Chapter 388 Traces of the Earth Prophet
At dusk, Badric led Brian along the cobblestone path, passed through an apple forest, and came to a slope leading to Candlekeep.
On closer inspection, we discovered that the slope was much steeper than it appeared from a distance. In order to facilitate climbing, the scholars built a simple wooden staircase and shuttled back and forth between the buildings along the hillside.
Brian, who has long been accustomed to walking on foot, has lifted the curse secretly cast on him by the lost lady Shar, but he has not forgotten the rules here. He follows Bard like an ordinary person. Behind Rick, he climbed silently along the slope.
On the way up the mountain, they met more than a dozen scholars from Candlekeep,
These people wore dark brown scholar robes with their hoods pulled up. They looked at them curiously as they passed by, but they all remained silent and did not say a word of greeting.
One of them led two cows to a low thatched-roofed barn, and the other was churning butter. Higher up the hillside, there were three boys driving sheep, and further up there were A cemetery.
When the last rays of the setting sun disappeared above the sea level of the Sword Coast, they finally climbed up the ancient basalt cliffs.
What appeared in Brian's sight was a castle like a fortress. The windows of more than a dozen towers were filled with candle light, creating a starry night sky in the darkness.
With his keen intuition about magic, Brian clearly felt that these dozen towers were complete mage towers, guarding this largest library tightly.
Just as he swept his gaze across these mage towers, he also noticed that prophecy-type detection magic fell on him, and he immediately took it back.
Around Candlekeep, there is a large circle of low stone walls without mud, surrounding a large cluster of buildings, including windmills with creaking blades and rooms where scholars sleep. , a dining hall, and a wooden shrine for prayer and meditation.
The windows of the temple are inlaid with glass, and the broad doors are carved with statues of Ogma, the god of knowledge, and his followers.
Under the leadership of Badrick, they did not enter the library of Candlekeep directly. Instead, they followed a walkway on a heptagonal spire and came to the back of the temple.
This is a vegetable garden. Even though night is coming, some older scholars are still bending over and pulling weeds in the vegetable field.
Badrick led him around an oak tree and came to a wooden door embedded in the mountainside.
“A door with a cave?” Brian said with interest.
Everything here seemed to bring him back to the life of an ordinary person. It was precisely for this reason that his heart became particularly peaceful and stable, and he even thought of living in seclusion here permanently. idea.
This made Brian unconsciously think of a word that can express all the things here: return to nature and simplicity.
Perhaps this is the highest state of a strong man.
Facing Brian's question, Badrick's old face showed a gentle smile:
"This is called the Sage's Cave. The first sage who found this place lived in it. He once created many miracles and attracted many scholars to join him. That was more than two thousand years ago, and the door was added later.”
Hearing this, Brian probably guessed. The true identity of this so-called 'sage'.
Two thousand years ago, the Sage's Cave may have been dark and damp, covered with mud and echoing with the sound of dripping water, but that has long since changed.
The cave Brian entered turned into a warm and comfortable secret room.
The floor is covered with a woolen blanket with a huge nine-pointed star, the walls are covered with tapestry, long candles emit abundant light, and the furniture is strange and quaint in style, including a long table, a high-backed bench, and a box.
The bookshelves between the windows are filled with all kinds of weird books, while the table is filled with various specimen bottles, alchemy tools, and other miscellaneous items.
A young tiefling wearing a dark red wizard's robe stood by the window, looking at the turbulent waves beating against the foundation stone of Candlekeep, lost in thought.
In the corner of the table, there was also a slender little green devil standing, with warty green skin, crazy eyes, and thin black horns. , and a whip-like tail.
This is the Quasai demon pet from the bottomless abyss. Brian recognized the identity of the demon.
"The joy of seeing you is beyond words." Sensing their arrival, the tiefling slowly turned around and said, "What did you bring me?"
She has a graceful and slender figure, and a shallow face. Her long purple hair spreads to her waist, and a pair of curved goat horns stick out from her hair.
She slightly swung her slender tail behind her, and on her delicate pink face, a pair of pure black eyes without pupils, stayed for a moment on Badrick and Brian, and welcomed with a smile:
“It’s always a happy day when my friends Badrick and Cat come to visit. I’m Silvera Savikas, and I’d like to welcome the new visitors. After all, I’ve seen new faces recently. It’s really too little.”
When she smiled, she showed two pointed little tiger teeth, adding a touch of playfulness to the tiefling’s serious face.
"I'm Brian, from Cormyr, Ms. Savikas." Brian simply introduced himself.
After being polite, the three of them sat down on the high-backed bench.
Badrick's leopard lay on the soft wool blanket, exposing its soft belly, stretching out its paws to play with the quasai demon.
The Tiefling wise man named Silvera Savikas was obviously very enthusiastic about the relationship between the two of them, but when Badrick mentioned the purpose of Brian's coming here, She put away her smile and just said, "I understand."
Then, Ms. Tiefling changed the subject, "You must be thirsty, please try our sweet cider." , to moisten the throat that has experienced the dust of travel. ”
She poured wine for them personally and said:
"Candlekeep is the largest library in Faerûn. What the scholars here yearn for most is to be immersed in silent books, so that they can feel as if they are silent. It’s the same in the flow of time, because all the knowledge in the world is hidden in books, but there has never been anything or any reason for scholars to feel that it is natural to disturb the authors of these books.”
"Sir Brian." The tiefling sat back on the chair, looking at Brian with his black eyes without pupils, and asked with deep meaning, "What do you think?"
" It should be so." Brian pondered slightly and expressed his thoughts.
The tiefling's inquiry made him realize that Badrick's purpose in letting him come to Candlekeep on foot was not only to lift the curse placed on him by the Lost Lady, but also to make him pregnant with the child. Respect the authors of books and read their works.
"You are very sensible and wise." Tiefling smiled and said to him, "I am very happy that you were able to overcome the curse of the Lost Lady and gave us the opportunity to meet."
"For this "I should thank Master Badrick for his guidance." Brian said, "It was his guidance that got me out of the dark predicament."
"Tieflin shook his head slightly. "Master Badrick is only responsible for guiding the way. What defeats the curse is your rational heart that correctly judged the "Black Forbidden Book"."
After saying that, she put down the cup in her hand and stood up, "The dinner bell rings. The bell is about to ring, my friends, will you share bread, meat, and mead with me before heading to Candlekeep's library?"
"With pleasure," Baldric nodded. The leopard barked in agreement.
Brian naturally had no objections.
Although this was his first time coming to Candlekeep, he had heard about the rules of Candlekeep.
If you want to check out the knowledge in the library, in addition to handing over a book, you also have to have dinner with the wise men here and face all kinds of difficult questions from them.
As night fell, the tiefling took them to a dining room lit by candlelight.
The dinner at Candlekeep was the strangest combination Brian had ever seen, but it was not unpleasant.
The food is simple and delicious, the freshly baked bread is crispy and warm, the newly stirred butter is placed in a jar, and there is honey from Candlekeep bees in the jar. The thick stew contains crab meat, clam meat, and at least three kinds of meat. different kinds of fish.
I have to say that this is the most delicious dinner Brian has ever had so far. Even the mead he brewed is particularly sweet when he drinks it.
Before the food came, just like the rules of Candlekeep, Tiefling Silvera did ask him many tricky questions.
For example: What is the most creative way to destroy a clock? Will a venomous snake be poisoned by a venomous snake?
Make Brian happy Yes, he also has the golden dragon Palalandusk as his helper, who has lived for thousands of years. Otherwise, he would really be unable to withstand all kinds of weird questions from tieflings.
After dinner, the tiefling scholar offered to take him to the library in Candlekeep.
Brian had no objection to this.
After bidding farewell to the monk Badric, under the leadership of Silvera, he came to the high tower on the east side of Candlekeep, which faced the rough Sword Coast and was colder than the other side with the leeward direction. , more deserted. The hillside is steep, the path winds through weeds, thorns and weathered rocks, and twisted, thorny trees cling tenaciously to the slopes.
Silveira also lit a lamp like an ordinary mortal to illuminate the way uphill.
She stood at the corner of the mountainside, pointed forward and said, "Sir Brian, on a clear night, you can see the lights of Baldur's Gate from here."
"Indeed." Ryan nodded slightly against the biting sea breeze, "After night falls, the prosperity of this port city can be seen from the bright lights."
"Yes." Tiefling let the strong wind blow her With disheveled lavender hair, he sighed silently and said slowly, "But the Baldur's Gate I have witnessed is the closest place to hell in my memory..."
Brian Naturally, he knew what the other party was referring to. It was nothing more than Baal, the long-dead god of killing, reborn in Baldur's Gate amidst chaos and blood.
As you can imagine, tragedies unfolded themselves in the city, resulting in the death of many dukes and a large number of residents in the city.
"Let's go." Before he could say anything, Silvera motioned for him to set off.
She turned a corner, and a simple tall tower appeared in front of her.
When the tiefling brought Brian to the library filled with books, after she explained the precautions, she did not say goodbye immediately, but looked hesitant.
"Sir Brian."
She solemnly reminded: "The battle between the gods is by no means a game that us mortals can easily participate in. I hope we can have it next time. A chance to meet again.”
"There will be." Brian sat on the chair and replied calmly, "Ms. Silvera."
"I hope so." After she finished speaking, she turned around and left quietly.
Brian no longer wasted time, looking at the mountains of books and scrolls in front of him. He did not aimlessly search for what he needed, but immediately contacted the golden dragon Paralanda in the Arcane Fire. Sk.
As the golden dragon's high-spirited mantra echoed in his mind, gradually, all the books in the entire library were wrapped in an invisible energy like water waves.
This is the detection and prophecy technique used by Jin Long, which can accurately help him find the books he wants.
"Six o'clock, third row from the bottom, twelfth square."
"Twelve o'clock, first row from the bottom, second square."
"Eight o'clock Bell, the fifteenth row from the beginning, the thirty-third grid.”
…………
After Brian took all the books pointed out by Jin Long, he couldn’t wait to check them out. .
He learned from the books recorded by a lich servant who called himself Larok:
"The famous earth prophet Arcindor, although his residence has never been found, many great mages believe that, The Earth Prophet is the owner of the lost city of Orem."
The last message of another Simon City adventurer named Sweet recorded:
"In the streets blocked by sand. Between the broken towers, my path to survival has disappeared, and death follows my panicked footsteps. It is a lich skull burning with pale flames..."
Then, Brian in Il An important piece of news was found in Munster's mage's notebook, which recorded:
"Many of the descendants who survived the destruction of Netheril stored their collected knowledge in a library called Lokmar in distant Halrua. The history of Netheril has been destroyed. It is included in a history book called "Netheril: The Fall of the Magical Empire" and is sealed in the Temple of Mystra on Mount Talas."
"Although this book seems to be very helpful. "It looks like that." Jin Long's voice sounded in Brian's mind, "But it doesn't mean that it contains detailed knowledge of Asindo."
"At least it's a clue." Ryan also said with a slight headache, "After all, this is the only information we found in Candlekeep that is close to the traces of the Earth Prophet."
"That's not necessarily true." Jin Long retorted:
"Boy, go to the 35th row at five o'clock and put it in the bottom grid. There are records about Chult Jungle and Seth Temple. You might find something unexpected."
The Jungle of Chult and the Temple of Seth?
Brian was startled for a moment, then showed a look of surprise and murmured to himself:
"Yes, why didn't I think of that? I have been paying attention to the news about the Earth Prophet. , but ignored the history of the three major creator races. It would be relatively easy to find the origins of these ancient empires."
So, he immediately took out the book where Jin Long pointed out the location.
This is a travel diary that seems to have been covered with dust for a long time. It should have been given by an adventurer in order to fulfill the conditions for entering Candlekeep.
Brian couldn't wait to open it and check it out:
On the way south through the black jungle, we discovered an ancient ruins on the northern shore of the Lapa Sea.
Although this rock structure has been almost submerged by the surrounding vegetation, the remaining remains are enough to prove to us that it was once a temple belonging to a certain race.
After cutting a passage through the web of snake-like curling vines, we found a stone slope leading to the lower level of the temple, and then walked into a twisting path that extended deep underground. tunnel.
A large number of bas-reliefs are scattered on the limestone walls on both sides of the passage, depicting the ancient Serpentis Empire - this is our language's name for a long-declined Serpent Empire - in its prime. period scenes.
Although dripping water has long since erased most of the details over the centuries, the few remaining carvings give us some insight into their themes.
The relief depicts the court of Serpentis during a period of dormancy during the Year of Dreams.
Most dormant snake creatures. They are all troubled and tortured by horrific hallucinations. In their sleep, thousands of tiny venomous snakes tear them apart and eat them alive.
Only the emperor of the empire, Seth, seemed unharmed. The nightmares originating from him seemed to pounce on his body, intertwining into a majestic, solemn, and erratic robe of darkness.
As we descend, we witness these carvings depicting the return of the nightmares to their source, where these monsters emerged from a huge pit shaped like the mouth of a giant snake. They all fell under Seth's watchful and guarded gaze.
In the subsequent mural, Seth flies into the sky high in the jungle near the Western Flame Peak, followed by countless cloaks of nightmares.
At the foot of a huge volcano, he passed through a portal leading to Smalagad, the 74th level of the Abyss, ruled by Morshok.
In the final scenes, Seth's Nightmare Robe disintegrates into a swarm of shadow snakes that devour Morshok's sleeping body.
The long and winding tunnel ends abruptly in a huge cave, with the gaping mouth of a giant snake standing at its bottom.
We had just stepped into this place when a large group of flying nightmares swarmed out from the abyss and surrounded us.
With the screams of my companions echoing in my ears, I fled from the Mouth of Danda in panic. The terrifying and horrifying visions destroyed my consciousness.
For three days, I begged the Moon Goddess to drive the nightmare away from my mind, but she refused my prayers.
Finally in despair, I turned to begging the Lost Lady to end my torment.
Now, as the blessed embrace of night covers my form, the hateful visions cease, and I can finally find some peace.
——ELB
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(End of this chapter)