A sneeze destroys a magical civilization

Oketra, the true believer with the head of a cat, represents white mana;

Kefane, the mind god with a bird's head, represents blue mana;

Patu, the glory god with the head of a dog, represents black mana;

Hazoret, the fanatical god with a jackal head, represents red mana;

Rhonas, the fearless god with the head of a snake, represents green mana.

The above five are the beast-headed gods who appeared publicly in Amonkhet's time and space and are active in the mortal world.

In addition to them, there are three insect-headed gods hidden in the darkness. They will only appear when the moment of glory comes and complete their mission, which is to kill all the animal-headed gods.

This is the script that Nicol Bolas wrote after he invaded the world and transformed it to his will.

For a long time, Zuo Si felt that the reason why the old dragon was able to do this easily was entirely because Amonkhet's gods were too weak and could not compete with those incarnations of certain philosophies, thoughts and ideas in the universe where Toril's planet was located. Belief in the true God.

After all, even the weakest demigod of the latter has the ability to "explode stars", which is roughly equivalent to the Titan in the pantheon of the Azeroth universe next door.

The gods of Amonkhet's time and space obviously do not have such power, they are just some special life forms supported by powerful mana and part of the power of faith.

But after witnessing the cat-headed god Oketa with his own eyes, Zuo Si found that he had made a mistake, that is, he did not know enough about the diversity of special creatures like gods.

Moreover, the beast-headed god was far from being as weak as he thought, and was actually quite dangerous.

Almost every god is directly connected to the mana core of the world. At the same time, he can also obtain abilities like extraordinary divine power that mortals cannot resist through the faith of mortals.

The simplest example is the divine venom created by the fearless god Rhonas, which can definitely pose a huge threat to the gods of Faerûn.

Therefore, the beast-headed god is not weak, but is slightly different in the form of existence and expression of divine power.

They do not pursue the destructive power of the gods in Toril's universe, but integrate it into some kind of rules that they control.

But unfortunately, since these gods are bound to the entire Amonkhet mana core, when Nicol Bolas directly tampered with the mana core, they would inevitably fall, not even a trace of it. There is no chance of resistance.

After understanding this, Zuo Si felt more and more that his decision to never become a god was probably the wisest choice he had ever made in his life.

Because no matter what kind of god he is, even the Titan God who is known as the most unrestrained, his essence is still integrated with certain operating rules of the corresponding world and even the universe.

Although they can gain great power and immortal life, they also have to fulfill their obligations within the scope of their responsibilities, and they are bound to this place from which they can never escape.

On the contrary, only by firmly continuing along the path of a planeswalker can we gain freedom in the true sense.

In this way, with preliminary research on the beast-headed god of Amonkhet's time and space, and the artifact staff given to him by the old dragon, Zuo Si quickly transferred his soul and consciousness back to his clone in Faerun.

When he woke up and took the staff out of the box, a human woman with long black hair and smooth skin suddenly appeared in front of him out of thin air.

You don't need to ask to know that this is the incarnation of the third-generation magic goddess Midnight.

Fortunately, Zuo Si moved quickly enough and had all the card-formed clothes and equipment neatly dressed in the blink of an eye, avoiding the embarrassment of seeing each other naked. At the same time, he sighed slightly and complained: "Please check in advance next time you come. Say hello or go to the main entrance? If you always make surprise attacks like this, I'm afraid I'll have some mental illness sooner or later."

"Ah! Sorry, I just suddenly felt that a powerful magical artifact entered Toril, so I couldn't help but want to rush over to see what it was."

Midnight couldn't help but pursed her lips and revealed a playful smile.

As the actual controller of the Magic Network and the goddess of magic who stands at the apex of all powerful divine powers, it is of course impossible for her not to be unaware of the operation of her youngest chosen one to transfer souls and consciousness between different clones.

Moreover, with the god's keen perception, he could clearly see everything that should be seen and what should not be seen the moment he came.

It's just that Midnight has been there for a long time, so he doesn't care about this. Instead, he finds the other party's slightly annoyed reaction very interesting, and even a little cute.

"Forget it, just be more careful next time."

Zuo Si shook his head helplessly, and then handed over the humble staff.

Because he understands that being interested in everything related to magic is the innate nature of the goddess of magic, and it will inevitably be affected from the moment she obtains the priesthood.

It's as if the other party is clearly leaning toward good neutrality, but has to tolerate the existence of many evil forces such as the Dragon Cult, the Red Robe Mage, and the "Doomsday Reptile" Dogothos, and even has to restrain good camps such as Elminster. voters do not take the initiative to cause trouble for the other party.

The reason is very simple.

It is these evil and cruel magical experiments conducted by these organizations or individuals that are beneficial to the overall concept of "magic".

So whenever Zuo Si brings back some new magical knowledge, technology and artifacts from other worlds, the goddess of magic and the god of knowledge will soon come to visit.

He was already used to this.

And this kind of mutual communication can also help them understand and master this magical knowledge faster.

Midnight picked up the artifact once used by Karona, the Mother of Magic, with great interest, and felt the powerful power contained in it. After a full minute, she asked in an uncertain tone: "It used to belong to a certain magician." God’s weapon?”

Zuo Si nodded without hesitation: "Yes.

It is a weapon used by a man-made god called the Mother of Magic in another time and space.

However, as the god was destroyed by its creator, the staff itself lost much of its power.

But what's interesting is that this artifact seems to have the ability to enhance the magical talents of the holder.

When I hold it, I feel all the energy in my body burning, boiling, and being purified repeatedly. "

"That's not surprising.

Because the staff contains a power I have never seen before.

It can not only draw energy from the magic network, but also draw all forms of raw energy from the universe, and deeply process it according to the type of magic and talent that the holder is good at.

In this way, whoever holds this artifact can maximize its own advantages.

If I guess correctly, the reason why you feel the energy in your body is burning, boiling, and purifying repeatedly is because the planeswalker's spark is at work.

In addition, you should also be able to notice that the purified energy is not under your control at all, as if it could pour out at any time, right? "

It has to be said that Midnight is indeed the goddess of magic. She quickly figured out all the capabilities of this artifact staff, as well as most of its internal structure and principles.

For her, no matter how complex and profound magic knowledge is, she can understand it once she touches it.

"Your guess is absolutely correct. Now I want to upgrade and transform it. Do you have any good suggestions?" Zuo Si asked humbly.

Midnight thought for a moment and quickly answered: "Since this artifact does not use Toril's magic principle, I don't know exactly how to upgrade and transform it.

But if you don't mind, I can try to make some repairs to it using the various magical knowledge you brought back.

At least it allows you to control the purification and release of energy instead of pouring it out all at once.

In addition, I can also add the power of magic network and silver fire into it.

In this way, it will almost become the most powerful magical artifact in Faerûn.

The only thing to be careful about is never giving it to any mortal other than yourself.

Because mortals cannot control such a powerful force.

They will be exploded by the energy absorbed by the staff, directly triggering a terrifying chaotic magic storm that destroys a city or even a country. "

"Then what are you waiting for? Please do it now."

Zuo Si agreed without even thinking.

He always accepts free prostitution like this.

"You are worthy of being the prince of hell who is favored by Asmodeus. You are just like the devil in trying to take advantage of him."

Midnight was obviously aware of the little thoughts of his young elect, and immediately rolled his eyes angrily.

But she rolled her eyes, and she still used her magical power to wrap the entire wooden staff, and created seven gems of different colors out of thin air, shining like stars.

In the blink of an eye, these seven gems were set on the top of the staff one by one, forming a beautiful ring shape.

Following this, a silver magical metal originating from the land of the goddess of magic, the Heart of the Spell, emerged from the texture inside the wooden staff, forming complex lines, symbols and patterns on the surface.

Finally, silver flames ignited from the end of the staff, and then quickly spread to the top.

When the silver fire was completely extinguished, the originally simple wooden staff took on a completely different silvery metallic texture than before, and the seven gems continued to shine with dazzling light.

Midnight threw the repaired staff directly to Zuo Si and said bluntly: "Here, use it well.

Although I don't know exactly what kind of enemies you have provoked outside, I can also feel the urgency you show subconsciously.

If you need help, just ask, don't be polite or embarrassed.

Whether it is me or Ogma, the God of Knowledge, we will give you adequate support within our capabilities. "

"Thank you very much. But I don't think you two can be of much help in this matter."

Zuo Si took the staff and bent down slightly.

According to Nicol Bolas' terrifying power that can easily drain and tear apart any time and space, and his unscrupulous and devoid of awe, he doesn't think that Io, the God of Gods, will allow him to enter Toril.

"Well, then I can only wish you the best."

Seeing that Zuo Si was unwilling to reveal this information, Midnight had no choice but to give up.

Just when she was about to turn around and leave, Zuo Si suddenly stopped her from behind: "Wait! Is Gebido Turan, who became the new god, okay now? I haven't heard anything about him for a long time. ”

“Gebido Turan?

He is still being exploited day and night by Talos.

According to the agreement I reached with the Storm God, the new God of Magic needs to serve him for at least one year before he can come to the Heart of Spells to accept my asylum.

I plan to let him serve as a follower of Azuth when the time comes.

Don't worry, although the little dwarf is indeed having a miserable life now, being intimidated and threatened by the furious gods all day long, his life is still safe. "

Midnight stopped and quickly introduced the current situation of the god of necromancy, necromancer, lich and undead creatures.

Although she also wanted to quickly get Gebido Turan under her control.

It is a pity that the latter uses the method of becoming a god provided by Talos, the god of storms, so he must repay this kindness regardless of emotion or reason.

"I see. It seems that Gebido Turan is going to suffer for a while."

Zuo Si felt relieved when he learned that the dwarf whom he had elevated to the status of a god was not in danger.

As for being squeezed by the God of Storms, there is nothing that can be done about it.

Look at the Raging Gods, who has not been squeezed by Talos?

The relatively weak Winter Goddess Oluel has been treated like a slave for many years, and she can only swallow her anger after holding back her anger.

In comparison, a "fixed-term prison sentence" of just over a year is considered quite good.

With the departure of the goddess of magic at midnight, calm returned to the room once again.

Zuo Si left the mage tower and found a deserted mountain. After a little test of the magical power that this artifact staff could bring, he soon showed an extremely satisfied expression.

Because with just one blow, the energy shock wave he released flattened a mountain peak in the Yunwu Mountain Area to the ground.

The hard rock was completely helpless in the face of this devastating attack, and instantly turned into powder and dust that was indistinguishable to the naked eye.

The snow and ice at high altitudes evaporated on the spot, forming thick gray clouds in the sky above.

You must know that this is not the release of all energy.

After just paying about forty points of general mana, he gained a terrifying power that far exceeded most legendary magics.

If all the energy stored in the planeswalker's spark is released at once, smashing a planet is not a big problem at all.

The most important thing is that the release of this energy shock is not restricted by any casting environment.

As long as there is energy in the surrounding environment that can be absorbed and utilized, Zuo Si can use the blessing of the staff to release shock waves.

In addition, the staff can also allow the holder to convert spell slots at will, turning it into a spell-casting system similar to mana.

For example, a high-level spell slot can be converted into three lower-level spell slots, and the reverse is also true, and the magic memorized that day can be copied to the newly converted empty spell slot.

This also means that in spell duels, Zuo Si can use many more flexible strategies and tactics.

As for the silver fire given to the elect by the goddess of magic, it can be added to any spell at will when holding the staff.

Not only can it change the damage type and characteristics of spells, but it can also directly ignore all magic immunity and resistance except divine power and divine-like power.

Even divine power and divine-like power can only reduce part of the damage and impact, and are not directly immune like ordinary spells.

As Midnight described it, this staff can already be regarded as the most powerful magical artifact in Toril.

At least until she herself uses this knowledge and technology to create the next artifact.

Looking at the flattened mountain peaks in front of him, Zuo Si couldn't help but sigh slightly: "Not enough, this is far from enough.

I need more power, more energy, more powerful artifacts, and a higher planeswalker spark level.

Just wait and see, dear Nicol Bolas.

One day I will take everything from you in the War of the Spark, whether it is the blood of the First Dragon or the power of the Spark possessed by the ancient planeswalkers.

Only I, and only I, can completely and completely replace you.

But before that, I will continue to hibernate and accumulate strength. "

As the last word blurted out, Zuo Si's entire body turned into a ball of white light and disappeared.

…

At the same time, in a temporary lair far away in the north.

With the help of the Dragon Cult, Kurremos has successfully transformed the silver dragon that he tortured until it was dying and completely collapsed into a dracolich.

Seeing the undead form exuding strong negative energy all over his body, the silver dragon instantly opened his mouth and screamed like crazy: "No!!!!!!!!!"

What have you fucking bastards done to me?

Wasn't it enough to force me to lay eggs and torture me through rape and evil magical rituals?

Why should even the final peace of death be deprived?

Don’t you have a little bit of compassion and humanity in your hearts? "

Faced with such a question, Kurremos's reaction was just to raise the phylactery in his hand and responded in a tone without any emotion: "Of course not enough!

It's my fault that you are Castellanferian's sister.

Why do you annoying silver dragons always like to meddle in other people's business?

Remember, you are now an undead creature, the most hated dracolich among all metal dragons, and also my slave.

If you don't want your soul to disappear forever, then just obey every instruction I give you.

Otherwise I will destroy your phylactery without hesitation. "

moment!

The silver dragon that had turned into a dracolich stopped all movements and stared at the "filial son" and the phylactery he held with his two red eyes.

Because she had just been transformed, she didn't look much different from her previous life, and she still maintained her beautiful appearance and scales.

But the thing is that just because there’s no change on the outside doesn’t mean there’s no change on the inside and in the mind.

In fact, from the moment the transformation was completed, the instinct of the undead creature had been injected into the soul of the silver dragon, causing permanent and irreversible changes to it.

If she were still alive, she would definitely rush forward and die with him without hesitation.

But since she became a dracolich, she had a strong instinctive fear of death and the dissipation of her soul, so she did not dare to make even the slightest act of resistance.

Seeing that the threat had its due effect, a satisfied smile suddenly appeared on Kurremos' face: "Very good, it seems that you have understood your situation at the moment.

This is a good start for you and me.

Now I ask you to go to the High Forest immediately, cooperate with the Zhentarim intelligence network operating there to spread the news that you were ambushed and injured, and try to attract the two most important leaders of the Harper Alliance there.

I believe that with your intelligence, you should understand who I am referring to, right?

Never try to do tricks!

Because your every move cannot escape my eyes. "

"Did you deliberately provoke the fight between Scar Klaus and the Harper?" Silver Dragon narrowed his eyes and asked.

She was obviously not a fool, and she was keenly aware of the evil conspiracy behind the whole thing through this order.

"Haha, who else could it be?

After this incident, the senior leaders of the Harper Alliance will be wiped out and completely lose the sphere of influence they have been operating in the Northland for many years.

And I will become the undisputed king of all the monsters and barbarian tribes in the vast wilderness and mountain forests.

If I were you, I would give up those unrealistic fantasies of the past and actively embrace reality.

As long as you perform well enough, I don't mind giving you a top position in my kingdom. "

After saying that, Kurremos gave the other party a self-satisfied look, and then turned around and walked towards another cave further away with the phylactery.

After learning the truth, the silver dragon stood there, his eyes revealing the pain and struggle that could not be concealed. After about three to five minutes, he finally seemed to make up his mind, walked out of the cave, flapped his wings, soared into the sky, and flew towards the direction of the Supreme Forest. .

After she completely disappeared from the end of the sky, Kurremos ordered the Sarran spirit Agatha who was following him: "Keep an eye on this guy. If you find any unusual behavior on her part, please inform me directly."

"knew."

Agatha instantly activated her teleportation ability and disappeared from the place with her shadow energy core.

As the architect and important participant of the entire plan, Kurremus knew that everything was ready now. He could only wait for Elminster and Storm Silverhand to set off for the High Forest, and then he could unite with Harid III. Seducing the ancient red dragon - Scarlaus Klaus took the initiative to attack the Harpers' top management, completely kicking off the war.

But it's not easy.

After all, both Elminster and Storm Silverhand have experienced too many conspiracies and calculations, and their experience in dealing with them can be said to be very rich.

Once the true intention is discovered by the two of them in advance, the script of waiting for both parties to suffer and gain some advantages may have to be changed to a head-on collision.

But Kurremos obviously didn't want to expose himself so early, but preferred to continue to hide behind the scenes and control everything.

Of course, he is not the only one with this idea.

Xi Manmeng, the leader of the dark intelligence network, also made the same choice.

Using the Harpers' infiltration of the Zhentarim, he continued to release all kinds of false news to seduce Elminster.

For this reason, he even sent out some of his most elite teams to wander around the outskirts of the Supreme Forest. Occasionally, he would summon some demons through sacrifices, pretending to cause big things, and let the elven villages and Germans living in the area The Ruids were nervous.

Elminster, who was currently visiting the Hubbell family in Longsaddle Town, immediately frowned and fell into deep thought after hearing the news from the Harpers.

Due to the recent fierce conflicts between towns, villages and wilderness in the North, this old man who is over a thousand years old has felt what it means to be mentally and physically exhausted for the first time in his life.

The most important thing is that it's a terrible feeling to watch the other party playing tricks on you, but you can't do anything about it.

No matter what you do or what you choose, the final result you get will be wrong.

There is no doubt that Zuo Si taught this great sage of the Valley of Shadows a solid lesson in the fields of politics, economics, and human nature.

If it weren't for the rulers of Longsaddle Town - the Hubbell family is a typical mage family who is far less concerned about wealth, trade and other things than other towns, they can still maintain a relatively neutral and friendly attitude towards the Harper Alliance. Due to his attitude, Elminster might not even have a place to stay, so he would have to camp in a tent in the wild.

The current situation in the Northland is that almost all towns and villages have united and made it clear that they do not welcome the Harper Alliance's concept of balance and prohibit any Harpers from operating on their own territory.

Although it hasn't reached the point where Harpers will be executed directly if they are caught like in other areas, it is certain that they will be thrown into prison and put in jail.

Elminster and Storm Silverhand himself were explicitly excluded from many towns and were not allowed to enter their territory.

In desperation, he temporarily settled in the Hubbell family in Chang'an Town, and used it as the most important contact point of the Harper Alliance in the North.

"How are you?"

Storm Silverhand looked at the expression on the face of the first chosen one by the goddess of magic and asked.

As one of the seven sisters who had been with Elminster since a long time ago, she had never seen Elminster look so tired, and her heart was filled with worry.

The old man smiled bitterly, shook his head and responded: "I'm fine, I'm just a little unsure whether these messages are smoke bombs deliberately released by the enemy, or whether they really want to do something.

Obviously, without Manshon's aggressive tactics, the Zhentarim led by Shimamon will become even more insidious, cunning, and difficult to deal with than before.

He never competed with us head-on. Instead, he kept pulling and adjusting, making all the Harpers exhausted.

It would be okay if it was just Xi Manmeng causing trouble.

But the problem is that there is more than one force attacking us in the Northland right now.

The most terrible thing is that Soth, the greatest threat, has not yet come to an end. Just using the trade alliance to create a chain reaction has made the living environment of all Harpers extremely bad.

In this case, countless people gave up their identity as Harpers, and many more began to hate and reject the entire organization.

I'm worried that if this continues, the loss of manpower alone will cause our network in the Northland to completely collapse. "

“Since you know you are no match, why don’t you take the initiative to admit defeat?

For the sake of being chosen by the Goddess of Magic, I believe that Soth will not kill them all.

And regardless of his stance or not, we should all admit that he was indeed an excellent ruler who brought a prosperous life to the vast majority of ordinary people.

As for the development of wilderness, I think it should be possible to resolve disputes between the two parties through negotiation. "

Storm Silverhand expressed his thoughts that he had hidden in his heart for a long time.

She really didn't understand why the other party was so persistent in this battle of thoughts, consciousness, concepts and values.

"Admit defeat?"

Elminster couldn't help laughing, and while laughing, he lit his beloved pipe, took a puff and patiently explained: "If I give in now, I will no longer be the person who dared to face all dangers and difficulties. of myself.

You don't understand that what Soth brought to this world was not just a prosperous life.

If that's the case, what reason do I have to stop it?

What is really dangerous about him is that he quietly changed the thoughts, cognitions and values ​​of thousands of people.

Look at what the originally simple people in the North have become now in order to make money, for a better life and enjoyment.

The devil named greed in their hearts has been seduced by Soth's series of policies and is madly devouring all inherent ethics and morals.

Do you dare to imagine how decadent and decadent the world we once knew will become when all this spreads to the entire continent of Faerûn?

So this is the biggest difference between us. "

Storm Silverhand nodded as if he understood: "Okay, maybe you are right.

But the problem is that now we need to put out fires everywhere in the Northland. How do you think this information should be handled?

Ignore it?

Or should we leave immediately to check the specific situation? "

“Hmm—I think it’s best to wait until we finish the crusade against Klaus before going there.

After all, this is our biggest move in the past ten years, and the opponent is an ancient red dragon that has been famous for a long time. We must not take it lightly.

Once we successfully kill Klaus, at least the ruler of Mirabar should be impressed by the Harpers and allow us to continue our activities there. "

Elminster hesitated for a moment before speaking out his plan.

He knew very well that the reason why the Harper Alliance could persist until now was because of the leadership of this group of senior leaders with extremely firm beliefs and will.

If these backbones suffered heavy casualties, many of the Harpers who went underground and lurked secretly would immediately lose contact with the organization, and would not even be able to prove their identities.

After all, the members of the Harper Alliance are essentially spies and assassins. In order to maintain confidentiality, they usually maintain one-way contact, and there is no so-called personnel list.

This means that when the leader and his deputy, who are key nodes, suddenly die at the same time without any time to make any arrangements, the activities of the Harpers in this area will instantly come to a standstill.

Apart from anything else, just finding the lost Harper would take a lot of effort.

Storm Silverhand obviously did not agree with this overly conservative plan. He touched his chin and questioned: "But those Zhentarim people are summoning demons everywhere. Aren't you afraid of the disaster of Hellgate Castle happening again?"

"It shouldn't develop to that extent..."

When saying these words, Elminster was obviously lacking in confidence.

As the name suggests, Hellgate Castle is a fortress occupied by hell demons.

It is located in the northeast corner of the High Forest and was originally the moon elf city - Cape Usk.

Later, after the collapse of Netherese civilization, some human remnants occupied this place and began to settle.

I don’t know what happened later, but many demons sneaked into the city and used excellent political skills to secretly control the rulers and civilians from top to bottom.

This situation lasted until DR882 before it was finally noticed by a group of mages.

In order to eliminate the demons, the crazy mage directly opened a portal to the bottomless abyss, allowing a steady stream of demons to rush out to fight their mortal enemies.

According to historians' records, the continuation of this bloody battle in the material plane tore apart the sky and the earth, turning the entire city into a human hell filled with killing and death.

In the end, the victorious devil built a strong fortress on the ruins of the original city, which is the famous Hell Gate Castle.

In order to completely eliminate this huge threat, the Harpers' senior leaders secretly planned an operation long ago, intending to completely destroy it and expel it from the main material plane through a series of powerful magical rituals.

If it hadn't been for this series of things that happened later, it would have been possible to take action within one or two years.

Unfortunately, as the conflict with Scarlaus Klaus escalated, the Harper had to give up his previous plan and began to use all his strength to deal with this equally difficult ancient red dragon.

Just when Storm Silverhand was about to say something, a middle-aged human woman wearing a Harper brooch suddenly rushed in and reported in a breathless voice: "Bad news!

Some claim to have found traces of a wounded silver dragon near the High Forest.

It is most likely one of the two dragon allies who came to support us and suddenly lost sight of us halfway.

They may have been ambushed by the enemy and are in urgent need of our help. "

"What?!"

Elminster suddenly stood up from his chair.

As a fierce man who had been with the Silver Dragon, he had countless complicated and unclear relationships with the Metal Dragon clan.

Especially those younger silver dragons, who may be the descendants of the silver dragon who had an intimate relationship back then, still want to call the great sage of Shadow Valley grandpa or uncle.

"Looks like we have to go anyway."

Storm Silverhand also stood up and neatly put on the weapons and equipment placed aside one by one, making a gesture of getting ready to go.

Elminster nodded solemnly: "You're right. We really need to go and see this time. No matter what the Zhentarim and Simon are planning, we must stop them. "

In this way, the two voters of the Magic Goddess simply packed up their things, got up and said goodbye to the Hubbell family, then left Chang's Saddle Town on horseback and galloped eastward.

As for why they don't use convenient teleportation magic...

Of course it's due to Elminster's criticized eccentricities and magical ideas.

He advocates that you must think carefully when using magic, and try not to use it if you can't use it, so no matter where you go, you always go on your legs. The number of times you use teleportation spells in this life can be said to be very few, and it is not like a legend at all. mage.

As soon as the two of them left the long saddle formation, the spy who was hiding in the dark reported what he saw to Harid III who was operating in Miraba.

The eyes of this man who was filled with love and hatred for Elminster gleamed with viciousness, and he immediately used the resources at hand to offer a large bounty, causing adventurers to flood into the mountains of the north in large numbers.

His purpose is very simple, which is to provoke Scar Klaus to leave his lair and attack Mirabar.

In this way, the Harper executives gathering in this mining city will think that their plan has been exposed, and they will have to take action in advance to fight to the death with this ancient red dragon.

There is no doubt that in this game of underground intelligence systems involving many parties, Hared III, Ximanmeng and Kuuremos have already taken the lead through a large number of operations.

The next step is to see if they can complete the ultimate victory over the Harpers' top management before Elminster and Storm Silverhand react.

…

On the other side, under the city wall of De Arnisburg in Amn in the south, the team led by Aberdare was stunned by the nervous scene in front of them.

I saw more than a hundred corpses densely packed on top of the castle wall.

Only a small portion of them are humans, and the greater number are monsters such as orcs, half-orcs, gnolls, and goblins.

The former can easily be identified from their clothing as soldiers, servants and maids of the castle, but the corpse of the latter is puzzling.

Because they should have been the main force attacking the castle, but now they are all "open-minded (physics)", and their skulls are empty without even a bit of brain matter.

What's even worse is that the moment they step into the castle, everyone hears some kind of weird voice whispering in their minds. It only takes a few minutes to make people crazy and crazy, and their emotions become... Extremely irritable.

"Damn! This is psychic! I think we may be in serious trouble this time."

Sancho, the intellectual leader of the team, expressed his guess with his mouth twitching.

Although he has not seen any monsters so far, he can already predict that there will definitely be a considerable number of mind flayers in the castle.

Because of the corpses on the city wall whose brains had been eaten away, no other species besides the mind flayers could do it.

"What do we do now?"

Narya's face was full of nervousness and anxiety.

Because according to the information provided by the soldiers who came back to deliver the message, her father did not give up the family business, but chose to stay in the castle and rely on the terrain advantages to continue to hold on.

"Do you know if there are any secret passages in this castle that we can sneak into? It's too dangerous to attack from the front. We don't know how many monsters controlled by the mind flayers we have to face."

Sancho quickly thought about countermeasures and asked about the specific situation.

After a direct battle with the legendary demi-lich Kangas, he has completely completed his transformation. There is no trace of childishness in his eyes anymore, replaced by a maturity and stability that belies his age.

Especially the almost indifferent rationality revealed unintentionally made the well-informed Jaheira feel chills down her spine, and at the same time secretly lamented that only a monster can teach another monster.

Yes, in the eyes of this half-elf druid, both Zuo Si and Sancho have broken away from the category of "human beings".

Nalia hurriedly replied: "I know there is a secret passage that can enter the castle from the basement. But what about the whispers that keep echoing in my ears once I step into the castle?"

"Here, I just brought a few bottles of mind-shielding potion here. If everyone drinks one bottle, they can ignore this psychic interference in a short period of time.

Keep in mind, though, that the potion only lasts for an hour and a half.

In other words, if we cannot deal with the enemies inside within an hour and a half, we must exit immediately and choose to give up.

Otherwise, within ten minutes at most, people with insufficient intelligence will start to go crazy and be influenced and controlled by the other party. "

Having said this, Sancho paused deliberately and turned his attention to Aberdare and Minsk. The implication is self-evident.

Minsk was stupid enough that he didn't notice anything wrong with the boy's eyes and was still talking to Bubu, the yellow-skinned mouse on his shoulder.

On the contrary, Aberdare blushed, obviously feeling embarrassed and embarrassed, and lowered his head to avoid eye contact with Sancho.

He didn't realize at all that he was slowly losing the leadership of the team unknowingly, and his identity changed from the original team leader to a pure executor.