Spoiler clearance: Toll the Hounds

   Yesterday I was having a conversation about Erikson, and how each of his books is both part of a separate arc and a stand-alone story. One girl asked: “If someone was to read only one of these, which one should it be? First one?”

   And I immediately said: “Fifth book. Midnight Tides.”

   I’m still dazzled at how instantaneously that answer came out of me. Without the slightest fucking tiniest shadow of a doubt, Midnight Tides.

Apsal'ara vs Rake

   Spoiler Clearance: Toll the Hounds

   Apsal’ara attempted to back-stab Rake? Really? Gods below!

   Let’s check our old AD&D books, just for fun. I am curious. Could she have done it? Kill Rake with a knife in the back? Is it even possible?

   In the Legends & Lore book, I searched for a god that could be a good equivalent to Anomander Rake. The only one I found was Quetzalcoatl. He is the leader of a pantheon, he transforms into a dragon, plus he is Lawful Neutral (pretty much like Rake I guess). Now, let’s assume Rake has the exact same number of Hit Points as Quetzalcoatl: 400.

   The closest I found to Apsal’ara was a goddess from India: Ratri, “goddess of the night, thieves, and robbers”. Stats say she’s a level 15 assassin. Players Handbook tells us that assassins of levels 13+ do quintuple damage on successful back-stabs.

   Scoring 400 points of damage? Apsal’ara would need to roll a base 80 points of damage, in order to hit that 400-points mark, with her “quintuple”. It is NOT easy rolling 80 points of damage with a knife; in fact, I’ve never seen it. It would have to be a powerful magical weapon dealing 8d10 points of damage, or 4d10 +40 (yes I wrote that), and then she’d still have to roll her maximum...

   So, Apsal’ara, you’re right – it was a bad idea!

  

   Spoiler clearance: not applicable

   During World War One, in 1915 to be exact, an engineer named Fiedler invented the flamethrower. Now, our own Fiddler didn’t invent Moranth munitions, but he sure was the first Malazan sapper to shoot cussers with a heavy crossbow!

   I am thinking. Causing explosive or fiery mayhem, more than eight yards away? Fiedler. Fiddler. Is it just a coincidence?

   Spoiler clearance: Toll the Hounds

   Nimander & Gang don armor and head for the center of Bastion in search of Clip and the Dying God. Reading in my favorite coffeeshop, that song is playing on the radio in the background:

   Anything Could Happen... Anything Could Happen... Anything Could Happen...

   Can’t wipe the smile off my face. Twenty-Year-Olds... Human or Tiste Andii.

  

   Spoiler clearance: Toll the Hounds

   Epic battle inside K’rul’s Bar. Holy mother of a Kruppe! I just couldn’t resist the urge to draw myself a complete map of the whole thing – like in the good ol’ days of AD&D. So I read the entire scene again, and kept track of Picker’s movements, and Antsy’s, and so on and so forth…

   Just like every hand-drawn AD&D combat map, you look at it afterwards, and it’s one big undecipherable mess, but I still love it. Hood’s balls, what an insane fight! Thirty-three assassins (thirty-eight if you count those five decoy drunks that were in the bar already).

   Bluepearl was killed by one of the five drunk ‘nobles’.

   Mallet was killed by one of the eleven men from the corner room.

   Dying inside K’rul’s former temple – does it mean anything? Lemme think…