Arcane Journey

Chapter 389 The Trail of the Prophet of the Earth

At dusk, Balderick led Brian along the cobblestone path, passed through an apple grove, and came to a slope leading to Candlekeep.

It was only after a close observation that the slope was much steeper than it appeared from a distance. In order to facilitate climbing, the scholars built a simple wooden staircase and shuttled back and forth between the buildings along the hillside.

Brian, who has long been accustomed to walking on foot, has lifted the curse secretly cast on him by the lost lady Shar, but he has not forgotten the rules here. Like an ordinary person, he followed behind Badrick, silently Climb along the slope.

On the way up the mountain, they met a dozen scholars of Candlekeep,
Wearing dark brown scholarly robes with their hoods pulled up, the men watched curiously as they passed, but all remained silent and did not salute.

One of them led two cows to a low thatched barn, another was churning butter, and on the higher side of the hill, there were three boys driving sheep, and further up was a cemetery.

At last they climbed the ancient basalt cliffs as the last rays of the setting sun faded over the Sword Coast.

What appeared in Brian's sight was a fortress-like castle. In the windows of more than a dozen towers, candles flickered, creating a starry night sky in the dark.

With his keen intuition for magic, Brian clearly felt that these dozens of towers were complete mage towers, guarding the largest library with strict guards.

Just as he swept his eyes over these mage towers, he also noticed that the detection magic of the prophecy system fell on him, and immediately took it back.

Around Candlekeep, there is a large circle of low stone walls without mud, surrounding a large cluster of buildings, with windmills creaking blades, rooms where scholars sleep, halls where they eat, and A wooden shrine for prayer and meditation.

The windows of the temple are paneled with glass, and the wide door is carved with statues of Oghma, the god of knowledge, and his followers.

Led by Balderick, they did not directly enter the library of Candlekeep, but instead walked along a passage on a heptagonal spire to the back of the temple.

Here is a vegetable garden, even though night is about to fall, some older scholars are still bending over to pull out weeds in the vegetable field.

Balderick led him around an oak tree to a wooden door carved into the mountainside.

"A door with a cave?" Brian said with interest.

Everything here seemed to bring him back to the life of an ordinary person, and it was precisely for this reason that his heart became extraordinarily peaceful and stable, and he even had the idea of ​​living in seclusion here forever.

This made Brian unconsciously think of a word that can express all the things and things here: back to the basics, the avenue to simplicity.

Perhaps this is the highest level of a strong man.

Facing Brian's question, Balderick showed a gentle smile on his old face:
"This is called the cave of sages. The first sage who found this place lived in it. He once created many miracles and attracted many scholars to join. It was more than 2000 years ago, and the gate is It was added later."

Hearing this, Brian probably already guessed the true identity of this so-called 'sage'.

2000 years ago, the Sage Cave might have been dark and damp, filled with mud and echoing with the sound of dripping water, but it has long since changed.

The cave that Brian entered became a warm and cozy back room.

The floor is covered with a wool blanket with a huge nine-pointed star, the walls are covered with brocade, and the long candles emit ample light. The furniture is strange and simple, including a long table, a high-backed bench, and a box.

The bookshelves between the windows are full of weird books, while the tables are full of specimen bottles, alchemy tools, and other sundries.

A young tiefling wearing a dark red wizard's robe stood by the window, looking at the raging waves hitting the cornerstone of Candlekeep in the distance, lost in thought.

In the corner of the table, also stood a slender green-skinned imp with warty green skin, crazy eyes, and thin black horns. , and a whip-like tail.

This is the Kwasai familiar from the bottomless abyss, and Brian recognized the identity of the demon.

"The joy of seeing you is beyond words." Noticing their arrival, tiefling turned around slowly and said, "What have you brought me?"

She has a graceful and slender figure, long light purple hair hanging down to her waist, and a pair of curved goat horns protruding from the hair.

She swung the slender tail behind her slightly. On her delicate red face, a pair of pure black eyes without pupils stayed on Badrick and Bryan for a moment, and welcomed them with a smile:
"Every time my friend Badrick and the cat visit, it is always a happy day. I am Sylvie LS Vikas, and I welcome new visitors. After all, I have seen too few new faces recently."

When she smiled, she showed two small pointed canine teeth, adding a bit of playfulness to tiefling's rigorous face.

"I'm Brian, from Cormyr, Ms. Savikas." Brian introduced himself briefly.

After some politeness, the three of them sat down on the high-backed bench one after another.

Baldraic's leopard was lying on the soft wool blanket, showing its soft belly, stretching out its paws to play with the quassemo.

This tiefling sage named Sylvie LS Vikas was obviously very enthusiastic about the Tao of the two, but when Badrick mentioned the purpose of Brian's coming here, she put away her smile and only said He said, "I see."

Then, Ms. Tiefling changed the topic, "You must be thirsty, please have a taste of our sweet cider to moisten your throat after the journey."

She poured them wine herself, and said:
"Candlekeep is the largest library in the continent of Faerun. What the scholars here yearn for most is to be silent in the silent books, so that they can feel as if they are silent in the torrent of time. Because all the knowledge in the world is Hidden within books, yet there has never been anything, or any reason, for scholars to take it for granted to bother the authors of these books."

"Your Excellency Brian." Tiefling sat back on the chair, with black eyes without pupils, looked at Brian with a 'godless' look, and asked meaningfully, "What do you think?"

"It should be so." Brian thought for a while, and expressed his thoughts.

Tiefling's inquiry made him realize that the purpose of Balderick's asking him to come to Candlekeep on foot was not only to lift the curse cast on him by the Lost Lady, but also to make him respect the author of the book. Heart, to read their writings.

"You are very sensible and wise." Tiefling smiled and said to him, "I am very glad that you were able to overcome the curse of the Lost Lady and gave us a chance to meet."

"For this matter, I should thank Master Badrick for his guidance." Brian said, "It was his leadership that allowed me to get out of the dark predicament."

"No." Tiefling shook his head slightly. "Master Balderick is only responsible for leading the way. It is your rational heart that correctly judges the "Black Forbidden Book" that overcomes the curse."

After finishing speaking, she put down the cup in her hand and stood up, "The bell for dinner is about to ring, friends, before going to the library in Candlekeep, would you like to share bread, meat and mead with me?"

"It's my pleasure." Balderick nodded, and his leopard let out a cry of agreement.

Brian naturally had no opinion.

Although this was his first visit to Candlekeep, he had heard about the rules of Candlekeep.

If you want to check the knowledge in the library, in addition to handing over a book, you also have to have dinner with the wise men here and face their various difficult questions.

As night fell, the tiefling led them into a dining room, lit by candles.

Dinner at Candlekeep was the strangest combination Brian had ever seen, but it wasn't unpleasant.

The food was simple but delicious, freshly baked bread crisp and warm, freshly churned butter in a jar with honey from the Candleburg Bee Estate, and a thick stew of crabmeat, mussels, and at least three different kinds of fish.

I have to say that this is the most delicious dinner Brian has had so far, and even the mead that he brewed is extra sweet.

And before the food was served, just like Candlekeep's rules, Tiefling Silvira did ask him many tricky questions.

Such as: what is the most creative way to destroy a clock, will a poisonous snake kill a poisonous snake with its poisonous snake poison...

Fortunately for Brian, he still has a helper who has lived for thousands of years, the Golden Dragon Paralandusk, otherwise he would really be a bit overwhelmed by tiefling's weird questions.

After dinner, the tiefling scholar offered to escort him to the library at Candlekeep.

In this regard, Brian did not have any opinion.

After bidding farewell to the monk Badrek, under the leadership of Silvira, he came to the high tower on the east side of Candlekeep, facing the choppy Sword Coast, which was colder and more desolate than the leeward side.

The slopes are steep and the paths wind through weeds, brambles and weathered rocks, with twisted and thorny trees clinging tenaciously to the slopes.

Silvira also lit a lamp like an ordinary person to illuminate the uphill road.

Standing at the corner of the mountain, she pointed forward and said, "Your Excellency Brian, on a clear night, you can see the lights of Baldur's Gate from here."

"Indeed." Brian nodded slightly against the bitter sea breeze, "After night falls, the prosperity of this port city can be seen from the bright lights."

"That's right." Tiefling let the strong wind blow her loose lavender hair, sighed silently, and said slowly, "But the Baldur's Gate I have seen is the closest to hell in my impression." The place……"

Brian naturally knew what the other party was referring to. It was nothing more than the long-dead God of Slaughter, Baal, reborn at Baldur's Gate amidst chaos and bloodshed.

Then it is conceivable that a series of tragedies were staged in the city by itself, leading to the death of many dukes and a large number of residents in the city.

"Let's go." Before he could speak, Silvira motioned for him to set off.

She turned a corner, and a crude tower appeared in front of her.

When tiefling brought Brian to the library full of books, after she explained the precautions, she didn't say goodbye immediately, but hesitated for a while.

"Lord Brian."

She solemnly reminded: "The battle between the gods is by no means a game that we mortals can easily participate in. I hope we will have a chance to meet again next time."

"There will be." Brian sat on the chair and replied calmly, "Ms. Silvera."

"I hope." After she finished speaking, she turned and left quietly.

Brian didn't waste any more time, looking at the pile of books and scrolls in front of him, he didn't aimlessly search for what he needed, but immediately contacted the golden dragon Paralandasque in the Austrian Fire.

With the reverberation of Jinlong's high-spirited incantations in his mind, gradually, all the books in the entire library were enveloped by an invisible energy like a wave of water.

This is the detection type prophecy cast by Jinlong, which can accurately help him find the books he wants.

"Six o'clock, the third row from the top, No. 12 grids."

"Twelve o'clock, the last row, the second grid."

"At eight o'clock, row No. 15, No. 30 three grids."

…………

After Brian took all the books pointed out by Jin Long, he couldn't wait to check them out.

He learned from a book written by a lich servant who called himself Laroch:

"The famous Earth Prophet Acindor, although his residence has never been found, but many archmages believe that the Earth Prophet is the owner of the lost city of Orem."

According to the last message of another West Gate City adventurer named Sweet:
"Between sand-choked streets and shattered towers, my way of life has disappeared, and death follows my frantic steps, a lich's skull burning with pale flames..."

Then, Brian found an important message in Elminster's mage's notes, which recorded:
"Many of the descendants who survived the destruction of Netheril stored the knowledge they gathered in a library called Lokhmar in far away Halrua, and the history of Netheril was all Included in an annals called "Netheril: The Fall of the Magical Empire", sealed in the Temple of Mystra on Mount Talas."

"Although this book looks very helpful." Jin Long's voice sounded in Brian's mind, "but it doesn't mean that it must contain the detailed knowledge of Acindor."

"At least it's a clue." Brian said with a little headache, "After all, this is the only information we found in Candlekeep that is close to the trace of the Prophet of the Earth."

"That's not necessarily true." Jin Long retorted:

"Boy, go to the direction of five o'clock, No. 30, row [-], and look in the grid at the bottom. There are records about the Chuert Forest and the Temple of Seth in it, and you may find something unexpected."

The Jungle of Chult and the Temple of Seth?

Brian was startled for a moment, and then suddenly revealed a look of surprise, muttering to himself:

"Yes, why didn't I think of it? I have been paying attention to the news of the Prophet of the Earth, but I have ignored the history of the three creator races. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to find the source of these ancient empires?"

So, he immediately took out the book that Jinlong pointed out.

This is a travel diary. It looks like it has been dusty for a long time, and it is covered with dust. It should be a gift from an adventurer in order to meet the conditions for entering Candlekeep.

Brian couldn't wait to open it and check:

On our way south through the Black Forest, we discovered an ancient ruin on the northern shore of the Lapa Sea.

Although the rock building has been almost submerged by the surrounding vegetation, there are enough remnants left to prove to us that it was once a temple belonging to a certain race.

After hacking a way through the snake-like web of tangled vines, we found a stone slope leading down to the lower level of the temple, and then down a twisting tunnel that descended deep underground.

The limestone walls that line the passage are rich in bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the heyday of the ancient Serpentine Empire, as our language calls a long-decayed Snakeman Empire.

While dripping water has erased most of the details over the centuries, the few surviving carvings provide insight into their subject matter.

The relief depicts the court of Serpentine during a period of dormancy during the Year of Dreams.

Most dormant snake creatures.Both were haunted and tormented by horrific visions in which thousands of tiny venomous snakes tore them apart and swallowed them alive in their sleep.

Only Seth, the emperor of the empire, seemed to be invulnerable. The nightmare that originated from him seemed to pounce on his body suddenly, intertwined into a majestic, erratic robe of darkness.

And as we descended, we witnessed these carvings depicting how the nightmares returned to their source, which had previously flowed out of a huge pit shaped like a serpent's mouth, and it all fell into Seth's body. In the vigilant and guarded gaze.

In the ensuing mural, Seth flies into the high air of the jungle near Flaming Peak to the west, followed by a cloak of innumerable nightmares.

At the foot of a huge volcano, he passed through a portal to Smalagad, the 74th layer of the Abyss, ruled by Morshok.

In the final frames, Seth's Nightmare Robe disintegrates into a swarm of shadow snakes that devour Morshok's sleeping body.

The long, winding tunnel ended abruptly in a huge cavern, with the cracked Serpent's Mouth rising from its base.

We had barely stepped here when swarms of flying nightmares swarmed out of the abyss and surrounded us.

With the screams of my companions echoing in my ears, I fled from Danda's mouth in a panic, and the terrifying and frightening vision destroyed my consciousness.

For three full days, I begged the goddess of the moon to drive the nightmare from my mind, but the goddess refused my prayers.

Finally, in desperation, I turned to begging the Lost Lady to end my ordeal.

Now, with the blessed embrace of night covering my form, the hideous phantasm ceases, and I can at last find some peace.

——ELB
…………

(End of this chapter)