Late at night, the entire Dark Castle was quiet.
This solid fortress, which may have been built in the Netherese era, or the even older giant era, was built from top to bottom out of an unknown black rock. Even after thousands of years, it has still not been affected by the wind and sand at all.
Signs of erosion, an important Zhentarim stronghold.
It is probably located in the Sunset Mountains at the junction of the Kingdom of Cormyr, the Eno Oak Desert, and West Heartland.
Here it guards the important road transportation line from Zhentil Castle to Cormanthor, then to the valley and Cormyr, until it crosses the green fields and reaches Baldur's Gate on the west coast of Ferenc.
If you look at it from the map, the Darkhold is like a nail, firmly embedded in a very sensitive location, ensuring that the Zhentarim can expand its sphere of influence further.
Especially those small and medium-sized towns and villages in the West Hartland area that are relatively independent and easy to conquer.
Since 1312 DR, at least 800 troops have been stationed here to ensure that some actions can be taken when necessary.
Don’t think that 800 people is a small number.
Quite the opposite!
This is a decisive force that can dominate the entire region.
Since the West Heartland region has not formed a unified country, and the most powerful Baldur's Gate does not have the ability to reach into the distant interior, most towns may only have dozens or even two to three hundred militiamen.
When facing Zhentil Fort's "huge" and well-trained professional soldiers, they often surrender before the fight begins.
Relying on the intimidating power of the Darkhold, the Zhentarim directly or indirectly controlled many towns and villages, and launched a protracted contest with the Harper Alliance in this area.
But now, the troops stationed here have been completely wiped out by the poison and plague, and only a handful of corpses that have been transformed into undead are still guarding the towering gates and walls.
As the lord of the Dark Castle, Ximanmeng is sitting in his own seat, with his hands crossed and his chin on his back, as if waiting for someone to arrive.
Suddenly!
A portal suddenly opened out of thin air, and a man with long blond hair and a beard, wearing a black armor and holding a scepter walked out from the other side.
Instantly!
Xi Manmeng, who was sitting motionless one second, stood up from his chair the next second, and could not help but reveal a nervous mood.
After more than ten seconds, he couldn't help but say: "You're late, Qian Berry."
"Sorry, I ran into a little trouble and needed to deal with it, so it was inevitable that I was a little late." The man named Qianberry replied casually.
You don't need to ask to know that he is the second-in-command of the Zhentarim, the elector of Bane, the god of tyranny, and the supreme leader of the church, the tyrant of the Moon Sea, and the man Fuzor Chambery who scares countless people.
"Damn it! Do you know how much risk I took? If the mentor knew that we were in private contact, he would definitely kill me first without hesitation." Xi Manmeng gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice.
I'm afraid Manson would never have thought that these two seemingly contradictory enemies would actually communicate in private.
But Fuzor Chambery didn't take it seriously and sat down and poured himself a glass of wine. Then he asked without raising his head: "How is it? Manson learned that I planned to take away the control of the Zhentarim Society. His
What was the reaction?"
"He was furious. To be precise, this failure severely damaged his self-confidence and even led to self-doubt. It was the most vulnerable time." Ximanmeng gave his judgment without thinking.
"Oh? Is that young man named Soth really so powerful?" Fuzoul Chamberlain suddenly became interested.
As a chosen one of Bane, the god of tyranny, he has been collecting intelligence and information on other chosen gods throughout Faerûn.
Among them, Zuo Si, as the only chosen one by Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease, is naturally the top priority.
What's more, it was later reported that he had become the chosen one of the Goddess of Magic at the same time.
"It's more than awesome! If you had been there at the time, you would have been shocked by the power Soth showed.
Remember the silver fire burst mode used by Elminster?
In his hands, he can even go one step further and penetrate the magic protection of the mentor with just one blow and kill him.
Moreover, this guy is immune to time stopping and holds a powerful artifact with unknown power and ability.
The most important thing is that he alone is equivalent to an army.
Note that this is not an exaggerated description, but a very appropriate description.
I don’t know what kind of method he used, but he was able to summon and control several giant dragons, as well as beholders and other extremely powerful monster legions in a short period of time.
Even if the teacher joined forces with the chief red-robed mages, he was not able to take advantage in the end. On the contrary, he was at a disadvantage from the beginning.
As Soth said, we did not surround him, but he surrounded us."
While saying these words, Xi Manmeng's hands were shaking slightly uncontrollably.
In order to calm himself down, he quickly got a glass of dark red liquid with a pungent smell from the container next to him, then raised his head and drank it.
The moment he opened his mouth, the sharp canine teeth hidden in his mouth were finally exposed.
There is no doubt that Ximanmeng at this moment is no longer a human being, but a vampire who has just completed his transformation.
Because just a few days ago, he was accidentally poisoned and plagued at the same time, and he was almost killed like those soldiers.
Although he later managed to survive with the help of magic potions, he still had a psychological shadow because of this. He was afraid that this kind of revenge would be continuous, so he secretly transformed himself into a vampire to be completely immune to diseases and toxins.
Fuzuo Er Qianberry undoubtedly noticed the fear and jealousy revealed in Xi Manmeng's eyes, and continued to ask: "Then what is his arcane spell casting level and divine spell casting level?"
"Don't ask me, how do I know? Many of the spells he uses are things I have never seen before, and they look very likely to be legendary magic. As for during the battle, spells like the Nine-ring Disintegration were lost in one go.
Five or six, and four of them are metamagic techniques without any chanting spells or spell-casting actions-spells are instantaneous. Do you know what this means?"
Xi Manmeng recounted what he saw at that time.
To cast a spell quickly, you need to use a spell slot that is four levels higher than the current magic level for memorization.
If it is a nine-level spell, it requires a spell slot memory of at least thirteen levels.
All spell slots starting from the tenth level require the legendary feat of [Improve Spell Slot], and the selection must be repeated at least four times to get a thirteenth-level spell slot.
Four instant disintegrations means that we have to go one step further on this basis and obtain them three more times, consuming a total of seven legendary feats.
If you gain a feat for every three levels, there are almost twenty-one legendary arcane spellcasting levels. Counting the previous twenty-one ordinary arcane spellcasting levels, the total is as high as forty-two.
Xi Manmeng ran away immediately when he saw his teacher being killed. Most of him was so frightened by this inference that he collapsed.
You must know that this level of spellcasting is something that not even the great arcanists of the Netherese civilization can achieve.
Manson also realized this after his resurrection, so the more he thought about it, the more he became afraid, and even began to have self-doubt.
Fuzuoer Qianberry's face became a little solemn, and he questioned in a shocked tone: "How is this possible! He still looks so young, he can even be said to be a child. Even if he comes from another material plane, even
It has once destroyed a world through the power of plague, but it will never reach such a height."
"Then I don't know. Maybe Soth has some unknown skill that can instantly cast high-level magic. Maybe he has received additional gifts from the goddess of poison and disease or the goddess of magic. But one thing is certain.
, that is, as an enemy, he is definitely the most terrifying one, and he will never be as merciful as other chosen ones of the Magic Goddess."
After saying that, Xi Manmeng stuck out his tongue and licked the dark red blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, his eyes flashing with deep fear.
"I have no doubt about this. Because not long ago, he just bloodbathed the entire Luskan. Not only did he uproot the pirates, thieves guild and unscrupulous traders, but he also forcibly exterminated the entire residents of Mintan Island.
Moving to Luskan. This kind of behavior does not look like something that could be done by the good camp." Fuzor Chambery rubbed his chin and analyzed.
Xi Manmeng nodded with deep understanding: "Only pursuing results and not caring about process and means is the most distinctive characteristic of Soth.
In addition, he also uses a large number of low-level undead creatures as laborers, completely ignoring the protests of the kind and neutral divine churches.
It is said that a priest of Lathander, the Lord of the Dawn, simply made a request to stop this behavior, and the entire church was completely expelled from the Nelanthel Islands.
That’s why I suggested to teachers before that they try not to provoke Soth but maintain a good cooperative relationship with him.
Unfortunately, the teacher was seduced by the power of silver fire and ultimately made an unforgivable fatal mistake, which also caused the Zhentarim's intelligence network in the North to suffer a devastating blow.
This is also the premise why I choose to cooperate with you."
"Hmph! I'm afraid Mansong would never have thought that his most trusted apprentice would betray him at such a critical moment. So tell me, how do you think we should get through this difficulty now?"
The light of ambition shining in the eyes of Fuzoul Chamberry.
After all, as early as the founding of the Zhentarim, when he was still an insignificant low-level priest of the Benn Church, he was extremely eager to overthrow Manzon, who had been pressing down on him.
But unfortunately, Manson was too cautious, and after so many years, he still never found the slightest chance.
But now, this opportunity has finally come.
With the failure of Operation Luskan, members of the entire inner circle of the Zhentarim hierarchy began to become dissatisfied with Manson and believed that he was no longer qualified to continue to lead this huge dark intelligence network.
Similarly, there were many opposing voices in Zhentil Castle.
Although most of these voices were quickly suppressed, the surging undercurrent did not stop, but was secretly connected in a more secretive way.
To be continued...