Streams of Silver - Chapter Eleven
Apr. 19th, 2020 02:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, Drizzt and company had some mishaps, some townsfolk were portrayed as racist for not wanting a drow elf in their town, and the bad guys found out where the heroes are going and intend to beat them there.
This could actually be interesting. We know that Drizzt is a good guy and Artemis Entreri is evil. But Drizzt is a dark elf, and I've said before, it's actually pretty reasonable that people fear him on sight because literally every other drow in the world (as established so far) is evil and has a genocidal hatred of surface dwellers. Artemis is human. It would be very easy for Artemis to convince people that Drizzt and his party are actually evil. Though, he also has Catti-brie with him. She knows the truth.
So, we join Entreri and company on their trip to Silverymoon. They're riding magical mounts, conjured by Dendybar. And I wonder again at everyone's ability to ride. I had the same thought earlier when Drizzt, Bruenor and Wulfgar rode. There was no mention of horses up north, that I recall. Even if the nomads used them, Wulfgar spent the last five years in the dwarf tunnels. When did they learn to ride? I hate to give Shapechangers credit for anything, but they did acknowledge that Alix would be shit on horseback without assistance.
As they travel, Catti-brie is lost in thought. She knows they're going to overtake Drizzt and company, and she knows that Entreri will use her against them. She doesn't know how to fight him, especially when she can't get over her paralyzing fear of him. (Ugh. I'm still annoyed by this. There's nothing wrong with a character having an overcoming fear plotline, I suppose, but why does it have to be the woman? And really, Salvatore has not done a very good job of making Entreri scary enough to warrant this.)
Anyway, Catti-brie focuses on psychologically bolstering herself, noting that Bruenor had given her "many tools to wage such a battle", like discipline and self confidence that had "seen her through many difficult situations". (It would be nice if we'd gotten to SEE any of those situations. Perhaps then we'd get to appreciate the fear plot more.) She starts observing her captors.
Jierdan and Entreri hate each other. Jierdan hasn't forgotten his "humiliation" at their first meeting. Was that really humiliating? I guess for dudes inclined toward pissing contests it might have been. Entreri distrusts Jierdan and seems to be up for the confrontation. Catti-brie thinks this is her best hope. Bok, the construct (the book uses the word "golem", but let's not engage in appropriation of Jewish religious concepts. Mr. Salvatore probably didn't know better, but we do.), isn't sentient enough to deal with, and Sydney is too focused on the task at hand to be open to conversation. Eventually she gets tired of Catti-brie's attempts, and tells Entreri to "keep the whore away".
Wow, Sydney. Way to be a bitch.
But Sydney did help, in a way, because her contempt and insults made Catti-brie angry, and that's actually helping against the terror.
So our evil party (plus one hostage) makes it all the way to Nesme. Entreri thinks they should go to town for info (...why? You already know where they're going.), Sydney suggests it be the two of them, but Entreri doesn't want to leave Jierdan alone with Catti-brie. Sydney reassures him that Jierdan is an honorable man and wouldn't take advantage, but that's not what Entreri is worried about: he thinks that "the daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer" would "dispose of [her] honorable soldier and be gone into the night before [they] returned."
Catti-brie is smart enough not to be flattered. It's more of an insult to Jierdan than a true compliment, but it also means that he might too alert for her to be able to act. Sydney has a solution to Entreri's concern: she orders the construct to watch Catti-brie, and if she tries to flee, it's to kill her. This makes Entreri happy.
Jierdan is a lot less happy. He's worried about the possibility of a friendship or alliance between Sydney and Entreri, as he's in the weakest position: subservient to Sydney and afraid of Entreri. If the latter two allied, they could turn on the Hosttower and he'd be dead meat.
So here, Catti-brie finally gets to do more than be a frightened captive. She offers to help set up camp, noting that the work is below Jierdan's "station". Jierdan seems to know what she's trying to do, but at the same time, a pretty girl offering respect to his rank is hard for his wounded ego to ignore.
He does accuse her of making trouble, and orders her to set the camp, but Catti-brie definitely sees the crack in his armor. She starts to plan: the next step is to try to make an ally of him, or at least plant seeds of jealousy.
Okay, I have to admit, Catti-brie's plot is starting to work for me. I'm still annoyed by the reliance on unexplained "paralyzing terror", which none of the male characters seem to have as an issue. But it's good to see Catti-brie being resourceful and clever.
We move to Entreri and Sydney, who are heading toward Nesme. They come across some Uthgardt barbarians, Griffon tribe this time, but the barbarians are occupied with a ritual, so they pass without issue. Entreri is suspicious about Sydney's knowledge of said barbarians, but she notes that she prepared herself for the journey. Apparently the Uthgardt, despite their seeming unfriendliness, don't keep many secrets, so their ways are known and documented.
Entreri had another reason for agreeing to accompany Sydney: he wants to get his suspicions out in the open so he can kill her if he has to. He asks when he's supposed to die. Sydney has a glib answer (when the fates decree), but Entreri isn't fooled. He demands to know when Sydney has been instructed to kill him.
Sydney is a cool customer, basically admitting that Dendybar is planning a double-cross, but she has her own intentions. Entreri is willing to hear her out, because both he and she know he can kill her immediately. So her calm admission has at least piqued his curiosity. Too bad Catti-brie isn't here to see this, because THAT is definitely an exploitable weakness. Still, I know which character I remember seeing in later books, and it isn't Sydney.
Entreri recognizes her as a fellow cold fish and starts speculating on Dendybar's motives. Sending Bok to secure his claim indicates that he's looking for something very powerful. Really, I kind of wish that Drizzt had kept the shard. Seeing him fight with the temptation to use it would have added an interesting character conflict. It's a bit of a missed opportunity, honestly. I think Salvatore may have realized that, since he'll later write a book where it resurfaces and falls into the hands of a different sort-of protagonist.
Anyway, Entreri notes that the item must be powerful enough to tempt a younger mage and suggests that Bok might be there to protect it from Entreri AND Sydney herself. Sydney hadn't considered that, but Entreri makes her uncomfortably aware that she is working for an evil plotting sort. She states that she and Entreri must trust each other, and that their alliance benefits both and costs them neither. Entreri tells her to send the construct away: they don't need it since they have Catti-brie and they're strong enough to fight the Companions.
Are you? Four against three, and while Regis isn't much in a fight, neither is Jierdan, who is basically a faceless NPC. Sydney is left to contemplate. Eventually she decides that she will end up sending Bok away, if only to reassure herself that her master trusts her.
I think you're getting played dear, by both sides.
But it is a pretty interesting parallel here. Catti-brie and Entreri are basically using the same techniques here. Entreri's getting more immediate results, because he's in a position of power rather than a prisoner, but he and Sydney are both goal oriented cold fish who would still screw each other over if the opportunity arises. If Jierdan is as honorable as Sydney claims, (he does work for a villain, but in Luskan, everyone does) then he might end up swayed to a more genuine alliance.
We end up skipping anything further to do with Nesme, and instead fastforward to Silverymoon. Somehow they get there the following day. Even Entreri has to admit that magic horses are swanky, they made five hundred miles in four days.
They decide to enter an official way, across the moonbridge. Sydney does end up sending Bok away, which elates Catti-brie and makes Jierdan nervous. Catti-brie notices that too. But then something interesting happens: Bok doesn't actually move. This is definite support for Entreri's suggestion that Bok is insurance against Sydney herself. She ends up ordering it to stay outside, since they'll be in the city for several days. The horses vanish, having accomplished their purpose.
So Silverymoon is a pretty swanky place, and apparently they like visitors. We get a description:
Tall, twisting towers and strangely shaped structures greeted them at every turn. No single architectural style dominated Silverymoon, unless it was the freedom of a builder to exercise his or her personal creativity without fear of judgement or scorn. The result was a city of esplendors, not rich in counted treasures, as were Waterdeep and Mirabar, its two mightiest neighbors, but unrivaled in aesthetic beauty. A throwback to the earliest days of the Realms, when elves and dwarves and humans had enough room to roam under the sun and stars without fear of crossing some invisible borderline of a hostile kingdom, Silverymoon existed in open defiance of the conquerors and tyrants of the world, a place where no one held claim over another.
People of all the good races walked freely here and without fear, down every road and alleyway on the darkest of nights, and if the travelers passed by someone and were not greeted with a welcoming word, it was only because the person was too profoundly engaged in meditative contemplation.
Ah, Ed Greenwood. You are not subtle.
I say Ed Greenwood, because he's the fellow who created the Forgotten Realms setting. IIRC, Silverymoon and its ruler, Alustriel, are his brainchildren. He has a thing for beautiful, magical, wise goddess women. And I suppose there are worse kinks to have. I've never actually made it through a novel of his though. Maybe I'll try again at some point.
Sydney notes that our heroes are only a week or so out of Longsaddle, so they've got a wait. Entreri is out of sorts, complete with melodramatic narration:
"Where do we go?" Entreri asked, feeling out of place. The values that obviously took precedence in Silverymoon were unlike those of any city he had ever encountered, and were completely foreign to his own perceptions of the greedy, lusting world.
I am inexplicably fond of this asshole. It's funny how much more tolerable I take this overblown prose when it involves a character who isn't a pontificating tool.
Anyway, Sydney directs them to one of the countless inns and reassures the group that while tracking our heroes down in a place like this would normally be tricky, Bruenor's specifically here for info, which means he'll be going to the "Vault of Sages, the most reknowned library in all the north."
So this chapter was pretty fun. I liked seeing Catti-brie getting to be proactive. And it's decent suspense. It's rather a shame though that we know that our heroes don't have the shard, because it does defang our villains a little. Imagine for a moment that Drizzt was still carrying the fucking thing. Maybe he's searching for a way to be rid of its tempting power so that no villain can use it again. Maybe its whispering in his mind, trying to tempt him.
We'd have more tension: what if the villains, these ones much smarter than Akar Kessell, got the shard?
We'd have a genuine dilemma: would Drizzt give up the shard to save his friends, even knowing what the villains could do with it?
Alas, no shard. I can't believe I kind of miss the little fucker.
This could actually be interesting. We know that Drizzt is a good guy and Artemis Entreri is evil. But Drizzt is a dark elf, and I've said before, it's actually pretty reasonable that people fear him on sight because literally every other drow in the world (as established so far) is evil and has a genocidal hatred of surface dwellers. Artemis is human. It would be very easy for Artemis to convince people that Drizzt and his party are actually evil. Though, he also has Catti-brie with him. She knows the truth.
So, we join Entreri and company on their trip to Silverymoon. They're riding magical mounts, conjured by Dendybar. And I wonder again at everyone's ability to ride. I had the same thought earlier when Drizzt, Bruenor and Wulfgar rode. There was no mention of horses up north, that I recall. Even if the nomads used them, Wulfgar spent the last five years in the dwarf tunnels. When did they learn to ride? I hate to give Shapechangers credit for anything, but they did acknowledge that Alix would be shit on horseback without assistance.
As they travel, Catti-brie is lost in thought. She knows they're going to overtake Drizzt and company, and she knows that Entreri will use her against them. She doesn't know how to fight him, especially when she can't get over her paralyzing fear of him. (Ugh. I'm still annoyed by this. There's nothing wrong with a character having an overcoming fear plotline, I suppose, but why does it have to be the woman? And really, Salvatore has not done a very good job of making Entreri scary enough to warrant this.)
Anyway, Catti-brie focuses on psychologically bolstering herself, noting that Bruenor had given her "many tools to wage such a battle", like discipline and self confidence that had "seen her through many difficult situations". (It would be nice if we'd gotten to SEE any of those situations. Perhaps then we'd get to appreciate the fear plot more.) She starts observing her captors.
Jierdan and Entreri hate each other. Jierdan hasn't forgotten his "humiliation" at their first meeting. Was that really humiliating? I guess for dudes inclined toward pissing contests it might have been. Entreri distrusts Jierdan and seems to be up for the confrontation. Catti-brie thinks this is her best hope. Bok, the construct (the book uses the word "golem", but let's not engage in appropriation of Jewish religious concepts. Mr. Salvatore probably didn't know better, but we do.), isn't sentient enough to deal with, and Sydney is too focused on the task at hand to be open to conversation. Eventually she gets tired of Catti-brie's attempts, and tells Entreri to "keep the whore away".
Wow, Sydney. Way to be a bitch.
But Sydney did help, in a way, because her contempt and insults made Catti-brie angry, and that's actually helping against the terror.
So our evil party (plus one hostage) makes it all the way to Nesme. Entreri thinks they should go to town for info (...why? You already know where they're going.), Sydney suggests it be the two of them, but Entreri doesn't want to leave Jierdan alone with Catti-brie. Sydney reassures him that Jierdan is an honorable man and wouldn't take advantage, but that's not what Entreri is worried about: he thinks that "the daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer" would "dispose of [her] honorable soldier and be gone into the night before [they] returned."
Catti-brie is smart enough not to be flattered. It's more of an insult to Jierdan than a true compliment, but it also means that he might too alert for her to be able to act. Sydney has a solution to Entreri's concern: she orders the construct to watch Catti-brie, and if she tries to flee, it's to kill her. This makes Entreri happy.
Jierdan is a lot less happy. He's worried about the possibility of a friendship or alliance between Sydney and Entreri, as he's in the weakest position: subservient to Sydney and afraid of Entreri. If the latter two allied, they could turn on the Hosttower and he'd be dead meat.
So here, Catti-brie finally gets to do more than be a frightened captive. She offers to help set up camp, noting that the work is below Jierdan's "station". Jierdan seems to know what she's trying to do, but at the same time, a pretty girl offering respect to his rank is hard for his wounded ego to ignore.
He does accuse her of making trouble, and orders her to set the camp, but Catti-brie definitely sees the crack in his armor. She starts to plan: the next step is to try to make an ally of him, or at least plant seeds of jealousy.
Okay, I have to admit, Catti-brie's plot is starting to work for me. I'm still annoyed by the reliance on unexplained "paralyzing terror", which none of the male characters seem to have as an issue. But it's good to see Catti-brie being resourceful and clever.
We move to Entreri and Sydney, who are heading toward Nesme. They come across some Uthgardt barbarians, Griffon tribe this time, but the barbarians are occupied with a ritual, so they pass without issue. Entreri is suspicious about Sydney's knowledge of said barbarians, but she notes that she prepared herself for the journey. Apparently the Uthgardt, despite their seeming unfriendliness, don't keep many secrets, so their ways are known and documented.
Entreri had another reason for agreeing to accompany Sydney: he wants to get his suspicions out in the open so he can kill her if he has to. He asks when he's supposed to die. Sydney has a glib answer (when the fates decree), but Entreri isn't fooled. He demands to know when Sydney has been instructed to kill him.
Sydney is a cool customer, basically admitting that Dendybar is planning a double-cross, but she has her own intentions. Entreri is willing to hear her out, because both he and she know he can kill her immediately. So her calm admission has at least piqued his curiosity. Too bad Catti-brie isn't here to see this, because THAT is definitely an exploitable weakness. Still, I know which character I remember seeing in later books, and it isn't Sydney.
Entreri recognizes her as a fellow cold fish and starts speculating on Dendybar's motives. Sending Bok to secure his claim indicates that he's looking for something very powerful. Really, I kind of wish that Drizzt had kept the shard. Seeing him fight with the temptation to use it would have added an interesting character conflict. It's a bit of a missed opportunity, honestly. I think Salvatore may have realized that, since he'll later write a book where it resurfaces and falls into the hands of a different sort-of protagonist.
Anyway, Entreri notes that the item must be powerful enough to tempt a younger mage and suggests that Bok might be there to protect it from Entreri AND Sydney herself. Sydney hadn't considered that, but Entreri makes her uncomfortably aware that she is working for an evil plotting sort. She states that she and Entreri must trust each other, and that their alliance benefits both and costs them neither. Entreri tells her to send the construct away: they don't need it since they have Catti-brie and they're strong enough to fight the Companions.
Are you? Four against three, and while Regis isn't much in a fight, neither is Jierdan, who is basically a faceless NPC. Sydney is left to contemplate. Eventually she decides that she will end up sending Bok away, if only to reassure herself that her master trusts her.
I think you're getting played dear, by both sides.
But it is a pretty interesting parallel here. Catti-brie and Entreri are basically using the same techniques here. Entreri's getting more immediate results, because he's in a position of power rather than a prisoner, but he and Sydney are both goal oriented cold fish who would still screw each other over if the opportunity arises. If Jierdan is as honorable as Sydney claims, (he does work for a villain, but in Luskan, everyone does) then he might end up swayed to a more genuine alliance.
We end up skipping anything further to do with Nesme, and instead fastforward to Silverymoon. Somehow they get there the following day. Even Entreri has to admit that magic horses are swanky, they made five hundred miles in four days.
They decide to enter an official way, across the moonbridge. Sydney does end up sending Bok away, which elates Catti-brie and makes Jierdan nervous. Catti-brie notices that too. But then something interesting happens: Bok doesn't actually move. This is definite support for Entreri's suggestion that Bok is insurance against Sydney herself. She ends up ordering it to stay outside, since they'll be in the city for several days. The horses vanish, having accomplished their purpose.
So Silverymoon is a pretty swanky place, and apparently they like visitors. We get a description:
Tall, twisting towers and strangely shaped structures greeted them at every turn. No single architectural style dominated Silverymoon, unless it was the freedom of a builder to exercise his or her personal creativity without fear of judgement or scorn. The result was a city of esplendors, not rich in counted treasures, as were Waterdeep and Mirabar, its two mightiest neighbors, but unrivaled in aesthetic beauty. A throwback to the earliest days of the Realms, when elves and dwarves and humans had enough room to roam under the sun and stars without fear of crossing some invisible borderline of a hostile kingdom, Silverymoon existed in open defiance of the conquerors and tyrants of the world, a place where no one held claim over another.
People of all the good races walked freely here and without fear, down every road and alleyway on the darkest of nights, and if the travelers passed by someone and were not greeted with a welcoming word, it was only because the person was too profoundly engaged in meditative contemplation.
Ah, Ed Greenwood. You are not subtle.
I say Ed Greenwood, because he's the fellow who created the Forgotten Realms setting. IIRC, Silverymoon and its ruler, Alustriel, are his brainchildren. He has a thing for beautiful, magical, wise goddess women. And I suppose there are worse kinks to have. I've never actually made it through a novel of his though. Maybe I'll try again at some point.
Sydney notes that our heroes are only a week or so out of Longsaddle, so they've got a wait. Entreri is out of sorts, complete with melodramatic narration:
"Where do we go?" Entreri asked, feeling out of place. The values that obviously took precedence in Silverymoon were unlike those of any city he had ever encountered, and were completely foreign to his own perceptions of the greedy, lusting world.
I am inexplicably fond of this asshole. It's funny how much more tolerable I take this overblown prose when it involves a character who isn't a pontificating tool.
Anyway, Sydney directs them to one of the countless inns and reassures the group that while tracking our heroes down in a place like this would normally be tricky, Bruenor's specifically here for info, which means he'll be going to the "Vault of Sages, the most reknowned library in all the north."
So this chapter was pretty fun. I liked seeing Catti-brie getting to be proactive. And it's decent suspense. It's rather a shame though that we know that our heroes don't have the shard, because it does defang our villains a little. Imagine for a moment that Drizzt was still carrying the fucking thing. Maybe he's searching for a way to be rid of its tempting power so that no villain can use it again. Maybe its whispering in his mind, trying to tempt him.
We'd have more tension: what if the villains, these ones much smarter than Akar Kessell, got the shard?
We'd have a genuine dilemma: would Drizzt give up the shard to save his friends, even knowing what the villains could do with it?
Alas, no shard. I can't believe I kind of miss the little fucker.
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Date: 2020-06-23 07:14 pm (UTC)Entreri is so hilariously entertaining.
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Date: 2020-06-23 09:02 pm (UTC)