![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
masterghandalfThis is a repost from Das_sporking2. Previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
Warning: This chapter continues the magical enslavement plotline, along with violence and some deaths.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Elminster in Myth Drannor! Last time, we had an inexplicable and irrelevant twenty-year timeskip, learned just how The Masked has been abusing Elminster over the course of his “apprenticeship” (and how Elminster inexplicably respects the bastard anyway) and met Elminster’s girl-of-the-book, Nacacia, who as of now has had no lines and almost no personality. Today, we have another short one as we start to find out just what The Masked has been training Elminster for all along. Joining us once again will be Calassara and Mira!
Chapter Eighteen: In the Web
Calassara: Just please tell me we’re not going to have another time skip this chapter; I think I can handle anything but that. And so, we open with a quote from, of course, the gossip rag. There comes a day at last when even the most patient and exacting of scheming traitors grows impatient, and breaks forth into open treachery. Henceforth, he must deal with the world as it is, reacting around him, and not as he sees or desires it to be in his thoughts or dreams. This is the point at which many treacheries go awry. The sorcerer known as The Masked was, however, no ordinary traitor – if one may think of an “ordinary traitor.” The historian of Cormanthor, reaching back far enough, can do so, finding many ordinary treacheries, but this was not one of them. This was the stuff of which wailing doom-ballads are made. *snorts* “Wailing doom-ballads,” seriously? I might be guilty of getting a little melodramatic, under the right circumstances, but that just sounds silly. Also, here I was thinking that most traitors come out into the open not because they’re impatient, but because their plans eventually require action, not just sitting around thinking about it. *beat* Then again, these are Greenwood antagonists, and considering the ordinary level of intelligence of Greenwood antagonists… do carry on. Live down to my expectations.
MG: And the thing is, as we’ll see over the next few chapters, The Masked is definitely a traitor, and his scheme is definitely evil, but compared to how it’s being hyped up here, it’s also… rather mundane and more than a little underwhelming. Certainly it doesn’t seem like it would be enough to inspire “wailing doom-ballads” in a civilization that, I remind you once again, has the Crown Wars and House Dlardrageth in its history.
Calassara: …*sigh* I am disappointed, but not surprised. Well, we open the chapter proper right where we left off, as Elminster pulls himself out of the spells he’s been weaving with Nacacia and gathers his thoughts, while The Masked tells him to get clear. He sends Nacacia over to a couch in the corner, calls Elminster over to his side, and they hurry to obey, knowing his impatience was apt to flare at such times. *rolling her eyes* Being terrified of your master’s violent temper – I guess that’s just another sign of mutual respect between master and apprentices, eh, Greenwood? Once they’re clear, The Masked triggers the spell web they were working on, and a vision appears in the air in front of them. It was a view of a house El had never seen before, one of the sprawling country mansions made by elves. A house that lived, growing slowly larger as the centuries passed. Huh; you know, that might be a roundabout way of saying that the house is constantly being added on to… but it makes it sound like it’s growing of its own accord, which is oddly horrifying. This one had been standing for more than a thousand years, by the looks of it… an old house, a proud house. A house that would be standing only a few moments more. Ah, but of course – can’t go too long without gratuitous violence, or a Greenwood villain having to go out of their way to show how evil they are! El watched grimly as the unleashed magics of the spell web shattered its magical shields, set off its attack spells and forced their discharges back inwards to strike at the heart of the old house, and snatched guardian creatures and steeds from their posts and stables, only to dash them back against the walls, right through the full fury of the awakened spells, reducing them to raglike, bloody tatters. *sigh* See what I mean? And aren’t you just so proud to be a part of this, Elminster?
Mira: Sadly, we’re not done. It took only a few minutes to alter the proud, soaring house of mighty branches and lush leaves to a smoking crater flanked by two splintered, precariously wavering fragments of blackened and splintered trunk. Misshapen things that might have been bodies were still raining down around the wreckage when the spell web drank its own scene, and the air went dark again. Well, that’s… horrible. And I hope The Masked is ready to deal with vengeful ghosts, because… that… is sure to have produced some! Though, maybe I’d be more horrified if I had any idea who lived there, or what The Masked hoped to accomplish by killing them all? Well, before Elminster can even react to what he just witnessed – and caused; he and Nacacia did make the spell web, after all… - he suddenly finds himself teleported away. He was standing in a clearing deep in the forest with The Masked reclining at ease on empty air nearby, and no sign of Nacacia or any elven habitation. The narration then repeats that they’re deep in the forest, despite literally having just said that – did, did Greenwood actually edit this after writing it? I have my doubts… Elminster wonders if The Masked had somehow eavesdropped on his vision from Mystra, and then turns his attention to the clearing, which is just an odd semicircular patch in the forest that’s completely bare. Finally, The Masked tells Elminster that he’s about to teach him a spell, and the desolate clearing is what is left behind after you cast it (I’m not sure that’s the sort of spell that one should want to learn…)
Elminster only asks if it’s something powerful (if it can reduce a noticeable section of the forest to desolation, I can only presume it is!) and The Masked agrees that properly used, it can make its caster nigh invincible (which is… why you’re teaching it to your abused slave who hates you?). The Masked then adds that he’s already used it himself (and yet, I have the strangest feeling he’s not going to survive this book, so… not so invincible?) and commands Elminster to lie down on the border between the forest and the clearing. Ah, in my experience, learning a spell requires a lot of recitation and copying (and Nemorga help the wizard who can’t read their own handwriting! I knew another apprentice once who… well, perhaps for another time…) and not much lying on the ground in specific places. Perhaps things are just different on Toril? But Elminster thinks that when The Masked takes that tone one didn’t hesitate or argue and scrambles down onto the ground. As soon as he does, he can feel The Masked’s cold fingers on his neck, a feeling they only have when a spell was being slipped into his mind… without need for studying or instruction… Well, that explains that… I guess? Though it makes me wonder why The Masked even bothers with apprentices, if he can just place magic in peoples’ minds like that… Anyway, the spell lets the caster enhance the power of another spell they know, either doubling its strength or producing a duplicate of it. To do so, it drained life force – from a tree. Or a sentient being… it left utter lifelessness in its wake. And elves had wrought this? After all he’s done, does The Masked being evil really surprise you? And I’ll note that some of the most notorious mages in my own world are elves, and Faerun’s elves don’t exactly have clean hands either, so… why the surprise? And I can think of certain exiles from my own city who would be perfectly happy to use such magic…
Calassara: Yeah, Elminster, I can’t say I’m terribly impressed that you’re apparently surprised to learn that your evil, abusive master… is evil, and uses evil magic. What a shock. Elminster asks when he should use it, and The Masked tells him to save it for an emergency, when he himself or whatever cause he might be serving at the moment is in the most peril. When all else is lost, the only immoral act is to avoid doing something you know can aid your cause. This is such a spell. Well, there are various philosophical schools that might weigh in on that issue, but I won’t get into that here - but I will say, it’s kind of ironic to be lectured on morality by a godsdamned slaver. That is all. As for Elminster, for the first time in twenty years (still can’t get over that, by the way…) he hears real emotion in his master’s voice. Mystra, El thought, he loves the thought of utterly smashing a foe, regardless of the cost! *she snorts* Yeah, well, you’re one to talk – I still say it’s a miracle that no one innocent died (that we heard of…) when you blew up Ithboltar’s tower, or when Braer dropped Undarl’s dragon into the middle of a city. And again, how is this a surprise to you? You’ve been the subject of the bastard’s abuses for twenty years – you know full well what he is! Elminster doubts he’ll ever be comfortable using this spell (I can only imagine you’ll be changing your tune rather quickly, when the time comes…) and The Masked doesn’t care if he’s comfortable so long as he’s capable of it. That’s why, tonight, Elminster is going to be using the spell against an enemy of Cormanthor, per a decree of the Coronal’s that it should only be used in direct defense of the realm or of an imperiled elven elder. Elminster just stares at The Masked’s, uh, mask for a bit, wondering what powers it has and just what he’d see if the mask ever came off. And really, is now the time to worry about that instead of whatever he’s about to make you do?
So, The Masked turns away and explains that the house they just destroyed belonged to someone who wanted Cormanthor to open trade with the drow. Wait, so it didn’t even belong to someone we knew, or for a reason that had anything to do with anything the story’s been about so far! Boring, Greenwood! He explains how they were so hungry for power and riches they didn’t care if the rest of Cormanthor become vassals of some matron from Down Below. I mean, we have drow where I come from too, and from some of the stories I’ve heard, I’d be wary of anyone who thought doing business with their rulers was a good idea, but still… that’s quite a lot to just drop on us near the end of the story! Elminster, though, is certain that The Masked is lying, though he’s not quite sure what he’s lying about yet. The Masked goes on to explain that he’s about to teleport them to a place that’s warded against him, specifically – he’ll be able to break through, but it will alert everyone nearby to his arrival. That’s where Elminster comes in. My magic will bring a chained orc to your side – a vicious despoiler of human and elven villages whom we captured while he was roasting elven babies on a spit for his evening meal. *looking ill* Ah, okay… we have orcs where I come from, too, and sure, they often go to war with or raid their neighbors, but… I think literally roasting babies for dinner is a bit much even for them! Methinks Sir Masked may be laying things on a little thick and isn’t being entirely truthful… The Masked wants Elminster to use the orc as fuel for his spell, and then to cast an antimagic shell he’s augmented into the house that The Masked will indicate. The Masked will then call in some armathors loyal to him to finish the job, whatever it may be (killing whoever lives in that house, I presume…) and Cormanthor will stand safe for a while longer… you should be ready for presentation to the Coronal at last. Elminster is shocked to hear that, thinking that ‘twould be good, indeed, to see old Lord Eltargrim again, even though he’s still uneasy about the situation. And I have to say – are you really taking The Masked at his word here, when you’ve already guessed he’s lying to you? I suspect he’s more likely to escort you an audience with whoever the local god of death may be, when he’s through with you, than with the Coronal!
MG: That’d be Myrkul, for the Faerunian pantheon, at the moment. Not a nice fellow. Anyway, it does occur to me to note that the enmity between the Lolthite drow and the surface elves runs bitter and deep, on both sides. Finding a drow matron and a Cormanthan noble willing to hold their noses long enough to trade with each other – even if they both mean to backstab one another later – would be quite the undertaking in and of itself. And, more to the point, would likely make an interesting story in and of itself – probably far more interesting than this one!
Mira: Ah, truly the worst enmities are between estranged kin… we know that well enough, in my own city… well, The Masked can tell Elminster is hesitating, and tells him that the house they’ll be attacking is home to a powerful mage, but he hopes Elminster will face it with the same courage he would have to transform toadstools and conjure light in dark places, and are those things he does often? The true mage never allows himself to be awed by magic when he’s using it, which seems decent enough advice. Elminster, though, thinks that the wise mage pretends to know nothing at all – I suppose that might come in handy when tricking one’s enemies? But perhaps not so much when, say, teaching… I prefer instructors who know what they’re doing. He also thinks that when a mage gains true wisdom, they’ll know they weren’t pretending (you know, if most Faerunian mages really don’t know anything about magic… that might explain some things…). The Masked asks if he’s ready, and Elminster takes a moment to pray to Mystra, who sends him a vision of himself nodding enthusiastically (as divine revelations go, that’s… underwhelming; and also, apparently she’s just fine with whatever The Masked is about to do, which is… disconcerting). So Elminster says he is, and The Masked teleports them away. They find themselves in a wooded valley, somewhere in Cormanthor, facing a low, rambling house of trees joined by low-roofed wooden chambers. Elminster thinks it almost looks more like a human home than an elven one (he is aware that humans have a great many architectural styles, isn’t he, and presumably elves do, too? Or does he think everywhere has to be like either Athalantar or Cormanthor with no other options?). The Masked tells him to strike swiftly, and then he makes a chained orc appear at his side. It stared at him, pleading with its eyes, trying frantically to say something around the thick gag clamped over its jaws. It? This orc is a “he,” no? Perhaps it would behoove Elminster to consider him a person and not a monster?
I will say, where I come from, many humans do consider orcs little more than evil monsters… but my tutors were always careful to make sure I knew that this is pure prejudice, blaming modern orcs for the fact that their ancestors fought for the Titans centuries ago, and that the truth is, orcs in general are no better or worse than elves or humans! I presume the history is different in Faerun, but still… why can’t I shake the feeling that both The Masked and Elminster are being bigoted here? The least Elminster could do is to think of this obviously terrified captive – who he has only The Masked’s word is a murderer and cannibal – as something other than it! But Elminster just remembers what The Masked told him about the orc eating babies (I thought he knew The Masked was lying… apparently not, or he doesn’t care!) and steels himself to cast the spell. And so, he does, amplifying the power of his antimagic and casting it at the house. Let that building be dead to all magic, so long as his power lasted. And then predictably the orc gives a despairing moan and collapses – and Elminster is still thinking of him as “it”! Elminster steps aside as the body falls, and watches as elven warriors materialize from the air, wielding enchanted blades and charge towards the house. He watches them break into the house and hears the sound of fighting from inside, and then looks down at the orc and gasped in horror. No, it’s not a sudden attack of empathy, I’m afraid. Though he does feel as if Faerun was opening up into a dark chasm around him, which is perhaps the sort of thing one should expect when dabbling in dark magic… No, he’s only horrified because the “orc” isn’t an orc anymore. The eyes of Nacacia, still wide in sad and vain pleading, stared up at him, dark and empty. They’d be so forever now. And so, there is Elminster’s horror – not that he killed to fuel evil magic and helped his master accomplish no doubt sinister goals, but that the person he loves is the one who died! But Elminster collapses over the body, crying, and the chapter ends as he’s suddenly teleported away.
MG: And like I said before, this was another short one. The biggest problem with it is that a lot goes on in it, but Elminster doesn’t really understand most of it (and, frankly, is rather incurious about it), so we the readers don’t really understand it either, beyond The Masked blowing up a house, teaching him a spell, and having him cast it, and tricking him into sacrificing Nacacia for fuel. The result is that it’s all just very underwhelming, and Elminster is still a bit too easily shocked that the sadistic creep who’s been tormenting him for twenty years is, gasp, evil. The ending revelation falls flat, too, for several reasons. For one, we’ve only known Nacacia for two chapters, and once again, she hasn’t had any lines at all. We barely know this person beyond the fact that Elminster’s into her, which makes it kind of hard to care when she dies (although, spoilers – she’s not actually dead. But more on that later…).
The context around the sacrifice is gross, because The Masked could have chosen to disguise Nacacia as literally anyone or anything to trick Elminster into killing her… but he chose an orc, apparently on the assumption that Elminster would automatically assume an orc was an evil monster who literally eats babies and wouldn’t question it or have trouble going through with the killing. And he was right; even though Elminster knew The Masked was lying to him about something, he never seriously questioned his narrative around the “orc.” And for one, I don’t believe Elminster has ever even met any orcs over the course of the past too books, so its’ not like he has any history with them or reason to think badly of them, nor do we have any indication that The Masked had tried to instill a hatred of orcs in his apprentices, which makes it feel like knee-jerk racism more than anything. And on a meta level, it seems like Greenwood just assumed the reader would think that too – and yes, it’s not like D&D as a whole or the Realms specifically has a great history with handling “monstrous” humanoid races, to put it mildly, but even by the 2e era when this book was written, authors had started to push back some against the “always evil” idea, and iirc by this point we’d already had examples of orc characters who were presented as honorable soldiers and given positive portrayals. Not helping is that the revelation that triggers Elminster’s horror at the end isn’t that the orc had been slandered and Elminster sacrificed an innocent man… but that the victim wasn’t actually an orc, and he’d been tricked into killing his love interest, someone he personally cared about. So, the whole thing just ends up uncomfortable and muddled and the presentation of Elminster’s dilemma rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, that’s all for today – next time, we return to court, and the secrets of The Masked are revealed. Are you excited😉? We’ll see you then!
Warning: This chapter continues the magical enslavement plotline, along with violence and some deaths.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Elminster in Myth Drannor! Last time, we had an inexplicable and irrelevant twenty-year timeskip, learned just how The Masked has been abusing Elminster over the course of his “apprenticeship” (and how Elminster inexplicably respects the bastard anyway) and met Elminster’s girl-of-the-book, Nacacia, who as of now has had no lines and almost no personality. Today, we have another short one as we start to find out just what The Masked has been training Elminster for all along. Joining us once again will be Calassara and Mira!
Chapter Eighteen: In the Web
Calassara: Just please tell me we’re not going to have another time skip this chapter; I think I can handle anything but that. And so, we open with a quote from, of course, the gossip rag. There comes a day at last when even the most patient and exacting of scheming traitors grows impatient, and breaks forth into open treachery. Henceforth, he must deal with the world as it is, reacting around him, and not as he sees or desires it to be in his thoughts or dreams. This is the point at which many treacheries go awry. The sorcerer known as The Masked was, however, no ordinary traitor – if one may think of an “ordinary traitor.” The historian of Cormanthor, reaching back far enough, can do so, finding many ordinary treacheries, but this was not one of them. This was the stuff of which wailing doom-ballads are made. *snorts* “Wailing doom-ballads,” seriously? I might be guilty of getting a little melodramatic, under the right circumstances, but that just sounds silly. Also, here I was thinking that most traitors come out into the open not because they’re impatient, but because their plans eventually require action, not just sitting around thinking about it. *beat* Then again, these are Greenwood antagonists, and considering the ordinary level of intelligence of Greenwood antagonists… do carry on. Live down to my expectations.
MG: And the thing is, as we’ll see over the next few chapters, The Masked is definitely a traitor, and his scheme is definitely evil, but compared to how it’s being hyped up here, it’s also… rather mundane and more than a little underwhelming. Certainly it doesn’t seem like it would be enough to inspire “wailing doom-ballads” in a civilization that, I remind you once again, has the Crown Wars and House Dlardrageth in its history.
Calassara: …*sigh* I am disappointed, but not surprised. Well, we open the chapter proper right where we left off, as Elminster pulls himself out of the spells he’s been weaving with Nacacia and gathers his thoughts, while The Masked tells him to get clear. He sends Nacacia over to a couch in the corner, calls Elminster over to his side, and they hurry to obey, knowing his impatience was apt to flare at such times. *rolling her eyes* Being terrified of your master’s violent temper – I guess that’s just another sign of mutual respect between master and apprentices, eh, Greenwood? Once they’re clear, The Masked triggers the spell web they were working on, and a vision appears in the air in front of them. It was a view of a house El had never seen before, one of the sprawling country mansions made by elves. A house that lived, growing slowly larger as the centuries passed. Huh; you know, that might be a roundabout way of saying that the house is constantly being added on to… but it makes it sound like it’s growing of its own accord, which is oddly horrifying. This one had been standing for more than a thousand years, by the looks of it… an old house, a proud house. A house that would be standing only a few moments more. Ah, but of course – can’t go too long without gratuitous violence, or a Greenwood villain having to go out of their way to show how evil they are! El watched grimly as the unleashed magics of the spell web shattered its magical shields, set off its attack spells and forced their discharges back inwards to strike at the heart of the old house, and snatched guardian creatures and steeds from their posts and stables, only to dash them back against the walls, right through the full fury of the awakened spells, reducing them to raglike, bloody tatters. *sigh* See what I mean? And aren’t you just so proud to be a part of this, Elminster?
Mira: Sadly, we’re not done. It took only a few minutes to alter the proud, soaring house of mighty branches and lush leaves to a smoking crater flanked by two splintered, precariously wavering fragments of blackened and splintered trunk. Misshapen things that might have been bodies were still raining down around the wreckage when the spell web drank its own scene, and the air went dark again. Well, that’s… horrible. And I hope The Masked is ready to deal with vengeful ghosts, because… that… is sure to have produced some! Though, maybe I’d be more horrified if I had any idea who lived there, or what The Masked hoped to accomplish by killing them all? Well, before Elminster can even react to what he just witnessed – and caused; he and Nacacia did make the spell web, after all… - he suddenly finds himself teleported away. He was standing in a clearing deep in the forest with The Masked reclining at ease on empty air nearby, and no sign of Nacacia or any elven habitation. The narration then repeats that they’re deep in the forest, despite literally having just said that – did, did Greenwood actually edit this after writing it? I have my doubts… Elminster wonders if The Masked had somehow eavesdropped on his vision from Mystra, and then turns his attention to the clearing, which is just an odd semicircular patch in the forest that’s completely bare. Finally, The Masked tells Elminster that he’s about to teach him a spell, and the desolate clearing is what is left behind after you cast it (I’m not sure that’s the sort of spell that one should want to learn…)
Elminster only asks if it’s something powerful (if it can reduce a noticeable section of the forest to desolation, I can only presume it is!) and The Masked agrees that properly used, it can make its caster nigh invincible (which is… why you’re teaching it to your abused slave who hates you?). The Masked then adds that he’s already used it himself (and yet, I have the strangest feeling he’s not going to survive this book, so… not so invincible?) and commands Elminster to lie down on the border between the forest and the clearing. Ah, in my experience, learning a spell requires a lot of recitation and copying (and Nemorga help the wizard who can’t read their own handwriting! I knew another apprentice once who… well, perhaps for another time…) and not much lying on the ground in specific places. Perhaps things are just different on Toril? But Elminster thinks that when The Masked takes that tone one didn’t hesitate or argue and scrambles down onto the ground. As soon as he does, he can feel The Masked’s cold fingers on his neck, a feeling they only have when a spell was being slipped into his mind… without need for studying or instruction… Well, that explains that… I guess? Though it makes me wonder why The Masked even bothers with apprentices, if he can just place magic in peoples’ minds like that… Anyway, the spell lets the caster enhance the power of another spell they know, either doubling its strength or producing a duplicate of it. To do so, it drained life force – from a tree. Or a sentient being… it left utter lifelessness in its wake. And elves had wrought this? After all he’s done, does The Masked being evil really surprise you? And I’ll note that some of the most notorious mages in my own world are elves, and Faerun’s elves don’t exactly have clean hands either, so… why the surprise? And I can think of certain exiles from my own city who would be perfectly happy to use such magic…
Calassara: Yeah, Elminster, I can’t say I’m terribly impressed that you’re apparently surprised to learn that your evil, abusive master… is evil, and uses evil magic. What a shock. Elminster asks when he should use it, and The Masked tells him to save it for an emergency, when he himself or whatever cause he might be serving at the moment is in the most peril. When all else is lost, the only immoral act is to avoid doing something you know can aid your cause. This is such a spell. Well, there are various philosophical schools that might weigh in on that issue, but I won’t get into that here - but I will say, it’s kind of ironic to be lectured on morality by a godsdamned slaver. That is all. As for Elminster, for the first time in twenty years (still can’t get over that, by the way…) he hears real emotion in his master’s voice. Mystra, El thought, he loves the thought of utterly smashing a foe, regardless of the cost! *she snorts* Yeah, well, you’re one to talk – I still say it’s a miracle that no one innocent died (that we heard of…) when you blew up Ithboltar’s tower, or when Braer dropped Undarl’s dragon into the middle of a city. And again, how is this a surprise to you? You’ve been the subject of the bastard’s abuses for twenty years – you know full well what he is! Elminster doubts he’ll ever be comfortable using this spell (I can only imagine you’ll be changing your tune rather quickly, when the time comes…) and The Masked doesn’t care if he’s comfortable so long as he’s capable of it. That’s why, tonight, Elminster is going to be using the spell against an enemy of Cormanthor, per a decree of the Coronal’s that it should only be used in direct defense of the realm or of an imperiled elven elder. Elminster just stares at The Masked’s, uh, mask for a bit, wondering what powers it has and just what he’d see if the mask ever came off. And really, is now the time to worry about that instead of whatever he’s about to make you do?
So, The Masked turns away and explains that the house they just destroyed belonged to someone who wanted Cormanthor to open trade with the drow. Wait, so it didn’t even belong to someone we knew, or for a reason that had anything to do with anything the story’s been about so far! Boring, Greenwood! He explains how they were so hungry for power and riches they didn’t care if the rest of Cormanthor become vassals of some matron from Down Below. I mean, we have drow where I come from too, and from some of the stories I’ve heard, I’d be wary of anyone who thought doing business with their rulers was a good idea, but still… that’s quite a lot to just drop on us near the end of the story! Elminster, though, is certain that The Masked is lying, though he’s not quite sure what he’s lying about yet. The Masked goes on to explain that he’s about to teleport them to a place that’s warded against him, specifically – he’ll be able to break through, but it will alert everyone nearby to his arrival. That’s where Elminster comes in. My magic will bring a chained orc to your side – a vicious despoiler of human and elven villages whom we captured while he was roasting elven babies on a spit for his evening meal. *looking ill* Ah, okay… we have orcs where I come from, too, and sure, they often go to war with or raid their neighbors, but… I think literally roasting babies for dinner is a bit much even for them! Methinks Sir Masked may be laying things on a little thick and isn’t being entirely truthful… The Masked wants Elminster to use the orc as fuel for his spell, and then to cast an antimagic shell he’s augmented into the house that The Masked will indicate. The Masked will then call in some armathors loyal to him to finish the job, whatever it may be (killing whoever lives in that house, I presume…) and Cormanthor will stand safe for a while longer… you should be ready for presentation to the Coronal at last. Elminster is shocked to hear that, thinking that ‘twould be good, indeed, to see old Lord Eltargrim again, even though he’s still uneasy about the situation. And I have to say – are you really taking The Masked at his word here, when you’ve already guessed he’s lying to you? I suspect he’s more likely to escort you an audience with whoever the local god of death may be, when he’s through with you, than with the Coronal!
MG: That’d be Myrkul, for the Faerunian pantheon, at the moment. Not a nice fellow. Anyway, it does occur to me to note that the enmity between the Lolthite drow and the surface elves runs bitter and deep, on both sides. Finding a drow matron and a Cormanthan noble willing to hold their noses long enough to trade with each other – even if they both mean to backstab one another later – would be quite the undertaking in and of itself. And, more to the point, would likely make an interesting story in and of itself – probably far more interesting than this one!
Mira: Ah, truly the worst enmities are between estranged kin… we know that well enough, in my own city… well, The Masked can tell Elminster is hesitating, and tells him that the house they’ll be attacking is home to a powerful mage, but he hopes Elminster will face it with the same courage he would have to transform toadstools and conjure light in dark places, and are those things he does often? The true mage never allows himself to be awed by magic when he’s using it, which seems decent enough advice. Elminster, though, thinks that the wise mage pretends to know nothing at all – I suppose that might come in handy when tricking one’s enemies? But perhaps not so much when, say, teaching… I prefer instructors who know what they’re doing. He also thinks that when a mage gains true wisdom, they’ll know they weren’t pretending (you know, if most Faerunian mages really don’t know anything about magic… that might explain some things…). The Masked asks if he’s ready, and Elminster takes a moment to pray to Mystra, who sends him a vision of himself nodding enthusiastically (as divine revelations go, that’s… underwhelming; and also, apparently she’s just fine with whatever The Masked is about to do, which is… disconcerting). So Elminster says he is, and The Masked teleports them away. They find themselves in a wooded valley, somewhere in Cormanthor, facing a low, rambling house of trees joined by low-roofed wooden chambers. Elminster thinks it almost looks more like a human home than an elven one (he is aware that humans have a great many architectural styles, isn’t he, and presumably elves do, too? Or does he think everywhere has to be like either Athalantar or Cormanthor with no other options?). The Masked tells him to strike swiftly, and then he makes a chained orc appear at his side. It stared at him, pleading with its eyes, trying frantically to say something around the thick gag clamped over its jaws. It? This orc is a “he,” no? Perhaps it would behoove Elminster to consider him a person and not a monster?
I will say, where I come from, many humans do consider orcs little more than evil monsters… but my tutors were always careful to make sure I knew that this is pure prejudice, blaming modern orcs for the fact that their ancestors fought for the Titans centuries ago, and that the truth is, orcs in general are no better or worse than elves or humans! I presume the history is different in Faerun, but still… why can’t I shake the feeling that both The Masked and Elminster are being bigoted here? The least Elminster could do is to think of this obviously terrified captive – who he has only The Masked’s word is a murderer and cannibal – as something other than it! But Elminster just remembers what The Masked told him about the orc eating babies (I thought he knew The Masked was lying… apparently not, or he doesn’t care!) and steels himself to cast the spell. And so, he does, amplifying the power of his antimagic and casting it at the house. Let that building be dead to all magic, so long as his power lasted. And then predictably the orc gives a despairing moan and collapses – and Elminster is still thinking of him as “it”! Elminster steps aside as the body falls, and watches as elven warriors materialize from the air, wielding enchanted blades and charge towards the house. He watches them break into the house and hears the sound of fighting from inside, and then looks down at the orc and gasped in horror. No, it’s not a sudden attack of empathy, I’m afraid. Though he does feel as if Faerun was opening up into a dark chasm around him, which is perhaps the sort of thing one should expect when dabbling in dark magic… No, he’s only horrified because the “orc” isn’t an orc anymore. The eyes of Nacacia, still wide in sad and vain pleading, stared up at him, dark and empty. They’d be so forever now. And so, there is Elminster’s horror – not that he killed to fuel evil magic and helped his master accomplish no doubt sinister goals, but that the person he loves is the one who died! But Elminster collapses over the body, crying, and the chapter ends as he’s suddenly teleported away.
MG: And like I said before, this was another short one. The biggest problem with it is that a lot goes on in it, but Elminster doesn’t really understand most of it (and, frankly, is rather incurious about it), so we the readers don’t really understand it either, beyond The Masked blowing up a house, teaching him a spell, and having him cast it, and tricking him into sacrificing Nacacia for fuel. The result is that it’s all just very underwhelming, and Elminster is still a bit too easily shocked that the sadistic creep who’s been tormenting him for twenty years is, gasp, evil. The ending revelation falls flat, too, for several reasons. For one, we’ve only known Nacacia for two chapters, and once again, she hasn’t had any lines at all. We barely know this person beyond the fact that Elminster’s into her, which makes it kind of hard to care when she dies (although, spoilers – she’s not actually dead. But more on that later…).
The context around the sacrifice is gross, because The Masked could have chosen to disguise Nacacia as literally anyone or anything to trick Elminster into killing her… but he chose an orc, apparently on the assumption that Elminster would automatically assume an orc was an evil monster who literally eats babies and wouldn’t question it or have trouble going through with the killing. And he was right; even though Elminster knew The Masked was lying to him about something, he never seriously questioned his narrative around the “orc.” And for one, I don’t believe Elminster has ever even met any orcs over the course of the past too books, so its’ not like he has any history with them or reason to think badly of them, nor do we have any indication that The Masked had tried to instill a hatred of orcs in his apprentices, which makes it feel like knee-jerk racism more than anything. And on a meta level, it seems like Greenwood just assumed the reader would think that too – and yes, it’s not like D&D as a whole or the Realms specifically has a great history with handling “monstrous” humanoid races, to put it mildly, but even by the 2e era when this book was written, authors had started to push back some against the “always evil” idea, and iirc by this point we’d already had examples of orc characters who were presented as honorable soldiers and given positive portrayals. Not helping is that the revelation that triggers Elminster’s horror at the end isn’t that the orc had been slandered and Elminster sacrificed an innocent man… but that the victim wasn’t actually an orc, and he’d been tricked into killing his love interest, someone he personally cared about. So, the whole thing just ends up uncomfortable and muddled and the presentation of Elminster’s dilemma rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, that’s all for today – next time, we return to court, and the secrets of The Masked are revealed. Are you excited😉? We’ll see you then!
