Chapter 329 Witch of Shadow Valley (Thanks to the boss Tujia Shiji for the reward)
Hyron is the eldest sister among the seven sisters, the elect of Mystra, and an outstanding Harper scout.
Although there is no weak among the seven sisters left by the second-generation magic goddess in the material world, but if you really want to rank the strength of these seven sisters, then no matter in terms of actual combat ability, In terms of magical attainments, both Xilen and Xinbu are on the same level.
But compared to Xinbu's irascible and irritable character, as the eldest sister among the seven sisters, Shiren's character is the most gentle and gentle lady image.
For many years, Azuth, the God of Mage, has been silently watching over those he respects, and Shiron, the witch of Shadow Valley, is one of them.
In 1356 DR, a group of evil dragons invaded the coast of the Moon Sea, causing huge destruction and threatening the survival of the residents.
Searon, who lived in the Valley of Shadows, fought against the dragons alone. After using up all her spells and magic items, she succeeded in killing most of them.
Finally, at the top of Asaba's Tower, facing the three oldest and most powerful ancient dragons, she resolutely broke her Archmage's Staff, and the raging arcane energy destroyed the tower. Top, taking away her life and the life of the enemy at the same time.
Later, Elminster rebuilt the tower, displayed part of the keel as a souvenir, and ground the remaining keel into powder and painted it on the wall.
From then on, Silen stayed in the homeland she loved during her lifetime in the form of a ghost, silently guarding her compatriots.
While thinking about the deeds of Sheron, the chosen one of the goddess of magic, Brian avoided everyone's sight and walked quietly in the direction guided by the mage god Azuth.
There was an illusion that made him instinctively believe that Azus, the advisor to the goddess of magic, had been secretly observing and helping him.
Otherwise, he would not have reached his destination so smoothly: Watcher's Hill.
The most important thing is that in his sight, he can see the Watcher's Hill shrouded in a faint silver light from a distance, but such a conspicuous sign did not attract any residents or Zhentarim in the valley. Will the sky mage's attention.
Obviously, all of this was done by Azuth.
Thinking of this, Brian unconsciously speeded up his pace.
It only took him about an hour to arrive at Watcher's Hill, a hill covered under dense woods, but there was no grass on the top of the mountain, leaving a large bare space.
In general, the mountain is not steep, and the highest point is only 10 meters above the ground. It is easy to climb from all sides.
The air is filled with the chill of winter, and the last glorious days of autumn have passed. The woods that once reflected the sunshine with their golden, red and orange leaves are now reduced to skeleton-like branches. Shrouded in gray skies.
When Brian walked to the open area on the top of the mountain, he noticed an ancient, huge oak tree with almost no leaves standing on the top of the mountain.
It is said that on the top of Watcher's Hill, a massacre in the name of religion took place here nearly one hundred and eighty years ago.
Because the lord at that time was an atheist, he banned all religious activities in Shadow Valley.
It was here that he ordered the massacre of a group of secretly organized Thom followers.
Many years have passed, and this place has been worshiped as a commemorative place by countless curious elves, young lovers, and Thom believers.
Only in the most critical times will the hill's former role as a watchtower be reused.
Based on the intelligence he obtained from the Harper scouts, Brian learned that during this invasion of Shadow Valley, the priestess Esweil Graycastle who believed in the Lost Lady had used the evil habitation spell at Watcher's Hill, a kind of evil that allowed A certain land is filled with evil energy, which enhances the magical power of undead creatures.
Then the priestess used a transformation ritual to awaken the remaining dragon bones.
So much so that that night in Shadow Valley, a bone dragon flew into the village and wreaked havoc, seriously frightening the residents here. Because of this, they rumored that the Dragon Worship Cult also participated in this invasion. .
According to the speculation of the Harper scouts, this bone dragon was most likely sent by the priests to guard the tomb where Shiron was.
Thinking of this, Brian did not look for the tomb immediately, but carefully observed everything around him through detection magic.
In this land shrouded in faint silver light, Brian noticed that not only was his spell not affected in any way, but it was actually strengthened a lot.
In just a moment, he found a bone dragon hidden here.
This skull dragon squatted on the top of the mountain, disguised as an oak tree without leaves, but the moment Brian's detection magic swept over, he immediately realized that it was the skeleton of a huge dragon with empty eye sockets. There are two faint red lights full of malice burning in it.
Before the skull dragon roared or called the police, Brian had a thought and used a psychic expulsion technique to send it to the astral space.
He did not follow closely, because judging from the strength of this temporarily awakened bone dragon, his dragon skeleton golem and spiritual crystal servant were enough to hang it without blind spots in the astral space. Get up and hammer.
When Brian got the tip that the bone dragon was killed, he began to search for the location of the tomb.
At this moment, Azuth, the mage god, appeared again, and a heavy and old voice with a slight echo effect sounded in his mind:
"Young Arcane Seeker, we don't have much time."
"I will help you block all detection in Watcher's Hill, and all you need to do is to awaken the witch of Shadow Valley as soon as possible."
“Only she can prevent the further spread of the unraveling of the Demonic Web.”
There was a hint of exhaustion in Azuth's voice, which meant that he was more than willing but not strong enough.
This is like a minister who can't change the stubborn emperor's decision to go his own way no matter how hard he tries to persuade him.
If you think about it carefully, this is actually not surprising.
After all, it has only been less than 200 years since the mortal mage Midnight became the third-generation goddess of magic. At this moment, she is naturally more human than rational.
Although perhaps due to the passage of time, she will gradually become a true goddess of magic and understand her mission and responsibilities, there will always be a process of adaptation.
Otherwise, in order to deal with his old enemy Cyric, the god of murder, he would not have used his authority to block part of the magic network to prevent Cyric and his followers from using magic. Only after being boycotted by the gods, did he The blockade had to be lifted.
Brian no longer thought about it. He saw that the fingers of Azuth's translucent giant hand were already pointing to a location on the top of the mountain that was covered by thick granite.
The site looks like it was carefully chosen, with the shadows of the hillside falling just above it, making it difficult to detect the presence of the tomb.
But Brian has noticed that the stone slab has long been covered with soil and grass clippings, which means that the priests of the Lost Lady once entered the tomb and left clear traces.
He no longer hesitated, having the God of Mage help him watch the door, which made him worried that his actions would be noticed by the enemy in the dark, and disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Then, he immediately used magic to lift up the granite and followed the spacious stone steps deep into the interior of the granite hill.
Brian walked about thirty stone steps to reach the bottom of the tomb. Although the tomb was closed, it did not smell like decay as he imagined, exuding negative energy.
This also shows that there should be no undead creatures encountered here.
With the help of dark vision, Brian looked forward. At the end of his sight, he saw a square stone room.
There is a platform in the center of the stone chamber with a coffin placed on it.
The entire tomb looks plain and simple, except for the magical inscription on the coffin lid:
“Here sleeps Oram Obaseki and Anastas Shiren Silverhand, behind them , leaving a happier Shadow Valley. "
Oram Obaski is Xilen's husband, a powerful human mage. The residents of the valley remember his name, but it is difficult to remember him. Few people know his surname. In the Vale Calendar, he was the legal ruler of Shadow Valley for 40 years from the Year of the Falling Star to the Year of the Weeping Moon.
Eventually died at the hands of a false lord who turned out to be a Zhentarim spy.
As a master ghost harpist, Shiron now remains in this world in the form of a ghost.
She volunteered to become a Master Ghost Harper and continue to protect the land she loved from enemies within and without.
However, just as all ghosts will be forcibly trapped in a long sleep under certain special circumstances, for her, she only needs to put the symbol of Oram's Tomb back into place. make it happen.
But many years ago, Hillen did not expect that such a day would come: one day this tomb would be desecrated by the followers of the Lost Lady.
Priestess Elsweyr learned from the Lost Lady how to defeat Shiron. Shortly before the attack on the Tower of Elminster, the priests of Shar entered the tomb with an aberration from a distant land.
Although the priestesses who broke into the tomb instantly triggered Shiron's protective barrier, and Shiren himself immediately teleported back and guarded the tomb, she was faced with an aberration that was naturally restrained, and she was finally forced to do so. Let himself fall into a deep sleep.
In other words, Silen is still alive at this moment, but it is difficult to say so, because she is now just a ball of pure silver fire with no ability to protect herself.
What's even more unfortunate is that the aberrations guarding her have cut off the possibility of her doing anything, whether it's escaping or asking for help.
This creature that feeds on magic is still slowly devouring the rest of her existence.
This information was instilled in Brian's mind by the mage god Azuth the moment he stepped into the tomb, and he also taught him how to deal with aberrations.
Without the help of the Mage God, Shiron's death is only a matter of time.
When Brian was about to open the sarcophagus and release Silen trapped inside, a terrifying abnormality suddenly appeared in front of him.
Although he had been mentally prepared for it, he still felt frightened after witnessing the other party's true form.
What appeared in front of him was a ball of flesh that looked like it had countless tentacles extending out. Its eyeballs and mouth were all condensed from light red mist, and it looked like a pulse, moving outwards regularly. Emitting red light.
Although it was the first time for Brian to see this kind of strange monster from a distant country, with the help of the mage god Azuth, he had a good understanding of the monster in front of him in the first place.
Even so, he couldn't help but feel a little fear in his heart. This feeling was like the blood suppression of a mouse when it sees a cat.
The real name of this monster is: Nirush, also known as: Magic Devourer.
As its name suggests, it naturally suppresses all spellcasters, even Mystra Chosen with silver fire.
The body of the Magic Devourer looks like a ball of flesh about one meter in diameter, but in fact, it is all condensed from light red mist.
This light red mist can help it absorb all harmful magic. After non-harmful magic is absorbed by it, it can restore its own health like a healing spell.
All in all, the more powerful the spell, the more energy the Magic Devourer gains. Mind control spells and illusions have no effect on them, and even magic weapons cannot fight against them.
Any spellcaster shrouded in the red mist of the Magic Devourer will not only be unable to cast spells, but also their spell slots will be consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and they may even find that they cannot use any magic items. For example, scrolls, potions, and even artifacts have no effect.
Magic Devourers are lone wanderers from distant lands, unable to voluntarily transfer magical spells or energy to other creatures, feeding solely on magic, wandering endlessly in search of resources, whether items or spellcasters They themselves are their prey.
The most important thing is that no one knows the limits of their energy absorption, and no one has ever seen such terrible aberrations starve to death due to lack of magic.
The only thing that makes spellcasters thankful is that their number is very rare. In the long history of Faerûn, this is the second magic devourer to appear in the Moonshadow Islands.
"Hiss, hiss... hiss, hiss... hiss..."
The moment the Magic Devourer appeared, countless creepy tentacles suddenly appeared in the churning red mist, and all of them were covered with blood. Sweeping towards Brian.
It can be seen from the fierce rolling red mist on the other side that it was extremely excited and excited when it saw Brian.
It was like a tiger that had been hungry for three days and three nights and suddenly found a fat prey within reach.
Facing the magic devourer who was naturally restrained, Brian stood there with a calm expression.
Since Azuth, the God of Mage, had told him the information about the Magic Devourer in detail, he naturally taught him how to deal with it.
Just when the overwhelming tentacles of the Magic Devourer were about to envelope him, Brian immediately activated the Chaos Scholar's professional feature "Chaos Surge".
In an instant, streams of deep purple chaotic energy burst out from his body. The moment it collided with the red mist of the Magic Devourer, it was swallowed up and absorbed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just a moment, this magic devourer, which was running wildly in the secret room, was completely swallowed up by the energy of chaos.
Chaos energy naturally restrains the magic devourer. This is what Azuth, the mage god, told him. This made Brian realize that I am afraid that his true identity has been seen through by the advisor of the goddess of magic. , otherwise the incarnation would not appear to guide him.
After neatly eliminating this strange monster from a distant country, Brian was surprised to find that he had gained nearly 500,000 experience points at once, which was simply unbelievable.
Acquiring this huge amount of experience allowed him to almost increase the level of Chaos Scholar by two levels in a row and obtain a second legendary favor.
Brian suppressed the idea of upgrading the level for the time being. He walked to the sarcophagus, carefully inspected it, and after confirming that there was no danger, he slowly pushed it away.
As the sarcophagus opened, a dim silver-white flame slowly appeared in front of Brian.
The silver-white flame in mid-air swayed like a candle, gradually manifesting into a slender figure emitting a faint crystal light.
This is an elegant woman, wearing a plain mage robe. Her long silver hair is spread like silver. Her delicate, smooth, flawless ice skin and jade skin shine with a mysterious silver light against the backdrop of her silver hair. .
"Are you Ms. Hillen?" Brian asked knowingly.
"Yes, I am, thank you for your help, a brave adventurer." A smile appeared on Xiren's delicate face, and his voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of sadness, "I don't have much time left. Goddess Mystra is already calling me home..."
"Then what do you need to do, or how do you need me to help you?" Brian felt the reluctance in Xilen's words. and the emotion of nostalgia.
“What I can still do now is to limit the unraveling of the magic web.” Hillen sighed softly and said in a sad tone, “I hope you can use what I have won to Time to stop the Lost Lady's dark rituals and bring freedom back to my people."
"I'm working hard for this, Ms. Hillen." Brian nodded slightly.
“You are the savior guided here by the Supreme Being. I believe in your determination. The staff of the Archmage was stored by me in the place where I once lived. I hope you will pick up this weapon. , shattering the shackles imposed by the Dark Trade Network on the Valley of Shadows."
The Staff of the Archmage.
Hearing the familiar name, Brian knew that he was getting closer and closer to obtaining this artifact.
But for some reason, he felt that he was feeling a little inexplicably sad at the moment.
Hillen told him softly: "In the newly built Krag Castle by the occupying forces, there is also a new portal from which the Zhentarim will continue to summon reinforcements."
"The Lost Lady's The dark ritual is being held secretly in Crushing Trench, a place located in the underground world. You can find the way to it in the Twisted Tower, but please be careful of the threat from the drow family of Marimoda."
"Brave adventurer, please believe me."
"When you show my compatriots who is 'truly' worthy of Abatha's Pendant, they will We will unite and become your most reliable supporter."
Brian remained silent and followed Xiron back to the surface. With the secret help of Azuth, the Watcher's Hill was still covered by a hint of silver. Light shrouded.
Hiren, the chosen one of the goddess of magic, bowed respectfully to the God of Mage hidden in the void, and then suspended in mid-air, staring at the valleys in the mountains from a distance, at the people coming and going, and at those Familiar buildings, gazing at the fields and sheep in the distant mountains.
Her bright starry eyes shone with inexplicable colors...
Finally, she sighed softly, and her body composed of silver fire gradually faded and floated. When he reached Brian's side, he leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.
She took a deep look at Brian, and then her body shrank into a weak silver flame.
Then, the flame burst violently, and a silver wave of light spread far away in all directions.
Reflected by the afterglow of the setting sun, the graceful figures under the soft light of the sunset gradually disappeared.
The breeze blew, and the hazy silver fire gradually dissipated, dissipating with it, the memory that will always belong to the witch of Shadow Valley in the hearts of the world.
…………
(End of this chapter)