Chapter 79 Murloc Town
Slobudo Town is located on the shore of a huge cave lake.
The north and south boundaries of the town are separated from the outside world by high walls made of nets. Suspension bridges and platforms are randomly interspersed in the town, connecting the various floor building structures made of hollowed-out stalactite pillars to each other. Forming a public space where people can interact with each other.
In addition to trading with other races in the Underdark, the Kuo Tao fish people here also provide shipping and navigation services. It is not an exaggeration to call it the largest underground port in the nearby area.
Under the escort of the fishman high priest team, Brian and others arrived at the gate of the town.
Although their hands were all tied, and they were surrounded by heavily armed Kuo Tao supervisors, what bound their hands was a kind of soft fish gut. As long as he used a little force, he could break free easily.
In this case, if the other party dares to show any hostility, he can instantly pull out a pistol and kill him on the spot.
After all, the strength of the fishman high priest in front of me is only about level 10, and has not yet reached the paragon level.
He was still very confident in dealing with a fishman of this level when he was unprepared.
Of course, if everything goes as planned by both parties, he doesn't mind helping them win this war between faiths.
Brian looked at the surrounding environment. The north and south sides of the town were separated by stone walls. Heavy fishing nets with sharp bones were woven on the walls of these walls.
In front of the gate, which was only about two meters high, four Kuotao whippers holding pincer staffs bowed respectfully to the high priest and then gave way to the passage.
Seeing this scene, he realized that the high priest should not have lost control of the town of Slobudo yet.
Then he looked at Hesiah beside him, followed the steps of the high priest without any hesitation, and entered through a gate in the middle of the wall.
The huge cave is not as brightly lit as the drow city. Most of the dim light in the town comes from the glands of some glowing fungi, corals and cave fish.
It looks more like it is shrouded in a dark curtain, which makes people feel depressed unconsciously.
Brian was not surprised at all.
After all, the Kuo-Toa are afraid of excessively bright light. Anyone approaching them with excessively strong lighting will arouse hostility.
The fish people in the town are busy doing their own things, repairing fishing nets, repairing ships, or polishing harpoons, etc.
When they saw the high priest passing by with a group of people, they just raised their heads and took a look, and then they went about their own business.
Brian is quite familiar with the habits of the Kuo-Toa people.
In addition to words, they like to use a lot of gestures in daily communication.
They have difficulty in straightening their backs and like to make quick and sudden movements.
When talking to others, they will keep pacing and circling around them.
And what’s even more funny is that the Kuo-Toa priests usually don’t stand on the podium to give lectures to their apprentices. Instead, they walk around while speaking, and the apprentices follow behind them like a school of fish. Turn around.
Leaders of the Kuo Tao fish people like to establish a tall image in front of their subordinates. When there is no high platform for the leader to speak, the leader will directly stand on the body of his companion lying on the ground.
But when it comes to living, people with higher status tend to live on the lower floors of buildings where they think they are safe. This may also involve their water-loving habits.
In the town at this time, in addition to the busy Kuo Tao murloc civilians and patrolling soldiers, there were also many murlocs who looked like they had lost their souls, wandering around the town aimlessly.
"Don't pay attention, they are sleepwalking." Brian saw a Kuo-toa man walking slowly around Hesaya, which made her a little confused about what to do.
So he raised his foot and kicked him aside.
The sleepwalking murloc shuddered suddenly, woke up from his sleep, rolled over and got up from the ground, staring at Brian with a pair of big silver-black eyes and grinning teeth.
In the end, he was handed over by the high priest with a look, and he was so scared that he covered his butt and ran away in despair.
Kuo Toa people have no eyelids, so they cannot blink. This makes them look like they are awake when they are asleep. In addition, they often sleepwalk, which always causes confusion.
When they passed the dock, Brian found that there were six Kuo-Toa keel boats moored here, and five patrol teams patrolling back and forth around the lake.
Each team is composed of one Kuo Tao Promoter and three Kuo Tao Supervisors.
To his surprise, the bustling dock he imagined had become quiet. Except for the Kuo-Tao fishmen, no other underground race could be seen.
This made him realize that I am afraid that other races that came here were sacrificed by the believers of the Father of the Deep Sea.
He secretly remembered the location of this place. If an unpredictable accident occurred, he would not mind grabbing a keel boat and escaping from this place.
About half an hour later, led by the fishman high priest, they passed by the altar of Bribodup, the ‘Mother of the Sea’.
A nine-foot-tall statue stands here.
The statue roughly carves a humanoid female figure from the stalk of a Zeke wood mushroom.
Her head and front paws resemble giant albino crayfish.
The two parts were wrapped with gut and gave off a strong stench of rotting shell creatures.
The feet of the statue are piled with shells, colored stones, mushrooms and rotten fish, while a garland of flowers hangs around its neck.
Four devout kuo-toa slowly circled the statue to be on guard.
There were several other people circling around, looking up at the statue from time to time, and murmuring words while worshiping.
In fact, the Kuo Tao fish people originally had no gods.
The gods they worship are actually just their crazy creations. By chance, after gaining the power of enough believers, the gods of the Kuo Toa people can actually manifest themselves.
It is said that the image of the god Kuo Tao is inspired by the miracles that occurred because of it, so it often appears quite random and absurd.
The most revered of these self-created deities is the 'Mother of the Sea' Bribodup, a human woman with a shell draped over her shoulders and a crayfish head and claws.
The image of "Mother of the Sea" Bribodup is a product of the Kuo-Toa people using various carapace to repair human statues.
The exquisite image of the restored handicraft suddenly impressed all the Kuo-Toa people, and a god was born.
In other words, the gods of the Kuo Tao fish people were generated by themselves relying on the embodiment of their faith.
At this time, groups of Kuo Tao fishmen appeared from time to time near the altar, devoutly looking at the 'Mother of the Sea' Buribodup, offering their own sacrifices, or making sacrifices at the altar. Take an object nearby to pray for protection.
For the Kuo-Toa, taking away a sacrificial object from the altar is also a way for them to express their devotion to the goddess.
Because the ‘Mother of the Sea’ Bribodup is a scavenger goddess, whether you throw items away from her or take items from here, you can use them as tribute to her.
For the Kuo Tao fish people, personal belongings that are close to the eyes are more pleasing to the goddess.
Therefore, there will often be more sacrifices than items taken away. Over time, the altar now looks like a garbage recycling bin, filled with various underground garbage such as shells, bones, fungi, and rotten shrimps, soldiers, and crabs.
"Brian, did you notice anything was wrong."
When Brian was inspecting the altar of 'Mother of the Sea' Bribodup, Hesiah glanced at the fishman high priest in confusion, came to his side, and used magic to transmit the message:
"I Why do I feel that this fishman priest seems to have no respect for the gods they believe in? He didn't even look at it when he passed by the altar. "
"I have noticed it," Brian nodded slightly. She said, "It seems that the whole thing is not as simple as imagined. Be vigilant and don't fall into their trap."
He and Hesiah looked at each other, and immediately set their sights on guarding the altar. The kuo-toa warrior.
He noticed that these Kuo-Tao warriors were very wary of everyone who passed by, even the high priest of the fish.
One of the leading Kuo Tao fish-man whippers even kept his vigilant gaze on the fish-man high priest until he was blocked by the crowd and disappeared from sight, and then he took it back.
With doubts, Brian followed the fishman high priest to a small house not far from the altar.
The first thing that caught the eye was a cabinet filled with various treasures in the high priest's room.
It can be seen from the types of items that they should all be found from some unlucky travelers or from the depths of the dark lake.
Since the trading currency in the Underdark is mainly gemstones, the cabinets at this moment are full of dazzling jewelry.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Brian noticed a unique sapphire in the pile of gems.
Then, a hint of joy appeared on his expression.
He found that there was a black sapphire inside.
This is an extremely rare sapphire with a deep, rich black color with blue or white highlights.
Most of these jewels come from the dark places, especially the large cracks in the underground world or the deep underground rivers.
If you want to get the black sapphire in the surface world, you can only go to the deep realm of the gray dwarves to find it.
Although this gem is not favored by the nobles due to its deep color, the water element energy contained in it is an indispensable material for wizards to make powerful water-attribute magic equipment.
For Brian, its real role is one of the four gems used to guide the energy of the elemental plane when building the wizard tower elemental pool.
The reason why he chose to return to the surface from the gray dwarf's King Aldus City.
Taking advantage of the chaos to recruit a group of gray dwarves was only one of his stated purposes. Searching for the black sapphires was also part of his plan.
To his surprise, he accidentally discovered this gem here.
In this case, he has collected half of the four energy gems in the element pool.
Brian didn't know the value of the black sapphire in the hearts of the Kuo-Toa people. If he didn't know the goods, he might be able to get it easily.
If they knew the true value of the gem, it would be impossible for him to afford it with his current financial resources.
This forced him to start thinking in advance about a way to definitely get the gems.
If it didn't work, he would just grab it head-on.
Although there are nearly a thousand Kuo Tao murlocs in the entire town, and there are more than a hundred murloc priests of all sizes, it is a bit difficult to obtain them through hard robbery, but Brian Knowing that the whole town is about to fall into a major crisis.
When the time comes, he can run over during the chaos and take it away.
Just as Brian was thinking about how to take away the belongings of the owner of the room, a Kuo-Tao fish-man whipper who was as tall and strong as a fish-man monk walked in.
Brian looked up and found that the gloomy-looking fish-man warrior was the one who had been keeping his vigilant eyes on the fish-man priest when he passed by the altar.
This gave him a vague premonition of something bad.
"Father, I don't agree with your approach."
The Kuo Tao fishman whip gave Brian and the others a bad look, and shouted loudly in the Underground Common Tongue full of protest. Said, "I am firmly opposed to allowing any outsiders to interfere in matters of faith between races. They are not trustworthy at all!"
"All this is the guidance of the goddess, Gluglugo, my child." Fish The High Priest waved his hand forcefully to stop his words, "We can only abide by the goddess's will and must not violate it."
"Since it is the will of the goddess, then I will not object to your plan."
Hearing the high priest mentioning the goddess, Gluglugo's tone softened, and then he said firmly, "But, As a loyal believer of the goddess, I will not participate in your plan."
After finishing speaking, Kuo Tao whipper glanced at Brian and others with hostility and left angrily.
Brian glanced at the leaving figure of Supervisor Kuo Tao thoughtfully.
He had a vague feeling that perhaps there was more than just a conflict between two faith forces hidden in this seemingly quiet town.
As Kuo Tao's whipper left, they began to rest in the room while perfecting the details of the plan with the high priest.
About an hour later, a Kuo Tao supervisor appeared outside the room with twelve Kuo Tao warriors holding pincer staffs.
The fishman high priest Pru Prupin let the supervisor into the house and told him the details of the escort operation. Brian and others were escorted again to the altar of the Father of the Deep near the dock.
When he was about to reach the altar of the Father of the Deep Sea, the high priest of the Mother of the Sea, Plu Pulu Ping, quickened his pace, strode forward, walked through the altar alone, and walked towards the Kuo Tao fishman who was waiting for him. .
“The time has come, my child.”
He said to the Kuo Tao fish man, "This is the sacrifice we prepared for Li Mogugan, the father of the deep sea. Let us accept your miracle together."
The fish man high priest pointed to Brian and others, "Don't you want to accept all this?"
"Wise decision, my father."
The young high priest came out of the dark corner, she was wearing Wearing a dark red robe, with a string of filthy shell ornaments hanging around her neck, she raised her head proudly and met the high priest of the Mother of the Sea with cold eyes:
"In the name of the Father of the Deep Sea, I Accept your sacrifices, and their blood will nourish our god and make him stronger!”
"Let blood and death be dedicated to the father of the deep sea!"
The surrounding Kuo-toa raised their fists and cheered.
(End of this chapter)