"Damn it! If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have chosen to go to Menzoberranzan, let alone hire you useless trash."
The original owner of the caravan covered his swollen face and cursed in a low voice through gritted teeth.
Because of this loss, all the wealth he had accumulated through more than ten years of hard work was completely wiped out, and even he became one of the slaves.
Of course, the gray dwarves are not unprepared for this situation.
After all, when doing business in such a dangerous place as the Underdark, the first thing you do after making money is often to find a way to buy a magic item that can escape at any time.
He also spent a lot of money to buy an amulet that could teleport back to the gray dwarf city instantly in case of emergency.
But the problem is that he was too greedy just now and was unwilling to give up so many valuable goods. As a result, he did not choose to escape as soon as he saw the dark elves appearing. Instead, he wanted to save his caravan through negotiation.
.
You must know that no matter how fierce, cruel, and evil the dark elves are, they can still be traded. This is completely different from the mind flayers who directly use mind control to capture slaves.
Unfortunately, this time the gray dwarves misjudged the situation, and not only failed to save their caravan, but even the amulet they used to escape was snatched away.
As a person with master-level magic item making skills, Zuo Si recognized everything about this cunning businessman that shone with arcane aura at just one glance.
Then the dark elves swarmed up and looted all the valuable or dangerous magic items, scrolls and potions from the caravan owner.
At this moment, half of his swollen face was because he tried to resist, and he was slapped so hard in the mouth that even several teeth in his mouth were knocked out.
When dealing with gray dwarf slaves, the dark elves have no sympathy.
Not slitting his throat directly, or cruelly breaking his limbs and letting him crawl on the ground, is already considered quite "merciful".
If Vinal is allowed to exert herself a little, this female drow can even find 180 different kinds of torture to teach the other party how to be a "qualified" and "well-behaved" slave.
Compared to the unwilling caravan master, the other captured gray dwarf warriors seemed much more submissive, and their superb obedience could even make people mistakenly think that they were originally a group of slaves.
Of course, this obedience is largely due to the dark elves' fierce reputation in the Underdark.
Almost all gray dwarves believe that if they do not perform well enough, they will most likely be executed in various cruel ways before arriving at Menzoberranzan.
In this way, Zuo Si and his party drove the gray dwarf prisoners and the convoy eastward along the tunnel for more than ten hours, and finally encountered a patrol sent by Menzoberranzan.
In the darkness, I saw several sharp crossbow arrows suddenly shot out, very accurately inserted into the ground less than half a meter away from my toes.
Then a woman came out of the darkness and shouted: "Stop all actions immediately! State your identity and purpose!"
"Don't move! If you make any threatening movements, they will attack immediately." Drizzt quickly lowered his voice and reminded behind him.
"Don't worry, I know how to deal with it."
Zuo Si responded casually, then raised his hands to show that he had no weapons, walked straight to the front of the team, and bowed slightly towards the drow woman who seemed to be a priest, holding her chest with one hand.
"May the great Spider Queen protect everyone. Hello, distinguished priestess, I am Soth from Eredlin City. As you can see, I am the leader of this mercenary group. I am currently planning to go to Magic Thread.
Bly City."
"Eredelin City? Then you have really traveled a long distance."
There was strong suspicion and distrust in the female drow's tone, but she did not relax because the other party was a dark elf.
Because compared to other races, our insidious and cunning compatriots are the ones to be most wary of.
Zuo Si pretended to be helpless and shrugged his shoulders: "There is no way, who caused a small problem in my family, so I was forced to leave and find a new city to start over. I want Menzoberranzan
It should be a nice place, there should be many mistresses here who need mercenaries like me."
When saying this, he also deliberately revealed the spider-shaped emblem that he made with his own hands.
Instantly!
The drow woman captured this emblem and imagined on the spot the story of a noble family that failed in an internal struggle and was exterminated, but the young son who went out escaped and fled with a small number of family soldiers and became mercenaries.
In fact, similar situations occur in dark elf cities every ten years or so on average, so it is not worth making a fuss about.
In Menzoberranzan, many mercenaries are "refugees" who escaped from other cities.
The matrons will select talented and valuable talents from these "refugees" and then absorb them into their own families.
Thinking of this, the female drow gestured to the others hidden in the darkness.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of fully armed dark elves came out of their hiding places.
Some of them occupied the commanding heights, holding crossbows and aiming downwards, while others were arcane spellcasters such as mages and warlocks, holding spellcasting materials in their hands and clearly preparing spells.
In addition, soldiers armed with various weapons also blocked all escape routes from all directions.
Drizzt was right, this patrol had been ready for battle from the moment they issued the warning.
You must know that they are not the humans on the surface world who have lived in a peaceful environment for a long time, but a group of evil dark elves who have grown up in conspiracy and conspiracy.
Especially the weapons and armor worn on the body, which at worst are fine gold products with enchantment level 3, are worth at least thousands or even tens of thousands of gold coins in the surface world.
Those cloaks and boots blessed with magical power are even more amazing. Even if they step on gravel, they will not make even the slightest sound, and they will look like a blurry shadow from a distance.
The shadow thieves and assassins of Amn will definitely be willing to spend a lot of money to get one for themselves.
Of course, all of this equipment cannot be exposed to sunlight, otherwise its dark magical power will soon fall apart and eventually turn into a pile of worthless fine gold dust.
But the dark elves living deep in the Underdark obviously don't need to worry about this.
"Thos from Eredlin City, I think you can now explain what happened to these gray dwarves and their caravans."
The female drow jumped down from the stalactite with elegant steps, and the snake-headed whip hanging from her waist proved her identity as the priest of the Spider Goddess Lolth.
Obviously, she is the top commander of this patrol.
To be precise, the priestesses of Lolth hold all the power in the dark elf society.
They represent the will of the chaotic evil goddess and firmly control the spiritual world of all dark elves.
As a double elect, Zuo Si could clearly feel the divine grace of the priestess in front of him, so he immediately bowed in a very humble manner, and then replied calmly: "These gray dwarves and their caravans...
, are all trophies we picked up along the way."
"Trophy? You mean... they are all slaves?" The priestess's eyes shone slightly.
"That's right. I am planning to transport them and the convoy's goods to the market to be disposed of in exchange for a start-up capital to establish a foothold in Menzoberranzan City."
The corners of Zuo Si's mouth turned up, revealing the dark elf's unique evil smile.
"Well-trained gray dwarf soldiers are always the most popular cargo, especially in this sensitive period. Coupled with the well-trained dark elves under your command, it seems that you will have a good one in Menzoberranzan.
Not a bad start." The priestess said pointedly.
"I think so too. After all, the great Queen Rose taught us that chaos is a ladder and a shortcut to power and power." Zuo Si responded deliberately pretending to be ambitious.
Because he knows that the more he behaves like this, the easier it will be to win the other person's trust.
The facts were as expected. After hearing these words, the priestess immediately pursed her lips with a playful expression, walked closer and whispered in her ear: "You know? What I like most are motivated men.
.But before entering the city of Menzoberranzan, I must advise you to act within your ability. Because although chaos is a ladder, if you fall halfway up, you will be shattered."
Zuo Si smiled and nodded: "Of course! I will keep your advice in mind. If you don't mind, can you tell me your name?"
"You can call me Herman Benry."
The priestess raised her chin slightly and announced her first and last name in a very proud manner.
If it were someone who knew nothing about Menzoberranzan, they would definitely not hear anything special about this name.
But when Drizzt, who was born in Menzoberranzan, heard the family name "Bare", his face hidden under the hood suddenly changed color.
Because "Bare" is the first family in Menzoberranzan and also the most powerful family. The last old matron died under his scimitar.
In addition, the ranger also killed the martial arts master of the Baenre family, Dendro Bare, in a one-on-one duel, and had a grudge against him more than once.
It can be said that the hatred between Drizzt and the Baenre family has reached a level that cannot be resolved at all.
He believed that if the other party knew that he was back, he would definitely capture him alive at all costs and sacrifice him to the evil, chaotic goddess.
"Ah! She turns out to be the daughter of the first family in Menzoberranzan. This is really surprising and unexpected. Please allow me to express my most sincere respect to you and your family."
Zuo Si put one hand on his chest and bowed slightly to express his fear of the name and family "Ban Rui".
Because in the tradition of dark elves, the number one family often means overwhelming power and power.
What's more, the existence of the Baenre family can almost be traced back to the time when Menzoberranzan was first established. The clearly recorded part alone is more than five thousand years ago. During this period, no family has ever truly threatened them.
status.
Even now that the strength has been greatly reduced after the death of the old mistress, it is not comparable to any other family.
To be continued...