Arcane Journey

Chapter 92 Underground Food
'Gobron' means 'shark lizard' in the dwarven language.

Gobron's Lair is the only hotel in Aldus City that is willing to accommodate non-dwarf people.

It was built at the northern end of the Dark Lake District, in a group of small caves at the bottom of the Blade Market.

Through the cold and damp corridor, you can come to the central cave that serves as a restaurant.

The builder took the restaurant as the center, extended from all directions, and dug out small guest rooms with different shapes and twists and turns.

These rooms, although uncomfortably small and dark, are simple and solid, and can provide a certain degree of security.

"Are we still going to the Smoky Crystal Cave today?" Sisaiah opened the door curtain made of Roth's animal skin, put his right hand on his chest, bowed his slender waist, and entered the small box.

Through the flickering candlelight in the darkness, she saw that Brian had been sitting at the stone table waiting for her for a long time.

Yesterday, she and Brian went to the Smoky Crystal Cave, where the stone giants live.

Who would have thought that this group of stone giants who had nothing to do with the world and liked to live a peaceful and quiet life in seclusion would mercilessly drive them out without even letting Brian say a few more words.

If she hadn't reacted quickly enough, she would have almost been hit by a huge stone the size of a millstone thrown by a stone giant guard who seemed about to go crazy.

Although lying alone on the bed afterwards and recalling how Brian ran away in embarrassment, she always couldn't help laughing, but for some reason, when she saw him sitting in front of her again, she couldn't laugh at all, even a little bit. Inexplicably guilty.

"That's right." Brian didn't bother to look up at the sword mage who walked in, so he just replied in a slightly depressed tone.

Hesaiah heard this and sat lightly on the cold stone chair.

She propped her face with her hands, stared at Brian on the opposite side, and stretched out her white and slender fingers in a slightly bored manner, wrapping around the hair hanging on the side of her face.

She saw a look of sadness that was rare for her on his resolute but gentle face of the elves, and the wrinkles between his brows were as deep as furrows.

The two have been together almost inseparable for so long, let her know that whenever Brian starts to concentrate on thinking, there is often this standard frown expression, but she can clearly feel that this time he is really serious. encountered troublesome things.

Thinking of not only being unable to help, but also secretly feeling funny in his heart, Hesaiah suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

She glanced at Brian secretly, twirled her fingertips around the hanging hair, thought for a moment, and tentatively told him her thoughts:
"Bryan, I don't think we need to keep an eye on the stone giant. If it doesn't work, let's go back to the surface first. In this case, I can help you bring some reinforcements over."

Hesaiah thought of the duchess and mage tower in Araby City.

She believed that as long as she returned to the surface, with her own identity and status, with the help of the Mage Tower, she could instantly send an elite team of the Battle Mage Legion to assist Brian.

In the current situation, this was almost the only way she could help him.

"I appreciate your kindness, but this method is obviously a little thoughtless." Brian raised his eyelids to look at Hesaiah, and rejected her proposal without thinking:

"Because the area leading to the surface of Odus King City is the Mokou Mountains, which is at least half a month away from Araby City."

In fact, he also concealed some things from the sword mage.

Although he knew that Odus King City definitely had a passage to the surface, he didn't know exactly where this passage was.

I just roughly know that the passage is hidden in the area where the Dilro dwarves live.

Fortunately, he also knew that there was a conspicuous broken spire near the passage, so that he would not be able to search aimlessly.

"...It's obviously a little thoughtless." The question Hesaiah was thinking was obviously not on the point. She repeated these words secretly, feeling a little speechless in her heart.

Because in her opinion, lack of consideration and lack of brain actually mean the same thing.

In other words, he was beating around the bush and saying that she had no brains, and he was kind enough to help him, but he was ridiculed instead.
Forget it, seeing your frowning look, let's not bother with you for now, Hesaiah glanced at Brian and thought magnanimously.

After all, she still has the news about the Nether scroll, and she believes that when the matter here is over, Brian will definitely take the initiative to find her, and then she will be able to take the initiative and get everything back with interest.

Because when she thought about it afterwards, she was shocked to find that such a cautious person like him would blatantly put such a precious thing as the Nether scroll in front of her eyes.

Immediately, she realized that the purpose of Brian's doing this was probably to arouse her own curiosity, and when she stupidly brought it up, she just took advantage of the situation and asked to find the two Nethers of the Kingdom of Cormyr. The whereabouts of the scroll.

In this case, it will be even more impossible for her to let him easily get the opportunity to observe the scroll, so she must make good use of this opportunity and let him pay something.

Sisaiah's silver-gray eyes flicked over Brian's body, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously evoked a slight, imperceptible smile.

Naturally, Brian didn't know that his casual sentence had already caused the sword mage on the opposite side to draw his attention imaginatively, and at the same time, he didn't look up to see the strange smile on the other side.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and said to her very resolutely:

"Let's go again today. If the stone giant guard dares to block the way, we will beat him until he begs for mercy. I don't believe that such a big movement will not attract the attention of their patriarch."

In fact, he didn't want to offend these neutral stone giants at all, but if he wanted to implement his plan, he had to win the assistance of the stone giants.

And the most important thing is that these stone men invented a very magical magic gemstone 'Stone Whisperer Crystal', which is what he must have.

However, what makes him depressed is that the stone men guarding the smoky crystal cave are as smelly and hard as his racial characteristics. No matter how he explains it, even the demon lords have brought it up. , and finally greeted the heads of the two with a stone the size of a millstone.

Since soft ones are not enough, hard ones are the only options. He wants to see if the head of this iron-headed stone giant is as smelly and hard as the stones in the latrine.

It just so happened that after he returned to the hotel yesterday, he activated a four-ring evocation spell "Bigby battering ram" from the arcane fire, so he took his head to test the power first.

After figuring out the problem, Brian's frowning brows slowly relaxed, showing a slight smile, and said to Hesaiah, "Let's have a full meal later, and we'll go directly to the Smoky Crystal Cave after the meal."

"Hmm." Seeing Brian's familiar confident smile again, Sisaiah relaxed, smiled at him instinctively, and nodded slightly.

She felt that since meeting Brian, she had seldom used her brain to think about problems.

She always subconsciously thinks that there is definitely a reason for him to choose to do this, and she just needs to implement it seriously.

This made her faintly feel that she might have really taken the position of guard into it completely.

Although almost all the sword mages in the Kingdom of Cormyr are the best guards in the royal family, she didn't choose the sword mage for the position of guard.

Forget about that much for now, let's talk about it when we get back to the surface, Hesaiah found a fairly pertinent reason for himself, and forcibly dispelled the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

Work in a while.

Two halfling servants brought up the hot food.

Seeing the savory mushroom soup, Brian immediately dismissed the golem of the stone giant.

In his opinion, nothing is more important than filling his stomach.

From the time he left the small world where he was born until now, he found that half a year had passed before he knew it.

After escaping from the dark elf's ancient Orens city, he spent almost all of his time hunting underground monsters and gaining experience points.

Just like a wilderness ranger on the surface, away from the living habits of the hot bed and hot bath, go on a series of thrilling escape and survival trips.

That's why after he came to the city of the gray dwarves, he knew that there were very urgent things to do right now, but he still didn't forget to use his own conditions and rare free time to enjoy a comfortable life.

Because he knows the importance of combining work and rest.

Even in this kind of world dominated by gods and mortals can master extraordinary power, mental fatigue cannot be easily recovered by magic or potions.

For Brian, burning life is not just overdrawing blindly, even if he has a strong body and full mental strength, it will sometimes get tired.

Combining work and rest is a survival strategy to step on the ladder of the strong, while the body is the capital to support and become stronger, and rest is the prelude to running wildly.

As a noble mage, he will not be like a monk who likes to tap his own potential through self-harming penance.

Moreover, even monks themselves, when their bodies reach a certain limit, will stop involuntarily, open their bodies and minds, relax wholeheartedly, and use the way of meditation to quietly understand their own practice. results.

Therefore, according to the relationship of time, to reasonably arrange effective practice is an important condition for him to learn spells.

Because the efficiency of spell learning is improved, what is most needed is a clear and agile mind.

As a spellcaster, proper rest and relaxation are not only beneficial, but also necessary.

This can not only improve the efficiency basis of his own research on mysterious knowledge, but also keep his brain always clear and agile, so that he will not become incompetent and angry and lose his mind because of some trivial matters.

When a person can't see and doesn't care about anything except spells, he is already crazy. A lunatic who doesn't even have a sense of reason is talking about researching mysteries and exploring the unknown land of the multiverse.

Especially in a barren world like the Underdark.

In the surface world, animals kill for food in order to survive, but the creatures haunting this underground dark labyrinth do not kill for survival.

Because survival itself is their ordeal.

Affected by the radiation of the leylines, they will be driven by various reasons to kill, madness, hatred, and the vicious out-of-control atmosphere that etches every stone.

They kill because only in killing are they free.

When your eyes have seen the phantom buildings in the dark region, witnessed the inescapable doomsday scene, and wandered in the dark and winding gloomy tunnel all the time.

Even if your heart is strong enough, you will be affected to varying degrees.

In this case, only proper relaxation can relieve this oppressive and breathless feeling, so as not to fall into madness due to collapse.

During the days when Brian was a slave and stayed in the city of Ancient Orens, he still vividly remembered the kiss of the drow wizard Jonara that made his hair stand on end.

If he hadn't personally killed the drow wizard, he would have found comfort from the rebellious drow girl Santilla, which made him happy physically and mentally.

Maybe he really might leave some psychological shadow behind.

Thinking of the unpleasant memories, Brian laughed, and immediately patted his forehead to dispel it. He set his eyes on the food on the stone table, and began to serve bowls of soup.

"What kind of soup did you order this time?" Sisaiah took the thick soup from Brian, sniffed it, and asked curiously.

"All the mushroom soup in the Underdark," Brian said to her, laughing.

"What a strange name, does it have any special meaning?" Hesaiah asked as usual.

"Actually, this hearty mushroom soup is named after the gnome tradition of frantically running in and out of their pantries and fungus gardens in the tense atmosphere of entertaining guests, sometimes Known as the 'welcome soup'."

While tasting the delicious mushroom soup, Brian recalled the knowledge in his mind and said to her:

"Mushroom soup itself is a meal for the deep dwarves. It is full of colorful mushrooms, green beans, peas, sweet flint corn, and red bell peppers from the surface world. The raw materials of fire moss, luminous mushroom and luminous mushroom are mixed together, which makes people feel warm and comfortable when drinking it, so as to resist the damp and cold atmosphere of the ground."

"It looks pretty good." Hesaiah looked at the colorful mushrooms in the soup. She seemed to think of something, and said with a smile:
"Brian, you know, when I saw the red mushrooms in the soup, I suddenly thought of Timo's favorite song 'Red Umbrella, White Pole'. Did you teach him this song?"

"You think too much, how could I teach him such childish nursery rhymes." Brian curled his lips pretending to be disdainful with a straight face.

"That's true."

Hisaiah nodded confidently. She gracefully sipped a sip of the mushroom soup, feeling the unique taste of the underground world, nodded slightly with satisfaction, and said:

"Listening to your explanation of the ingredients and origin of this soup, I suddenly remembered that there seems to be a similar food in Jianwan, but it's been too long, and I can't remember the name for a while."

"It's all the seafood soup in Jianwan." Brian finished the last sip of soup in the bowl, filled another bowl, and said to her:
"I used to travel around the port cities of the Sword Coast region, like Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, and I could enjoy this seafood stew, an ever-popular sea-breeze dish with cod, black Haddock, clams and mussels, all doused in a light fish and tomato broth and finished with a licorice-flavored aperitif and a dash of fennel.

Some taverns even make special versions of them, adding an aldani sauce made with crispy red pepper, garlic and olive oil to the seafood. The seafood broth is also very suitable for soaking toasted herb bread. Adventurers and rogue pirates alike will refuse a soup so perfect. "

Hearing Brian's introduction, Hisaiah was too surprised to speak.

She found that the knowledge of this battle mage is too rich.

Although he is a half-elf, it can be seen from his bright eyes and face that he should not even be 30 years old.

Hesaiah couldn't help but doubt his true identity.

"such a pity."

Brian glanced at her and sighed with feigned disappointment, "The surface world leading here is the Kingdom of Cormyr, which means that for a long time in the future, it will not be possible to go to the distant Sword Coast to taste this tasty."

"Not necessarily." Hisaiah shook her head slightly, showing a mysterious smile to Brian.

"In fact, in our city of Suzal, there is also a tavern that can make this stewed seafood soup. If there is a chance, I will take you to taste it."

"Suzar City?" Brian raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, looked at the sword mage opposite, and showed an inexplicable smile. He put down the spoon in his hand, and couldn't help but doubt:

"To be honest, I have stayed in Cormyr's Suzar Imperial City for a long time, so I never knew about it."

"That's because the tavern is built on top of a thousand-year-old oak tree on the Susal Quay."

Seeing that Brian finally had something he didn't know, and asked himself for advice, Hesaiah was very helpful. She smiled and introduced to him enthusiastically: "It's called the 'Green Dragon Hotel', and it's a dog of faith. A hotel opened by the green dragon of the God of Nature, also known as the 'Last Destination Hotel'."

The final destination indeed, because the green dragon died in the Dragon Cult's Dragon Madness, Brian thought.

"You weren't born in Araby City, how come you know so much about a hotel in a corner like Susar." He nodded thoughtfully and asked abruptly.

"Huh? That's because I learned my sword mage skills in Suzal City."

Hesaiah froze for a moment, quickly organized his words, and explained to him, "When I was eight years old, I was sent to the city of Suzar to learn arcane and sword skills from the court archmage."

"I see."

Brian didn't continue to ask. He chuckled, pointed at another delicacy on the table with a spoon, and said to her, "Try the special food of the gray dwarves 'Underdark Lotus Cake with Special Fire Moss Sauce'."

"This dish is sometimes referred to as 'Double Mushrooms'. This fiery dwarven delicacy can even stimulate the taste buds of tieflings who love spicy food."

He gestures to something resembling chips and petal-shaped slices on the plate. "These tubers are made from the bright white roots of the Underdark lotus and blue-capped fungus. They're steamed and cut into thin, crispy slices, perfect for dipping."

Before Brian finished speaking, Sisaiah couldn't help twisting a petal-shaped slice, dipped it in some sauce on the plate, and tasted it with relish.

Yet to her disbelief, the crisp, sweet slice was just in her mouth, ready to be chewed.

She immediately felt a pungent taste like a raging fire, approaching her throat, irritating the tip of her tongue, so hot that she felt the bones of her whole body were burning and painful, her throat seemed to be full of flames, and she could spew out a ball of fire.

"Why is this so spicy?" Sisaiah, who was blushing from the heat, looked at Brian complainingly. She dropped the food in her hand, stuck out her tongue, and kept sucking air like a puppy.

Looking at Sisaiah's red face and funny appearance, Brian couldn't help laughing out loud. He threw her a spherical fungus and said to her unhurriedly:

"Actually, the highlight of this dish is the fire moss, which is made from the ancient orange fire moss fungus and ground into a delicious spicy sauce. If you can't stand the spiciness, you must eat it with water pompom mushrooms. You don't have When I finish speaking, I will start eating directly, and blame me."

"." Sisaiah quickly took the water polo mushroom from Brian and put it in his mouth.

She found that although the ball-shaped fungus was bland, it was as chewy as a sponge, and the spiciness in her mouth receded extremely quickly.

After the delightful meal, Brian got up from his seat contentedly, and greeted Hesaiah: "Let's go."

"Where are you going?" Hesaiah got up and followed his footsteps, knowingly asked.

"Where else can I go?"

Brian didn't turn his head back, he quickened his pace, and said as he walked, "Go to the Smoky Crystal Cave and beat up the group of stone men blocking the way."

He knew that after leaving this time, he might rarely have the opportunity to come to this hotel again in the future.

(End of this chapter)