To live or to survive? Until my second time out in the wilds of the Underdark after my stay in Blingdenstone, I never would have understood the significance of such a simple question.
When first I left Menzoberranzan, I thought survival enough; I thought that I could fall within myself, within my principles, and be satisfied that I had followed the only course open to me. The alternative was the grim reality of Menzoberranzan and compliance with the wicked ways that guided my people. If that was life, I believed, simply surviving would be far preferable.
And yet, that “simple survival” nearly killed me. Worse, it nearly stole everything that I held dear: The svirfnebli of Blingdenstone showed me a different way. Svirfneblin society; structured and nurtured on communal values and unity; proved to be everything that I had always hoped Menzoberranzan would be. The svirfnebli did much more than merely survive. They lived and laughed and worked, and the gains they made were shared by the whole, as was the pain of the losses they inevitably It suffered in the hostile subsurface world.
Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.
And so, when I walked back out of Blingdenstone, back into the empty Underdark’s lonely chambers, I walked with hope. At my side went Belwar; my new friend, and in my pocket went the magical figurine that could summon Guenhwyvar; my proven friend. In my brief stay with the deep gnomes, I had witnessed life as I always had hoped it would be-I could not return to simply surviving.
With my friends beside me, I dared to believe that I would not have to.
- Drizzt Do’Urden