Arcane Journey

Chapter 395
Leaving the Underdark, Brian returned to the corridor full of murals.

The corridor is deep and quiet, and the murals are vivid, as if they can come alive at any time.

"Sure enough, this witch's spire is indeed a relic left by the Mershok Empire." The idea of ​​the golden dragon Paralandax sounded in Brian's mind.

"Why didn't you disappear this time?" Brian asked curiously.

"It may be that after this trial, you have been recognized by this high tower." After Jin Long finished speaking, he reminded, "Although you have passed the trial that is difficult in hell, you still have to be careful, after all, we stepped into it before. When I was in the tower, I felt a trace of power from the gods, and it was this terrifying power that suppressed my thoughts, making it impossible to communicate with you."

Bryan nodded slightly. In order to prevent his mind from being affected by the murals, he added a "spiritual energy barrier" to himself again, and then walked cautiously towards the depths of this endless corridor.

To his surprise, the idea of ​​promulgating the trial task to himself did not appear immediately.

In this case, he could only continue walking until he was about to lose his patience walking along this deep and silent corridor, and finally saw the end.

This is a spacious hall, the soft magic radiance is full of holy colors, illuminating this place like daytime.

Ancient statues of scaly creatures stood silently on both sides. They either held spears or shields with swords in their hands, just like the watchman golems in the cemetery.

Brian stood in the very center of the hall, staring at the lifelike reliefs on the wall, his shock was beyond words.

"It turned out to be a feathered snake!" The golden dragon Paralandax, like Brian, recognized the creature depicted in the relief at a glance, and couldn't help murmuring in his mind.

Looking at the watchman in the hall and the feathered snake on the relief, Brian couldn't help recalling the information about this group of winged snakes.

When he was looking for the traces of the 'Prophet of the Earth' Asindor in Candlekeep, he deliberately read all the materials about the Sarukh witch-boa in the library, and knew that the Feathered Serpent was actually a kind-hearted camp after the demise of the Wu-ya empire. from the transformation of the shaman.

Feathered snakes, or good-natured witches, arrived in Chult Forest, despairing of their evil brethren, and then split off to form new groups, and at the same time begged for help from a clone of the cosmic serpent.

This is Jesslanda, the good snake of the two snakes of order.

It was the Creator Serpent who transformed this shaman into a Feathered Serpent, and then a war that ravaged the multiverse broke out. The Feathered Serpent was defeated by its evil compatriots and was forced to flee back to the unknown in the westernmost part of the main material world. On the mainland, only a very small number of feathered snakes live in other worlds on the material plane.

This was followed by the first prosperous era about 24000 years ago.

During this age, the great elven civilization reached its zenith in Faerûn.

With the victories of the elves against the orcs, dragons and giants, other races are also gradually prospering in a safe environment and entering their own civilization era.

Knowing that they could not defeat the elves, the remaining dragons gathered an army and launched a continuous attack on the Sarukh witches in the Chult Forest, that is, many important cities of the Mershak Empire. attack.

At this time, the Saruk Empire had already existed in name only, mainly ruled by the Snake People, and finally collapsed under the fierce attack of the giant dragon.

Seeing the destruction of the Snakeman Empire in the Chuerte Forest, Uota, the father of the dinosaurs, immediately took this opportunity to contact the Feathered Serpents hiding in the material plane. Inspired by the father of the dinosaurs, the Feathered Serpents formed a new army Return to Chult Forest.

In the centuries that followed, the Feathered Serpents and Serpent People fought each other for control of the Chultan Peninsula.

The snake people retreated steadily, and many strongholds in the west fell into the hands of the Feathered Serpent. Finally, the two sides took the Hazur Mountains as the boundary, and the war ended in a stalemate.

"This...couldn't it be...isn't this the minaret of the shaman, but the spire of the Feathered Serpent?" Jin Long's eyes widened, and he said in disbelief.

"I also think it's the spire of the Feathered Serpent." Brian said calmly.

After all, Feathered Serpent is a good camp, and exploring their ruins is much safer than exploring the ruins of Wu Bo. He naturally hopes that this is the tower of Feathered Serpent.

It's just that he's still not sure if this idea is right or not.

"I'm sure." Parandusk said in a firm tone:

"There are definitely many unknown ancient secrets in this steeple, such as the whereabouts of the two snakes of order, what kind of gods they turned into, and whether the giant snake of the universe is the true face of the two snakes of order."

"I hope this is all as you imagined." Brian said worriedly.

Just as he was thinking about this question, the indifferent voice that had disappeared for a long time passed through his psychic barrier and suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Trialist." It said indifferently:
"Congratulations on completing this trial. As a reward for passing the most difficult challenge, you will get a chance to enter the steeple's treasure house. As for what treasures you can get inside, it depends on your own identification ability."

"It finally appeared. I thought it was playing tricks and refusing to admit it." Paralandusk obviously heard the voice transmission in Brian's mind, and he said excitedly:

"Ability to appreciate treasures? In this world, I am afraid there is no mortal whose ability to appreciate treasures can match that of our giant dragon clan. Thinking about the treasure house of the ancient shaman spiers is exciting."

Brian came back to his senses and glanced left and right, trying to find the entrance to the treasure house.

Just when he was wondering how to get to the treasure house, he was shocked to find that in the hall under his feet, circles of complex rune lines were quietly lit up.

The lines flowed with the unpredictable light, and finally intertwined into a complete teleportation circle.

"Go, tester, this magic circle will last for an hour, remember, you only have one hour..."

As the scene in front of him gradually became blurred, Brian vaguely heard the familiar voice of indifference.

In the blink of an eye, he was teleported elsewhere.

What appeared in front of him looked like a promenade of an underground city. The interior architectural style was strange. Whether it was the tall and straight circular footing or the surrounding walls, they were deliberately carved with scale-like fine lines, which looked very rough at first glance. But upon careful observation, it seems to be natural, like the scale pattern on the surface of some kind of scaly creature.

It was recorded in Candlekeep's book about Sarukh witches that they seem to dislike smooth things, and think that the smell of non-phosphorous creatures is very disgusting, and their smooth skin will make them nauseous.

Therefore, Sarukh witches conducted a large number of magical experiments, combining scaly creatures and humanoid creatures, and created various servant races such as lizardmen, snakemen, and winged snakes that suit their aesthetic tastes. .

At first, Brian thought this rumor was fabricated, but after seeing the dungeon, he found that the aesthetics of Sarukh witches had been successfully reflected in their architectural style.

He didn't waste any more time, and under the urging of the golden dragon Paralandax, he unconsciously quickened his pace and walked towards the location of the treasure house.

In the promenade of this dungeon, every half a meter or so, there are lifelike statues of scaly creatures. Most of the servants inside are kneeling and sitting in a respectful manner. A warrior with a variety of sharp blades and spears.

Seeing this, Brian gradually realized that the witch spiers might not have been left by the Feathered Serpents.

With doubts about the dungeon, he walked down this long corridor, and finally came to a gate that shone with a dark golden luster and was guarded by two scales covered in scales and holding battle axes. forward.

As soon as Brian arrived here, he suddenly noticed an icy chill that seemed to emanate from the body of a cold-blooded reptile, rushing towards him, and couldn't help shivering.

For a moment, he seemed to see these two statues seemed to come alive, watching him coldly, as if he would immediately let his blood spill on the spot if he moved slightly.

"These are two constructed golems whose strength is at least around the level of a high-level legend." Golden Dragon Paralandasque also felt the energy of this palpitation, smacking his tongue:
"The construction technology of the creator race is different. It looks like a living thing, with flesh and blood. I don't know if this knowledge is recorded in the Nether scroll."

Hearing Jinlong's complaints, Brian mustered up the courage to observe the scaled statue carefully.

Sure enough, it was discovered that the scales on the surface of the two scale descendants were like mysterious runes, intertwined with each other, forming a magic circle similar to an activated structure.

In other words, once the guard's magic circle is activated, they can immediately become flesh and blood dungeon guards.

At this moment, the empty eye sockets of the two guards suddenly flashed a strange red light, and then the door with a pale golden luster slowly opened automatically as the red light slowly dissipated.

Brian didn't hesitate any longer, and walked in quickly under the cold eyes of the two guards.

In the bright treasure room, shiny scale-shaped gold coins are piled up in the corner of the treasure house like a mountain, and there are many opened treasure chests scattered on it, as well as antiques and jewelry.

Brian was planning to put away all the treasures with a wave of his hand, but suddenly found that there were several decayed humanoid skeletons on the pile of gold coins, which aroused his vigilance instantly.

"Be careful, the treasure of the Sarukh witch is not so easy to get." Golden Dragon Paralandax also restrained his excitement, and calmly reminded:
"These dead are very likely to be the testers of the past. In other words, this treasure house is not completely safe. There may be a deadly trap hidden in a treasure chest or something similar to a vase."

"Then what should we do?" Brian said slightly depressed.

After finally reaching the stage of picking treasures, he couldn't collect them at will, not to mention how depressed he was at the moment.

However, seeing that Jinlong, who had no immunity to treasures, was able to calm down instantly and reminded himself of the danger here, he felt very relieved.

It can be seen from this that in the face of the temptation of treasure, he is not even as good as a dragon known for greed.

"Sarukh witches are ancient evil creatures. Even if you complete the challenge, their wealth is not so easy to get." Paralandax thought for a moment, then thoughtfully said: "If that's the case, Let's not be too greedy, if we only take one, it should be fine."

"It seems that's the only way." Brian nodded slightly, looking around.

Obviously, gold coins and jewels here are definitely the most mindless choices. After all, traps are everywhere, and the more you take, the more risks you take.

This may seem like the simplest probability problem.

Therefore, Brian didn't choose to walk around. Now that he had done so, he simply calmed down and thought about what he needed most.

Judging from his current worth, there is no shortage of equipment for the time being.

Although there are local tyrants who are full of legendary equipment, but a spellcaster whose strength has reached his level, as long as he is given time, and on the premise of sufficient precious materials, it is not difficult to upgrade all the purple equipment on his body to legendary quality .

Therefore, equipment was not his first choice.

In addition to the equipment, only the knowledge of spells left by the Sarukh witch was left.

"Help me find the knowledge they left behind." Brian expressed his thoughts to Jinlong through his thoughts.

"I thought of it with me." Paralandasque said with a smile:
"After all, the equipment here is all left by witches. Tens of thousands of years have passed. Even if their spiers have powerful protective barriers, as long as they are not artifacts, the materials, runes, and enchantments of the equipment themselves will gradually deteriorate over time. , legendary equipment is no exception."

"Besides, the rules of the world have long been changed with the many falls of the goddess Mystra. Even if intact equipment is found, there may be some changes. In this case, it is indeed the best way to find the knowledge left by the witch Good choice."

Brian nodded slightly, he didn't expect Jin Long to be so thoughtful.

Reluctantly, he looked away from the various equipment, and started to walk towards the storage rack where the books were placed.

However, when he was halfway there, Paralandax's mind suddenly became agitated and stopped him immediately.

"As expected, I knew that I could find the things left by Wu Hui here." He quickly said to Brian, "I found a very interesting book, which may be more suitable for you, or more suitable for us."

"What?" Brian asked.

"Go to the shelf on the left, the fifth book on the No.12 floor, have you seen it?" Jin Long pointed out the location of the books for him.

Brian followed his directions and found the books on the shelf.

He didn't take out the book immediately, but cast detection magic.

Sure enough, the book was cast with the 'Blade of Calamity' trap. Once activated by a reckless intruder, it would instantly release a terrifying nine-ring spell.

After carefully disabling the magic trap, he took out the book from inside.

This is a quaint box for holding books.

After repeated checks and confirmation, Brian opened the box.

Then, he saw that it was not the book he imagined, but a simple sheepskin scroll, which seemed to be some kind of blueprint.

(End of this chapter)