The Halfling's Gem - Chapter 22
Apr. 19th, 2021 01:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, our heroes ended up falling into a magic trap that sent them to some other place. Regis, captured again, was able to seize the opportunity to grab poor Guen's statue and go in after them!
Problem solved?
We rejoin the heroes in a truly dreary place:
Smoke, emanating from the very ground they stood upon, wafted by drearily and rolled around their feet. By the angle of its roll, the way it fell away below them only a foot or two off to either side, only to rise again in another cloud, the friends saw that they were on a narrow ledge, a bridge across some endless chasm.
Similar bridges, none more than a few feet wide, criss-crossed above and below them, and for what they could see, those were the only walkways in the entire plane. No solid land mass showed itself in any direction, only the twisting, spiraling bridges.
The friends' movements were slow, dreamlike, fighting against the weight of the air. The place itself, a dim, oppressive world of foul smells and anguished cries, exuded evil. Vile, misshapen monsters swooped over their heads and around the gloomy emptiness, crying out in glee at the unexpected appearance of such tasty morsels. The four friends, so indomitable against the perils of their own world, found themselves without courage.
Catti-brie guesses they're in the Nine Hells. Drizzt, "more schooled in the known planes" (of fucking course) thinks they're in Hades, the domain of Chaos. I am gratified actually that, as far as I remember, the story ends up proving them both wrong. They're in Tartarus, I think. We'll see if I remember right.
Even though they're standing close to each other, their voices sound very distant. Wulfgar asks if there's a way back. Drizzt doesn't know of one, and doesn't really have any way to reassure his friends. Also monsters are attacking them. (Bruenor and Catti-brie take one down together in a nice bit of teamwork.)
Drizzt is inclined to stay put, feeling it's hopeless, but his friends want to keep moving. Drizzt is an ass about it though:
Only the drow understood the depth of the horror they now faced. Only Drizzt knew that wherever they might travel on the dark plane, the situation would prove to be the same: no escape.
"This way," he said after a moment of mock contemplation. "If there is a door, I sense that it is this way." He took a step down the narrow bridge but stopped abruptly as the smoke heaved and swirled before him.
Then some big demon-like creature, a "Demodand" appears before them and Drizzt realizes that they're not in Hades, but indeed, Tartarus. He tries to bluff the demodand into helping them with his drow reputation, but the demodand isn't buying it. It is about to go for Bruenor, when Drizzt manages to wound it with Twinkle. Not enough though.
We switch to Catti-brie's point of view as she observes her friends fighting sluggishly, and realizes that they're all feeling hopeless...
Oh, but of fucking course:
Drizzt felt the despair most keenly. For all the trials of his hard life, the drow had held faith for ultimate justice. He had believed, though he never dared to admit it, that his unyielding faith in his precious principles would bring him the reward he deserved. Now, there was this, a struggle that could only end in death, where one victory brought only more conflict.
Yes. Drizzt has it worse than the others. It's not like the others believe in justice or principles or anything. Look, I don't have a problem with an angsty too-noble protagonist, but he can't be the be all and end all of EVERYTHING.
But maybe that's just Catti-brie's point of view. She still has her fire, and she scolds and shouts at all of them. She gets them fired back up. And Drizzt mocks the demodand, with the others backing him up.
Then, even better, REGIS appears. Dropping from above. Bruenor, is of course, a bit needlessly a dick about it:
"I saw you in that awful hoop," the halfling explained. "Thought you might need my help."
"Bah! More that ye got yerself thrown here, Rumblebelly," Bruenor replied.
"Good to see you, too," Regis shot back, "but this time you are mistaken. I came of my own choice." He held the pearltipped scepter up for them to see. "To bring you this."
Regis always seems to get these heroic moments that he never gets credit for. But to be fair, Bruenor actually does apologize by bowing low to Regis. Regis isn't really allowed a real triumph though, as, when he tries to throw them LaValle's scepter, it falls short and into the chasm.
Catti-brie dives after it. She catches it, throws it back to Bruenor, and plummets from sight without a word of complaint.
I'm honestly surprised Salvatore gave that heroic moment of self-sacrifice to someone other than Drizzt.
--
We shift scene to LaValle, who is watching everything, and seems pretty freaked out. There's a crack in the Taros Loop, and he insists they have to destroy it NOW. He tries to smash his cane into the glassy image.
Pook isn't listening though. He wants Regis back. But LaValle explains: Regis has the scepter so the door to Tartarus can't be closed. Now Pook is on board with destroying it too.
--
Back with Drizzt, he's beating the shit out of the demodand, exorcising his anguish and anger. Regis, across the chasm, stammers, while the other men are frozen. Drizzt sees a demodand closing in on Regis, and orders him to run.
Regis has a better idea, calling Guen for help. Drizzt agrees with this, telling him to go with Guen, and Regis says they'll meet in a better place.
Drizzt recognizes the scepter, and "attun[es] his thoughts to its magical emanations". Of course he knows that there's an open gate to their own plane and the scepter is the key. He urges his friends along the bridge.
--
Meanwhile, Guen indeed rescues Regis, who realizes at the last second that the statuette will be lost in Tartarus. So he grabs it before they vanish. Which means that now he and Guen are in the astral plane WITH the summoning statue! So how can they leave?!
Regis is in despair, but Guen...Guen knows something.
--
Drizzt is fired up now, leading the others. And fascinatingly, while the bridge seems to be heading downward, Bruenor (a dwarf used to the underground after all) can feel that it's actually going up. It's the scepter and it's leading them back. Bruenor is first, but he doesn't want to leave his daughter behind.
Drizzt urges him to keep going and not diminish Catti-brie's sacrifice. And he reminds them that the wizard who did this is on the other side of the gate. That fires Bruenor up to get revenge.
Wulfgar is calmer but far more implacable:
"Now-" Drizzt began, but Wulfgar cut him short.
"You go, Drizzt," the barbarian replied. "Avenge Catti-brie and Regis. Finish the quest we undertook together. For myself, there will be no rest. My emptiness will not fade."
"She is gone," Drizzt said again.
Wulfgar nodded. "As am I," he said quietly.
...I really wish this moment was REMOTELY earned by the narrative, but the two characters haven't even had a discussion since Crystal Shard!
But miracle on miracle, Catti-brie falls from the sky above them. A demodand tries to grab her but:
Before a conscious thought had time to register in Wulfgar's mind, Drizzt had Taulmaril bent and sent a silver arrow into flight. It thundered into the side of the demodand's head just as the creature took hold of the young woman, blasting the thing from life.
Of fucking course.
I don't begrudge Drizzt for being multi-talented, but I really wish Salvatore would let one of the others be better at something, just once. More alert, just ONCE. More thoughtful, just ONCE. I suppose Catti-brie got the noble sacrifice.
Anyway, Wulfgar wants to go get her, but Drizzt says no, and even uses the scimitar to dissuade him and shove him through the portal. Wulfgar screams that he's a traitor, but no, Drizzt wants him to hold the portal open for them. As for Drizzt:
And how long could Wulfgar hold the gate open?
He brushed away the questions. He had no time to speculate on their answers.
The fires gleamed in his lavender eyes, Twinkle glowed in one hand, and he felt the urgings of his other blade, pleading for a demodand's heart to bite.
With all the courage that had marked Drizzt Do'Urden's existence coursing through his veins, and with all the fury of his perceptions of injustice focused on the fate of that beautiful and broken woman falling endlessly in a hopeless void, he dove into the gloom.
Wulfgar can't even get to be more self-sacrificingly in love than Drizzt, can he?
Anyway, the chapter ends here.
Problem solved?
We rejoin the heroes in a truly dreary place:
Smoke, emanating from the very ground they stood upon, wafted by drearily and rolled around their feet. By the angle of its roll, the way it fell away below them only a foot or two off to either side, only to rise again in another cloud, the friends saw that they were on a narrow ledge, a bridge across some endless chasm.
Similar bridges, none more than a few feet wide, criss-crossed above and below them, and for what they could see, those were the only walkways in the entire plane. No solid land mass showed itself in any direction, only the twisting, spiraling bridges.
The friends' movements were slow, dreamlike, fighting against the weight of the air. The place itself, a dim, oppressive world of foul smells and anguished cries, exuded evil. Vile, misshapen monsters swooped over their heads and around the gloomy emptiness, crying out in glee at the unexpected appearance of such tasty morsels. The four friends, so indomitable against the perils of their own world, found themselves without courage.
Catti-brie guesses they're in the Nine Hells. Drizzt, "more schooled in the known planes" (of fucking course) thinks they're in Hades, the domain of Chaos. I am gratified actually that, as far as I remember, the story ends up proving them both wrong. They're in Tartarus, I think. We'll see if I remember right.
Even though they're standing close to each other, their voices sound very distant. Wulfgar asks if there's a way back. Drizzt doesn't know of one, and doesn't really have any way to reassure his friends. Also monsters are attacking them. (Bruenor and Catti-brie take one down together in a nice bit of teamwork.)
Drizzt is inclined to stay put, feeling it's hopeless, but his friends want to keep moving. Drizzt is an ass about it though:
Only the drow understood the depth of the horror they now faced. Only Drizzt knew that wherever they might travel on the dark plane, the situation would prove to be the same: no escape.
"This way," he said after a moment of mock contemplation. "If there is a door, I sense that it is this way." He took a step down the narrow bridge but stopped abruptly as the smoke heaved and swirled before him.
Then some big demon-like creature, a "Demodand" appears before them and Drizzt realizes that they're not in Hades, but indeed, Tartarus. He tries to bluff the demodand into helping them with his drow reputation, but the demodand isn't buying it. It is about to go for Bruenor, when Drizzt manages to wound it with Twinkle. Not enough though.
We switch to Catti-brie's point of view as she observes her friends fighting sluggishly, and realizes that they're all feeling hopeless...
Oh, but of fucking course:
Drizzt felt the despair most keenly. For all the trials of his hard life, the drow had held faith for ultimate justice. He had believed, though he never dared to admit it, that his unyielding faith in his precious principles would bring him the reward he deserved. Now, there was this, a struggle that could only end in death, where one victory brought only more conflict.
Yes. Drizzt has it worse than the others. It's not like the others believe in justice or principles or anything. Look, I don't have a problem with an angsty too-noble protagonist, but he can't be the be all and end all of EVERYTHING.
But maybe that's just Catti-brie's point of view. She still has her fire, and she scolds and shouts at all of them. She gets them fired back up. And Drizzt mocks the demodand, with the others backing him up.
Then, even better, REGIS appears. Dropping from above. Bruenor, is of course, a bit needlessly a dick about it:
"I saw you in that awful hoop," the halfling explained. "Thought you might need my help."
"Bah! More that ye got yerself thrown here, Rumblebelly," Bruenor replied.
"Good to see you, too," Regis shot back, "but this time you are mistaken. I came of my own choice." He held the pearltipped scepter up for them to see. "To bring you this."
Regis always seems to get these heroic moments that he never gets credit for. But to be fair, Bruenor actually does apologize by bowing low to Regis. Regis isn't really allowed a real triumph though, as, when he tries to throw them LaValle's scepter, it falls short and into the chasm.
Catti-brie dives after it. She catches it, throws it back to Bruenor, and plummets from sight without a word of complaint.
I'm honestly surprised Salvatore gave that heroic moment of self-sacrifice to someone other than Drizzt.
--
We shift scene to LaValle, who is watching everything, and seems pretty freaked out. There's a crack in the Taros Loop, and he insists they have to destroy it NOW. He tries to smash his cane into the glassy image.
Pook isn't listening though. He wants Regis back. But LaValle explains: Regis has the scepter so the door to Tartarus can't be closed. Now Pook is on board with destroying it too.
--
Back with Drizzt, he's beating the shit out of the demodand, exorcising his anguish and anger. Regis, across the chasm, stammers, while the other men are frozen. Drizzt sees a demodand closing in on Regis, and orders him to run.
Regis has a better idea, calling Guen for help. Drizzt agrees with this, telling him to go with Guen, and Regis says they'll meet in a better place.
Drizzt recognizes the scepter, and "attun[es] his thoughts to its magical emanations". Of course he knows that there's an open gate to their own plane and the scepter is the key. He urges his friends along the bridge.
--
Meanwhile, Guen indeed rescues Regis, who realizes at the last second that the statuette will be lost in Tartarus. So he grabs it before they vanish. Which means that now he and Guen are in the astral plane WITH the summoning statue! So how can they leave?!
Regis is in despair, but Guen...Guen knows something.
--
Drizzt is fired up now, leading the others. And fascinatingly, while the bridge seems to be heading downward, Bruenor (a dwarf used to the underground after all) can feel that it's actually going up. It's the scepter and it's leading them back. Bruenor is first, but he doesn't want to leave his daughter behind.
Drizzt urges him to keep going and not diminish Catti-brie's sacrifice. And he reminds them that the wizard who did this is on the other side of the gate. That fires Bruenor up to get revenge.
Wulfgar is calmer but far more implacable:
"Now-" Drizzt began, but Wulfgar cut him short.
"You go, Drizzt," the barbarian replied. "Avenge Catti-brie and Regis. Finish the quest we undertook together. For myself, there will be no rest. My emptiness will not fade."
"She is gone," Drizzt said again.
Wulfgar nodded. "As am I," he said quietly.
...I really wish this moment was REMOTELY earned by the narrative, but the two characters haven't even had a discussion since Crystal Shard!
But miracle on miracle, Catti-brie falls from the sky above them. A demodand tries to grab her but:
Before a conscious thought had time to register in Wulfgar's mind, Drizzt had Taulmaril bent and sent a silver arrow into flight. It thundered into the side of the demodand's head just as the creature took hold of the young woman, blasting the thing from life.
Of fucking course.
I don't begrudge Drizzt for being multi-talented, but I really wish Salvatore would let one of the others be better at something, just once. More alert, just ONCE. More thoughtful, just ONCE. I suppose Catti-brie got the noble sacrifice.
Anyway, Wulfgar wants to go get her, but Drizzt says no, and even uses the scimitar to dissuade him and shove him through the portal. Wulfgar screams that he's a traitor, but no, Drizzt wants him to hold the portal open for them. As for Drizzt:
And how long could Wulfgar hold the gate open?
He brushed away the questions. He had no time to speculate on their answers.
The fires gleamed in his lavender eyes, Twinkle glowed in one hand, and he felt the urgings of his other blade, pleading for a demodand's heart to bite.
With all the courage that had marked Drizzt Do'Urden's existence coursing through his veins, and with all the fury of his perceptions of injustice focused on the fate of that beautiful and broken woman falling endlessly in a hopeless void, he dove into the gloom.
Wulfgar can't even get to be more self-sacrificingly in love than Drizzt, can he?
Anyway, the chapter ends here.