Arcane Journey

Chapter 330 The Witch of Shadow Valley (Thanks to Tujia Twelve for the reward)
Sieren was the eldest of the Seven Sisters, the Chosen of Mystra, and a distinguished Harper scout.

Although there are no weak ones among the seven sisters left by the second generation goddess of magic in the material world, if you really want to rank the strength of these seven sisters, then no matter in terms of actual combat ability or magic attainments, Both Hellen and Simbu are in the same class.

It's just that compared to Simbu's irritable and irritable personality, as the eldest sister among the seven sisters, Hellen's personality belongs to the most gentle and gentle lady image.

For many years, Azuth, the god of mages, has been silently watching over those he respects, and Sieren, the witch of Shadowvale, is one of them.

In 1356 DR, a group of evil dragons invaded the shores of the Moonsea, wreaking havoc and threatening the very existence of the inhabitants.

Sieren, who lives in the Vale of Shadows, fought the dragons alone, and after using up all her spells and magic items, she managed to kill most of them.

In the end, facing the three oldest and most powerful ancient dragons at the top of the Tower of Asaba, she resolutely broke her Staff of the Archmage, and the raging arcane energy destroyed the top of the tower and took away She lives with the enemy.

Later, Elminster rebuilt the tower, displaying some of the keels as souvenirs, and ground the remaining keels into powder to coat the walls.

From then on, Xillen remained in the homeland she loved in her lifetime in the form of a ghost, silently guarding her compatriots.

Bryan was thinking about the deeds of the goddess of magic, Hellen, the chosen one, while avoiding everyone's sight, and quietly walked towards the direction directed by the mage god Azus.

There was an illusion that made him instinctively believe that Azus, the advisor of the goddess of magic, had been secretly observing and helping him.

Otherwise, he would not have arrived at his destination so smoothly: the Watcher's Hill.

Most importantly, within his line of sight, he could see the Warden's Hill shrouded in a faint silver light, but such a conspicuous sign did not attract the attention of any residents of the valley and the sky mages of the Zhentarim Society. .

Obviously, all of this was done by Azuth.

Thinking of this, Brian unconsciously quickened his pace.

It only took him about an hour to arrive at the Watcher's Hill, a hill covered under dense forests, but there was no grass on the top of the hill, leaving a large bare open space.

Generally speaking, the mountain is not steep, and the highest point is only 10 meters above the ground, so it is easy to climb from all sides.

Winter's chill is in the air, and the last bright days of autumn are over, and the trees that once shone in the sun with their gold, red and orange leaves are now nothing but skeleton-like branches, shrouded in a gray sky .

When Brian walked to the open area on the top of the mountain, he noticed an old, almost leafless, huge oak tree standing alone on the top of the mountain.

It is said that on the top of the Watcher's Hill, a massacre in the name of religion took place here nearly 180 years ago.

Because the lord at the time was an atheist, he banned all religious activities in Shadow Valley.

It was here that he ordered the massacre of a secret cult of Torm worshipers.

Many years have passed, and it has been worshiped as a commemorative place by countless curious elves, young lovers, and Torm worshipers.

Only in the most critical times will the hill's former role as a watchtower be repurposed.

According to the information obtained by the Harper scouts, Brian learned that during this invasion of the Valley of Shadows, the priestess of the Lost Lady of Faith, Eswell Graycastle, used the spell of haunting in the Watcher's Hill, a method that allows A certain land is filled with evil energy, enhancing the magic of the undead.

Then the priestess used the transformation ritual to awaken the remaining dragon bones.

So much so that in Shadow Valley that night, a bone dragon flew into the village to wreak havoc and seriously frightened the residents here. Because of this, they rumored that the Dragon Worshiper was also involved in this aggression.

According to the speculation of the Harpist scout, this bone dragon was probably sent by the priests to guard the tomb where Hieron was.

Thinking of this, Brian didn't look for the tomb immediately, but carefully observed everything around him through detection magic.

In this land shrouded in a faint silver light, Brian noticed that not only was his spell not affected in any way, but it was even strengthened a lot.

In just a moment, he found a bone dragon hidden here.

The skull dragon squatted on the top of the mountain, disguised as a leafless oak tree, but the moment Brian's detection magic swept over, he immediately realized that it was the skeleton of a huge dragon, and there were two burning spots in the hollow eye sockets. A faint red light full of malice.

Before the bone dragon roared or called the police, Brian sent it to the astral space with a psychic expulsion.

He didn't follow, because judging from the strength of this temporarily awakened bone dragon, his dragon skeleton golem and psicrystal are enough to hoist it up and hammer it in the astral space without dead ends.

When Brian was notified that the bone dragon was killed, he began to search for the location of the tomb.

At this moment, the appearance of Azuth, the god of mages, appeared again, and a heavy and slightly echoing old voice sounded in his mind:
"Young arcane seekers, our time is running out."

"I will help you block all detections from Watcher's Hill, and what you need to do is to wake up the witches in Shadow Valley as soon as possible."

"Only she can stop the further spread of the magic net unwoven."

There was a hint of fatigue in Azuth's voice, which meant that he had more than enough heart but not enough strength.

It's as if a minister can't change the stubborn emperor's decision to go his own way no matter how much he speaks.

When you think about it, it's actually not that surprising.

After all, it has only been less than 200 years since Midnight, a mortal mage, became the third-generation goddess of magic. At this moment, her nature is naturally superfluous with rationality.

Although it may be because of the passage of time that she will gradually become a real goddess of magic and understand her mission and responsibilities, but there is always a process of adaptation.

Otherwise, in order to deal with his old enemy, the god of murder, Cyric, he would not hesitate to use his authority, block part of the magic network, and prevent Cyric and his followers from using magic. Had to unblock.

Brian didn't think about it anymore, he saw that the fingers of Azuth's manifested translucent giant hand had already pointed to a location on the top of the mountain covered by thick granite.

The site looked as if it had been chosen carefully, with the shadow of the hillside falling just above it, making it difficult to detect the existence of the tomb.

But Brian has noticed that the stone slab has long been covered with mud and grass clippings, which means that the priests of the Lost Lady have entered the tomb, leaving clear traces.

He no longer hesitated, having the God of Mage to help him watch the gate, and the anxiety that made him worry about his actions being noticed by the secret enemy disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Then, he immediately used spells to lift the granite, and along the spacious stone steps, he went deep into the interior of the granite hill.

Brian walked about [-] stone steps and reached the bottom of the tomb. Although the tomb was closed, it didn't have the decayed smell of negative energy as imagined.

This also shows that there should be no undead creatures encountered here.

Brian looked forward with the help of dark vision, and he saw a square stone room at the end of his line of sight.

There is a platform in the center of the stone chamber on which a coffin is placed.

The entire tomb looks unpretentious, except for the magical inscription on the coffin lid:

"Here sleeps Oram Obassky and Anastha Heron Silverhand, leaving behind them a happier Valley of Shadows."

Oram Obassky is Shiron's husband, a powerful human mage. The residents of the valley remember his name, but few people know his surname. For 40 years, he was also the rightful ruler of Shadow Valley.

Ultimately murdered by a false lord who was later revealed to be a spy for the Zhentarim.

As a master ghost harpist, Shiron now exists in this world in the form of a ghost.

She volunteered to become a master ghost harpist, and after death she continued to guard the land she loved from enemies within and without.

However, just as all ghosts are forcibly put into eternal sleep under certain special circumstances, for her, it is only necessary to put the symbol of Auram's tomb back in place.

And Shiron, many years ago, never imagined that there would be such a day: one day this tomb would be desecrated by the followers of the Lost Lady.

Priestess Elsweer learns from the Lost Lady how to defeat Sieren.

Shortly before raiding the Tower of Elminster, the priests of Shar entered the tomb with an aberration from a faraway land.

Although the priestesses who broke into the tomb instantly triggered Hieren's protective barrier, and Hieren himself immediately teleported back to guard the tomb, but what she faced was a strange monster that was naturally restrained, and finally had no choice but to do so. Let yourself fall into a deep sleep.

That is to say, Helen is still alive at this moment, but it's a bit of a stretch to say that, because she's just a mass of pure silver fire without the ability to protect herself.

Even more unfortunate, the aberrations guarding her cut off her ability to do anything, either escape or seek help.

The magic-eating creature was still slowly devouring what was left of her existence.

These materials were instilled in Brian's mind by the mage god Azus the moment he stepped into the tomb, and he also taught him how to deal with strange monsters.

Without the help of the mage god, Shiron's death is only a matter of time.

Just as Bryan was about to open the sarcophagus to free Shiron trapped inside, a terrifying aberration suddenly appeared in front of him.

Although he had been mentally prepared, but after witnessing the other party's true self, he still felt terrified.

What appeared in front of him was a mass of fleshy balls that looked like countless tentacles. Its eyeballs and mouth were all condensed by light red mist, like a pulse, emitting red light with regularity.

Although it was the first time for Brian to see this strange monster from a distant country, with the help of Azuth, the mage god, he had a good understanding of the monster in front of him immediately.

Even so, he couldn't help but feel a little fear in his heart, this feeling is like the blood pressure of a mouse seeing a cat.

The real name of this monster is: Nilush, also known as: Magic Devourer.

True to its name, it is a natural counter to all spellcasters, even the Chosen of Mystra with Silver Fire.

The body of the Magic Devourer looks like a ball of meat with a diameter of about one meter, but in fact, it is all formed by the condensation of light red mist.

This light red mist can help it absorb all harmful magic, and after non-harmful magic is absorbed by it, it can restore its own health like a healing spell.

All in all, the more powerful the spell, the more energy the Magic Devourer will get. Mind control spells and illusions have no effect on them, and even magic weapons cannot fight against them.

Any spellcaster covered by the red mist of the Magic Devourer, in addition to being unable to cast spells, their own spell slots will be consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and they may even find that they cannot use any magic items, such as scrolls and potions. Even artifacts have no effect.

Magic Devourers are solitary wanderers from faraway lands, unable to voluntarily transfer magical spells or energies to other beings, feeding only on magic, wandering endlessly in search of resources, whether items or the casters themselves, are theirs prey.

Above all, no one knows the limits of their energy absorption, and no one has ever seen such horrible aberrations starve to death for lack of magic.

The only good thing for spellcasters is that their number is very rare. In the long history of Faerun Continent, this is the second one besides the Magic Devourer that appeared in the Moon Shadow Islands.

"Hiss... hiss... hiss..."

The moment the Magic Devourer appeared, countless creepy tentacles suddenly appeared in the churning red mist, sweeping towards Brian.

It can be seen from the violently rolling red mist on the other side that it is extremely excited and excited when it sees Brian.

It's like a tiger that has been hungry for three days and three nights suddenly finds a plump prey within its reach.

Facing the Magic Devourer who restrained himself by nature, Brian stood there calmly.

Since Azuth, the mage god, had told himself the information about the Magic Devourer in detail, he naturally taught him how to deal with it.

Just when the magic devourer's overwhelming tentacles were about to envelop him, Brian immediately activated the Chaos Scholar's professional feature "Chaos Surge".

In an instant, strands of dark purple chaotic energy erupted from his body, and the moment it collided with the red mist of the Magic Devourer, it devoured and absorbed it at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just a moment, the magic devourer, who was running wildly in the secret room, was completely swallowed by the chaotic energy.

Chaos energy naturally restrains the Devourer of Magic. This is what Azuth, the mage god, told him. This made Brian realize that he might have been seen through by the consultant of the goddess of magic, otherwise he would not have revealed it. Avatar to guide him.

After cleanly eliminating this strange monster from a distant country, Brian was surprised to find that he had gained nearly 50 experience points at one time, which is simply unbelievable.

Obtaining this huge amount of experience allowed him to almost increase the level of Chaos Scholar by 2 levels in a row and obtain the second legendary boon.

Brian suppressed the thought of raising the level for the time being, walked to the sarcophagus, carefully inspected it, and then slowly pushed it away after confirming that there was no danger.

With the opening of the sarcophagus, a silver-white flame that looked a bit dim slowly appeared in front of Brian.

The silver-white flame flickered like a candle in mid-air, and gradually manifested into a slender figure emitting a faint crystal light.

This is an elegant woman, dressed in a plain mage robe, with long silver hair hanging like silver forging, delicate and smooth, white and flawless icy skin, against the silver hair, shining a mysterious silver light .

"Are you Ms. Hellen?" Brian asked knowingly.

"Yes, I am, thank you for your help, brave adventurer." There was a smile on Xieren's exquisite face, and his voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of sadness, "My time is running out, Goddess Mystra Already calling me home..."

"Then what do you need to do, or how do you need me to help you?" Brian felt the emotion of reluctance and nostalgia in Hellen's words.

"The only thing I can do now is to restrict the unweaving of the magic net." Helen sighed softly, and said in a sad tone, "I hope you can use the time I have won to stop the loss." Lady's dark ritual, and bring freedom back to my people."

"I'm working on it, Ms. Hillen." Bryan nodded slightly.

"You are the savior guided here by Your Excellency. I believe in your determination. I have stored the Staff of the Archmage in the place where I used to live. I hope you will take this weapon and force the Dark Trade Network to Shackles shatter in Shadowvale."

Staff of the Archmage.

Hearing the familiar name, Brian knew that he was getting closer and closer to obtaining this artifact.

But for some reason, he felt a little inexplicably sad in his mood at the moment.

Shiron whispered to him: "In the newly built Cragg Castle by the occupying troops, there is also a new portal, from which the Zhentarim will continue to call for reinforcements."

"The Dark Ritual of the Lost Lady is being held in secret in the Crush Gutter, a place in the Underworld. You can find your way to it in the Twisted Tower, but beware of the threat from the Drow House of Marimoda .”

"Brave adventurer, please trust me."

"When you show my people who is 'really' worthy of the pendant of Abatha, they will unite and become your most reliable supporters."

Bryan remained silent and followed Shiron back to the surface. With the secret help of Azuth, the Watcher's Hill was still shrouded in a faint silver light.

Helen, the elector of the goddess of magic, bowed respectfully to the mage god hidden in the void, and then suspended in mid-air, staring at the valley between the mountains, the people coming and going, and those Familiar buildings, gazing at the fields and sheep in the distant mountains.

Inexplicable colors shone in her bright starry eyes...

In the end, she sighed softly, and the body made of silver fire gradually blurred, and floated to Brian's side, leaning over to press a soft kiss on his cheek.

She gave Brian a deep look, and then her body shrank into a faint silver flame.

Then, the flame exploded violently, and a wave of silver light radiated far in all directions.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the graceful figure under the soft light of the sunset gradually disappears.

As the breeze blew, the hazy silver fire gradually dissipated, and with it, there was also a memory that would always belong to the Shadow Valley Witch in the hearts of the world.

…………

(End of this chapter)