Arcane Journey

Chapter 183 The Goldenbeard Tribe
"During the heyday of Blingdenstone City, this cave was a smelting field in the old city and a market for ores and rough gemstones." The leader of the subterranean gnomes, Duobao Digging, said to Brian, "Now it has become the site of the Ratman Cave. Main Street."

Brian nodded slightly, looking around.

After the subterranean gnomes were infected by animalization, the first price they paid was their rigor and cleanliness. This street was filthy and messy, even filled with the smell of overripe mushrooms that no one would dare to eat.

And just by releasing a simple detection magic, he could clearly feel that the criss-crossing piles of rocks and the ruins of the collapsed stalactite pillars were full of various traps.

This area is called: Golden Beard Cave.

The only place the goldbeard gnomes are known to live is the ruins of Blingdenstone.

They originated from a group of survivors who unfortunately encountered the Ratman and were infected with the beast curse after the drow invasion.

For nearly a hundred years, the Snebli of the Golden Beard Tribe survived and multiplied here, avoiding the elements of drow and madness, and using all cunning and cruel means to protect their homeland.

They won't give in to these cowards who ran away from Blingdenstone when it needed it most, and are only now back trying to rebuild.

"Squeak..."

Just then, a few dozen meters away, a few mice hiding in the brick ledge caught Brian's attention.

These little mice are rather strange, they are not afraid of strangers, their rolling eyes are blood red, showing a gloomy smell in the dark.

When Brian was about to observe carefully, the mice quickly fled into the shadows as if they were frightened by something.

However, two of them fell down screaming, and then their frantically struggling bodies rose out of thin air.

——"Second Ring Spell: Flash Dust!"

Seeing this, Brian took out a cloud of mica powder, sprinkled it into the air, and stretched out his finger, a cloud of golden particles enveloped two mice suspended in midair.

Immediately afterwards, everyone saw that an almost invisible gelatinous cube that looked like a transparent jelly engulfed the two mice.

"What is that..." Hellist came close and whispered beside him.

"The gelatinous cube belongs to a kind of ooze monster." Brian said to her, and then quickly instilled all the knowledge about the ooze monster into her mind through the spiritual link between the two, allowing her to Digest slowly.

In fact, he was slightly surprised to see that Helisite didn't know these things.

However, when she thought that it had been less than half a year since she came to the material world, she understood the reason.

Then, he threw two flaming arrows in a row, and the jelly cube was like a jelly stuffed into a firecracker, and was blown apart with two explosions.

"The ooze monster has become so unscrupulous in the golden-bearded ratman's territory." Duobao frowned and said, "If this continues, it will soon invade our territory."

"This is actually a good thing for you." Brian replied indifferently, "If the golden-bearded ratmen hadn't been cornered by the ooze monster, they would never have chosen to cooperate with you."

"To cooperate with the Ratman..." The leader of the subterranean dwarves sighed, and he didn't know whether he was lamenting the fate of the tribe or uncertain about the future.

"Okay, now is not the time to be emotional." Brian interrupted his words, and after receiving the message from Hellist through telepathy, he changed the subject and said in a deep voice:
"Next we may encounter enemies, so be vigilant! No one will do anything without my order."

His voice was not loud, but it fell clearly in everyone's ears, making the leader of the subterranean dwarves and his subordinates all involuntarily show a look of caution.

Sure enough, they only walked a few tens of meters ahead, and a huge rumbling sound swept from the depths of darkness.

It was the effect of dense footsteps piled up, among which were also filled with several sharp underground lingua francas.

At the same time, layers of shadows rushed over, turning into groups of rats, and they were still dire rats.

This is a ferocious animal, with an average length of more than 1 meter and a weight of at least [-] kilograms.

Hordes of dire rats are a nightmare for fledgling adventurers, and they love to tear and chew their opponents with their sharp front teeth.

Behind Dire Rat, Brian also found a group of Dire Rat cavalry.

Most of them retain the appearance of subterranean gnomes, while a small number of them have the appearance of half-human and half-mouse.

As Brian expected, the group of ratmen and dire rats did not choose to attack, but kept a certain distance from them.

"Don't be impulsive, we are here for peace!"

A sturdy one-eyed rat man rode out of the team riding a dire rat, grinning his serrated fangs and showing a ferocious smile.

He jumped down from the Dire Rat, spread his hands, opened his arms and took a step forward, "My name is Goblin, Tongban, the leader of our Golden Beard Tribe, wants to talk to you, would you do me a favor and walk with us?" trip?"

"No problem, I'll go with you." Brian walked out of the queue and said to the one-eyed rat man.

This is the plan he discussed in advance, and everyone has already made psychological preparations, so naturally they will not stop him at this time.

"readily!"

The one-eyed rat man grinned, turned over and rode on the back of the dire rat, waved his hands cursingly, and asked his subordinates to make way for the Jinxu tribe's camp.

Brian motioned to the leader of the diggers to wait here, and followed along with Hellist.

They walked along the messy street to a stairhead, and went up the stairs to the top of the high ground. Above it was a spacious platform, and the ground was covered with well-tended green soft fungus.

"My God, you're finally here." A high-pitched voice filled with surprise came, "Brian, do you know how anxious I was waiting?"

Brian followed the sound, and the nimble figure of the goblin copper appeared in his line of sight. As usual, although he was dressed in rags, it fit him well, and he was wearing a black cloak of good quality , There is even a big backpack hanging on the back, and I like to pack some weird little things.

"Long time no see." Brian greeted with a smile, "I didn't expect you to keep your promise and wait for me here."

"Cut! Who do you think I am?" The goblin folded his arms and curled his lips in disdain.

"I am a principled and kind goblin. First, be kind to others, second, neither steal nor rob, third, be kind and make money, fourth, help those in need, fifth, keep promises, sixth...forget it, I'll tell you when I remember next time."

"what?"

Then, Copper Nugget's eyes shifted to Hellist next to Brian. His eyes shrank in fright, and he said quickly, "Where is she? Sword Mage...Why isn't the elf prince with you?"

Seemingly feeling that something was wrong with the words, Copper Nugget quickly corrected it with a smile.

Sensing the goblin's strange expression, Helisite glanced at Brian with a clear look, and continued to remain silent.

"Hello!" At this moment, another high-pitched voice interrupted everyone's conversation.

The speaker is a fat skaven leader.

He was sitting on a stone chair covered with a burrowing badger skin, wearing a mage robe trimmed with gold thread, accompanied by a docile and obedient dire rat on each side.

"Bronze Nugget, you are too much, these two are my guests, why are you stealing my limelight again?" The leader of the Rat Man looked at the goblin Copper Nugget dissatisfiedly, "Since it's all like this, then it's up to you Let me introduce you."

"No problem." Copper Nugget jumped onto the armrest of the stone chair of the Ratman leader, sat on it with a pair of calves dangling, and said proudly:
"Listen well, the half-elf standing in front of you is my buddy, I have killed the abyssal demon with him on Fansi Lane, and after killing the fungus demon in the lightless forest, we chased him in the town of Kou Tao Murloc. Isn't it very powerful to take away the incarnation of the demon lord Demogorgon, and smash the plot of Lord Wu'an in the city of Odus of the gray dwarves."

"It turns out that you have experienced so much in the Underdark." Hellist looked at Brian in disbelief, and cared through telepathy: "So many things happened, why didn't you tell me any of them."

"These are all things in the past, and it doesn't make sense to say them." Brian glanced at her and said indifferently: "Don't listen to his nonsense, it's not that exaggerated."

"From the tone of this Mr. Goblin, I can tell that he didn't exaggerate the facts, and most of them are real." Helisite scrutinized him and retorted softly.

"This is the leader of the Golden Beard Tribe, named Tongban. He eats and sleeps every day, and is chased by the slime monsters." The words of the goblin Copper Nugget drew Brian's attention back.

"Bronze block!" The leader of the Ratman became angry when he heard this.

"How can you slander people with your words? There are eight hundred slime monsters who died in my hands. Is that called running? That's called strategic transfer. As long as I'm still alive, the slime monsters dare to kill one of my subordinates." , I have tens of thousands of dire rats standing up. It's like retracting a mining pick, just to smash down more powerfully."

"Isn't that called running away?" The goblin argued, "If I hadn't hung you up with a rope last time, you would have been transformed into a sticky lump by the Pudding King."

"It was you who said you were greedy and wanted to drink mushroom soup, grilled mushroom steak and mushroom bread, so I ventured to the territory of the slime monster to pick mushrooms for you." Trembling with anger, "I'm not doing this for you, I value you so much..."

"Stop!" The goblin answered, "Please, what do you value about me? Can't I change it?"

"All right!"

Brian couldn't help frowning, and interrupted the quarrel between the goblin and the rat man with a headache, "Your Majesty Copperplate invited me here to watch you quarrel, right?"

"Of course not." The Ratman leader glared at the copper block angrily, and said:
"Let's cut to the chase. The diggers sent you here because they wanted us to leave, right? Good! They might get their wish soon, but they don't necessarily like it in the end."

"To tell you the truth, I'm almost driven crazy by the ooze monster, and I'm starting to move my people to other places. If Du Hoe is willing, I can even give him all of my territory."

"If you run away, just run away, what to say to transfer..." Goblin Copper Nugget muttered in a low voice.

"You know what!" the Rat Man leader hurriedly added, "I'll run away now and let the dwarves deal with this shit by themselves. If they defeat the ooze monster, hehe! I can..."

"Then how much do you know about the slime monster?" Brian asked after interrupting him.

"Not only do I know the specific distribution of the ooze monsters, I also know the specific location of the mysterious controller behind these disgusting things." The ratman leader said, "But I just won't tell you, because these are all things I use In exchange for the life of the dire rats I raised."

"Of course." He shook his mouse whiskers and smiled, looking quite treacherous, "If Diho is willing to admit my status in Blingdenstone and live in peace with me, I will be with you guys." Cooperation."

"I have the impression that he once worked in the tunnels, and then my people saw him come back. I know who he is, what he does, and most importantly, where he is! If you or dig a hoe If you guys need it, I can take you directly to him, the guy who claims to be the pudding king. Moreover, my ratmen warriors and dire rats will appear on the battlefield. In order to prove that we are stronger than ordinary gnomes, I Also willing to offer my troops to take the lead in battle."

"The only reason I did this is to make Duobao Digger recognize the status of the Golden Beard tribe in Blingdenstone City." The ratman leader made the last addition.

"I can agree to the conditions you put forward." Brian thought for a while, and said slowly: "But you need to discuss the specific details with Duobao. After all, I am just an outsider and have no right to interfere with the distribution of your interests. If you want If so, come with me."

"No, I'm not going anywhere." The leader of the Ratman looked at Brian with a vigilant face, and when he looked at Hellist with his long and narrow mouse eyes, there was even a trace of fear, "I killed that little girl, Lusha. A burrowing badger, she wanted to skin me a long time ago, I dare not go, let them come to me to negotiate."

"I can assure you that even if the negotiation fails, you will not suffer any harm." Brian said sincerely.

In fact, Helliste could even have his rat's nest if he wanted to.

But without the help of the Ratmen and Dire Rats of the Golden Beard Tribe, just a few hundred dwarves were no match for the Ooze Monster at all.

You know, this group of ratmen settled here 100 years ago, and the number of ratmen and dire rats is conservatively above 3000.

"Look at how cowardly you are." Goblin Copper Nugget cast a contemptuous look at the leader of the Ratmen, "Don't worry, I also assure you that everything Brian said is not lying to you."

"Really?" the rat man leader winked at the goblin and said cautiously.

"Nonsense!" The goblin rolled his eyes at him.

"Okay, I'm willing to take a walk with you." The leader of the Ratman relaxed, stood up from the stone chair, led two docile and obedient ferocious rats, and followed Brian out.

Brian brought the Ratman to the gnome's territory, and when he saw that he was in contact with the leader of the subterranean gnome, he ignored the negotiation.

Because before he left, he had already done enough ideological work with the digger leader, no matter what the result was, the other party would choose to cooperate with the Ratman.

At the end of the long negotiation, Brian found that the grinning Ratman leader came out together with the silent underground gnome leader.

Seeing this, he knew that the matter had been negotiated.

So, without further delay, I took out the prepared map and began to study the ratmen and dire rats of the Golden Beard tribe, the subterranean gnomes, the casters and summoned earth elementals from the garden of the stone heart, the gray stone people, and the burrows. The watchmen, give orders to attack Pudding King one by one.

After everyone dispersed, he turned to look at Helisite who looked peaceful, and said to her:
"Let's go, the two of us go directly to the palace of the Pudding King's Court and kill the Pudding King. Our underground adventure is over."

Hellist nodded slightly, and went straight to the center of Blingdenstone with him.

(End of this chapter)