Twilight Falling is the first book in the The Erevis Cale Trilogy by Paul S. Kemp.
Appendix[]
Summary[]
Vraggen, a priest of Cyric, and his allies, the half-drow Azriim and the warrior Dolgan, interrogate a priest of Tymora about a crystal sphere, learning that it was sold to a warrior from Selgaunt.
In Stormweather Towers, Erevis Cale feels he no longer has a place after Thamalon Uskeveren’s death. He tells Shamur and Tamlin of his resignation, and bids farewell to the staff and family. His farewell with Thazienne is strained as they finally discuss the note he left for her declaring his affections after she was attacked by shadow creatures. Shamur had discovered the note and kept it secret for a time, but eventually revealed it to Tazi. However, she did not return Erevis’s affections.
Vraggen discovers that Erevis and Thamalon bought the crystal sphere, and suspects that Erevis had some designs on it, along with Drasek Riven. He calls both to a meeting in a tavern and attempts to kill them by blowing up the building with a fireball. Both men narrowly escape. Erevis, suspecting that the attack was to get him out of the way for some attack on Stormweather, returns and uncovers three shapeshifters in the process of infiltrating the mansion and stealing the orb. They take Ren, a young guardsman, hostage, preventing Erevis from killing them, although he is able to slice the orb in two with his enchanted sword, preventing them from obtaining both halves.
Vraggen and the infiltrators, Dolgan and two others named Elura and Serrin, decide to exchange Ren for the other half of the sphere. Erevis discusses the break in with the Uskeverens and convinces them to let him take care of it. In the process, he manages to reconcile with Tazi. Cale recruits Jak Fleet and Riven as allies. The two groups have a battle in an alley that ends with a draw and an agreement to trade. During the battle, Cale notices his sword seems to have some shadowy connection with the sphere since cutting it in half. He and Jak also notice that their enemies quickly regenerate from injuries, even seemingly fatal ones, leading them to suspect that they are not human.
Jak brings the group to Sephris, a loremaster of Oghma who sees the world through a lens of mathematics. Sephris reveals that the sphere is a map, representing stars and planets, but he cannot find the exact location it points to without the other half. At the exchange, Erevis’s group is able to save Ren and gain both halves of the orb, although Azriim was able to study them long enough to determine the location it points to. They also manage to capture Serrin. They interrogate him, and he tells them that the sphere points to the Fane of Shadows, a temple of Shar, where Vraggen seeks to become a shade. He tells them the Fane is in the Lightless Lake in the Gulthmere Forest. However, he refuses to say what he and his companions are.
Serrin escapes, and both parties begin traveling to the Fane of Shadows. Erevis’s party arrives in Starmantle. Riven is unable to locate a guide he knows, a man named Magadon Kest, so they are instead forced to rely on a gnoll pack. Elura and Dolgan track the pack, reflecting on how they intend to use and betray Vraggen. Elura attacks, frightening away the gnolls and biting off Cale’s left hand. She reveals her true form as a slaad before being killed.
Magadon, who turns out to be a psionic, comes upon the scene of the battle and heals the mortally wounded Cale by transferring his injuries to himself and regenerating. The group proceeds to the Lightless Lake, where Cale’s sword creates a bubble of air that allows them to enter the Fane of Shadows after Vraggen. They encounter a figure who claims to be the temple’s caretaker, and tells them that Vraggen’s goals are not important compared to the slaadi, who seek an artifact called the Weave Tap of the Dark Maiden.
Azriim kills Vraggen in the midst of his transformation into a shade. The slaadi retrieve the Weave Tap and teleport away, but not before Dolgan mortally wounds Jak. Erevis insists that Magadon transfer Jak’s injuries to him, and he does. Riven brings Cale to the altar where Vraggen was trying to change, saving Cale by transforming him. The group leaves the Fane of Shadows only to find themselves trapped in an immobile bubble of air at the bottom of the lake. Eventually, the air bubble collapses on them, and as the water of the lake rushes in, they are suddenly surrounded by a shadow.
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The novel is undated, but in Chapter 1 it has been "nearly two years" since events in Shadow's Witness, which is dated to Hammer, 1371 DR. Since Hammer is the first month in the Calendar of Harptos, this implies late 1372 DR or Hammer 1373 DR. Apparently some time later, in Chapters 2 to 4, it is spring and in Chapter 9, it is the "seventeenth day of the sixth month", Kythorn 17. Therefore, Kythorn, 1373 DR is presumed. The novel's climax occurs on the next new moon, which in 1373 occurs on Flamerule 16; since events occur at midnight, this could be the day before or the day after.
Gallery[]
Further Reading[]
- Paul S. Kemp (2006-02-13). And All the Sinners, Saints (HTML). Books Publishing Archive. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved on 2020-03-21.
External Links[]
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- Twilight Falling on the Forgotten Realms Wiki store on Bookshop.org (US/UK; affiliate link)
- Twilight Falling: The Churches and Thieves of Selgaunt (archived 2003-10-02)
- ↑ Paul S. Kemp (July 2003). Twilight Falling. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 9, p. 171. ISBN 0-7869-2998-7.
- ↑ Paul S. Kemp (July 2003). Twilight Falling. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 13, p. 234. ISBN 0-7869-2998-7.
- ↑ Paul S. Kemp (July 2003). Twilight Falling. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 1, p. 9. ISBN 0-7869-2998-7.