From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 412 Mediocre Treasure Box
The myconid fishing village is just below the cliff. Apart from the gray dwarf sailors sitting around the campfire, there are only some corpses in the ruined village.

Near the dock, there was a strangely shaped wooden boat, which was modified from two small sampans. The sampans were reinforced horizontally with wooden boards to provide additional footholds, and the raised wooden platform at the stern served as the wheelhouse. The gray dwarves also added bird-wing-like sails at the stern. When the boat was moving, these sails would open like a bird's wings to increase the windward area.

Although the air in the Underdark does not flow frequently, the existence of an unfathomable body of water like Ebony Lake will still cause temperature differences to form wind on the lake surface. However, the distance this wind can blow is limited, because the entire Underdark is not completely connected together. They have formed their own levels and areas underground in Faerun, and there are few passages that can directly reach each other.

Only the giant purple worms living underground and the drow who are willing to forge ahead to capture more slaves will try to dig holes in their own layers and occasionally connect the two unrelated underground worlds.

So most intelligent beings living in the Underdark will not ignore the threats below their feet, but will take the threats above their heads lightly, especially when they are in open areas.

There were many Duergar pirates who crossed Ebony Lake from the Adamantine Forge in pursuit of slaves, but most of them died in battle with the myconids, especially after they destroyed a myconid fishing village and were ambushed by another myconid tribe.

There were only a few gray dwarves left in the fishing village waiting for support. Even though they had arranged sentries in secret places according to the terrain as much as possible, they were still attacked from above.

Due to the interference of the Whispering Flower's anti-magic field, Ivy took some time to cast Slow Fall on each team member.

The anti-magic field of Whispering Flower has a limited range, only a 10-foot spherical range. As long as the caster is not a cripple, he can easily run out of its range of influence.

Within this anti-magic field, all magic will be transformed into pure magic due to the absorption power of the Whispering Flower, and then disappear without a trace. Therefore, spell effects will lose their original effects, magical travel will be blocked, and magic effects with an effective area larger than the anti-magic field will be cut off. Even magic items within the anti-magic field will be suppressed.

But the problem remains. The anti-magic field has a limited range, so Ivy can find a loophole to cast Slow Fall on his teammates.

All you need to do is put the Whispering Flower into a sack, find a rope that is long enough, extend the rope out of the range of the anti-magic field, and tie it to the caster. Then you can use magic safely and land on the ground without dropping the Whispering Flower.

"We need no prisoners, Asdaelon." Minsara wiped her sword clean on the pants of a gray dwarf. She now liked this sword belonging to the paladin of Eilistraee more and more.

"Of course I know, dear," said Arsdalen radiantly. "He is my little snack, you know what I mean? Although he is terrified, the blood in his veins does not deteriorate, and even adds some extra flavor."

"Hey! You clearly said that you only drank the blood of wild beasts for two hundred years!" Evil Thought pointed at Asdeln and shouted.

"That's true," Asdaelon took out a silk scarf from the pocket of his fine coat and wiped the gray dwarf's neck vigorously, "but we are in the Underdark now. The laws and morals on the ground are not effective here. I sometimes want to indulge myself..."

As blood splattered and the gray dwarf struggled, Asdaelon's fangs pierced into the artery that continuously supplied oxygen and energy to the brain, and he drank it in big gulps.

The evil thoughts no longer lingered, and he turned to look for the treasure hidden by the gray dwarf.

Gale looked at Laetzel who was passing by and asked curiously: "No offense, Laetzel. If Githyanki are all egg-laying, then why do you have belly buttons?"

"I don't remember allowing you to stare at my abdomen." Laizer's tone was always serious.

Gale immediately spread his hands to show that he meant no harm. "I'm not staring! I'm just observing... academic observation."

"If you knew how the embryos of birds and reptiles grow, you wouldn't ask such a question." Ivy smiled, "The parts we call yolks provide nutrition to the embryo inside the eggshell. They are connected to the embryo by something like an umbilical cord. So not only the Githyanki, but also many birds and lizards on the continent of Faerun have belly buttons."

Ivy discovered this knowledge when he was studying cloning, because all organisms cloned by cloning technology will grow from embryos, so he has plenty of time to observe the process of each organism developing from embryo to mature body.

"Really? I've never noticed that!" Gale showed an interested expression, "You really are a famous professor, Ivy!"

"Let's talk about academic research when we stop to set up camp." Minsara, who was standing at the dock, turned around and stopped Gale from asking more questions. "The Adamantine Furnace is just across the lake. We should capture it in one fell swoop!"

"Really?" Asdaelon asked, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with a white silk scarf. "I thought it was time to set up camp and rest. Although I am full, you obviously are not."

"At least half of the men in Menzoberranzan are servants and weaklings used for entertainment. Their beauty is the only saving grace." Minsara raised her chin and pointed her sharp jawline at the vampire spawn. "You would be very suitable to join them, Asdaelon."

"You think I'm a beauty?" Asdaelon asked in surprise, and then tilted his head towards Ivy with a meaningful expression, "Oh, Minsala."

"Hmm..." The holy warrior who had sworn a vow of revenge couldn't help but grit his teeth.

"It's time for us to set up camp. The Mithril Forge won't run away. However, considering the corpses all over the place, the Fungus Village is obviously not a suitable place to camp." Ivy looked up at the dark cliff on the other side of the fishing village. The outline of a stone tower was looming in the dim light of the underground world. "We still have to go to the Arcane Tower to look for mushrooms. Why don't we stay in the tower for the night?"

"The Radiant Order." There was obvious discrimination in Minsara's tone. "This group of ridiculous fools particularly likes to interfere in the affairs of the Underdark. They want to promote peaceful coexistence among various races based on common understanding. This is the most ridiculous. And now, we are going to follow the advice of a Radiant Order mind flayer and mix the distilled liquid of many kinds of poisonous mushrooms and pour it into our mouths? Ha."

"Since there's an old man in the camp who can help with resurrection, then putting the extract of poisonous mushrooms into the mouth doesn't sound like an unacceptable method." Ivy looked meaningfully at Gale, who was killed by poison twice. "Besides, the view from the high tower is very good. We only need to set up simple warning magic at this dock, and when the next batch of gray dwarf pirate reinforcements arrive, we can launch another surprise attack from the sky."

“You’ve convinced me again, DOOM.” Minsala walked down the wooden bridge that led to the lake and began to look for the mountain road further south. “Your words are more magical than your music.”

The mountain road leading to the Arcane Tower was so dark and rugged, and it looked even more eerie and terrifying compared to the cliff where the Whispering Tree grew. However, this was the normal scene in the Underdark, with poisonous insects passing by, poisonous mushrooms hiding in the dark, and evil creatures spying on those who coveted the light... After detonating two torch mushrooms in advance, Minsara led the team to jump over the last cliff and officially arrived at the foot of the Arcane Tower.

In the courtyard outside the tower stand several arcane turrets made of brass, and the tower itself is surrounded by thick brass pipes and giant mushrooms growing along the walls.

If there were still people living in the tower, they would never allow these rampantly growing fungi to add unnecessary risks to their residence.

"It looks like it has been abandoned for a long time..." Gale looked up at the tower, and couldn't help showing a little regret. "I also want to have a good chat with this priest who spreads the glory of Mystra in the Underdark."

"Gail, you are Mystra's former chosen one, and also her old lover... So, there must be some 'dirty' stories that happened in bed between you and this goddess that you can share, right?" Ivy never thought that the idiom "When you are well fed and warm, you will think about sex" could also be applied to vampire derivatives.

"Dirty?" Gale raised an eyebrow. "I did share a bed with the Mother of Magic. But everything that happened between us was wonderful, passionate, joyful, and resonant! 'Dirty' is definitely not a word that can be associated with Mystra!"

Asdeln rolled his eyes. “You describe having sex with a goddess as a boring experience… That’s incredible.”

"Forgive him, Gale." The Archdruid smiled cheerfully. "People are usually not interested in the effort behind the story, nor do they care how much study, meditation, and training you have done for it. They are usually only interested in the most obscene chapters."

"The arcane turrets under the tower are still in effect," said the drow elves, who were always regarded as "dissolute" by adventurers, but in this team they played the role of bringing the topic back on track. "We must find a way to shut them down."

"Throw the Whispering Flower over there. The anti-magic field can paralyze these defenses." Ivy called to the drow hunter walking at the end of the team. The Whispering Flower was in the sack behind him.

After using the bright blue flowers with their own anti-magic field to disable the tower's defenses, the team arrived at the tower's main entrance.

The foundation of the Offa Tower is located on a small island by the Ebon Lake, connected to this high cliff by a stone bridge. When we were in the Fungus Fishing Village before, the foundation of the tower was hidden behind a protruding cliff, and no one in the team found it, otherwise it would be a faster route to approach it by boat.

"It's locked." Kalak stepped forward and shook the door. "It seems that the owner of this tower has gone on a long journey."

"And she didn't return on time." Gale fiddled with a letter he found on the workbench at the door. "At least her lover didn't see her here. Lightning Ir, even in Waterdeep, I've heard of this name. Several of the lightning-related equipment we have are all made by his skillful hands."

"We can go through the window." Xie Nian pointed to a window hole next to the door that was missing glass.

But just as she stuck her head in, an extremely fast magic missile flew out from the tower. If Xie Nian hadn't learned to be a turtle, she wouldn't have to worry about the problem of the mind flayer tadpole at this time.

"Hey!" Xie Nian shouted angrily, "What kind of sinister guy would deliberately take down the window and place an arcane turret opposite?"

"Although there is no one in the Arcane Tower, we still need to explore carefully." Ivy threw another Whispering Flower near the Arcane Turret, and then led the team into the lobby on the first floor.

The most eye-catching structure in the lobby on the first floor is the glass cover in the center. Brass, rivets and magic runes decorate this structure that connects the upper and lower floors.

There are two buttons on the brass disc inside the glass cover, which immediately reminds people of an elevator, and a sightseeing elevator at that. However, for those who have never seen an elevator, they can guess that this is a device used to help climb stairs. After all, human-powered or mechanically driven lifting platforms are not uncommon, not to mention that this is a world with magic.

Apart from the magic elevator in the center of the hall and two arcane turrets in the corners, there was nothing left in the room except some crumbling construction debris and a pile of boxes.

Xie Nian was very interested in prying open all the locks on this floor, hoping to find some magical treasures. In her words, this place belongs to Mystra after all. Although the priest does not sound as orthodox as the wizard, at least the owner of the tower believes in the goddess of magic, so he will surely get more favor.

“Goddess of Magic!” Xie Nian sat on the ground in a state of collapse. In front of her was a treasure chest that looked ordinary. “Who would stuff a bunch of tableware into a treasure chest and then put it on the balcony?”

Ivy, who was reading the script placed in the hall, glanced in the direction of the evil thought, and then his interest was aroused.

"That's a magical item." At least in Ivy's secret vision, there were traces of magical aura.

"What?" Xie Nian asked, pulling out a gray fork from the box. "Who would make a fork into a magic item?"

The gray fork turned into a pair of uniquely shaped magic leather boots the moment it left the treasure chest.

"...It's really a magic item!" Xie Nian shouted in surprise, and excitedly poured out all the other tableware in the box. They turned into two magic scrolls, a small gold ingot and an alchemical throwing object on the ground in turn.

"Tell me how you found out! Ivy!" Xie Nian picked up everything on the ground and walked over happily.

Ivy ignored her question, walked around her and came to the balcony, holding up the ordinary empty treasure chest with both hands: "This is the real magical treasure!"

(End of this chapter)