wasn’t more cruel than simply killing the unfortunate creature. Cripples did not fare well in the savage Underdark.
...
Yeah.
I do appreciate the cultural juxtaposition though. Obviously, Menzoberranzan is not a place that encourages care for people with disabilities. That doesn't, of course, mean we can't have a disabled drow, but it would definitely be difficult. (I could imagine, for example, a drow noble whose non-physical abilities are so remarkable that the matron mothers would be willing to provide necessary accommodation. Or maybe a member of Bregan D'arthe. Jarlaxle has some fancy toys and has his own sort of peculiar honor that might permit the idea that he'd share them. Sorry for the tangent, but it annoys me when I see folks imply that you can't play a disabled character in a fantasy setting. I don't think Salvatore's doing that here, but I remember others.)
Anyway, Blingdenstone isn't Menzoberranzan. Belwar is very respected and doing well.
Drizzt saw a somberness in the burrow-warden’s eyes, but the stout pride remained, if a bit diminished. Drizzt did not want to look upon the svirfnebli’s disfigurement; too many unpleasant memories were tied up in that long-ago deed. But inevitably, the drow’s gaze dropped, down Belwar’s barrel-like torso to the ends of his arms, which hung by his side.
Far from his fears, Drizzt’s eyes widened in wonderment when he looked upon Belwar’s “hands.” On the right side, wondrously fitted to cap the stub of his arm, was the blocked head of a hammer crafted of mithral and etched with intricate, fabulous runes and carvings of an earth elemental and some other creatures that Drizzt did not know.
Belwar’s left appendage was no less spectacular. There the deep gnome wielded a two-headed pickaxe, also of mithral and equally crafted in runes and carvings, most notably a dragon taking flight across the flat surface of the instrument’s wider end. Drizzt could sense the magic in Belwar’s hands, and he realized that many other svirfnebli, both artisans and magic-users, had played a part in perfecting the items.
Okay, mithril hands are a pretty fucking awesome accommodation. Go Belwar. And indeed, Drizzt is moved, not just by the beauty of them but their implication, He thinks about the likely fate that someone with Belwar's injuries would have in Menzoberranzan, and how the Blingdenstone folk clearly accepted and cared for Belwar instead.
So Belwar sends the guards away and they get Drizzt situated.
The inside of Belwar’s house was sparsely furnished with a stone table and single stool, several shelves of pots and jugs, and a fire pit with an iron cooking grate. Beyond the rough-hewn entrance to the back room, the room within the small cave, was the deep gnome’s sleeping quarters, empty except for a hammock strung from wall to wall. Another hammock, newly acquired for Drizzt, lay in a heap on the floor, and a leather, mithral-ringed jack hung on the back wall, with a pile of sacks and pouches underneath it.
Aww.
So Belwar and Drizzt asks what brings him here. Drizzt has nowhere else to go. Belwar is impressed that Drizzt survived the wilds for so long, and is interested in hearing about his adventures and why Drizzt has come to a city of his "racial enemies".
So Drizzt tells him. Fortunately, we're spared the repetition and get a simple summary paragraph in its place. Belwar, an empathetic guy, gets Drizzt's loneliness and the fear of losing his...humanity, for lack of a better word, in his focus on savage survival, even without Drizzt spelling it all out explicitly.
Belwar calls Drizzt's story a fine tale, and gets his hammock set up for him, and we end the chapter with Drizzt finally in a hopeful place.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-02 12:50 pm (UTC)Also, if I remember the story right, I think a moment of Holy Shit is coming up involving a basilisk statue.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-02 01:47 pm (UTC)