Servant of the Shard recap

Jarlaxle uses Crenshinibon to expand Bregan D'aerthe's power in Calimport, certain that he can command the sentient Crystal Shard without becoming its servant. The artifact encourages grander risks, raises crystal towers and divides the mercenary band. Artemis Entreri, already dissatisfied after years spent defining himself against Drizzt, recognizes that Jarlaxle is losing control. He works uneasily with Kimmuriel, Rai-guy and other drow officers to stop their leader while preserving the organization. Removing the shard from Jarlaxle merely gives it new minds to tempt, and Entreri must reject its attempt to exploit his rivalry. He and Jarlaxle reunite against the larger danger and maneuver Crenshinibon into the lair of the red dragon Hephaestus. Dragonfire destroys the tower and appears to destroy the shard with it. Jarlaxle survives free of the artifact, Entreri discovers that loyalty can motivate him as strongly as rivalry, and the pair turn from their damaged Calimport empire toward the east.

Previously: Crenshinibon, the sentient Crystal Shard, helped Akar Kessell raise an army against Icewind Dale before Drizzt Do'Urden and his companions defeated him. The artifact later returned in the possession of the demon Errtu. Artemis Entreri's long rivalry with Drizzt brought the assassin repeatedly into conflict with the companions, but their contests never gave Entreri the certainty or satisfaction he expected. Jarlaxle, leader of the drow mercenary company Bregan D'aerthe, drew Entreri into a partnership and used his reputation to gain control of Calimport's Basadoni thieves' guild. When Drizzt's companions carried Crenshinibon to the Spirit Soaring in hopes of destroying it, Jarlaxle stole the shard. This book begins with Jarlaxle and Entreri controlling a criminal empire and with Jarlaxle convinced that the relic which corrupted its earlier masters will obey him.

Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri rule the Basadoni guild through a mixture of drow secrecy and the assassin's public authority. Entreri finds the success strangely hollow; command of Calimport's underworld has not answered the questions left by his rivalry with Drizzt. Jarlaxle has a more immediate source of purpose. He carries Crenshinibon and uses its magic to create a crystal tower, summon obedient forces and make their hidden organization impossible for rivals to ignore. He insists that he is exploiting the shard, not serving it. Entreri sees the distinction disappearing as every victory leads Jarlaxle to a larger and less disciplined plan. Sharlotta Vespers and Dwahvel Tiggerwillies try to keep the city's alliances from collapsing while Entreri begins quietly measuring which members of Bregan D'aerthe would oppose their own leader if the artifact's influence became undeniable.

Crenshinibon strengthens Jarlaxle's belief that Calimport should be only the beginning of a surface dominion. The crystal tower gives him troops and magical reach, but it also makes the guild a target and pulls resources away from the careful system that created its power. Entreri approaches Rai-guy and Kimmuriel. None trusts the others, and some see the crisis as an opportunity to replace Jarlaxle, but all understand that the shard is beginning to command Bregan D'aerthe through him. Kimmuriel's psionics offer a way to examine or interrupt that bond. Entreri refuses to become another drow faction's servant; his aim is to remove Crenshinibon while keeping Jarlaxle alive if possible. Their preparations amount to mutiny, and they must conceal them from both a leader famous for anticipating betrayal and an artifact able to probe the ambitions around it.

The attempt to separate Jarlaxle from Crenshinibon turns Bregan D'aerthe's concealed disagreement into open conflict. The shard uses magical servants, the tower and Jarlaxle's own collection of devices against the conspirators. Entreri's knowledge of his partner allows him to survive tactics that overwhelm less familiar opponents, while Kimmuriel blocks the artifact from controlling every mind at once. Jarlaxle is forced out of the shard's immediate command, but victory proves incomplete: Crenshinibon does not need a particular bearer as long as someone nearby can be tempted by power, security or revenge. It tests the divisions among the drow and tries to use Entreri's obsession with Drizzt as an opening. The assassin recognizes that accepting an artificial answer to that rivalry would leave him owned by the very thing he opposed. Meanwhile, the mind flayer Yharaskrik is caught within the shard's plans, bringing another powerful and untrustworthy intelligence into the struggle.

Entreri rejects Crenshinibon's attempt to define his desires for him. Jarlaxle, freed enough to understand how thoroughly his confidence was manipulated, resumes working with the assassin. Their alliance is damaged but more honest: neither can safely possess the shard, and ordinary containment will only postpone another corruption. They seek a destructive force beyond the relic's defenses and settle on Hephaestus, an ancient red dragon. The plan depends on turning several predators against one another. Yharaskrik wants freedom from the shard, the shard seeks a master or servant strong enough to secure its survival, and Hephaestus responds to intrusion with overwhelming fire. Entreri and Jarlaxle use those motives to bring the crystal construct into the dragon's reach, knowing that a mistake will leave the survivor facing both Crenshinibon and an enraged wyrm.

The confrontation in Hephaestus's lair brings down the crystal tower and exposes Crenshinibon to the dragon's breath. The shard's servants cannot protect it from the fire, and the artifact disappears in the destruction. Entreri and Jarlaxle find no intact remnant and believe the Crystal Shard's long history has ended. Yharaskrik and the dragon are consumed by the same violent collapse from the viewpoint of the escaping survivors, leaving no power willing or able to pursue them immediately. Jarlaxle has lost the instrument with which he intended to turn a thieves' guild into a kingdom, and Bregan D'aerthe has learned that its leader can be compromised. Entreri, however reluctantly, has risked himself to free Jarlaxle and rejected an easy imitation of triumph over Drizzt. The two men survive as partners rather than master and servant. With their Calimport operation shaken and the shard apparently destroyed, they prepare to pursue new prospects east of the city.

Entreri and the dissident officers of Bregan D'aerthe break Crenshinibon's immediate hold over Jarlaxle, but taking the artifact away from him does not end its threat. It tries to turn each new holder's needs into another path to mastery, including Entreri's unresolved fixation on proving himself against Drizzt. Entreri and Jarlaxle ultimately cooperate again, drawing the shard and the mind flayer Yharaskrik into a confrontation with the red dragon Hephaestus. The dragon's fire destroys the crystal tower and apparently consumes Crenshinibon. No recoverable shard remains, so the survivors believe the artifact that began with Akar Kessell has finally been ended. Jarlaxle is free of its direction, though his confidence in his own immunity has been disproved. Entreri has acted to save a partner rather than merely defeat a rival, an unwelcome sign that he is no longer as emotionally empty as he claims. Their Calimport empire is damaged and Bregan D'aerthe's loyalties have been tested, but both men survive and remain together, ready to leave the city for opportunities farther east.