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masterghandalfWarning: This chapter contains some especially unpleasant deaths, and also a subplot involving sexual assault.
This is a repost from Das_sporking2. Previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Elminster: The Making of a Mage, as we reach the penultimate chapter! Last time, the true leader of the magelords was introduced, for some reason at the very last minute (and in that time has already proved to be terrible at his job) while Elminster gathered some old friends and started taking the magelords on. Today, it’s the battle we’ve been waiting all book for – but will Greenwood manage to pull it off or not (and do you even have to ask)? Joining us once again will be Keeri and Mira!
Chapter Seventeen: For Athalantar
Keeri: Ugh. Well, at least we’re almost at the end… So, we start out with a quote from yet another ballad (seriously, leave the bardic arts the Abyss alone, Greenwood!) by Halindar Droun called Tears Never Cease, which sure sounds uplifting. In the name of a kingdom / many fell things are done. / In the name of a love / fairer things are won. *mouths it quietly to herself* So, uh, not that I disagree that the world would probably be a better place if more people valued love over power, but… Greenwood, your meter’s still bad, and your wording’s still clunky. Anyway, we open the chapter proper with Tassabra, as she’s reaching for a glowing armlet but stops when she hears a magelord’s voice (why does everybody seem to think robbing the magelords when they’re at home is the smart thing to do? Have you people never heard of planning ahead?). The magelord in question is Alarashan, who is leering at the trembling Nanatha, great – and describing to someone else how Nanatha told him how Myrjala “revealed” herself as Undarl before fleeing the scene last chapter. A second sour old voice speaks out of a scrying crystal and tells Alarashan to bring her to him, and he says he will, addressing the speaker as Old One, so I guess that’s Ithboltar. Alarashan and Nanatha then both vanish, leaving Tassabra alone – and damned lucky, in my opinion. She really ought to be thanking Tyche for that one. She finishes up looting various magical objects, then says she’s done and her elven shadow teleports her away as the scene ends.
We then cut to someone named Hathan, who I don’t think we’ve heard of before, as he walks across a courtyard, thinking to himself that his apprentices had better be ready when he gets there. Suddenly he stops and whirls around, to look up at the tallest tower of Hornkeep thinking to himself that he’d never heard the Old One sound so insistent before We then suddenly jump up into that tower to find ourselves with Undarl as he stares into a scrying bowl, watching a pair of griffons he’s captured fight and thinking to himself that if he can get them to mate with the spells he’s already put on them, the offspring would be flying armor-plated killers ruled by his will - yeah, well, considering the book’s almost done and this plan sounds like it’ll take a while, I’m not expecting much from it. Still, it makes Undarl think that with this he’d have taken his first step beyond what the most powerful sorcerers of his family had ever achieved, and he’s tired of waiting. Apparently, he can’t spend too much time on his research projects when he has rivals like that lizard-kisser Seldinor trying to take his position (uh, Undarl, I’ve got some news for you…) and then he’s suddenly distracted as Hathan telepathically contacts him. Oh, and we learn who Hathan is now – apparently, he's Undarl’s senior apprentice. Hathan makes a report, and we don’t get to hear it but apparently it leaves Undarl rattled, so I’d guess that bit earlier was Hathan hearing about the situation in Hastarl from Ithboltar and reporting it to his master in turn; he tells Hathan to go back to his own projects and then gets up and leaves the room, leaving the griffons behind him. He heads to a secret compartment, from which he takes several wands and some gems, and then finds one of his other apprentices, who greets him as Lord Master; but Undarl walks right past him and settles down on a balcony just beyond, where he starts working on a spell. The apprentice suddenly collapses, as do several others in other parts of the castle; the spell that brought down the sleep of ages would hold until Undarl ended it, the pedestal broke or crumbled away… and that would take a good thousand years or more. Anyone save Undarl himself who entered the Dragonrider’s Tower would fall into enspelled stasis, a sleep that held them unchanged as the world aged around them. Well, that’s one way to protect your tower from thieves, I guess (and, uh, is there any reason you caught your own apprentices in that trap too, O Mage Royal? Don’t you need all the help you can get right now?). He thinks that maybe he will let the spell stay up that long and see if Seldinor (why is he so worried about Seldinor specifically, anyway? Seldinor didn’t seem to be very ambitious – he just wanted to kill women and make golems out of their body parts, which is sick but not exactly a challenge to Undarl’s power) or anyone else tries to get in and gets caught in it too. Undarl thinks to himself that it would be easy to kill any rivals that he caught that way, while marching down a corridor lined with suits of armor that salute him as he passes, and then calls for someone named Anglathammaroth to come to him. A moment later, Undarl is gone and something huge and winged has left the castle and is flying south towards Hastarl. And considering his title is Undarl Dragonrider, I’m pretty sure I know what that something is…
Mira: Well, we then find ourselves with some armsmen as the warm, sweet smell of bread rolls out over them. They then throw open the door to the bakery to march in and find the baker, who is none other than our old friend Shandathe… oh, oh no, hasn’t that poor woman been through enough? The armsmen grab her, and two more of them hold her husband Hannibur at knifepoint (oh, and one of the armsmen steals a loaf of bread, too, for shame!). Shandathe yells for Hannibur to stay back for his own protection, and the lead armsman tells him that The King has seen your wife and fancies her. Be honored. *clutching her scarf tightly and rocking back and forth* Oh, I don’t like this… One of the other armsmen backhands Hannibur and knocks him out, and the scene ends.
MG: And, okay, let’s have it right out… this isn’t exactly supposed to be prima nocta, obviously, since it’s not Shandathe and Hannibur’s wedding night, but it’s clearly evoking the same general principle (and, for the record, while powerful men abusing their position to assault women is sadly all too common, prima nocta specifically doesn’t seem to have been a thing in real life – though it was the sort of thing people certainly liked to accuse enemy kings and lords of and has a long history in that sense, and similar behavior as a shorthand for bad or tyrannical kingship go all the way back to Gilgamesh). In this specific context, after he’s spent most of the book as a nonentity and figurehead, this is how Greenwood is going to be officially introducing us to Belaur… and apparently he needed to establish he’s totally evil after all (when previous chapters, if anything, have implied he was more the magelords’ victim than their collaborator) and went the quick and lazy route of establishing that he kidnaps and rapes random peasant women, even though this hasn’t even been hinted at before (and from how casual the armsmen are about the whole thing, it would seem to indicate we’re supposed to take this as a regular occurrence). Not is it gross and lazy, in my book, it also serves to cement, intentionally or otherwise, that Shandathe is the book’s punching bag, after everything else she was already put through in her previous appearances – and it also falls uncomfortably into the old trope of “if you want to motivate a man, hurt a woman,” since Hannibur is going to have a small but important role to play in the final confrontation, while Shandathe is basically just a prop to motivate her husband and establish Belaur’s evil cred. And ugh, I hate it.
Mira: *weakly* Me, too. Thankfully, we then cut to Farl, who is leading Helm through sewers under Athalgard; Helm is complaining about the smell, and I’d still rather be reading about this than… the other. Apparently, there are other secret passages that aren’t the sewer, but the magelords know about them. Folks who try to use them always end up the wizards’ spell chambers as part of some fatal magical experiment or other. And yet they didn’t think to trap the sewers? *shakes her head* For shame! Finally, they reach a shaft with handholds, because it’s where six glory holes meet and therefore has to be raked clean regularly *she wrinkles her nose disgustedly* Farl tells Anauviir, who’s also with them, that Briost’s chambers can be reached through some of the holes, and the others lead to apprentices’ chambers and a reading room (I hope he means a toilet adjacent to the reading room and not actually in it…) and the last to Alarashan’s chambers, which is where Farl and Helm will be going. Once they’re in the castle, if the alarm is raised Elminster will show himself, so the magelords will focus on him instead of on everyone else (how… generous of him); one of the knights wonders how Farl steals anything if he talks so much, and if he only robs from deaf people, and the scene ends. We then cut to one of Alarashan’s apprentices shrieking, which displeases him. He preferred willing wenches, but Undarl had forced this one idiot male youth on him… Am… am I the only one who’s noticed that the only female magelords are apprentices who are seemingly expected to service their masters sexually? *she shudders visibly* I don’t like this chapter already, and it’s only getting worse… Alarashan is sure this new apprentice is a spy, since he’s hopeless at magic too (I think Undarl needs to hire better people…) and finally thinks to check on him in the jakes, where he finds him dead with his trousers around his ankles. *she wrinkles her nose yet again* Lovely. Why do so many of these assaults on the magelords involve toilets and chamber pots? Someone shoves the apprentice’s body away, and Alarashan realizes what’s happening and stumbles back, to lie in wait just outside the room with a wand. And then suddenly a secret panel behind him opens up and someone hits him on the head with a cudgel, and his wand fell from nerveless, burning fingers. Ah, that was sudden. I suppose that’s it for Alarashan, then. And we don’t even know who killed him!
We then cut to Briost, as someone bursts out of his toilet (why?) only for him to blast them with his ring. He tries to blast a second attacker as well but misses as he has to dodge a thrown knife, which grazes his cheek. Briost is left stunned to feel his own blood flowing from the cut, as more attackers climb into the room, and by then, as the blades came at him from all sides, it was much too late. And… and that was even worse, as the scene ends there! We then cut to Ithboltar as his scrying crystal flashes; he motions for Nanatha to sit, and then the Old One, one-time tutor of most of the magelords, got up and glared at his crystal. Nanatha watches has he stares at the crystal and mutters to himself, and then suddenly hisses We’re being attacked… Briost? Briost, answer me! And then he apparently catches sight of Briost’s grim fate, as he suddenly starts tearing open his robes, to Nanatha’s (quite understandable) shock. She catches a glimpse of white grizzled hair on a sunken chest as Ithboltar manages to find his gem-covered skullcap (why was he hiding that inside his robes? That can’t be comfortable) and puts it on, leaving his hair sticking out wildly. At another time the apprentice might have giggled inwardly at the old archwizard’s ridiculous appearance – but not now. She was too terrified… of whatever might put such fear into the Old One, mightiest of all magelords. Well, this certainly isn’t making me take the situation any more seriously, I must admit… Ithboltar quickly casts a spell he’d hoped he’d never have to use (are we in his head now?) and the sound of shattering crystal fills the room as five magelords (all of them nameless and apparently interchangeable, very disappointing) appear, all of them stunned at how Ithboltar managed to bring them here by force and without their knowledge. But he won’t say how, only why. Together, we stand a chance against this threat. Alone, we are doomed. Beg pardon, but isn’t that how the magelords are supposed to normally operate? That they’re mediocre wizards individually, but very good at always ganging up together to crush any threat? Shouldn’t all of this be second nature for them already? Apparently not, and the scene ends there.
Keeri: Well, we cut to alarm bells sounding as a bunch of armsmen jump to their feet, complaining that this never happens (you know, between this and how easily the magelords all got robbed last time, I’m pretty sure the security in Athalgard must be terrible). First Sword Sauvar snaps that it’s happening now, and anything that scares a dozen magelords (we’ve killed a bunch over the last few chapters; how many are even left? Undarl, Ithboltar, and the five Ithboltar summoned makes seven, which isn’t exactly a “dozen”) ought to scare them two. And, wait, is the “First Sword” supposed to be the commander of all the armsmen? Why did we wait until now to introduce him? The armsman who first spoke is about to answer, when out of nowhere someone steps out of a side passage and puts a sword through his head. Yes, it’s that sudden. Sauvar curses and demands to know what’s going on, and the attacker introduces himself as Tharl Bloodbar (“Bloodbar?” Sounds like a pub for vampires!) Knight of Athalantar (who’s wearing armor we’re explicitly told is made from junk scavenged from a dozen battlefields, charming) and stabs; Sauvar tries to parry but doesn’t manage it, and the First Sword joined his fellow armsman on the passage floor. So, uh, what was the point of introducing the leader of the armsmen if he was just going to die immediately (and if he wasn’t the leader of the armsmen and First Sword means something else, why bother including this scene at all)? Why does Greenwood expect us to care when he keeps introducing minor antagonists and killing them off before we get to know them? I don’t get this! Finally, a bunch more armsmen come running up behind their dead commander (what took them so long?) and Tharl asks which of them is ready to die, and the scene ends.
We then cut to, of all people, Jansibal Otharr, one of the two magelords’s sons from all the way back in Chapter Four (one of the ones Elminster and Farl stripped naked and left in bed together, if you’ll recall) as he’s irritated that this is happening now. He finishes at his chamber pot (seriously, what is it with Greenwood and chamber pots lately?) and turns to look at the woman in his bed (with his elaborate codpiece dangling, because we really needed to know that) before getting ready to head out, since he knows the magelords will punish him if he ignores the warning for a little rutting (did we ever learn which magelord he’s the son of, by the way?). He tells the woman to wait for him and not drink too much of the wine, grabs his sword and heads out into the corridor, which is currently packed with armsmen and Jansibal’s rival Thelorn, the other magelord’s son from Chapter Four. Jansibal glares at him and puts his hand on his sword, knowing that an “accident” could easily happen in this crowded corridor, and Thelorn mockingly greets him as lover mine because clearly, we needed a reminder of that hilarious plot point. Jansibal tries to draw his sword, but by the time he manages it Thelorn has already swept away, and Jansibal is left fantasizing about how accidents can happen on a night like this, and the scene ends. And then we cut to Nanue Trumpettower, half of the young married couple from Chapter Six (whose wedding night Elminster, Farl and the Moonclaws ruined) and seriously, are we just running through a list of everyone Elminster ever met? Nanue wonders what’s going on, and her uncle-in-law (Greenwood finally seems to have settled on how they’re related) Darrigo takes the opportunity to ogle her – the lass is such a delicate little flower… wasted on young Peeryst, come to think… Stop! It! For the Abyss’s sake, not only are we meeting all these random people again, they all seem to be doing the exact same thing they were doing the last time we saw them, years ago! And didn’t we learn that Darrigo had fallen on hard times and left the city to become a farmer a few chapters ago? Guess that’s over with! Darrigo says that it’s the alarm bells and that he’ll go take a look, and then Peeryst draws his sword and says he’ll take a look and asks Darrigo to guard Nanue until he gets back (yeah, but maybe you should be wondering about who’ll guard Nanue from Darrigo?). Peeryst throws open the door to march outside, only for an armsman to immediately slam into him and knock him unconscious and into a wall. *flatly* Ha. Ha. And wait, are they in Athalgard itself? Why? They’re not magelords; they’re not related to the king. They didn’t live there the last time we saw them. I, just… why? And Darrigo is just annoyed that Peeryst is bleeding on the floor, and at the fuss Nanue is making over her light-‘o-love. *she sighs* What a caring uncle he is.
Mira: Well, then out of nowhere a noble goes running by their rooms and stabs Nanue while yelling at her to get out of the way. I… ah… what is going on here?! Fortunately, Nanue only got stabbed through the arm, but she is bleeding profusely, and this sets Darrigo off. He grabs Peeryst’s sword, shakes him awake, yells at him to bind Nanue’s wound using his shirt or hose, and then goes charging out into the corridor. Eventually, though he’s out of breath by the time he does it, he catches up to the noble, who is about to stab another noble in the back, the reek of his perfume swirling around him. Darrigo smacks him with the flat of his sword, and the noble whirls on him and attacks; Darrigo parries and starts ranting about how he dared set steel to a Trumpettower lass… and her unarmed! Would… would it have been more acceptable to attack Nanue for being vaguely in the way if she had been armed? The noble – who is, of course, none other than Jansibal – is forced to fall back as he realizes Darrigo is fighting seriously, while Thelorn just watches and laughs. When he mocks Jansibal for only fighting old men, Jansibal is distracted and Darrigo… cuts off his codpiece. Oh my, that felt symbolic. The fight a bit more, and finally Jansibal turns and flees, with Darrigo pursuing him… and then suddenly Jansibal collapses as a battered old warrior runs him through. Thelorn demands to know who he is, and it is, of course, Helm, who says he’s a knight but adds, taking in Thelorn’s garish clothes, that he’d have likely done better as a tailor. Thelorn asks if he’s loyal to King Belaur and the magelords and, ah, considering he’s rampaging through the castle killing nobles and armsmen, surely that’s not a difficult question to answer? And Helm says he’s not, and more of his knights come up behind him; Thelorn draws his sword and challenges them, but Helm doubts he’s any better in a fight than his dead friend was, which makes Thelorn angrily deny that Jansibal was his friend (is… is now really the time?). They trade a few taunts, and then Darrigo walks up and stabs Thelorn through the ear… ah, Thelorn wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person, but I’m not sure he deserved that. And then it turns out that Helm and Darrigo know each other and greet one another as old friends, because of course they do, why wasn’t I expecting that? Helm tells Darrigo he’s spent the last years as an outlaw killing armsmen, but I’ve found killing magelords more fun… care to join me? Darrigo grandly says he would, leaving Helm to complain about nobles (so Helm is a knight but not a noble? How did that even…) as the scene ends.
We then cut to the magelords, staring suspiciously at Ithboltar and each other, when the window to Ithboltar’s tower suddenly shatters and the grand figure of a mage as tall as two men, white bearded and crowned with fire strides in, holding a glowing staff. At once all the magelords unleash combat spells on him, which causes half the tower chamber to collapse… and we cut to Elminster, watching through a stolen scrying crystal, as he compliments Myrjala on her illusion and says that the magelords wasted some of their most powerful spells on it. Myrjala says that they won’t be able to catch them with that trick again, though, and now the magelords are all together in an isolated tower where the knights won’t be able to outnumber them. Elminster says that they’ll just have to do this the hard way, then, which prospect fills me with dread, and the scene ends. We then cut to a stairwell somewhere else, as Tassabra shoots her crossbow into an advancing force of armsmen while an elf with her casts a spell that blinds them and sends them running, and then a thief jumping out and stabbing some of them sends the entire armsmen force attacking each other. *shocked* Oh, dear. I… guess the armsmen take after their masters in terms of competence and organization, then? Farl starts laughing at the site, and Tassabra demands to know how he can (ah, perhaps you should have asked such questions before you married him?). Farl just says that each of them who dies is one less they’ll have to worry about, and he’s wanted to kill armsmen like this for years without fear of the magelords, and now he can, and they’ve no one to blame for their deaths but themselves. Let me enjoy it, will you? That’s… remarkably bloodthirsty of you. And I seriously doubt the armsmen would have started killing each other like this if you hadn’t tricked them into it… beside him, Braer is also satisfied at the sight, though he at least has the decency not to gloat openly. And then he’s suddenly pulled up short as a warning spell goes off in his mind. My own battle begins, I fear. He begins another spell, and wings sprouted and spread, scales shone silver in the flickering torchlight, and a dragon shifted its bulk experimentally for a breath before bounding up through the window. And I am… absolutely astounded a dragon fit in what seems to have been a rather narrow stairwell! Tassabra watches him go, eyes wide, and then collapses into a faint, while Farl catches her and wryly comments that she never used to do this (and am I the only one who noticed that it was the woman who fainted while her equally shocked husband took it in stride?). And one of the other elves takes the moment to stroke Tassabra’s hair while she’s unconscious, for no readily apparent reason, and the scene ends there.
Keeri: Yeah, it’s Greenwood, so I don’t want to know. We cut to Undarl as he flies towards Hastarl on his dragon, seemingly aware of what’s going on (divination spells? Hathan’s report?). Something was seriously amiss, magelords fighting magelords, a rebel mob inside the castle… didn’t these fools know hated rulers will be attacked by commoners the moment they show weakness? Yeah, wasn’t there some famous Chelish philosopher or other who said that it’s better to be feared than loved, but the one thing no ruler should ever let themselves be is hated? Seems about right. Except I don’t think there are any magelords fighting magelords, if only because all this is moving so fast that Elminster (or the author…) hasn’t given them time… Undarl angrily thinks to himself that if it hadn’t been for Ithboltar, he could have kept all the magelords tightly under his control and none of this would’ve happened (yeah, based on his past track record, I’m sure Ithboltar… complained ineffectively at you). He commands his great black dragon to dive towards the city (wait, didn’t Undarl ride a red dragon when he attacked Heldon?) …
MG: Yes, he did, and no this isn’t a plot hole for once.
Keeri: Well, that fills me with dread. Anyway, Undarl is startled to see a silver dragon rising to meet them, and wonders if this is some sort of trick by a rival magelord (okay, the only silver dragon I’ve known was Terendalev, and I didn’t know her long because of… what happened… but I don’t think she’d have lifted a talon to help any of the magelords) and unleashes the strongest spell he has prepared, spheres of black, chilling deathflame. And Braer of course immediately dodges, and the fireballs vanish harmlessly. *she sighs* Figures. Undarl pulls out a wand and starts firing it, scoring a wound on Braer’s side; he’s forced to veer away and Undarl chases after him, laughing. We then cut to the streets below, as common people are looking up in the early morning light in shock to see two dragons fighting in the sky above them. Yeah, I’d probably be doing the same, even with some of the things I’ve seen. They see the magic flashing and realize that the black dragon must be carrying the mage royal, not caring if death rained down on the citizens below, but don’t know who the silver dragon is. Meanwhile, the black dragon spews a jet of acid that rains down on the city, and the nameless carter whose point of view we’re in realizes there’s no safe place to be in the middle of a dragon fight. He sees people start to panic around him, but he realizes that won’t help, and figures he’ll never see such a thing again even if he does survive, so he decides to stay and watch until the end. And, I mean, maybe it’s not very smart of him, but on the other hand… I really can’t blame him for that. I mean, it’s a dragon fight. Who wouldn’t want to watch it? We then cut to Braer’s point of view, as he dodges the bolts from Undarl’s wand while working on some magic of his own. Undarl yells at him to stand and fight before managing to score a hit on Braer’s tail, filling him with agony. We’re then in Undarl’s head as he deflects Braer’s spell harmlessly, then urges his black dragon to dive, and end the battle now. They do, but Braer manages to dodge away again, and Undarl realizes that they’ve built up enough momentum that they’re now hurtling towards the city. *she applauds sarcastically* Great job, everyone! Undarl twists around and tries to blast Braer again, at point blank range… but it turns out that Braer’s spell didn’t fail after all, it conjured an invisible shield around Undarl himself! The mage royal roared out in helpless fear as the rebounding bolt crashed into him. Faerun seemed to explode around him. Huh. On the one hand, that… was actually a clever move on Braer’s part. On the other… the fight wasn’t terribly exciting to begin with (seriously, it’s a dragon battle; how do you mess that up? It’s the sort of topic bards kill for – possibly literally!) so it can’t help but feel anticlimactic. And so Undarl is blasted out of his saddle by the force of his own spell and sent hurtling over Hastarl, on fire and with one of his arms blown off. Anglathammaroth the black dragon also falls out of the sky, since he lost a good chunk of his back to the explosion and the wound is now streaming gore into the wind, lovely. Screaming in agony, he crashes right into Athalgard.
The crash shook all Hastarl… Braer saw those black wings crumple like those of a crushed insect – and the castle tower they’d struck shifted, cracked and with a thunderous roar, toppled over into the courtyard below. Doomed armsmen screamed as they saw death coming down on them; Braer closed his eyes so as not to see the destruction. *flatly* How decent of him. And how good for Greenwood to assure us by fortunate chance that only bad guys (apparently) died in that crash! How lucky! Well, Braer’s mortally wounded too, as it happens; he slips back into elven form and falls from the sky, barely having time for one last prayer to Mystra. Suddenly, someone catches him in midflight, and he opens his eyes to recognize his rescuer. It was Elminster’s colleague, Myrjala, and yet – Braer’s eyes widened in recognition and awe. “Lady?” Oh, no, no, no, please Greenwood, please don’t be implying what I think you’re implying… We then suddenly cut to a deep, dank cellar, below the sewers of Athalgard, where a sudden fire appears and drives away the small vermin nearby. Blood and formless flesh curled and flowed at its heart; flesh that blurred and coiled and spasmed as all that was left of Undarl Dragonrider fought to rebuild his body. *visibly squicked* Well, that’s… new. Undarl is left panting from the effort as he forces himself to pull himself back together, one limb at a time; several times he slipped towards his true form, but each time regained the semblance he wanted – a taller, more regal Undarl… he could weave all matter to his will, given time enough. And so, the scene ends as Undarl finishes regrowing his missing arm, praying to the gods to just give him the little bit more time he needs.
Mira: Hmm; it’s not my area, but I think some of the guilds back home might be interested in studying Undarl’s abilities – the Anatomists, surely, and possibly also the Disciples of the Abyss... But perhaps now is not the time? Moving on, we find ourselves in Ithboltar’s chambers, where the magelords are startled from their bickering as Elminster rose like a vengeful wraith from Ithboltar’s crystal. I admit, I… wasn’t expecting that. The magelords stumble back in shock, but Elminster keeps his gaze fixed on Ithboltar as he whispered the last careful words of a mighty incantation. And when he’s done, the floor of the chamber splits open as gems, blazing like tiny fireballs, flew in all directions from the Old One’s crown. Ithboltar – understandably – screams in pain and clutches his head as Elminster vanishes again; meanwhile the magelords watch in horror as smoke was rising from their staggering ex-tutor’s eyes. Bolts of energy start shooting out of the ruined crown, blasting the other magelords into the walls; meanwhile, Myrjala, watching from a nearby balcony (shouldn’t this have been a private room?) teleports a badly weakened Elminster to her side. And then the crown exploded, white bolts of destruction stabbing out in all directions… Ithboltar’s headless body swayed for a moment, took one unsteady step forward, and fell. And so passes the mightiest of all the magelords. I would say it was too easy… but I’ve read too much of this book to be surprised. Meanwhile, one of the magelords has collapsed against the wall, gibbering mindlessly, while another has been burned down to a smoking heap of bones and ashes. Meanwhile the others are still trying to escape, but the energy from the crown is forming into a vortex in the center of the room, making the whole castle shake. Myrjala casts a divination and realizes that the remains of the crown’s magic must be holding the magelords in the room (did you really need to waste a spell to learn that? I thought it was obvious…) and then suddenly the vortex slams the magelords back into the walls, and then collapses on itself, bringing down the upper reaches of Ithboltar’s tower in a titanic crash and roar of falling stone.
One magelord’s body is flung from the wreckage and smashes into another nearby tower; the face of a servant, watching in fascinated horror from a window, was spattered with the wizard’s gore. *weakly* How… delightful. Further explosions continue to shake the remains of the tower, as it swayed, sagged sideways, and collapsed into utter ruin. In the courtyard below, armsmen flee in a panic (presumably the ones who didn’t get smooshed by the falling dragon…) and somewhere a raw screaming arose and went on and on, amid fresh rumblings. Do… do I even want to know what caused that? Myrjala drifts down to the courtyard with Elminster, when they’re suddenly accosted by a group of armsmen who demand to know what happened. Elminster says that Ithboltar got a word or two of a spell wrong, methinks and is this really the time for levity? The armsman asks Elminster who he is, and he introduces himself as Elminster, the son of Elthryn; the armsman asks if he caused this, and Elminster responds and if I did? Which… seems like daring the armsmen to try and arrest him, to me? Behind him, Myrjala conjures some twinkling lights and the armsmen literally turn and flee in a panic at the sight. Once they’re gone, she mockingly dismisses them, and then both she and Elminster have a laugh at the sight. *beat* I’m… starting to think I really don’t like either of these people very much? We then cut to Helm, together with Anauviir, Darrigo, and various other knights, fighting against the armsmen. They’re now surrounded on all sides, and it looks like they won’t last much longer, but Helm calls on them to fight on. Every armsman we take with us is one less to lord it over the realm! One of the armsmen manages to cut Darrigo’s cheek (and I don’t care at all, how odd…) and Helm runs him through in return, and the scene ends as he wonders where Elminster is and thinks they can’t hold out much longer (did… did none of them notice Ithboltar’s tower exploding?).
MG: And so, since Ithboltar is now indeed dead, a final word or two about him. For one, he feels like such a waste; despite being the ostensible leader of the magelords, he’s introduced so late in the story it barely feels like he matters, and even though he gets hyped up he doesn’t really do anything and then Elminster kills him off entirely casually with a single poorly explained spell, without even the dignity of a final battle. Seriously, we spend a lot less time on Ithboltar dying than we do on his tower collapsing afterwards! If anything, he’s an active liability to his own side, since when Elminster destroys his crown, it also sets off the chain of events that kills all the magelords linked to it. And, to add insult to injury, per his Villains’ Lorebook stats Ithboltar is a level 20 wizard. Which isn’t overwhelmingly powerful, by Faerunian standards, but still puts him equal or superior to a number of characters who rightly bear the title archmage – and it still doesn’t save him from going out like a complete chump. And that does, by the way, make him easily the strongest of the magelords who’ve been given official stats (with one possible exception – Undarl, officially, is the second strongest as an 18th level wizard, but I’m pretty sure his official stats lowball him for reasons I’ll get into next chapter, and he could very well be much stronger than that).
Potentially triggering material begins here.
Keeri: Ugh, let’s just get this over with. And we open our next scene with… King Belaur, a character we’ve heard a lot about but never actually seen before this point. Huh; after all this time, I wonder what sort of person our evil king/puppet of the magelords is actually like. What’s he planning; what makes him tick? King Belaur was wont to partake of evenfeast at the same time lesser men sought their morning meal. He would dine heavily on fresh fish slathered in froth-frosted cream, and then turn to venison and hare cooked in spiced wine. When he felt full to bursting, he’d retire to the royal chambers to sleep his belly’s load off. …and, he’s a lazy glutton. Figures. Well, Belaur gets up this particular morning (wait, did the tower exploding and the dragon crashing into the castle somehow not wake him up?) and strolls (naked, of course) into another, larger bedroom and warmer, livelier entertainment. *she blanches in realization* Oh, Desna help me, I don’t want to read this… Apparently, he really did sleep through all the destruction, though he dreamed of shakings and rumblings so I guess he vaguely noticed it, and on the bed in his outer chamber he finds two women waiting for him. One is Isparla ‘Serpenthips’ the leader of the Moonclaws (wait, “Serpenthips?” That sounds more like a nickname for a dancer or a prostitute than, you know, a master thief) who is languorous and dangerous and apparently wearing only some strategically placed diamonds; beside her, trembling in fear, is the new wench he’d noticed the evening before, who is wearing only a chain the magelords use to keep their captives pliant, which someone apparently polished so it gleams. *she shakes her head* Oh, Shandathe. I’m so, so sorry you got stuck with an author who can’t seem to think of anything to do with you but have you humiliated, captured and sexually assaulted. Again. Belaur grabs some wine and jumps onto the bed between them like a purring lion (does Greenwood know lions can’t purr? Or is this supposed to be Belaur’s mistake?) while wondering which of the women to enjoy first and, again, Desna help me, why are we reading this? Isparla at least seems willing and presses herself against him (so, uh, maybe take the option that doesn’t involve raping someone, Your Majesty?) and Belaur grabs her by her jewelry and literally starts fantasizing about tasting her blood, and ugh, Greenwood, stop it!
Thankfully, before things can progress any farther (Desna has heard me!) there’s a flash of light and Undarl appears in the room. Belaur stares in shock at the master of the magelords (uh, don’t think there’s a lot left to be master of at this point…) and demands to know What are you playing at now, wizard? Undarl tells him that they’re under attack, and Belaur needs to come with him if he wants to live; Belaur demands to know who dares to attack them, and Undarl says he’ll tell him later. Now move, or I’ll blast your head from your shoulders… all I need to take is the crown! Yeah, well, then you’d be without your puppet king – you planning to reconquer Athalantar all by yourself, Undarl? That might be a little hard… Belaur jumps to his feet, spilling wenches in both directions (gross…) and grabs his sword, fantasizing about stabbing Undarl while his back is turned, only for Undarl to wheel around with more speed than the swiftest sword in Belaur’s bodyguard and get in his face. Do. Not. Ever. Think. Of. Such. A. Deed… your daily survival depends on my magic. Well, you were literally just saying you’d kill Belaur yourself if he doesn’t do what you say… maybe he’s decided to take his chances? To prove his point, he turns Belaur’s sword into a snake, which rears back and hisses at him; it immediately turns back into a sword, but Belaur takes the hint and obediently follows Undarl out of the room, as the scene ends.
Potentially triggering material ends here.
Mira: We then find ourselves with Elminster and Myrjala; he tells her that there is something he’ll have to do alone, and she says she’ll be nearby if he needs her. He salutes her with the hilt of the Lion Sword and then turns and makes his way down the corridor, exhausted and with very few spells remaining. Servants and courtiers stop to stare, but quickly get out of his way; a few armsmen try to intercept them, but a spell he cast before parting with Myrjala holds them in place. One group of armsmen stands their ground before the doors to the main hall, but Elminster casts a sleep spell on them and then marches inside. The high room beyond was hung with banners and encircled by a high balcony; the walls were richly tapestried. Pillars flanked a carpet of deep forest green that ran straight from where he stood to a high seat alone at the other end of the room. The Stag Throne. What he’d fought his way toward – not just the chair, he reminded himself, but a land around it free of magelords. Ah, but if he has to remind himself, that makes it seem like he really was fixated on the chair itself, no? The room is already full of men and a handful of women (only a handful, really?) who are apparently waiting for Belaur to come in for early court. Excuse me, but did they not notice the exploding tower and the dragon, either? I don’t think ordinary court is going to be held today! Elminster ignores them and heads straight for the throne, which is guarded by a mountain of a man in gleaming coat-of-plate, standing patiently with a warhammer as long as he was tall in his hands. Oh, my. That sounds very heavy. The man steps forward and demands to know who Elminster is; he introduces himself as a prince and demands the guard stand aside. The guard refuses, so Elminster draws his sword, and the guard raises his hammer; they exchange blows, as the guard knocks aside Elminster’s sword and prepares to stab him on his hammer’s spike, and then Elminster casts a spell. The guard blinks, shakes his head as if disagreeing violently with something and then collapses unconscious to the floor. That was… sudden (though probably wiser than Elminster actually trying to fight him weapon to weapon would be!) and Elminster takes his seat on the throne, sword across his lap.
And no sooner has he done so than light flashes in the chamber; Undarl appears, flanked by a dozen armsmen with crossbows! He makes a chopping motion, and they all shoot, but the bolts bounce harmlessly off a magical shield around Elminster; Undarl orders them to fire again, and when Elminster tries another spell, it fails. El knew no magic would take hold where he sat now… the mage royal laughed and ordered the crossbowmen who hadn’t fired their quarrels yet to loose them. Oh, dear, that is a problem. Alas, I know Elminster survives this book, so it’s hard to be too concerned about it. Elminster jumps to his feet, and at the same moment one of the courtiers transforms into Myrjala, who casts a spell of her own and burns the crossbow bolts to ash in midflight. About what could be expected, then. The lead armsman orders his men to start shooting at her now, while Elminster is trying to find the border of the anti-magic field Undarl cast around the throne. Meanwhile, Undarl himself dispels Myrjala’s own shield, and Myrjala staggered, clutched at her breast where one bolt stood quivering, turned sidewise so he saw the second bolt standing in her side – and fell. Elminster screams in horror while Undarl laughs, but before Elminster can reach Myrjala’s body, she vanishes! In which case, I’m finding it extremely difficult to believe she’s dead… Elminster whirls on Undarl and casts a spell at him (excuse me, but he seems to be using quite a lot of spells for someone we were just told was nearly out…) and Undarl vanishes as well. But it turns out he wasn’t the target, as the armsmen’s armor suddenly bursts into flames. Crossbows crashed down over the rail, followed by one guard, armor blackened and blazing, who toppled over the gallery rail and crashed down atop a merchant, smashing him to the flagstones. I… am amazed any of the courtiers are still here once the magic and fighting started… And indeed, at this sight several of them scream and turn to flee (perhaps they should have done that earlier?). But before they can get out, the doors are flung open and Belaur marches inside, wearing only his breeches *she flushes*, oh, dear. He has a drawn sword in one hand and Undarl is walking at his side, so everyone backs away from them in fear; Elminster tries another spell and Undarl blocks it, with the only effect being the room shaking slightly. You’re on my ground now, Prince – and fool! And then no sooner has Undarl said that than he doubles over and collapses in pain. Why am I not surprised? Behind him, belt knife red to the hilt, stood a certain baker. It’s Hannibur! He apparently came to Athalgard looking for Shandathe, somehow wandered into court without anyone noticing, and stabbed Undarl as soon as he saw him. And, I think I see where Greenwood is going with this – the mage royal brought down by one of the common folk, turning on the magelords and the king after one too many abuses – but it’s really poorly set up. And I think it should have been Shandathe who got the blow – she was the one who was abducted and nearly raped, after all! Hannibur tries to finish the job, but Undarl manages to cast another spell, shattering his dagger and forcing him back, and conjuring a protective cage around himself.
Elminster takes the opportunity to put another cage around him, its glowing bars thicker and brighter than Undarl’s, to bind him in place. Hannibur, meanwhile, grabs a sword from a startled courtier and marches towards Belaur. One of the other courtiers tries to stop him, but Elminster freezes him in place and the rest of them back off. Elminster sat down again on the Stag Throne to watch his uncle come for him. It seemed a fitting place to wait. Excuse me, but doesn’t Belaur have a sword-wielding baker to worry about before he fights his nephew? Apparently not, as he steps forward and orders Elminster to get off his throne. I am Elminster, son of Elthryn – whom you had that caged snake over there murder. Beg pardon, but weren’t we earlier explicitly told that it was at Lord Hawklyn’s bidding that Undarl killed Elthryn and destroyed Heldon? So far as we know, Belaur had nothing to do with it (though I doubt he shed many tears for his brother). And this seat is as much mine as yours. Ah, I don’t think so? We don’t have monarchs in Hollowfaust, but Belaur was Uthgrael’s eldest son, no? And Uthgrael never disinherited him, so far as we heard? So Belaur legally should have more of a right to the throne than Elminster? Unless Elminster means that he forfeited his right to it when he became a tyrant and surrendered his power to the magelords, but… if so, say that? Anyway, Elminster jumps off the throne and raises his own sword to meet Belaur, and the chapter ends there.
MG: First off, I’d just like to say how weird it feels that Belaur ends up being one of the two end-of-the-book boss fights, along with Undarl (three if you count Ithboltar, who’s already been killed, but… that was barely a fight). For most of the book, Belaur’s just been a complete nonentity, who matters only because he’s the magelords’ puppet king. On the other hand, we’ve had a couple of intriguing hints that pointed to him being a prisoner of the magelords and trying to connive with Gartos behind their backs. And… then we meet him at the very last minute and find he’s a loathsome Caligula type with no redeeming qualities so Elminster can fight him and kill him with zero regrets. The bit with Shandathe is clearly meant to establish him as evil, since he’s barely been a character before this, and while it does do that, how it's handled just feels gross and exploitive. It almost feels like Greenwood realized Belaur was a loose end he’d need to wrap up and threw in the boss fight with him at the last minute, even though it’s not really supported by what the text has been building to so far (which has clearly established the magelords, not Belaur, as the enemy that needs to be defeated; not to mention that a large thrust of this book was that Elminster needed to learn magic to fight magic, but magic is something that Belaur – a 12th level fighter, per the Villains’ Lorebook - doesn’t have, so the battle for control of Athalantar, in a book called Making of a Mage, is going to come down to… a mundane sword fight). And no, I don’t know why Undarl said he only needed Belaur’s crown, with or without the man himself attached to it, either.
The rest of the chapter just feels like too much in too little space. The magelords are now dropping like flies in increasingly anticlimactic ways (including Ithboltar, ostensibly the most powerful of them all, having Elminster literally pop out of his crystal ball and blow his head off with one spell) as Elminster brings down their regime in a single night, with only around a week of planning beforehand. It doesn’t do a lot for their villain cred, I must say. And the whole bit about Myrjala sewing dissent among their ranks by pretending to be Undarl goes absolutely nowhere, since Elminster and friends just slaughter their way through the magelords effortlessly anyway. The dragon fight between Undarl and Braer could have been cool, but really just feels phoned in – I think it would have been better if Greenwood had established a personal enmity between the two characters (maybe Undarl was the one responsible for hunting out the dragons of the High Forest, to remove a rival for power?) but here it seems like they barely know who each other are. Various characters Elminster had met previously just… show up in Athalgard during the final battle; it’s clearly supposed to help tie the story together, but since we’re left with no real idea of why they’re here or what they’re doing, it all just falls pretty flat. And it’s kind of hard to take the attempts to add tension through the fight scenes between Helm’s knights and the armsmen, when Elminster is just walking through the battle with the real enemies with minimal problems (and even when he’s supposedly exhausted and out of spells… he still casts plenty of spells); and if you really think Myrjala’s dead, I’m not sure what to say. Anyway, next time we’ll have the last proper chapter of Elminster: The Making of a Mage, as Elminster has his final showdown with Belaur and Undarl, secrets are revealed, and Elminster himself has an important decision to make. We’re almost there, people! We’ll see you then!
This is a repost from Das_sporking2. Previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Elminster: The Making of a Mage, as we reach the penultimate chapter! Last time, the true leader of the magelords was introduced, for some reason at the very last minute (and in that time has already proved to be terrible at his job) while Elminster gathered some old friends and started taking the magelords on. Today, it’s the battle we’ve been waiting all book for – but will Greenwood manage to pull it off or not (and do you even have to ask)? Joining us once again will be Keeri and Mira!
Chapter Seventeen: For Athalantar
Keeri: Ugh. Well, at least we’re almost at the end… So, we start out with a quote from yet another ballad (seriously, leave the bardic arts the Abyss alone, Greenwood!) by Halindar Droun called Tears Never Cease, which sure sounds uplifting. In the name of a kingdom / many fell things are done. / In the name of a love / fairer things are won. *mouths it quietly to herself* So, uh, not that I disagree that the world would probably be a better place if more people valued love over power, but… Greenwood, your meter’s still bad, and your wording’s still clunky. Anyway, we open the chapter proper with Tassabra, as she’s reaching for a glowing armlet but stops when she hears a magelord’s voice (why does everybody seem to think robbing the magelords when they’re at home is the smart thing to do? Have you people never heard of planning ahead?). The magelord in question is Alarashan, who is leering at the trembling Nanatha, great – and describing to someone else how Nanatha told him how Myrjala “revealed” herself as Undarl before fleeing the scene last chapter. A second sour old voice speaks out of a scrying crystal and tells Alarashan to bring her to him, and he says he will, addressing the speaker as Old One, so I guess that’s Ithboltar. Alarashan and Nanatha then both vanish, leaving Tassabra alone – and damned lucky, in my opinion. She really ought to be thanking Tyche for that one. She finishes up looting various magical objects, then says she’s done and her elven shadow teleports her away as the scene ends.
We then cut to someone named Hathan, who I don’t think we’ve heard of before, as he walks across a courtyard, thinking to himself that his apprentices had better be ready when he gets there. Suddenly he stops and whirls around, to look up at the tallest tower of Hornkeep thinking to himself that he’d never heard the Old One sound so insistent before We then suddenly jump up into that tower to find ourselves with Undarl as he stares into a scrying bowl, watching a pair of griffons he’s captured fight and thinking to himself that if he can get them to mate with the spells he’s already put on them, the offspring would be flying armor-plated killers ruled by his will - yeah, well, considering the book’s almost done and this plan sounds like it’ll take a while, I’m not expecting much from it. Still, it makes Undarl think that with this he’d have taken his first step beyond what the most powerful sorcerers of his family had ever achieved, and he’s tired of waiting. Apparently, he can’t spend too much time on his research projects when he has rivals like that lizard-kisser Seldinor trying to take his position (uh, Undarl, I’ve got some news for you…) and then he’s suddenly distracted as Hathan telepathically contacts him. Oh, and we learn who Hathan is now – apparently, he's Undarl’s senior apprentice. Hathan makes a report, and we don’t get to hear it but apparently it leaves Undarl rattled, so I’d guess that bit earlier was Hathan hearing about the situation in Hastarl from Ithboltar and reporting it to his master in turn; he tells Hathan to go back to his own projects and then gets up and leaves the room, leaving the griffons behind him. He heads to a secret compartment, from which he takes several wands and some gems, and then finds one of his other apprentices, who greets him as Lord Master; but Undarl walks right past him and settles down on a balcony just beyond, where he starts working on a spell. The apprentice suddenly collapses, as do several others in other parts of the castle; the spell that brought down the sleep of ages would hold until Undarl ended it, the pedestal broke or crumbled away… and that would take a good thousand years or more. Anyone save Undarl himself who entered the Dragonrider’s Tower would fall into enspelled stasis, a sleep that held them unchanged as the world aged around them. Well, that’s one way to protect your tower from thieves, I guess (and, uh, is there any reason you caught your own apprentices in that trap too, O Mage Royal? Don’t you need all the help you can get right now?). He thinks that maybe he will let the spell stay up that long and see if Seldinor (why is he so worried about Seldinor specifically, anyway? Seldinor didn’t seem to be very ambitious – he just wanted to kill women and make golems out of their body parts, which is sick but not exactly a challenge to Undarl’s power) or anyone else tries to get in and gets caught in it too. Undarl thinks to himself that it would be easy to kill any rivals that he caught that way, while marching down a corridor lined with suits of armor that salute him as he passes, and then calls for someone named Anglathammaroth to come to him. A moment later, Undarl is gone and something huge and winged has left the castle and is flying south towards Hastarl. And considering his title is Undarl Dragonrider, I’m pretty sure I know what that something is…
Mira: Well, we then find ourselves with some armsmen as the warm, sweet smell of bread rolls out over them. They then throw open the door to the bakery to march in and find the baker, who is none other than our old friend Shandathe… oh, oh no, hasn’t that poor woman been through enough? The armsmen grab her, and two more of them hold her husband Hannibur at knifepoint (oh, and one of the armsmen steals a loaf of bread, too, for shame!). Shandathe yells for Hannibur to stay back for his own protection, and the lead armsman tells him that The King has seen your wife and fancies her. Be honored. *clutching her scarf tightly and rocking back and forth* Oh, I don’t like this… One of the other armsmen backhands Hannibur and knocks him out, and the scene ends.
MG: And, okay, let’s have it right out… this isn’t exactly supposed to be prima nocta, obviously, since it’s not Shandathe and Hannibur’s wedding night, but it’s clearly evoking the same general principle (and, for the record, while powerful men abusing their position to assault women is sadly all too common, prima nocta specifically doesn’t seem to have been a thing in real life – though it was the sort of thing people certainly liked to accuse enemy kings and lords of and has a long history in that sense, and similar behavior as a shorthand for bad or tyrannical kingship go all the way back to Gilgamesh). In this specific context, after he’s spent most of the book as a nonentity and figurehead, this is how Greenwood is going to be officially introducing us to Belaur… and apparently he needed to establish he’s totally evil after all (when previous chapters, if anything, have implied he was more the magelords’ victim than their collaborator) and went the quick and lazy route of establishing that he kidnaps and rapes random peasant women, even though this hasn’t even been hinted at before (and from how casual the armsmen are about the whole thing, it would seem to indicate we’re supposed to take this as a regular occurrence). Not is it gross and lazy, in my book, it also serves to cement, intentionally or otherwise, that Shandathe is the book’s punching bag, after everything else she was already put through in her previous appearances – and it also falls uncomfortably into the old trope of “if you want to motivate a man, hurt a woman,” since Hannibur is going to have a small but important role to play in the final confrontation, while Shandathe is basically just a prop to motivate her husband and establish Belaur’s evil cred. And ugh, I hate it.
Mira: *weakly* Me, too. Thankfully, we then cut to Farl, who is leading Helm through sewers under Athalgard; Helm is complaining about the smell, and I’d still rather be reading about this than… the other. Apparently, there are other secret passages that aren’t the sewer, but the magelords know about them. Folks who try to use them always end up the wizards’ spell chambers as part of some fatal magical experiment or other. And yet they didn’t think to trap the sewers? *shakes her head* For shame! Finally, they reach a shaft with handholds, because it’s where six glory holes meet and therefore has to be raked clean regularly *she wrinkles her nose disgustedly* Farl tells Anauviir, who’s also with them, that Briost’s chambers can be reached through some of the holes, and the others lead to apprentices’ chambers and a reading room (I hope he means a toilet adjacent to the reading room and not actually in it…) and the last to Alarashan’s chambers, which is where Farl and Helm will be going. Once they’re in the castle, if the alarm is raised Elminster will show himself, so the magelords will focus on him instead of on everyone else (how… generous of him); one of the knights wonders how Farl steals anything if he talks so much, and if he only robs from deaf people, and the scene ends. We then cut to one of Alarashan’s apprentices shrieking, which displeases him. He preferred willing wenches, but Undarl had forced this one idiot male youth on him… Am… am I the only one who’s noticed that the only female magelords are apprentices who are seemingly expected to service their masters sexually? *she shudders visibly* I don’t like this chapter already, and it’s only getting worse… Alarashan is sure this new apprentice is a spy, since he’s hopeless at magic too (I think Undarl needs to hire better people…) and finally thinks to check on him in the jakes, where he finds him dead with his trousers around his ankles. *she wrinkles her nose yet again* Lovely. Why do so many of these assaults on the magelords involve toilets and chamber pots? Someone shoves the apprentice’s body away, and Alarashan realizes what’s happening and stumbles back, to lie in wait just outside the room with a wand. And then suddenly a secret panel behind him opens up and someone hits him on the head with a cudgel, and his wand fell from nerveless, burning fingers. Ah, that was sudden. I suppose that’s it for Alarashan, then. And we don’t even know who killed him!
We then cut to Briost, as someone bursts out of his toilet (why?) only for him to blast them with his ring. He tries to blast a second attacker as well but misses as he has to dodge a thrown knife, which grazes his cheek. Briost is left stunned to feel his own blood flowing from the cut, as more attackers climb into the room, and by then, as the blades came at him from all sides, it was much too late. And… and that was even worse, as the scene ends there! We then cut to Ithboltar as his scrying crystal flashes; he motions for Nanatha to sit, and then the Old One, one-time tutor of most of the magelords, got up and glared at his crystal. Nanatha watches has he stares at the crystal and mutters to himself, and then suddenly hisses We’re being attacked… Briost? Briost, answer me! And then he apparently catches sight of Briost’s grim fate, as he suddenly starts tearing open his robes, to Nanatha’s (quite understandable) shock. She catches a glimpse of white grizzled hair on a sunken chest as Ithboltar manages to find his gem-covered skullcap (why was he hiding that inside his robes? That can’t be comfortable) and puts it on, leaving his hair sticking out wildly. At another time the apprentice might have giggled inwardly at the old archwizard’s ridiculous appearance – but not now. She was too terrified… of whatever might put such fear into the Old One, mightiest of all magelords. Well, this certainly isn’t making me take the situation any more seriously, I must admit… Ithboltar quickly casts a spell he’d hoped he’d never have to use (are we in his head now?) and the sound of shattering crystal fills the room as five magelords (all of them nameless and apparently interchangeable, very disappointing) appear, all of them stunned at how Ithboltar managed to bring them here by force and without their knowledge. But he won’t say how, only why. Together, we stand a chance against this threat. Alone, we are doomed. Beg pardon, but isn’t that how the magelords are supposed to normally operate? That they’re mediocre wizards individually, but very good at always ganging up together to crush any threat? Shouldn’t all of this be second nature for them already? Apparently not, and the scene ends there.
Keeri: Well, we cut to alarm bells sounding as a bunch of armsmen jump to their feet, complaining that this never happens (you know, between this and how easily the magelords all got robbed last time, I’m pretty sure the security in Athalgard must be terrible). First Sword Sauvar snaps that it’s happening now, and anything that scares a dozen magelords (we’ve killed a bunch over the last few chapters; how many are even left? Undarl, Ithboltar, and the five Ithboltar summoned makes seven, which isn’t exactly a “dozen”) ought to scare them two. And, wait, is the “First Sword” supposed to be the commander of all the armsmen? Why did we wait until now to introduce him? The armsman who first spoke is about to answer, when out of nowhere someone steps out of a side passage and puts a sword through his head. Yes, it’s that sudden. Sauvar curses and demands to know what’s going on, and the attacker introduces himself as Tharl Bloodbar (“Bloodbar?” Sounds like a pub for vampires!) Knight of Athalantar (who’s wearing armor we’re explicitly told is made from junk scavenged from a dozen battlefields, charming) and stabs; Sauvar tries to parry but doesn’t manage it, and the First Sword joined his fellow armsman on the passage floor. So, uh, what was the point of introducing the leader of the armsmen if he was just going to die immediately (and if he wasn’t the leader of the armsmen and First Sword means something else, why bother including this scene at all)? Why does Greenwood expect us to care when he keeps introducing minor antagonists and killing them off before we get to know them? I don’t get this! Finally, a bunch more armsmen come running up behind their dead commander (what took them so long?) and Tharl asks which of them is ready to die, and the scene ends.
We then cut to, of all people, Jansibal Otharr, one of the two magelords’s sons from all the way back in Chapter Four (one of the ones Elminster and Farl stripped naked and left in bed together, if you’ll recall) as he’s irritated that this is happening now. He finishes at his chamber pot (seriously, what is it with Greenwood and chamber pots lately?) and turns to look at the woman in his bed (with his elaborate codpiece dangling, because we really needed to know that) before getting ready to head out, since he knows the magelords will punish him if he ignores the warning for a little rutting (did we ever learn which magelord he’s the son of, by the way?). He tells the woman to wait for him and not drink too much of the wine, grabs his sword and heads out into the corridor, which is currently packed with armsmen and Jansibal’s rival Thelorn, the other magelord’s son from Chapter Four. Jansibal glares at him and puts his hand on his sword, knowing that an “accident” could easily happen in this crowded corridor, and Thelorn mockingly greets him as lover mine because clearly, we needed a reminder of that hilarious plot point. Jansibal tries to draw his sword, but by the time he manages it Thelorn has already swept away, and Jansibal is left fantasizing about how accidents can happen on a night like this, and the scene ends. And then we cut to Nanue Trumpettower, half of the young married couple from Chapter Six (whose wedding night Elminster, Farl and the Moonclaws ruined) and seriously, are we just running through a list of everyone Elminster ever met? Nanue wonders what’s going on, and her uncle-in-law (Greenwood finally seems to have settled on how they’re related) Darrigo takes the opportunity to ogle her – the lass is such a delicate little flower… wasted on young Peeryst, come to think… Stop! It! For the Abyss’s sake, not only are we meeting all these random people again, they all seem to be doing the exact same thing they were doing the last time we saw them, years ago! And didn’t we learn that Darrigo had fallen on hard times and left the city to become a farmer a few chapters ago? Guess that’s over with! Darrigo says that it’s the alarm bells and that he’ll go take a look, and then Peeryst draws his sword and says he’ll take a look and asks Darrigo to guard Nanue until he gets back (yeah, but maybe you should be wondering about who’ll guard Nanue from Darrigo?). Peeryst throws open the door to march outside, only for an armsman to immediately slam into him and knock him unconscious and into a wall. *flatly* Ha. Ha. And wait, are they in Athalgard itself? Why? They’re not magelords; they’re not related to the king. They didn’t live there the last time we saw them. I, just… why? And Darrigo is just annoyed that Peeryst is bleeding on the floor, and at the fuss Nanue is making over her light-‘o-love. *she sighs* What a caring uncle he is.
Mira: Well, then out of nowhere a noble goes running by their rooms and stabs Nanue while yelling at her to get out of the way. I… ah… what is going on here?! Fortunately, Nanue only got stabbed through the arm, but she is bleeding profusely, and this sets Darrigo off. He grabs Peeryst’s sword, shakes him awake, yells at him to bind Nanue’s wound using his shirt or hose, and then goes charging out into the corridor. Eventually, though he’s out of breath by the time he does it, he catches up to the noble, who is about to stab another noble in the back, the reek of his perfume swirling around him. Darrigo smacks him with the flat of his sword, and the noble whirls on him and attacks; Darrigo parries and starts ranting about how he dared set steel to a Trumpettower lass… and her unarmed! Would… would it have been more acceptable to attack Nanue for being vaguely in the way if she had been armed? The noble – who is, of course, none other than Jansibal – is forced to fall back as he realizes Darrigo is fighting seriously, while Thelorn just watches and laughs. When he mocks Jansibal for only fighting old men, Jansibal is distracted and Darrigo… cuts off his codpiece. Oh my, that felt symbolic. The fight a bit more, and finally Jansibal turns and flees, with Darrigo pursuing him… and then suddenly Jansibal collapses as a battered old warrior runs him through. Thelorn demands to know who he is, and it is, of course, Helm, who says he’s a knight but adds, taking in Thelorn’s garish clothes, that he’d have likely done better as a tailor. Thelorn asks if he’s loyal to King Belaur and the magelords and, ah, considering he’s rampaging through the castle killing nobles and armsmen, surely that’s not a difficult question to answer? And Helm says he’s not, and more of his knights come up behind him; Thelorn draws his sword and challenges them, but Helm doubts he’s any better in a fight than his dead friend was, which makes Thelorn angrily deny that Jansibal was his friend (is… is now really the time?). They trade a few taunts, and then Darrigo walks up and stabs Thelorn through the ear… ah, Thelorn wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person, but I’m not sure he deserved that. And then it turns out that Helm and Darrigo know each other and greet one another as old friends, because of course they do, why wasn’t I expecting that? Helm tells Darrigo he’s spent the last years as an outlaw killing armsmen, but I’ve found killing magelords more fun… care to join me? Darrigo grandly says he would, leaving Helm to complain about nobles (so Helm is a knight but not a noble? How did that even…) as the scene ends.
We then cut to the magelords, staring suspiciously at Ithboltar and each other, when the window to Ithboltar’s tower suddenly shatters and the grand figure of a mage as tall as two men, white bearded and crowned with fire strides in, holding a glowing staff. At once all the magelords unleash combat spells on him, which causes half the tower chamber to collapse… and we cut to Elminster, watching through a stolen scrying crystal, as he compliments Myrjala on her illusion and says that the magelords wasted some of their most powerful spells on it. Myrjala says that they won’t be able to catch them with that trick again, though, and now the magelords are all together in an isolated tower where the knights won’t be able to outnumber them. Elminster says that they’ll just have to do this the hard way, then, which prospect fills me with dread, and the scene ends. We then cut to a stairwell somewhere else, as Tassabra shoots her crossbow into an advancing force of armsmen while an elf with her casts a spell that blinds them and sends them running, and then a thief jumping out and stabbing some of them sends the entire armsmen force attacking each other. *shocked* Oh, dear. I… guess the armsmen take after their masters in terms of competence and organization, then? Farl starts laughing at the site, and Tassabra demands to know how he can (ah, perhaps you should have asked such questions before you married him?). Farl just says that each of them who dies is one less they’ll have to worry about, and he’s wanted to kill armsmen like this for years without fear of the magelords, and now he can, and they’ve no one to blame for their deaths but themselves. Let me enjoy it, will you? That’s… remarkably bloodthirsty of you. And I seriously doubt the armsmen would have started killing each other like this if you hadn’t tricked them into it… beside him, Braer is also satisfied at the sight, though he at least has the decency not to gloat openly. And then he’s suddenly pulled up short as a warning spell goes off in his mind. My own battle begins, I fear. He begins another spell, and wings sprouted and spread, scales shone silver in the flickering torchlight, and a dragon shifted its bulk experimentally for a breath before bounding up through the window. And I am… absolutely astounded a dragon fit in what seems to have been a rather narrow stairwell! Tassabra watches him go, eyes wide, and then collapses into a faint, while Farl catches her and wryly comments that she never used to do this (and am I the only one who noticed that it was the woman who fainted while her equally shocked husband took it in stride?). And one of the other elves takes the moment to stroke Tassabra’s hair while she’s unconscious, for no readily apparent reason, and the scene ends there.
Keeri: Yeah, it’s Greenwood, so I don’t want to know. We cut to Undarl as he flies towards Hastarl on his dragon, seemingly aware of what’s going on (divination spells? Hathan’s report?). Something was seriously amiss, magelords fighting magelords, a rebel mob inside the castle… didn’t these fools know hated rulers will be attacked by commoners the moment they show weakness? Yeah, wasn’t there some famous Chelish philosopher or other who said that it’s better to be feared than loved, but the one thing no ruler should ever let themselves be is hated? Seems about right. Except I don’t think there are any magelords fighting magelords, if only because all this is moving so fast that Elminster (or the author…) hasn’t given them time… Undarl angrily thinks to himself that if it hadn’t been for Ithboltar, he could have kept all the magelords tightly under his control and none of this would’ve happened (yeah, based on his past track record, I’m sure Ithboltar… complained ineffectively at you). He commands his great black dragon to dive towards the city (wait, didn’t Undarl ride a red dragon when he attacked Heldon?) …
MG: Yes, he did, and no this isn’t a plot hole for once.
Keeri: Well, that fills me with dread. Anyway, Undarl is startled to see a silver dragon rising to meet them, and wonders if this is some sort of trick by a rival magelord (okay, the only silver dragon I’ve known was Terendalev, and I didn’t know her long because of… what happened… but I don’t think she’d have lifted a talon to help any of the magelords) and unleashes the strongest spell he has prepared, spheres of black, chilling deathflame. And Braer of course immediately dodges, and the fireballs vanish harmlessly. *she sighs* Figures. Undarl pulls out a wand and starts firing it, scoring a wound on Braer’s side; he’s forced to veer away and Undarl chases after him, laughing. We then cut to the streets below, as common people are looking up in the early morning light in shock to see two dragons fighting in the sky above them. Yeah, I’d probably be doing the same, even with some of the things I’ve seen. They see the magic flashing and realize that the black dragon must be carrying the mage royal, not caring if death rained down on the citizens below, but don’t know who the silver dragon is. Meanwhile, the black dragon spews a jet of acid that rains down on the city, and the nameless carter whose point of view we’re in realizes there’s no safe place to be in the middle of a dragon fight. He sees people start to panic around him, but he realizes that won’t help, and figures he’ll never see such a thing again even if he does survive, so he decides to stay and watch until the end. And, I mean, maybe it’s not very smart of him, but on the other hand… I really can’t blame him for that. I mean, it’s a dragon fight. Who wouldn’t want to watch it? We then cut to Braer’s point of view, as he dodges the bolts from Undarl’s wand while working on some magic of his own. Undarl yells at him to stand and fight before managing to score a hit on Braer’s tail, filling him with agony. We’re then in Undarl’s head as he deflects Braer’s spell harmlessly, then urges his black dragon to dive, and end the battle now. They do, but Braer manages to dodge away again, and Undarl realizes that they’ve built up enough momentum that they’re now hurtling towards the city. *she applauds sarcastically* Great job, everyone! Undarl twists around and tries to blast Braer again, at point blank range… but it turns out that Braer’s spell didn’t fail after all, it conjured an invisible shield around Undarl himself! The mage royal roared out in helpless fear as the rebounding bolt crashed into him. Faerun seemed to explode around him. Huh. On the one hand, that… was actually a clever move on Braer’s part. On the other… the fight wasn’t terribly exciting to begin with (seriously, it’s a dragon battle; how do you mess that up? It’s the sort of topic bards kill for – possibly literally!) so it can’t help but feel anticlimactic. And so Undarl is blasted out of his saddle by the force of his own spell and sent hurtling over Hastarl, on fire and with one of his arms blown off. Anglathammaroth the black dragon also falls out of the sky, since he lost a good chunk of his back to the explosion and the wound is now streaming gore into the wind, lovely. Screaming in agony, he crashes right into Athalgard.
The crash shook all Hastarl… Braer saw those black wings crumple like those of a crushed insect – and the castle tower they’d struck shifted, cracked and with a thunderous roar, toppled over into the courtyard below. Doomed armsmen screamed as they saw death coming down on them; Braer closed his eyes so as not to see the destruction. *flatly* How decent of him. And how good for Greenwood to assure us by fortunate chance that only bad guys (apparently) died in that crash! How lucky! Well, Braer’s mortally wounded too, as it happens; he slips back into elven form and falls from the sky, barely having time for one last prayer to Mystra. Suddenly, someone catches him in midflight, and he opens his eyes to recognize his rescuer. It was Elminster’s colleague, Myrjala, and yet – Braer’s eyes widened in recognition and awe. “Lady?” Oh, no, no, no, please Greenwood, please don’t be implying what I think you’re implying… We then suddenly cut to a deep, dank cellar, below the sewers of Athalgard, where a sudden fire appears and drives away the small vermin nearby. Blood and formless flesh curled and flowed at its heart; flesh that blurred and coiled and spasmed as all that was left of Undarl Dragonrider fought to rebuild his body. *visibly squicked* Well, that’s… new. Undarl is left panting from the effort as he forces himself to pull himself back together, one limb at a time; several times he slipped towards his true form, but each time regained the semblance he wanted – a taller, more regal Undarl… he could weave all matter to his will, given time enough. And so, the scene ends as Undarl finishes regrowing his missing arm, praying to the gods to just give him the little bit more time he needs.
Mira: Hmm; it’s not my area, but I think some of the guilds back home might be interested in studying Undarl’s abilities – the Anatomists, surely, and possibly also the Disciples of the Abyss... But perhaps now is not the time? Moving on, we find ourselves in Ithboltar’s chambers, where the magelords are startled from their bickering as Elminster rose like a vengeful wraith from Ithboltar’s crystal. I admit, I… wasn’t expecting that. The magelords stumble back in shock, but Elminster keeps his gaze fixed on Ithboltar as he whispered the last careful words of a mighty incantation. And when he’s done, the floor of the chamber splits open as gems, blazing like tiny fireballs, flew in all directions from the Old One’s crown. Ithboltar – understandably – screams in pain and clutches his head as Elminster vanishes again; meanwhile the magelords watch in horror as smoke was rising from their staggering ex-tutor’s eyes. Bolts of energy start shooting out of the ruined crown, blasting the other magelords into the walls; meanwhile, Myrjala, watching from a nearby balcony (shouldn’t this have been a private room?) teleports a badly weakened Elminster to her side. And then the crown exploded, white bolts of destruction stabbing out in all directions… Ithboltar’s headless body swayed for a moment, took one unsteady step forward, and fell. And so passes the mightiest of all the magelords. I would say it was too easy… but I’ve read too much of this book to be surprised. Meanwhile, one of the magelords has collapsed against the wall, gibbering mindlessly, while another has been burned down to a smoking heap of bones and ashes. Meanwhile the others are still trying to escape, but the energy from the crown is forming into a vortex in the center of the room, making the whole castle shake. Myrjala casts a divination and realizes that the remains of the crown’s magic must be holding the magelords in the room (did you really need to waste a spell to learn that? I thought it was obvious…) and then suddenly the vortex slams the magelords back into the walls, and then collapses on itself, bringing down the upper reaches of Ithboltar’s tower in a titanic crash and roar of falling stone.
One magelord’s body is flung from the wreckage and smashes into another nearby tower; the face of a servant, watching in fascinated horror from a window, was spattered with the wizard’s gore. *weakly* How… delightful. Further explosions continue to shake the remains of the tower, as it swayed, sagged sideways, and collapsed into utter ruin. In the courtyard below, armsmen flee in a panic (presumably the ones who didn’t get smooshed by the falling dragon…) and somewhere a raw screaming arose and went on and on, amid fresh rumblings. Do… do I even want to know what caused that? Myrjala drifts down to the courtyard with Elminster, when they’re suddenly accosted by a group of armsmen who demand to know what happened. Elminster says that Ithboltar got a word or two of a spell wrong, methinks and is this really the time for levity? The armsman asks Elminster who he is, and he introduces himself as Elminster, the son of Elthryn; the armsman asks if he caused this, and Elminster responds and if I did? Which… seems like daring the armsmen to try and arrest him, to me? Behind him, Myrjala conjures some twinkling lights and the armsmen literally turn and flee in a panic at the sight. Once they’re gone, she mockingly dismisses them, and then both she and Elminster have a laugh at the sight. *beat* I’m… starting to think I really don’t like either of these people very much? We then cut to Helm, together with Anauviir, Darrigo, and various other knights, fighting against the armsmen. They’re now surrounded on all sides, and it looks like they won’t last much longer, but Helm calls on them to fight on. Every armsman we take with us is one less to lord it over the realm! One of the armsmen manages to cut Darrigo’s cheek (and I don’t care at all, how odd…) and Helm runs him through in return, and the scene ends as he wonders where Elminster is and thinks they can’t hold out much longer (did… did none of them notice Ithboltar’s tower exploding?).
MG: And so, since Ithboltar is now indeed dead, a final word or two about him. For one, he feels like such a waste; despite being the ostensible leader of the magelords, he’s introduced so late in the story it barely feels like he matters, and even though he gets hyped up he doesn’t really do anything and then Elminster kills him off entirely casually with a single poorly explained spell, without even the dignity of a final battle. Seriously, we spend a lot less time on Ithboltar dying than we do on his tower collapsing afterwards! If anything, he’s an active liability to his own side, since when Elminster destroys his crown, it also sets off the chain of events that kills all the magelords linked to it. And, to add insult to injury, per his Villains’ Lorebook stats Ithboltar is a level 20 wizard. Which isn’t overwhelmingly powerful, by Faerunian standards, but still puts him equal or superior to a number of characters who rightly bear the title archmage – and it still doesn’t save him from going out like a complete chump. And that does, by the way, make him easily the strongest of the magelords who’ve been given official stats (with one possible exception – Undarl, officially, is the second strongest as an 18th level wizard, but I’m pretty sure his official stats lowball him for reasons I’ll get into next chapter, and he could very well be much stronger than that).
Potentially triggering material begins here.
Keeri: Ugh, let’s just get this over with. And we open our next scene with… King Belaur, a character we’ve heard a lot about but never actually seen before this point. Huh; after all this time, I wonder what sort of person our evil king/puppet of the magelords is actually like. What’s he planning; what makes him tick? King Belaur was wont to partake of evenfeast at the same time lesser men sought their morning meal. He would dine heavily on fresh fish slathered in froth-frosted cream, and then turn to venison and hare cooked in spiced wine. When he felt full to bursting, he’d retire to the royal chambers to sleep his belly’s load off. …and, he’s a lazy glutton. Figures. Well, Belaur gets up this particular morning (wait, did the tower exploding and the dragon crashing into the castle somehow not wake him up?) and strolls (naked, of course) into another, larger bedroom and warmer, livelier entertainment. *she blanches in realization* Oh, Desna help me, I don’t want to read this… Apparently, he really did sleep through all the destruction, though he dreamed of shakings and rumblings so I guess he vaguely noticed it, and on the bed in his outer chamber he finds two women waiting for him. One is Isparla ‘Serpenthips’ the leader of the Moonclaws (wait, “Serpenthips?” That sounds more like a nickname for a dancer or a prostitute than, you know, a master thief) who is languorous and dangerous and apparently wearing only some strategically placed diamonds; beside her, trembling in fear, is the new wench he’d noticed the evening before, who is wearing only a chain the magelords use to keep their captives pliant, which someone apparently polished so it gleams. *she shakes her head* Oh, Shandathe. I’m so, so sorry you got stuck with an author who can’t seem to think of anything to do with you but have you humiliated, captured and sexually assaulted. Again. Belaur grabs some wine and jumps onto the bed between them like a purring lion (does Greenwood know lions can’t purr? Or is this supposed to be Belaur’s mistake?) while wondering which of the women to enjoy first and, again, Desna help me, why are we reading this? Isparla at least seems willing and presses herself against him (so, uh, maybe take the option that doesn’t involve raping someone, Your Majesty?) and Belaur grabs her by her jewelry and literally starts fantasizing about tasting her blood, and ugh, Greenwood, stop it!
Thankfully, before things can progress any farther (Desna has heard me!) there’s a flash of light and Undarl appears in the room. Belaur stares in shock at the master of the magelords (uh, don’t think there’s a lot left to be master of at this point…) and demands to know What are you playing at now, wizard? Undarl tells him that they’re under attack, and Belaur needs to come with him if he wants to live; Belaur demands to know who dares to attack them, and Undarl says he’ll tell him later. Now move, or I’ll blast your head from your shoulders… all I need to take is the crown! Yeah, well, then you’d be without your puppet king – you planning to reconquer Athalantar all by yourself, Undarl? That might be a little hard… Belaur jumps to his feet, spilling wenches in both directions (gross…) and grabs his sword, fantasizing about stabbing Undarl while his back is turned, only for Undarl to wheel around with more speed than the swiftest sword in Belaur’s bodyguard and get in his face. Do. Not. Ever. Think. Of. Such. A. Deed… your daily survival depends on my magic. Well, you were literally just saying you’d kill Belaur yourself if he doesn’t do what you say… maybe he’s decided to take his chances? To prove his point, he turns Belaur’s sword into a snake, which rears back and hisses at him; it immediately turns back into a sword, but Belaur takes the hint and obediently follows Undarl out of the room, as the scene ends.
Potentially triggering material ends here.
Mira: We then find ourselves with Elminster and Myrjala; he tells her that there is something he’ll have to do alone, and she says she’ll be nearby if he needs her. He salutes her with the hilt of the Lion Sword and then turns and makes his way down the corridor, exhausted and with very few spells remaining. Servants and courtiers stop to stare, but quickly get out of his way; a few armsmen try to intercept them, but a spell he cast before parting with Myrjala holds them in place. One group of armsmen stands their ground before the doors to the main hall, but Elminster casts a sleep spell on them and then marches inside. The high room beyond was hung with banners and encircled by a high balcony; the walls were richly tapestried. Pillars flanked a carpet of deep forest green that ran straight from where he stood to a high seat alone at the other end of the room. The Stag Throne. What he’d fought his way toward – not just the chair, he reminded himself, but a land around it free of magelords. Ah, but if he has to remind himself, that makes it seem like he really was fixated on the chair itself, no? The room is already full of men and a handful of women (only a handful, really?) who are apparently waiting for Belaur to come in for early court. Excuse me, but did they not notice the exploding tower and the dragon, either? I don’t think ordinary court is going to be held today! Elminster ignores them and heads straight for the throne, which is guarded by a mountain of a man in gleaming coat-of-plate, standing patiently with a warhammer as long as he was tall in his hands. Oh, my. That sounds very heavy. The man steps forward and demands to know who Elminster is; he introduces himself as a prince and demands the guard stand aside. The guard refuses, so Elminster draws his sword, and the guard raises his hammer; they exchange blows, as the guard knocks aside Elminster’s sword and prepares to stab him on his hammer’s spike, and then Elminster casts a spell. The guard blinks, shakes his head as if disagreeing violently with something and then collapses unconscious to the floor. That was… sudden (though probably wiser than Elminster actually trying to fight him weapon to weapon would be!) and Elminster takes his seat on the throne, sword across his lap.
And no sooner has he done so than light flashes in the chamber; Undarl appears, flanked by a dozen armsmen with crossbows! He makes a chopping motion, and they all shoot, but the bolts bounce harmlessly off a magical shield around Elminster; Undarl orders them to fire again, and when Elminster tries another spell, it fails. El knew no magic would take hold where he sat now… the mage royal laughed and ordered the crossbowmen who hadn’t fired their quarrels yet to loose them. Oh, dear, that is a problem. Alas, I know Elminster survives this book, so it’s hard to be too concerned about it. Elminster jumps to his feet, and at the same moment one of the courtiers transforms into Myrjala, who casts a spell of her own and burns the crossbow bolts to ash in midflight. About what could be expected, then. The lead armsman orders his men to start shooting at her now, while Elminster is trying to find the border of the anti-magic field Undarl cast around the throne. Meanwhile, Undarl himself dispels Myrjala’s own shield, and Myrjala staggered, clutched at her breast where one bolt stood quivering, turned sidewise so he saw the second bolt standing in her side – and fell. Elminster screams in horror while Undarl laughs, but before Elminster can reach Myrjala’s body, she vanishes! In which case, I’m finding it extremely difficult to believe she’s dead… Elminster whirls on Undarl and casts a spell at him (excuse me, but he seems to be using quite a lot of spells for someone we were just told was nearly out…) and Undarl vanishes as well. But it turns out he wasn’t the target, as the armsmen’s armor suddenly bursts into flames. Crossbows crashed down over the rail, followed by one guard, armor blackened and blazing, who toppled over the gallery rail and crashed down atop a merchant, smashing him to the flagstones. I… am amazed any of the courtiers are still here once the magic and fighting started… And indeed, at this sight several of them scream and turn to flee (perhaps they should have done that earlier?). But before they can get out, the doors are flung open and Belaur marches inside, wearing only his breeches *she flushes*, oh, dear. He has a drawn sword in one hand and Undarl is walking at his side, so everyone backs away from them in fear; Elminster tries another spell and Undarl blocks it, with the only effect being the room shaking slightly. You’re on my ground now, Prince – and fool! And then no sooner has Undarl said that than he doubles over and collapses in pain. Why am I not surprised? Behind him, belt knife red to the hilt, stood a certain baker. It’s Hannibur! He apparently came to Athalgard looking for Shandathe, somehow wandered into court without anyone noticing, and stabbed Undarl as soon as he saw him. And, I think I see where Greenwood is going with this – the mage royal brought down by one of the common folk, turning on the magelords and the king after one too many abuses – but it’s really poorly set up. And I think it should have been Shandathe who got the blow – she was the one who was abducted and nearly raped, after all! Hannibur tries to finish the job, but Undarl manages to cast another spell, shattering his dagger and forcing him back, and conjuring a protective cage around himself.
Elminster takes the opportunity to put another cage around him, its glowing bars thicker and brighter than Undarl’s, to bind him in place. Hannibur, meanwhile, grabs a sword from a startled courtier and marches towards Belaur. One of the other courtiers tries to stop him, but Elminster freezes him in place and the rest of them back off. Elminster sat down again on the Stag Throne to watch his uncle come for him. It seemed a fitting place to wait. Excuse me, but doesn’t Belaur have a sword-wielding baker to worry about before he fights his nephew? Apparently not, as he steps forward and orders Elminster to get off his throne. I am Elminster, son of Elthryn – whom you had that caged snake over there murder. Beg pardon, but weren’t we earlier explicitly told that it was at Lord Hawklyn’s bidding that Undarl killed Elthryn and destroyed Heldon? So far as we know, Belaur had nothing to do with it (though I doubt he shed many tears for his brother). And this seat is as much mine as yours. Ah, I don’t think so? We don’t have monarchs in Hollowfaust, but Belaur was Uthgrael’s eldest son, no? And Uthgrael never disinherited him, so far as we heard? So Belaur legally should have more of a right to the throne than Elminster? Unless Elminster means that he forfeited his right to it when he became a tyrant and surrendered his power to the magelords, but… if so, say that? Anyway, Elminster jumps off the throne and raises his own sword to meet Belaur, and the chapter ends there.
MG: First off, I’d just like to say how weird it feels that Belaur ends up being one of the two end-of-the-book boss fights, along with Undarl (three if you count Ithboltar, who’s already been killed, but… that was barely a fight). For most of the book, Belaur’s just been a complete nonentity, who matters only because he’s the magelords’ puppet king. On the other hand, we’ve had a couple of intriguing hints that pointed to him being a prisoner of the magelords and trying to connive with Gartos behind their backs. And… then we meet him at the very last minute and find he’s a loathsome Caligula type with no redeeming qualities so Elminster can fight him and kill him with zero regrets. The bit with Shandathe is clearly meant to establish him as evil, since he’s barely been a character before this, and while it does do that, how it's handled just feels gross and exploitive. It almost feels like Greenwood realized Belaur was a loose end he’d need to wrap up and threw in the boss fight with him at the last minute, even though it’s not really supported by what the text has been building to so far (which has clearly established the magelords, not Belaur, as the enemy that needs to be defeated; not to mention that a large thrust of this book was that Elminster needed to learn magic to fight magic, but magic is something that Belaur – a 12th level fighter, per the Villains’ Lorebook - doesn’t have, so the battle for control of Athalantar, in a book called Making of a Mage, is going to come down to… a mundane sword fight). And no, I don’t know why Undarl said he only needed Belaur’s crown, with or without the man himself attached to it, either.
The rest of the chapter just feels like too much in too little space. The magelords are now dropping like flies in increasingly anticlimactic ways (including Ithboltar, ostensibly the most powerful of them all, having Elminster literally pop out of his crystal ball and blow his head off with one spell) as Elminster brings down their regime in a single night, with only around a week of planning beforehand. It doesn’t do a lot for their villain cred, I must say. And the whole bit about Myrjala sewing dissent among their ranks by pretending to be Undarl goes absolutely nowhere, since Elminster and friends just slaughter their way through the magelords effortlessly anyway. The dragon fight between Undarl and Braer could have been cool, but really just feels phoned in – I think it would have been better if Greenwood had established a personal enmity between the two characters (maybe Undarl was the one responsible for hunting out the dragons of the High Forest, to remove a rival for power?) but here it seems like they barely know who each other are. Various characters Elminster had met previously just… show up in Athalgard during the final battle; it’s clearly supposed to help tie the story together, but since we’re left with no real idea of why they’re here or what they’re doing, it all just falls pretty flat. And it’s kind of hard to take the attempts to add tension through the fight scenes between Helm’s knights and the armsmen, when Elminster is just walking through the battle with the real enemies with minimal problems (and even when he’s supposedly exhausted and out of spells… he still casts plenty of spells); and if you really think Myrjala’s dead, I’m not sure what to say. Anyway, next time we’ll have the last proper chapter of Elminster: The Making of a Mage, as Elminster has his final showdown with Belaur and Undarl, secrets are revealed, and Elminster himself has an important decision to make. We’re almost there, people! We’ll see you then!
