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masterghandalf) wrote2025-01-10 08:16 am
masterghandalf) wrote2025-01-10 08:16 am
Cloak of Shadows Chapter Twelve: Marshalling the Madfolk for Battle
This is a repost from Das_sporking2. Previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
Warning: This chapter contains some squicky content, including discussion of brainwashing and manipulation.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Cloak of Shadows! Last time, Mystra gave Sharantyr a magic sword (and we also learned about a decidedly grimdark bit of Sharantyr’s backstory that hadn’t been so much as implied beforehand…) and some Malaugrym under Milhvar’s direction infiltrated Silverymoon before being exposed by their own incompetence well before they had a chance to actually complete their mission. Today, Sharantyr and company set off on their quest, Milhvar sets some other Malaugrym off on their quest, and Elminster has some divine visitations. Joining us once again will be Errezha and Calassara!
Chapter Twelve: Marshalling the Madfolk for Battle
Errezha: That title does not fill me with confidence. We open still in Daggerdale, Kythorn 18 as Sharantyr is still busy admiring that not-at-all-suspicious magic sword she got from Mystra last chapter; when Sylune appears beside her, she can’t help but bragging about look what the Lady Mystra gave me! *sigh* Really? We’re doing this now? Not that Sylune helps, as she starts literally dancing in the air around Sharantyr (which Sharantyr has apparently never seen her do before) before she finally tells Sharantyr she’s proud of her (what for? Mystra gave her the sword – she didn’t make it or win it!) and reminds her it would be better if she sheathed the blade. Because clearly, the seasoned warrior needs a ghost to remind her of that. Sharantyr does so and is downcast at the idea – that sword is affecting her, isn’t it? – but Sylune cheers her up by promising not to call her “child” ever again, now that you’ve faced a goddess and held your bladder. *snorts* A feeble wisp of a dying goddess, perhaps.
Calassara: Under normal circumstances it would be impressive… but I was rather more distracted by how much time Greenwood felt the need to spend on Sharantyr’s rather horrific personal history instead! Sharantyr tries to sheath the sword in her old sword’s sheath and is amazed it fits, but Sylune tells her to keep her old sword as well, since she might need it later too. Sylune then directs her towards a ring of blue-white light on the ground and tells her that her new sword can work it; Sharantyr steps in and wills it to activate, and the ring transports her… back to the ruined manor in Daggerdale where her companions are asleep… even though I thought she already transported herself back to Daggerdale at the end of the previous chapter… but I suppose that’s hardly the worst continuity error in this book, is it? I still remember the Time of Troubles starting twice… Except that for some reason, she appeared in the middle of the campfire, which has thankfully gone out! She then complains about Sylune’s sense of humor; Sylune had best be fortunate she is a ghost. I would do far worse than complain in Sharantyr’s position!
Errezha: And you would not be alone in that… at the sound of their reappearance, Belkram wakes up, complaining about them gossiping while honest men are trying to sleep; Sharantyr says she wasn’t aware he and Itharr were honest men, ha, ha. Itharr then gets distracted by the sight of Sharantyr’s new sword, waking up Itharr, who is also amazed. *rolling her eyes* Now they’re going to be in awe of the sword too, aren’t they? Because clearly, we haven’t had enough of that so far. They wonder about how she got it; Belkram guesses tomb-robbing, which is, to be fair, close enough. He complains about how she’s been waving it around ever since he woke up (he does have a point, one must admit…) and Itharr asks how she did get it, to which she responds in a tomb, because she did. She then shows off the sword some more and Belkram and Itharr are suitably awed, though Sharantyr warns them against trying to take it, which they clearly seem to want to… this weapon is seeming more cursed by the moment, I swear. Finally, Sharantyr explains how Sylune took her to a tomb in the Elven Court, where Mystra gave her the sword as a weapon against the Malaugrym. She asks if they’re with her.
“Shar,” Itharr said gently, “we’ve been with you since we met in a ruined castle by the desert, and watched a crazy old mage kissing a rotten old archlich. We’re still with you.” He tilted his head to regard her coolly. “But are you sure your wits are steady?” Sharantyr held up the blade. In response to her rising exultation, it blazed bright blue fire around her. “You think I’m imagining this?” “Well,” Belkram told the nearest wall brightly, “it’s certainly nice to share the same delusions as one’s closest friends …”
Calassara: *sigh* Of course, Greenwood had to remind us of the time Elminster kissed a lich. And now everyone is so amazed by the sword they’re doubting their own sanity. This chapter is going to be tiresome, isn’t it? Sylune confirms Sharantyr’s telling the truth, and Belkram and Itharr decide they believe it. Itharr wants to know what’s next. You want us to follow that bright blade of yours through a gate into the castle of the Malaugrym and start dicing them up for morningfeast? Of course Itharr the bloodthirsty would put it that way, and of course, Greenwood is going to make it that easy, as Sharantyr confirms it sweetly. Belkram at least wants some more information on just what they have to do, and Itharr has enough sense to not want to do anything until morning. Sharantyr apologizes for waking them… and then tells them that there’s a gate to the Plane of Shadows nearby, which is why this place makes them all feel so uneasy. Apparently, she learned this… because her sword detects portals nearby and lets her use them. So, it really is going to be that easy. I should be expecting this by now… Mystra told me, ‘Take your companions and go and slay Malaugrym for me.’ So here I am.”
Errezha: Belkram thinks it all sounds so unbelievable it must have been what Mystra told her and Itharr agrees – boys, that logic does not hold up, though sadly, all of this is in fact in character for Mystra. Itharr says the Harpers never warned him about things like this, while Sylune says no one ever warned her about this in Elminster’s kitchen, either. Itharr asks if she’s ever seen the inside of Elminster’s bedchamber (based on his overall hygiene… I doubt that’s something anyone should see, ever!) and Sylune retorts that “I was referring to when I was a babe, and a different kitchen than the one you’ve seen. And spare me your jokes about Elminster and young babes, too.”
MG: Okay, one, Elminster raised Laeral, Storm and Dove. He did not raise Sylune (or Alustriel, the Simbul, or Qilue). Sylune and Alustriel were raised by a retired Harper who treated them as his honorary nieces after their parents died (we really need to talk about the Seven Sisters’ backstory sometime; it is bizarre). For another… is Sylune having to warn Itharr off from making jokes about Elminster being a pedophile? And that itself is played for laughs? Bzuh? Am I reading that right? What the hells, Greenwood!
Errezha: *groans and facepalms* Ugh. Sharantyr guesses that so many Harpers die young because they tend to annoy people into wanting to kill them… I find that entirely plausible, as I’m experiencing the same thing right now, what a coincidence. Belkram and Itharr complain about being surrounded by critics wherever they go; Sylune tells them to get some sleep since they have a castle to conquer in the morning, oh spare me, and the scene ends there.
Calassara: And then we cut to… a very long and overly elaborate timestamp, oh dear. Another forgotten ruin in the Savage Frontier, with a side trip to the Flame Void, then the sky somewhere over Thay, Kythorn 18 And we are immediately dropped into the middle of someone’s conversation. “Nothing is worse than promises that are not meant and deeds that are not accomplished,” Midnight said quietly. “I need folk who stand behind what they say and do. Such as Azuth—if he survives—and you.” *kindly* Dear girl, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but do not put such faith in Elminster, if that is indeed who you’re addressing. He will only disappoint you. As for promises broken and deeds not accomplished… Greenwood should perhaps look to his own house, considering how many of his books fail to deliver on premises and concepts they promise! Oh, and then we find out just what Elminster and Midnight have been doing:
They clasped hands then, the man and the goddess. Both were white, drenched with sweat, and shaking. Long had they laid side-by-side, hands clasped, while Elminster’s memories – his long road with Mystra, and what of her secrets and powers he held – poured into Midnight, and she grew old and wise in a day and most of a night.
MG: Okay, I’m just going to say… what? First off, am I the only one who finds the implications of all of this to be kind of horrifying? Midnight, at this point, is approx. 25 years old – she’s an adult, not a kid, but she’s still definitely very young, especially compared to Elminster. And he’s seemingly just dumped more than a millennium’s worth of memories into her head. No wonder she’s pale, sweaty and shaking – he’s just been massively overriding her thoughts with his own! Did she ask for this? Somehow I doubt she knew what she was asking for, if so! And it doesn’t make sense thematically, either. The Avatar Trilogy is pretty clear that, though the Dead Three’s theft of the Tablets of Fate was the inciting incident, it was a symptom of a deeper problem, of the gods having grown too aloof and uncaring towards mortals and focusing more on their own power than doing their duties – and that the original Mystra was, indeed, part of that problem! That’s why the pantheon needed new blood in important roles (well, they probably could’ve done without Cyric, tbf). But Elminster cares not, so long as he gets to have his waifu (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) back! And I strongly suspect that in this scene Elminster is – more than usual – a stand-in for Greenwood himself, trying to jerk the story back in the direction he thinks it should’ve gone. Maybe I’m reading too much into the subtext here, but, really, this whole scene makes my skin crawl. And, it’s very minor in the grand scheme of things, but… Midnight isn’t a goddess yet. She’s just a very talented mortal wizard Mystra took an interest in; she won’t be a goddess until she ascends at the end of the Time of Troubles, months from now!
Errezha: *calmly* If I allow myself to think too much about this, I shall no doubt find myself consumed with blinding rage, so let’s just get this over with, shall we? Elminster and Midnight then leave the Netherese tomb they’d been staying in, with no one nearby to notice or threaten them, as Midnight says she needs time alone to think (no doubt she does, considering the sheer number of memories that aren’t hers she’s just been force-fed!); Elminster tells her to seek the elves of Evermeet or Evereska, who he claims will shelter her…
MG: *snorts* I somehow doubt that. Evermeet and Evereska are isolationist at the best of times, and with the Time of Troubles going on… I bet a foreign elf would have a hard chance getting in, and a non-elf like Midnight would probably have no chance at all. And Mystra, I must remind you again, is not an elven goddess.
Errezha: …of course. Elminster tells her to go think and return to him when she’s done (no, she needs to get away from you, old man!); until then, I’ll spend my days as I’ve always done, darting here and there about Faerun, saying this and meddling with that, slaying here and building there… less grand than some godly servants, perhaps, but the tasks get done. You are utterly shameless, aren’t you? He then asks Midnight if she’ll want him to lay down his duties and life when she takes power (if only!) but she refuses. No. I shall need your counsel in the ways of Faerun – and in plain common sense – to guide me for ages to come, or I shall be a worse wildheart than Talos, Lolth, Loviatar or Malar have ever been, ruling by whim and wrecking all I touch, ending twisted and bitter, no doubt, or sinking down into madness and despair. *rolling her eyes* Because clearly even gods need the Great Elminster’s help to keep them from falling into madness and evil! And, of course, Elminster says that if she will it, he’ll stay with her, as will all the other Chosen, some of them gentler and grander and better than I. While that is true… your false modesty fools nobody.
MG: And, I mean, say what you will about Mystra I, it’s not like she, who came into existence long before Elminster was born, turned into some berserk combination of the god of destruction, the goddess of chaos, the goddess of pain and the god of the hunt all rolled into one, so I’m not sure why Midnight is so sure she will? Especially ironic considering Midnight will ascend to godhood opposite Cyric, who’s got to be in the top five of “most despicable assholes ever offered divinity in the history of Toril.” Also, do whistle up Shandril’s soul and ask her what happened to the last young woman who trusted Elminster to guide her in how to manage her newfound great power – that’ll put you off the idea that you need him!
Calassara: Indeed, it will… But Midnight only turns this into another chance to wax poetic about how wonderful Elminster is, as she goes on about how hard the road he’s walked has been and how well he’s done it, and enough is enough, Greenwood! Elminster, of course, is deeply flattered, and promises to go set up some temples and priests to ritual profanity – er, litanies her way, while Midnight laughs and asks how she’s supposed to maintain her dignity when Elminster mocks her so. I’m more curious about how, if Midnight isn’t even a goddess yet, and all the gods who are gods have been cut off from most of their power, getting prayers sent her way is meant to help her at all. Elminster laughs a bit more at her comment, then muses that she should go to his Safehold, where she’ll be safe from the other gods and avatars during the Time of Troubles; one entrance is in Evermeet, and the other one… is through his bedchamber. Of course it is.
MG: So, uh, do the elves know you put this portal somewhere on their sacred and protected island, Elminster? At least as depicted in Elaine Cunningham’s Evermeet novel, Laeral seems to be the only one of Mystra’s Chosen with any significant ties to Evermeet, because she’s personal friends with Amlaruil Moonflower, the elves’ queen. But she’s seemingly pretty tight-lipped about her connections to the island even with her husband Khelben, much less anyone else. Elminster I don’t think is even mentioned in Evermeet. Also, Midnight has something very important to do before the Time of Troubles ends – namely, she’s going to have to go to the Fugue Plane, infiltrate Myrkul’s city of the damned, find where he stashed the Tablets of Fate, and then return them to Ao to end the crisis. Which, uh, she won’t be able to do if she lets Elminster shut her up in a vault for the duration of the crisis. Whoops!
Errezha: …can I be reading that instead? Or Evermeet, at least? It sounds like that one may contain a fair bit of elvish snobbishness – no offense to current company - but compared to Elminster, I’ll take what I can get. Midnight reminds Elminster that she’s a goddess now and he shouldn’t be making passes at her – thank you, girl – and Elminster claims his reputation in the bedroom is exaggerated (not according to Greenwood, unfortunately!) but Midnight says she has his memories now and knows better. *headdesk* I. Hate. This. Elminster then tries to teleport Midnight and himself to the Safehold… but instead they find themselves tumbling through an empty void. Midnight was curled up as a small child sleeps, eyes closed and mouth gaping open, face blank and hair streaming like night shadows around her. Elminster tries to wake her but can’t. He recognizes the place as the Flame Void – oh, goody, that nonsensical place from the previous book – and wonders how they got here. And someone answers.
“By my will, mortal mage,” said a voice from close by. Elminster turned and saw a man whose hair and beard were whiter than his own, whose face was unremarkable but whose eyes and robes were both a dark swirl of stars, so that he seemed to be the heart of the Flame Void.
Calassara: Hmmm, who could it be… someone who’s not very happy with what Elminster’s been up to, I imagine? Elminster sighs in annoyance (a poor move, I think!) and asks who this is; the answer of course is that some call me the Overgod… others, the Hidden One… Ao. I must admit, if this is the supreme deity of Toril, that description is rather… underwhelming.
MG: To be fair, Ao does canonically use the “grandpa god” look sometimes, when he appears as anything at all (oftentimes he’s just a disembodied voice, and honestly I think I’d have preferred that here – remind Elminster that this isn’t just a really powerful dude he’s dealing with but the literal god of gods, and he’s trifling with forces massively beyond his ken and is on very, very thin ice).
Calassara: I find I rather agree… Elminster says he has questions for Ao, but Ao says he’s not here to answer them. Presumptuous mortal. Ye have tried to hasten the elevation to full powers of my choice for Mystra’s replacement, and take her from Faerun! *she sighs happily* Finally, someone who is willing to tell Elminster off – and has the power to back it up! This is going to be so fuuun… Elminster explains how magic is running wild and Toril is falling into chaos, and there needs to be a goddess of magic, which he thinks Ao should have realized. He wanted to give Midnight a chance to think and learn (no, you wanted to remake her in your old lover’s image, I think!) and he says that’s a rare thing for a god to do… Elminster, Elminster. Do you really want to backtalk an entity who I believe to be quite capable of erasing you from existence entirely with a stray thought?
Errezha: Whoever called anything Elminster has done thus far sensible? Even I – who do not so much worship the Prince of Law as respect his power from a safe distance – prefer to speak of my nation’s patron deity with a certain prudence. And Ao, I believe, is a far loftier being than Asmodeus! Ao condemns Elminster’s temerity; Elminster claims this is the nature of humanity and asks if Ao has really not noticed that before. *she winces* Oh, this is going to end poorly… Ao acknowledges that Elminster means well, but he says that many tyrants and evil gods have believed the same about themselves. Is… is someone actually calling out Elminster for his hypocrisy? What miracle is this? Ao decrees that Midnight will return to Faerun and forget what Elminster did to her. Elminster himself is to never speak of this, and to keep him busy, Ao has a task for him; suddenly, Elminster finds himself back in Faerun, in a land where a wall of mountains rose around vast plateaus and… Thay! …the Land of Mad Mages? If Ao’s sent me here, it must be to deal with some idiot mage who’s trying to make himself a god, or set up some particularly nasty doom for all of us under cover of these troubles. Ah, blast all gods and their Overgods too! *flatly* I’m so sorry that dealing with the actual plot instead of grooming young women in your image is so onerous for you, old man. A moment later, some shadowy shape shoots up from the ground to attack him, leading Elminster to declare that Allfather Ao… ye and I will be having words! You just did. It ended poorly for you. Hopefully you’ll do it again, and he will dismiss you just as easily! The shadow creature attacks, and Elminster readies magic to defend himself, and the scene ends.
MG: Okay, so… this scene. We’ve already talked about why I think what Elminster was trying to do to Midnight was creepy as all hell. Now I’d like to discuss more of what seems to be the subtext of the scene, especially Elminster’s conversation with Ao. While Ao is, rightly, depicted as being powerful enough to take Midnight away from Elminster, and then banish Elminster himself to run errands in Thay for him, the overwhelming sense I get from the scene is that Greenwood wants us to think Ao is in the wrong, that Midnight does need Elminster’s guidance, that Ao was wrong to separate them, and Elminster, to be blunt, knows best. Especially considering that he lets Elminster get off with a slap on the wrist for disrespecting the most powerful being in all of Realmspace (Ao isn’t really big-G God in the monotheistic sense – the last scene of the Avatar Trilogy confirms that Ao himself has a superior, and there could well be more, unseen levels in the divine hierarchy above that – but as far as the inhabitants of Toril are concerned, he might as well be). Basically, especially in light of the fact that Greenwood supposedly doesn’t like the Time of Troubles storyline, I can’t help but feel that Elminster in this scene is, more than usual, a stand-in for Greenwood himself, and Ao represents the editors at TSR in charge of the setting’s overall story direction, and we’re seeing a metaphorical tug-of-war between them over the direction of the plot; Ao (TSR) wins, but Elminster (Greenwood) makes it clear he’s not happy with the direction they’ve chosen and is going along under protest. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and I’m completely off-base… but it’s what the subtext feels like to me.
Also, here we have Greenwood’s explanation for why this little chat never got mentioned in the original trilogy – Ao forcibly separated Elminster and Midnight, erased her memory, and swore Elminster to secrecy. This does not explain how Midnight – who, again, is supposed to be in a goddamned coma right now and hasn’t even begun the process of ascending to godhood – showed up to meet Elminster at a random inn in the first place.
Calassara: …this is making my head hurt. I think the divine conflicts of my own world make more sense than this. *perks up* Say, can we throw Elminster into the Worldwound? Either he kills a bunch of demons, or they kill him – either way, a great evil will be removed. I think it has potential! We then cut back to the Castle of Shadows, same date, where three more young Malaugrym are striking dramatic poses – really? – in front of Milhvar as he gives his same speech from the previous chapter. Dhalgrave had high hopes for this project, don’t let him down but also don’t get yourselves killed, return if your lives are in danger, so on and so forth. The young Malaugrym are clearly only half paying attention, and Milhvar hopes that taking part in this project will temper some of them, or at least remove them before they become a liability to the rest. He then looks over the three; one of them, Taernil, he thinks has promise, and that if Taernil and Huerbara remain a couple, they could become the most dangerous pair of young Shadowmasters to rise in some time. Balatar was simply a bad, wild one, who loved cruelty and killing too much and taking orders too little. Milhvar notes that he actively sneered when he mentioned Dhalgrave’s name, and he thinks if Balatar dies, he’ll be no loss. Jarthree, the last one, is cold and calculating, always looking at everyone else like she’s already planned their doom, but never acting on it… yet. Hmmm; I wonder if these three will have any better luck than the previous ones?
Errezha: I don’t take bets I know I’ll lose. Milhvar then instructs them in how to draw their blood and weave the weaker version of his cloak, and once again, this just feels like a repeat of the last group of young Malaugrym setting out. Milhvar watches carefully, wondering how events will unfold; they were off for Blackstaff Tower this time, a far stiffer challenge than the first three had faced. And no doubt they’ll fail even more spectacularly, then. Milhvar thinks about how the previous three cloaks failed to stand up against simple guards and servants (true, but it was Huerbara’s acting that failed, not the magic!) and now they’ll be pitting magic against magic. We get yet more musing about how Milhvar’s made the spell more complex than it needs to be – enough with the repetition! – and finally the cloaks are complete and Milhvar adds his “secret ingredient.” He then prepares the spell to teleport them into Blackstaff Tower, presumably hijacking the gate that links the tower to Evermeet…
MG: Which ties into a plot point in Elaine Cunningham’s novels…
Errezha: …though it may grab one of the other portals in the tower instead; it doesn’t matter. Jarthree snaps at him not to patronize them, but Milhvar warns her that she’d be far worse off if he meant to do that, and he’s pleased to note the others recoil a bit from this. Then he works the spell, and they set off. Go now. Bring glory to the Malaugrym. Oh, I somehow doubt that.
Calassara: We then cut to Daggerdale, Kythorn 19 – so, the next morning, then? – as Itharr hopes their horses will be all right while they’re gone, and Sylune assures them she’ll have “wild friends” to look after them. Belkram, for once, decides to speak sense, and is less worried about the horses than about all of them.
We’re the ones undertaking a madwoman’s mission into the very fortress of our foes. It’d be crazy if these villains dwelt in Faerun, and didn’t have mighty magic and the power to change shapes at will. As it is, it’s sheer carve-our-tombstones insanity time!
Calassara: …you’ve only just now realized this? Sharantyr and Itharr argue about whether Belkram is acting like this because he fell and hit his head(!) and then he finally decides to go along with the plan. They banter a bit about just what Belkram’s education among the Harpers entailed, and finally Sylune intervenes, telling them all to be quiet and get close to each other. Belkram is thankful she called him Belk instead of some dismissive nickname – was that really an issue beforehand? I genuinely hadn’t noticed – and Sylune apologizes, since it was apparently the way of things when she was young for elders to speak and everyone else to listen, and clearly things have changed (someone tell Elminster – he certainly hasn’t gotten the message!). They all get ready to head out, with Sylune warning them to keep her presence a secret until they absolutely need her. They agree, Sharantyr draws her sword, and it flashes with light, and then… they’re gone. Hmmm; that was easy. Too easy, I might say…
Errezha: I might say it’s worse than that, and since when has Greenwood ever been anything else? Once they’re gone, everything is still for a while, and then three wolves come loping over to investigate. They search around for a while, following the scents… and then two of the wolves rear up on their hind legs, becoming a man and woman (naked, of course). They complain about how the horses got away and wonder just where the humans vanished to. The man grows wings and decides to take to the sky to search; one of the Malaugrym who’s still in wolf form notices something moving and shifts into a falcon to go investigate. Apparently that the humans they’re tracking might have teleported away hasn’t’ occurred to them… and it looks like the Malaugrym were still shadowing them after all. I presume in case they thought Elminster was still with them incognito, or that he might come back – I can see no other reason for it! Unfortunately, the Malaugrym haven’t realized that the creature they saw moving was a hungry wyvern out hunting. But these were dark days in Faerun, and every shadow held danger. And so, I presume these Malaugrym scouts all ended up being eaten by a wyvern, immediately after they were introduced. What a waste. In any case, the chapter comes to an end here. And I am very, very glad of that fact.
MG: Yeah, this one wasn’t… viscerally gross, the way the last one was, but it was still bad. The assault on the Castle of Shadows still feels incredibly contrived, with Sharantyr just happening to be given exactly the magic item she needs to carry it out with no problems, and everyone else just going along with it even despite their objections. Milhvar’s plan… is the exact same as it was last chapter, hitting the exact same beats, which doesn’t make it easy to take seriously. The Malaugrym scouts showing up briefly just long enough to be baffled, and then eaten by a wyvern, is just weird. And, of course, there’s the meat of the chapter – Elminster’s meeting with Midnight and Ao, which we’ve already been over all the ways that’s gross and creepy, but mostly seems to be there so we know Elminster is awesome, even in the face of the Overgod, and for Greenwood to air some of his complaints about how this storyline went. But it is, at long last, over. Next time, we see what wacky hijinks ensue as three hotheaded young Malaugrym try to infiltrate Blackstaff Tower. We’ll see you then!
Warning: This chapter contains some squicky content, including discussion of brainwashing and manipulation.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Ed Greenwood’s Cloak of Shadows! Last time, Mystra gave Sharantyr a magic sword (and we also learned about a decidedly grimdark bit of Sharantyr’s backstory that hadn’t been so much as implied beforehand…) and some Malaugrym under Milhvar’s direction infiltrated Silverymoon before being exposed by their own incompetence well before they had a chance to actually complete their mission. Today, Sharantyr and company set off on their quest, Milhvar sets some other Malaugrym off on their quest, and Elminster has some divine visitations. Joining us once again will be Errezha and Calassara!
Chapter Twelve: Marshalling the Madfolk for Battle
Errezha: That title does not fill me with confidence. We open still in Daggerdale, Kythorn 18 as Sharantyr is still busy admiring that not-at-all-suspicious magic sword she got from Mystra last chapter; when Sylune appears beside her, she can’t help but bragging about look what the Lady Mystra gave me! *sigh* Really? We’re doing this now? Not that Sylune helps, as she starts literally dancing in the air around Sharantyr (which Sharantyr has apparently never seen her do before) before she finally tells Sharantyr she’s proud of her (what for? Mystra gave her the sword – she didn’t make it or win it!) and reminds her it would be better if she sheathed the blade. Because clearly, the seasoned warrior needs a ghost to remind her of that. Sharantyr does so and is downcast at the idea – that sword is affecting her, isn’t it? – but Sylune cheers her up by promising not to call her “child” ever again, now that you’ve faced a goddess and held your bladder. *snorts* A feeble wisp of a dying goddess, perhaps.
Calassara: Under normal circumstances it would be impressive… but I was rather more distracted by how much time Greenwood felt the need to spend on Sharantyr’s rather horrific personal history instead! Sharantyr tries to sheath the sword in her old sword’s sheath and is amazed it fits, but Sylune tells her to keep her old sword as well, since she might need it later too. Sylune then directs her towards a ring of blue-white light on the ground and tells her that her new sword can work it; Sharantyr steps in and wills it to activate, and the ring transports her… back to the ruined manor in Daggerdale where her companions are asleep… even though I thought she already transported herself back to Daggerdale at the end of the previous chapter… but I suppose that’s hardly the worst continuity error in this book, is it? I still remember the Time of Troubles starting twice… Except that for some reason, she appeared in the middle of the campfire, which has thankfully gone out! She then complains about Sylune’s sense of humor; Sylune had best be fortunate she is a ghost. I would do far worse than complain in Sharantyr’s position!
Errezha: And you would not be alone in that… at the sound of their reappearance, Belkram wakes up, complaining about them gossiping while honest men are trying to sleep; Sharantyr says she wasn’t aware he and Itharr were honest men, ha, ha. Itharr then gets distracted by the sight of Sharantyr’s new sword, waking up Itharr, who is also amazed. *rolling her eyes* Now they’re going to be in awe of the sword too, aren’t they? Because clearly, we haven’t had enough of that so far. They wonder about how she got it; Belkram guesses tomb-robbing, which is, to be fair, close enough. He complains about how she’s been waving it around ever since he woke up (he does have a point, one must admit…) and Itharr asks how she did get it, to which she responds in a tomb, because she did. She then shows off the sword some more and Belkram and Itharr are suitably awed, though Sharantyr warns them against trying to take it, which they clearly seem to want to… this weapon is seeming more cursed by the moment, I swear. Finally, Sharantyr explains how Sylune took her to a tomb in the Elven Court, where Mystra gave her the sword as a weapon against the Malaugrym. She asks if they’re with her.
“Shar,” Itharr said gently, “we’ve been with you since we met in a ruined castle by the desert, and watched a crazy old mage kissing a rotten old archlich. We’re still with you.” He tilted his head to regard her coolly. “But are you sure your wits are steady?” Sharantyr held up the blade. In response to her rising exultation, it blazed bright blue fire around her. “You think I’m imagining this?” “Well,” Belkram told the nearest wall brightly, “it’s certainly nice to share the same delusions as one’s closest friends …”
Calassara: *sigh* Of course, Greenwood had to remind us of the time Elminster kissed a lich. And now everyone is so amazed by the sword they’re doubting their own sanity. This chapter is going to be tiresome, isn’t it? Sylune confirms Sharantyr’s telling the truth, and Belkram and Itharr decide they believe it. Itharr wants to know what’s next. You want us to follow that bright blade of yours through a gate into the castle of the Malaugrym and start dicing them up for morningfeast? Of course Itharr the bloodthirsty would put it that way, and of course, Greenwood is going to make it that easy, as Sharantyr confirms it sweetly. Belkram at least wants some more information on just what they have to do, and Itharr has enough sense to not want to do anything until morning. Sharantyr apologizes for waking them… and then tells them that there’s a gate to the Plane of Shadows nearby, which is why this place makes them all feel so uneasy. Apparently, she learned this… because her sword detects portals nearby and lets her use them. So, it really is going to be that easy. I should be expecting this by now… Mystra told me, ‘Take your companions and go and slay Malaugrym for me.’ So here I am.”
Errezha: Belkram thinks it all sounds so unbelievable it must have been what Mystra told her and Itharr agrees – boys, that logic does not hold up, though sadly, all of this is in fact in character for Mystra. Itharr says the Harpers never warned him about things like this, while Sylune says no one ever warned her about this in Elminster’s kitchen, either. Itharr asks if she’s ever seen the inside of Elminster’s bedchamber (based on his overall hygiene… I doubt that’s something anyone should see, ever!) and Sylune retorts that “I was referring to when I was a babe, and a different kitchen than the one you’ve seen. And spare me your jokes about Elminster and young babes, too.”
MG: Okay, one, Elminster raised Laeral, Storm and Dove. He did not raise Sylune (or Alustriel, the Simbul, or Qilue). Sylune and Alustriel were raised by a retired Harper who treated them as his honorary nieces after their parents died (we really need to talk about the Seven Sisters’ backstory sometime; it is bizarre). For another… is Sylune having to warn Itharr off from making jokes about Elminster being a pedophile? And that itself is played for laughs? Bzuh? Am I reading that right? What the hells, Greenwood!
Errezha: *groans and facepalms* Ugh. Sharantyr guesses that so many Harpers die young because they tend to annoy people into wanting to kill them… I find that entirely plausible, as I’m experiencing the same thing right now, what a coincidence. Belkram and Itharr complain about being surrounded by critics wherever they go; Sylune tells them to get some sleep since they have a castle to conquer in the morning, oh spare me, and the scene ends there.
Calassara: And then we cut to… a very long and overly elaborate timestamp, oh dear. Another forgotten ruin in the Savage Frontier, with a side trip to the Flame Void, then the sky somewhere over Thay, Kythorn 18 And we are immediately dropped into the middle of someone’s conversation. “Nothing is worse than promises that are not meant and deeds that are not accomplished,” Midnight said quietly. “I need folk who stand behind what they say and do. Such as Azuth—if he survives—and you.” *kindly* Dear girl, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but do not put such faith in Elminster, if that is indeed who you’re addressing. He will only disappoint you. As for promises broken and deeds not accomplished… Greenwood should perhaps look to his own house, considering how many of his books fail to deliver on premises and concepts they promise! Oh, and then we find out just what Elminster and Midnight have been doing:
They clasped hands then, the man and the goddess. Both were white, drenched with sweat, and shaking. Long had they laid side-by-side, hands clasped, while Elminster’s memories – his long road with Mystra, and what of her secrets and powers he held – poured into Midnight, and she grew old and wise in a day and most of a night.
MG: Okay, I’m just going to say… what? First off, am I the only one who finds the implications of all of this to be kind of horrifying? Midnight, at this point, is approx. 25 years old – she’s an adult, not a kid, but she’s still definitely very young, especially compared to Elminster. And he’s seemingly just dumped more than a millennium’s worth of memories into her head. No wonder she’s pale, sweaty and shaking – he’s just been massively overriding her thoughts with his own! Did she ask for this? Somehow I doubt she knew what she was asking for, if so! And it doesn’t make sense thematically, either. The Avatar Trilogy is pretty clear that, though the Dead Three’s theft of the Tablets of Fate was the inciting incident, it was a symptom of a deeper problem, of the gods having grown too aloof and uncaring towards mortals and focusing more on their own power than doing their duties – and that the original Mystra was, indeed, part of that problem! That’s why the pantheon needed new blood in important roles (well, they probably could’ve done without Cyric, tbf). But Elminster cares not, so long as he gets to have his waifu (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) back! And I strongly suspect that in this scene Elminster is – more than usual – a stand-in for Greenwood himself, trying to jerk the story back in the direction he thinks it should’ve gone. Maybe I’m reading too much into the subtext here, but, really, this whole scene makes my skin crawl. And, it’s very minor in the grand scheme of things, but… Midnight isn’t a goddess yet. She’s just a very talented mortal wizard Mystra took an interest in; she won’t be a goddess until she ascends at the end of the Time of Troubles, months from now!
Errezha: *calmly* If I allow myself to think too much about this, I shall no doubt find myself consumed with blinding rage, so let’s just get this over with, shall we? Elminster and Midnight then leave the Netherese tomb they’d been staying in, with no one nearby to notice or threaten them, as Midnight says she needs time alone to think (no doubt she does, considering the sheer number of memories that aren’t hers she’s just been force-fed!); Elminster tells her to seek the elves of Evermeet or Evereska, who he claims will shelter her…
MG: *snorts* I somehow doubt that. Evermeet and Evereska are isolationist at the best of times, and with the Time of Troubles going on… I bet a foreign elf would have a hard chance getting in, and a non-elf like Midnight would probably have no chance at all. And Mystra, I must remind you again, is not an elven goddess.
Errezha: …of course. Elminster tells her to go think and return to him when she’s done (no, she needs to get away from you, old man!); until then, I’ll spend my days as I’ve always done, darting here and there about Faerun, saying this and meddling with that, slaying here and building there… less grand than some godly servants, perhaps, but the tasks get done. You are utterly shameless, aren’t you? He then asks Midnight if she’ll want him to lay down his duties and life when she takes power (if only!) but she refuses. No. I shall need your counsel in the ways of Faerun – and in plain common sense – to guide me for ages to come, or I shall be a worse wildheart than Talos, Lolth, Loviatar or Malar have ever been, ruling by whim and wrecking all I touch, ending twisted and bitter, no doubt, or sinking down into madness and despair. *rolling her eyes* Because clearly even gods need the Great Elminster’s help to keep them from falling into madness and evil! And, of course, Elminster says that if she will it, he’ll stay with her, as will all the other Chosen, some of them gentler and grander and better than I. While that is true… your false modesty fools nobody.
MG: And, I mean, say what you will about Mystra I, it’s not like she, who came into existence long before Elminster was born, turned into some berserk combination of the god of destruction, the goddess of chaos, the goddess of pain and the god of the hunt all rolled into one, so I’m not sure why Midnight is so sure she will? Especially ironic considering Midnight will ascend to godhood opposite Cyric, who’s got to be in the top five of “most despicable assholes ever offered divinity in the history of Toril.” Also, do whistle up Shandril’s soul and ask her what happened to the last young woman who trusted Elminster to guide her in how to manage her newfound great power – that’ll put you off the idea that you need him!
Calassara: Indeed, it will… But Midnight only turns this into another chance to wax poetic about how wonderful Elminster is, as she goes on about how hard the road he’s walked has been and how well he’s done it, and enough is enough, Greenwood! Elminster, of course, is deeply flattered, and promises to go set up some temples and priests to ritual profanity – er, litanies her way, while Midnight laughs and asks how she’s supposed to maintain her dignity when Elminster mocks her so. I’m more curious about how, if Midnight isn’t even a goddess yet, and all the gods who are gods have been cut off from most of their power, getting prayers sent her way is meant to help her at all. Elminster laughs a bit more at her comment, then muses that she should go to his Safehold, where she’ll be safe from the other gods and avatars during the Time of Troubles; one entrance is in Evermeet, and the other one… is through his bedchamber. Of course it is.
MG: So, uh, do the elves know you put this portal somewhere on their sacred and protected island, Elminster? At least as depicted in Elaine Cunningham’s Evermeet novel, Laeral seems to be the only one of Mystra’s Chosen with any significant ties to Evermeet, because she’s personal friends with Amlaruil Moonflower, the elves’ queen. But she’s seemingly pretty tight-lipped about her connections to the island even with her husband Khelben, much less anyone else. Elminster I don’t think is even mentioned in Evermeet. Also, Midnight has something very important to do before the Time of Troubles ends – namely, she’s going to have to go to the Fugue Plane, infiltrate Myrkul’s city of the damned, find where he stashed the Tablets of Fate, and then return them to Ao to end the crisis. Which, uh, she won’t be able to do if she lets Elminster shut her up in a vault for the duration of the crisis. Whoops!
Errezha: …can I be reading that instead? Or Evermeet, at least? It sounds like that one may contain a fair bit of elvish snobbishness – no offense to current company - but compared to Elminster, I’ll take what I can get. Midnight reminds Elminster that she’s a goddess now and he shouldn’t be making passes at her – thank you, girl – and Elminster claims his reputation in the bedroom is exaggerated (not according to Greenwood, unfortunately!) but Midnight says she has his memories now and knows better. *headdesk* I. Hate. This. Elminster then tries to teleport Midnight and himself to the Safehold… but instead they find themselves tumbling through an empty void. Midnight was curled up as a small child sleeps, eyes closed and mouth gaping open, face blank and hair streaming like night shadows around her. Elminster tries to wake her but can’t. He recognizes the place as the Flame Void – oh, goody, that nonsensical place from the previous book – and wonders how they got here. And someone answers.
“By my will, mortal mage,” said a voice from close by. Elminster turned and saw a man whose hair and beard were whiter than his own, whose face was unremarkable but whose eyes and robes were both a dark swirl of stars, so that he seemed to be the heart of the Flame Void.
Calassara: Hmmm, who could it be… someone who’s not very happy with what Elminster’s been up to, I imagine? Elminster sighs in annoyance (a poor move, I think!) and asks who this is; the answer of course is that some call me the Overgod… others, the Hidden One… Ao. I must admit, if this is the supreme deity of Toril, that description is rather… underwhelming.
MG: To be fair, Ao does canonically use the “grandpa god” look sometimes, when he appears as anything at all (oftentimes he’s just a disembodied voice, and honestly I think I’d have preferred that here – remind Elminster that this isn’t just a really powerful dude he’s dealing with but the literal god of gods, and he’s trifling with forces massively beyond his ken and is on very, very thin ice).
Calassara: I find I rather agree… Elminster says he has questions for Ao, but Ao says he’s not here to answer them. Presumptuous mortal. Ye have tried to hasten the elevation to full powers of my choice for Mystra’s replacement, and take her from Faerun! *she sighs happily* Finally, someone who is willing to tell Elminster off – and has the power to back it up! This is going to be so fuuun… Elminster explains how magic is running wild and Toril is falling into chaos, and there needs to be a goddess of magic, which he thinks Ao should have realized. He wanted to give Midnight a chance to think and learn (no, you wanted to remake her in your old lover’s image, I think!) and he says that’s a rare thing for a god to do… Elminster, Elminster. Do you really want to backtalk an entity who I believe to be quite capable of erasing you from existence entirely with a stray thought?
Errezha: Whoever called anything Elminster has done thus far sensible? Even I – who do not so much worship the Prince of Law as respect his power from a safe distance – prefer to speak of my nation’s patron deity with a certain prudence. And Ao, I believe, is a far loftier being than Asmodeus! Ao condemns Elminster’s temerity; Elminster claims this is the nature of humanity and asks if Ao has really not noticed that before. *she winces* Oh, this is going to end poorly… Ao acknowledges that Elminster means well, but he says that many tyrants and evil gods have believed the same about themselves. Is… is someone actually calling out Elminster for his hypocrisy? What miracle is this? Ao decrees that Midnight will return to Faerun and forget what Elminster did to her. Elminster himself is to never speak of this, and to keep him busy, Ao has a task for him; suddenly, Elminster finds himself back in Faerun, in a land where a wall of mountains rose around vast plateaus and… Thay! …the Land of Mad Mages? If Ao’s sent me here, it must be to deal with some idiot mage who’s trying to make himself a god, or set up some particularly nasty doom for all of us under cover of these troubles. Ah, blast all gods and their Overgods too! *flatly* I’m so sorry that dealing with the actual plot instead of grooming young women in your image is so onerous for you, old man. A moment later, some shadowy shape shoots up from the ground to attack him, leading Elminster to declare that Allfather Ao… ye and I will be having words! You just did. It ended poorly for you. Hopefully you’ll do it again, and he will dismiss you just as easily! The shadow creature attacks, and Elminster readies magic to defend himself, and the scene ends.
MG: Okay, so… this scene. We’ve already talked about why I think what Elminster was trying to do to Midnight was creepy as all hell. Now I’d like to discuss more of what seems to be the subtext of the scene, especially Elminster’s conversation with Ao. While Ao is, rightly, depicted as being powerful enough to take Midnight away from Elminster, and then banish Elminster himself to run errands in Thay for him, the overwhelming sense I get from the scene is that Greenwood wants us to think Ao is in the wrong, that Midnight does need Elminster’s guidance, that Ao was wrong to separate them, and Elminster, to be blunt, knows best. Especially considering that he lets Elminster get off with a slap on the wrist for disrespecting the most powerful being in all of Realmspace (Ao isn’t really big-G God in the monotheistic sense – the last scene of the Avatar Trilogy confirms that Ao himself has a superior, and there could well be more, unseen levels in the divine hierarchy above that – but as far as the inhabitants of Toril are concerned, he might as well be). Basically, especially in light of the fact that Greenwood supposedly doesn’t like the Time of Troubles storyline, I can’t help but feel that Elminster in this scene is, more than usual, a stand-in for Greenwood himself, and Ao represents the editors at TSR in charge of the setting’s overall story direction, and we’re seeing a metaphorical tug-of-war between them over the direction of the plot; Ao (TSR) wins, but Elminster (Greenwood) makes it clear he’s not happy with the direction they’ve chosen and is going along under protest. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and I’m completely off-base… but it’s what the subtext feels like to me.
Also, here we have Greenwood’s explanation for why this little chat never got mentioned in the original trilogy – Ao forcibly separated Elminster and Midnight, erased her memory, and swore Elminster to secrecy. This does not explain how Midnight – who, again, is supposed to be in a goddamned coma right now and hasn’t even begun the process of ascending to godhood – showed up to meet Elminster at a random inn in the first place.
Calassara: …this is making my head hurt. I think the divine conflicts of my own world make more sense than this. *perks up* Say, can we throw Elminster into the Worldwound? Either he kills a bunch of demons, or they kill him – either way, a great evil will be removed. I think it has potential! We then cut back to the Castle of Shadows, same date, where three more young Malaugrym are striking dramatic poses – really? – in front of Milhvar as he gives his same speech from the previous chapter. Dhalgrave had high hopes for this project, don’t let him down but also don’t get yourselves killed, return if your lives are in danger, so on and so forth. The young Malaugrym are clearly only half paying attention, and Milhvar hopes that taking part in this project will temper some of them, or at least remove them before they become a liability to the rest. He then looks over the three; one of them, Taernil, he thinks has promise, and that if Taernil and Huerbara remain a couple, they could become the most dangerous pair of young Shadowmasters to rise in some time. Balatar was simply a bad, wild one, who loved cruelty and killing too much and taking orders too little. Milhvar notes that he actively sneered when he mentioned Dhalgrave’s name, and he thinks if Balatar dies, he’ll be no loss. Jarthree, the last one, is cold and calculating, always looking at everyone else like she’s already planned their doom, but never acting on it… yet. Hmmm; I wonder if these three will have any better luck than the previous ones?
Errezha: I don’t take bets I know I’ll lose. Milhvar then instructs them in how to draw their blood and weave the weaker version of his cloak, and once again, this just feels like a repeat of the last group of young Malaugrym setting out. Milhvar watches carefully, wondering how events will unfold; they were off for Blackstaff Tower this time, a far stiffer challenge than the first three had faced. And no doubt they’ll fail even more spectacularly, then. Milhvar thinks about how the previous three cloaks failed to stand up against simple guards and servants (true, but it was Huerbara’s acting that failed, not the magic!) and now they’ll be pitting magic against magic. We get yet more musing about how Milhvar’s made the spell more complex than it needs to be – enough with the repetition! – and finally the cloaks are complete and Milhvar adds his “secret ingredient.” He then prepares the spell to teleport them into Blackstaff Tower, presumably hijacking the gate that links the tower to Evermeet…
MG: Which ties into a plot point in Elaine Cunningham’s novels…
Errezha: …though it may grab one of the other portals in the tower instead; it doesn’t matter. Jarthree snaps at him not to patronize them, but Milhvar warns her that she’d be far worse off if he meant to do that, and he’s pleased to note the others recoil a bit from this. Then he works the spell, and they set off. Go now. Bring glory to the Malaugrym. Oh, I somehow doubt that.
Calassara: We then cut to Daggerdale, Kythorn 19 – so, the next morning, then? – as Itharr hopes their horses will be all right while they’re gone, and Sylune assures them she’ll have “wild friends” to look after them. Belkram, for once, decides to speak sense, and is less worried about the horses than about all of them.
We’re the ones undertaking a madwoman’s mission into the very fortress of our foes. It’d be crazy if these villains dwelt in Faerun, and didn’t have mighty magic and the power to change shapes at will. As it is, it’s sheer carve-our-tombstones insanity time!
Calassara: …you’ve only just now realized this? Sharantyr and Itharr argue about whether Belkram is acting like this because he fell and hit his head(!) and then he finally decides to go along with the plan. They banter a bit about just what Belkram’s education among the Harpers entailed, and finally Sylune intervenes, telling them all to be quiet and get close to each other. Belkram is thankful she called him Belk instead of some dismissive nickname – was that really an issue beforehand? I genuinely hadn’t noticed – and Sylune apologizes, since it was apparently the way of things when she was young for elders to speak and everyone else to listen, and clearly things have changed (someone tell Elminster – he certainly hasn’t gotten the message!). They all get ready to head out, with Sylune warning them to keep her presence a secret until they absolutely need her. They agree, Sharantyr draws her sword, and it flashes with light, and then… they’re gone. Hmmm; that was easy. Too easy, I might say…
Errezha: I might say it’s worse than that, and since when has Greenwood ever been anything else? Once they’re gone, everything is still for a while, and then three wolves come loping over to investigate. They search around for a while, following the scents… and then two of the wolves rear up on their hind legs, becoming a man and woman (naked, of course). They complain about how the horses got away and wonder just where the humans vanished to. The man grows wings and decides to take to the sky to search; one of the Malaugrym who’s still in wolf form notices something moving and shifts into a falcon to go investigate. Apparently that the humans they’re tracking might have teleported away hasn’t’ occurred to them… and it looks like the Malaugrym were still shadowing them after all. I presume in case they thought Elminster was still with them incognito, or that he might come back – I can see no other reason for it! Unfortunately, the Malaugrym haven’t realized that the creature they saw moving was a hungry wyvern out hunting. But these were dark days in Faerun, and every shadow held danger. And so, I presume these Malaugrym scouts all ended up being eaten by a wyvern, immediately after they were introduced. What a waste. In any case, the chapter comes to an end here. And I am very, very glad of that fact.
MG: Yeah, this one wasn’t… viscerally gross, the way the last one was, but it was still bad. The assault on the Castle of Shadows still feels incredibly contrived, with Sharantyr just happening to be given exactly the magic item she needs to carry it out with no problems, and everyone else just going along with it even despite their objections. Milhvar’s plan… is the exact same as it was last chapter, hitting the exact same beats, which doesn’t make it easy to take seriously. The Malaugrym scouts showing up briefly just long enough to be baffled, and then eaten by a wyvern, is just weird. And, of course, there’s the meat of the chapter – Elminster’s meeting with Midnight and Ao, which we’ve already been over all the ways that’s gross and creepy, but mostly seems to be there so we know Elminster is awesome, even in the face of the Overgod, and for Greenwood to air some of his complaints about how this storyline went. But it is, at long last, over. Next time, we see what wacky hijinks ensue as three hotheaded young Malaugrym try to infiltrate Blackstaff Tower. We’ll see you then!