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i_read_whatSo last time, I got surprisingly invested in the invasion of the Ten Towns, as they faced certain doom at the hands of one of the most aggravating villains ever. This time, we'll find out what one of our heroes is doing in the meantime.
So this chapter starts with Drizzt, who is sneaking out of his hiding place. He sees the burning city of Targos and feels a bit guilty for taking a nap. You should, dude. Cassius has been up this whole time. I'm joking, but it is a slightly odd narrative beat. "Now our hero takes a nap, while other people wait and worry about things."
Anyway, we're told that Drizzt had not been idle even during the hours of the meditative trance the elves called sleep. Of course he hasn't. But what has he been doing?
He had journeyed back into the underworld of his distant memories in search of a particular sensation, the aura of a powerful presence he had once known. Though he had not gotten close enough for a good look at the demon he had followed the previous night, something about the creature had struck a familiar chord in his oldest recollections. A pervading, unnatural emanation surrounded creatures from the lower planes when they walked on the material world, an aura that the dark elves, moreso than any other race, had come to understand and recognize. Not only this type of demon, but this particular creature itself, was known to Drizzt. It had served his people in Menzoberranzan for many years.
Ah, of course. We're very lucky that Drizzt happens to have this very applicable knowledge. Though really, I shouldn't mock. This is a D&D based book. Drizzt clearly just passed his knowledge arcana check. Or whatever the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons equivalent was in 1988.
Anyway, the takeaway is that Drizzt knows Errtu's true name and thus can call him.
So Drizzt spends an hour or so looking for a good place to confront the demon. He wants a place that will take away Errtu's advantages (size and flight, particularly), and he's HOPING that he can avoid combat entirely. We get a few paragraphs talking about demonic prowess (apparently drow tend to do better against them than humans did, but that was in the underworld, where there are unique stone formation and special magics that give them an edge. None of that applies on the surface.)
This is actually just notable to me because I've realized that the book hasn't used the term "Underdark" yet, which is the Forgotten Realms's standard ward for the Drow Underworld now.
Anyway, Drizzt doesn't want to fight. Instead he's hoping to deceive Errtu and gain knowledge of any of Akar Kessell's weak points. Okay. I rather like this bit, as we're getting to see Drizzt's tactical planning at work. I could do without quite as many tangents into how badass drow elves are, since we don't actually see them as adversaries in this book. It just seems like wasted page time.
So anyway, Drizzt picks his location: a sheltered dell near the cliff of the mountain. Part of it is covered by a "roof" of converging walls, the other half is open to the sky, and it's safely out of the view of Cryshal-Tirith. Drizzt starts scraping runes of warding that he remembers from his past, which he then tests by summoning Gwenhwyvar.
Actually this bit is pretty good:
Guenhwyvar lolled its huge head in an effort to understand what had deterred it. The resistance hadn't really been very strong, but the mixed signals from its master, calling for it yet warding it away, had confused the cat. It considered gathering its strength and walking right through the feeble barrier, but its master seemed pleased that it had stopped. So the cat sat where it was and waited.
Hah, now that's a nicely planted obstacle/weakpoint/flaw. Anyway, Drizzt finds her a nice vantage point, then calls Errtu.
We switch to Errtu's perspective. He's standing guard in Kessell's harem room, watching Kessell at play with his mindless girls. Ew. He's ticked off at Kessell for making the new tower and refusing to tear down his old ones. (He's glad that the old ones fell down already). Apparently he'd warned Kessell against the third tower, but Kessell's wrapped up in his ego and paranoia, and has decided that Errtu's advice is just meant to undermine his control.
Ugh, imagine this power in the hands of a competent villain. Like, in the fantasy version of this book in my head, the villain is Heafstaag. HE gets the shard, and uses it initially for the betterment of his people. Ultimately, he targets the Ten Towns, which was the place of their original defeat and almost downfall. In the process, he gradually starts to get so reliant on the shard that he loses what it means to be a barbarian. (All of Wulfgar's earlier prejudices about the use of magic would actually have a point in this scenario.) Heafstaag is a smart guy, and he actually uses Creshinibon in clever ways, which means the heroes will actually have to work to think around him.
Wouldn't that be so much more rewarding? But I digress.
Anyway, Errtu is ticked and that makes him receptive, even relieved, to be summoned by Drizzt. We're told he's more intrigued than angered by hearing a mortal daring to utter his name, and he wants to see what's going on.
Honestly, Errtu himself could be a much more interesting villain than Akar Kessell. A wet sock would be a much more interesting villain.
So anyway, Errtu decides to check it out. (Of course he intends to kill the blasphemous fool after he appeases his curiosity. But that's a given.) Apparently it's been centuries since he'd seen a drow.
Drizzt introduces himself with his full name. (Drizzt Do'Urden of the house of Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, ninth family to the throne of Menzoberranzan), and basically spins himself as a representative of more powerful masters. He baits Errtu by asking about his "service" to Kessell, and learns about Crenshinibon. He does a lot of bluffing in the conversation, but fortunately, Errtu has pretty fond memories of drow depravity and seems to like the idea of an alliance.
Drizzt presses for more info about Cryshal-Tirith, and gets it: namely that the door is invisible and undetectable to any beings inherent to the physical plane that the tower rests upon. (...how clever it is that Drizzt has access to a being not of this plane then? Not bad, Mr. Salvatore. And I mean that.)
Errtu, unlike Kessell, isn't an idiot though. And Drizzt asks one question too many, which leads Errtu to doubt his story. (If the drow sent Drizzt as an agent, they should already know about its strengths and weaknesses.) He examines Drizzt, and spots an unicorn shaped emblem (carved by Regis), which represents the goddess Mielikki. Drizzt, as a drow, is SUPPOSED to worship the spider goddess Lloth.
I feel like this bit would have been stronger if any of this had been introduced previously. We're well into the third and last section of the book, and if, as Errtu indicates (and supplemental material establish), worship of Lloth is that engrained in any drow, we should have heard about it. Perhaps, since we're dealing with a shared setting, the reader is expected to know that already. Okay. But there was plenty of opportunity to discuss DRIZZT's own religious beliefs at any point earlier in the book.
Also, Drizzt isn't an idiot. We're expected to believe he just forgot that he happened to be wearing a religious icon that no true drow would wear?
Anyway, Drizzt reintroduces himself as having forsook the house of Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, and as a ranger "humbly serving Gwaeron Windstrom, hero of the goddess Mielikki". Which again, feels like something we should have known a lot earlier than this.
Anyway, they fight. Apparently Errtu had intended to give Drizzt a quick death out of respect for his heritage, but Drizzt's pride annoys him so he's going to make him wish for death instead. The close quarters of the location is working against Drizzt, because he doesn't have a lot of room to escape Errtu's flames. But happily, he has Guenhwyvar to help.
It's still a pretty rough fight and when Errtu gets Drizzt pinned down, he thinks he's done for, but somehow the flames suddenly die away before they can burn him. And Drizzt discovers that while one of his scimitars is utterly useless, the other, the one he'd gotten from Icingdeath, isn't. And Errtu does not seem to enjoy it's freezing cold power. Using it, Drizzt manages to turn the battle around and defeat Errtu, disembowling him. Errtu vanishes, promising he'll be back in a hundred years, which isn't such a long time for either of them.
The chapter ends with Drizzt passing out.
It's not a terrible chapter. I definitely enjoyed the fight scene, and the idea of Drizzt trying to bluff out a demon is a good one. I liked that he failed, too. Though not without getting some interesting information in the process. But it annoys me that we're getting so much of this information all of a sudden.
Like the reveal that Icingdeath-the-scimitar is magic is a good one. We know how he got Icingdeath. We can appreciate that he hasn't really had time to explore its capability, before the invasion. It makes perfect sense that he would be taken by surprise about what it can do.
It makes less sense that Drizzt is wearing a religious symbol that had never been mentioned, to a goddess that Drizzt apparently worships, but has never been mentioned. Which is a dead giveaway, because all drow worship a different goddess, which has never been mentioned. It's sloppy, and I'm not sure whether to blame Mr. Salvatore or his editor, but this could have been introduced a lot sooner.
Besides, the character beat that Regis carved Drizzt a religious symbol, something that is very personal and even intimate, is something worth exploring. I feel like if we'd known that sooner, we might have had a better appreciation of the closeness of both characters.
So this chapter starts with Drizzt, who is sneaking out of his hiding place. He sees the burning city of Targos and feels a bit guilty for taking a nap. You should, dude. Cassius has been up this whole time. I'm joking, but it is a slightly odd narrative beat. "Now our hero takes a nap, while other people wait and worry about things."
Anyway, we're told that Drizzt had not been idle even during the hours of the meditative trance the elves called sleep. Of course he hasn't. But what has he been doing?
He had journeyed back into the underworld of his distant memories in search of a particular sensation, the aura of a powerful presence he had once known. Though he had not gotten close enough for a good look at the demon he had followed the previous night, something about the creature had struck a familiar chord in his oldest recollections. A pervading, unnatural emanation surrounded creatures from the lower planes when they walked on the material world, an aura that the dark elves, moreso than any other race, had come to understand and recognize. Not only this type of demon, but this particular creature itself, was known to Drizzt. It had served his people in Menzoberranzan for many years.
Ah, of course. We're very lucky that Drizzt happens to have this very applicable knowledge. Though really, I shouldn't mock. This is a D&D based book. Drizzt clearly just passed his knowledge arcana check. Or whatever the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons equivalent was in 1988.
Anyway, the takeaway is that Drizzt knows Errtu's true name and thus can call him.
So Drizzt spends an hour or so looking for a good place to confront the demon. He wants a place that will take away Errtu's advantages (size and flight, particularly), and he's HOPING that he can avoid combat entirely. We get a few paragraphs talking about demonic prowess (apparently drow tend to do better against them than humans did, but that was in the underworld, where there are unique stone formation and special magics that give them an edge. None of that applies on the surface.)
This is actually just notable to me because I've realized that the book hasn't used the term "Underdark" yet, which is the Forgotten Realms's standard ward for the Drow Underworld now.
Anyway, Drizzt doesn't want to fight. Instead he's hoping to deceive Errtu and gain knowledge of any of Akar Kessell's weak points. Okay. I rather like this bit, as we're getting to see Drizzt's tactical planning at work. I could do without quite as many tangents into how badass drow elves are, since we don't actually see them as adversaries in this book. It just seems like wasted page time.
So anyway, Drizzt picks his location: a sheltered dell near the cliff of the mountain. Part of it is covered by a "roof" of converging walls, the other half is open to the sky, and it's safely out of the view of Cryshal-Tirith. Drizzt starts scraping runes of warding that he remembers from his past, which he then tests by summoning Gwenhwyvar.
Actually this bit is pretty good:
Guenhwyvar lolled its huge head in an effort to understand what had deterred it. The resistance hadn't really been very strong, but the mixed signals from its master, calling for it yet warding it away, had confused the cat. It considered gathering its strength and walking right through the feeble barrier, but its master seemed pleased that it had stopped. So the cat sat where it was and waited.
Hah, now that's a nicely planted obstacle/weakpoint/flaw. Anyway, Drizzt finds her a nice vantage point, then calls Errtu.
We switch to Errtu's perspective. He's standing guard in Kessell's harem room, watching Kessell at play with his mindless girls. Ew. He's ticked off at Kessell for making the new tower and refusing to tear down his old ones. (He's glad that the old ones fell down already). Apparently he'd warned Kessell against the third tower, but Kessell's wrapped up in his ego and paranoia, and has decided that Errtu's advice is just meant to undermine his control.
Ugh, imagine this power in the hands of a competent villain. Like, in the fantasy version of this book in my head, the villain is Heafstaag. HE gets the shard, and uses it initially for the betterment of his people. Ultimately, he targets the Ten Towns, which was the place of their original defeat and almost downfall. In the process, he gradually starts to get so reliant on the shard that he loses what it means to be a barbarian. (All of Wulfgar's earlier prejudices about the use of magic would actually have a point in this scenario.) Heafstaag is a smart guy, and he actually uses Creshinibon in clever ways, which means the heroes will actually have to work to think around him.
Wouldn't that be so much more rewarding? But I digress.
Anyway, Errtu is ticked and that makes him receptive, even relieved, to be summoned by Drizzt. We're told he's more intrigued than angered by hearing a mortal daring to utter his name, and he wants to see what's going on.
Honestly, Errtu himself could be a much more interesting villain than Akar Kessell. A wet sock would be a much more interesting villain.
So anyway, Errtu decides to check it out. (Of course he intends to kill the blasphemous fool after he appeases his curiosity. But that's a given.) Apparently it's been centuries since he'd seen a drow.
Drizzt introduces himself with his full name. (Drizzt Do'Urden of the house of Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, ninth family to the throne of Menzoberranzan), and basically spins himself as a representative of more powerful masters. He baits Errtu by asking about his "service" to Kessell, and learns about Crenshinibon. He does a lot of bluffing in the conversation, but fortunately, Errtu has pretty fond memories of drow depravity and seems to like the idea of an alliance.
Drizzt presses for more info about Cryshal-Tirith, and gets it: namely that the door is invisible and undetectable to any beings inherent to the physical plane that the tower rests upon. (...how clever it is that Drizzt has access to a being not of this plane then? Not bad, Mr. Salvatore. And I mean that.)
Errtu, unlike Kessell, isn't an idiot though. And Drizzt asks one question too many, which leads Errtu to doubt his story. (If the drow sent Drizzt as an agent, they should already know about its strengths and weaknesses.) He examines Drizzt, and spots an unicorn shaped emblem (carved by Regis), which represents the goddess Mielikki. Drizzt, as a drow, is SUPPOSED to worship the spider goddess Lloth.
I feel like this bit would have been stronger if any of this had been introduced previously. We're well into the third and last section of the book, and if, as Errtu indicates (and supplemental material establish), worship of Lloth is that engrained in any drow, we should have heard about it. Perhaps, since we're dealing with a shared setting, the reader is expected to know that already. Okay. But there was plenty of opportunity to discuss DRIZZT's own religious beliefs at any point earlier in the book.
Also, Drizzt isn't an idiot. We're expected to believe he just forgot that he happened to be wearing a religious icon that no true drow would wear?
Anyway, Drizzt reintroduces himself as having forsook the house of Daermon N'a'shezbaernon, and as a ranger "humbly serving Gwaeron Windstrom, hero of the goddess Mielikki". Which again, feels like something we should have known a lot earlier than this.
Anyway, they fight. Apparently Errtu had intended to give Drizzt a quick death out of respect for his heritage, but Drizzt's pride annoys him so he's going to make him wish for death instead. The close quarters of the location is working against Drizzt, because he doesn't have a lot of room to escape Errtu's flames. But happily, he has Guenhwyvar to help.
It's still a pretty rough fight and when Errtu gets Drizzt pinned down, he thinks he's done for, but somehow the flames suddenly die away before they can burn him. And Drizzt discovers that while one of his scimitars is utterly useless, the other, the one he'd gotten from Icingdeath, isn't. And Errtu does not seem to enjoy it's freezing cold power. Using it, Drizzt manages to turn the battle around and defeat Errtu, disembowling him. Errtu vanishes, promising he'll be back in a hundred years, which isn't such a long time for either of them.
The chapter ends with Drizzt passing out.
It's not a terrible chapter. I definitely enjoyed the fight scene, and the idea of Drizzt trying to bluff out a demon is a good one. I liked that he failed, too. Though not without getting some interesting information in the process. But it annoys me that we're getting so much of this information all of a sudden.
Like the reveal that Icingdeath-the-scimitar is magic is a good one. We know how he got Icingdeath. We can appreciate that he hasn't really had time to explore its capability, before the invasion. It makes perfect sense that he would be taken by surprise about what it can do.
It makes less sense that Drizzt is wearing a religious symbol that had never been mentioned, to a goddess that Drizzt apparently worships, but has never been mentioned. Which is a dead giveaway, because all drow worship a different goddess, which has never been mentioned. It's sloppy, and I'm not sure whether to blame Mr. Salvatore or his editor, but this could have been introduced a lot sooner.
Besides, the character beat that Regis carved Drizzt a religious symbol, something that is very personal and even intimate, is something worth exploring. I feel like if we'd known that sooner, we might have had a better appreciation of the closeness of both characters.