The Crystal Shard The Crystal Shard is the first book in the Icewind Dale trilogy by R . A . Salvatore . It was later reissued as book four of the Legend of Drizzt series . Summary . The first part of the book introduces the cold land of Icewind Dale , the Ten - Towns , and the main characters : the drow ranger Drizzt Do ' Urden , who has chosen to live in the surface world instead of in the evil and ruthless Underdark ; the dwarf clan leader Bruenor Battlehammer , who was forced to abandon his home of Mithral Hall with his clan ; and the halfling Regis , who settled down in Ten - Towns where he hopes that the eye of his ex - guildmaster couldn ' t reach him . The three heroes will play a main role in the upcoming events . The barbarian tribes of the North , guided by the two kings Beorg and the ruthless Heafstaag , have united to bring destruction over Ten - Towns , counseled by the betrayer deBernezan . Only the efforts of the three heroes ( with some help from Regis ' magical gem ) could persuade the leaders of Ten - Towns to join their forces against the common enemy , leading them to victory . This part ends with Bruenor who spares the life of a young barbarian called Wulfgar whom he had met in battle . Meanwhile , in the Spine of the World , the wizard apprentice Akar Kessel is betrayed by some fellow wizards and left to die in the frozen land . He finds the lost relic known as Crenshinibon which gives him the power to survive and to build a tower ; Cryshal - Tirith . The powerlusting relic " guides " the mind of the human through dreams toward greater goals , like the conquest of Ten - Towns . Kessel , with his new powers , began to gather allies . The second part of the book begins five years after the battle against the barbarians and focuses mainly on the character of Wulfgar . His hard feelings against Bruenor , who forced him to live among the dwarves and work for him , are slowly replaced by affection and fondness . When the time came close for the barbarian to set out free once again from Bruenor ' s captivity , the dwarf forged for him the magical warhammer Aegis - fang and entrusted him to Drizzt for some last lessons . In the meantime , Akar Kessel is joined by the demon Errtu , which desires the power of Crenshinibon more than anything else . The demon didn ' t want to act against the relic ' s will though , so it chose to serve Kessel . The wizard , his army now almost ready , made his first move . He sent a company of giants , instead of more reliable humans as suggested by Crenshinibon , to Kelvin ' s Cairn to set up a base in secrecy . The bloodlusting verbeeg giant s became restless and instead of staying hidden in a cave they organized small raiding parties . One of the parties found and killed two dwarves of Bruenor ' s clan . Upon stumbling on the signs of the battle , Drizzt and Wulfgar became aware of the approaching storm . They tracked and destroyed the murderous raid party , but not before learning about the hidden base and the incoming reinforcements . Together with Bruenor they came up with a plan to face this new menace . Bruenor and his dwarves took care of the reinforcements while Drizzt and Wulfgar , with the aid of Guenhwyvar , wiped out the giants ' base . In the process they became aware of the existence of Akar Kessel . The third part of the book begins with the companions learning about Kessel ' s army by using Regis ' gem to interrogate an orc who had survived the skirmishes . They also discovered that the barbarian tribe to which Wulfgar belonged had joined the wizard ' s forces . Regis and Bruenor tried once again to persuade the leaders of Ten - Towns to join their forces , but this time the stubborn pride of some of them left all the settlements on their own . In the meantime Wulfgar , followed in secrecy by Drizzt , went to the hidden lair of the white dragon Ingeloakastimizilian . With the aid of the drow , he defeatedthe dragon . Then , while Drizzt returned to Ten - Towns , the barbarian traveled to his tribe . He challenged and defeated the leader , the ruthless Heafstaag , in a duel and took his place . He finally persuaded the tribe to join Ten - Towns against Kessel . Meanwhile , the wizard ' s army was already on the move and many of the Ten - Towns were burnt or taken . The main settlement , Bryn Shander , was besieged and Kessel himself appeared right after the demon Errtu had raised a new Cryshal - Tirith not far from the human town . Drizzt , aware of Errtu ' s presence , summoned the demon in a hidden place and learned from him of the existence of Crenshinibon before Errtu would become aware of the true nature of the drow . Drizzt was able to wound the demon and to banish it into the Abyss for a century . Cassius , the leader of Bryn Shander , decided to send Regis to meet Kessel . The halfling manages to buy the people of Ten - Towns some more time and to set some factions of Kessel ' s army against each other . Drizzt manages to sneak into Cryshal - Tirith . He is able to reach the tower ' s core and causes the entire structure to collapse to the ground . In the meantime all the people of Icewind Dale , the dwarves of Bruenor , the barbarians led by Wulfgar , the people of Bryn Shander and the survivors of the other nine towns , join together and are able to defeat Kessel ' s army . The wizard dies because the power of Crenshinibon caused a massive avalanche on Kelvin ' s Cairn , which buried both the wizard and the relic . The book ends with Bruenor , Drizzt and Wulfgar leaving Icewind Dale on their quest to Mithral Hall , the ancient home of the dwarves , soon followed by Regis who looks for a means to escape Artemis Entreri ' s hunt . Editions . The novel is also available as part of " The Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector ' s Edition " and " The Icewind Dale Trilogy Gift Set " .