Exile - Chapter 24
Dec. 6th, 2022 12:15 am![[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_whatOkay, so, last time, we saw what Drizzt's family is up to. There's a whole heck of a lot riding on this zin-carla thing. And it seems to me like that's about to come to a head.
Let's see if I'm right.
We start the chapter with Drizzt, Belwar and Clacker. Clacker's doing pretty poorly. They're now having him lead because they can't risk his hook horror instincts behind them. Clacker, for his part, can barely speak and keeps turning threateningly on the group.
Belwar's fully on board with Drizzt's plan, which is good, as he seems to be the one most able to get Clacker to back down. They're heading forward into an ominous green glow.
They're going to have to sneak past a room of corbies, and Clacker volunteers to read, and oh, this is rather sad:
“C-C-Clac—” the hook horror stammered futilely.
“Clacker,” Belwar offered.
“L-l-l—” Clacker stopped suddenly and threw a claw out in the direction of the green-glowing chamber.
“Clacker lead?” Drizzt said, unable to bear the hook horror’s struggling. “Clacker lead,” Drizzt said again, seeing the great head bobbing in accord.
Belwar isn't sure of the wisdom of the plan, as they know the corbies' tricks while Clacker has no experience with them. Drizzt thinks that Clacker will just be able to sweep most of their adversaries aside, and Drizzt can take out the stone-droppers. Clacker is fighting his instincts to attack.
Belwar asks about Guen, but given what had happened to Guen last time, Drizzt isn't willing to risk her.
I keep forgetting about Drizzt's levitation, but there you go. There's also a likely plot-significant lake of acid here. But there aren't any corbies, which seems ominous.
We soon get an explanation as the spirit-wraith of Zaknafein Do'Urden steps out to confront the group. Oof. Poor corbies.
So Drizzt gets to fight his zombie dad, while Belwar tends to poor Clacker. In the process of reassuring him, Drizzt lets slip the whole "father" thing, which alarms Belwar, but Belwar is wise enough to realize that Drizzt would be too worried about Belwar's safety, and thus be unable to fight to full strength.
Clacker is moaning.
--
Quick scene glimpse of an excited Malice. She dismisses Maya and Vierna. Briza sticks around, studying her mother intently and ominously.
--
Back.
Oh. Clacker's gone. Zak had got him, though I had to reread to see exactly when. It was before his grand entrance, hence the moaning.
Death terminated the polymorph spell, and Clacker gradually reverted to his former self. The huge, clawed arms trembled and jerked, twisted and popped into the long and spindly, yellow-skinned arms of a pech. Hair sprouted through the cracking armor of Clacker’s head and the great beak split apart and dissipated. The massive chest, too, fell away, and the whole body compacted with a grinding sound that sent shivers up and down the hardy burrow-warden’s spine.
The hook horror was no more, and in death, Clacker was as he had been. He was a bit taller than Belwar, though not nearly as wide, and his features were broad and strange, with pupil-less eyes and a flattened nose.
Poor guy. Belwar sadly wonders what Clacker's real name had been, but takes some comfort in the fact that his face is finally peaceful in death.
--
Drizzt is challenging Zak. He knows he's not really his dad. The reveal though doesn't really have the same Darth Vader-esque drama:
Drizzt parried the attack and jumped back. “Who are you?” he demanded again. “You are not my father!”
A wide smile spread over the spirit-wraith’s face. “No,” Zaknafein replied in a shaky voice, an answer that was inspired from an anteroom many miles away.
“I am your … mother!” The swords came on again in a blinding flurry.
Drizzt, confused by the response, met the charge with equal ferocity and the many sudden hits of sword on scimitar sounded like a single ring.
--
Meanwhile, Malice is enjoying herself, though she's pounding her fists bloody. Zak's consciousness is trying to fight her though, but she pushes him aside. "[h]is animated corpse was her tool!"
Poor tragic Zaknafein. From sex slave, to regular slave, to this. The poor guy has never had any real autonomy for a very long time. Possibly ever.
--
Drizzt, meanwhile, is still confused. This obviously isn't his father. But he does use Zak's unique style. Drizzt is certain that his father is still in there.
Meanwhile, Belwar decides to carry Clacker's body into the room. For drama I guess. Drizzt sees him and then gets angrier and bolder. This leads Zak to resort to low thrust counter. This is the counter that gets blocked by the metaphorical and literal parry.
Drizzt dropped his scimitars into a downward X, the appropriate cross-down parry that pinned the attacking swords low. Drizzt kicked his foot up between the hilts of his blades and straight at his opponent’s face.
But he's used this on Zak before, so the zombie gets out of the way. But Drizzt is certain now:
“You are Zaknafein!” Drizzt cried. “What has Malice done to you?”
The spirit-wraith’s hands trembled visibly in their hold on the swords and his mouth twisted as though he was trying to say something.
I really like the back and forth scene jumping with Drizzt and Zak/Malice and Briza. There's a nice parallel: son and controlled father, mother and scheming daughter. And it reinforces the control dynamic. And the fact that this is, at heart, a family ordeal.
Malice yanks control back.
Drizzt sees it though, and he has an idea of how to reach his father. He starts using measured attacks that are easily deflected so as to coax Zaknafein into fighting with familiar patterns and techniques. It's a nice reversal of the mentor-student dynamic. Now Drizzt is the one leading his father.
The success is dubious though, especially when Zak nicks Drizzt in the ribs. Fortunately, his armor prevents more than a bad bruise. Drizzt is able to get his own blows on a laughing Zak. Zak, being a zombie, is barely affected.
This is a good fight scene, I have to admit. Drizzt isn't winning in a landslide. Instead, he's got to outthink his opponent. And that's not going to be easy, unless Zak can be tripped over the ledge. And unfortunately, that's not likely.
But then...
The walkway turned slightly around a short bend, and Drizzt felt it carefully with one foot, sliding it along. Then a rock right under Drizzt’s foot broke free from the side of the walkway.
Drizzt stumbled, and his leg, to the knee, slipped down beside the bridge. Zaknafein came upon him in a rush. The whirling swords soon had Drizzt down on his back across the narrow walkway, his head hanging precariously over the lake of acid.
“Drizzt!” Belwar screamed helplessly. The deep gnome rushed out, though he could not hope to arrive in time or defeat Drizzt’s killer. “Drizzt!”
Perhaps it was that call of Drizzt’s name, or maybe it was just the moment of the kill, but the former consciousness of Zaknafein flickered to life in that instant and the sword arm, readied for a killing plunge that Drizzt could not have deflected, hesitated.
Drama!
Drizzt doesn't wait, and basically bashes his dad in the jaw with his hilt. Zak attacks again, but Drizzt realizes that his dad is almost broken free. He puts his swords away.
Now here's where the split screen approach fails a bit, because we get to Malice squealing with glee, then realizing that she's being cut off. She'd had to let too much of Zak's mind in, so he could fight. But it would have worked better to see this entirely from Drizzt's perspective.
But...
“Drizzt,” Zaknafein said, and the word felt so very good indeed to the animation. Zak’s swords went into their sheaths, though his hands had to struggle against the demands of Matron Malice every inch of the way.
Drizzt started toward him, wanting nothing more than to hug his father and dearest friend, but Zaknafein put out a hand to keep him back.
“No,” the spirit-wraith explained. “I do not know how long I can resist. The body is hers, I fear,” Zaknafein replied.
At least, for a moment, Zak is free. He explains to Drizzt that he's dead, and that this is a temporary stay. And this, I have to admit, is genuinely emotional. Zak keeps having to fight Malice back as they speak.
“I cannot bear to lose you again,” Drizzt said. “When I saw you in the illithid cavern—”
“It was not me that you saw,” Zaknafein tried to explain. “It was the zombie of Malice’s evil will. I am gone, my son. I have been gone for many years.”
“You are here,” Drizzt reasoned.
“By Malice’s will, not … my own.” Zaknafein growled, and his face contorted as he struggled to push Malice away for just a moment longer. Back in control, Zaknafein studied the warrior that his son had become. “You fight well,” he remarked. “Better than I had ever imagined. That is good, and it is good that you had the courage to run—” Zaknafein’s face contorted again suddenly, stealing the words. This time, both of his hands went to his swords, and this time, both weapons came flashing out.
Drizzt begs his father to keep fighting. But Zak can't. He implores Drizzt to flee, as far as he can, to the end of the worlds. Malice won't forgive or stop.
Then he leaps at Drizzt, but jerks to a stop. And then...
“For us!” Zak cried in startling clarity, a call that pealed like a trumpet of victory in the green-glowing chamber and echoed across the miles to Matron Malice’s heart like the final toll of a drum signaling the onset of doom. Zaknafein had wrested control again, for just a fleeting instant—one that allowed the charging spirit-wraith to veer off the walkway.
Well, there's no coming back from an acid bath.
At this climactic resolution, the chapter ends.
Let's see if I'm right.
We start the chapter with Drizzt, Belwar and Clacker. Clacker's doing pretty poorly. They're now having him lead because they can't risk his hook horror instincts behind them. Clacker, for his part, can barely speak and keeps turning threateningly on the group.
Belwar's fully on board with Drizzt's plan, which is good, as he seems to be the one most able to get Clacker to back down. They're heading forward into an ominous green glow.
They're going to have to sneak past a room of corbies, and Clacker volunteers to read, and oh, this is rather sad:
“C-C-Clac—” the hook horror stammered futilely.
“Clacker,” Belwar offered.
“L-l-l—” Clacker stopped suddenly and threw a claw out in the direction of the green-glowing chamber.
“Clacker lead?” Drizzt said, unable to bear the hook horror’s struggling. “Clacker lead,” Drizzt said again, seeing the great head bobbing in accord.
Belwar isn't sure of the wisdom of the plan, as they know the corbies' tricks while Clacker has no experience with them. Drizzt thinks that Clacker will just be able to sweep most of their adversaries aside, and Drizzt can take out the stone-droppers. Clacker is fighting his instincts to attack.
Belwar asks about Guen, but given what had happened to Guen last time, Drizzt isn't willing to risk her.
I keep forgetting about Drizzt's levitation, but there you go. There's also a likely plot-significant lake of acid here. But there aren't any corbies, which seems ominous.
We soon get an explanation as the spirit-wraith of Zaknafein Do'Urden steps out to confront the group. Oof. Poor corbies.
So Drizzt gets to fight his zombie dad, while Belwar tends to poor Clacker. In the process of reassuring him, Drizzt lets slip the whole "father" thing, which alarms Belwar, but Belwar is wise enough to realize that Drizzt would be too worried about Belwar's safety, and thus be unable to fight to full strength.
Clacker is moaning.
--
Quick scene glimpse of an excited Malice. She dismisses Maya and Vierna. Briza sticks around, studying her mother intently and ominously.
--
Back.
Oh. Clacker's gone. Zak had got him, though I had to reread to see exactly when. It was before his grand entrance, hence the moaning.
Death terminated the polymorph spell, and Clacker gradually reverted to his former self. The huge, clawed arms trembled and jerked, twisted and popped into the long and spindly, yellow-skinned arms of a pech. Hair sprouted through the cracking armor of Clacker’s head and the great beak split apart and dissipated. The massive chest, too, fell away, and the whole body compacted with a grinding sound that sent shivers up and down the hardy burrow-warden’s spine.
The hook horror was no more, and in death, Clacker was as he had been. He was a bit taller than Belwar, though not nearly as wide, and his features were broad and strange, with pupil-less eyes and a flattened nose.
Poor guy. Belwar sadly wonders what Clacker's real name had been, but takes some comfort in the fact that his face is finally peaceful in death.
--
Drizzt is challenging Zak. He knows he's not really his dad. The reveal though doesn't really have the same Darth Vader-esque drama:
Drizzt parried the attack and jumped back. “Who are you?” he demanded again. “You are not my father!”
A wide smile spread over the spirit-wraith’s face. “No,” Zaknafein replied in a shaky voice, an answer that was inspired from an anteroom many miles away.
“I am your … mother!” The swords came on again in a blinding flurry.
Drizzt, confused by the response, met the charge with equal ferocity and the many sudden hits of sword on scimitar sounded like a single ring.
--
Meanwhile, Malice is enjoying herself, though she's pounding her fists bloody. Zak's consciousness is trying to fight her though, but she pushes him aside. "[h]is animated corpse was her tool!"
Poor tragic Zaknafein. From sex slave, to regular slave, to this. The poor guy has never had any real autonomy for a very long time. Possibly ever.
--
Drizzt, meanwhile, is still confused. This obviously isn't his father. But he does use Zak's unique style. Drizzt is certain that his father is still in there.
Meanwhile, Belwar decides to carry Clacker's body into the room. For drama I guess. Drizzt sees him and then gets angrier and bolder. This leads Zak to resort to low thrust counter. This is the counter that gets blocked by the metaphorical and literal parry.
Drizzt dropped his scimitars into a downward X, the appropriate cross-down parry that pinned the attacking swords low. Drizzt kicked his foot up between the hilts of his blades and straight at his opponent’s face.
But he's used this on Zak before, so the zombie gets out of the way. But Drizzt is certain now:
“You are Zaknafein!” Drizzt cried. “What has Malice done to you?”
The spirit-wraith’s hands trembled visibly in their hold on the swords and his mouth twisted as though he was trying to say something.
I really like the back and forth scene jumping with Drizzt and Zak/Malice and Briza. There's a nice parallel: son and controlled father, mother and scheming daughter. And it reinforces the control dynamic. And the fact that this is, at heart, a family ordeal.
Malice yanks control back.
Drizzt sees it though, and he has an idea of how to reach his father. He starts using measured attacks that are easily deflected so as to coax Zaknafein into fighting with familiar patterns and techniques. It's a nice reversal of the mentor-student dynamic. Now Drizzt is the one leading his father.
The success is dubious though, especially when Zak nicks Drizzt in the ribs. Fortunately, his armor prevents more than a bad bruise. Drizzt is able to get his own blows on a laughing Zak. Zak, being a zombie, is barely affected.
This is a good fight scene, I have to admit. Drizzt isn't winning in a landslide. Instead, he's got to outthink his opponent. And that's not going to be easy, unless Zak can be tripped over the ledge. And unfortunately, that's not likely.
But then...
The walkway turned slightly around a short bend, and Drizzt felt it carefully with one foot, sliding it along. Then a rock right under Drizzt’s foot broke free from the side of the walkway.
Drizzt stumbled, and his leg, to the knee, slipped down beside the bridge. Zaknafein came upon him in a rush. The whirling swords soon had Drizzt down on his back across the narrow walkway, his head hanging precariously over the lake of acid.
“Drizzt!” Belwar screamed helplessly. The deep gnome rushed out, though he could not hope to arrive in time or defeat Drizzt’s killer. “Drizzt!”
Perhaps it was that call of Drizzt’s name, or maybe it was just the moment of the kill, but the former consciousness of Zaknafein flickered to life in that instant and the sword arm, readied for a killing plunge that Drizzt could not have deflected, hesitated.
Drama!
Drizzt doesn't wait, and basically bashes his dad in the jaw with his hilt. Zak attacks again, but Drizzt realizes that his dad is almost broken free. He puts his swords away.
Now here's where the split screen approach fails a bit, because we get to Malice squealing with glee, then realizing that she's being cut off. She'd had to let too much of Zak's mind in, so he could fight. But it would have worked better to see this entirely from Drizzt's perspective.
But...
“Drizzt,” Zaknafein said, and the word felt so very good indeed to the animation. Zak’s swords went into their sheaths, though his hands had to struggle against the demands of Matron Malice every inch of the way.
Drizzt started toward him, wanting nothing more than to hug his father and dearest friend, but Zaknafein put out a hand to keep him back.
“No,” the spirit-wraith explained. “I do not know how long I can resist. The body is hers, I fear,” Zaknafein replied.
At least, for a moment, Zak is free. He explains to Drizzt that he's dead, and that this is a temporary stay. And this, I have to admit, is genuinely emotional. Zak keeps having to fight Malice back as they speak.
“I cannot bear to lose you again,” Drizzt said. “When I saw you in the illithid cavern—”
“It was not me that you saw,” Zaknafein tried to explain. “It was the zombie of Malice’s evil will. I am gone, my son. I have been gone for many years.”
“You are here,” Drizzt reasoned.
“By Malice’s will, not … my own.” Zaknafein growled, and his face contorted as he struggled to push Malice away for just a moment longer. Back in control, Zaknafein studied the warrior that his son had become. “You fight well,” he remarked. “Better than I had ever imagined. That is good, and it is good that you had the courage to run—” Zaknafein’s face contorted again suddenly, stealing the words. This time, both of his hands went to his swords, and this time, both weapons came flashing out.
Drizzt begs his father to keep fighting. But Zak can't. He implores Drizzt to flee, as far as he can, to the end of the worlds. Malice won't forgive or stop.
Then he leaps at Drizzt, but jerks to a stop. And then...
“For us!” Zak cried in startling clarity, a call that pealed like a trumpet of victory in the green-glowing chamber and echoed across the miles to Matron Malice’s heart like the final toll of a drum signaling the onset of doom. Zaknafein had wrested control again, for just a fleeting instant—one that allowed the charging spirit-wraith to veer off the walkway.
Well, there's no coming back from an acid bath.
At this climactic resolution, the chapter ends.