I Read What?!

It's been a while! Let's catch up!

So last time, we got to know one of our adversaries, the priest Barjin, a bit better. We're long past the days of Akar Kessel, I have to admit. If anything, I think Salvatore's stronger at writing villain or anti-hero protagonists than he is standard heroes. I don't dislike Cadderly and company, but I'm actually quite a bit more invested in Aballister's side of the plot.



This chapter returns us to Danica. And a cloaked figure who is ominously approaching her. Initially, she thinks the cloaked figure is a monk from an eccentric or obscure sect - which means an inevitable fight. Danica makes this sound like a regular occurrence, which seems like it would be a serious disruption of studies as well as potentially destructive to all of the books and artifacts in the library.

I have no trouble buying the more formal duels that we saw in an earlier chapter, but library fights seem very impractical.

The cloaked figure, whose cowl is pulled low to hide their face, keeps following Danica as she moves to a different table.

This is so obviously villainous that I am absolutely unsurprised when it turns out to be Cadderly playing around. Danica is not impressed, nor am I. Scaring your girlfriend is a bad move, dude.

Cadderly's in disguise because he's on punishment. As is Rufo. Danica is disapproving, of course. To his credit, Cadderly seems resigned rather than resentful for the punishment. It has apparently been fifteen days of cleaning. He's just been kicked out of the kitchen, where he'd apparently made a pest of himself before visiting Danica.

Danica accuses him of shirking work, but Cadderly shows her his very clever solution - sandals with a scrubbing brush attached. Everywhere he walks, he's cleaning. I feel like there are holes in that technique, but it also seems like the sort of thing a young inventive slacker would come up with. So well done.

Danica accepts this logic, because she actually missed him too. Also, more practically, she's having trouble deciphering some scrolls and if you have to have an obnoxious boyfriend, you might as well have one that's able to translate for you. Cadderly is on board.

The technique she's reading about is the "Iron Skull" Cadderly translates, which confirms what Danica had thought. Apparently the monk dude that Danica's reading about could break rocks with his head. Danica's got a bit of hero worship for the monk dude, and Cadderly's a little alarmed at the thought that she might try breaking rocks with her own head.

This sort of concern only really makes sense in a setting like this. The fact that Danica doesn't deny it, and instead indicates that he should mind his own business, does not make me think highly about her intelligence OR wisdom stat. I'm just saying.

Instead, she shows off a bit:

In reply, Danica extended one finger and placed it down on the table. Her thoughts turned inward; her concentration had to be complete. She lifted herself by that single extended digit, bending at the waist and bringing her legs up even with the table top. She held the pose for some time, glad for Cadderly’s amazed gape.

“The powers of the body are beyond our comprehension and expectations,” Danica remarked, shifting to a sitting position on the table and wiggling her finger to show Cadderly that it had suffered no damage. “Grandmaster Penpahg D’Ahn understood them and learned to channel them to fit his needs. I will not go out this night, nor any night soon, and attempt the Iron Skull, that much I can promise you. You must understand that Iron Skull is but a minor test compared to what I came here to achieve.”

Okay, yeah, probably. But generally real world martial artists train for a very long time to do shit like that. This makes it sound like Danica is just going to go out there and slam her head into things. Even given the supernatural component in D&D monkdom, that's a stupid fucking idea.

Cadderly is less impressed with the idea of physical suspension, as demonstrated by Danica's hero. He points out that priests and wizards can do the same thing. Danica points out that priests and wizards call upon powers beyond their minds and bodies. Monks do this shit with physical control alone.

Yeah, okay, but Danica, you should probably try to look into how this dude trained himself up to break rocks before you give yourself fucking brain damage.

(I do rather like all the wizard vs. priest, and now both vs. monk ideas that we see in this book. It's really interesting!)

Cadderly tries to be the sensible one here:

“I do,” Cadderly replied sincerely. His visage softened and he ran the back of his hand gently across Danica’s soft cheek. “But you scare me, Danica. You’re relying on tomes a half millennium old for techniques that could kill you. I don’t remember with fondness how my life was before I met you, and I don’t want to imagine what it would be like without you.”

But Danica's determined. And a fucking idiot. She says she can't change who she is. Yeah, but you could do things like a reasoning human being! Cadderly just decides to play supportive boyfriend and say he wouldn't want her to.

--

We switch scenes to Barjin. Interestingly, we get Barjin's point of view here. He's considering the Edificant Library. He can't enter - the Library, while open to scholars of the "goodly sects", has warding glyphs to prevent persons "dedicated to the spread of chaos and misery."

He's dramatic here. Giving a speech to the bottle:

“We have come to our destination,” he said, speaking as if the bottle could hear him, “to where I will secure my position of rulership over Castle Trinity, and over all the Southern Heartlands once our conquest is completed.”

He doesn't however actually believe the bottle is an agent of Talona. He doesn't see himself as a follower of Talona, really, either. He just chose her for convenience and mutual benefit. He knows that as long as his actions benefit her, she'll be content to allow him to continue.

It's interesting that the priest has the more transactional relationship with the goddess, as opposed to Aballister, the wizard, who genuinely worships her - but not in the blind fanatic way that allowed Barjin to gain power in the priest sect.

Anyway, he's studying the Library, looking for an opportunity to act. He spots the groundskeeper, Mullivy, and realizes that if there's a secret way in, this old dude probably knows.

We shift points of view to Mullivy, just enough to appreciate the nice weather and let the poor guy gripe about his aching bones. Then he gets kidnapped.

A hand reached around him, prying the broom from his stubborn grasp. Mullivy’s mind shouted warnings, but he could not bring his body to react, could not shout or spin to face the person guiding that unexpected hand. He then was pushed into the shed—fell face down, not able to lift an arm to break the fall—and the door closed behind him. He knew he was not alone.

It's suitably dramatic, but that last line is an absolute "no shit sherlock" moment. We don't need it for tone, Salvatore. It was enough to have him get captured.

So we time jump a bit to poor Mullivy hanging by his wrists. He's been there a while, it seems, but so far, he's still holding out. Even when Barjin tortures him with magic.

Barjin tries psychological warfare - telling him that the priests all think they're better than him and aren't coming to his aid. This does start to work, as we see:

Even in his most lucid state, Mullivy was not a powerful thinker. His best friend most often was a bottle of stolen wine, and in his agony-racked jumble of thoughts, his unseen assailant’s words rang loudly of truth. Why shouldn’t he show the man his secret, the damp, moss- and spider-filled dirt tunnel that led to the lowest level of the library complex, the ancient, unused catacombs below the wine cellar and the upper dungeon level? As Barjin had planned, the appearance of Mullivy’s unseen assailant softened in his imagination. In his desperation, the groundskeeper needed to believe that his tormentor could actually be his ally.

Dude, do we have to insult the torture victim's intelligence? Especially when one of our protagonist's training goals is to literally break rocks with her head. He's a poor normal dude getting tortured, I'm not going to judge him for giving in, even if he's of moderate or high intelligence.

It's even more insulting here:

“You won’t stop me from getting at the wine?”

Barjin backed off a step, surprised. He understood the old man’s initial hesitance. The groundskeeper’s secret way into the library led to the wine cellar, a stash that the wretch would not easily part with.

Really? We're not going to let this guy have his original moment of courage? We're just going to base his resistance on not wanting to get in trouble? I'm offended on his behalf. Poor dude.

Anyway, Mullivy does lead the way, and of course, when he tries to leave, Barjin enacts his inevitable betrayal:

“No,” Barjin replied evenly. A shrug sent the priest’s traveling cloak to the floor, revealing him in all his splendor. He wore his new vestments, the purple silken robes depicting a trident capped by three red flasks. On his belt was his peculiar mace, its head a sculpture of a young girl. “You have joined me now,” Barjin explained. “You will never be leaving.”

Barjin should have been a bard.

Anyway, Mullivy tries swinging his torch at him, but Barjin had cast a protection spell before giving the torch over. Mullivy tries using it as a club, but Barjin's vestments are magically armored. No luck. Barjin calms Mullivy down magically and urges him to lead further.

Barjin gets a tour of the dungeons and finds a chamber that would be perfect for an altar. He produces the bottle, bespelled so that only disciples of Talona or someone of pure heart could touch it. Only the latter can open it. Unlike Aballister, Barjin thinks the restriction is fitting.

He urges Mullivy to open it, lying that it's ambrosia. Mullivy tries but is zapped away. Not pure hearted enough, apparently. That's okay, Mullivy has another fate:

Mullivy noticed then that the priest held his girl’s-head mace in his other hand. The groundskeeper fell back against the wall and put his arms up defensively, but they were hardly protection from Barjin’s foul weapon. The innocent looking head swung in at the doomed groundskeeper, transforming as it went. The weapon’s image became angular, evil, the Screaming Maiden, her mouth opening impossibly wide, to reveal long, venom-tipped fangs.

She bit hungrily through the bone in Mullivy’s forearm and plowed on, crushing and tearing into the man’s chest. He twitched wildly for several agonizing moments then slid down the wall and died.

Ew.

--

We switch scenes to Aballister. I really do like Aballister as a villain protagonist. I kind of wish this story was just about him. I don't really care what the teenagers in the library are up to. I like watching the competent villains scheme against each other.

Anyway, Aballister's been scrying Barjin. He recognizes the Library and we're told he has complex emotions about it. He'd studied there, but then got asked to leave because he liked dabbling with stuff from the lower planes.

This is a bit interesting though. And needlessly cryptic:

The expulsion did not end Aballister’s relationship with the Edificant Library, though. Other events over the ensuing years had served to increase the wizard’s ambiguous feelings toward the place. Now, in the overall plan of regional conquest, Aballister would have greatly preferred to leave the library for last, with him personally directing the attack. He never would have guessed that Barjin would be so daring as to go after the place in the initial assault, believing that the priest would venture to Shilmista, or to some vital spot in Carradoon.

One thing I really like about Aballister as a villain is that he doesn't rage needlessly. He gets annoyed and frustrated, but continues to think.

Anyway, Druzil the imp is also perplexed by Barjin's move and orders Aballister to "find him." Aballister is curious about this but doesn't reprimand him. And when he goes back to scry, Barjin senses him and responds back. He also shows off his new pet zombie.

Aballister remembers that there are a lot of crypts beneath the Library (which seems weird to me, but okay), and realizes that Barjin's choice of target makes more sense. His mixed feelings about the Library makes him want to order Barjin away from it, but he knows he lacks the power to enforce it.

Barjin is, of course, dismissive of a "simple wizard" which annoys Aballister, but Aballister knows, again, that he's not really in a position to protest. He's not happy about it.

Nor is Druzil, who thinks the whole matter is an unnecessary risk.

Aballister thinks about the decisions that got him to this point, he can rationalize all of them, but knows in his heart that he's really in this position due to cowardice. Druzil wants to go to Barjin, and Aballister decides not to contest it. It's a risk, but if he'd taken more risks earlier, he might not be in this awkward position.

He does have a plan though. Barjin has a brazier to open a gate to the lower planes. His subordinate wizard, Dorigen, can tell when it's used. They'll send Druzil then, to intercept, and act as the summoned creature. He won't know Druzil as Aballister's emissary.

Druzil doesn't like that description, but waits until Aballister leaves to snarl at it. The chapter ends by telling us Aballister has a lot to learn.