Chapter 394 The Treasure House of Witches
Leaving the Dark Area, Brian once again returned to the long corridor full of murals.
The corridor is deep and quiet, and the murals are lifelike, as if they could come alive at any time.
"Sure enough, this witch spire is indeed a relic left by the Mershok Empire." The thoughts of the golden dragon Paralandax rang in Brian's mind.
"Why didn't you disappear this time?" Brian asked curiously.
"Maybe after this trial, you have been recognized by this tower." After Jin Long finished speaking, he reminded, "Although you have passed the trial of hell difficulty, you still have to be careful. After all, we have stepped into the When I was in the tower, I noticed a trace of power from the gods. This terrible power suppressed my thoughts and made it impossible to communicate with you."
Brian nodded slightly to prevent his mind from being affected by the mural. Under the influence, he once again added a "spiritual soul barrier" to himself, and then cautiously walked towards the depths of this long corridor with no end in sight.
What surprised him was that the idea to issue a trial task to himself did not appear immediately.
In this case, he could only continue to move forward until he was about to lose patience while walking along this deep and silent corridor, and finally saw the end.
This is a spacious hall. The soft magical light is full of holy colors, shining like daylight.
Ancient statues of scaly creatures stood silently on both sides. They either held spears or swords and shields, just like the watcher golems in the cemetery.
Brian stood in the center of the hall, staring at the lifelike reliefs on the wall, his shock was palpable.
“It turned out to be a feathered serpent!” The golden dragon Paralandax, like Brian, recognized the creature depicted on the relief at a glance and couldn’t help but murmur in his mind.
Looking at the watchman in the hall and the feathered serpent on the relief, Brian couldn't help but recall the information about this group of winged snakes.
While looking for traces of the 'Earth Prophet' Asindo in Candlekeep, he deliberately looked through all the information about the Saluk Witch Snake in the library, and learned that the Quetzalcoatl was actually the descendant of the Witch Snake Empire after its demise. , transformed from a group of witches who favored the good camp.
The feathered serpents, or kind-hearted witches, after arriving in the Chult jungle, they despaired of their evil compatriots, and then split off to form a new group, while praying for the help of a clone of the giant serpent of the universe.
This is Jeselanda, the good snake among the two snakes of order.
It was the Serpent of Creation who transformed the shaman into a feathered serpent. Then a war that affected the multiverse broke out. The feathered serpent was defeated by its evil compatriots and was forced to flee back to the Lord. In the unknown continent in the far west of the material world, only a handful of feathered serpents live in other worlds on the material plane.
What followed was the first prosperous era about 24,000 years ago.
In this era, the great elven civilization reached its peak in Faerûn.
Along with the elves' successive victories over orcs, dragons and giants, other races gradually prospered in a safe environment and entered their own civilizations.
Knowing that they could not defeat the elves, the remaining dragons gathered an army to attack the Saluk witch in the Chult jungle, which was also the many important members of the Mershok empire. The city launched a steady stream of attacks.
At this time, the Saluk Wuhu Empire had long existed in name only, and was mainly ruled by snake people. It eventually collapsed under the fierce attack of the dragon.
Seeing the destruction of the Serpent Empire in the Chult Jungle, Uota, the father of the dinosaurs, immediately took this opportunity to contact the feathered serpent clan hiding in the material plane. Inspired by the father of the dinosaurs, the feathered snakes The snake formed a new army and returned to the Chult jungle.
In the centuries that followed, the Coatal and the Serpent fought each other for control of the Chultan Peninsula.
The serpents retreated steadily, and many strongholds in the west fell into the hands of the feathered serpents. In the end, the two sides were bounded by the Hazul Mountains, and the war ended in a stalemate.
"This...could it be...that this is not the spire of a witch but a feathered serpent?" Jin Long widened his eyes and said in disbelief.
“I also think it is the spire of the Quetzalcoatl.” Brian said calmly.
After all, the Quetzalcoatl is a good camp, and exploring their ruins is much safer than exploring the Wuhu ruins. He naturally hopes that this is the tower of the Quetzalcoatl.
It’s just that he’s not sure yet whether this idea is right or not.
"I'm sure." Paralandusk said in a firm tone:
"There are definitely many unknown ancient secrets in this spire, such as the whereabouts of the twin snakes of order. What have they become? What kind of gods have they become, and whether the World Serpent is the true form of the Twin Snakes of Order?"
"I hope this is as you suspected." Brian said worriedly.
Just as he was thinking about this issue, the indifferent voice that had disappeared for a long time passed through his spiritual barrier and suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Trialist." It said indifferently:
"Congratulations on completing this trial. As a reward for passing the highest difficulty challenge, you will get a chance to enter the spire treasure house. As for what treasures you can get inside, it depends on your own identification ability."
"It finally appeared. I thought it was cheating and not admitting it." Paralandusk apparently heard the message in Brian's mind, and he said excitedly:
"Treasure appraisal ability? In this world, I am afraid that no mortal's treasure appraisal ability can match that of our dragon clan. The treasure house of the ancient witch spire is exciting to think about."
Brian suddenly came to his senses and glanced left and right, trying to find the entrance to the treasure house.
Just when he was wondering how to get to the treasure house, he was shocked to find that in the hall under his feet, circles of complex rune lines were quietly lit up.
The lines flowed with the unpredictable light, and finally intertwined into a complete teleportation array.
"Go, Trialist, this circle will last for an hour. Remember, you only have one hour..."
As the scene in front of you gradually becomes blurry Getting up, Brian vaguely heard the familiar voice of indifference.
In the blink of an eye, he was transported to other places.
What appeared in front of him was like a corridor in an underground city. The interior architectural style was strange. Both the tall and straight round footings and the surrounding walls were deliberately carved with detailed textures like scales. At first glance, it looks very rough, but upon closer inspection, it seems to be completely natural, like the scale pattern on the surface of some kind of scaly creature.
It is recorded in Candlekeep's information about the Saluk witches that they seem to hate smooth things and think the smell of phosphorus-free creatures is very disgusting, and smooth skin will make them nauseous.
As a result, Saluk Wuhu conducted a large number of magic experiments, combining scaly creatures and humanoid creatures with each other, creating various lizards, snakes, and winged snakes that matched each other. A race of servants to their aesthetic tastes.
At first, Brian thought that this rumor was fabricated, but after seeing this underground city, he discovered that the aesthetics of Saluk Wu Fei had been successfully reflected in their architecture. In style.
He no longer wasted time, and at the urging of the golden dragon Paralandax, he unconsciously quickened his pace and headed towards the treasure house. In the corridor of this underground city, lifelike statues of scaly creatures are placed every half meter or so. Most of the servants inside are kneeling and respectful. There are spellcasters holding orbs, and some holding magic beads. Warriors armed with various sharp blades and spears.
Seeing this, Brian gradually realized that this witch spire was probably not left by the feathered serpents.
Having doubts about the dungeon, he walked down this long corridor, and finally came to a shimmering dark golden light, consisting of two people covered with scales and holding battle axes. In front of the gate guarded by the scale descendants.
As soon as Brian arrived here, he suddenly noticed an icy chill that seemed to be radiating from a cold-blooded reptile, rushing towards him, and he couldn't help but shudder.
For a moment, he seemed to see the two statues come to life, looking at him coldly, as if if he made the slightest move, he would immediately let his blood spill on the spot.
“These are two constructed golems whose strength is at least around the level of high-level legends.” The golden dragon Paralandusk also felt this heart-pounding energy and clicked his tongue:
"The construction technology of the creator race is just different. It looks like a living creature, with flesh and blood. I don't know if this knowledge is recorded in the Nese scroll."
Hearing Jinlong's complaints, Brian just plucked up the courage to take a closer look at the scaled statue.
Sure enough, it was discovered that the scales on the bodies of these two scale descendants were like mysterious runes, intertwined with each other, forming some kind of magic circle similar to an activation structure.
In other words, once the guarding formations are activated, they can immediately become flesh-and-blood dungeon guards.
At this moment, the empty eyes of the two guards suddenly flashed with a strange red light, and then the door with a light golden luster slowly dissipated, and Open slowly and automatically.
Brian no longer hesitated and walked in quickly under the cold gazes of the two guards.
In the bright treasure room, shiny gold coins in the shape of scales were piled up like a mountain in a corner of the treasure house. There were also many opened treasure boxes scattered on top, filled with antiques and jewelry.
Brian was about to put away all the treasures with a big wave of his hand, but suddenly found that there were several decaying humanoid skeletons on the pile of gold coins, which instantly aroused his vigilance.
“Be careful, the treasure of Saluk Wu Hao is not that easy to get.” The golden dragon Paralandax also suppressed his excitement and reminded calmly:
< br>"These dead people are very likely to be trialists of all ages. In other words, this treasure house is not completely safe. There may be a deadly trap hidden in a treasure box or something similar to a vase. ”
"Then what should we do?" Brian said slightly depressed.
Finally it was time to pick up the treasure, but he couldn't collect it at will, not to mention how depressed he was at the moment.
However, it made him feel relieved to see that the golden dragon, which had no immunity to treasure, could calm down instantly and remind himself of the danger here.
It can be seen from this that facing the temptation of treasure, I am not even as good as a dragon known for its greed.
"The Saluk Witch is an ancient evil creature. Even if you complete the challenge, their wealth is not so easy to get." Paralandax thought for a moment and said thoughtfully. : "In that case, let's not be too greedy. If we only take one piece, there should be no problem."
"It seems that's the only way it can be." Brian nodded slightly and looked around.
Obviously, gold coins and jewelry here are definitely the most mindless choices. After all, traps are everywhere. The more you take, the more risks you take.
This seems like the simplest probability problem.
So, Brian did not choose to wander around. Since that was the case, he simply calmed down and thought about what he needed most.
Judging from his current worth, there is no shortage of equipment for the time being.
Although there are some rich people who are covered in legendary equipment, it is not difficult for a spellcaster with his level of strength to upgrade all the purple equipment to legendary quality as long as he is given time and with sufficient precious materials. .
So equipment is not his first choice.
Besides the equipment, the only thing left is the magic knowledge left by the Saluk Witch.
"Help me find the knowledge they left behind." Brian expressed his thoughts to Jinlong through his thoughts.
“I’m thinking of getting together.” Paralandusk said with a smile:
"After all, the equipment here is left by the witches. Tens of thousands of years have passed. Even if their spires have powerful protective barriers, as long as they are not artifacts, the materials, runes and enchantments of the equipment will gradually deteriorate over time. , legendary equipment is no exception.”
“Furthermore, the rules of the world have long been changed with the multiple deaths of the goddess Mystra. Even if intact equipment is found, there may be some changes. Under the circumstances, looking for the knowledge left by Wu Hui is indeed the best choice."
Brian nodded slightly, but he didn't expect Jinlong to think so carefully.
He reluctantly looked away from the various equipment and started walking towards the storage rack where the books were placed.
However, when he was halfway there, Paralandax's thoughts suddenly became excited and he immediately stopped him.
"As expected, I knew I could find something left by the witch here." He quickly said to Brian, "I found a very interesting book, which may be more suitable for you, or more suitable for us." < br>
"What?" Brian asked.
"Go to the shelf on the left, the fifth book on the twelfth floor. Have you seen it?" Jin Long pointed out the location of the books for him.
Brian followed his directions and found the books on the bookshelf.
He did not take out the book immediately, but cast detection magic.
As expected, a 'Blade of Disaster' trap was actually cast on this book. Once activated by a reckless intruder, a terrifying nine-ring spell would be instantly released.
After carefully dispelling the magic trap, he took the book out of it.
This is a quaint box used to hold books.
After checking again and again to confirm that it was correct, Brian opened the box.
Then he saw that what was inside was not the book he imagined, but an ancient parchment scroll, which seemed to be some kind of blueprint.
(End of this chapter)