Looking at the sunny and sunny spring scenery by Lake Esmer, the faces of everyone covered by hoods were full of exhaustion and weariness.
After more than three weeks of wind, food and camp, they crossed the entire eastern border of Tethyr along the border between Tethyr and Sespeits. Although the border legions of the two kingdoms are stationed here, such an adventurous team of more than 20 people obviously does not attract their attention.
Except for some short-sighted thieves and a small number of monsters, Qin Lun and others did not face much challenge. For this small team mainly composed of professional apostles, these small thieves and monsters have become a rare pastime during the boring journey.
Compared with the busy and bustling continental trade roads along the Sea of Swords, the eastern borders of Tethyr and Amn seemed a bit sparsely populated. There are basically no big towns here, only some villages established by halflings and barbarians. Only those races with strong physical abilities and a certain amount of individual force can survive in these chaotic areas.
At night, even the apostles were alarmed by the faint roar of monsters coming from a distance. The civilization of the human world seemed to never shine on these unchanging wild areas.
In the first few days of the journey, the members of the mission were often amazed by some skeletons and fossils encountered in the wild, or ruins of ruins. But after just a few days, even the two curious babies, Elistine and Nicole, stopped paying attention to these things, and their pretty faces were full of numbness.
The long history of the continent of Faerun has buried countless civilizations and countries. No one can tell whether a skeleton protruding from the yellow sand from time to time or a certain building wall by the roadside belongs to an unknown small village destroyed by monsters, or whether it is A true relic of a civilized state.
The boring march day after day made the apostles look a little irritable, and their hearts were filled with violent emotions. This also made the occasional thieves group unlucky, and usually they couldn't leave half of them alive. As for those magical beasts, under normal circumstances, they would become delicious barbecues for everyone that night.
In this regard, even Qin Lun was very thankful that Leuer and other dwarves had joined the team. The dwarves living in the mountains are very good at brewing wine and grilling meat. Every time a monster came, the envoys would be able to hold a barbecue bonfire party that night.
During the long journey, the only good thing is that the remote route also allowed them to avoid many organizations with malicious intentions towards the Japanese elf envoys. Of course, this also includes the Zhentarim Society. It is estimated that this group of evil killers who walk in the dark all day long are furious and furious in a dark corner at this time.
However, on the fourth day of the embassy's entry into Amn, their luck finally ran out. Just as the envoys wanted to cross the poisonous snake forest in Amn and enter the green fields, they found that all the roads ahead were blocked by the kingdom's official Amn guards, and there were strictly guarded checkpoints everywhere along the nearly 100-mile-long road.
After investigation by several thieves in the team, there are many high-level magicians and heavy knights in these levels. There were a few times when several thieves and rangers, including Longer, almost couldn't come back, it was obviously not a good choice to break through the level by force.
Due to the lack of corresponding intelligence, everyone did not know the details of the Amn Guard's blockade this time, nor did they know how long it would last. However, judging from the current situation, at least in the last month, it is impossible for the Kingdom officials to revoke the checkpoints that block the road section.
In this way, there are only two options left before the Sun Elf envoys. One is through the east-west Cloud Mountains that are closely connected to the Viper Forest, and the other is along the main road to Askatra, the capital of Amn.
Askatra is on the edge of the Sword Sea, and like Calimport, the capital of Calimshan, it is both the capital and one of the most important trading seaports along the Sword Coast. When they arrived at Askatla, they could take a sea boat and head for Baldur's Gate along the coast of the Sea of Swords.
Baldur's Gate happens to be the next stop of the entire Sword Coast maritime trade route, Askatra. The two huge seaport cities are only a few hundred kilometers away from each other, and this sea route is protected by the official fleet and several transnational trade organizations. It is unlikely to encounter pirates and large sea beasts, and the safety factor is not bad.
However, both options also have uncertain risk factors, and each has advantages and disadvantages. Needless to say, going to Askatla, as an important seaport on the mainland trade road, the Zhentarim, which has a long history of controlling trade routes, will have great influence here, and it is very likely that they will encounter the envoys on a narrow road.
If they choose to cross the Cloud and Mist Mountains, they should not encounter the Zhentarim, and the Cloud and Mist Mountains are the border between Amn and Baldur's Gate. Once they successfully cross the mountains, they will directly enter the territory of Baldur's Gate. As long as you pass through the Tooth Forest at the southern end of Baldur's Gate, you may not encounter the Zhentarim and other organizations that have no good intentions for the Japanese elf envoy during the entire journey.
But the problem is that the Cloud and Mist Mountains are extremely dangerous. Let alone the evil gray dwarves and orc tribes living inside the mountains, the Twin Towers and the Tower of Durag at the northern and southern foothills of the mountains are two famous restricted life zones in Faerun. .
The twin towers located at the southern foot of the mountain range are not actually towers, but two military fortresses built by the dwarves of the Marching Axe tribe of the Santana Empire about seven thousand years ago. At that time, a large-scale war broke out between the Sonata dwarves living in Amn and the giants in the Giant Plains and the Cloud Mountains.
The war lasted 25 years. The Santana dwarves wiped out most of the giant tribes in Yunwufeng, basically eliminated the threat of giant tribes to Esmeer, Lake Wen and other two river basins, and stabilized the form of the Amn region.
After the war, the Sonata dwarves built the Tomahawk Bridge and the Star Bridge in what is now Amn. These two huge stone bridges connected the two rivers. It played a decisive role not only for the dwarves at that time, but also for the rising human kingdom in the later period.
The two military fortresses known as the Twin Towers were originally built to guard the exit of the Cloud and Mist Mountains, preventing the remnants of the giant tribe from causing major damage to the two bridges of life.
As for the Durag Tower at the northern foot of the mountain range, it is also a relic thousands of years ago. It is a product of the same era as the Twin Towers, and can even be traced back to the war between the Fire Djinn and the Air Djinn.
At that time, the Great Forest of Keldomir, which covered the entire Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, and Steam Lake regions, was divided into many small forests due to the fire and the destruction of the five crown wars. The forests that belonged to the northern region of Amn, including the present-day Tooth Forest, were then called the Riestal Forest.
After the war, the elves of the Ristar Forest established the Uviron elf civilization, which was also called the Rizar Empire by later generations. The Uvelun elf civilization actually belongs to the mixture of several elf inheritances, including the Santa Osriel elf court and some Keldormor elves that fell in the war, as well as a small number of elves who escaped from Arivanda. Sun Elf.
The elven civilization of Uvillon is extremely developed, covering almost all the written knowledge of the elves, and many aspects of it can be regarded as classics in today's Faerun continent.
According to legend, the Lisar Empire, which established the Uvellen civilization, used many huge magic towers as Uvelen's library.
In the library, there are not only classic works on magic forging, social philosophy, astronomy and geography, painting and music, but also various magic books left by many elf archmages.
According to legend, the Tower of Durag is not only a tower of the great mage, but also one of the library buildings in Uvilen. Today, whether it is the Twin Towers or the Tower of Durag, the defensive settings thousands of years ago have long since failed, and they are called the restricted area of life for another reason.
These two places are currently a paradise for undead creatures, skeletons, ghosts, death knights, and even legendary-level liches and necromancers. Numerous undead not only exist inside the Twin Towers and Durag's Tower, but also occupy a large area centered on them.
The Yunwu Mountains are east-west. Although the span is very large, the core peaks are all straight up and down cliffs. Only the peaks where the Twin Towers and Durag's Tower are located have gaps that can be climbed.
This is also the reason why the Santana dwarves and Uvelen elves built military fortresses and magic towers at the north and south foothills of this place. If you want to cross the Cloud Mountains, you must pass through the area where the Twin Towers and Durag's Tower are located.
Aware of the current predicament, the members of the envoy finally decided to go to Askatra, the capital of Amn, after some discussion. Compared with the potential threat of the Zhentarim Society, everyone believes that the Twin Towers and Durrag's Tower are more dangerous.
After all, no matter how powerful the Zhentarim Society is, they haven't revealed their whereabouts yet, and the Twin Towers and Durrag's Tower are completely unavoidable restricted areas of life.
Of course, there is another important reason for choosing to go to Askatla. Everyone in the mission group ignored the fatigue caused by the long-distance travel, perhaps because none of the apostles except Kelly had experienced such a long-distance adventure that lasted more than a month. At this time, everyone was a little unable to support .
You must know that they haven't even entered a human town in the past three weeks, and they have spent three weeks of savage life in the wild area. Not to mention the female apostles and beauty-loving elves in the team, even the dwarves, who don't care about their appearance the most, can't stand it.
"Filar, as soon as we cross Lake Esmer, we will enter the prosperous area of Amn. I'm afraid we won't be able to hide our whereabouts like before." Mileras leaned against Qin Lun and touched the scar on his face. Hu Zha said with a wry smile, "You have rich experience in traveling abroad. Is there any way for you to continue to hide from the Zhentarim Society's eyeliner?"
"There are many cities and towns in the Mesopotamia of Amn, and the population is dense, and this area belongs to the Sword Coast country with the most complicated and chaotic chambers of commerce and religious organizations. We are outsiders, and it is as difficult as climbing the sky to hide our tracks."
Qin Lun shook his head lightly, "The Zhentarim Society is an old-fashioned organization that controls trade routes, and is known as a dark intelligence network. There is absolutely no way we can hide it from their eyes."
Speaking of this, Qin Lun suddenly had a strange look in his eyes, "However... as long as we take proper measures, the Zhentarim may not be able to find us before entering Askatla. Mileras, you Have you ever heard a saying called 'dark under the lamp'?"