Arcane Journey

Chapter 331 Artifact: Staff of the Archmage!

In the hazy night, Brian used invisibility to escape wave after wave of patrols and came to the gate of the manor where the Witch of Shadow Valley, Hellen, lived before his death.

At this time, he had to secretly feel that this legendary purple dragon seal ring, after being re-strengthened by Myrcella, is simply a must-have artifact for murder, arson, and sneak attack.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to walk so easily in the Valley of Shadows without being noticed.

And the purpose of his coming here is naturally to find the staff of the Archmage.

If this artifact can be obtained before the battle with the City of Shadows and the Zhentarim, the chances of winning the repair of the magic net will definitely increase by a few points.

Standing in front of the gate, Brian didn't go in immediately, but carefully looked at the cobweb-covered door frame with the help of the soft moonlight.

Most of the manors in the valley are planted with thorn plants as the outermost fence, and Hillen's manor is no exception. After opening the gate of the metal fence, what appears in sight is a secluded road full of uneven cobblestones.

The Shadow Valley Witch known for her frugality and simplicity, her manor is naturally not spectacular.

Of course, if you can ignore the vaguely gloomy atmosphere in the environment, this place can also give people a sense of refinement and elegance.

There are rumors that there are hidden portals to other parts of Toril's world, or even other planes, in Shiron's manor, but so far, no one has found such a thing here.

After Hillen's sacrifice, the ownership of this land and the surrounding area was transferred to Lord Moglin. He never allowed other people to apply for this land, building houses or farming.

Of course, it was different after the fall of Shadowdale.

Her manor was identified by the priestesses of the Lost Lady as a sanctuary of the goddess Mystra, so the Zhentarim's "Dark Judgment" Manrazon, in the name of the dark lord Bane, just in case, The evil dwelling technique is used here.

The evil magic was cast here, causing this seemingly ordinary manor to become a haunted house that no one dared to approach, and the negative energy inside was even several times stronger than the cemetery.

Brian was in the manor, and if he didn't have the legendary grace, he would definitely feel out of breath. It is conceivable what kind of damage Bane's followers have caused to this place by using the evil dwelling technique.

Feeling the weird situation here, Brian couldn't help but become more cautious.

He first went around the manor, releasing detection magic non-stop, and walked around carefully. After finding that there were no undead and other filthy creatures in the manor except for its rich negative energy, he decided to open the door and walked in.

Under the gradually dimming moonlight, weeds grow thickly beside the path wet with night dew, and the dewdrops on the tip of the grass are shining with crystal light. Swaying slightly and making rustling noises, it looked eerie and disturbing.

At this moment, facing this weird atmosphere, even a big-hearted person like Brian, walking alone in this haunted house, can't help but feel a little hairy.

He tightened the cloak on his body, opened his spiritual detection force field, and carefully observed everything around him.

Just when Brian was about to enter the manor room, he seemed to have bumped into something terrible, and his expression and limbs froze instantly.

"Crack, crack, crack..."

Under the bleak night, a strange sound echoed in the empty manor, and the sound sounded like it came through the crack of the door.

At the same time, the sound of slapping the flesh, like a long whip, came to the ears faintly, mixed with a few strings of evil and charming laughter from time to time, cold and venomous.

"It seems that there are dirty things hiding inside?" Brian took a deep breath, his expression becoming serious.

Just now, after hearing this weird laughter, he was caught off guard and made a 'fear' saving throw.

Fortunately, his will attribute is very high, and it didn't affect him.

This made him realize that some kind of evil hidden in the manor's room might be born with the ability to spread 'fear'.

But all creatures who hear this strange sound must forcibly pass the judgment of the will save, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous.

It's no wonder that after the occupation of Shadow Valley, the residents here called Hillen's manor a haunted house, not without reason.

After adjusting his state, Brian kicked open the door of the manor room.

"boom!"

Accompanied by a bang, dust filled the air everywhere, and the chaotic hall of the manor gradually unveiled its terrifying veil in Brian's vision.

The bleak moonlight shone into the room from the fully open door, creating a white and terrifying atmosphere around.

However, even with the moonlight, with Brian's half-elf vision, he could only vaguely see the outlines of decaying furniture and other dusty decorations in the dark.

Feeling the air inhaled into his heart and lungs, the bone-piercing coolness emanating from him made him realize that there was definitely a layer of negative energy like a black mist permeating the hall, such as the darkness technique released by the ghost creatures or the deep breath. Darkness.

Brian cast a 'deep dark vision' spell without moving his expression, this spell can see through all the darkness caused by magic.

With the casting of the spell, the supernatural shadows around Brian immediately dissipated in front of his eyes, as if a layer of fog had been pushed away, presenting him with a clear picture.

After his eyesight returned to normal, he immediately locked his gaze directly on the wall on the inside of the hall, where the sound came from.

A display counter that was supposed to be placed there has fallen down, and the sundries are scattered all over the floor. To his surprise, on the fallen cabinet, there is actually a fuzzy and distorted one, like many A huge figure assembled by individuals.

This is an ugly figure that is bigger than ordinary humans, its head and shoulders are floating in the darkness, and the coldness revolves around it, as if it is constantly absorbing the surrounding heat and life.

It also has a terrifying face beyond imagination, with distorted lips, from which you can see a bright red tongue, blackened weird teeth, and the most terrifying thing is its eyes, shining with the light of the devil, full of hatred and destruction.

Brian was surprised to see that on its raised right hand, a long black whip full of barbs suddenly appeared in the void, and then aimed at the wall next to the cabinet, whipping away fiercely.

"Giggle..."

The black long whip covered with barbs was like swift lightning. The moment it landed on the wall, a woman with tied hands and feet, naked and disheveled hair suddenly appeared on the surface of the wall, making a melodious laugh and twisting Moving her plump delicate body, she let the whip beat herself with enjoyment on her face.

Brian didn't act immediately, but chose to observe first.

Apart from other aspects, this is indeed a beautiful woman, whether it is a slender waist, a plump chest, or a perfectly proportioned buttocks, all of them are far above the standard line.

And such a woman is willing to enjoy this kind of torture, obviously she is performing some evil ritual.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!..."

Bloody welts fell on her pale, bloodless body like raindrops, and strands of blood actually seeped out from the phantom on the wall and flowed to the ground.

However, the phantom of the strange woman who was whipped on the wall, faced this kind of torture, her laughter actually contained a coquettish moan of enjoyment.

"Could it be Shar's dark ritual?"

A doubt floated in Brian's mind, and then he ignored the naked woman on the wall and looked at the black figure holding a long whip.

He instantly recognized that this terrifying black shadow was not a human being, but a spirit-binding lord from the Shadow Realm, whose strength was around the fourth level.

When Brian looked over, the hand of the spirit-bound leader holding the long whip froze in mid-air, and turned his head with difficulty, grinning, revealing a ferocious sneer.

Faced with this situation, Brian raised his hand and pointed. Before the horrific Bound Spirit could react, he was engulfed in blue-white flames, his whole body made a hissing sound, and balls of gas came out.

It whimpered and struggled for a moment, then condensed into a thumb-sized soul spar, which fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

After finishing the spirit binding, Brian was about to leave the place and walked towards the depths of the hall. He seemed to recall something and instinctively looked towards the wall.

Immediately afterwards, he saw, in the shadow of the wall, the woman with disheveled hair slowly turned her head, revealing a pair of deep purple eyes in the black hair and black shadows.

"Damn offal!"

The naked woman broke free from the binding rope, stood up angrily, and walked out of the wall with a 'chested' imposing manner.

"Under the witness of the great Goddess of the Night, you dare to destroy my 'Dark Rise', very well, then use your body as a sacrifice for the ceremony!"

The priestess of Shar's exquisite face became distorted due to the interruption of the ceremony, her long black hair fluttering like a devil, and her deep voice seemed to come from the flames of hell.

Rise of the night?

Hearing this name, Brian realized what the priestess of Shar was doing in front of him. It is said that this is the bloodiest ritual in the Church of Shar.

Under normal circumstances, this is a ritual only performed by priestesses of the fourth-tier model when they are promoted to the legendary realm.

They will find an extremely secret area on a moonlit night, and through enduring bloody torture and pain, they will secretly please their goddess and finally achieve their goal.

Since Shar, the Lost Lady, is the goddess who keeps all the secrets, during the period of holding the 'Dark Night Rises' ceremony, no one should be able to find out, even if she just glanced at it, it might cause the ceremony to fail.

After Brian figured out the cause of the problem, the priestess, who had already been interrupted because of the ceremony and failed to sacrifice, completely lost her sanity.

I really answered that sentence: In Faerun Continent, any man must protect himself when he goes out. The goddesses here are crazy, even their believers.

"Go to hell! Under the witness of the night, disappear forever in the secret of the goddess of the night!"

Priestess Shar screamed angrily, she didn't think about how Brian easily killed the spirit lord she summoned from the shadow world, and she didn't realize that she was naked at the moment, without any magic equipment, so she had no fear launched a fierce attack on him.

In an instant, as the fierce-breasted priestess raised her hands, energy balls shining with dark purple light condensed into shapes, poured out, and smashed towards Brian.

Facing the irrational enemy, Brian waved his hand calmly, and easily blocked these attacks.

Then, he stretched out his hand and pointed, and several lightning spears condensed by the energy of the force field roared through the air, smashing the temporary shield propped up by the priestess with force, causing the priestess with a strong chest to fall on her back. Blood spilled on the spot.

After finishing off the enemies in front of him, Brian walked towards the depths of the manor after cleaning up the corpses.

This time, without encountering any obstacles, he found the bedroom where Helen once lived.

However, to his surprise, this bedroom was cleaned up very cleanly, and it seemed that it should be the room where the priestess who had just been killed by him lived here after occupying Shadow Valley.

He didn't walk into the room immediately, but carefully observed everything around him with the help of the faint moonlight cast into the house from the large window on the left.

Because his opened psychic field had already told him that there were many traps in this bedroom.

The wall behind the bed was decorated with bronze-plated frescoes depicting the birth and death of muscular warriors, and the plated metal echoed with a rhythmic thud, resembling a human heartbeat.

In the bathtub a few steps away, the fragrant bath water is stirring rapidly, among the breathtaking and elegant murals, there are also magically blessed weapons and blades, and none of them are just for showing off wealth. specially arranged.

The moonlight outside the window was bleak and frivolous, just seeping in through the light purple curtains. Although the windows were closed tightly and there was no wind, the curtains still floated slightly.

Obviously, like other furnishings in this spacious and luxurious bedroom, even the curtains have been cast with several protective spells, and it is the magical energy flowing on them that makes them swing lightly.

Even if an intruder manages to break the glass, the curtain will turn into a myriad of tentacles, wrapping the hapless creature in a dumpling.

Faced with this situation, Brian could only carefully remove all the traps one by one.

In the flash of spells in the room, nearly half an hour passed, and he finally dispelled the magic trap and magic alarm set by the priestess.

Next, what he needs to do is to find the staff of the archmage stored here by Shiron.

Brian was about to turn the entire bedroom upside down by detecting magic, looking for the space node hidden there, when the giant hand manifested by the mage god Azus appeared in front of him for the third time.

"You have been approved by the Witch of Shadow Valley, young arcane seeker."

Azuth's old voice came to Brian's mind, revealing a trace of exhaustion, and it sounded better than before, "Naturally, he is eligible to obtain the items left by her during her lifetime."

(End of this chapter)