From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 411 The Forgotten Philro

A nest of Horrorclaws lurks near the Whispering Tree.

They are monsters commonly found in deep caves, with vulture-like heads, beetle-like bodies, and an exoskeleton decorated with spikes and bony protrusions. As for the terrifying claws that give them their name, they grow on the ends of their powerful limbs. The long claws like hooks allow them to cling to the tops of caves and launch sneak attacks from dark and hidden places.

These ferocious omnivores have a complex system of communication, using their claws to tap their exoskeletons and surrounding stone surfaces, which allows them to attack in packs like hungry wolves, cutting off and outflanking from unexpected angles.

Their excellent hearing ensures their perception in dark environments, and their echolocation-like abilities can help them in group hunting.

Although the claw monsters living near the Whispering Tree have a terrain advantage, the glowing veins of the Whispering Tree provide good lighting conditions for this cliff.

Therefore, the claw monsters failed to cause any trouble to the adventure team, and were ripped open, beheaded and dismembered one by one.

Except for one drow.

This drow elf dressed as a wizard seems to have gone completely crazy. Not only does he associate with the claw monsters, he even eats the corpses of dwarves in their nests.

“Firo!” Dawn pointed at the corpse of the drow lying on the ground and shouted, “It was he who summoned the Watcher Beholder! He turned us all into stone statues! What retribution! He is completely crazy. Not only does he associate with the Horror Claws, he even lives next to the Whispering Tree, which cannot use magic at all! As long as we find the information he collected, we will definitely be able to take over the Adamantine Forge safely!”

Minsara turned Firlo's body over with his foot and instructed his drow elves: "Although he is dead, there are many ways to make him talk. Take his body and search this place thoroughly. Tell me how you divide the work, Bartol... Advisor?"

"My respected mistress! I am happy to tell you the whole story!" Dawn's tone was full of pride. Now he was more convinced that he was the only one who survived among the three people who had pursued the adamantium furnace.

"The story begins in the library of the Inscribed Valley, where Firro, Shagrim, and I were all training to be Shapers. One day, when I was organizing the book collection for the Archmage, I got news about the Adamantine Furnace from an ancient book. It was built by Shilov Yari, a Shar follower, and is hidden deep in the Underdark. The Shar follower also built a huge temple city around it." Dawn followed Minsara over the roots of the Whispering Tree. Ivy's teammates were climbing on the tree trunk to collect Whispering Flowers and Whispering Bark. Several spellcasters stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at the dark water below.

"At first, I wanted to monopolize this information so that I could control the Mithril Furnace with my own people, but the books in the library are so vast that I couldn't read them all by myself, let alone find specific information from them. So I found two allies, the second sons who were of the same status as me and also urgently needed to improve their status." Dawn found himself standing on the edge of a cliff, and the powerful spellcaster with the elven curved sword on his waist was only a few steps away from him.

So Dawn looked at his mistress with an inquiring look, and after getting her approval, he continued, "We plan to split up and look for information about the adamantium furnace in the library. I will be responsible for the location, Shagrim will be responsible for how to use the furnace, and Firlo will be responsible for dealing with the guards."

Dawn turned around and found the other male drow who had come with him on this adventure: "Izwe, what did you find from the Horror Claw's lair?"

"Only this." The stalker, whose entire body was covered in a drow tights with only a pair of eyes exposed, handed over a piece of paper with very messy handwriting on it.

Dawn frowned as he took the note and read it over and over again. "What's this? Could it be that Philro didn't even protect his own intelligence?"

"Let me see it." Ivy returned the telescope to Asdeln, turned around and activated his telekinesis. The invisible force took the note from Dawn's hand and floated it in front of Ivy.

"The person who wrote this information is obviously crazy, but it is easy to guess what he wants to convey." Ivy threw the note back to Dawn.

"What did you see, DOOM?" Minsara asked with a smile on her face.

"Considering that the place we are going to is the Adamantine Furnace, its guards must also have Adamantine equipment. But what kind of guard can stay on standby for such a long time and still retain its combat effectiveness even after the entire furnace disappears?" Ivy was still staring at the dark lake below. "I guess it's a golem, a golem made entirely of Adamantine. In this way, the content of the note is easy to understand. 'Born in magma, destroyed by magma', this means that the Adamantine Golem involves high heat in the forging process. Unless heated by magma, this noble metal will never succumb. Once the Adamantine Golem is forged, there is almost no force that can hurt it, so only by placing it back in a high-temperature magma environment can it be possible to break the defense of Adamantine. As for the 'hammer' mentioned in the note, it is most likely the equipment used by the Adamantine Furnace to forge Adamantine. Let the magma submerge the Adamantine Golem first, and then knock it down with a hammer. This is the way to get through the guards."

"Genius!" Minsara smiled appreciatively. "I admire you more and more, DOOM. You know, there is nothing I can't get in Menzoberranzan. This is not because I am the eldest daughter of the Baenre family, but because my scheming and methods are unmatched by others. You have to be careful, DOMM, I have taken a fancy to you, because I am sure that I need your presence on my road to greatness."

"It's just that your great cause needs me, not yourself?" Ivy had an ambiguous smile on his face. "You still have a lot to learn about the surface world and walking in the sun, Minsara."

The smile on Minsara's face disappeared, and she looked at Ivy with a look of suspicion and anger.

The matriarchal culture of the drow and the instigation of the Spider Queen Lolth make it difficult for these dark-skinned elves to figure out what love is, let alone understand the possessiveness of their lovers. Drow elves usually feel that they have undergone a great change in a relationship, and then realize that the source of this change is another life. Before they understand why love happens, they usually want to destroy the object of their love, or turn it into their own property - a slave.

Minsara has abandoned Rose, but that doesn't mean she is completely liberated from the social atmosphere of the past. Ivy can't accept a partner who has been poisoned by Rose for a long time, at least not before the influence of the Spider Queen is cleared from her mind.

It's an interesting interaction though, taking a paladin from a deity and then completely changing her thoughts and behavior.

Although it was unclear how the Chosen of the Three Gods of Death, who had concocted the conspiracy of the Supreme God, viewed such things, Ivy himself quite enjoyed it. This was the fun of controlling a conspiracy. All the actors on the stage were like your puppets, and their every move was completely controlled by you. They might even unknowingly betray their original intentions and become playthings.

"In order to ensure that the information I speculated is foolproof, we'd better let the dead answer questions." Ivy gathered his thoughts and looked at the body of the mad wizard brought back by the other drow elves. He raised his hand and drew a few green runes in the air. "Speak to me, corpse."

At the edge of the Whispering Tree's magic-forbidding effect, a large amount of necromancy magic was poured into Filo's body under Ivy's manipulation, temporarily taking over his brain that had not yet completely decayed, greedily retrieving the only remaining information in it.

"Are the guards mentioned in your notes golems made of adamantium?" Ivy asked. "Yes... adamantium... a guardian..."

"Born...in extreme heat...destroyed in extreme heat..."

Firro's body hung in mid-air, awaiting Ivy's next question.

"Why do you want to summon the Observer Eye Demon?" Ivy continued to ask.

"In order to... obtain... intelligence... others... must... think so..."

"Dawn... set an ambush..."

"It was just a simple plot, because I wanted to monopolize it from the beginning..." Dawn, who was standing aside, defended himself, but after noticing Ivy's eyes, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"What happened after the Observer Eye was summoned?" Ivy asked.

"Turned to stone... Dawn... and his followers... then lost control... Shagrim... and I... were... attacked..."

"He went insane because of the Eye Demon's ray attack... Then, where is Shagrim?" This was the second to last question.

"Escape north...return the way you came..."

"What other treasures do you have hidden?" Ivy asked finally.

"Grandmaster... Formal Apprentice... One third of the symbol... is hidden in the... interlayer of the belt..."

The power of the dead to speak faded, and the body fell lifelessly back to the ground.

Ivy waved his fingers lightly, and Phillo's belt untied automatically, revealing a crystal flashing with cold light.

"Considering that the three of you divided the information about the adamantium furnace into three parts," Ivy played with the ice crystal and looked at Dawn, who was obviously very nervous, "so I reasonably guess that one-third of the symbol of the archmage's official apprentice is also in your hands?"

"Yes, that's right..." Dawn took out a long staff from his bottomless backpack. A chill was emanating from it. "In order to prevent anyone in our alliance from secretly informing the Archmage, we worked together to murder his official apprentice when he was out, and split the staff into three parts and hid them separately... You see, only when we become accomplices can we have an unbreakable alliance, right?"

"It's a pity that this alliance fell apart immediately after losing the threat from the Archmage." Ivy smiled slightly and glanced at Minsara, whose face was as gloomy as water. "He is your advisor, Minsara, I will not interfere. But - this is for you."

After catching the ice crystal thrown by Ivy, the smart eldest daughter of Banrui immediately understood what Ivy meant.

She gave a sinister smile, staring at Dawn's restless eyes. "I hope you can serve me wholeheartedly, Advisor Dawn Bartol. Instead of holding back or hiding anything. If it were in Menzoberranzan, the Matron of House Baenre would order your skin to be peeled off and let you watch your blood drain away bit by bit... But I want to build a city greater than Menzoberranzan, a city that shines both above and below the ground... Take good care of it, Dawn of House Bartol, just like you take care of your own life. I hope that the ice crystal can always remind you that I don't like to hide anything, anything."

Dawn, who was holding the ice crystal, was surprised, and then his knees softened and he fell to the ground: "I swear to be loyal to you without reservation, otherwise I will become the bait in the spider's web!"

In the world of Toril, any oath is valid, and those who break their oaths will be despised by all gods. Even the source of the power of the paladins comes from their oaths.

The Spider Web is the domain of the Spider Queen Lolth, the 66th layer of the Abyss, a huge network made entirely of thick magical spider webs, forming various passages and cocoon-like chambers. There are all kinds of servants and demons serving Lolth, and no sentient creature would want to become the bait of the demon lord and true god.

Therefore, for Dawn, who is a drow sworn to Rose, this is a very serious oath. If he really breaks it, he will fall into a truly bottomless abyss.

The anger on Minsara's face disappeared, replaced by a satisfied smile: "You offered me your loyalty, and I returned it with glory. In the city that is about to rise, you will surely have a place! And it will be a very important place!"

"What a touching allegiance ceremony!" Arsdalen's unpleasant voice came from the side, "I thought I was in a magnificent government hall, not in this dark underground, with visitors coming and going in my mind."

The drow cast angry glances at their pale surface relatives, but Asdelon pretended not to see them. "I have found the myconid fishing village through the telescope. The bodies of the dwarves are everywhere. Those gray dwarves gathered around the campfire, but their number seems to be very small, even less than a quarter of ours, so I think some of them must be hiding in the dark, ready to surprise anyone who attacks rashly."

"If we can launch a surprise attack from a high position..." Asdeln raised a finger and smiled cunningly, "like the champion warriors who attacked Zariel before... these guys will definitely be thrown into disarray!"

(End of this chapter)