In Sylvan Shadows - Chapter Four
May. 31st, 2025 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, Elbereth was a tool. I hope he improves over time. Aballister's lady henchman seems fairly interesting though.
So we start out this chapter with a dude named Felkin, who is a goblin. That's always fun. He's leading eight companions and he's on orders from Ragnor. So bad guy.
You ever notice that we only ever get stories about heroic dark elves, MAYBE a heroic orc once or twice (but rarely and usually it's a half-orc), but we never get stories about heroic goblins or gully dwarves?
So anyway, Felkin and his band are in Shilmista, and they're a bit freaked out about things. That doesn't help when one goblin suddenly gets an arrow to the throat. Another one gets ambushed by a vine noose that tightens around its neck.
Look, I know they're villains and likely to do terrible things, but introducing a bunch of goblins - generally one of the joke races of D&D and killing them one by one doesn't really sit right, you know. It just seems kinda mean.
Very quickly they're down to five. We finally get a glimpse of the killer:
“There remain no more than four of you,” said a melodic voice in the goblin tongue, but with the unmistakable accent of a female elf. “Perhaps only three. Do you wish to come out and fight me fairly?”
I mean, of course, this lady's a heroine. But she's kind of presented like a slasher movie monster here, which would be pretty clever as a subversion of expectations, but I'm thinking that's not the point.
But look at this for a second:
“Two!” he replied, then he called to the elf. “Two of usses, elf. Will you puts your nasty bow down and fights us fair-like?”
The elf leaned her bow back against the tree and took up her sword. “Come on, then,” she said. “The day grows long and my supper awaits!”
I think I've figured out why this chapter isn't sitting right with me. It's kind of like that time in Halfling's Gem when Drizzt and Wulfgar rob that banshee of her cool magic mask. This sort of scenario with a single elf hero mowing down pointless, outmatched mooks is fun in a table top setting, when you have rolls and moves and the possibility of failure to give you suspense.
It is a little more uncomfortable in a book, when you're supposed to be immersing yourself in plot and character, and embracing the setting as though it's, on some level, a real place.
On one level, I acknowledge that these goblins are invading the woods and they're there to scout for an army that will absolutely do terrible things to people. But unfortunately the goblins themselves aren't remotely plausible as a threat to anyone in their own right.
I'm not saying the heroes are wrong to kill them, even, since the motive is protection of the lives in the forest. But seeing it played out from the point of view of said goblins as they're picked off one by one feels more sadistic than fun to me.
Especially when Felkin is the last alive, crying pitifully and breathlessly for his life. Oh, but we do get the comic relief of him running into a tree and knocking himself out.
...
yeah.
Anyway, we switch scenes to Dorigen and Druzil, which makes me happier. Dorigen is pretty intelligent, asking if Druzil's in contact with Aballister, verifying his claim that he's not, and then confronting him about how he's not a traditional familiar.
Druzil, wondering if this is a test of loyalty, is quick to assert his loyalty to the man who summoned him from the torment of the Abyss.
Of course, Druzil's own thoughts remind us how he nearly abandoned Aballister for Barjin, so yeah.
Dorigen gives him a kind of speech/warning that even she's not entirely certain about, and they move on. Druzil is just happy to be away from Aballister, apparently figuring that with the reveal that Cadderly is Aballister's son, and the fact that Aballister knows Druzil knows, there's going to be some intrigue afoot that he doesn't want part of.
-
We switch scenes to Shayleigh, who is, of course, the elf that killed the goblins. She reports to Tintagel that one got away, but the other eight are dead. Yes, we know. And as I said, I don't think she was wrong to protect her home. I just maybe think the scene might have worked better from her point of view.
Tintagel just notes that he's heard similar reports all day. He suggests the escape of one is a good thing, maybe it can go home and warn the others that only death awaits them in Shilmista.
Oh, hey, we get to meet Elbereth's dad here.
They found Galladel alone in a clearing beyond a shielding wall of thick pines, pacing nervously. The elf king motioned for them to join him, then brought his slender hand up to stroke his raven-black hair, still vibrant and thick, though Galladel had lived many centuries. He stopped his movement when he saw that the hand was trembling, and dropped it back to his side. He glanced at Shayleigh and Tintagel to make sure that they had not seen.
He's kind of a nervous dude. Understandable, I suppose. He's freaking out about the sheer number of sightings of "monstrous scum" and wonders how long they can last. He's probably right about Ragnor sending the weakest fodder to be sacrificed to keep them busy, but we haven't heard anything about elf-side casualties at all.
Shayleigh thinks something will happen soon, and Galladel doesn't dismiss her intuition. He's glad to have her at his side, which is nice to hear, especially since Elbereth's away.
Apparently Galladel hadn't wanted Elbereth to go to the library at all, but Elbereth is headstrong (and an asshole.)
They end up interrupted by a dryad:
“Oh, do not tell me you have not heard the warnings of the trees!” came the voice, followed by a movement around the back of the tree. A pixie-featured woman, her skin as tan as the oak’s bark and her hair as green as the great tree’s dark leaves, peeked out from around the thick trunk.
Her name is Hammadeen who basically tells them that, per the trees, the enemies are marching in force with lots of axes and fires. Galladel, interestingly, has no patience with dryad "nonsense". Dude, you live in the forest. They act like she was incredibly cryptic.
No, actually, let me give you an excerpt:
THIS is what Hammadeen says:
“Oh, no, not nonsense!” replied Hammadeen, suddenly sounding distressed. “They are marching in force, too many for the trees to count. And they have fire and axes! Oh, the elves must stop them—you must.”
Shayleigh and Galladel exchanged confused looks.
“Listen!” cried the dryad. “You must listen.”
And this is the response:
“We are listening!” roared a frustrated Galladel.
“To the trees . . .” Hammadeen explained. Her voice diminished—and her body seemed to, as well—as she blended into the oak. Shayleigh rushed over, trying to catch the dryad or to follow, but the elf maiden’s reaching hands found only the rough bark of the wide oak.
“Dryads,” Shayleigh remarked, her tone less than complimentary.
“Listen to the trees,” spat Galladel. He kicked dirt at the base of the oak and spun away.
...she literally JUST told you that there is an actual invading force entering the forest with axes and fire. That was not cryptic. Maybe if ONE of you thought to ask "where" this would be a much shorter book.
Shayleigh is surprised at Galladel's disdain, as though she didn't just display the same thing, because apparently there are legends about the trees of Shilmista uprooting themselves and fighting alongside a historical elven king (Dellanil Quil'quien - since I figure it's likely to come up again), who is Galladel's own ancestor.
Shayleigh, at least, isn't a total idiot, and points out that they know that the enemy is on the move. She wants to set up an ambush.
Galladel on the other hand seems to prove that assholishness is a hereditary trait by having a goddamn tantrum:
We know only what a dryad has told us!” yelled Galladel. “You would risk our entire defense on the fleeting words of a dryad, by nature a creature of half-truths and insidious charms?”
...as a reminder, the only thing that we saw the dryad say was that they're here and scary! There isn't even much room for "half-truth" in that statement. And why would she lie about that?
Shayleigh agrees with Galladel that they only have Hammadeen's word, but she doesn't doubt it, and there are a lot of defensible ridges to set up defensive preparations.
Galladel doesn't like the idea of "defense" apparently, deciding that since they're stronger in the center of the forest, they'll wait there and not fight at all. Shayleigh is pretty pissed off at the idea of sacrificing miles of forest. Tintagel offers a compromise: there's a location called Daoine Dun that's relatively close, that has nice caves and is a place of power.
Galladel is still reluctant, giving both Shayleigh and Tintagel a chance to shill Elbereth to us. Because Galladel is a twit, and Elbereth is more inclined to not be. It's pretty McCaffrey-esque in its one-sided-ness.
Galladel might have a point about the numbers. Apparently they're "seven score", so one hundred and forty total, to the enemy's thousands. And damn, dude, that's not a sustainable population at all. But I'm going to assume that's just fighting men and women. Still, it kind of seems like it'd be better to pick off the adversaries you can instead of just letting them converge on you.
But I'm obviously supposed to think Galladel is a weak coward, and favor Elbereth taking charge. Even though we've seen literally no redeeming qualities to the guy yet. Galladel does, finally, after a tantrum, listlessly agree to Tintagel's suggestion.
--
Back to poor Felkin. He comes to and runs to the camp. Bugbear soldiers basically pick him up by the hair and drag him to Ragnor. Poor thing.
We do get to see Ragnor at least:
Ragnor did not seem so imposing at first, sitting behind a large oaken table across the tent. Then the ogrillon stood, and Felkin whined and crawled backward across the ground. A prod from a trident forced him back to his place.
Ragnor was as tall as the bugbears and twice as wide.
His features were orcish, mostly, with a snout resembling a pig’s nose and one tusklike tooth protruding from his bottom jaw, up over his upper lip. His eyes were large and bloodshot, and his brow heavy, always crinkled in an ominous glare. While his features were orcish, his body more resembled his ogre ancestors, with thick, powerful limbs, corded muscles, and a barrellike torso that could stop a charging horse dead in its tracks.
He questions Felkin, who tries to fudge the facts a little - initially claiming lots of Elves killed them, then correcting to one. Ragnor's pretty enraged, but it sounds like he's more enraged by a greater lack of success than just Felkin's.
The strategy they're going with is storm the forest and destroy it, force them to open ground and crush it.
Unfortunately, poor Felkin had been grabbed by the throat during this speech, and when he says "crush them", he makes an illustrative gesture. Oops. Everyone laughs, except poor dead Felkin. Aw.
The chapter ends here.
So we start out this chapter with a dude named Felkin, who is a goblin. That's always fun. He's leading eight companions and he's on orders from Ragnor. So bad guy.
You ever notice that we only ever get stories about heroic dark elves, MAYBE a heroic orc once or twice (but rarely and usually it's a half-orc), but we never get stories about heroic goblins or gully dwarves?
So anyway, Felkin and his band are in Shilmista, and they're a bit freaked out about things. That doesn't help when one goblin suddenly gets an arrow to the throat. Another one gets ambushed by a vine noose that tightens around its neck.
Look, I know they're villains and likely to do terrible things, but introducing a bunch of goblins - generally one of the joke races of D&D and killing them one by one doesn't really sit right, you know. It just seems kinda mean.
Very quickly they're down to five. We finally get a glimpse of the killer:
“There remain no more than four of you,” said a melodic voice in the goblin tongue, but with the unmistakable accent of a female elf. “Perhaps only three. Do you wish to come out and fight me fairly?”
I mean, of course, this lady's a heroine. But she's kind of presented like a slasher movie monster here, which would be pretty clever as a subversion of expectations, but I'm thinking that's not the point.
But look at this for a second:
“Two!” he replied, then he called to the elf. “Two of usses, elf. Will you puts your nasty bow down and fights us fair-like?”
The elf leaned her bow back against the tree and took up her sword. “Come on, then,” she said. “The day grows long and my supper awaits!”
I think I've figured out why this chapter isn't sitting right with me. It's kind of like that time in Halfling's Gem when Drizzt and Wulfgar rob that banshee of her cool magic mask. This sort of scenario with a single elf hero mowing down pointless, outmatched mooks is fun in a table top setting, when you have rolls and moves and the possibility of failure to give you suspense.
It is a little more uncomfortable in a book, when you're supposed to be immersing yourself in plot and character, and embracing the setting as though it's, on some level, a real place.
On one level, I acknowledge that these goblins are invading the woods and they're there to scout for an army that will absolutely do terrible things to people. But unfortunately the goblins themselves aren't remotely plausible as a threat to anyone in their own right.
I'm not saying the heroes are wrong to kill them, even, since the motive is protection of the lives in the forest. But seeing it played out from the point of view of said goblins as they're picked off one by one feels more sadistic than fun to me.
Especially when Felkin is the last alive, crying pitifully and breathlessly for his life. Oh, but we do get the comic relief of him running into a tree and knocking himself out.
...
yeah.
Anyway, we switch scenes to Dorigen and Druzil, which makes me happier. Dorigen is pretty intelligent, asking if Druzil's in contact with Aballister, verifying his claim that he's not, and then confronting him about how he's not a traditional familiar.
Druzil, wondering if this is a test of loyalty, is quick to assert his loyalty to the man who summoned him from the torment of the Abyss.
Of course, Druzil's own thoughts remind us how he nearly abandoned Aballister for Barjin, so yeah.
Dorigen gives him a kind of speech/warning that even she's not entirely certain about, and they move on. Druzil is just happy to be away from Aballister, apparently figuring that with the reveal that Cadderly is Aballister's son, and the fact that Aballister knows Druzil knows, there's going to be some intrigue afoot that he doesn't want part of.
-
We switch scenes to Shayleigh, who is, of course, the elf that killed the goblins. She reports to Tintagel that one got away, but the other eight are dead. Yes, we know. And as I said, I don't think she was wrong to protect her home. I just maybe think the scene might have worked better from her point of view.
Tintagel just notes that he's heard similar reports all day. He suggests the escape of one is a good thing, maybe it can go home and warn the others that only death awaits them in Shilmista.
Oh, hey, we get to meet Elbereth's dad here.
They found Galladel alone in a clearing beyond a shielding wall of thick pines, pacing nervously. The elf king motioned for them to join him, then brought his slender hand up to stroke his raven-black hair, still vibrant and thick, though Galladel had lived many centuries. He stopped his movement when he saw that the hand was trembling, and dropped it back to his side. He glanced at Shayleigh and Tintagel to make sure that they had not seen.
He's kind of a nervous dude. Understandable, I suppose. He's freaking out about the sheer number of sightings of "monstrous scum" and wonders how long they can last. He's probably right about Ragnor sending the weakest fodder to be sacrificed to keep them busy, but we haven't heard anything about elf-side casualties at all.
Shayleigh thinks something will happen soon, and Galladel doesn't dismiss her intuition. He's glad to have her at his side, which is nice to hear, especially since Elbereth's away.
Apparently Galladel hadn't wanted Elbereth to go to the library at all, but Elbereth is headstrong (and an asshole.)
They end up interrupted by a dryad:
“Oh, do not tell me you have not heard the warnings of the trees!” came the voice, followed by a movement around the back of the tree. A pixie-featured woman, her skin as tan as the oak’s bark and her hair as green as the great tree’s dark leaves, peeked out from around the thick trunk.
Her name is Hammadeen who basically tells them that, per the trees, the enemies are marching in force with lots of axes and fires. Galladel, interestingly, has no patience with dryad "nonsense". Dude, you live in the forest. They act like she was incredibly cryptic.
No, actually, let me give you an excerpt:
THIS is what Hammadeen says:
“Oh, no, not nonsense!” replied Hammadeen, suddenly sounding distressed. “They are marching in force, too many for the trees to count. And they have fire and axes! Oh, the elves must stop them—you must.”
Shayleigh and Galladel exchanged confused looks.
“Listen!” cried the dryad. “You must listen.”
And this is the response:
“We are listening!” roared a frustrated Galladel.
“To the trees . . .” Hammadeen explained. Her voice diminished—and her body seemed to, as well—as she blended into the oak. Shayleigh rushed over, trying to catch the dryad or to follow, but the elf maiden’s reaching hands found only the rough bark of the wide oak.
“Dryads,” Shayleigh remarked, her tone less than complimentary.
“Listen to the trees,” spat Galladel. He kicked dirt at the base of the oak and spun away.
...she literally JUST told you that there is an actual invading force entering the forest with axes and fire. That was not cryptic. Maybe if ONE of you thought to ask "where" this would be a much shorter book.
Shayleigh is surprised at Galladel's disdain, as though she didn't just display the same thing, because apparently there are legends about the trees of Shilmista uprooting themselves and fighting alongside a historical elven king (Dellanil Quil'quien - since I figure it's likely to come up again), who is Galladel's own ancestor.
Shayleigh, at least, isn't a total idiot, and points out that they know that the enemy is on the move. She wants to set up an ambush.
Galladel on the other hand seems to prove that assholishness is a hereditary trait by having a goddamn tantrum:
We know only what a dryad has told us!” yelled Galladel. “You would risk our entire defense on the fleeting words of a dryad, by nature a creature of half-truths and insidious charms?”
...as a reminder, the only thing that we saw the dryad say was that they're here and scary! There isn't even much room for "half-truth" in that statement. And why would she lie about that?
Shayleigh agrees with Galladel that they only have Hammadeen's word, but she doesn't doubt it, and there are a lot of defensible ridges to set up defensive preparations.
Galladel doesn't like the idea of "defense" apparently, deciding that since they're stronger in the center of the forest, they'll wait there and not fight at all. Shayleigh is pretty pissed off at the idea of sacrificing miles of forest. Tintagel offers a compromise: there's a location called Daoine Dun that's relatively close, that has nice caves and is a place of power.
Galladel is still reluctant, giving both Shayleigh and Tintagel a chance to shill Elbereth to us. Because Galladel is a twit, and Elbereth is more inclined to not be. It's pretty McCaffrey-esque in its one-sided-ness.
Galladel might have a point about the numbers. Apparently they're "seven score", so one hundred and forty total, to the enemy's thousands. And damn, dude, that's not a sustainable population at all. But I'm going to assume that's just fighting men and women. Still, it kind of seems like it'd be better to pick off the adversaries you can instead of just letting them converge on you.
But I'm obviously supposed to think Galladel is a weak coward, and favor Elbereth taking charge. Even though we've seen literally no redeeming qualities to the guy yet. Galladel does, finally, after a tantrum, listlessly agree to Tintagel's suggestion.
--
Back to poor Felkin. He comes to and runs to the camp. Bugbear soldiers basically pick him up by the hair and drag him to Ragnor. Poor thing.
We do get to see Ragnor at least:
Ragnor did not seem so imposing at first, sitting behind a large oaken table across the tent. Then the ogrillon stood, and Felkin whined and crawled backward across the ground. A prod from a trident forced him back to his place.
Ragnor was as tall as the bugbears and twice as wide.
His features were orcish, mostly, with a snout resembling a pig’s nose and one tusklike tooth protruding from his bottom jaw, up over his upper lip. His eyes were large and bloodshot, and his brow heavy, always crinkled in an ominous glare. While his features were orcish, his body more resembled his ogre ancestors, with thick, powerful limbs, corded muscles, and a barrellike torso that could stop a charging horse dead in its tracks.
He questions Felkin, who tries to fudge the facts a little - initially claiming lots of Elves killed them, then correcting to one. Ragnor's pretty enraged, but it sounds like he's more enraged by a greater lack of success than just Felkin's.
The strategy they're going with is storm the forest and destroy it, force them to open ground and crush it.
Unfortunately, poor Felkin had been grabbed by the throat during this speech, and when he says "crush them", he makes an illustrative gesture. Oops. Everyone laughs, except poor dead Felkin. Aw.
The chapter ends here.