Arcane Journey

Chapter 168 Removing the Curse
As Brian approached the top of the tower, the air became cold and mingled with the smell of corruption.

He saw a bedroom that had once been elegant and refined, now defiled and vandalized, with grime and filth smeared over the murals of Sune on either side of the wall.

Three beds were covered with moldy blankets and hides, and one was covered with huge bones and stinking hides.

Empty crates litter the floor of the room like furniture, containing broken weapons, rotting clothing, and other oddities.

In this regard, he was not surprised.

After all, the haunts of hags like twisted woods, desolate wilderness, stormy beaches, or gloomy swamps.

When they settle in a certain building, the surrounding landscape will change to what they see in front of them over time.

Because this is their filthy nature, they like hanging decorations with a breath of death, such as bones, minced meat, and various filthy items.

They are disgusted by the beauty of the world, and always like to 'help' other creatures to destroy or change their beautiful appearance, especially in places where beauty is the main theme, such as the temple of the goddess of love.

These breaths of anxiety and disgust will also accompany every aspect of the hag's life.

A hag might fly around in a magical giant skull and land on an old tree that looks like a decapitated corpse, or travel around with a pack of caged animals and slaves, disguised with phantoms to lure the unwary creatures approach.

They even enjoy sharpening their teeth with whetstones, weaving clothing out of the intestines of their victims, and amusing themselves with horrific grotesque acts.

Before Brian stepped into the room, he saw two corpses at the door.

Their dark red skin, eye-catching long horns, tails and bat wings show that they belong to alien blood, that is, the so-called demon descendants, the descendants of demons and humans.

He examined the corpses carefully, and found that the cause of their death was all slapped on the center of the mouth, and their hearts and lungs were shattered to death by a terrible internal force.

Obviously, this is definitely from the hands of the half-elf monk Lysen'o.

In the dimly lit room, there was a dejected atmosphere.

A kobold with white scales and purple eyes paced impatiently in a patchwork skirt, cursing and swearing as he went.

In the corner was a dragonborn warrior sitting on the ground leaning against a corner. From his dim scales, it could be seen that this was a golden dragonborn.

However, after seeing this dragon descendant, there was a touch of shock in Brian's eyes.

Because this is the weakest dragonborn he has ever seen.

In his impression, the dragon-born warrior who was originally taller and burly than a human was not as good as an old human in his dying years.

If it weren't for the rising and falling of his chest, Brian would have thought he was dead.

In another corner of the room, there was a little goblin, wearing a robe that didn't match his figure, leaning against the wall with his knees bent, his little face was full of sadness.

When Brian looked at the little goblin carefully, he suddenly found that its wide round eyes were like two bottomless hollows, exuding the purest fear.

Recalling the girl who gradually became stronger under the comfort of the female lord when the city of Araby fell, and finally carried the banner of rebuilding the city of Araby, Brian subconsciously expressed his guess: "You are Sissy?"

After finishing speaking, he took the initiative to release his invisibility spell and appeared in the sight of everyone.

The half-elf monk who was sitting on a chair and worried about the picture scroll first cast his gaze on Brian, followed by the little goblin whose name he called out.

Finally, there are the kobolds who stopped pacing and the dragonborn who struggled to raise their heads.

"How did you recognize me?" The little goblin raised his head and looked at Brian in disbelief.

The half-elf monk also looked curiously at the lord from Mokou Town at the door.

After all, when he rescued this girl named Sissy, he deliberately chatted with her for a long time, and learned that the other party and the lord had never met each other.

But the other party recognized the girl who had become a goblin in an instant, which was incredible.

"From your eyes."

Brian gave her a comforting look, smiled and said to her, "I was entrusted by your father to come to rescue you, so I have seen your portrait, so I can recognize it at a glance from the eyes in your portrait. Your identity. As usual, your eyes are as docile as a doe."

The little goblin lowered his head in embarrassment, and his sad mood seemed to ease a lot.

"Well, now is not the time to chat about these things."

In order to prevent everyone from getting too entangled in this topic, Bryan forcibly changed the topic and diverted their attention, "Your Excellency Erlanzer, tell me what's going on."

The half-elf monk suppressed the doubts in his heart, looked straight, and said to him, "They are hags from the Stinky Gazing Gathering, and what they are performing is a dark transaction and curse painting that is exclusive to hags."

"Of course I know this." Brian frowned, "I mean, since the cursed painting has been found, why can't it be recovered?"

Hags are selfish by nature, and whenever they need to work together, they call hag councils.

An assembly is composed of various types of hags, and all hags have equal status in the assembly.

Still, each of them wants more personal power out of it, as infighting is a tradition of chaotic evil.

A council consists of three hags, so that if two of them disagree, the third can vote.

If more than three hags are together, it will be like two hags gathering to confront each other, resulting in chaos.

And the process of creating the cursed paintings is the hallmark of the Fetid Gazing Assembly.

This process comes from a night hag grandmother whose name the hags dare not mention.

The method remains a secret, only partly known to every member of the Fetid Gazing Gathering.

Every hag strictly guards their secrets, fearing that they will be abandoned by other hags if they are revealed.

These hags, disguised as elves, lure guests into magical transformations.

The rituals they call magical services appear entirely beneficial on the surface, and hags are adept at convincing their guests that the benefits far outweigh the costs they pay.

The price of these special ceremonies is what the sisters call 'a little thing', which they collect within a year.

Any creature that accepted the trade would be taken to the studio that Brian had visited before, where the hag would draw a portrait of the creature that he recognized as beautiful within an hour.

Because the hag will tell them that when the portrait is finished, they will become what they were in the portrait.

After the painting is finished, the magic of the portrait will change the creature who accepts the transaction as it wishes.

The benefits of the deal typically last for a year.

But to the despair of these traders, the recipients of its favor experience the opposite of the effect they expected from the ritual, which turns the creature into a dark reflection of its original desire.

For example, those who pursue strength will fall into weakness and helplessness, and those who pursue beauty will become ugly.

If a creature relinquishes the hag's gift before the year is up, the curse takes effect immediately.

If Brian asked Horror Morgan to draw an ideal painting for himself when he was in the studio, he would inevitably suffer from this curse.

"I can't destroy these paintings at all." The half-elf monk pointed to a few paintings on the table, and said a little helplessly:

"You have also seen that even if the hags are killed, the magic of the painting will still exist, and only destroying the painting can end the curse it brings. But if you want to lift their curse, you must make these paintings in an instant tear it up, otherwise the painting will not be harmed in any way."

"That is to say, even you don't have the ability to destroy these paintings in an instant." Brian glanced at the monk, walked to the table, and observed the several paintings on the front.

Everyone also came over like a curious baby.

The first thing that caught Brian's eyes was a golden dragonborn with a strong physique, who was struggling to kill the enemy on the battlefield, with a posture of being one man and one man alone.

Brian looked at the emaciated dragonborn, obviously his ideal appearance had the opposite effect.

Then he looked at the second painting, which was a tall male tiefling with brilliant violet eyes and a body full of expensive jewelry.

"My name is Flash. I'm a member of the Jewelers Guild of Waterdeep City and an informant of a masked lord of Waterdeep City." Before Brian could speak, the kobold with white scales quickly explained:

"I came here because I wanted to grow a few inches taller. After all, the extra height can make it more beneficial for me to do business. If you help me lift the curse, when I return to Deep Water City, I will definitely recommend someone to you." A powerful ally."

Brian glanced at him thoughtfully, thinking that among the many masked lords in Waterdeep, none of the lords' informants was a tiefling named Shining.

Then he realized that this guy might have died here.

He looked at the third painting; it was a radiant golden elf, smiling alluringly, gazing at his own reflection in the mirror.

Obviously, this is the golden elf Li Ryan without a doubt.

He glanced at Sissy, who had turned into a little goblin, and wondered what she would look like in her ideal, so he looked at the fourth painting:

The young girl in the picture is wearing a long dress made of the most exquisite silk, a gold crown inlaid with gemstones, and holding a staff with a shimmering aura, just like a grand arcanist.

Brian was amused by the painting, looking at the little goblin like a cat with a dragon heart.

"Is there a way?" the half-elf monk asked.

"The method is very simple." Brian stacked the scrolls together, "Find a paladin, let him perform a "Evil Breaking Slash" and it will be done directly..."

"That's easy, I'll bring these paintings to Silvermoon City." The half-elf monk relaxed and said with a smile, "I happen to know a paladin from the Silver Knights of Silvermoon City."

"I'm not finished yet."

Brian glanced at the monk who interrupted his words, and the latter looked away embarrassedly.

He added: "These cursed scrolls are curses condensed from the purest dark energy. If a celestial creature can be summoned from the Heavenly Realm Mountain, they can easily use pure holy power to completely purify the scrolls."

"Having said so much, it's not as effective as the first method." The half-elf monk was about to pack up the scroll and run away, "Where can I find some celestial creatures at this time."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a summoning circle emerging from the cold and corrupt ground.

As the radiating golden light gradually subsided, a God Envoy of Wei Xu who looked like a pandaren appeared in everyone's sight.

The half-elf monk looked at this huge monster in disbelief, and was a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect that the lord of Mokou Town could really summon celestial creatures.

Moreover, he could tell from the light fluctuations emitted by the teleportation circle that this was obviously voluntary by the other party, not through coercion or trading.

This immediately gave him an idea to write Brian's name in the small notebook that he regarded as the highest-level observation object.

"The guardian of Tianjie Mountain, God Envoy Pandar of Weixu is waiting for your orders." The pandaren bowed to Brian.

"Destroy the scroll." Brian pointed to the scroll held in the arms of the monk.

Due to the improvement of his level, the "Level Other World Oath" in his "Tianjie Mountain Blessing" has the ability to summon a guardian angel for free.

Otherwise, he could only take these things to Silvermoon City.

"Huh? Tiefling, your heart is full of the stench of money, you are not welcome here, get out!" the envoy Wei Xu said with contempt when he saw the kobold blocking the way.

Brian could even feel that if he hadn't been there, this little guy might have been trampled to death.

The kobold dared not speak out, so he could only run away in despair.

"Despicable and shameless monk, you still haven't returned the scroll to me." The pandaren walked up to the half-elf monk, showing contempt again.

This time, Bryan found that the eyes of the guard god envoy, who was crazy about his presence, did not have the malice of looking at the kobold, but just despised the monk.

This made him guess that this pandaren might have seen some shady things done by the monks in the main material plane through the huge magic discovery pool located near the gate because of his side job.

"Hey! How are you talking, you little guy? Let's talk about it, why are you still scolding people?" Laisenao put the scroll on the table, and said to the envoy Wei Xu with a displeased face, "I am Laisen Al Erlanzer is the most famous Harper scout in the North, am I that kind of person?"

"Yes!"

The kobold made up for it in time, "The 5 gold coins and 3 copper coins owed to me last time, forget it if you don't pay it back, and give me a bottle of elf honey wine, and"

Before he could finish his sentence, the panda guarding the god envoy glared at him, and shut up quickly in fright.

Then, the God Envoy Wei Xu looked at the goblin, dragonborn, and kobold with contempt, and with a wave of his chubby bear paw, the scroll ignited a holy flame and turned into a pile of ashes.

At the same time, these three unlucky guys immediately began to return to their original appearance.

Seeing this, Brian hurriedly dismissed the guardian angels who wanted to preach on the sense of presence.

Seeing that everyone recovered, he looked at his rescue target this time.

This girl named Sissy is slender, fifteen or sixteen years old, her movements are a bit clumsy, not elegant, her long chestnut-colored hair is messy, and her gentle brown eyes are reminiscent of a doe. By the way, he looks quite handsome.

With a wave of his hand, he made a simple dress for Sissy through the "Spiritual Secondary Creation Technique" and handed it to her.

The girl gave him a grateful look, and hugged the clothes tightly in her arms.

"This mission has been successfully completed." The half-elf monk said with a smile, "It's time for me to leave too. Nice to meet you, Mage Lord of Mokou Town."

"Wait a mininute."

Brian stretched out his hand to stop him, "Don't go in such a hurry, you go and clean up the remaining rotten fish and rotten shrimps in the temple, and then go to Ilanthal City and call Several over."

"For" the half-elf monk wanted to ask the reason, but noticed that the other party was too lazy to talk to him, so he chose to shut up and honestly clean up the miscellaneous fish in the temple.

After seeing the tiefling and the dragonborn also leave one after another, Brian's eyes immediately turned to a dark space on the wall of the room that he had noticed a long time ago.

He tapped lightly, and amidst the rumbling sound, a secret room appeared.

There is no doubt that it contains all the wealth accumulated by the three hags in the past ten years.

Brian naturally accepted all of them unceremoniously, otherwise it would be a waste of work.

Afterwards, he brought Sissy, who was like a follower, to the bathing pool of Fairy Mizusawa.

Seeing that Li Rui'an, who had recovered the appearance of the golden elf, was washing her body in the hot spring with her back facing her, her long platinum hair was hanging loose.

He motioned to Sissi who was holding the clothes beside him, greeted Mizusawa Fairy from a distance, and sat outside the door to wait patiently.

About half an hour passed.

The radiant golden elf Li Ryan came out together with Sissy.

"What's your plan?" Brian looked at Li Ryan, who gave people a morbid beauty. Although she was not as good-looking as in the portrait, she didn't give in too much. He couldn't understand why a woman's love for beauty became so strong.

It can be seen from this that the other party is likely to be influenced by the Goddess of Love's creed of pursuing the ultimate beauty, so that he was caught by the hags to take advantage of the opportunity.

He guessed casually: "Or, continue to operate this temple?"

"I don't know for the time being. Let's make a decision after my younger brother comes." Li Ruian sighed softly, and said with a sad face: "I have completely disappointed Suni, I want to follow my Father's last wish during his lifetime, to regain the path of an elf mage."

"Ok."

Brian nodded slightly and ignored it.

He looked at the timid girl beside her, and said to her, "Sissy, you stay here with this elf sister first, I'm going to Silvermoon City, and I'll take you back when I'm done. Mokou Town, okay?"

This girl was originally a student of Grand Duke Raul of Araby City, and he planned to let her continue to study magic under the Duchess.

"I see, no problem." Sissy gave Brian a forced smile, she lowered her head and stared at her toes, wrapped her little hands around a strand of hair hanging down her chest, and said a little awkwardly:
"Mr. Harpist Erlanzer told me about what happened in Mokou Town. He said that although you are just a small mage lord now, in the future, your name is destined to be known throughout the continent."

Hearing this, Brian smiled and rubbed the girl's hair. He neither refuted nor nodded. He stepped on the starlight circle and disappeared in front of the two of them.

(End of this chapter)