LRAB Page 70
Page 70
Chapter 217
The human, after a slight pause, put his hands on his hips, tilted his head back, and burst into wild laughter, his mouth so wide it could fit an apple, showing no trace of the elegance and arrogance expected of a sun elf.
A steel golem appeared behind the paladin and the sun elf, punching out with both fists and sending the two guys blocking its way flying, sprawling against the mast.
At this moment, the female warrior caught up with the halfling. She planted her katana into the deck, leaped into the air, and kicked the halfling in the back, knocking him to the ground. She grabbed her undergarments and wrapped them around her body, then stepped on the halfling's body, using it as a surfboard to glide forward quickly on the deck. She also stomped on the back of the halfling's head, pushing his raised face towards the deck.
"Ah, um... ah, um..." Strange screams came out intermittently, drowning out the sound of the body rubbing against the deck.
"Hahaha!"
The sun elf, who had slid down from the mast, stood with his hands on his hips and burst into maniacal laughter again, ignoring his wildly flowing blond hair. This time, a paladin in civilian clothes accompanied him, striking the same pose and laughing the same way; it was unclear who had brought whom.
"A bunch of idiots," the Iron Golem muttered in Dwarven.
"Ah, this is youth." The mage captain exhaled a smoke ring, which the invisible mage hand shaped into a six-pointed star and then into a sail, slowly commenting, "Another energetic morning. It looks like today will be another smooth day."
After spending some time together, the crew didn't react much to the addition of Casalos, the dragon, to the ship, because these guys were just a bunch of goofballs.
Apart from Captain Tandevalima Oman, who was somewhat serious, the others all seemed rather abnormal.
Casalos had already experienced the enthusiasm of Paladin Priam Agrippa; he had invited Casalos aboard his ship without Casalos knowing anything about him, thankfully Casalos meant no harm. This paladin of Tyre was a friendly old man who could befriend anyone, even a gnoll he would greet in the wild: "Hi, what a coincidence, sir gnoll! The weather is lovely today, have you eaten yet?"
In most cases, the result was that the paladin was forced to raise his warhammer, engraved with the symbol of the silver arm, and smash the howling gnoll into a pulp.
The Sun Elf priest... or more accurately, a chosen one of Rabelas Ennoris, the Elf god of time and longevity. Valtan Hay Sylva was a close friend of the paladin Priam, the kind of friend who would risk his life for him.
The two of them had only been on the Kingdom for a short time when they met and traveled with it on an investigation mission hired by the Golden Dragon Dracono Baron. During their adventure, they encountered a powerful magic ship, whose captain warmly welcomed the adventurers and brought his crew to join them on their adventure.
Isn't it a story like that of a bard?
As Casaroz gradually regained his senses, he remembered that the captain of the Kingdom, Devalima, bore the heavy responsibility entrusted to him by the ruler of Harua. He piloted the Kingdom throughout Toril, actively participating in any seemingly abnormal events, with the aim of finding the Netheril artifacts scattered throughout Faerûn and judging them, bringing back those that were too dangerous to seal in Harua's treasury.
Harua Casaloz was quite familiar with the area; its Dragon Territory stretched eastward across the M'Hel Jungle, into this magical land that claimed to be the rightful heir to the Netheril Empire. The M'Hel Jungle was a vast, uninhabited region with little unified government, and Harua and the Dragon Territory were practically neighboring countries. The port of Desera had taken away most of the business from the ports on the northern shore of the Great Sea, including Harua's Harrigard Port, so Casaloz and the captain were probably trade rivals.
However, the official lord of Dragon's Territory is Cecita, so what does it have to do with Casaloz?
The investigation mission that the Golden Dragon assigned to the paladin and the sun elf clearly met the captain's conditions for intervention, so the two were accepted by the captain as crew members to carry out the mission together.
The other crew members on the "Kingdom" include: Ishikawa Kanon, a female warrior from the continent of Karatu, who was the one whose undergarments were stolen by the halflings. Judging from her name, she should be from Sakura or Wa—the island nation on the eastern side of the Karatu continent is divided into Wa, controlled by the Shogun, and Sakura, which is in a state of warring states. It is unknown which side this female warrior comes from or why she boarded the Kingdom; the halfling thief she trampled down is named Fushilon Lucky Card, and he is the center of the Kingdom's comical incidents; the steel golem that hammered the paladin and the sun elf away is inhabited by the soul of the female dwarf Mande.
A mage on a secret mission, a carefree paladin, a charismatic priest who abandoned the arrogance of the sun elves under the influence of the paladin, a warrior from an Eastern island nation with unclear intentions, a halfling thief who loves pranks but lacks strength, and a female dwarf who has lost her physical body, together form a peculiar adventure team... and now they also have to add Casaroz, who is on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Honestly, it felt pretty good. The silly atmosphere fostered genuine friendship, allowing Casalos to temporarily escape the endless conspiracies and killings of Faerûn, which was very beneficial for improving its mental state.
If there is no task commissioned by Jinlong.
151. Reason
The mission currently underway on the Kingdom begins with the Sun Elf Valtan.
Valtan Hay Sylva was born in Averriskar. It is well known that pointy-eared elves are masters of racial discrimination in Faerûn, and the Sun Elves… also known as Gold Elves, are the worst of them all. Like most Sun Elves, Valtan views any humanoid species other than Sun Elves as an inferior race.
But that doesn't stop him from having the heart of an adventurer.
At the age of 40, still considered adolescence for an elf, Vartan left his homeland and embarked on an adventure. Like all novice adventurers, his early adventures were not smooth. His party suffered a crushing defeat in a raid on a gnoll bandit group, resulting in the annihilation of the entire force. Vartan was spared by the gnolls because of his handsome appearance as a sun elf—not out of any lust, but because the gnolls intended to offer him as a superior sacrifice to the dark god on a holy day.
This ordeal of capture, however, led Vartan to his lifelong friend, Priam, the Tyr paladin who had greeted the gnolls who had ambushed him on the road. Priam rescued Vartan from the gnoll bandits and invited him to join him. Vartan had finally found a reliable adventurer, and with the paladin's powerful support, he embarked on a new adventure: escorting caravans, eliminating bandits, and driving away the darkness…
In short, Vartan became a hero sung by bards, his fame spreading far and wide, even reaching the elves of his homeland, Ephrisca, who knew that a great adventurer had emerged from their city.
With increased fame comes more commissions. A few months ago, an old golden dragon who had maintained a good friendship with Efriska approached Valtan. Golden dragons of this era always got along well with elves, especially gold elves, probably because they shared the same name prefix and the same arrogant habits.
Casalos mentally assessed both the golden dragons and golden elves, finding them both repulsive—a racially instinctive dislike, not directed at any specific individual. At least its perception of Valtan was relatively positive.
One of the old golden dragons, a young male, was assassinated, leaving only his headless corpse at the scene. The old golden dragon felt a strong sense of unease, but was tied up with a certain duty, so he asked Vartan to investigate the matter.
Vartan readily accepted the task and began the investigation with Priam. They followed the clues across the Enook Desert, climbed the Scimitar Peaks, crossed the Shadow Sea, forded the Tes River, and finally encountered the Kingdom in the Sea of the Moon.
As their investigation deepened, Vartan and his companions found more and more murdered dragon carcasses. All of them were adult dragons or older; besides the golden dragon they encountered at the beginning, there were also…
Chapter 218
The bronze dragons were red, but there were also red and blue dragons. Although these remaining dragon corpses decomposed rapidly within hours of death, they still retained identifiable features. Most importantly, like the gold dragons, their heads had been cut off.
There is no doubt that some huge, dark conspiracy is brewing!
Vartan urgently contacted Dracolno to inform him of the situation. The latter's attitude became unusually serious, and he quickly invited all the dragons he knew in the Enok Desert and the surrounding area—whether metal dragons or chromatic dragons—to urgently convene a "Dragon Assembly" in the border forest.
It said this was a conspiracy concerning the future of Faerûn, and clearly, the old man knew something, but hadn't told Valtan yet.
With the heart of an adventurer, Vartan certainly wouldn't miss this grand event. Thanks to a past adventure, Vartan and the captain of the Priam Kingdom had long been acquainted and admired each other, so he hitched a ride on the Kingdom to join in the fun. On the way, they encountered Casalos, who was flying aimlessly and happened to be traveling the same route, and mistakenly thought that Casalos was also a dragon invited to participate in the Dragon Festival.
This conspiracy is clearly related to dragons, and not just subspecies; who knows if it will involve the Argentavis—Valtan's investigation has traced the assassin's movements by connecting the murdered dragons, and the trail is about to extend into Mara. His newly assembled small Argentavis tribe is already fighting there.
The old golden dragon clearly knew something, and now, even though Casaloz wasn't invited, he had to attend the Dragon Assembly.
"How much further?" It was even the most anxious one on the ship.
"No need to rush, young dragon. The tournament is still three days away." The captain flicked his pipe, reassuring the anxious iron dragon (humanoid). "If needed, the Kingdom can reach its destination instantly. However, we have plenty of time. Before facing those dark forces, it's better to relax and enjoy the scenery along the way."
“The captain is right. As a priest, I can clearly feel that you’re extremely tense.” Varta appeared behind Casalos, dusted off his priest’s robes, and said confidently with his arms crossed, “No matter what happens, His Highness Drakornobalon will have a way to solve it. It is an ancient golden dragon that witnessed the Netheril era, so you can rest assured.”
Do you believe in the Golden Dragon?
Thinking of the Golden Dragons' style and examples, Casalos chuckled at Vartan; the guy was simply indescribable. It wasn't that the Golden Dragons acted chaotically or irresponsibly. As the leader of the Metal Dragons, the pinnacle of the Material Dragons on the cardboard cutout, the Golden Dragons undoubtedly possessed exemplary moral standards and undeniable power. The problem lay precisely there: these guys had occupied the top for too long, so long that arrogance was etched into the deepest recesses of their dragon souls, and few could refute this fact. Ultimately, anyone who considered the Golden Dragons a potential enemy would make the most thorough preparations. Meanwhile, the Golden Dragons, the targets, still faced the "challenge" with a condescending attitude.
The end result is that whenever the Golden Dragons are heavily involved in events on the continent of Faerûn, they often end up losing unexpectedly!
According to their descriptions, even the old golden dragon who organized the Dragon Tournament was very nervous. Clearly, the thing they were dealing with was no pushover. It was said to be related to the future fate of the Forgotten Realms. In the game, it would be at least a legendary character. You are a group of real-world adventurers with a combined level of ten or so. You are not PC characters who exploit loopholes in the rules of a board game. What are you doing here so relaxed?
Casalos was only mentally shaken by the repeated high-realism experiences of death. Now that he had woken up, he figured he had to keep going no matter what, and he didn't have any tendency toward self-destruction.
This sounds like an extraordinary matter, so we should bring in more reinforcements.
152. Report that you are safe
Now that he had woken up, Casalos naturally re-established remote contact with his "team"—for a dragon, regardless of its identity, suddenly disappearing for a few months or even hundreds of years is normal, and no one was particularly surprised.
Their previous communications with Casaloz were mostly routine reports or daily contact, with only a few potentially important matters. For example, the return of Amurel Zor, a descendant of the exiled Waterdeep noble family Zor, to Waterdeep, where he killed two hidden lords and severely wounded the open lord Pierre Galen, presented an excellent opportunity for Toona's group. Through Toona's machinations, the Thinker's human identity became one of Waterdeep's new hidden lords. If Casaloz had been present as the Dragon Merchant, it might have been able to obtain a hidden lord's identity as well.
In addition, two years ago, Charson made a connection with Drizzt Du'erden, one of the "protagonists of the world." After gaining the friendship of this kind and legendary Drow Ranger, he joined his party to kill the ancient white dragon Ice Death and the ancient shadow dragon Shimmer.
Those were two fierce battles. According to the original plan, Casalos was supposed to participate in this adventure as an ally invited by Charson, in order to establish a relationship with Drizzt. Unfortunately, he unexpectedly backed out. Without the protagonist's halo, Charson frequently encountered danger in this adventure. If it weren't for Drizzt and his group of powerful people being so helpful, he might have been wiped out. Therefore, he had a lot of resentment towards Casalos, but dared not say anything.
Speaking of which, Shadowbringer has a very ambiguous relationship with the Charson family, and is very likely one of the bloodline ancestors of Charson Shadow Dragon. After Bruno Warhammer became the eighth Mithril Hall King, this guy probably reaped quite a few benefits.
What's rather embarrassing for Casalos is that it seems to have been flying over Icewind Valley when Master Cui's team was slaying the dragons, witnessing the entire process from high above. It's a bit embarrassing to have missed it all... But these things are in the past, so they're no longer important.
“Charson, you’re a seasoned agent now. The people you’ve trained and cultivated are all over Forgotten Realms. You know exactly what color underwear Elasdra wears every day. You need to make your own judgments and not rely on me for everything.” Cracking his beak to ease the slight embarrassment rising within him, Casalos reassured his top spy: “I was watching you fight from the sky. With Volfgar and Bruno at the front, you seemed to be in danger, but you weren’t actually in any real danger. The fact that you were seriously injured only deepened their trust in you.”
"You're talking nonsense, Elasdra doesn't wear underwear at all!" Charleson was very annoyed.
"No, who told you that? I was just using an analogy... You actually know that... Let me see, your path as an assassin has reached a high level. Your physique has also increased significantly, and your skin-carving skills have improved even further. A large part of this is probably from those two dragons. If I had rushed down and killed Ice Death or Shadow Blade with one breath, would they still trust you so much? Would you still be able to obtain so many benefits..."
"What benefits? Never mind,"
After hanging up with Charleson, Ratambirol, posing as the dragon Ratambirol, had a long magical phone conversation with Toona, promising to bring gifts and visit Waterdeep as soon as possible. He also learned from Toona of some undecided news: Piergalen was contacting the Flamefist Mercenary Group, and the two major cities of Sword Coast were preparing to form an alliance to counterattack Dragonspear Fortress, which had been occupied by demons. In the near future, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate would be buying up large quantities of weapons and equipment with properties like Radiance and Exorcism, allowing Ratambirol to make a fortune.
“I’m not in the arms business,” Casalos tilted his head. “But I do know a magical equipment merchant who operates in various planes. He’s recently stockpiled a lot of things, all high-quality dwarf products.”
The female dragon's eyes lit up.
“You act as the middleman, and I have a monopoly on the transportation channels. If I can control the price…” Casalos had no idea who these otherworldly magical equipment merchants were. It was just that the Doomsday Fortress in the Underground Dragon Territory was complete, the thousands of gray dwarf slaves were idle, and the stockpiled metal ore had nowhere to go. He just happened to…
Chapter 219
We definitely have to seize such a great opportunity.
The industrialized production line produces steel blanks, which are then solidified with low-level manifestation spells using psionic energy. Compared to the high price of magical equipment, the cost of manufacturing magical equipment in this way is incredibly low.
The arms industry is undoubtedly the most profitable sector, bar none.
After deducting his share for facilitating the matchmaking with Toona, Casalos made a killing.
After briefly contacting Isis, the Carrick tribe, and Shaving, exchanging greetings and reassurances, the Kingdom finally arrived at the location of the Dragon Assembly.
Under the captain's control, the Nation suddenly stopped and began to slow down and descend. About ten minutes later, the deck windproof barrier was removed, and several unreliable crew members rushed onto the deck to look down at the ground.
"Wow, dragons, so many dragons, gold, silver, red, blue, green, and they're all sitting together peacefully without fighting. I must have taken too much again." The halfling thief, who was hanging on the railing, closed his eyes, shook his head, looked again to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and then turned to the paladin beside him, wanting to say something.
He glanced at the paladin's fist, which was as big as a sandbag, then turned to look at Casalos on the other side, before naturally looking past her and gazing at the female warrior holding the katana, saying, "Why don't you punch me and see if that can bring me to my senses?"
The female warrior, who had never heard of such a request before, smiled slightly, took a step and leaped to the side of the halfling, knocking him unconscious with the hilt of her sword, and the deck immediately became much quieter.
Paladins wouldn't laugh at a time like this, and Valtan reverted to the haughty demeanor befitting a Sun Elf.
Casalos sighed inwardly: the last time it had seen so many dragons gathered was at the handover ceremony between the old and new Supreme Dragons in the sacred land of the Athelonians, which marked the tragic beginning of the Athelonian race's fate.
Sensing the approaching magic ship in the sky, a young golden dragon flew up, and the sun elf volunteered to go to the bow and negotiate with it.
"Hello, Lord Prishidutelren, I have brought my friends with me. They are not very skilled adventurers, but I believe they can be of help to you."
“Oh, it’s little Vartan. On behalf of my grandmother Dracolnobalen, I welcome you.” The golden dragon’s eyes, still bearing prominent vertical pupils, swept over the people on the deck. His gaze lingered on Casalos for a moment before he said, “I’ll take you to my grandmother. Although this gathering was convened by my grandmother, not all dragons are as friendly as we are. You’d better stick close to me.”
153. The Dragons
Led by the young golden dragon Prishidu, the Kingdom passed through numerous dragon herds and headed towards the golden dragon's lair. As they flew, the golden dragon introduced the dragons present to everyone.
"The two people watching those colorful dragons over there are Lady Vera Marades and her consort Silver Elward's dragon guard, 'The Merciful Dragon' Descel Darlington Silverwing. Vera Marades is a staunch ally of our family, and she has come to support us at Grandmother's invitation."
First up are two formidable figures: the Silver Moon Queen and her consort… no, at this point, Vera Marandes hasn't become the Silver Moon Queen yet. This golden-silver dragon couple's influence is limited to the dragon race itself, primarily within the highly social golden and silver dragon clans. Some bronze dragon families closely connected to the golden and silver dragon clans might also know of them; interracial love is always a topic of conversation, and even though they're only a subspecies, it's confined to a limited circle. Other dragons are probably not very familiar with them.
"The other silver dragon beside Silverwing is Gerlesk. It was not on Grandmother's invitation list, but the kind-hearted silver dragon still came on its own initiative after hearing the news, which is truly commendable."
Indeed, the members of the Claws of Justice, the Silver Dragon Paladins, are undoubtedly kind and righteous dragons. Casalos had received help from the Claws of Justice long ago, but unfortunately, Hevilan, along with Azak and their followers, went to the Astral Plane to pursue Grommash Hellscream. Grommash Hellscream was caught by the Dragon Vault after entering the Astral Plane and then slowly killed by Casalos using a corpse-running technique. The Lord of the Claws of Justice was destined to come up empty-handed, and it's unknown how long he'll be wandering around the Astral Plane before returning to Faerûn—the Astral Plane has unique spacetime rules; in the primitive spacetime view of the beings of Faerûn, time is considered to be stagnant in the Astral Plane. Hevilan and the others may not even realize that Grommash Hellscream is gone.
Jerlesk is also a member of the Claws of Justice, an aid worker sent by the Golden Dragonflight to Damara in the war against witches, and he and Casaloz can be considered acquaintances and "comrades-in-arms." Although the two dragons are in different war zones in Damara and have not had any substantial interactions yet, thanks to Gaelos, who is always thinking about riding dragons, they know each other to some extent.
After Casalos formally refused to become Gaelos's partner, his new target became this silver dragon paladin. When it left Damara, the two paladins seemed to be getting along quite well; it's unclear what their situation is now.
Casalos was still very curious about the outcome of this matter. Gaelos was a paladin, and so was Gerlesk. One portion of the divine power bestowed upon paladins by the gods was used to strengthen their mounts. If the two of them were to team up, would Gerlesk become Gaelos's mount, or would Gaelos become Gerlesk's mount? Or would they be each other's mounts?
Both are male; if they form a contract to become each other's mounts...
Noticing Prishido's attention, Gerlesk turned and nodded toward the magic ship, at which point it also saw Casalos.
There were also eight adult golden dragons, almost all of whom were members of the Dracolno family, and a human woman who was half-silver dragon, Melinda Issan, one of the leaders of the Issanbella Sisterhood.
Besides the gold and silver dragons, the bronze dragons from the Enok Desert and surrounding areas were also present. The brass dragon Balataslar brought two of his descendants and a band of barbarians. The bronze dragon Uriel came alone; he was the official representative of the bronze dragon clan belonging to the Golden Dragon Court. Zanshira Sampos and Sansethalizanz represented the bronze dragon clan of Kosoman. Only one family of brass dragons attended: the Felocelimos family.
According to Prishido, this family wasn't an ally invited by the old golden dragon, nor were they relatives of the victim. They simply came to join in the fun after discovering there was something to see, and were currently huddled on a hilltop having a guessing game. Their guesses mainly revolved around who would arrive next, whether the metal dragons present would fight the chromatic dragons, and what the final opponent of this game would be, among other things.
A bunch of purebred idiots.
Compared to the Metal Dragon, the Color Dragons' reasons for being invited were much simpler. They were either relatives of direct victims of murders that had already occurred, or unfortunate souls who might be implicated in the future, so they had no choice but to cooperate with the Metal Dragon.
The Dragonfall War between Metal Dragons and Chromatic Dragons occurred tens of thousands of years ago. With Bahamut imprisoned and Tiamat exiled, it's debatable how many dragons still remember that war. Nowadays, conflicts between Metal Dragons and Chromatic Dragons are mostly about territorial disputes or personal grudges. If there aren't major conflicts, cooperation when facing significant threats is not uncommon.
The ancient blue dragon Suthustherasis, the overlord of the blue dragon clan in the Enoch Desert, led almost the entire clan to the meeting because one of its mates had been beheaded, and it had come to seek revenge.
In addition, the old golden dragon prophesied that the Onok Desert would be the first to suffer from the impending disaster, and the blue dragons living in the desert would be the first to be sacrificed. Susthelasis trusted the old golden dragon's prophecy and participated with all his strength to protect his own territory.
The other colored dragons are all solitary. The red dragon Piroseraksi and the green dragon Plasinopilis "Crollo" also inhabit the area surrounding the Enook Desert, and they maintain good relations with the Dracolnobaren family and Averisca.
Chapter 220
When Arthurcaslix was young, she was saved by an old golden dragon, so they had a fairly good relationship. At least she wasn't as evil as the other red dragons. Priscilla still reminded the crew of the Kingdom not to approach these guys without permission.
The remaining chromatic dragons were neither friends of the Dracolnobaren family, nor were they invited. Given their character, they were unlikely to have come to help voluntarily. Priscilla didn't even bother introducing them; black dragons, white dragons, and such—how could they possibly catch the eye of the proud golden dragon? But for the Kingdom, it was best to stay as far away from them as possible.
Casalos, however, spotted a malevolent figure among the dragons that even Priscilla was reluctant to mention: the Primordial Red Dragon, Crimson Honagast, an ally of the Witch King in his campaign against the supernatural. Casalos had been pursued twice by it when he led his dragon horde to bombard the Witch King's army, but the slow-moving Primordial Red Dragon couldn't even catch up with the dragons' tails. After uttering a few harsh words from afar, it never appeared on the battlefield again. He never expected it to be here in the border forest; he wondered what it was up to.
With that huge pile of metal dragons around, it wouldn't dare to make any rash moves.
As the Kingdom landed near the Golden Dragon Group, Casalos's attention was drawn to a figure, and he couldn't take his eyes off it.
154. Encounter
Three large tents were set up on the open ground where the Kingdom had landed; such facilities were clearly not intended for dragons. Stationed there were the Harpists' Alliance, the very spirit that could be found wherever evil lurked in Faerûn.
The person stood in the Harpists' Alliance. She was like a paladin, dressed in simple linen clothing with the emblem of her god, and looked up as the golden dragon Priscilla guided the Kingdom to land. She was just an ordinary person, but she caught Casalos's eye and made it impossible for him to look away.
A dim glow flickered beneath the heavy armor, unnoticed by the dark backdrop of the Underdark, yet it grew increasingly frequent, gradually aligning with the throbbing of Casalos's heart, and illuminating its indigo eyes. Scales, like moonlight or rippling water, appeared on Casalos's skin, serrated fangs protruded from its lips, and its hands returned to their dragon claw form.
She also saw Casalos, paused for a moment, then leaped up from the ground, transforming into a colorful dragon amidst the gasps of the crowd, flapping her kite-like wings as she flew towards the Kingdom.
"Tsk tsk, something's up... Oh!" The halfling thief, who had just regained consciousness, looked up and saw this scene. Before he could finish speaking, Ningxiang stomped him unconscious again. The paladin silently gave the female warrior a thumbs up, and she rolled her eyes in return.
As the colorful dragon landed on the deck, Casalos had already fully transformed back into its dragon form—the flames on its body had changed slightly, but it was completely unaware of it. Taking a half-step back to make room for the new dragon, Casalos waited until it settled on the deck and folded its wings before speaking uncertainly in dragon language.
"Fiona Milon?"