The Nether Scroll Chapter 4: Suspicion, a Goblin, and Netherese Silver in Parnast
Book: The Nether Scroll | Author: Lynn Abbey | Series: Lost Empires, Book 4 | ISBN: 0-7869-1566-8
So here’s where the family drama really kicks in.
Druhallen comes back from his sketchy meeting with the Zhentarim lord Amarandaris and has to deliver some bad news: somebody leaked their plans about Dekanter. And all signs point to Tiep.
To be fair, Dru doesn’t want to believe it either. But the facts line up. Amarandaris knew details about their Candlekeep spell that only someone from the group could have shared. And that someone exaggerated what the spell could do, which is exactly the kind of thing Tiep would do when trying to impress people.
The confrontation scene is honestly one of my favorite family arguments in fantasy. Rozt’a immediately deflects blame onto Manya, the goose girl Tiep has been spending time with. “They’re the worst,” she says about quiet, shy girls. “You never see a helpless girl who isn’t too pretty by half.” It’s protective mom energy cranked to eleven. She’d rather blame a stranger than accept that her foster son might have messed up.
Galimer takes the middle ground. He figures Tiep’s been trying to show off for Manya, trading confidences to look important. And Dru keeps insisting his magical wards haven’t been breached. Nobody touched them. The information came from inside the group.
But here’s the thing. When they finally confront Tiep directly, the kid doesn’t crack. He denies everything and pivots to talking about sandalwood boxes he wants to trade. The audacity is kind of impressive. Tiep is described as a “born master” at weaving truth and lies together, and you really feel that here. He’s either innocent or the smoothest liar in the Forgotten Realms.
The real twist comes when someone trips Dru’s wards mid-conversation. Everyone draws weapons. Rozt’a gets her knives out. Dru prepares fire magic. And in walks… a goblin in a bright-green jacket, blue breeches, and black boots with brass buckles.
Sheemzher is one of the best character introductions I’ve read in a D&D novel. He speaks in this fractured third-person style, calling everyone “good sir” and “good lady,” and he’s come to thank Dru for rescuing a goblin child from Zhentarim thugs. His reward? A silk pouch containing three local coins and one very special silver piece.
The silver coin has a sun on one side and a dragon on the other, with script that Dru and Galimer immediately recognize. It looks Netherese. Ancient empire Netherese. Except it’s not corroded or tarnished. It looks freshly minted. That’s supposed to be impossible since Netheril fell thousands of years ago.
Abbey does something smart here. She lets the mystery of the coin pull the characters in different directions. Galimer wants to keep it and move on. Rozt’a wants to melt it down. Dru wants answers. And the goblin keeps insisting his “good lady Wyndyfarh” has “many, many” more.
And then Tiep drops the local lore about Lady Mantis. People in Parnast say she visits the sick and the dying. Sometimes she heals them. But sometimes she just takes Zhentarim soldiers and they never come back. “They say she eats them.”
Nobody quite believes that, but nobody can dismiss the well-dressed goblin standing in front of them either. Common goblins don’t wear fitted jackets. They don’t make eye contact with humans. They don’t carry silk purses with ancient coins.
Sheemzher also offers to help them escape Parnast before dawn, which is both exactly what they need and deeply suspicious. Rozt’a kicks him out. But the goblin promises he’ll be back.
The chapter ends with the group splitting in different directions. Tiep goes out to finalize his box trade (or see Manya, or both). Dru decides they’re not running. And Rozt’a stands at the door, furious that her two partners just let their possibly compromised foster son walk out into the night.
“What’s the matter with the two of you?” she demands. “You know he’s not after wooden boxes!”
She’s probably right. But Dru’s philosophy wins out: “What’s cut, stays cut.” If Tiep is going to betray them, controlling him won’t fix it. They have to trust or cut him loose, and none of them can stomach the second option.
It’s a chapter about a family trying to hold itself together while everything around them says it should fall apart. The Zhentarim are watching. A mysterious forest lady may or may not eat people. And a goblin in fancy clothes just dropped a coin that shouldn’t exist in the middle of their argument.
Welcome to Parnast.