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menzoberranzans-historian · 9 months

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History in Menzoberranzan

3917 DR

Menzoberranzan was founded by a priestess of Lolth named Menzoberra the Kinless

1305 DR in politics

The drow wizards of House Mylyl, having been experimenting with creating chitines since 1233 DR,[3] finally abandon their efforts. The chitines, now free, form the realm of Yathchol beneath the Far Forest.

1313 DR

After proving his above-average agility and hand–eye coordination to Matron Malice, Drizzt Do'Urden begins training his martial skills with Zaknafein.

1318 DR

Having learned much from Zaknafein of the martial arts, Drizzt Do'Urden enters Melee-Magthere, the warrior school in Menzoberranzan.

1320 DR

Following the Thunder Blessing, the growing gold dwarf population is forced to spread out across the southern Underdark, seeking new caverns to settle and disturbing the long-held status quo of the subterranean races.

1322 DR

• Liriel Baenre is born to Sosdrielle Vandree in Menzoberranzan.

1325 DR

• Beers and wines made in this year become famous.

1327 DR

• Having trained for ten years at Menzoberranzan's Melee-Magthere, Drizzt Do'Urden becomes first graduate of his class.

1328 DR

After a raid on Menzoberranzan from the Illithid of Phanlinksal, House Baenre retaliates. In exchange for not destroying the settlement, El-Viddenvelp agrees to serve Yvonnel Baenre as an advisor.

1328 DR in people

• Drizzt Do'Urden flees Menzoberranzan and goes to live in the wilds of Nasadra. House Hrost Ulu'ar destroyed by House Xorlarrin

self-imposed exile

1339 DR

House Baenre destroys House Do'Urden of Menzoberranzan by the mandate of Lolth.

1358 DR

• House Oblodra (with its psionic powers unaffected by the Time of Troubles) plots to seize power over the drow city of Menzoberranzan. However, as the Troubles end, they are defeated and destroyed by House Baenre.

Led by House Baenre, an army of drow, goblins, and kobolds of Menzoberranzan attack Mithril Hall. The dwarves are joined by local barbarian tribes, svirfneblin, the forces of Nesmé and Silverymoon, as well as Lady Alustriel Silverhand and the Harpells of Longsaddle. Together, they defeat the drow and force them back underground.

in Menzoberranzan, where Matron Malice and the rest of the Do'Urden family are still waging war with House Hun'ett. With the help of renegade Jarlaxle and his group Bregan D'aerthe, the Do'Urden family win the fight moving them to Eighth position in the Menzo hierarchy.

Matron Malice goes to council with Matron Baenre, where it is revealed to her that Matron SiNafay Hun'ett is to join the Do'Urden family under the alias of Shi'nayne - the eldest daughter who has returned from her travels of distant drow city Ched Nasad. After several ten-days pass, Dinin and Briza with a small group of soldiers are searching for Drizzt in the tunnels of the Underdark, so that they can capture and kill him, and regain the favour of the Spider Queen, Lolth.

The family of House Do'Urden gather in the anteroom, where Rizzen is being abused by Matron Malice. They discuss whether or not any of them should go after Drizzt again, Briza and Dinin not being keen at all since their last encounter. Malice hatches an idea, and so a ceremony takes place to bring forth a yochlol (maiden) of Lolth. To please Lolth, Malice has decided to sacrifice Rizzen so that they may regain enough favour to carry out her plans. As the yochlol is called, Malice goes to strike Rizzen but instead murders SiNafay, which gives her enough respect from Lolth to perform Zin-carla, a spell with re-animates the corpse of a single dead person but their mind is controlled mentally through the Matron of the House, a gift only given to complete a specific task. And so to hunt Drizzt, Malice re-animates Zaknafein knowing that he alone can destroy Drizzt.

Source

#history #menzoberranzan

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deepbat · 2 years

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На этой странице вы не найдёте ничего, кроме рисунков с участием дроу.

Список тэгов:

#drow - дефолтный тэг, присутствует под всеми картинками (чтобы авторша не забыла, чем она тут занимается) #drowling - дровёнок (на картинке есть персонаж-детёныш)

#demon - демон #yochlol - йоклол (восковая демоница, служанка Ллос) #draegloth - дреглот (дитя самой сильной жрицы от глабрезу) #drider - драук (прОклятый грешник, визуально - полудроу-полупаук)

#meanwhile in braeryn - тем временем в Браэрине (гопота всякая)

#mother baenre - Мать Бэнр, она же Ивонель I #triel baenre - Триль Бэнр #bladenkerst baenre - Блэйден'Кёрст Бэнр #quenthel baenre - Квентль Бэнр #duktak baenre - Дук-Так, она же Вендес Бэнр #sosumptu baenre - Сос'Ампту Бэнр #merith baenre - Мерит Бэнр (вскользь упомянутая простолюдинка-приёмыш) #jeggred baenre - Джеггред Бэнр (полудемон, сын Триль)

#malice dourden - Мэлис До'Урден #vartha dourden - Варта До'Урден (предшественница Мэлис) #briza dourden - Бриза До'Урден #vierna dourden - Вирна До'Урден #maya dourden - Майя До'Урден #shinayne dourden - Ши'Нэйн До'Урден (она же СиНафай Ган'Нет) #rizzen dourden - Риззен До'Урден #nalfein dourden - Нальфейн До'Урден #dinin dourden - Дайнин До'Урден #drizzt dourden - Дзирт До'Урден #zaknafein dourden - Закнафейн До'Урден

#sinafay hunnet - СиНафай Ган'Нет (она же Ши'Нэйн До'Урден)

#mezbarris armgo - Мез'Баррис Армго #uthegental armgo - Утегенталь Армго

#kyorl odran - Кьорл Одран

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veraynes-blog · 1 year

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I have been absolutely useless for anything but playing this game since Saturday. Look at my girl, Sinafay <3 And I only took 75 minutes in the character creator menu, which frankly is less than I expected 😅

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #dnd drow #drow #verayne games

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sauronpilled · 7 months

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they're so cruel for giving us masoj, alton, and sinafay in homeland only to take it away by the end of the book and exile. they're so good, i genuinely thought they would be recurring side characters in the series.

#forgotten realms #legend of drizzt #masoj hun'ett #sinafay hun'ett #alton devir #can you imagine viconia reuniting with alton in the future

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darkseldarine · 9 months

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I've been trying to articulate this for a whole day but. Matron SiNafay feels so weirdly nice to me.

#Drizzt read through #I was also immediately captured by her when she showed up #she was described as four foot nothing and I went ''I can see her in my head. Oh she rules''

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thefugitivemango · 3 years

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Variant Attachments

[[ Co-written with @kidcatgemini, player of @sinafay1 and @sinafay-the-defiant ]]

~*~

The Kyrian’s duties in Korthia were primarily as scouts. Their air superiority gave them a distinct advantage in surveying the area. But even for a wingless Kyrian adherent like Grakkar, scouting was the best way he could contribute to the joint efforts of Death’s Advance. An eye in the sky was one thing, but without getting a sense of things on the ground, it didn’t count for much.

The orc hefted his axe over his shoulder, relaxing his stride as he stepped out onto the open road. He’d trudged and crawled through the thickets, underbrush, and cliffsides of this unforgiving land enough for one day, and now returned to the Keeper’s Respite up the hill. Today’s report wasn’t much different than yesterday’s-- fighting here happened quickly and spontaneously, and ended equally so. It made it hard to predict when and where the Mawsworn would strike. But they weren’t amassing anywhere out of the usual. For now.

Grakkar stopped, eyes shooting wide as he entered the encampment. His heart skipped a beat, swelling up in his chest! It was a face he’d know anywhere-- Sinafay’s! What was she doing here? And why was her skin so much more blue than before? Her eyes, too were--

“... Oh.”

It dawned on him, heart beating back normally again… though feeling excessively heavier now, as a result. It was Sinafay. But not his Sinafay. His wall of a Soulbind by her side confirmed it, as the two spoke indistinctly across the camp. Shared a kiss… then Argonas stepped away, approaching the Kyrian forward commanders. Likely to report in. He’d been scarce lately, but Grakkar understood why. After the Battle for Ardenweald, he finally attained what he came here for in the first place. Sinafay.

And… there she was. Standing alone now, watching her mate from afar. That same hopeful, jovial expression as she looked at Argonas that her Lightbound self back home would give Grakkar when he was around. It made him miss her all the more, seeing this facsimile here and now.

Before he knew it, his legs took off without him, closing the distance between him and Sinafay. By the time he was within talking distance of her, he realized he had no idea what to say!

“Nice body.” was his knee-jerk reaction.

He could almost taste his foot as he shoved it in his mouth.

“--Uhh, I mean… I’m glad you restored it. Your body, I mean.” he tried to correct. “Because, you know… last I saw you were a soul.”

An attempt at a save. Not a good one, but an attempt!

Sinafay visibly bristled at the voice. She recognized the gruff Orcish accent easily enough. Her eyes narrowed as she snapped an ice cold glare at Grakkar. Her tail twitched, clearly demonstrating her annoyance as he fumbled his words out.

She hadn’t yet had a chance to discuss with Argonas how he’d ended up with an Orc as a Soulbind. Either way, she at least attempted not to be immediately hostile towards him, if anything because she wasn’t aware of the specifics of how the connection worked.

“Thank you…” she replied, though it appeared to take great effort on her part, “It has served me well thus far.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her hip, brows knit as she looked him over. Old… very old. No doubt a good fighter to have reached that age. She wondered how many Draenei deaths he was responsible for…

There was an awkward silence as they both just stood there eyeing each other. She wasn’t certain why Grakkar wasn’t leaving… was he attempting to befriend her because of the link with Argonas, she wondered? Sinafay looked over towards where her husband had gone, hoping to catch his gaze and indicate he should come back, but he appeared to be in a deep conversation about the mission report. She let out a heavy sigh before returning her attention to the Orc.

“You and Argonas are… Soulbinds, yes?” she figured she might as well attempt to gather information, “What exactly does that entail?”

“It’s, uh… complicated.” he sputtered out, not entirely sure how to answer that. “The Kyrian do this ritual to connect people, so they can draw on one another’s strengths. Argonas and I share a link of sorts. Memories. Emotions. Those kinds of things we can glean from one another’s pasts.”

It was honestly about all he knew about it, for having undergone a Soulbinding ritual personally. The rest of it felt… innate. Unable to be put into words, just understood through the experience. He found a lot of shamanistic rituals were like that, too.

“--Ah! You’re a shaman, right?” he brightened, smiling as he remembered that fact! “I remember Argonas mentioning that. Or… reading it from his memories. Either way, that’s impressive! Where I come from, not a lot of Draenei have the tenacity or commitment for such a sacred calling.”

He smiled a bit. Relaxing. This was going well… he thought. He hoped.

“I… am, yes,” she replied, tail flickering behind her. She wasn’t about to mention that having a new body made it so that she had to reconnect with the elements once again. It was one of the main reasons she wanted to accompany Argonas to Korthia, what better place to reconnect than on the field of battle itself?

The idea of him gleaning memories and emotions from Argonas was… disturbing, to say the least. Especially considering she and her mate had spent the past few months doing nothing but celebrating her return in very physical ways! She couldn’t help but wonder how much of that he’d picked up. Perhaps it was the reason he was so relaxed around her. Her nose scrunched up in disgust. It was uncomfortable to say the least. This Orc already seemed to know so much about her, yet she knew next to nothing about him.

For the moment, she pushed aside the memory and emotions issue to concentrate on the other things Grakkar had divulged.

“What do you mean ‘where you are from?’” She couldn’t help but ask, noting his skin color and tattoos, “You speak of Nagrand?”

"Heh, good eye. You know your clans, it seems." he nodded.

Grakkar then spread his arms and turned slightly to further show off his Warsong clan markings. He was impressed; this Sinafay seemed as interested in Orcish culture as his was!

"I'm from a different timeline than you are, though-- the one you Azerothians returned to and saved from the Legion's devastation." he clarified, straightening up once more. "After you all left, the Orcish clans and the Draenei empire lived in peace… for a time. Before the Lightbound Crusade."

A frown crossed his features, diminishing the polite and friendly smile he had tried to maintain in her presence. Even now, the sudden betrayal of the Draenei weighed heavily on his heart. He lost so many people he cared about to that zealous treachery. Including Neelah.

"But… that isn't a very pleasant story." he shook his head, shrugging the negative memories away for now. "Regardless, it's impressive to see a Draenei cultivate an affinity to the elements."

Sinafay simply blinked as a pack of new information came rolling out of the Orc’s mouth. Draenor? Draenei and Orcs living in peace?! Lightbound Crusade? She shook her head as she tried to digest it all… except none of it made any sense!

“Wait wait wait,” her arms finally uncrossed from over her chest, to bring her fingers to rub at her temples, “You are saying that the portals to Draenor are OPEN again?! Since when?! What the fuck is a Lightbound?! What crusade?!”

So many questions filled her head. She looked towards Argonas once more. He hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort!

Fuck, she needed a drink!

Grakkar's eyes widened, brow raising. His lips grew narrow, as he began to recognize the familiar signs or panic and confused anger in this Sinafay he had learned from the true one back home. He had definitely upset her.

"--Oh, uh… no, no. The portals aren't open again. They were briefly so we could escape the Lightbound Crusade." he tried to explain simply and quickly as possible. "The, uh, the Lightbound were what the Draenei in my timeline became after the Azerothians left. Their leader grew zealous and broke the peace to try and force the Light onto us. They killed anyone who resisted, so… uh…"

Only after he expounded on the terrible incident did he realize… knowing more probably wouldn't calm this Sinafay down. Just like the feeling of shame and anger he felt learning the Orcs of the Azerothian timeline had succumbed to the Fel, he suspected this particular Sinafay might not be pleased to hear her people had become oppressors.

Whoops.

"I, uh… I'll let Argonas fill you in on the rest of that. Where'd he get off to, anyway…?"

He joined Sinafay in looking for his Soulbind… but the crowd had grown. Argonas was nowhere in sight!

She took the opportunity to get up in his face. Hands grabbing his tabard and tugging his attention back to her as she growled at him. He was right, she was upset. Tail flicked erratically behind her, and despite having not fully reconnected to the elements, static electricity and sparks of lightning became evident at her growing sour mood.

“Details, Orc,” she practically barked out the command, “Now.”

His lips almost curled into a smile. Almost. Sinafay was so sexy when she was angry and aggressive… even this Azerothian variant! It took significant willpower to keep his hands at his side, rather than grabbing at and groping the Draenei like he would do back home in a situation like this. He had to remind himself this wasn’t his Sinafay.

Hopefully she didn’t notice his erection-- the damn thing clearly couldn’t tell the difference.

“The, uh… the clans were thinned, and forced to merge into one clan and unite against the Lightbound. But even that didn’t stop them, after their empire had grown so powerful. The last of us escaped through the portal to Azeroth, right after the Ogres succumbed.” he elaborated, at her insistence. “Light drove them to madness, same as an excess of any magic would. I know things worked out differently in your timeline, so this must be hard to hear, Sina. But… your people on Draenor turned into zealots.”

He brought his hand up to gently push hers off of him. His arousal abated, after recounting the awful tragedy that ended his life on Draenor. That, and Sinafay’s rage was far less sexy when he couldn’t fight back, as it turned out...

“--Look, don’t get mad at me, alright? I didn’t raise my weapon to any Draenei who weren’t trying to kill me. After the peace, anyway…” he attempted to quell her anger further. “No, during the Lightbound Crusades, I even worked with a Draenei; the real Sinafay, actually! And later after that, Sinafay and I… well… she became my mate.”

He smiled. That would’ve surely cheered her up, to learn that her true self wasn’t one of the oppressive out-of-control Lightbound that conquered his people!

“We even had a child together-- but that’s more recent, once we got here to Azeroth. Argonas thought it was his at first, and we had a big fight over it. I won, easily, but it was still a sore point in our relationship.” he continued, filling Sinafay in on the more recent details. “But we’re past it now, and are working together! One more point of proof, if you need it, that I’m most definitely a friend of the Draenei! Married one, have one as a child-- and if I can work well with Argonas, what more proof do you need?”

With a hearty laugh, Grakkar brought his hand firmly down on Sinafay’s shoulder! He was so glad they were getting along now!

Sinafay’s head spun. She remained in front of Grakkar, hands still up in front of her, balled into fists as he recounted all the details to her. Her eyes widened as he explained the path her kin on Draenor had taken. Surely, the Orcs must have provoked them somehow! But then, she’d seen for herself how the Naaru and the Light could corrupt back on Argus. It turned her stomach that such a corrupted path had been the one Yrel had taken…

She shook her head slowly, face visibly paled and brows drawn together as she tried to make sense of it. Surely, Rurik wouldn’t have stood for something like that nor would her mother or—

—The news of her Draenor counterpart took her completely by surprise. She blinked as Grakkar updated her on her alternate self. She stared at the Orc in shock and disbelief. Part of her was pleased that the other Sinafay had both fought against and survived the crusade. It seemed their will to do what was right and their survival skills were similar.

Apparently, though, that was where their similarities ended. Her counterpart was mated AND had birthed Grakkar’s child?! And why would Argonas think the child was…

Wait.

He would only think the child was his if…

Anger returned to the forefront of her mind as she realized two things. One: her alternate self had managed to cross over and was now living on Azeroth. Two: Argonas was sleeping with her again.

The hand on her shoulder was the breaking point. Baring her fangs, Sinafay grabbed Grakkar’s upper arms and moved forward as she raised her knee, swiftly connecting hard into the Orc’s testicles.

“Fuck that bitch and fuck YOU!”

She was furious! Her eyes flared as lightning sparked around her form. Shoving Grakkar aside, she stomped off into the wilds of Korthia, tail swinging aggressively behind her.

She needed air.

~*~

Grakkar wasn’t sure how long he was on the ground. His eyes fluttered open to see his Soulbind Argonas, scowling down at him. Slowly, sound returned to him. Muffled mumblings at first, but growing more clear as his senses returned to him.

“... ere is she? Where is Sinafay?” Argonas asked, demandingly.

That’s when it started rushing back to the Orc. The memories and the pain, both. He winced, feeling the intense pain in his groin all at once.

“--A-Ancestors…” he whimpered.

Argonas, too, grimaced-- their Soulbinding translating that physical pain in Grakkar into sympathetic pain for the Vindicator. He glanced down, and briefly brushed his hand overtop the Orc’s battered bundle. A flash of Light, and the pain was suppressed. For now.

“--Hnngh… Thank you…” Grakkar managed to speak, no longer straining from the intensity of the pain. “She… kicks really hard… I didn’t expect it-- we were getting along so well!”

“Clearly not as well as you think!” Argonas resumed scolding.

He pulled Grakkar up, whether he wanted to sit up or not, and crossed his arms before him.

“I will ask again; where is she? You were with her last, and clearly upset her!”

“I… I don’t know. We were talking about Shamanism, then about Draenor…” Grakkar replied, as the memories started lining up again. “Then about the Lightbound, and the real Sina… then our child, and--”

“--Wait, you told her about the other Sinafay?” Argonas interrupted, frowning. “What exactly did you say?”

“That she and I had a child together. I told her how we fought over it, when you thought it was yours, but only to indicate that we had moved past that, yeah?” the Orc replied, grunting as he slowly stood up. “I was trying to show her I’m not like most of the Orcs you and she have encountered in your timeline. That I’m a friend. I thought that’d be best, given our circumstances.”

Argonas had stopped listening after the part about the baby. His eyes widened, skin growing a paler shade of blue. He turned, staring at the ground as a million thoughts raced through his mind. None of them good.

“... She knows, then. And she is not happy about it.”

“About what?”

“About the other Sinafay. And how we--”

He gasped, turning to Grakkar. He didn’t have to say it-- their soulbind link conveyed it well enough in the moment. Argonas was not supposed to have rekindled things with the Sinafay from Draenor. Grakkar could tell immediately.

“... It’s alright, big guy. Look, you just explain to her that you thought she was gone for good, yeah? She’ll forgive you!”

“Does she seem like a forgiving person to you!?” Argonas snapped back, brow furrowed. “They hated each other! Light, I should have warned you, but I did not expect you would speak of that in your first ever encounter with her!”

“... Second, technically.” the Orc mumbled to himself. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

The silence lingered between the two of them for a moment. Both feeling the complexity and awkwardness of the situation through their soulbind. Finally, Grakkar shrugged.

“I’m gonna go.”

“I think that would be best, yes.” Argonas nodded. “Lay low for now. I will sort this out so it does not interfere with our duties to the Kyrian.”

“--No, Argonas… I’m gonna go home.”

Argonas raised his brow, as he looked at Grakkar. The Orc nodded resolutely, as he hefted his axe back over his shoulder. Aside from a pair of bruised berries, his encounter with Sinafay had left him with one thing; homesickness. As much as he wanted to help, he was starting to realize what this time apart from his mate and daughter was really costing him. He had been able to push his feelings down until now. But seeing Sinafay? Even a copy of her? Those feelings were too much to ignore.

He didn’t have to say it, though-- Argonas could feel it. And honestly, were he in the same position, he couldn’t say for sure that he’d continue to squash the feelings for the good of the mission. It was time for his Soulbind to return to Azeroth.

“... Mm. So be it.” he replied, nodding.

He stepped forward, and extended a hand. A gesture of goodwill-- the first he’d ever made towards an Orc! Grakkar smirked, taking Argonas’ hand in his and squeezing it firmly. They grinned to one another.

“Honor and glory to you, Argonas.”

“And Light’s blessings upon you and yours, Grakkar.”

Grakkar nodded one final time, before turning to depart. He paused, calling back as he approached the portal.

“--And good luck with all that!”

His chuckle echoed across the Sanctuary, before fading away with his physical form back to Oribos.

~*~

[[ @sinafay1 / @sinafay-the-defiant / @argonas / @grakkar-gorefang ]]

#Character Story #Korthia #Shadowlands #Argonas the Ironclad #Grakkar Gorefang #Sinafay #Sinafay the Defiant #Warcraft #Draenei #Orc

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utilitycaster · 8 months

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I'm Reading the Drizzt Novels and You Can't Stop Me: Exile

I DID knock a second book out, which means at this rate I will start reading books I haven't already read by May if we go by "two in a month" but by late March if we go by "one a week" I should probably speed this up.

Exile is much simpler plot wise and also, despite being the middle child of the Dark Elf trilogy, is the best, because it's Drizzt Depression Hours and also is our last long look at Menzoberranzan drama for a while.

So Drizzt and his lavender orbs ran away from Menzoberranzan at the end of Homeland, and Exile covers this period. Basically, being alone in the Underdark is soul-crushing, and he develops a dissociative identity he calls The Hunter who is focused on survival, but is at the risk of losing his personhood but for Guenhwyvar, who, as an astral plane summoned spirit of a panther, can only be around half a day every two days. He is fucking losing it and himself and is constantly having internal battles because he's so desperately lonely he risks being found by potentially hostile creatures but also The Hunter is like STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING and generally he is utterly miserable. I enjoy this kind of shit in fiction, so this is great.

Back in Menzoberranzan, House Do'Urden, with help from Bregan D'aerthe (more on this in a second), wrecks but doesn't fully annihilate House Hun'ett but Head Matron Baenre is like "you shall absorb House Hun'ett and take your place on the ruling council of the eight top matrons" to Malice because Lolth wills it. Why does Lolth will it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway SiNaFay Hun'ett does NOT like this but goes along with it, pretending to be the eldest Do'Urden daughter. Briza Do'Urden, meanwhile, hates this.

Let's talk about Bregan Da'erthe because it's led by the greatest fucking guy ever: Jarlaxle. Jarlaxle is, undeniably, the most gay-coded character that has ever fucking existed. He is a bald drow man (in a matriarchal society) and exists outside the house structure, running a band of (male) rogues and mercenaries and assassins for hire and is basically making the most of his low status by being 100% only out for himself at all times. His outfit is rainbow colored in both the heat spectrum (this is how drow darkvision is explained, that they simply have infrared) AND the regular light spectrum. He owns what I think I described as boots of cuntiness which permit him to be soundless OR make sound, and canonically in a later book deliberately makes heel click sounds on a soft carpet in order to be Like That. He is generally at all times introduced as being one of a kind and out of the bounds of typical drow society and I love him.

The core of the plot actually kicks off when Malice sends Dinin and Briza (Drizzt's older brother and sister) to find him in the tunnels and kill him. They do find him, but fail to kill him, and Drizzt realizes "oh huh the highlight of my entire fucking year was my horrible siblings trying to murder me bc I'm so touch-starved that the lash of Briza's whip feels good, I should...do something about this." (He is also tormented bc he nearly breaks his vow to never kill another drow; as a paladin fan I love someone tormented by a nearly broken vow but like, babygirl they tried to kill you, you're being silly). What he does, because there's no therapy in the Underdark, is start stalking the svirfnebli, and eventually he sneaks into Blingdenstone, where they live. He turns himself in and basically gives himself over to their mercy on the grounds that he'd rather die among a relatively decent-seeming society than become more and more murderous in the tunnels. This will be echoed in a very unsubtle way by another character later.

Malice, realizing that Lolth is getting really mad that they can't seem to kill Drizzt, asks for a major boon which is inexplicably called Zin-carla, which basically lets her semi-puppet/semi-observe through the eyes of a reanimated Zaknafein, on the grounds that he is the only person who can probably kill Drizzt and also, well, it's real malicious. To do this, she sacrifices SiNaFay, which she and Briza think is just grand. Drizzt is at this time getting interrogated by gnomes who have silly names and talk a bit like Yoda, but eventually he asks about the gnome whom he spared during a patrol years ago. This gnome, named Belwar Dissengulp (this is not remotely the stupidest name in this series) vouches for him and also has sweet stone-working hands. He takes in the deeply traumatized Drizzt, who, after a brief but mercifully non-lethal Hunter outburst while hanging out with some gnome youths, starts to reacclimate to society and be like "wow so you're NOT all scheming against each other constantly? I must be in paradise." The gnomes begin to accept him as well and return his surrendered scimitars and panther, and all is very heartwarming until one day the Zakafein attacks.

This comes to the attention of the council of Blingdenstone because one of them, named Firble (also not the stupidest name in this series) is paying Jarlaxle for intel. This all travels up the line to King Schnicktick (still not the stupidest name in this series but we're getting up there) who's like Drizzt you gotta leave, and he does, but Belwar goes with him, so it's way less sad!

The rest of the book is their adventures running from Zaknafein and Drizzt being like "but my father is dead! but how" and I went long on the summary of the earlier stuff so the important things are:

They come across a pech (intelligent little rock creature) who has been polymorphed into a hook horror by an evil wizard and is losing himself and becoming the monster, in, yes, a very unsubtle and literal parallel to Drizzt. They call him Clacker and travel with him.

They run into the evil and deeply unhinged wizard who has a (written) accent I can best describe to TAZ fans as "Magic Brian" and best describe to D20 fans as "Romance Partner Baron from the Baronies." I am not an audiobook woman but I'm tempted to see how this is done in audio format.* Anyway Clacker loses himself to a rage and murders the wizard (Brister Fendlestick, not the stupidest name etc) and Drizzt is currently a fighter and Belwar has very limited abilities re: magic as well so they can't do anything about this. Also it's 2e right now so idk if you can just dispell or if you do need the original wizard.

The crew gets trapped by illithids who do their creepy-ass mind-control but as Zak is undead, he comes through like a sword tornado and unintentionally frees Drizzt, Belwar, and Clacker from their mind-slavery. Combat between our heroes, Zak, AND the illithids ensues and as Drizzt considers returning to Menzoberranzan to kidnap a wizard to help Clacker, Zak kills Clacker.

All of the above is interspersed with multiple cuts to Malice losing her shit as she focuses on controlling Zak from afar. Jarlaxle and Matron Baenre occasionally muse on the fate of House Do'Urden, which is truly up in the air as all this happens. House Baenre lends soldiers to help House Do'Urden defend itself while Malice is occupied; Dinin notices Bregan D'aerthe among them.

Drizzt and Zak have a final showdown in a cavern with ledges and also a giant pool of acid. Malice briefly loses control of Zak, who wrests control of his spirit and explains the situation to Drizzt and then jumps into the acid, ending his undeath. This is VERY bad for Malice, who is already as discussed falling apart (mostly figuratively but she has been rapidly aging as well).

Briza immediately stabs her mother to become the new Matron (Briza SUCKS but also this does make sense in that it's clear Malice has failed Lolth so it is the best chance for the house). However, House Baenre then launches its attack. Briza and Maya (who really has a very minor role in all this, Drizzt's unseen sister; fanfic writers this is some fertile ground for toxic yuri) are killed but Vierna is taken as essentially a spoil of war/powerful asset to be folded into the strength of Baenre. Dinin meanwhile is recruited by Jarlaxle, and seeing no other choice, takes it. (Fanfic writers this is some fertile ground for toxic yaoi).

Drizzt returns briefly to Blingdenstone with Belwar but is asked to leave as he did pose a threat by being there and, frankly, agrees. He decides to go to the surface with Guenhwyvar and see what happens next.

Anyway iirc book 3's most memorable things are 1. some sort of tragic event involving children who call Drizzt a "Drizzit" 2. Mooshie, who is not canonically Quebecois but is in vibes, taking Drizzt in. After that we jump to the wildly tonally different Crystal Shard (and Icewind Dale Trilogy) which I will attempt to summarize more briefly and with minimum grumbling about how much Wulfgar is a timesuck.

*apparently the guy who reads the Drizzt novels on audiobook is Victor Bevine, who is also CEO of some sort of Parkour-related foundation. However, Jason Charles Miller played Drizzt in a video game in 2013 which is very cool.

#i'm reading the drizzt novels and you can't stop me #m reads lod #long post

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