Witch Monastery

outside the city.

The fishman village that Lotun mentioned was not far away. After all, their town was built on the edge of the Dark Lake. After walking down a slope for less than two kilometers, with the help of Celine's strong light, Hawthorne saw a group of fishmen picking fruits on the river bank.

That makes sense, Kou Tao murloc.

The Kuo-Toa murloc is a humanoid creature with a dark purple body, a fish-like head, a dwarf-like body, but thinner arms and legs.

During the heyday of the ancient Mind Flayer Empire, they served the Mind Flayers as their aquatic slaves.

After the fall of this empire, this long-enslaved and ravaged race did not remain as strong and rational as the gray dwarves.

Oh, it would be better to say that the only exception is the gray dwarves who can still maintain their sanity after being enslaved by the mind flayers.

As a result, the entire tribe of Kou Tao fishmen fell into insane madness.

They are intelligent and creative humanoids, but their lives are no different from those of ordinary piranhas. They cannot find any spiritual sustenance, so they regard killing, plundering and predation as the purpose of life.

And most importantly, they will blindly worship all kinds of weird things, hoping to fill the emptiness in their hearts.

Finally, the fanatical faith born from their broken hearts will create twisted evil gods.

On the surface world, there are many strange evil gods existing on many lonely islands, which are often the creations of Kuo Tao fishmen.

Yes, after the collapse of the Mind Flayer Empire, the Kuo-Toa lived on the surface world, occupying various seabeds and islands, and conducting their crazy religious interactions on them.

But later, the destruction caused by their strange beliefs became more and more serious. The creatures on the surface could no longer bear it and spontaneously and universally strangled them. So now, only a few Kuo-Toa fishmen can be seen in the Underdark.

But now it seems that these fishmen are living well in the Underdark? At least they have learned to build ships and can do business with other races.

With this thought in mind, he then stepped forward, raised his hand, waved to the fishmen over there, and shouted, "Boat!"

Before coming here, he learned a few words of the underground common language from Lotun. He couldn't say that he could communicate smoothly, but he had no problem expressing his intention of "wanting to buy a boat".

Seeing a few strangers like him coming, the short, fat fishmen raised their harpoons and pointed them at him vigilantly.

After hearing his shouts, several fishmen suddenly realized what was going on. Then, one of them seemed to be spitting bubbles and shouting in a language that Hawthorne couldn't understand, while the other one stretched out his finger and kept pointing towards their village, as if showing him the way.

The last fishman spoke in the unclear and poorly understood common language of the surface, saying, "Go inside and find the high priest."

Seeing this, Huo Sang was even more surprised. He thought it was good enough that these fishmen put aside their hostility and allowed him to enter the village, but he didn't expect these guys to be even calmer and easier to communicate with than he thought.

He then followed the directions of the Kou Tao fishman and entered the village. Before he entered, a strong fishy smell hit him in the face, causing Huo Sang to frown and cover his nose.

At the same time, the general situation of the entire village also came into his sight.

The fishman village was not very big. At least when Celine's light shone around, the whole village was in sight. At most, there were less than a thousand people in the village.

They used Zeke wood, a fungus wood that is unique to the Dark Region, to build a series of low houses, and in the distance there were two huge, crude altars. This made Hawthorne a little strange, because logically, a fishman village should not have two beliefs at the same time.

But he was too lazy to comment too much on the fish people's beliefs. He took two steps while enduring the fishy smell, and saw in the distance a fish man wearing a strange white cloth, hunched over, leaning on a scepter, and looking a little old, walking towards him.

"Welcome, visitors from the surface world." She spoke in the common language of the surface world. Judging from the voice, it should be a woman. But there was no ups and downs in her tone, as if she was a foreigner who had just learned Chinese and was reading a text without emotion: "I am the leader of Slobdo, the priest of 'Mother of the Sea', Pulu Pulupin."

Oh, so this village is called "Slobdo".

Hearing the sound coming out of the mouth of the merman priest, which sounded like bubbles bursting, Hawthorne felt even more weird.

"Hello, High Priest Pluprupin, I'm Nigel Hawthorne, and I'm here to buy a boat." He blew bubbles with great difficulty, imitating the other party's words just now.

The fishman in front of him nodded: "Please follow me."

As she spoke, her cloudy eyes looked up and down at Huo Sang and the others, and then she said, "You all seem to be powerful spellcasters. I can feel strong fluctuations from you. Moreover, this is completely different from the power we have obtained from the favor of the gods..."

"This has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about today."

After the fishman finished speaking, Hawthorne interrupted him and said, "I'm here to buy a boat. How much does a small boat that can accommodate twelve people cost?"

He knew that if he continued talking along the lines of this fishman, it would lead to a series of tasks.

If he could be patient enough to complete it, he would not only save a lot of money for the ship, but also earn a lot of extra money. He could even gain a lot of reputation among these fishmen and let them worship him like a god...

But unfortunately Hawthorne is in a hurry, and the real world is not a game. As long as you don't take the initiative to push the main quest, it will always stay there waiting motionlessly, slowly waiting for you to clean up the entire map, reach the highest level, and almost complete your equipment before triggering it.

Sulfaro was carrying out her secret plan every day, and no one knew what kind of conspiracy she was weaving. Hawthorne didn't understand this, and he was not equal, so he had to rush over as soon as possible!

Being suddenly interrupted by Hawthorne, the female fishman paused, and her two round dead fish eyes stared at him, which even made him feel a little scared.

However, it seemed that the "Mother of the Sea" she believed in did give her the power of absolute calmness. She did not get angry because of Hawthorne's rudeness. She just nodded slowly and said, "Oh, okay, then, guest, please follow me and I will take you to choose a boat."

She then stood up, leaning on her cane, and walked slowly towards the village dock. Hawthorne followed her quickly, and walked with her through this simple and narrow village, enduring the ubiquitous fishy smell, and came to the dock together, where they saw a row of ten boats of different sizes parked side by side on the lake, quietly waiting for people to get on.

"Everyone, you can make your choice." The fishman said slowly, "If you need a boat that can carry more than twelve people, start from this one and go to the right. But as you can see, the larger the boat, the more expensive it is..."

Hawthorne followed her footsteps, walking, looking and nodding slightly.

Suddenly, he said, "Heidi, go down to the water and see which of these boats is of better quality."

The female fishman looked back in confusion, and saw a human woman in a dark and heavy robe step forward, leap up, and jump into the water.

What's strange is that when she fell into the water, there wasn't even a splash.

Chapter 573 Mother of the Sea and Father of the Deep

Suddenly, the fish-man priestess' tone was filled with some doubt: "Humans? Aren't you unable to breathe underwater? What are you doing?"

Hawthorne smiled softly: "This is magic. It allows her to move freely underwater like a fish."

The fishman nodded very slowly. She was so calm from beginning to end that Hawthorne had no idea what she was thinking.

But it was normal, Kou Tao fishmen were essentially mentally ill and could not be judged by common sense. It just seemed that this fishman believed in an "absolutely calm" evil god and had a kind of madness that "absolutely would not have emotional fluctuations", so he acted like a normal person.

Hawthorne then turned his attention away from her and focused on what was happening underwater. With Celine's strong light, he saw Celine half-transformed back to her original form, and then several slender and thick tentacles stretched out from the bottom of the water, gently wiping along the edge of the bottom of the boat, and sometimes gently knocking a few times to test the strength of the boat.

The boats were all made of wood, and Heidi was an expert among experts when it came to inspecting the quality of the boats.

After all, when she was still living in the water, she relied on destroying some ships and then eating the souls of those who fell into the water. So over time, she naturally learned to judge which ships were sturdier and more difficult to deal with, and which ships were easier to deal with.

She continued to touch the bottom of the water and inspected all the boats that met Hawthorne's requirements but were not too big. Then she ended it all, stuck her head out from the side of a boat, and said to him, "Master, this boat is of the best quality. Let's buy it!"

Hawthorne nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, come out now."

So Heidi jumped straight out of the water, with a few dark green tentacles swaying underneath her nun's uniform.

When she landed, all the tentacles had retracted into her nun's clothes, leaving no trace. She stood firmly on the ground, and her nun's clothes were still dry, as if she had not been in the water at all.

Hawthorne was about to say that he wanted the ship, but suddenly, the female merman next to him knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Heidi: "Powerful magician from the surface world, please be kind and help my lost daughter."

"I can directly give this ship to you without charging a single gold coin, as long as you are willing to help me save my foolish daughter from her twisted and evil beliefs!"

She muttered so much that Heidi was shocked. There was nothing she could do because she seldom accepted other people's kneeling greetings. Such things were usually done by Celine.

The witch then looked at Hawthorne for help, feeling that she was in a very difficult situation and couldn't cope with it.

Hawthorne was also having a headache. He had originally planned to skip this branch quest and speed up his progress, but he didn't expect this guy to not let him go and even use this kind of moral kidnapping to beg him.

Although her tone remained

It was calm, but the intense emotions contained in it made Hawthorne unable to help but soften his heart. Considering that even though she was a mental patient, she still had the instinct of maternal love, Hawthorne's mood softened involuntarily, and he sighed and said, "Okay, okay, then tell me, I'll see how I can help."

The female merman then stood up and said, "This is what happened. Half a year ago, my daughter began to believe in a hateful evil god called 'Father of the Deep'..."

She then began to slowly narrate her own experience, roughly saying that her daughter had been a devout believer of the great "Mother of the Sea" since she was a child, but for some reason starting half a year ago, she suddenly said that she had heard the call of the greater "Father of the Deep", gained powerful strength, and actually inexplicably gathered a large group of believers.

Now they have not only built a huge altar for the "Father of the Deep", but they are also capturing sacrifices everywhere every day to offer to the evil god and summon him to the material world. This makes her very worried, but the Kou Tao fish people cannot stand bloodshed, so she hopes Hawthorne can help resolve the matter peacefully.

After listening quietly, Huo Sang thought that this "Mother of the Sea" that you believe in now is actually an evil existence imagined by your people. There is no such person among the true gods. You and your daughter are just the same.

He secretly complained in his heart, but still kept a smile on his face and said, "So, what do you want us to do?"

"I don't know," she said. "I have tried everything, but nothing can change her stubborn beliefs."

"But the 'Father of the Deep' she believes in has two very thick and strong tentacles. After seeing the spell cast by Ms. Heidi just now, I thought that maybe you have some way to change her beliefs."

Two thick and strong tentacles?

This sounds a little... familiar?

No, there are so many monsters with tentacles in the fantasy world. Maybe they are just imagined by the little girl herself, and not necessarily the ones she is familiar with.

Throwing away the weird guess in his mind, Hawthorne nodded slightly: "Okay, I understand."

He said, trying not to laugh, and turned to look at Heidi, saying, "Do you have any ideas? How can we change that little girl's faith?"

Heidi's face was also slightly embarrassed. She had never thought that she would encounter such a thing. On the side, Celine smiled, but her words were chilling: "What's so difficult about this? It's just a rebellious girl. Just give her a good beating."

"The reason why she is so rebellious must be because I didn't beat her hard enough before. If I let her know what absolute power is, her beliefs will change immediately, right?"

The female fishman turned her head and stared at her, but she was fearless. Just as she thought, with absolute power in her hands, she had nothing to fear, and could just use force to solve the problem. She didn't belong here anyway, so if she messed up, she could just leave.

But Heidi had a different idea. She shook her head and said, "If it was a common practice, it would have been done more than once before. We should think of a different way."

She thought so, then looked at Xilin: "Eldest sister, weren't you good at playing with people's minds before? How about you think of a way, come up with a script, and then we can act out a play together, so that the little girl can feel that 'gap'?"

Hawthorne nodded approvingly and looked at Celine: "I also think this would be the most useful. Celine, do you have any good ideas?"

Xilin was a little embarrassed when she heard this: "I am not omniscient and omnipotent. I don't know what the girl's situation is now, and I can't write a suitable script right now..."

The female merman at the side said hurriedly, "You can ask me about these. I have been observing and investigating her strange beliefs, and I know her current situation very well."

"If you have any questions, please tell me. Even if I don't know, I can help you find out as soon as possible."

Hawthorne rolled his eyes and suddenly had a vague idea in his mind: "I have an idea, but the problem is that we have to determine a few points first, otherwise we can't guarantee the success rate."

"First of all, regarding the power of the 'Father of the Deep'..."

Chapter 574 Lost Relatives

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Although they were both on the north side of the rift, the stalls of the dark elves and the surface creatures were clearly separated, as if there was an invisible dividing line that divided the two sides into different camps.

Kassa held Hanny's hand and walked around the dark elf market, looking for Hanny's parents.

She had been taught too much about the evil and cruelty of the dark elves since she was young. Now that she was surrounded and watched by so many dark elves, she couldn't help but feel a little scared.

Even though she was already very powerful, the feeling that she might be assassinated, ambushed, or besieged at any time always shrouded her heart involuntarily, causing her to hold Hanny's little hand and not dare to let go.

As for Hanni, she is different. After all, she is a dark elf, and grew up in the dark elf society. She knows the actual situation better than Kassadin: after all, Kassadin has only heard about the cruelty of the dark elves in textbooks, but she puts herself in their shoes, getting along with her own people at close range every day, and knows that they are actually

doing something.

So now, she hugged Kasa's thighs, her body trembling non-stop, fearing that before she could find her parents, she would be recognized by some of her own people who had a grudge against her family, and then be assassinated, killed, besieged, and end up with a miserable end worse than death...

cough!

The only one who was not afraid at all was probably Shapiro. After all, he had escaped from prison, and being harassed by evil people with bad intentions was like returning home to him.

Even so, his body naturally entered a state of readiness for battle. When he walked, one hand swung naturally, and the other hand was less than five centimeters away from his sickle, allowing him to immediately draw his weapon to defend against the enemy when he sensed danger.

He has always been prepared to kill people at any time and slaughter all the dark elves here.

Most of the dark elves who were setting up stalls here also looked at the three people with vigilant eyes. However, this was a town born for business after all, and people came here to do business. No matter who the other party was or how dangerous it was, they had to do business anyway, so everyone was cautious, vigilant, and tested each other's prices and bottom lines, trying to get the best result.

Of course, Shapiro was the one talking to the dark elves. Kasha and Hanni were trembling as they searched for their mother among the dark elves.

However, contrary to previous expectations, the seemingly precious spellcasting materials that Shapiro needed were actually very easy to find here. They were just a little more expensive, but they could be easily gathered together.

On the contrary, Hanni's family and Kasa walked around the market two or three times, but still couldn't find any trace of them. It was as if they had also discovered that there were no purple worms here, so they had left the town.

After the third round of searching, Kassa had no choice but to ask some dark elf vendors if they had seen any trace of Hannie Harlan's family.

Under the blackmail of the dark elves, the girl paid more than ten gold coins for inquiry, but obtained very little useful information: most of the dark elves had seen her family, the professional team hunting purple worms, a week or two ago, but had not seen them recently.

This proved that what Hanny said was true, but it also proved that the words of these vendors were useless: because Hanny was captured by the orcs a week ago, and the traces they told them about a week ago were of no use to them.

This also shows that their money was wasted.

There were no useful clues to be found anywhere. Finally, Kasa pulled Hanny to squat beside the huge crack in the middle, staring at the bottomless darkness below and sulking.

At this time, it was Hanni who comforted her. The dark elf girl hugged Kasa's neck and gently advised: "Okay, don't be angry. It's just a few gold coins. When I get home, I will give you a 50% discount on our purple worm venom."

Kasha lowered her head, feeling a little aggrieved: "I don't care about the money, I'm just very angry that I was cheated, oooo..."

She lowered her head, somewhat distressed by her lack of social experience: "If Father Hawthorne came here, he would definitely not have to spend a penny to make them say everything obediently..."

Hanni smiled. After learning that Kassa was younger than herself, she suddenly changed her mindset and began to guide her: "This is a dark elf. You have to be more careful when you get along with my people in the future!"

The two of them spoke in the common language to avoid being heard by other dark elves and getting into trouble. In the back, Shapiro, who had bought all the materials, also came over. When he heard her say this, he snorted coldly: "Just a bunch of bullies who only care about the weak and the strong!"

Hanni pouted, not intending to talk to this guy, and hugged Kasha's neck to continue to comfort her. Kasha's anger gradually subsided, and then she thought of another question, saying: "But, Hanni, if you can't find your parents, what will you do next?"

Hanni lowered her eyes. "What else can I do? I'll just go with you guys."

Kasa was a little worried: "But next, we are going to a very dangerous place. I am afraid I can't spare the energy to protect you."

As she said this, a new idea came to her mind: "Well, can we find some of your people who are planning to return to Menzoberranzan, explain the situation to them, and then let them take you back to Menzoberranzan?"

Suddenly, Hanni's expression was a little horrified: "Are you going to hand me over to the hands of an unfamiliar dark elf?"