crown of stars

Takrin the duergar warlock stayed at home as usual, his gray palace built alone on a cliff away from the crowd, overlooking the lake from a fifty-foot cliff.The busy crowd shrunk infinitely in his eyes, looking like a bigger bug.

Taklin sat on a deck chair on the terrace, comfortably enjoying the ground fruit served in a porcelain plate by the servant.In the past, he was troubled by this lake and defeated the invaders who coveted this land one after another. Now, no one has dared to challenge his authority for 100 years.He blesses the land, and the Shadow Lake deal has steadily brought him a lot of money, allowing him to spend his old age comfortably.

My abode is the perfect creation in Shadow Lake!

Taklin thought, he carved out its outline on the stone wall with thousands of psychic servants, decorated it resplendently with a lot of gold, silver and jewels, set traps everywhere, and sent gargoyles and golems Like a statue disguised, all the mechanisms are so complicated that only he can remember.

His treasure was thus safely in the treasury, though it did not matter that a few servants died every seven days.

Taklin picked up a bunch of grapes and put them in his mouth, and the gushing grape juice stained his beard. The warlock took up the handkerchief to wipe off the water from his beard in distress, and then combed each one neatly with an ivory comb.

Every dwarf's beard is the most precious treasure.

Tom in the tavern was wiping the glasses, the veins on his thick wrists were bulging, and he was turning the glass around in his hand, and the wax on it was almost wiped off by him.

Ever since the group of dark elves came over just now, he always felt that a big stone was pressing on his heart, as if something big was about to happen.Some people may think that worrying is unfounded. As a hybrid of underground and surface, he relied on this seemingly unreliable premonition, and finally became the owner of a tavern by the Shadow Lake.

I hope it wasn't for these black skins to do something big, they didn't even speak ill of me, and they actually paid for the drink - only one-third of ordinary people.

Tom thought, and a wrong hand threw the quilt to the floor with a loud thud.When he picked it up, he saw a beautiful person coming down the stairs.

The tavern owner's eyes were immediately glued, and it took him a while to regain his senses, realizing that he had already stood in front of him.

"Please, what's the matter?" Tom stammered, his eyes still wandering.

"A pot of hot water, send it to the best guest room upstairs." The voice of the visitor was elegant and deep, with an invisible majesty inherent in it.

"Okay, what else?"

Messiah was a little annoyed by the undisguised expression of the tavern owner, but fortunately, it was not serious enough to draw a knife.

"Where are there warlocks here?" Tom looked at him in a daze, with a silly smile on his face, "Warlocks? There are many warlocks here, who are you looking for?"

"Psychic."

As if a pot of cold water had been poured on his head, Tom suddenly woke up and took a deep breath.

He was so charmed that he almost couldn't control his mouth, and revealed the information of the gray dwarf lord to the opposite person.

but……

The tavern owner raised his head helplessly, and bumped into the beast-like vertical pupils in the opponent's green eyes.

He was not a dark elf, but the black skins followed him and sat obediently under him.Except for women, these rebellious black skins never followed others convincingly.Except for one case -

All the dark elves together couldn't defeat him.

Although he is still beautiful now, he is not cute at all.Tom answered despondently:

"There are indeed psions in Shadow Lake."

"Who is he and where is he?" Messiah persuaded.

Tom pointed to the ceiling, "He's on it. The raised cliffs by the lake are all his fortifications and palaces, which are full of his wealth. Any daredevil who tries to force his way in will be blasted to pieces. The lord Never stepping outside his palace, there have been many previous challengers who wanted to take his place, and all of them were buried in it."

"Um……"

Messiah was lost in thought. He had no interest in becoming a lord and his gold and silver treasures, and he did not plan to really fight a well-prepared opponent with unknown strength. It would be better to solve the problem in a relatively peaceful way .

"Master Messiah, why don't you try to start with his preferences?"

The tavern door was pushed open again, and the shell wind chimes on the door frame rang softly. Master Drow walked to the counter with a few packs of herbs, blocking the tavern owner's view.

"you're right."

Nafin squinted his red eyes, secretly delighted, being able to please this strong man will undoubtedly be beneficial to his future life.His life now is far more free than in his hometown of drow, and he looks forward to becoming the right-hand man of the strong, instead of only being the guard of the elves.

Before he could set his eyes on the tavernkeeper, Tom jumped up like his ass was on fire, and explained everything in detail.

"The lord likes the black pearls at the bottom of the lake, the ones that reflect the brilliance of peacock green."

"There are still things." Messiah passed the rapier around Nafin's waist and pressed it against the boss's chin.

"Yes... yes, the water in the Shadow Lake is poisonous and will corrode the intruders completely. The pearls at the bottom of the lake are difficult to bring up, so the lord has always wanted them." Raising the rapier upwards, Tom was forced to raise his head, The goose bumps on the neck were exposed one by one.

"very good."

The lip line of the alien creature was slightly raised, and the rapier gently kissed the tavern owner's neck like a warning.Many guests in the tavern saw this scene, but no one stepped forward to stop it.

"Then I'll make medicine for that lord." Nafin bowed slightly, saluted him with Drow's unique etiquette, and slid back.

It wasn't until the silver hair of the intimidator disappeared behind the door that Tom sat down on the ground as if he had been pardoned, clutching the wound on his neck, and didn't speak for a long while.

"Boss Tom, why don't you resist? You look like a teenage girl." The bartender approached with a smile.

"Go get your plate! I can't beat those black skins, but it's more than enough to beat ten of you!"

The bartender stepped aside and continued to serve the dishes.

I hope that the business will not be affected in any way. Whether the lord is dead or alive has nothing to do with me.Even if the lord is changed, my business must continue as usual.thought Tom grimly.

Shadow Lake is a convenient transit point, and it has raised a large group of people around it. There are many shellfish and algae on the sand in the shallow water. Fishermen jump into the water to catch these common delicacies.Shellfish and algae are used as food for the surrounding people, and the hard shells are made into handicrafts and living utensils, which are exported to the Underdark.

But it is still essentially a highly toxic lake.

Messiah jumped off the pier planks and sank into the soft sand in the shallow waters.The water in the shallow water area is crystal clear, and the texture of shells can be clearly seen between the gravel.Messiah bent down to pick up a shell and threw it far away.

The shell hit the water with a thud and began to sink with a trail of foam.

Messiah looked through the gloomy water surface, watching the shells swaying down.

The water body in the lake is divided into two layers. The first layer is a transparent shallow water area, which is almost non-toxic. Most of the fish catches in the lake come from this area, and the boats can travel because of this.The second floor is the highly toxic waters mentioned by the tavern owner.As soon as the shell touched the surface, it began to bubble profusely, and finally withered into a little black residue.

He finally hired a boat, paddled out to the middle of the lake, and dived.

Some passengers screamed, and more people shook their heads in surprise.

Every once in a while, there are such fools who try to bring the pearls from the bottom of the lake to the shore in vain, trying to please the lord. In the end, they sink to the bottom of the lake and become the fertilizer for the pearls.

Taking advantage of the momentum of his fall, the Messiah twisted his body through the harmless shallow waters to reach the deep waters.

The deep water under the shallow water layer was not calm. A large amount of water flowed in the same direction with a strange force, forming a large whirlpool.

The thin wind wraps around, separating the highly corrosive water.An inexplicable magic power brewed in the water, resulting in a black body of water, with smoke swirling at the bottom of the lake.

Messiah continued to dive in the direction of the current, and the light from the surface of the water was completely covered up, only the sound of the bubbles bursting.

This is not a problem. Messiah clearly saw a few giant mussels sleeping at the bottom of the lake, and the wavy shells clearly showed their presence.The white gravel is spread flat on the bottom of the lake, forming a huge sunken hole in the center, an astonishing amount of water is sucked into the hole, and then spit out again after a while.

Perhaps under this great lake, there is a mysterious and huge cave.

The visitor from another world opened his lips, and uttered a silent chant at the bottom of the dark lake.

The wind blade cut through the lake water and hit the calm bottom of the lake.The gravel under the oyster suddenly cracked, and a huge fish wrapped in mucus jumped out, and fled to the distance without looking back. Messiah could even clearly count how many teeth he had.

Why do people think that Shadow Lake has no other threats besides being highly poisonous?There are many ways to evade the venom, why are only very few people lucky enough to float up from the bottom of the lake?

Fortunately, these monsters are not active by nature, they only wander around the bottom of the dark lake, otherwise there would be a few more delicacies on the plate of the lakeside tavern.

Messiah picked up the giant clam with ease, even rolling up the sand and bringing it to the surface of the water.Several giant fish and shrimp and crab-like creatures patrolled the surrounding area, watching the arrival and departure of the uninvited guests vigilantly and cautiously.

He continued to swim towards the lake, estimating the distance to the shore, and when he was about to reach the pier, he threw the booty high, separated from the water and fell to the ground.

By the pier, the calm and calm lake of Shadow suddenly boiled like a pot, and several black things were thrown onto the wooden board, and the dripping water drained all the water in the wood, turning it into a piece of pure wood. Thorough charcoal.

Messiah broke through the water from the bottom and landed on the pier with a few short steps. His clothes were intact, his spirit was full, and there was not a drop of water.

Stunned port people witnessed this scene.