Chapter 176 Bullingdon Stone City
Brian left the dark tunnel behind and stepped into a completely different world with Helister.
This is not a sinful drow cave, nor a cruel and desolate stone land, but an underground space with warm colors and passionate atmosphere.
While walking, the underground gnomes at work looked up from time to time and glanced at them with suspicion. When they saw the leading guard, they immediately relaxed and returned to their busy work. .
The height of these underground dwarfs is almost as high as Brian's thighs. Their bald heads have no hair, and their strange skin is very similar to rocks in texture and heat release.
Deep gnomes, also known as svirfneblin, live in small groups in the Underdark. Unlike their neighbors, gray dwarves and drow, deep gnomes are as kind as their surface kin.
It’s just that their sense of humor and enthusiasm will still be suppressed by the oppressive environment of the underground world.
Because of this, the underground gnomes have a gloomy and serious character, and are very cautious when trading with foreign races.
They always assume that all foreigners will bring harm to themselves - this is a lesson they draw from their own history.
They will speak quietly in caves and tunnels where sound can easily spread, and their eyes are always alert for signs of danger.
Despite their stern appearance, Svirfneblin are still gnomes, as benevolent and optimistic as their surface cousins.
It’s just that they express their kindness more in front of their own tribe or people they trust.
Although Svirnet divides labor according to gender, he still upholds equality between men and women.
Its ancient custom holds that the king and queen have equal responsibilities.
Male Svirfneblis are hunters, explorers, manual workers, and warriors, while women serve as managers, judges, politicians, and caretakers.
Deep gnomes sometimes forget that other races do not have as clear a gender division of labor as they do. They forget that men can also do fine work, and women can also join in battles.
After Brian and Herlist arrived at Bullingdon Stone, they learned from the dwarfs that after the catastrophic destruction of the drow by Menzoberranzan, the place had become a land of only monsters and monsters. Dangerous ruins inhabited by other evil creatures.
Only the underground dwarves believe that there is still hope for recovery and reconstruction here.
At this point, the underground gnomes in Bullingdon Stone City are also very different from before.
Because they are no longer simply hard workers and experienced miners, they call themselves: settlers, pioneers, and - survivors.
"Welcome to Bullingdon Stone City, Ms. Moon Whisper, Mr. Brian, please wait a moment, I will report to our leader. The stone is above. Seeing your arrival, the leader of the hoe will be very happy. "Happy."
The guard who accompanied them in relaxed his frown and said to the two of them respectfully.
"No need." Brian stopped the guard who was trying to report and said to him, "We can just go in by ourselves."
After saying that, he led Helist through Open the door and come to the digging and hoeing hall.
This is the home of the underground dwarf leader, and it is also the 'meeting hall' of the provisional government of Bullingdon Stone City.
There are more than two dozen Svirnets in this bright cave.
Some people walked past neatly with messenger bags in hand, while others crowded around several stone tables piled with maps and documents, having serious discussions one after another.
At the back of the room is a podium carved on the spot from cave rock, with two stone tables facing each other.
Two underground dwarfs, a man and a woman, were sitting behind the table, discussing something with the consultants beside them.
After Brian and Helist came in, their attention instantly shifted to the two of them.
"It's Ms. Moon's Whisper, the leader of Silvermoon City. The stone is on top. I didn't expect you to come so quickly." Sitting behind the table was a male underground dwarf wearing a tight black leather jacket and a felt hat named Liang Liang. There was a hint of surprise in his eyes, and he showed his white teeth and said in welcome.
The serious discussions in the room suddenly stopped, and some looked at the beautiful lord of Silvermoon City with curiosity or surprise.
Then, he immediately trotted down from the podium together with a delicate-faced female dwarf beside him, walked up to Brian, and said gratefully:
"If If my guess is correct, this gentleman is the mage lord from Mokou Town. Thank you for your help, respected Mr. Brian."
After that, the dwarf leader and the female dwarf beside him, At the same time, he bowed deeply to Brian.
Brian nodded slightly and accepted the salutes of the two people calmly.
He still knows a little about this dwarf couple.
According to the tradition of the underground gnomes, Bullingdon Stone City must be ruled by a king and a queen. However, the Svirnets who have lived in Silvermoon City for nearly a century as refugees have already There has been no official monarch for a long time.
The digging couple Duobao and Senni are not only members of the Silver Federation, but also very talented miners. They have now grown into excellent community leaders.
Unfortunately, out of personal interests, most members of the Silver Federation are unwilling to help the underground gnomes rebuild Bullingdon Stone City, let alone allow this group of skilled craftsmen to return to the underground.
After all, the Underdark is a symbol of evil in most people's inherent impressions. Obviously people on the surface do not want to interfere with the affairs of the underground world.
They believe that even if Blingden Stone City is rebuilt, it will still not be able to defend it safely against the underground overlord drow. This underground city of kindness will be like a bottomless pit, constantly letting the silver out. The Federation committed defensive forces.
With no choice but to spend several years on their own, the couple planned an expedition to Bullingdon Stone City.
They hired adventurers for preliminary reconnaissance and always paid attention to local conditions. At the same time, they also organized and recruited fellow tribesmen from the dwarf fortresses and surface cities that had accepted them.
After ten years of careful and determined planning, the Diggers finally organized a group of about 500 troops to recapture Bullingdon Stone City.
Even though they were not crowned at that time, everyone who followed them recognized them as the de facto leaders of the settlers.
The work that Leader Duobao is responsible for overseeing includes rebuilding production, opening up mines, and forming patrol teams to explore the ruins of the city where Svirnets are not yet inhabited.
He was also responsible for rebuilding and commanding the operation of the new settlement's defenses.
Like most other svirfneblis, Dobo is serious and tough in his dealings with outsiders, but he is also a considerate and gentle husband, and a thoughtful leader, and his wife joins him Focused on the vision of rebuilding and revitalizing Bullingdon Stone.
The quartermaster Sunny is responsible for all calculations and measurements to ensure that her husband's operations can receive better support and development.
She oversees trade activities and caravans with Mithral Hall, Guntergrim, and Mantor Dris.
As she is responsible for managing and helping to maintain the magical infrastructure of Bullingdon Stone, she is very familiar with the security conditions throughout the settlement.
As Quartermaster, she also arranged housing for the increasing number of Svirfneblis returning to Blingdenstone.
Faced with Duobao's enthusiasm for Brian, others all looked puzzled, wondering why their leader respected this man so much. Only a few dwarfs seemed to see through Brian. Identity, nodded thoughtfully.
“I know that most people don’t know this mage lord from Mokou Town.”
The dwarf leader turned to everyone and said, "Now I will solemnly introduce to you that Mr. Bryan is the mage lord who commanded the army of the Kingdom of Cormyr to defeat the City of Shadows a week ago. This generous lord is even more willing to help. Let’s rebuild our home.”
Everyone looked shocked when they heard this, and the eyes of this group of underground dwarfs, who were known for their gloomy and serious personalities, gradually became richer.
“Okay, now is not the time for small talk.”
At the invitation of the Diggers, Brian came to the podium with Herister, and he stretched out his hand to press down The chaotic voice said to everyone:
"I already know everything about the situation in Bullingdon Stone City. Therefore, in order to help you clean up the intruders, I will tell you my plan. I hope you can cooperate with me." action.”
"Mr. Brian, if you have any questions or instructions, just ask." The dwarf leader Duobao quickly answered, patting his chest and said: "We will fully cooperate with your actions."
Helis Te stood beside him quietly, never saying a word from beginning to end.
But her cool and elegant temperament, her natural spiritual aura, and her identity as the lord of Silver Moon City created an inexplicable sense of oppression that made it impossible to ignore her existence. , not even daring to look at him.
Brian nodded slightly, walked to a map hanging on the wall behind the podium, and said to these dwarfs, "As we all know, there are four biggest threats to our city. They are: Settlers The ghosts in the ruins, the crazy elements, the wandering ratmen and the Pudding King spreading corruption."
Seeing everyone nodding, he turned around and looked at the map while thinking about Bullingdon. Details of Stone City.
Although it has not been confirmed, the remaining ghosts of the deep gnomes massacred by the drow when they invaded Bullingdon Stone a century ago do exist.
In the process of rebuilding Bullingdon Stone City, Chief Duobao wisely excluded the haunted cave from his recovery plan.
With the increasing number of new Snebli immigrants and their housing needs, living space has gradually become a problem that must be faced.
The most important thing is that the number of ghosts in the ruins of the settlement exceeds everyone's expectations, and they are all different.
Some of them are harmless, just repeating the events of their lives at the place where they were killed, while others have complete consciousness - and are often hostile and dangerous.
The so-called element of madness is actually a transparent cloud floating around in the 'Oremoc Disaster', which is magic dust that appeared in Bullingdon Stone City more than a century ago.
It is said that it has intelligence itself, and any elemental creature that comes into contact with this cloud will be controlled by it.
The origin of the cloud and mist is still a mystery, but legend has it that it is related to Oremok, the evil prince of the elemental plane of earth.
An earth elemental prophet named Nehedra serves the Scourge of Oremoc and leads some elemental creatures enslaved by the evil clouds, constantly threatening the dwarf settlers in Blingden Stone City.
At the same time, after the fall of Bullingdon Stone, a group of Skaven took the opportunity to make their home in the ruins of the city.
The few deep gnomes who remained in the city tried to drive away the group of ratmen after the drow army abandoned the city. As a result, most of the deep gnomes were infected with the lycanthropy curse.
In the past hundred years of development, these underground dwarf rat-men, relying on the rat-men's strong reproductive ability and adaptability, occupied most of the ruins in the name of the Golden Beard Tribe, and used it as their territory and new territory. The settlers fought in the city.
The so-called Pudding King opened his royal court in the deepest part of Bullingdon Stone City. He was originally a participant in the Digger couple's earliest settlement plan. Later, other Svirnets shunned him because of his many disgusting habits, such as his focus on catching and learning mud monsters and his habit of stealing food. Hide them until they rot...then talk to them.
This marginalized underground dwarf finally left the brigade on his own initiative.
After living with the mud monsters in this area for several years, under the influence of the radiated energy of the ley lines, when the demon lords entered the underdark area, he followed the attracted mud monsters and came into contact with Jubilex, the king of the ooze monsters, and Surrender to the Faceless Lord immediately and pledge your everlasting loyalty.
Since then, his name and past have disappeared, leaving only the current Pudding King.
Jubilex gave King Pudding the power to summon and control oozes, then sent him back to Bullingdon Stone, where he declared it the faceless lord's domain.
King Pudding sneaked back into a closed area of Bullingdon Stone City to build a royal court, and summoned
various types of mud monsters along the way, rendering the ruins of the city uninhabitable to the outside world. dangerous zone.
Completely insane and channeling terrible power, Pudding takes up residence in his throne, his 'children' following him, and day after day he summons more loyal beings.
Once ready, he will send this army to engulf everything in the Underdark.
Bringden Stone and its inhabitants will also be transformed into a mass of ooze and goo, resembling the image of its master, the Faceless Lord.
While Brian was looking at the map and analyzing the situation, his thoughts were also running rapidly. As everyone waited patiently, he quickly thought of countermeasures against the four major forces.
"Ms. Lusa Baiyan." Brian's eyes fell on a young female dwarf below and said to her, "You take the spellcasters of Stoneheart Garden to Bullingdon. This location in Stone City”
After escaping the underground a hundred years ago, the svirfneblin spellcasters were trained in the Emerald Court of Druidry, but eventually broke away from it and focused on studying earth elemental magic.
They then recruited the surviving priest-workers who once served the deep dwarf deities Shagozhen Earthcaller (god of the deep and nature), and Kalduran Slider the Hand (God of Stone and Miners).
The priests and mages of Stone Heart Leisure Court are mainly responsible for summoning earth elements to protect Bullingdon Stone City.
They sometimes use their magic to support other engineering operations, such as expanding underground caves, sealing tunnels, or creating magic scrolls and guarding their survey work.
If necessary, the spellcasters of Stoneheart Retreat can also conduct interdimensional diplomacy and make temporary agreements with the Sol Stone monsters and the Gray Stone people to ask them to support Bullingdon Stone City.
After speaking, he pointed to a large cave in the west of the map.
The young dwarf wizard, who had an appearance as delicate as a porcelain doll, and eyes as bright as black stones, stared at Brian in confusion.
Obviously, she didn't know what the other party's purpose was in arranging this task.
“This cave is full of stalagmites and stalactites, but the most prominent building inside is the summoning circle in the center. This circle was used by your people to summon a person hundreds of years ago. Although the earth element prince named Entemok is now ineffective, the earth element energy generated when he was originally summoned still fills the entire cave, which can greatly enhance all the elemental creatures of the same attribute you summon. "
"Stones are almost immune to the strong acid of ooze monsters." Brian added the final addition, "Therefore, you spellcasters in Stone Heart Courtyard, if you can find this magic circle, let's The earth element opens the way for us, and our losses against the ooze monsters will be reduced.”
"I see, I understand." A look of surprise appeared on the young dwarf mage's delicate face.
In fact, the legend about the existence of Entemoc's favor has been circulating among a few members of Stoneheart Court, and she is one of them, but she is too focused on recovering and rebuilding Bullingdon Stone City. And instinctively ignored and ignored this legend.
After the mage lord reminded her and accurately pointed out the location for her, she immediately understood that this legend was likely to be true.
Thinking of this, she immediately felt that this was indeed a method worth trying.
“But.” The dwarf mage seemed to have remembered something, and he hesitated for a moment, then said: “Olemok’s Disaster is still wandering in the city. If we rashly summon a huge earth elemental creature, we will The possibility of their descent into madness must be faced.”
"You don't have to worry about this." Brian said nonchalantly, "I will completely eliminate the wandering Oremok scourge before you deal with the ooze monster."
"Thanks for the reminder, I know what to do. Yes." The young dwarf mage suppressed his doubts about how the other party knew, smiled, bowed to him, and agreed to execute it.
"Kazuk Pickaxe Master." Brian no longer wasted time, turned his gaze to a bald old dwarf, and said to him:
"As an outstanding Ore experts and alchemists, you guys from the Miners’ Guild have prepared an oil to deal with the ooze monsters and protect weapons and armor from strong acid corrosion. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
It shouldn’t be a problem for the underground gnomes. Basic economic security comes from the mining of ores and gemstones, which they are very good at.
The settlement itself is sufficiently self-sufficient, but still relies on the duergar from Mentor Dris for tools, weapons, and supplies.
Blingden Stone's economy relies on mining, so the miners' guild has great power in the city.
The miners' guild, headed by the Haoguang family, manages all the mines in Bullingdon Stone City, as well as mining and cutting gems.
The magic oils they make are not only used for the defense of settlements, but are also exported as commodities.
What moved Brian the most was that it was Kazuk Haoguang who developed the charging gem.
"Indeed." The old dwarf frowned his sparse eyebrows and said truthfully:
"If there are enough materials, my apprentices can rush to make enough oil for all warriors overnight, but this kind of The main ingredient of the potion is the red-orange striped gray-brown mushroom. This material is only produced in the Fungus Forest. It is said that the myconids in the Fungus Forest are at risk of being corrupted and have strictly prohibited anyone from approaching it."
"It doesn't matter, I am. There are exactly a dozen red and orange striped gray-brown mushrooms here." Brian waved his hand, and a dozen brightly colored striped mushrooms appeared in front of the old dwarf, "These will be my first batch of investments in your Bullingdon Stone City. Bar. ”
The red-orange striped mushroom is a foul-smelling bulbous mushroom with striking orange and red stripes all over its dark gray surface.
They can grow to a diameter of 2 feet and a height of 2 feet. They are very rare fungi in the Underdark. Only myconids know how to cultivate them.
The red-orange striped gray brown mushroom is useful in two different ways.
Firstly, many creatures from the lower plane love red and orange striped gray brown mushrooms and enjoy eating them.
When red-orange striped gray brown mushrooms are provided as bait, the failure rate of demons when trying to resist the summons or orders of mages or priests will increase by more than 30%.
The second use is to counteract or target strong acid spells.
In Brian's impression, a red-orange striped gray brown mushroom has enough weight to be used for 21 to 30 ointments.
They are usually ground into powder and sold in sealed jars containing enough powder for 5 uses (150 gp per jar).
A complete red and orange striped gray brown mushroom can be purchased, but it costs 5,000 to 8,000 gold coins.
Therefore, rather than paying the unreasonable prices charged by merchants, many priests and mages will look for the red-orange striped gray mushrooms themselves and try to cultivate them themselves.
This is only the price of the red and orange striped gray brown mushrooms sold in the dark area. If sold on the surface, the price will be doubled.
So Brian waved his hand gently, which shocked the knowledgeable underground dwarfs.
What makes Kazuk Haoguang, the alchemist master, even more unbelievable is how the other party expected that they would be short of red and orange striped gray brown mushrooms.
Suddenly, everyone woke up and understood that the mage lord who was trying to help them rebuild their homes was very well prepared.
"No problem, I only need one night to make the oil for everyone to use." The calm old dwarf assured Brian with a slightly excited expression.
Brian nodded slightly, not feeling sorry for his investment in the dwarfs.
After all, when he was preparing to help the underground dwarves rebuild their home, he had already asked Herister to help him tell them his conditions in advance.
The fundamental reason why he helped the underground dwarves was that they nodded and agreed to a series of conditions he listed.
"Leader of the Digger." Brian pointed to the north of the map. "I think you should know that this location was once a temple called 'Red Jade', serving your deep earth and nature. "Shensha Gouzhen·The Caller of the Earth."
"That's right." Duobao·Di Hoe nodded slightly.
“When the Lord of Silveryue City and I arrived at Bullingdon Stone City, she sensed a cry for help from the ghost of an underground dwarf named Jiajie in the temple.” Brian used the lies weaved in advance to tell him Said, "So, you sent your cave guards to take down this temple."
"Why do you want to take down this temple?" Duobao asked subconsciously.
"I think you all should know that there are many ghosts of underground dwarfs who were killed by the drow gathered in the city. These ghosts who have fallen into madness have seriously hindered the progress of your reconstruction." Brian continued:
“Jiajie’s ghost was inadvertently redeemed by Shagouzhen, the Caller of the Earth. As long as you rescue it from the hands of the ghosts who went crazy with grief, it can pass through Shagouzhen, the Earth Caller. The power of the caller calms down all the ghosts in the city and lets them rest completely."
Jiajie is the priest of Shagouzhen Earthcaller and also the candidate priest leader, fighting against the drow elves. , sacrificed to protect the temple.
This is a related side plot revealed by Brian from the players who participated in the reconstruction of the temple.
As long as Jiajie is rescued, the ghosts of the tribesmen who are the most troublesome and troublesome for the underground gnomes can be completely solved.
"Jiajie?" Duobao Dixie's expression was shocked, as if he remembered something, and murmured to himself:
"It turns out to be him. Don't worry, Mr. Bryan, I will definitely do it at any cost. Save him and calm down the resentment of all the people in the city."
Next, Brian continued to issue instructions to everyone, adding details and answering their questions.
Everyone also carried out his every order very cooperatively.
Helist stood beside him silently like a backdrop, watching him calmly.
"Mr. Brian, did you miss one?" Just when the meeting was about to end, Duobao Digger finally couldn't help but raise the doubt that he had been suppressing for a long time, "You don't seem to have mentioned the rat people of the Golden Beard Tribe. It's coming."
"Don't worry about the rat people of the Golden Beard Tribe for the time being."
Brian naturally understood what he meant, and he glanced at the alchemist Kazuk Haoguang. , said to him, "If my memory is correct, a goblin named Copper Nugget came to your city more than a month ago."
"Yes." The old dwarf Kazuk sighed, with a fleeting sadness in his expression, and said in a slightly older voice, "After this Mr. Goblin sent my child's remains back from the gray dwarves' King Aldus City, Just disappeared."
"He didn't disappear."
Brian said to him, "Actually, I arranged for Mr. Goblin to come here. He should now live in the Golden Beard Tribe. Therefore, in my plan, try your best not to interact with the rat people of the Golden Beard Tribe." Any conflict arises, because they are also our potential allies in dealing with the ooze monster."
After that, he ignored the group of underground dwarfs and led Helister out of the conference room.
Because next, he will work with Helister to deal with the Oremoc disaster in Bullingdon Stone City and an evil earth elemental prince.
(End of this chapter)