Shadow Valley is a city that stands on the border of the valley and Cormanthor, next to a wide and fast-flowing river.
Different from other typical towns in Faerûn, in addition to being home to several voters of the goddess of magic, including Elminster, it is also a city without the protection of high walls, and has adopted a true one-person-one-vote electoral system.
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The political system here is very interesting, a bit like a combination of democratic elections and feudalism.
Commoners who own land, property and freedom will elect a lord, and then swear allegiance to the lord through a ceremony. He will manage and lead the daily operations of the entire city, as well as resist possible invasions from the Cormanthor region.
Dark elves, goblins, orcs and other monsters.
Of course, the Valley of Shadows is so close to the crisis-ridden Cormanthor and still dares not to build a city wall, mainly because the souls of Elminster, Storm Silverhand and Sheron are sitting there, and other elects of the goddess of magic can be summoned when necessary.
Come help.
Otherwise, with its own militia quality and defense strength, it would have been occupied and destroyed countless times.
The reason why Silen died and existed in the form of a soul is because he died in the battle to protect the Valley of Shadows.
More than 70% of the city's existence and standing is due to the powerful magical power of the "Great Sage of Shadow Valley".
Therefore, no matter how bad the outside world's evaluation of Elminster is, the people here always support and love him.
It can even tolerate some of the old mage's weird habits and habits, and allow strangers who are dangerous at first glance to enter the city.
In the eyes of the people of Shadowdale, no matter how dangerous the visitors are or whether they have malicious intentions, the invincible Elminster can always handle everything.
But today, when a bald mage appeared on the street, Elminster, who never showed off to anyone, actually opened the door of the house and stood outside to greet him with Storm Queen Xinbu.p>
This bald mage knew without asking that he was Mordenkainen who had just visited Zuo Si.
As soon as the two parties met, Xinbu asked impatiently: "How is it, have you seen him?"
Mordenkainen nodded slightly: "Well, I have seen it. Thank you for the letter of recommendation you wrote to me. Otherwise, it would not be easy to enter his mage tower. Do you know? I actually saw it inside.
A blazing god."
"What? Are you sure your eyes are not blurry and you mistakenly mistook the alien god servant for the blazing god servant?" Xinbu raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Do you think I would make such a stupid mistake? I am a blazing god, but I don't know why my body is filled with amazing natural energy. Also, are you sure you want to talk about this here?"
As he said that, Mordenkainen glanced at the ordinary people around him with curious expressions on their faces, and the meaning behind his words was self-evident.
"Please come in. I have baked some delicious cherry pies at home, as well as a fragrant hot cocoa drink from the Maztec continent. We can talk while eating."
Elminster took the initiative to make a gesture of invitation.
With the sound of the door closing, the three of them disappeared into this small, inconspicuous-looking house.
After about a few minutes, they were sitting around the fireplace, tasting cherry pie baked by the Great Sage of Shadow Valley himself, and drinking hot cocoa drinks that exuded a rich aroma.
Some scholars once said that time and aging are the biggest enemies of mankind, but for Elminster, it is just the opposite.
After all, no matter who he is, as long as he is a normal person with similar intelligence, he can accumulate knowledge, skills and experience that ordinary people cannot achieve after living for more than a thousand years.
Not to mention that Elminster himself is a genius in the field of magic, otherwise he would not have been selected by the second-generation magic goddess.
Especially his cooking skills, which may be due to the fact that when he was young, he always had adventures, ate, and slept in the open. He even cooked and ate special ingredients such as dragon meat, so he is quite good.
Even Mordenkainen, who is very picky about the taste and texture of food, ate it with gusto.
After he finished a piece of cherry pie, he picked up the cup and took a sip of hot cocoa, patiently waiting for the other party to ask questions.
Obviously, visiting Zuo Si was not only Mordenkainen's own wish, but also included a deal with the two electors of the goddess of magic.
In other words, these spellcasters who stand at the top of their respective worlds do not only focus on their own three-acre land.
Instead, they will maintain close contact with each other and occasionally gather together to hold secret meetings.
Sometimes it is to exchange and share magical knowledge and new discoveries, sometimes it is to exchange information and intelligence, and occasionally I will ask the other party to do a small favor that is not convenient for me to do.
In short, Elminster, Mordenkainen, and Ximbu are all frequent visitors to this secret gathering.
In the world of Klein where the story of Dragonlance takes place, Dalamar, the disciple of the most powerful and famous archmage Raistlin, was once teased as a clown by three bosses at the gathering.
Although he is the strongest black-robed mage in the world after Raistlin's death, he is still far behind compared with the real strong ones.
Of course, this does not rule out the fact that the world of Klein itself is relatively lacking in magic resources and the number of mages is extremely rare.
But at least while Raistlin is alive, he is definitely qualified to communicate with Mordenkainen, Elminster and others on an equal footing.
"Do you know what Soth has been doing recently?"
After a while, Elminster spoke first and broke the silence.
"Which aspect are you referring to? The outer plane, this world, or some other time and space he has been to?" Mordenkainen asked calmly.
Elminster answered without thinking: "Of course it is the continent of Faerûn beneath our feet.
As far as I know, he has recently united with the church of Bane, the god of tyranny, and Woking, the goddess of wealth, and seems to be making some big move.
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Whether it is the airship, a means of transportation that may bring about drastic changes to the entire world, or the West Coast Trade Alliance, which has invited many countries and city-states to join, they all make me feel very uneasy.
The most important thing is that the prophecy of the wise Alando is coming true, and the descendants of Baal, the god of murder, are awakening in large numbers and starting to fight for the Blood Throne.
I'm not sure what Soth's attitude is on this matter."
Mordenkainen immediately showed disgust when he heard these questions, and said in a slightly contemptuous tone: "You are still the same as before, always like to meddle in such nosy matters that have no practical significance. Tell me, Ilmins
Special, are you confident that you can defeat a blazing god with an artifact in a battle?"
"No mortal dares to make such a guarantee, and I am no exception."
Elminster gave a very straightforward negative answer.
Although in the turbulent years, he once faced the gods who came as saints and launched a fierce battle with them.
Anyone with some religious knowledge knows that the god in the posture of a saint is not a real god at all, otherwise the second-generation magic goddess would not be easily killed by Heim, who is responsible for guarding the gate.
The Blazing Gods can be regarded as special demigods to a certain extent.
Therefore, Elminster is not sure whether he can get any benefits from the attendants of the God of Blazing Sky by relying on the silver fire in his body and other special means.
The most likely result is that he will be pinned to the ground and rubbed repeatedly, unable to fight back.
Let alone deal with the Seraph God, he may not even be able to deal with the big devils in hell who were exiled by Asmodeus.
"Since you know you are not your opponent, why do you still intervene?
No matter what Soth wants to do, he has made sufficient preparations, and there is absolutely no way you and the group of Harpers who think they are saving the world can stop it.
Look at the fate of the mad god Cyric, don't you understand that he is completely different from those you have met before?
Soth's unique character determines that he rarely uses force rashly, especially using naked violence to force others to obey him, and then achieves rule through cruel means that may arouse strong resistance.
On the contrary, this interesting young man is very proficient in the weaknesses of human nature, good at grasping the psychology of others, and can use the knowledge and resources at hand to create huge benefits and win the support of the majority of people.
After winning the support of the majority, we will use the power of the majority to attack the enemies who are the minority.
I summarized some of the things Soth did when he came to Toril, and found that he almost never fought alone, and no matter what he did, he always had a large group of allies standing by his side.
And keep at least one or two backup plans that can reduce losses and reverse the adverse situation after failure.
The most important thing is that his soul may exude a strong evil aura, but it is not chaotic or cruel.
The lower classes within his control are even better off than those so-called good-minded areas.
So I really don’t understand what you are worried about.
In my opinion, letting Soth rule the west coast of this continent is not a bad thing, but a good thing.
At least from a macro perspective, it can make business more prosperous and allow ordinary people to live in a relatively safe and orderly social environment.
This will also promote the development of civilization and the improvement of population quality.
Perhaps decades or even centuries later, a magical civilization as powerful as Netheril or Imaskar will be born again on this land.
As for the small destruction and sacrifices caused in the process of achieving this goal, they are just the pain of realizing a more grand vision.
Even without Soth, do you think those civilians can live a stable life?
No!
Whether it is the numerous monsters, wild beasts, or the heavy taxes collected by the greedy lords in their name, they are all huge challenges they face in their survival.
To be continued...