MTL - Start a Core Pod

  Chapter 657 Invitation

Generally speaking, Duanmuhuai seldom builds a branch of the Tribunal in other regions. Most of the time, he will only help others solve the troubles, and then pat his **** and leave, leaving at most one icon of the Tribunal to collect. Believers are done. Like the branch in Tianji Province, Duanmu Huaihuai are basically free-range. As long as they don't violate the express regulations of the trial court, other things are not important.

   But Faerun can't.

Now that it has been confirmed that the rot has begun to invade Faerun, Duanmu Huai naturally can't just be stocked. Maybe Faerun will become the first battlefield where the Inquisition will face the evil **** again, so Duanmu Huai naturally cannot be like other people. Like the planet, it's just as simple as stocking.

   "So dangerous?"

  After listening to Duanmuhuai explain why he wanted to establish a branch in this world, Ann and Guleya were also surprised.

   "Of course, do you still remember the world I traveled with at the beginning? It was polluted by evil gods there - but the pollution level of that world is relatively low."

   "Huh? Does that mean that this world will also have that kind of situation?"

   "That's right, and since the evil gods have appeared in this world, then we must be careful next time, they may weaken the barrier of reality again, and then attack... Mary, are you listening to me?"

   Looking helplessly at Mary beside her, Duanmuhuai complained.

  Well, Mary couldn't hear it at the moment.

  I saw her walking beside Duanmuhuai with glowing eyes, looking at the various races on the road with an excited look on her face.

"That's an elf, they really have long ears! There are also dwarves, their beards are really long! Ah, are those lizard people over there? I didn't expect there to be lizard people... Eh? Could that be a legend? The orc in the middle, so tall..."

  At this moment, Mary is excitedly writing in her notebook, with a look of joy... Well, how to put it, it is understandable. A girl who likes to read fantasy legends about magic and dragons, suddenly came to such a world, it must be like a dream.

   "Oh... I don't know if I can see the prince and princess..."

   "Aren't we princesses too?"

  Hearing this, Ann grinned and complained, while Mary bowed her head in embarrassment.

   "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean that, I meant... that... like in the book..."

   "Well, it's not incomprehensible."

  Although Mary's answer was a bit hesitant, Duanmu Huai still understood what she wanted to say. Although An and Guleya are princesses, strictly speaking, Manalia's clothing style is actually very close to modernization. White shirts, bow ties, ribbons and short skirts are no different from modern people at first glance.

   And the princess in the storybook that Mary read must be the kind with blond hair, a crown, and a dress... Well, I don’t know if there is one in this world.

   By the way, the princess should not wear a crown, is that the queen?

  While speaking, a group of people also came to the gate of the city—this time Duanmu Huai brought them to Deep Water City, of course, after all, they are used to it, and they haven’t been to Baldur’s Gate before.

  However, when they reached the gate of the city, Duanmuhuai and others were stopped by the guards again.

"Why………"

   Watching this scene, An helplessly spread her hands.

   "It's like this every time I act with Mr. Knight."

   "Hmm... After all, Mr. Knight's outfit is too..."

   Guleiya also answered carefully, of course, she understands everything.

However, to everyone's surprise, facing Duanmu Huai, although the guards were very serious, they did not appear as if they were facing a formidable enemy. On the contrary, they looked at Duanmu Huai carefully, and then the leading guard walked forward , saluted him respectfully.

   "Sorry to interrupt, may I ask if you are Mr. Duanmuhuai, the chief judge of the Tribunal?"

   "I'm right."

   "This...do you have anything to prove?"

"No."

  Duanmuhuai snorted softly, just kidding, can I still show you your ID card here?

  Hearing Duanmuhuai's answer, the guard froze for a moment, then he seemed to think of something.

   "Then... would you please take off the helmet so I can identify it?"

   "...you asked for it yourself."

   Duanmuhuai shrugged, and then took off his helmet.

   "—————!!"

  Almost at the same time, several guards facing Duanmu Huai suddenly trembled in fright and stepped back. The citizens walking towards the city gate screamed even louder after seeing Duanmu Huai. Several young girls rolled their eyes and passed out. Others also screamed and turned around as if they saw a siege monster. just run.

   "Oh...it's been a long time since I saw this scene..."

  Seeing this familiar and nostalgic scene, Ann also smiled, while Mary stared blankly at the messy city gate in front of her... Well, it seems to be true.

"Any question?"

  Duanmuhuai put back his helmet and asked, unlike before, the soldiers on the city wall were already ready to fight, drawing their bows and strings, and even the ballista shifted its direction, aiming at Duanmuhuai's body. It was as if standing in front of them was not a single person, but a terrifying Balor.

   "Ah... sorry, no more."

  At this moment, the guard also came back to his senses, and hastily saluted him respectfully.

   "I'm sorry, I've confirmed it. You are indeed right. In fact, Master Kelben once left a message. If you come to Waterdeep City again, please go to the Black Rod Tower to tell him."

   "Kelben... oh..."

Hearing this name, Duanmu Huai was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that it was the mage Amelia had mentioned before going to the Underdark. The antidote he prepared had lifted the plague of Neverwinter. Melia and others were able to travel to the Underdark to find his missing nephew.

  Hmm... I don't know if Emilia and the others have come back.

  Duanmuhuai and Emilia don't have any communication devices, so naturally they don't know each other's whereabouts. Logically speaking, Duanmuhuai thinks they should be able to come back. After all, the spirit suckers in that area were killed by him, and the drow was directly exterminated by him. Although the gray dwarves are insidious and cunning, as long as they work hard, they are not impossible.

  The only problem is the well-connected tunnels in the Underdark and the dangerous underground creatures hidden inside... well, then they can only ask for their own blessings.

  I hope Tire will give some strength to protect his followers.

   After all, there is a true God in this world.

  Actually, Duanmuhuai was not interested in chatting with Kelben, but it didn't matter, so he nodded and signaled the guards to lead the way, and then a group of people walked into Deep Water City.

There are many magnificent buildings in Waterdeep City, but few places have become the center of legend like the Black Rod Tower. As the residence of the Archmage Kelben Black Rod Orosan, this tower has received many visitors Kings and nobles and those adventurers, but from the outside, the tower is far less dazzling than its reputation - the smooth stone cylinder makes it look like a chimney, without windows or doors, but this It was just a blindfold. In fact, when the guards brought them to the Black Rod Tower, a door appeared out of thin air on the originally empty wall, and then slowly opened.

"let's go."

Duanmuhuai said something to everyone—Ann, Guleya and Mary followed behind him, and Augis and Yanwei sat on Duanmuhuai's left and right shoulders respectively. From the current point of view, this has become their long-term special seat. the trend of.

  The interior of the Black Stick Tower is much larger than it looks from the outside. Duanmuhuai walked into the gate and came into a circular space. Then the floor under their feet shook, and they soared up silently. Seeing this scene, Ann and Guleya were very calm, only Mary looked around excitedly.

   "We are going to meet an archmage next? So is he powerful enough to turn people into animals?"

   "Why are you so obsessed with this..."

Hearing Mary's emotion, Gulea sighed helplessly. After Mary learned that Ann and Gulea were both spellcasters, she also curiously asked if they had similar abilities... Well, they still Really not.

   "Because it's fun?"

   "Hehehe, it's really interesting."

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded, and everyone raised their heads to look around, only to see that the floating disk carrying them had passed through a magic barrier, and then the light flashed before everyone's eyes, and the next moment they came to a room It looked like a gorgeous and comfortable reception room, and a man in a robe was standing there with his hands behind his back, smiling and watching them.

   That is Kelben Black Rod, one of the masked lords of Waterdeep, a voter of Mystra, and a rare archmage in the world.

   "Hello, Master Kelben."

Duanmuhuai nodded to Kelben as a salute, and the girls bowed their knees one after another. Although they didn't know the daily life of the archmage like Duanmuhuai, all three of them were well-educated ladies. Wouldn't make a fool of myself on this occasion.

  As for Augis and Yanwei, they completely ignored Kelben.

  For them, there is no need to care about anyone except the master.

   "Hello, guest from the Inquisition."

   Kelben raised his hand, and then he saw several soft and comfortable seats emerged on the floor, and a table also emerged, and the teapot and teacups automatically flew in front of everyone, pouring them a cup of tea. Seeing this scene, Mary became more and more curious. She looked at the tea set in front of her carefully before reaching out to take it. But Duanmuhuai just glanced at it, then waved his hand, and then the cup of tea in front of him flew directly onto the table and landed steadily.

   "I don't think you came here to drink tea, Master Kelben. After all, I don't know you well."

Duanmuhuai was quite polite to Kelben, especially after the other party showed the power to cure the plague of corruption. Magic is a kind of magical power. Duanmuhuai didn't expect to understand it, as if he never It's like not expecting to be a mathematician, this kind of thing... let the geniuses do it.

   "I'm very interested in you, Your Excellency the Judge."

   Kelben showed a smile, looked carefully at Duanmu Huai, and then sat on the chair opposite him.

"Especially your behavior is so shocking... Completely killing a god, this kind of thing has almost never happened again after the turbulent years, and now everyone is discussing and speculating, who did it? Such a move."

  Hearing this sentence, Duanmu Huai frowned.

   "It seems that the gods are also in a hurry, and the speed of gossip is faster than that of street aunts."

"hehe………"

   Facing Duanmuhuai's sarcasm, Kelben chuckled. In fact, what he said was not wrong. On the night of Rose's death, many gods notified their followers of the demise of this evil goddess in various ways. Of course, as a voter of Mystra, Kelben also learned this news from his goddess, but the attitudes of the gods towards this news are also very divided.

The gods of the evil camp don't care about Rose's life, but they are eager to find out the truth. After all, Rose is one of the powerful evil gods. She was killed in her own domain, and even her soul was annihilated without a trace. This kind of thing can be said to be unprecedented.

   Then, on the other hand, since the other party can kill Rose, they can also kill them, so the dark gods have mobilized their forces at this moment and started to search.

   On the other hand, the gods of the good camp are very concerned about this result... Well, in fact, their hearts are also very complicated.

After all, Rose was once the Queen of the Elven God before her fall. Corellon expressed very complicated wishes for the news, such as "May her cursed soul rest in peace". If his wife thinks this way, only Corellon himself knows.

  Eilistraee also seems to be looking for the murderer of her mother, but considering the history of love and murder between her and Rose, it is difficult to say whether Eilistraee intends to thank her or to avenge her mother's murder.

  As an ally of Eilistraee, Mystra has been helping the dark girl to fight against the spider god, so after she learned that Rose was indeed completely destroyed, she asked her followers to help with the investigation.

  Of course, what Kelben didn't know was that, among the gods, there were actually many doubts about Rose's fall.

  Generally speaking, the struggle between the gods is not uncommon, and there are endless things about killing gods, but it is actually very rare to actually kill the gods. Because generally speaking, the true God is immortal, if you cut him down, he might be revived again in the future.

  For example, during the Dark War, the dark girl Eilistraee killed her brother and then died herself. As a result, the latter two were resurrected and reconciled.

But Rose's death was completely different from this. God's Domain collapsed, all believers were destroyed, and their dying scene was very horrifying. Almost all Rose's believers seemed to encounter some kind of indescribable and unspeakable fear before dying. , Their souls were completely distorted, polluted, and then completely dissipated into the air like this.

Strictly speaking, this is impossible, the gods still have the ability to grasp the soul, but they can't even find a surviving soul, as if everything with Rose is destroyed The same... In this situation, even the gods of the good camp can't help feeling cold.

  After all, no one can guarantee that the one who kills Rose must be a good god. Backstabbing between demon lords is nothing more than normal.

   Moreover, the general killing of gods will not become this situation. Generally speaking, killing a **** means devouring and inheriting its godhead and domain at best. For example, after Cyric killed the former **** of death, Kairanvor, he inherited his priesthood and the kingdom of the dead, and most of the believers in the kingdom of the dead who were originally Kairanvor converted their faith and directly believed in Cyric.

So logically speaking, no matter who killed Rose, he should have inherited her priesthood and the beliefs of the drow elves. Now I have the final say on this site."

   Like this, the realm of the gods collapsed, the fire of the gods was extinguished, the priesthood was destroyed, and all the believers perished...Which **** would not be afraid to see it!

Kelben didn't know about the turmoil among the gods, but after he received Mystra's oracle, he immediately thought of the news from his nephew from the Underdark Region—they met a person below who claimed to want to completely Eliminate the drow and their Patronuses, an organization that poses a threat to humans.

   Tribunal.

   Of course, Kelben didn’t think it was done by Duanmuhuai. He was more inclined to believe that the Inquisition Chamber was actually an organization that believed in some god, but Kelben really couldn’t figure out what kind of **** would do such a thing.

  The situation of the trial court. After they came back, Kelben also asked Emilia carefully, and Emilia also answered Kelben, but...

   "Miss Amelia and the others have returned to Waterdeep City safely, and my nephew has also returned."

   "Oh? That's good news."

  Duanmuhuai was completely unmoved, while Kelben was holding a teacup and staring at Duanmuhuai's helmet.

"In fact, out of curiosity, I once asked Ms. Amelia about the situation of the Inquisition Court. I have to say that your dogma is really...unexpected. After all, organizations that only protect humans, we But never heard of it."

   "Oh, now you know."

   Duanmuhuai sat lazily on the chair, looking like he was not eating oil and salt.

   "By the way, the trial court neither cares nor cares about the life and death of races other than humans."

   "Ah, but our Tribunal's definition of human beings is still very clear."

  Seeing that the atmosphere was a little stiff, An hurriedly spoke.

   "Oh? Is that so?"

   "Yes, according to the rules of the court, as long as the skull does not mutate, it will be regarded as a human being, so... I don't think you need to worry about this problem, right?"

   "Skull?"

  Hearing An's explanation, Kelben was even more surprised. He carefully looked at the skull mark on Duanmuhuai's power armor, and then looked away.

   "This is really... surprising, may I ask why you use a skull as a sign?"

   "It's easy."

   Duanmu Huai raised his eyebrows.

"For the Inquisition, the skull represents the purity of human beings, which means that this person has not been corrupted by chaos and evil until death, and it represents the pure and noble sacrifice of human beings. Demons can be ever-changing, but the only thing they cannot What they have is the human skull, no matter how they change, they cannot imitate the shape of the human skull."

   "This is really..."

I have to say that Kelben was also quite surprised when he heard Duanmuhuai's answer, but he felt relieved at the moment. Obviously, judging by the marks of human beings divided by the Tribunal, then elves, dwarves and halflings are all different. All kind-hearted races are also considered human beings.

  Of course, the reverse is like orcs, giants, etc...um...but it seems to be none of my business.

   "Speaking of which, I have something to ask Master Kelben for help."

  Duanmu Huai didn't bother to exchange pleasantries, so he cut straight to the point.

"Speaking."

   "The Tribunal wants to find a place to open in this continent. I wonder if Master Kelben can introduce a good place?"

  Afterwards, Duanmuhuai stared at Kelben, and said his request lightly.

  (end of this chapter)