crown of stars

a few days later.

The poor tavernkeeper, dressed in his most respectable clothes, stayed with the former lord he had in mind, and watched respectfully as the drow mage walked away.Tuckling took another handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped away the tears from the onion juice.

"Finally... finally gone." The gray dwarf said with a red nose, sobbing, in order to pursue the effect, he deliberately used some strong effect.Then he turned his head, and Tom felt a sudden sense of doom.

"Very well, I'm not dead yet. You are so impatient to please your 'new master'. It seems that I am dissatisfied with you." He bowed his knees, his head almost hit the floor, which dealt a great blow to his mind as a warlock.

"Are you disappointed that I'm sitting here now?"

The tavern owner lowered his head, fluttering his clothes at a loss. He had made a failed investment. The dark elves who came from afar had no intention of overthrowing the rule of the duergars, even though they had a deep feud with the duergars.

Now it's time for him to pay for it.

"Since you want to change your master so much, the benevolent Taklin allows you to 'freely' find your master after repairing my palace."

The gray dwarf snapped his fingers, and a group of numb-looking guards rushed up outside the door. Through the mind control of the warlock, they let Tom struggle and scream, and dragged him out of the door mercilessly.In the ruins of the palace under the cliff, there are countless spiritual servants who are indifferent or are becoming emotionless, working day and night.

"It's yours." The gray dwarf looked back and forth at the brown-haired bartender, and the young and slick man immediately showed the sweetest smile in his life to the gray dwarf.

"Do it well, or that's your final fate. The great Takrin doesn't need a traitor." Elton sat on the stool behind the counter, straightened his waist, and looked more like an old gray dwarf than an old gray dwarf. thing.

Taklin played with the pearls in his pocket and got back on the sedan chair carried by the servants.In the end, Messiah turned a blind eye to his behavior of smuggling pearls, and the reward of the gray dwarves finally reached his hands in this form.

He wants to go back to his beautiful palace and soothe his wounded heart with exquisite works of art.Judging from the direction they were walking, they should be going to the Mithril Bridge. I remember that there is an abandoned mine road there. Travelers passing by often hear the sound of clanging in the depths of the tunnel...

The psionist was lying in the sedan chair, with a smile on his lips unconsciously.

Naffin piled up piles of bones to make a makeshift cushion for his buttocks, and stretched his legs.Not far away, the half-elf put down the bag, held up a piece of crystal, and was distinguishing the materials taken out of the bag by the bright light.

He is a hard-working student, the mage thought, and although there were some minor disagreements with him, at least Nigel was impeccable and strong enough in terms of study.Just after finishing these short bone frames, I settled down to review what he taught.

The wind with strong negative energy blows from the depths of the mine, forming a layer of gray frost on the ground.Master Drow leaned down and shaved a little, and carefully put it into a glass bottle.

I don't know if the dwarves' mine is connected to a plane full of negative energy, or because of the mutation caused by the accumulation of a large number of corpses, turning the vicinity of the mine into a dangerous area.The dead body stood up again, the dry and rotting muscles hung on the white skeleton, and the empty eye sockets glowed again—the red soul fire was ignited, and continued to repeat the work of the previous life tirelessly.

The blessed land of the necromancer, Nafin thought regretfully, but he is not a necromancer.The mineral deposits in the depths of the mine have been soaked in negative energy for a long time, and it is certain that unknown changes will occur, and they will become special items pursued by mages.

However, obtaining minerals is just a luxury, and the physical body of the living can hardly resist the erosion of negative energy. Every step deeper is tantamount to gambling with life.

On the rock wall next to the tunnel entrance, shimmering lights flickered regularly, and the strong negative energy came to an abrupt end here.Someone set up a seal on it so that pedestrians passing by would not be affected for the time being.

The mage spread out the map, looking for the right direction in the intricate passages.A spider dangled from the smooth rock face, hanging in front of the drow mage.The limbs are slender and powerful, the belly is plump and round, and the subtle lines on the dark body form the image of a red-eyed beauty.

A spider, sacred to the Queen of God.

"Spider Queen." The drow mage whispered softly, letting the spider land on his palm.

The spider began to click monotonously, and Naffin turned his head to listen intently.

"Master Nafin, my people, under my protection, you survived 'Him'." The Queen's face appeared on the spider's back for a moment, and the voice flowed to the mage's ears like a spring.

"Yes, my queen." Nafin cleared his mind, and responded to the god fanatically as he had done in the thousands of sacrifices in the past. "Everything about me belongs to you, and it is your special grace that I can survive."

"Then I have a task for you now. I want you to bring the half-elf beside you to the drow city, whether it's yours or another city, and offer it to me on the altar."

The vision is infinitely high, through the darkness and the void, to a strange and prosperous land.The ubiquitous spider silk builds the entire kingdom of God, countless pupae are suspended in the sky by the spider silk, and the wax melting demon in the form of ooze moves swiftly along the passage of the spider silk.The glittering and translucent filaments were gathered and pulled up to form a huge web, and a big spider lay in the center, seeming to smile at him.

The drow mage was shocked and fell out of the hallucination.The spider was the same spider, lying docilely in the hand, like a lifeless structure.Naffin panted heavily, deeply shocked, pulled down his hood, and observed Nigel sitting on the bones from the corner of his eye.

The half-elf was poring over what was in his hand, unresponsive to the mage's observations.Half-length black hair fell from her shoulders, and a sharp corner appeared on the side of her cheek.

It does seem to be shorter and more rounded than their ears.

A piece of clothing was exposed beside the gray stone wall, and Nafin knew that it was the Messiah.From the very first moment, Nafin knew that the half-elf always followed the Messiah, like a dragon who was always guarding the treasure.

The dragon will not hesitate to rob the nobles and treasury for gold coins and gems, and will not hesitate to fight irrationally. Anyone who covets the treasure will be killed regardless of the cost.

The oracle of the spider queen came for no reason, as if he wanted to have fun with his struggling appearance.

The mage spent 3 minutes recalling the previous days, and then took another half minute to make a decision.A ball of flames erupted out of the palm of the hand, and the human-faced spider twisted its body in the flames, howling silently.

Priestesses can die for you, but I am an exception.In my opinion, instead of believing in you and becoming cannon fodder in family strife, it is better to leave your protection and wander alone underground.

The flames went out.The spider that conveyed the oracle walked towards the end of its life docilely. Nafin spread his five fingers and let a handful of warm ashes float down the fingers.

The mage wrapped his cloak, walked away from the crowd alone, and walked along the vague tunnel.On the other side of the cliff, under the tall and wide dome, stands another city of Drow, the pearl of the underground—Surthrin.

Drow held on to the roots hanging from the roof of the cave, almost jumping off the tunnel.

Sethrin was built entirely in the middle of a mountain, hollowed out by countless generations of drow.The pure black rocks are carved into all kinds of unimaginable works of art, and the complex and neat lines outline the images of a large number of spiders and female gods. Every pillar of every building is entangled with spiders of different shapes—no matter Be it living or a work of art.

Nafin faced the drow city, but what he thought of was his hometown, which was smaller than Suslin, but the internal struggle was no less inferior to Susslin's drow gathering place.

Half of the entire city was embedded in the stone wall, and tens of thousands of caves were dug out and decorated with great care.Nobles and temples occupy the widest and most comfortable positions, and the military academy is opposite but slightly lower.Men and civilians were herded into the worst places, where they faced mortal danger at all times.The mage tower was isolated separately and became a relatively pure land.

Among the drow men, anger towards the priestesses surged all the time, but the God Queen only cast her eyes on the priestesses, and men were always rejected by her.The disparity in strength makes most men have to bury their dissatisfaction in their hearts and choose to remain silent.The few drow who dared to resist were either sacrificed to the Spider Queen, or were forced to defect, and were exiled underground ever since.

Once his elder brother became a victim just because of the jealousy among the priestesses, and disappeared mysteriously after entering the room with his nominal partner.Until he found the body of his brother whose back skin had been completely stripped off in the dark river.He will never forget the scene of finding his brother in the dark river that day.

The white and swollen corpse was soaked in the cold black water, and the skin on the back was completely uncovered, revealing the bloodless muscles underneath.Carnivorous animals gather in the water to feast on heavenly delicacies.Fear disrupted his whole life for a long time, and he was terrified of it all day long, fearing that one day his corpse would appear in the dark river.

Behold, how beautiful it is.

The mage sighed in his heart, looking at the huge statue of the Spider Queen in the mountainside.

A whole piece of obsidian is carved into a lifelike goddess, with rubies inlaid in the eye sockets, holding a whip in one hand, and a coquettish and cold smile on her lips.

Attractive like a jewel.

But she doesn't attract me.

Nafin took one last look at the city of his kindred, and turned to leave.

The author has something to say:

Master Drow said that he wanted to improve his presence.

It is very controversial that drow women are superior to men, but the social structure of dark elves is indeed mostly female superior to men.Rose, the queen of spiders (set by Faerun's world), prefers women, and bestows divine spells on women as well.Even if the status of male mages is higher than that of civilians and slaves, they are not at all comparable to female priests.

Thanks to Elbereth, Iceberg Cool Paper, and Dreamer for mine!