"Mastashia, can you tell me about Candlekeep in detail!"
Qin Lun's eyes flickered. When he was with Mileras before, the well-informed Sun Elf prince introduced him to many famous events and regions in Faerun Continent, including Candlekeep, but there were only a few words. The detailed inside story, Mileras himself is not clear.
"Of course!" The highland elf was not surprised that the moon elf prince in front of him didn't know about Candlekeep.
In fact, although Candlekeep is well-known in Faerun, most of the people who know it are knowledgeable historians and arcane researchers. Ordinary people, even the nobles of various countries, don’t know much about this place. That place is a fortress-like library occupied by arcane scholars.
Candlekeep is across the sea from Belgost, an important trading city on the Gulf Coast Highway, and between them is an avenue known as the Lion's Road.
Standing atop a towering bluff overlooking the Sword Coast, this lore of knowledge is a hexagonal, prismatic fortress, each cornered by a mage's tower.
It was once the home of the great prophet and great sage "Alando". The large library here preserves many historical prophecies he made to Faerun, the most famous of which is about the magic sunflower. Appear.
Candlekeep used to be a gathering place for a small number of scholars who studied Alendor's prophecy. As they left here more and more research works and knowledge inheritance, it gradually became a famous large library and arcane holy place in the whole continent. .
(The arcane referred to here does not only refer to magic, but also includes all fields involved in magic spells, such as: enchanting, alchemy, magical creatures, ancient runes and divine arts, as well as philosophy, music, architecture, forging, politics Economics and other popular academics.)
There are two kinds of prices for outsiders to enter this castle, one is a large amount of gold coins, and the other is knowledge or literature that Candlekeep does not have. It is usually rumored on the mainland that a new book will be provided to Candlekeep.
Candlekeep is surrounded by powerful multiple protection spells to ensure that nothing burns except for wicks and wax oil, and not a single piece of paper can burn in this castle. This protection also blocks destructive spells, kills bacteria and moths, and prohibits anyone who does not wear the mark of Candlekeep from entering the central library.
However, this protective spell covering the entire fortress consumes a lot of magic crystals, so the annual maintenance cost is an astronomical figure.
There is an absolute law in Candlekeep: "Anyone who destroys knowledge, whether using ink, fire, or sword, will kill himself. Here, books are more important than human lives!"
There are two kinds of permanent staff in Candlekeep, one is research scholars, they usually dress in monk clothes, and behave more loyal than the most devout religious believers. They called themselves propagandists and disseminators of knowledge, and they also commissioned agents to acquire some rare books and texts.
Another type of permanent staff in Candlekeep are arcane researchers, who are usually powerful magicians and great sages. They signed a contract with the propagandists of Candlekeep in the past. Candlekeep provided them with the book knowledge and high-tower laboratories they needed, and they provided Candlekeep with armed protection.
The most powerful of them is called the Guardian of the Book, and his assistant is called the First Reader. He is not only the second person in power in the tradition, but also the most knowledgeable great sage and fortune-teller in Candlekeep.
Below these two are the other Great Readers, Chanters, Professors, and Tower Gatekeepers.
The central tower of Candlekeep, the Central Library, is surrounded by beautiful gardens, surrounded by a ring of other buildings. Includes visitor's residence, griffin stables, barn, sundries store, hospital, Oghma monastery (god of knowledge), and a shrine to Daniel, Gond, and Meril, with the hexagonal edge on the outermost shaped walls and mage towers.
Foreign visitors can usually stay in Candlekeep until the tenth day at a time, and cannot re-enter for a month after leaving. Visitors are not allowed to make written records in the library, but they can entrust the scholars here to make copies.
The price of each ordinary copy is one hundred gold coins, while the price of magic books and some precious documents is even higher, usually between hundreds and hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Forbidden spells are not allowed to be read or leaked.
The most precious documents of Candlekeep are generally kept in the storage room of the underground labyrinth, and there are also the tombs of scholars who have dedicated their lives to knowledge throughout the ages.
Although these scholars would not use books as burial objects when they passed away, their tombs often left personal inheritance items and spell notes, which were definitely very precious treasures. Under normal circumstances, only the heirs who have been recognized by them can take it out of the tomb.
The defense here is so tight that no intruder can really enter Candlekeep from the underground labyrinth. Even if a legendary thief enters here, he will face the strongest guard of the labyrinth—Mirimu.
Miriam is the ghost of an ancient silver dragon, bound here thousands of years ago by the great sorcerer Torth to protect the scholars, buildings, and books of Candlekeep. With the support of Candlekeep's protective circle, Miremu is an immortal spirit. Unless the entire Candlekeep is destroyed with a forbidden spell, even if it is defeated, it will be resurrected in a short time.
However, Mirimu usually does not kill infiltrators, her soul is too lonely, so she prefers to talk rather than fight, and will appear in front of visitors from time to time, exchanging the historical legends she knows for all modern ones. Information about major events that have occurred.
Of course, if you plan to deceive Miriam with false information, or attack her. Then the ghost of the silver dragon will throw a lot of dragon language magic without hesitation, and directly blast you into scum.
One more thing to be aware of when facing Mirimu is that you can't carry books with you, whether they are from Candlekeep or your own. This silver dragon ghost will insist that you surrender and return the book "correctly" to Candlekeep.
(In Mirem's view, all books belong to Candlekeep, which inherits the domineering and evil taste of all ancient dragons: what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine.)
Every tome in Candlekeep has at least one copy, and there is rumored to be a complete "mirror library" hidden somewhere in Faerûn. All the books in Candlekeep have the symbol of this castle - the castle tower with candlelight shining on the top of the tower.
…
"Linda, is Candlekeep's stronghold in the Baldur's Gate area ahead?" Mustasha turned her head and asked.
"It's not a big stronghold, it's just a relay station for transferring magic materials." Linda pouted and said, "My teacher also has some investment here, we can borrow their horned eagle to return to Candlekeep, and help Save your precious time."
When everyone heard the words and looked towards the hillside ahead, they could indeed hear some eagle-like cries in the sparse woodland.
At this time, they were half a day away from the Troll's Claw. With the help of Elisteen's transformed eagle, the group left the cliff top of the waterfall without any danger, and they truly escaped from the Troll Mountain.
The Bloody Trio, Seaver, and old butler Mason have parted ways with them. When parting, Qin Lun, in order to express his gratitude, gave some of the gold coins that the three murderers got from the Amberley Church to the three of Rick, and left the rest to Xifu Hulan who had become impoverished again in order to save people.
In fact, the three apostles are now following Mustasia, and they no longer need gold coins to manage along the way. Anyway, the gold coins are useless to the apostles, so it is better to give them to Rick and others to make a good impression on the highland elves and Linda.
As for whether they need money after arriving at Candlekeep, Qin Lun and others don't need to worry about this issue. Even without Linda, Mustasia would find a way to solve it.
Rick and Silver did not refuse this gift, whether it was the return of the knights to the Kingdom of Shaar or the rebuilding of the caravan by Silver needed a lot of money.
The only thing that surprised Qin Lun was that Idriya had gone through so many hardships and went to the North Land with them. Ms. Lovita's followers were indeed lunatics and masochists who could not be described in words.
Because the conspiracy of the Zhentarim Society was imminent, after Qin Lun and the others left the troll's claws, they had no choice but to go on the road again and rush to this place before they even had time to feel the sadness of parting from their friends.
This is the Candlekeep stronghold closest to the north exit of Troll's Claw, and more than a dozen adult horned eagles are raised all year round for the delivery of valuables. Generally, it is precious books and documents, magic materials and alchemy items used in the mage tower.
After climbing up the hillside, a simple two-storey wooden house appeared in front of everyone, and in front of the wooden house was a small horned eagle stable. Although it is a small eagle stable with only a dozen horned eagles, the horned eagle is a large bird with a wide range of activities and occupies a larger area than a stable.
"Miss Linda! Shouldn't you be in Candlekeep at this time?" The magic apprentice stationed in the cabin obviously knew Linda, and was very surprised when he saw her.
"Hey, Lasko!" Miss Linda's expression was very unnatural, and she obviously thought of the teacher's anger in this magic apprentice, "It's a long story, let's prepare some food for us first, I'm going to be hungry Dead! And get some No. 7 holy water for a few of my companions, they all have serious injuries."
Leaving behind the heavy burden of the past half a month, Qin Lun only felt that the sleep this time was extremely sweet. Even with his self-discipline, when he opened his eyes again, it was already dusk the next day. The others were not much better than him, so they had to stay in this forest hut for another night.
However, this rest is necessary. Although the medical effect of No. 7 holy water is powerful, it will take some time to take effect. Especially Elistine and Idriya, who suffered a lot of torture, their hidden wounds have not completely healed even now.
At dawn on the third day, everyone finally regained their spirits, rode the horned eagle into the sky, and began to fly towards the holy place of knowledge—Candlekeep.