Equipment Printing School Mage

So much for cooperation.

“Squeak, squeak—”

The capstan turned, the city gate dropped, and they were now standing outside the city wall.

After such a scene with the Flame Fist's vice-captain, they naturally couldn't stay in the Ocean Tower any longer. Although the Mage's Hut provided powerful protection, it was useless against a high-level mage.

They stood on the bridge between Wangyang Tower and the lower city of Baldur's Gate and stopped temporarily.

The mighty waves of the Sword Sea roared past under the bridge, and the seemingly low but extremely loud sound of the ocean's tide overwhelmed all other competitors.

This is both the noisiest place and the quietest place.

After saying that, Yin remained silent for a long time, as if realizing she was wrong. In the quiet surroundings, she finally spoke impatiently, "Hey, hey, hey, what was that spell that the mage used to make the soldiers laugh so hard? What was it?!"

"After causing such a mess, you're actually asking this!" Emilia covered her face with her hands and sighed deeply. "Laughter. It's a very common spell in the First Ring. How could you not know it? (Note 1)"

"Hmm..." Yin actually tapped his chin seriously, racking his brains for a long time before shaking his head, "But I really don't know."

Emiya frowned: "...If your memory is incomplete, could it be because you forgot, but you don't even remember forgetting it?"

"Hmm? Maybe?"

Mars added, "Tasha... From what I know, she's an extremely dangerous female mage, not from Faerun. Her name has been mentioned in Candlekeep for over two hundred years. Perhaps it's because her time came after yours. If that's the case, it makes sense that you wouldn't know."

"Hmm... that seems possible." Yin tapped his lips, his face puffing up again. "Damn it! I don't even remember how long I slept. When I woke up, I had lost all my strength! Is this the burden a mage has to bear?"

He's clearly a wizard who doesn't even use a spellbook...but that's not the point right now.

Emiya sighed and looked at Mars: "At this point, we have no choice but to contact Lord Apodale."

Mars shrugged. "Obviously."

Emilia had tried before—Mrs. Adrian had told her not to contact him, and his tried-and-true texting technique hadn't worked on her. His attempts to send messages hadn't received any response.

He could only hope that the old paladin was not like that.

Where are you? We must contact each other. In Baldur's Gate.

Fortunately, the paladin's reply arrived immediately: "I'm at the top of the mountain surrounding Baldur's Gate's outer city. Go to Cliff Gate, I'll meet you there."

【clear. 】

After the call ended, Emiya was stunned for a moment, with only confusion in her eyes.

"Top of the mountain?" He asked Mars hesitantly, "Is there a mountain in Baldur's Gate?"

Mars answered almost without hesitation: "Baldur's Gate has a less popular nickname, the City on the Hill. So Baldur's Gate must be near a mountain."

Emya received a positive answer, but she still asked again: "There is a mountain in Baldur's Gate? Which one?"

Mars was stunned for a moment, his eyes became confused: "Of course... of course..."

As he spoke, he patted his helmet and said, "I don't remember... but this is impossible! Baldur's Gate is such an important city, there is no way I would forget the name of its mountain!"

Emiya stopped hesitantly.

The dark sky painted the entire city above the same color, but he could not see the tall shadows represented by the mountains.

"Then let me ask a simpler question."

"Where is the mountain?"

Mars' helmet trembled: "...I, don't remember."

"?" Yin was equally bewildered. She pointed eastward, past the towering Wangyang Tower. "Isn't it right over there? I saw it in Rivington. That mountain is even bigger than Baldur's Gate's inner city, at least a hundred meters high."

Emiya looked in the direction she pointed. Just as she was about to concentrate, her head unconsciously tilted to another direction: "...Is there?"

Author's Note: Note 1: Tasha's Laughter, as the spell name suggests, is a personal spell invented by Tasha, but it has since spread. In the 3rd edition of the PHB, this spell was 1st level for bards and 2nd level for mages. In the 5th edition, it was lowered to 5th level. However, the timing of this spell's spread is quite tricky—Tasha's age remains unknown. In this book, Tasha is set to be under a thousand years old. Based on this, there will be some minor adjustments to the official setting, which may involve spoilers, so I won't go into detail here.

Note 2: This mountain is quite curious: theoretically, a mountain near Baldur's Gate should have existed long ago and already had a name. However, strangely, it first appears in DND in the 13-14 module, The Baldur's Gate Murder Case, and it even received its name and setting in the module "Falling into Avernus," which was released just a few years ago. Before its official setting, some fans even speculated that it was born from the Arcane Blight, otherwise such an elephant in the room would be too bizarre. Therefore, this book will make some adjustments to its background. Almost all of the related stories are my own modifications.

18 This is Feren

The full moon had passed for some time, and the brilliance of Selûne could only barely reveal a little afterglow in the rain clouds of Baldur's Gate. A light drizzle fell from the clouds onto the stone slabs of Baldur's Gate.

"Ah, I heard it rains at night in Baldur's Gate. I've seen it happen."

Perhaps because the sound of raindrops hitting the helmet was a bit noisy, the paladin finally took off his helmet and hugged it to his chest.

Emiya looked down at the spotless streets of Baldur's Gate's lower city and sighed, "In this weather, the moss and weeds on the streets are so inconspicuous. I'm afraid the street maintainers have put a lot of effort into it."

"Now, it's good enough to have a job. Shoveling grass and shoveling animal manure. One will make people look down on you on the streets of the inner city, and the other will leave you covered in the stench of feces. It depends on which one you can stand." Mars replied.

They were already some distance away from the Tower of the Sea—the awkward part was that it was right on the other side of Baldur's Gate, and considering their previous trip to the Temple of Gond, if they were to head to the hills east of Baldur's Gate now, they would have to turn around and walk back...which meant they were essentially touring the entire city of Baldur's Gate.

What's even more outrageous is that Emiya and Mars have no idea where they are going, but Yin and Apodel give them a destination with certainty.

They would not doubt Yin and Apodale, but just because they could accept it rationally did not mean that they would accept it emotionally.

It felt as if they were about to bang their heads against the stone pillar with extraordinary determination, because the two men told them that the entrance was behind the stone pillar.

Emiya looked at the stacked houses and the dim lights ahead and couldn't help but sigh with some worry: "I wonder how many eyes there will be in these houses now..."

There was clearly something fishy going on with that little boy from Gortash and the Residence of Hope—perhaps a local gang, perhaps a Thieves Guild, perhaps something worse.

This kind of organization wouldn't have just these two children as its tentacles. The movements of the Flame Fist were undoubtedly the most valuable information.

In this case, traversing the entire Baldur's Gate was somewhat risky. Their informants might even have the ability to detect invisibility.

——It’s a bit tricky.

At this moment, Yin suddenly stopped and pointed to the east with satisfaction: "Okay, this is almost done. Emiya, call Phantom Pony."

"?" Emilia asked confusedly, "Riding a horse in the city at night? Wouldn't that be a bit too conspicuous?"

"Yeah. Even I can understand that." Silver said confidently, pinching his waist, "So we'll go by water. Your Phantom Pony should be able to travel by water by now."

“—Is that so?!”

The Phantom Horse, one of the most commonly used magical mounts for mages, is certainly not limited to land. In fact, as spellcasters become increasingly powerful, it's not unimaginable for the Phantom Horse to walk on water, tread on the air, or even grow wings.

But in this regard, Emilia had no intention of arguing with Yin - her familiarity with magic was obviously not comparable to that of him, a wizard who had only studied for a few years.

Emiya sighed and took out her spellbook: "I hope Phantom Pony doesn't step into the water."

At this moment, Yin stood on tiptoe, looked at his hands, and couldn't help asking, "I've been wanting to ask this for a long time—why did you need to hold the spellbook when casting Phantom Pony? You obviously don't need it when casting other spells."

Mars frowned. "He's using a ritual to cast a spell, relying on a few minutes of complicated rituals to save magic power loss. Haven't you ever done that?"

"Of course not, there aren't even any spellbooks..." As he spoke, Silver's eyes lit up. "That's incredibly convenient! Yaha! That's great! When I wake up, the world will be filled with magical innovations and new spells! I must learn them!"

Her thoughts were clearly diverging rapidly, and she was unconsciously spinning in circles. "I've only just slept and I've seen so many spells... If I sleep longer, even until the end of the world, wouldn't I be able to see directly—"

Seeing that she was getting more and more outrageous, Amyya couldn't help but feel the veins on his head popping up: "Stop it!"

After the ritual was completed, Emilia turned over and rode on the Phantom Horse. She took a deep breath and drove it towards the Sea of ​​Swords, diving into the salt mist at night.

pat.

The shadowy horse hooves landed on the water, yet they made a gentle echo, as if they had landed not on the ocean, but on the wet streets of Baldur's Gate.

"How is it? Is the sea water delicious?"

Mars's greeting floated through the salt mist and into Emilia's ears.

He was furious and said, "You should ask the Silver Ship. If you ride him down to the sea, you will definitely be able to drink your fill."

Silver was the first to ride on her phantom horse, and landed behind Emilia with cheers. Mars hesitated for a long time, but finally rode on his phantom horse with a bitter face.

The Paladin was undoubtedly the most embarrassed person at this moment. Although the Paladin's mount was known for its wisdom, bravery, and strength, it was obviously one step behind the Mage in terms of various special abilities. At least Mars's silver ship couldn't fly at this moment. At most, he could try to take him swimming in the sea.

The salt fog at night provided the group with the best cover. Sailing at night was quite dangerous. The lack of visibility near the city made all sorts of accidents even more likely. Remarkably, they encountered no boats along the way and made it all the way to the cliff gate without any problems.

The southeastern part of the Lower City is far less prosperous than the northern part. Within Baldur's Gate's Upper City lies a special area known as The Wide, home to Baldur's Gate's largest marketplace and the primary destination for nearly everyone visiting Baldur's Gate. Its openness and abundance have long been renowned throughout Faerun—the unfortunate news is that the southeastern part of the Lower City isn't directly on the Coast Road leading to The Wide, making it much less populated.

"Any door."

After the spell ended, the tightly closed cliff door of Baldur's Gate was already behind them. The nearest settlement was hundreds of meters away to their east, so they finally left the human habitation of Baldur's Gate behind them.

In front of Emilia was a Pegasus standing on a towering rock.

It had obviously been standing there for some time, so as soon as they appeared, they were immediately captured by this majestic horse.

At this time, it spoke: "Okay, Mars, there are a few guests, please come in my direction - please forgive me for not being able to move, otherwise I will get lost."

"Lost?" asked Emilia.

Pegasus muttered in a different language, "Very well, it seems these young men are not immune either. Then I won't be insulting Pegasus' dignity."

But Emilia heard it very clearly and replied unhappily, "I understand."

"Then your teacher teaches a wide range of languages. It's not just some Infernal language used to communicate with various demons and monsters." Pegasus snorted and switched back to the common language. "--Let me ask, where am I standing now?"

They gave their answer as they approached the location of Pegasus.

"Of course it's on the ridge, what else?" Yin said with unusual directness, "My eyes are not as blind as those two idiots." Emilia and Mars were about to answer when cold sweat unknowingly seeped out of their foreheads: "...on a...rock?"

"Okay." Pegasus snorted. "Is this stone continuous from top to bottom?"

Mars moved closer, observed it in the faint moonlight, and murmured, "Granite—the rock is very coherent."

"Great, next question: How tall is this hunk of granite?"

Mars hesitantly raised his gaze until it was far above the walls of Baldur's Gate. He finally stopped and said, "... maybe, a hundred meters?"

"Young Paladin," Pegasus smacked his lips together. "Remember this conclusion. I'll ask again: what am I standing on?"

Emiya was silent for a long time, then opened her mouth and gave an answer: "A very tall stone?"

Yin's expression had completely changed, his face full of disgust: "...Is it possible that this is called a mountain?"

"Hehe, that's it. I don't know why this mountain has such power, nor do I know how this young lady can ignore it... But anyway, you, including me, are completely powerless against this mountain. It's amazing, isn't it? Oh, and can you help me blindfold myself? I can't walk towards this big rock... mountain with my eyes open. Just close your eyes and touch my tail."

"You just let it slip."

At this moment, when everyone was about to set off, Pegasus just turned around and suddenly stopped: "-Wait a minute, there are guests here, Apodel asked you to wait a moment."

****************

"So that's it, this is Feren."

In the cave on the mountain, Apodel Adrian sighed, drew his Holy Avenger, and pointed it at the enemy before him: "I just wanted to find a place to camp on the outskirts of the city, and I encountered a lich?"

In front of him, a creature floating in the air had a similar reaction.

He looked human, but his skin clung tightly to his bones, as if all the flesh and blood between them had been eaten away by time. Green flames danced in his almost empty eye sockets.

This is a lich - the most powerful of the undead. Each lich is a powerful wizard, a vicious creature that relies on evil rituals and spirits to survive in the world.

However, the lich's withered face was filled with indignation. "...Is this Faerûn? No one has visited for a hundred years, and then the first guest is the Son of Bhaal, a renowned figure even within the catacombs. He could have stumbled upon the lookout at the leyline anchor point without even taking a stroll."

"It seems this encounter was unexpected on both sides, so let's be frank," Apodel Adrian replied. "I don't want to fight tonight. After all, if I can't shatter your phylactery, I'll just repel you, which is no different from calling it a day. But if you want to fight to the death, I'm happy to accompany you. This place is nothing but stone, making it a perfect battlefield."

"Why should I fight a powerful paladin for no reason?" The lich took a few steps back, while the paladin stepped forward relentlessly, maintaining distance - in a battle with a spellcaster, every step of distance was crucial.

The lich hesitated for a moment, but finally made up his mind: "...I will leave now."

He whispered a few words, while Apodel stared at the lich's words intently. Even after the lich disappeared from the spot, he did not relax, and in a flash, he stepped into the portal beside him.

Ordinary paladins do not know this extremely useful spell—but he is a paladin of Mystra.

The next second, he appeared in front of Emiya and his group. After confirming that the lich had indeed left, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good evening, everyone. It's been a few days since we last met."

He grasped the sword, and invisible spiritual light surged out from his body, enveloping the people in front of him. Then, he smiled and said, "Now, where are you?"

Emiya opened her eyes and looked around.

Under the dim moonlight, the mountains are still blurry, but you can see that there is very little vegetation on this bare mountain.

There is no obstruction between the mountain and Baldur's Gate.

If you have good eyesight, you can probably see everything in Baldur's Gate from this mountain.

Emiya murmured, "...on a mountain?"

The effect that had just made his head a mess seemed to have disappeared.

Is it the influence of the Paladin's aura?

Author's Note: Note 1: The power of a DND paladin varies dramatically across versions. The fifth edition paladin is a true powerhouse, but for its unique mechanics, I'd recommend the second edition paladin. When a second edition paladin wields a holy sword, it emits a ten-foot-diameter aura. The effect of this aura... in a nutshell, it's a one-way anti-magic field. Enemies with lower spellcasting levels within this aura are rendered useless, without any magic items or spellcasting abilities. The paladin's allies and abilities remain unaffected.