Chapter 182 The Golden Beard Tribe
“During the heyday of Bullingdon Stone City, this cave was the smelting site of the old city and a market for ores and rough gemstones.” The leader of the underground gnomes, Duobao Hoe Duibu Ryan said, "It has now become the main block of the Rat Man Cave."
Brian nodded slightly and looked around.
After the underground gnomes were infected by lycanthropy, the first price they paid was their strictness and tidiness. The streets were dirty and messy, even filled with the smell of over-rotten mushrooms that no one dared to eat.
And just by casting a simple detection magic, he could clearly feel that the crisscrossing piles of rocks and the ruins of collapsed stalactite pillars were filled with various traps.
This area is called: Golden Beard Cave.
The underground gnomes of the Goldbeard tribe only know the only place they live in is the ruins of Bullingdon Stone City.
They originated from a group of survivors who unfortunately encountered ratmen after the drow invasion and were infected with the lycanthropy curse.
For nearly a hundred years, Svirnet of the Golden Beard Tribe has lived and multiplied here, avoiding drow and crazy elements, and using cunning and cruel means to protect his homeland.
They will not give in to the cowards who ran away from Bullingdon Stone when it was needed most, only to return now and try to rebuild.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
At this moment, a few rats hiding in the Brick Gang, more than ten meters away, caught Brian's attention.
These little mice are quite strange. They are not afraid of strangers. Their eyes that are moving around are blood red, giving them a sinister feel in the darkness.
When Brian was about to observe carefully, these mice seemed to be frightened and fled quickly into the shadows.
However, two of them fell down while screaming, and then their frantically struggling bodies rose up out of thin air.
——"Second-level spell: Glitter Dust!"
Seeing this, Brian took out a ball of mica powder, sprinkled it into the air, stretched out his finger, and a cloud of golden particles enveloped the two suspended Rat in mid-air.
Then, everyone saw that a nearly invisible gelatinous cube that looked like transparent jelly swallowed up the two mice.
"What is that..." Helist came close and whispered beside him.
"The gelatin cube is a type of ooze monster." Brian told her, and then through the spiritual link between the two, he quickly instilled all the knowledge about ooze monsters into her. Let her slowly digest it in her mind.
In fact, he was slightly surprised to see that Heliste didn't know these things.
However, when I think that she has been in the material world for less than half a year, I understand the reason.
Then, he threw two flaming arrows in succession. The gelatinous cube was like jelly stuffed into a firecracker, and was blown apart with two explosions.
“The ooze monsters have become so unscrupulous in the territory of the golden-bearded rat people.” Duobao frowned and said with his bare eyebrows: “If this continues, they will soon invade our territory.”< br>
“This is actually a good thing for you.” Brian replied nonchalantly, “If the golden-bearded rat people were not forced into desperation by the ooze monster, they would never choose to cooperate with you.”
"We actually want to cooperate with the rat people..." The leader of the underground dwarfs sighed. He didn't know whether he was lamenting the fate of his people or his uncertainty about the future.
"Okay, now is not the time to sigh." Brian interrupted him. After receiving the message from Heliste through telepathy, he changed the subject and said in a deep voice:
"We may encounter enemies next, so please be vigilant! No one should take action without my order."
His voice was not loud, but it clearly fell on the In the ears of everyone, the underground dwarf leader and the subordinates he led all involuntarily showed cautious expressions.
Sure enough, they only walked a few dozen meters ahead when a huge rumbling sound swept from the depths of darkness.
It was the result of the stacking of dense footsteps, which were also filled with several sharp underground lingua franca.
At the same time, layers of shadows came over and turned into swarms of rats, and they were also ferocious rats.
This is a ferocious animal, with an average length of more than 1 meter and a weight of at least 60 kilograms.
Groups of dire rats are a nightmare for budding adventurers. They like to bite and chew their opponents with their sharp incisors.
Behind the Dire Rats, Brian also discovered a group of Dire Rat Cavalry.
Most of them retain the appearance of underground gnomes, and a few of them look like half man and half rat.
As Brian expected, this group of rat people and dire rats did not choose to attack, but kept a certain distance at a distance.
"Don't be impulsive, we are here for peace!"
A fierce-looking one-eyed rat man riding a dire rat came out of the team, baring his serrated fangs. Showing a ferocious smile.
He jumped down from the dire rat, spread his hands, opened his arms and took a step forward, "My name is Goblin, and Copper Ban, the leader of our Golden Beard Tribe, wants to talk to you. Can you please come with us? ”
"No problem, I'll go with you guys." Brian walked out of the queue and said to the one-eyed rat man.
This was a plan he had discussed in advance. Everyone had been mentally prepared for it, and naturally they would not stop him at this time.
"Refreshing!"
The one-eyed rat man grinned, turned over and rode on the back of the dire rat, waved his hand cursingly, and asked his men to make way for the Golden Beard Tribe's station. go.
Brian motioned to the leader of the Diggers to wait here, and followed with Helister.
They walked along the dirty street to a stairwell, followed the stairs up, and reached the top of the plateau. Above was a spacious platform, and the ground was covered with carefully tended green soft carpet.
"Temora, you are finally here." A high-pitched voice with surprise came, "Brian, do you know how anxious I have been waiting?"
Brian followed the sound and looked, and the agile figure of Goblin Copper appeared in his sight. As usual, although his clothes were ragged, they fit him well and he was also wearing a good-quality black coat. He has a cloak and a big backpack hanging on his back, and he likes to carry some weird little things.
“Long time no see.” Brian greeted with a smile, “I didn’t expect you to keep your promise so much and wait for me here.”
“Tch! You treat me like Who is it?" The goblin crossed his arms and curled his lips in disdain.
"I am a principled and kind-hearted goblin. First, be kind to others. Second, do not steal or rob. Third, be friendly and make money. Fourth, help those in need. Fifth, keep your promises. Sixth...forget it. I’ll tell you when I remember it next time.” “Huh?”
Then Copper’s eyes turned to Helist beside Brian. On the body, he shrank his eyes in fright and said quickly: "Where is she? Sword Master...Why isn't the Elf Prince with you?"
It seemed that there was something wrong with the words, and Copper Block quickly corrected it with a smile. .
Aware of the goblin's strange expression, Helist glanced at Brian with a clear look and continued to remain silent.
"Hey!" At this moment, another high-pitched voice interrupted everyone's conversation.
The speaker is a fat rat leader.
He sat on a stone chair draped in the skin of a cave-dwelling badger, wearing a wizard's robe trimmed with gold threads. He was accompanied by a docile and obedient dire rat on each side.
"Copper Block, you are going too far. These two are obviously my guests, why are you stealing my limelight again?" The rat leader looked at the goblin Copper Block in dissatisfaction, "Since this is the case Well, let me introduce you."
"No problem." Copper jumped onto the armrest of the rat leader's stone chair and sat on it, dangling his legs, with a proud look on his face. Says:
"Listen up, the half-elf standing in front of you is my buddy. I killed the Abyss Demon with him on the Threaded Silk Trail, killed the Fungus Demon Queen in the Sunless Woods, and rushed to Kuo-Tao Murloc Town. He took the incarnation of the demon lord Demogorgon and smashed the conspiracy of the Dark Lord in the gray dwarf's royal city of Odus. Isn't it very impressive?"
"So you have experienced so much in the Underdark. "Helist looked at Brian in disbelief and asked with concern through telepathy: "So many things have happened, why didn't you tell me any of them?"
"These are all things in the past. "It makes no sense to say it." Brian glanced at her and said nonchalantly: "Don't listen to his nonsense, it's not that exaggerated."
"I can hear it from the tone of this goblin. Come on, he didn't exaggerate the facts, most of them are true." Helist looked at him and retorted quietly.
"This is the leader of the Golden Beard Tribe, his name is Copper. He eats and sleeps every day, and is driven around by the ooze monsters." The words of the goblin Copper Block drew Brian's attention. return.
"Copper!" The rat leader became angry when he heard this.
"How can you accuse someone of innocence with your words? The slime monsters that died in my hands were not only one thousand but also eight hundred. Is that called running away? That is called strategic transfer. As long as I am still alive, the slime monster will die in my hands. If you dare to kill one of my men, thousands of ferocious rats will stand up. This is like taking back the mining pick, just to smash it down more powerfully."
"Isn't that called escape? "The goblin argued: "If I hadn't hung you up with a rope last time, you would have been turned into a sticky thing by the Pudding King."
"It's you who said you were greedy. If you want to drink mushroom soup, grilled mushroom steak, and mushroom bread, I will risk going to the ooze monster's territory to pick mushrooms for you." The rat-man leader was immediately unhappy, and the rat whiskers on both sides trembled in anger. "I'm doing this for you, I value you so much..."
"Stop it!" Goblin answered: "Please, what do you value me most? Can't I change it?"
"Okay!"
Brian couldn't help but frown, and interrupted the quarrel between the goblin and the ratman with a headache, "Your Excellency Copper invited me here, could it be just for this? Let’s see you quarreling.”
“Of course not.” The rat leader glared at Copper and said:
“Let’s get straight to the point and let the hoeing team go. They want us to leave, right? Good! They may get what they want soon, but they may not like the result. "
"To tell you the truth, I am almost driven crazy by the ooze monster. , and began to prepare to move my people to other places. If he is willing, I can even give him all my territory."
"Just run away, no matter what transfer..." Goblin Copper Null muttered in a low voice.
"You know nothing!" the rat man leader quickly added, "I will run away now and let the dwarves handle these messes by themselves. If they defeat the ooze monster, hum! I will Okay..."
"How much do you know about the ooze?" Brian interrupted and asked.
“Not only do I know the specific distribution of the ooze monsters, I also know the specific location of the mysterious controller behind these disgusting things.” The ratman leader said, “But I just won’t tell you, Because I paid for all this with the life of the ferocious rat I raised."
"Of course." He shook his rat whiskers and smiled, looking quite treacherous. "If you dig. If he is willing to recognize my status in Bullingdon Stone City and live in peace with me, I will be willing to cooperate with you.”
"I have the impression that he once worked in the tunnels, and then my people saw him coming back. I know who he is, what he is doing, and most importantly, I know where he is! If you or Di Hoe If you need it, I can take you directly to him, the guy who claims to be the Pudding King. Moreover, my rat warriors and dire rats will appear on the battlefield. In order to prove that we are stronger than ordinary underground gnomes, I will. I am also willing to take the initiative to let my troops take the main position in the battle."
"The only purpose of my doing this is to make Duobao Digger recognize the status of the Golden Beard Tribe in Bullingdon Stone City." The rat leader made one last addition.
“I can agree to the conditions you proposed.” Brian thought for a moment and said slowly: “But you need to discuss the specific details with Duobao. After all, I am just an outsider and have no right to interfere with you. Distribution of benefits. If you are willing, come with me."
"No, I'm not going anywhere." The rat leader looked at Brian with a wary face, and his narrow rat eyes looked at He. Lisette showed a hint of fear, "I killed two cave-dwelling badgers under the skin of that little girl Lusha. She had long wanted to skin me. I didn't dare to go and let them come to negotiate with me."
"I can assure you that even if the negotiation fails, you will not be harmed in any way." Brian said with a sincere tone.
In fact, he could even let Herrist carry his rat's nest if he wanted to.
But without the help of the rat people and dire rats of the Golden Beard Tribe, just a few hundred dwarfs would not be a match for the ooze monster at all.
You must know that this group of rat people settled here a hundred years ago. The number of rat people and dire rats is conservatively above 3,000.
“Look at how cowardly you are.” Goblin Bronze cast a contemptuous look at the rat leader, “Don’t worry, I also assure you that everything Brian said is not true. I lied to you."
"Really?" the rat leader said cautiously as he blinked at the goblin.
"Nonsense!" The goblin gave him a roll of his eyes.
"Okay, I'm willing to go with you." The leader of the rat men relaxed, stood up from the stone chair, led the two docile and obedient ferocious rats, and followed Brian out. .
Bryan brought the ratman to the dwarf's territory. When he saw him beginning to contact the leader of the underground dwarfs, he ignored the negotiation.
Because before leaving, he had done enough ideological work with the leader of the hoe digger. No matter what the outcome, the other party would choose to cooperate with the rat man.
At the end of the long negotiation, Brian found the smiling ratman leader and the silent dwarf leader walking out together.
Seeing this, he knew that the matter was settled.
So, without wasting any more time, I took out the map I had prepared in advance and started to search for the rat people, dire rats and underground gnomes of the Golden Beard Tribe. The Laishi people, as well as the cave guards, issued orders one by one to attack the Pudding King.
When everyone dispersed, he turned to look at Helister, who looked calm, and said to her:
“Let’s go directly to the palace of King Pudding. Kill the Pudding King, and our underground adventure will be over.”
Helist nodded slightly and went straight to the center of Bullingdon Stone City with him.
(End of this chapter)