Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 243 The mountain is not high

It is now the latter half of autumn, a time of decline and decay, and we are entering late autumn, approaching winter. Not only has the setting sun bid farewell early, but the remaining warmth has quickly turned into a chill, and the bleak autumn wind often blows, adding to the desolation.

As soon as Zhang Yuan got off the bus, he saw his teammates gathered in a circle, all casting expectant glances at him.

Knowing what they were hoping for, the mage sighed, walked to the chosen open space, and summoned the long-lost Leomon Sanctuary. As the leader, he could only be exploited by his teammates, which was quite helpless.

Actually, there are other ways. If Master Zhang is willing to contribute his magic laboratory, with a little modification, it can free up enough space for the team members to rest, after all, it is about two hundred square meters.

But is he willing to do that?
Asking a mage to convert his laboratory into a hostel? That would be the death of him!

"Oh well, it's just a level four spell anyway," Zhang Yuan thought to himself as he opened the door and went inside, followed by his teammates who filed in after him.

After dinner, everyone went to their rooms and settled in. Tonight's shift was assigned to Münster.

Of course, the barbarians did not resist this task; in fact, they were quite willing to do it.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. A whistling wind swept past from the north, circling over the stone shelter. A slight chill wafted through the ventilation windows, but Münster's heart was burning with excitement.

"Disasters originating from glacial debris."

His goddess had appeared here in person, and although she only said one sentence and then fell silent, it didn't matter. It was enough that she was by his side.

If she were to actually speak, he wouldn't know how to respond, Münster thought to himself.

Of course, it wasn't just Crystal Maiden who was summoned to assist Münster; the diminutive clockwork goblin Blingbloon also made an appearance, but he didn't attract the Barbarian's attention at all.

Perhaps it was the protection of Tamora, or the care of Suren, but the night was peaceful and serene. Only the moonlight and the evening breeze accompanied Münster and his two chess pieces. The fact that he was alone with the witch he admired in such a peaceful atmosphere made even the usually taciturn barbarian feel a little dazed and unreal.

As the silver moon set in the west and the sun rose in the east, the teammates who had just woken up greeted Münster, and then the Crystal Maiden disappeared from the barbarian's disappointed gaze.

After deactivating the summons, Zhang Yuan patted the other person on the shoulder and walked out of the room without saying anything more.

The monk, upon exiting the door, did not join his teammates to wait for the oatmeal porridge to boil by the pot. After exchanging greetings, he climbed a nearby hill alone.

The saying goes, "Climb high and look far." Standing on a mountaintop and gazing into the distance, the entire road ahead comes into view.
Looking north, beyond the rolling hills, the Swamp of the Dead stands out starkly in the distance, forcing trade routes to take a long detour to avoid it.

What a terrible place that is!

With the blessing of the Angel's Eye, the mage could clearly see the dark, muddy ground dotted with puddles and swamps from a distance, and the miasma rising from the ground under the morning sun seemed to smell the putrid decay carried by the north wind.

What floats above the black swamp is not a beautiful sunrise; these miasmas, which appear as vibrant as colorful clouds, are deadly.

Although it's called the Swamp of the Dead, there are still quite a few creatures active there. At least in Zhang Yuan's field of vision, there were the lizardmen and beetles, the two old natives.

As for undead creatures, they are indispensable. They wander around the southern end of the swamp and don't look like high-level undead. However, it is unknown what kind of monsters are in the depths.

If it were just these things in front of him, Zhang Yuan wouldn't have felt too troubled. After all, the situation in the Death Land before wasn't much different. In any case, they were just traveling around the outside, and the trade route didn't go deep into the swamp. There was no reason why even caravans could travel there, but his group wouldn't dare to.

The monk was considering two things at this moment, the first being the journey.

The Swamp of the Dead is vast, stretching for hundreds of miles. Normally, traveling in a straight line to Neverwinter would take about three days to complete the remaining journey. However, due to this unexpected turn of events, after taking a huge detour, it would be good if we could reach our destination within a week.

This is based on the ideal situation where the road conditions are normal. What if this section of road is like the two swamps before?
Hmph, then they're in for a rough time.

Another point is that when I talked to Galas about heading north to Neverwinter, the old man solemnly told me about the current situation in the Swamp of the Dead.

This kind of information cannot be found in those local customs and traditions or in old documents.

For example, the cults that have been active in that muddy area recently, usually sneak around like rats in the sewers, unable to see the light of day yet impossible to eradicate, have suddenly decided to come out of their rat holes. I don't know what's wrong with them.

Ordinary cultists are no problem, but if they run into mid- to high-ranking priests or sorcerers, they might not be able to be dealt with as easily as last time.

Moreover, although evil gods don't really care about the lives of their followers, even a cornered dog will jump over a wall. If he really offended them too much, he wouldn't dare gamble on whether they would care about saving face.
They bullied the weak and came down to confront them personally.

The worst-case scenario is that we'll run into those two gangsters again on a narrow road, and then we'll be in a real bind – whether we fight or not, it's not a good situation.

Feeling restricted and stifled!
Besides these earth rats that are fond of various sacrificial rituals, some fierce and large creatures also appear in this area.

They are the natural kings of the swamp, the despicable raiders—the Black Dragons!
It is certain that there is more than one black dragon in the Swamp of the Dead ahead. This is not only information that the two wanderers obtained from the Adventurers' Guild, but also direct confirmation of this by Garas's warning.

Among the five-colored dragons in the dragon hierarchy, there are one black, two white, and three spotted.

Cough, no, it should be red, blue, green, black, and white.

In truth, Black Dragon was nothing more than a second-to-last deputy squad leader, only slightly better than White Dragon, the disgrace of the dragon race.

but!

A dragon is a dragon. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, let alone a giant dragon, a creature that stands at the top of the food chain in Faerûn.
Of course, we have to exclude those who are divine beings, ancient evil creatures, biochemical alchemical products, and other cheating contenders.

Take the White Dragon for example. Even other evil dragons look down on it and are ashamed to be ranked alongside it among the five-colored dragons.

However, it cannot be denied that the white dragon's strong physique, breath attack, and spell-like abilities still guarantee its status as a top predator.

What truly limits them and causes them to fall to the bottom of the dragon hierarchy is their mind and intelligence.

Thank you to Water Blue Wind Chime and dragonbron for your monthly tickets!

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(End of this chapter)