In a couple of month the Dungeons & Dragons film Honor Amongst Thieves is gathering its occasion and venturing forth to the big screen, however earlier than that, two new tie-in novels will give us an perception into simply how a few of its ragtag heroes first met one another.
Whereas Road to Neverwinter by Jaleigh Johnson follows Chris Pine’s swaggering bard Edgin, The Druid’s Name, penned by E.Okay. Johnston, will introduce us to Sophia Lillis’ Doric, the Tiefling Druid whose Owlbear antics have already had an impact on D&D itself, even earlier than the film hits theaters! Following Doric as she eschews the ranger coaching of her folks to learns the methods of the wild, the novel sees the younger Tiefling reply the titular name of nature magic to return into her personal as a robust Druid. The Druid’s Name may also see her cross paths with one other acquainted face from the upcoming film: Justice Smith’s Half-Elf sorcerer, Simon.
Take a look at the preview beneath to learn the way Doric and Simon meet!
At some point, as summer season was beginning to actually dig in, she got here to a pond that had shaped over the past of the spring floods and was nonetheless clinging to existence, although it was clearly drying up. The mud that bounded the water was cracked, and the vegetation appeared to achieve in useless for the water. None of that was significantly vital, given the time of yr. What was vital was that in the midst of the pond there stood a boy who seemed to be solely a bit of bit older than she was.
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He was tall, and his pores and skin was brown and sun-freckled in the summertime warmth. His hair was quick, neatly framing his pointed ears. He was, for some cause, totally clothed, although the water got here as much as his waist. He held his satchel above his head to maintain it dry. He appeared confused.
“Howdy!” he stated when he noticed her. “How are you?”
“I’m superb,” Doric replied fastidiously. “How are you?”
“Oh, you realize,” the boy stated. “Moist.”
“That occurs in ponds,” Doric identified.
“Sure, I used to be conscious of that earlier than I got here in,” the boy stated.
Another person might need requested him why, however Doric wasn’t actually involved in dialog. She’d come to the pond to refill her waterskin, however now she didn’t need to. She had no thought how lengthy he’d been standing there, and the pond wasn’t that large.
“I’m Simon, by the way in which,” the boy stated. “I’m a sorcerer.”
“Doric,” Doric stated, as a result of although she’d by no means met one, she’d heard that it all the time paid to be well mannered to sorcerers.
“You’re a tiefling!” Simon stated. “That’s actually neat.”
An extended pause stretched between them. Simon’s bag was nonetheless above his head.
“Anyway, did you could have plans for dinner?” Simon requested. “I used to be interested by dinner.”
“It’s two hours after midday,” Doric stated.
Simon appeared a bit crestfallen.
“So, which means afternoon tea or one thing?” he inquired.
“No,” Doric stated.
It wasn’t like she couldn’t refill her waterskin within the river. It was simply extra probably she’d get moist that manner. She figured she had about two hours of water left if she was cautious. She appreciated to carry some in reserve simply in case, so she may most likely make it farther, however there was no must be incautious simply because she’d met an odd boy in a pond.
“I’m heading out,” Simon stated. “I’m going north.”
He began wading out of the pool, garments cartoonishly ballooned and dripping with water. A frog leapt from one in every of his flooded pockets and again into the pond.
“I’m . . . not,” she stated with a bewildered stare.
“Oh,” Simon stated. He narrowed his eyes as if he have been actually her for the primary time, specializing in her armor. Doric braced herself. “Are you a druid, then?” he stated.
The query caught her off guard. It was the primary time anybody had ever requested her. Liavaris had informed her, Fenjor had assumed as a lot, and the spirit within the tree had been, nicely, a spirit in a tree, however nonetheless bizarre about it. The elves had accepted the declaration instantly, and not one of the people she’d met to this point had cared.
“Sure,” she stated earlier than the pause acquired too awkward.
Simon picked his manner by the drying mud, his moist garments operating rivulets of water by the filth.
“Nicely, then I even have one other query for you,” he admitted with a sheepish hunch of his shoulders. “There’s a village known as Willowdale simply over that hill there.” He gestured with each palms, the bag itemizing open as he moved it. “They’re having an issue with their wells, one thing about their gardens not rising in addition to they often do in spring, and now it’s virtually too late to catch up. I used to be making an attempt to assist them.”
“By standing in a pond.” Doric lifted an eyebrow.
“I had deliberate to solid a spell,” Simon informed her with a sigh. “It didn’t work out. I’ll be washing algae off myself for days.”
“I can see that,” Doric stated.
She appeared on the river after which on the solar, which was nonetheless excessive sufficient within the sky that she wasn’t interested by the place she’d camp that night time. Absolutely it wouldn’t take too lengthy to assist a village and get again on her manner. Plus, if she was being solely trustworthy, it was most likely greatest to ask the locals for recommendation concerning the street forward. The shepherds have been superb, however their instructions had already gotten her circled twice.
“All proper,” Doric stated. “Present me what the issue is.”
Reprinted from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves: The Druid’s Name by E. Okay. Johnston. © 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC. © 2023 Paramount Photos Company. Revealed by Random Home Worlds, an imprint of Random Home, a division of Penguin Random Home LLC.
The Druid’s Name hits cabinets tomorrow, February 28, forward of Honor Amongst Thieves rolling into theaters March 31.
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