I Read What?!

Hah, back! I very much enjoyed my week off, and I hope you enjoyed Scales's reviews in the meantime.

Now back to poor Cadderly and his Library's very very bad day!



So we rejoin Cadderly and the Dwarves as they make their way into the Crypt of Doom. Cadderly, we're told, descends the rope using a technique he saw illustrated in a manuscript. I appreciate that Cadderly actually gets to have a vaguely plausible source for most of the knowledge he acquires, though I feel like Salvatore kind of skirts abusing it a bit too much. If Cadderly never intended to be an adventurer, why would he look up rope climbing techniques?

Then again, the library is pretty big, and ladders are likely pretty rare. Okay, Salvatore, I'll allow it. For now.

The dwarves are okay though. Ivan notes the presence of fire wards, realizing that someone wanted to keep them out of there. Cadderly realizes that he should actually know who set the wards because he vaguely remembers seeing someone in the room when he opened the bottle. But he doesn't remember what he saw and he doesn't really have time to try to sort it out now. Fair enough.

Ivan's actually pretty on board with the idea of walking through more magical wards, by the way. He's also on board with kicking the ass of whoever set the fire ward that (lightly) burned his brother. Cadderly realizes that this enthusiasm might not be a great sign, and indeed, Ivan's only barely in control of himself. Pikel's getting distracted by cool shit, but that might just be him rather than the curse.

Cadderly rather dramatically speeches at Ivan to get him focused:

“Remember why we are here,” Cadderly prompted the dwarf. “Concentrate, Ivan Bouldershoulder. If we do not remove the curse, then all the library, the Edificant Library, will be lost.” Cadderly couldn’t be certain whether his words or the dancing light on the disks had reminded Ivan to resist the stubborn curse, but whatever the cause, the dwarf’s eyes popped wide, as if he’d just awakened from a deep slumber, and he shook his head so wildly that he had to lean on his doublebladed axe to keep from falling over.

And fortunately it works. They don't really have an exact place to go, but Cadderly picks kind of at random and they explore to a few dead ends. The other way then. That's how I explore dungeons in dungeon crawl games!

So anyway, Cadderly tries to remember or envision how he came before with little luck. His prior tracks are gone too, either with time or intentionally obscured. He does, eventually, start hearing a drip of water. He thinks that it might have been something that registered subconsciously when he was here before (I certainly don't remember it being mentioned, but it's been a while, I admit), and decides to follow his instincts.

They reach a three way arch, and Cadderly feels more confident. He is starting to remember seeing skeletons though. But there are none here now. They keep going, with the dwarves maybe worrying a little about Cadderly's jumpiness.

They eventually do see some skeletons in the alcove, but they appear immobile. Poor Cadderly's stuck in that position of looking a little crazy to his skeptical friends, but there IS a magic curse making everyone do weird shit, so I think the friends' skepticism seems a little arbitrary.

Cadderly points out how the webs are free hanging: either the skeleton got out or someone cut the strands. Ivan is still skeptical, but Cadderly ends up reasoning it out. The skeletons aren't attacking now, because he didn't attack first this time. (Though last time had been an accident, it still counts.) He thinks they might be spelled to defend themselves, but might leave them alone otherwise.

This leads the dwarves to do the logical thing?

Ivan thought about it for a moment then nodded. The reasoning seemed sound enough. He motioned to his brother, and Pikel understood the silent request. The green-bearded dwarf pushed Cadderly out of the way, lowered his club like a battering ram, and before the startled young scholar could move to stop him, charged full speed into the alcove. The terrific impact reduced the skull to a pile of flecks and dust and Pikel’s continuing momentum scattered the rest of the bones in every direction.

“That one won’t be getting up to fight us,” remarked a satisfied Ivan, brushing a rib off his brother’s shoulder as Pikel came back out.

Cadderly stood perfectly still, his mouth hanging open in absolute disbelief.

“We had to check it,” Ivan insisted. “Ye want to be leaving walking skeletons behind us?”

Well, logical from the dwarves' perspective. Poor Cadderly is at least vindicated as the other skeletons start rising and attacking. At least he's not alone this time, and the dwarves seem to be having fun, taking his directive to run as instructions to run AT the skeletons.

So fighting, Salvatore's good at describing fighting. It's fun. I'm not recapping any of it. A smaller one does get through to attack Cadderly himself, and the disks aren't working very well as a means to fight something with a lot of separate parts that can get tangled. He does have a walking stick though:

Blindly, the monster swiped out at him. Cadderly dived straight for the floor, took up his walking stick, and shoved it through the rib cage, hoping to dislodge his spindle-disks. As soon as the tip of the stick wedged into the skeleton’s backbone, the crafty young scholar changed tactics. An image of a fulcrum and lever popped into his mind and he let go of his walking stick then slammed its head with all his might.

The rib fulcrum held firm and the shock of Cadderly’s downward blow shot up along the skeleton’s backbone and sent its head straight into the air where it ricocheted off the corridor ceiling. The shattering jolt broke apart the rest of the undead thing.

That's kind of cool. But the fight is continuing, and the dwarves seem to be losing ground.

--

We shift scenes to Druzil, who is lurking in the altar room. Barjin is asleep, Mullivy and Khalif are motionlessly guarding. Druzil is uneasy though, something's disturbed his slumber and it isn't a summons from Aballister. He realizes what it is after a bit: the skeletons.

Druzil slips out of the room to investigate. He COULD alert Barjin telepathically, forging a familiar-master bond, but that might upset Aballister, leading to him getting banished to his home plane if anyone at Castle Trinity finds out. He rationalizes the choice:

Yet it was Barjin, the imp reminded himself, not Aballister, who had taken the fore. Resourceful Barjin, the powerful priest, was the one who had struck boldly and effectively against the heart of law in the Snowflakes.

I mean, Barjin did take charge very admirably. But he didn't get the curse together, or cast it. If you look at what Barjin actually accomplished vs. Aballister, Barjin's role could be more easily filled by someone else. But well, that's Aballister's flaw, I suppose. He doesn't know how to seize his own advantage.

So Barjin does telepathically alert the priest, he'll divert the intruders, but prepare defenses.

--

Back to the dwarves. Ivan's point of view, as he acknowledges running out of room and options. But he is able to use an alcove to his advantage, defeating the nearest skeleton handily. Cadderly ends up saving Pikel. He even uses Pikel's druid obsession to motivate him:

“Animals!” Cadderly screamed. “Druids and animals. An animal could get up and away. Spring … snake, Pikel. Spring like a coiled snake!”

The pot helmet went back down over the dwarf’s eyes, but Cadderly was not dismayed, for he heard a hissing sound coming from under it and he noticed the slight movement as Pikel tensed the muscles in his arms and legs.

A dozen skeletons reached for him.

And the coiled snake snapped.

Pikel came up in a wild rush, batting with both arms, kicking with both legs, even gnawing on one skeleton’s forearm. As soon as he regained his footing, the dwarf scooped up his club and began the most vicious and frantic assault Cadderly had ever witnessed. He took a dozen hits but didn’t care. Only one thought, the memory that his brother had called for him, rang clear in the would-be druid’s mind.

Personally, I think Pikel would make a great druid. Far less annoying than the usual stereotype.

Anyway, reunited, they continue forward. Cadderly adjusts his tactics: the disks are only for skulls while the rest get the walking stick. But Pikel and Ivan are the more effective fighters.

--

On Druzil's end, he's realized that the intruders are definitely not just wandering curse victims. He wants Barjin to give him the commands for the skeletons. Barjin is skeptical, but ultimately figures he can handle Druzil if Druzil is being treacherous, and gives him the commands and the order to destroy the intruders.

Druzil is ready to do it, though he's not averse to the idea of eventually turning the skeletons against Barjin too. In the future. The chapter ends here.