Arcane Journey

Chapter 344 Lich Lair
While the Zhentarim occupying forces may appear to be Shadowdale's greatest threat on the surface, there are many insidious foes lurking in the darkness of the Vale.

Under the Twisted Tower, the drow allied with the Zhentarim conquerors are planning to wipe out all of Cormanthor's elf expedition.

On the wild and overgrown surface of Shadow Valley, for the glory of the Lost Lady, the ancient witch Arokar and the high priestess Elsweer are secretly weakening and destroying the magic weave itself.

At this moment, as the Shadow Valley was subdued, the Black Legion of Hope led by Seluer was repelled by the Elven Expeditionary Army and the Valley Armed Forces, and the Zhentarim Society here has basically been wiped out.

Those rats hiding in the dark will soon be found out by the scouts of the Harper Alliance.

Brian knew that under such circumstances, if he wanted to usher in permanent peace in the Valley of Shadows and repair the scars of the magic net, the only thing left to deal with was the forces of the drow and the Church of Shar.

Therefore, in order to prevent the expansion of the scars of the magic net as soon as possible, and to prevent the possibility of the ghost princes making a comeback, they must divide their troops into two groups, and completely wipe out the remaining forces as quickly as possible.

So, while Azara, Severil and others rushed to the Twisted Tower and went deep into the underground world to deal with the drow, Brian and the ghost prince Brenas also set off for the Lich's Lair.

Regarding the information about the witch Arokar, Brian is still a little clearer.

As a fish that slipped through the net that survived the Netheril period, before the magic net collapsed, her daughters staged a coup and seized control of the floating city.

Arocar, who was lucky enough to survive, used the dark ritual to preserve his own existence and transform into a lich when the cold claws of the god of death approached.

After attaining immortality, Arokar quickly lost her sense of time, and like many liches, she became obsessed with gathering magical knowledge and power, in her view, for someday Restoration.

Who would have thought that the Netheril Empire had perished before Arokar had found a chance for revenge, and even the floating city that he wanted to take back had crashed.

And so she became indifferent to living creatures, hungry for lore and chilling secrets lost to time.

Time flies and things change.

Ten years ago, followers of the Lost Lady sought out the lich and allied her with knowledge of the Shadow Fiend.

Priestess Elsweer Graycastle even introduced her to the great prince Revaran Tanshul of Shade City, and provided Arokar with the knowledge and mysteries kept in Shade City.

In exchange, Arokar allowed Elsweer to build a shrine to the Lost Lady in her ancient lair, and promised any aid in the vengeance of the followers of Shar against Mystra, the goddess of magic, and her chosen ones.

At the same time, Arokar, as a long-time friend of the drow elf Marimoda family, opened a long-sealed road to the deep underground for the followers of Shar.

This allows the followers of Shar to freely move in and out of the sight of the residents of Shadow Valley.

It was she who covered the preparations for the attack on Elminster and provided magical support for the Shar priests' ritual of breaking the magic net. Therefore, Arokar played a very important role in the fall of Shadowdale. Role.

After the occupation began, Arokar continued to guard the Weave Breaking Ritual.

Liches are deeply fascinated by the shadows and their magic, especially as they share the secrets of the Shadow Demon's Web with reverence for the Lost Lady.

Although Arocar used to spend a lot of time in private with the Shadow Demon Web instructors in the City of Shades, secretly communicating and sharing their scrolls and knowledge.

But from her personal standpoint, the Shadow Prince Rivaran is eager to provide Elsweil and Arokar with any possible assistance to complete the unweaving ceremony quickly.

And Arokar hopes to confirm whether such a ceremony can be replicated in a wider area, erasing the magic net in a larger area, so that the dominion of the ghosts on the earth can be established, and it can be obtained among Shar's believers. authority.

It is also worth mentioning that, as the descendants of Netheril, the relationship between the ghost princes and Arokar is not as harmonious as imagined. They look down on each other, and even think that the other is just a follower to achieve their own goals That's all.

The Lich Arokar's lair is located in a vegetated crevice roughly halfway between the Old Skull Mountain and the ruins of Grim City.

The Ridge was a short, badly weathered hill of limestone, dotted with caverns, cellars, and deep trenches, the largest of which led to Arocar's dwelling.

Brian and the Prince of Shadows climbed a not-so-long distance among the dense vegetation along the path in the forest, and finally found a deep path hidden by the messy bushes and damp soil. trench.

In the depths of the trench, they saw a heavy stone door with two sides, each with a rusty iron knocker and a huge rusty lock hanging on it.

Brian could see that although the huge door lock had been tormented by wind, frost and dew, it still hadn't lost its original magical effect.

On the door, a special symbol can also be recognized under the cover of rust: three spirals spun and spread out, and on their right, another cave full of mud and rocks, meandering Winding to the depths of the mountainside.

"I've been here once, but because of other reasons, I didn't go too deep." Brenner, the Prince of Shadows, looked at the rusty magic lock in the Lich's lair, and said, "This is the only way I know to lead to the underground. The entrance to the depths of the mausoleum."

He thought for a moment, then reached out and pointed at the lock.

A soft magical halo enveloped the door lock, accompanied by a slight sound similar to the release of a buckle, the lock automatically fell off, and slowly fell to the ground without making a sound.

Immediately afterwards, the enchantment covering the gate disappeared, and through the gap in the gate, one could vaguely see the dark orange flames dancing inside.

"Be careful." Brenners reminded: "If my expectations are correct, the one guarding the door should be a ghost. Once it finds out, it is likely to set off the alarm system of the entire lair."

Brian nodded slightly, locked the position inside the crack of the door, added advanced invisibility to himself, and then appeared inside the door through the teleportation spell.

He has broken into many underground palaces and lairs of liches. Just like the wizard towers of spellcasters, the lairs of liches are also full of dangers. In the face of the enemies that are about to be encountered, the lair owners usually put the enemies into the lair on purpose , and then use the trap inside to hide in the dark to deal with them.

Seeing that the Prince of Shadow followed suit, Brian carefully looked at the surrounding environment.

The lich's lair was, as Brenners had said, an underground mausoleum, dimly lit by two dim torches in a large room surrounded by crude sarcophagi in niches on the walls.

Two pillars supported a ceiling as high as 15 meters. On the south wall, a sarcophagus in a niche had been removed, and a deep, dark passageway about half a person's height had been blocked by the sarcophagus lying across.

On the east side of the room is a large stone door with two doors. On the northeast corner, there seems to be a shadow lurking beside the pillar.

"All along, Arokar has maintained a good guard at the front door of her lair, and has done this work by attracting various monsters through food and treasure."

Brenners apparently also noticed the lurking shadow, and said to Bryan through telepathic voice transmission, "Obviously, she didn't replace the guard with a new one."

After speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed, and the monster hiding in the shadow suddenly realized the danger, and was about to turn around and flee, but it was too late, and was fixed in place by Brenners' monster hold technique.

Brian saw a monster that resembled a ghoul but was stronger and smarter than a ghoul, appearing motionless in his sight.

This is not a ghoul, but an advanced form of a ghoul: a ghost.

Ghosts are more powerful and ferocious than ghouls. If ghouls are still lacking in IQ, then their advanced form at least possesses the cunning of adult humans.

Highly intelligent goblins sometimes devote themselves to evil gods or follow the demon lord Ortis in order to gain the spellcasting abilities of clerics.

And the ghost in front of him is obviously the Lost Lady Shar.

Bryan didn't waste any time. During the short time when Brenas was immobilizing the ghost, he immediately took the opportunity to release the dissociation technique to make it disappear without a trace.

After getting rid of the ghost guards, the two passed through an arched passage about 50 meters long behind the stone gate and came to a double-leaf gate.

There are long oil paintings on the walls on both sides of the passage, depicting creatures such as griffins and chimeras, but the murals look very old, and many places have fallen off.

Seeing Breners on the side, who was seriously looking at these murals, and performing divine prophecy from time to time, making these ancient murals flash with a faint milky white aura, Brian did not urge, but waited patiently.

As an archivist, there is no spellcaster better at exploring ancient ruins, or ancient tombs.

Because the knowledge mastered by archivists can allow them to easily understand its long past and the reasons for its formation based on the layout of the tomb and the traces left behind.

"This mausoleum once belonged to a valley lord." After a while, Brenners looked away from the wall and said to Brian, "Maybe we can find this former lord and learn from him how to enter the mausoleum safely." way of the depths."

"So, the owner of the mausoleum has been transformed into an undead creature." Brian didn't ask how the other party knew this information, but asked another question.

"Yes." Breners looked up at the ceiling, and looked around thoughtfully, "I can feel the aura of the owner of the tomb, which is still active here."

"Then lead the way." Brian approved his suggestion.

Led by Brenas, they pushed open the double-leaf door, escaped two teams of patrolling ghouls, a team of bound spirits, and a team of burning skulls, and came to a relatively spacious hall without any danger. inside.

The walls of this hall are all covered with off-white stucco, and over time, it has decayed into an almost black color.

The ceiling of the room was so high that the first glance saw only dark shadows.

Brian, who was in an invisible state, was keenly aware that above his head, there were two gargoyles composed of pure flesh and unknown stone carvings, lurking in the winding space above, monitoring the entire hall .

They hide very well in the dark. One of the gargoyles is holding a crossbow that glows with cold light, and the energy of the fire element is surging in the body of the other gargoyle. It should be a magic-like ability of the fire system. .

The two ignored the gargoyles, but with the help of magic, they walked silently to a dark corridor in the southeast direction of the hall.

After arriving at the destination, Breners stood there thinking for a moment, then resolutely chose the second room on his left, and pushed the door open.

Seeing this, Brian followed closely.

In the decaying room, all kinds of rusty ancient weapons were hung on the wall, displayed one by one. On both sides of the south and east doors, there was a whole set of human-shaped armor placed on wooden bases.

"This should be the loot captured by the former Lord of the Valley." Brenners said his guess, "I can feel that this is the place where the Lord of the Valley has the strongest aura, but why can't I find the undead creature he transformed into? .”

"It should have been transformed into a terrifying armor." Brian saw the clue, and his eyes locked on a set of human-shaped armor.

Although this set of armor has lost its luster, it is still full of deterrence. It stands upright like a guard, holding the cold long sword tightly in the armor glove.

Brian's expression changed, he waved his hand lightly, and cast the undead detection spell.

Accompanied by a flash of magical aura, a strange purple light was revealed from the gap in the armor.

Before the transformed undead creature had time to escape, it was fixed in place by the divine spell released by Brenas who reacted.

"Don't do it." Breners stopped Brian's plan to kill him, and said, "Let me try."

Brenas immediately took out a prayer book that he used to record the magic spell, quickly murmured the obscure magic spell, and pointed to the fear armor that was about to escape from the immobilization spell.

A ray of divine magic radiance flashed across the body of the fear armor.

Immediately afterwards, the undead creature immediately launched a fierce confrontation, and the purple light suddenly surged from its body, continuously suppressing the milky white light spreading all over its body.

Brian looked at the white light that was about to be suppressed, and the strenuous performance of Breners beside him. He did not hesitate to use psychic powers to suppress the resistance of the fear armor by frightening the soul.

This effect is obviously very good.

Gradually, with the suppression of the mind shock, the weird purple radiance inside the terrifying armor was gradually replaced by a soft white light, until a translucent human soul slowly rose from the gap in the armor and collapsed on the spot.

The ancient armor was immediately scattered on the ground, making a faint clanging sound.

"I didn't expect his will to be so strong. Fortunately, your psychic power is suppressing him, otherwise I really don't know how to end it." The ghost prince secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and explained to Brian with a smile:
"This is a soul purification technique, which can free those creatures that have been forcibly transformed into undead, and I can take this opportunity to ask them for some relevant information."

After finishing speaking, he told Brian about the news of the mausoleum in detail.

The Lord of Shadowvale, transformed into dreadful armor, was once a would-be king of the Vale in his mortal days.

In 1256 DR, he led his people against the other city-states of the valley.

As he attempted to plunder the vast riches that might be hidden in the ruins of Myth Drannor, he came into conflict with a reclusive Benor Lich who lived there.

The lich used magic to turn him into a purple worm, and imprisoned him deep underground to help him dig tunnels.

He was trapped there for so many years that his loyal subordinates, mistaking him for dead, built this catacomb for him in Shadowvale.

In fact, the hapless Lord of the Vale was discovered by a night-dark phantom hired by the Lady of the Lost, who brought him to the Plane of Shadow.

When the Lost Lady decided to start her plan for Shadow Valley, she not only liberated the valley lord from his previous unfortunate form, but also promoted him to a fear armor and sent it to Elsweil to assist her in tearing the magic net. Task.

Who would have thought that, as the commander of the patrol team in the Lich's lair, Brian and the other two would sneak into his room quietly and successfully purify it.

At the same time, Brenas was still in the memory of the fear armor, and got the information they needed most right now, which was about the layout of the entire lair.

Arokar's lair is mainly divided into three parts.

The first part is the Catacombs, secret chambers connected by long passages that extend from great cracks in the vegetation-covered surface of Old Skull Hill to the great trench known as the Dark Abyss.

This trench is an obstacle that can make people retreat. Countless adventurers, even when they saw it, were frightened and decided to turn back.

On the broken rock at the bottom of the trench is the second part of the lair, the shrine of the Lost Lady: Temple of the Lady of the Night.

This is the place where the magic net unweaving ceremony was held.

The third part of the lair is the lich's abode.

Here traps, illusions and secret passages interweave an intricate network of roads, and Arokar lives in a secret room in the lair.

Brian and Braines are now in the catacombs in the first part of the lair.

They had to follow the Great Trench and pass through the Lich's Lair in the third part before they could reach the Temple of the Lost Lady and destroy the magic net's unweaving ceremony.

(End of this chapter)