I Read What?!

So last time, I bitched about yet another interlude. But thankfully we're back to the action now!



So we start with Zak. Zak is busy killing everything in his path. The illithids are finally wising up and realizing that "in his path" is not where they want to be. One, however, seems to have some delusions of grandeur and decides to try to take Zak down with a mental blast.

It doesn't go well for that illithid, of course.

So Zak's on the hunt again. He's tracking, so he can't move quite as fast as the fleeing Drizzt and company, but he doesn't need to rest either.

--

We switch scenes to Belwar, Drizzt and Clacker. Belwar's stopped them in their tracks, because he's detected signs of passage. Clacker's able to give more precise information: they're the tracks of seven gray dwarves who are fleeing from the illithids.

The duergar are in a parallel tunnel, but they'll merge eventually. Drizzt likes the idea of allying to fight a common enemy, but Belwar is warier. Duergar often travel together with drow, but aren't generally friendly with svirfnebli. Or hook horrors.

Either way, fighting in the tunnel would be a bad idea, so they decide to meet up with the duergar and see what happens.

It doesn't go spectacularly. The duergar want Drizzt out of their path. Drizzt offers alliance. They're momentarily intrigued when they think Drizzt is one of many drow, but when one of the duergar remembers that Drizzt was with a deep gnome and hook horror, they react with disgust instead.

“Deep gnome!” The leader of the duegar spat at Drizzt’s feet. “Not a friend o’ the duergar or the drow!”

Drizzt would have been willing to let the failed offer go at that, when he and his friends moving on their way and the gray dwarves going their own. But the well-earned reputation of the duergar labeled them as neither peaceful nor overly intelligent. With the illithids not far behind, this band of gray dwarves hardly needed more enemies.

A rock sailed at Drizzt’s head. A scimitar flashed out and deflected it harmlessly aside.

“Bivrip!” came the burrow-warden’s cry from the tunnel, Belwar and Clacker rushed out, not surprised in the least by the sudden turn of events.

The interesting thing about this is that, arguably, our heroes are the aggressors here. I mean, there was one rock, sure. But this confrontation only happened because Drizzt accosted them. It's not clear that the rock was a group attack, or simply one individual.

This isn't a criticism per se. I rather like the ambiguity when I look at it on its own. It does remind me a little of the weaker parts of the Icewind Dale trilogy though: when the story gets a little TOO much like a D&D campaign for my taste. (For example, when Catti-brie angsts about killing a human after mowing down a shit ton of duergar, or Drizzt and Wulfgar outright robbing the hag of the mask.)

It always sits a little funny when, in a series about a good drow elf, we encounter "monster" characters who don't matter because they're "monsters". The illithids, fine, yeah. They deserve getting made into Lovecraftian calimari. I'm not sure these guys really deserve this fate, though.

Anyway, the fight does get pretty interesting. Drizzt immediately casts faerie fire on the duergar, which is helpful as apparently they get invisibility as a racial power. Nice. It doesn't really seem fair that the drow racial ability cancels out the duergar racial ability almost entirely, though, does it?

I'm not a game creator though. Salvatore at least tries to convince us that Drizzt is still at a disadvantage, because he can't distinguish "subtle thrusts and cuts". This disadvantage vanishes entirely when Drizzt calls down his globe of darkness.

Belwar's doing okay, but poor Clacker is freaking out a little. His hook horror instincts are taking over, and he can't figure out what the faerie fire marking the invisible duergar means. This puts him at a very serious disadvantage.

As usual, I'm not recapping the whole battle. Drizzt goes all "hunter" on the grey dwarves, but when one finally surrenders, Drizzt is able to get control of himself and accept it.

Unfortunately, Clacker's pretty much lost himself and after ripping the shit out of his own attackers, he ends up going after Drizzt's prisoner. The poor gully dwarf's head goes flying. And to be fair, Drizzt is pretty upset about that.

Clacker then shambles to where Belwar and another dwarf are locked together, prone on the ground. He rips away the attacker (who'd been on top) and bats him away. Drizzt is able to protect Belwar from the same fate.

They fight, and Clacker finally gets ahold of himself. He begs Drizzt to "do it", but now that he's in his right mind again, Drizzt just urges them to leave.

Neither Clacker or Belwar think this is a great idea. Belwar in particular has some pointed words:

“Perhaps you should have finished it, dark elf,” Belwar suggested, moving beside his drow friend.

“He saved my life in the illithid cavern,” Drizzt retorted sharply. “And has been a loyal friend.”

“He tried to kill me, and you,” the deep gnome said grimly. “Magga cammara”

“I am his friend!” Drizzt growled, grabbing the svirfneblin’s shoulder. “You ask me to kill him?”

“I ask you to act as his friend,” retorted Belwar, and he pulled free of the grasp and started away down the tunnel after Clacker.

It's a tough conversation because neither of them are wrong. Drizzt is right: Clacker has been a very good friend and it's not his fault that this is happening to him. But Belwar's right too: Clacker's a danger now, and he doesn't want to be like this.

Drizzt doesn't think either of them can kill him. Emotionally, I think he means. Belwar doesn't argue, he just says that they must leave him.

Drizzt isn't willing to do that either. It's the cross parry lesson again. Drizzt isn't willing to accept two terrible choices. He wants a third: they can find a wizard to help. And there's one place where wizards can definitely be found: Menzoberranzan.

Drizzt very much does not want to go back there. But he can't bring himself to abandon Clacker, and well, "the concept of true friendship far outweighed personal desires." Aww.

He and Belwar discuss the option. Belwar is, of course, against it for so many reasons. Drizzt points out that Menzoberranzan is a large place and they might be able to avoid his family. Belwar asks what they possibly could have to offer a drow wizard for this, and the chapter ends with Drizzt getting a fairly nice badass boast:

"The wizard's life."

Sometimes Drizzt has legitimately cool moments.