The candle flickered for the last time and was finally lost in tears of wax.

The darkness swallowed up the huddled figure on the bed and every corner of the room.

A long sigh...

Santila hugged her knees with her hands and rested her chin on her knees, recalling everything in her dream.

In fact, she rarely dreams, and even if she does, she almost forgets them all after waking up, even after having a nightmare.

But this time, she remembered some details deeply.

In her dream, she saw Eilistraee, the long-fallen drow goddess, in the forest, bathed in the moonlight, with a pergola made of white-green moonstones hanging from the treetops above her head.

covered.

This goddess is naked, and her silver-white ankle-length hair slides like flowing water over the goddess's black satin-like skin.

Two silver swords were suspended in mid-air on both sides of the hips. Their silver blades trembled slightly, and the sounds were mixed with each other, like the high-pitched singing of women, playing a wordless melody.

Her eyes are the ultimate memory of these mortal women: the changing blue light in the pupils can only be found in moonstone.

Although the goddess's perfect face and sky-blue eyes were full of confidence, what impressed Santila most deeply was her tearful and suffocating voice.

The inexplicable sadness that surged in her heart made her no longer want to look at this kind goddess, but forcibly turned her gaze to the other goddess of the drow elves, the Spider Queen Rose.

She sat on the dim iron throne, and the bloated spherical throne was supported by eight legs like a bulging belly.

Above her, tortured souls filled the hot black-purple sky.

Lolth is in her drow avatar form, her bark-like skin wrapped in a garment of spider silk that reaches up to her shoulders and into her long, bone-white hair.

As she spoke, tiny red spiders sprang from her mouth and fell through Rose's lower lip onto hair-thick webs that swayed in the foul-smelling breeze.

The red light in Rose's eyes is the reflection of the hell fire in the hell spider web, and this is the only shining place on her body.

Darkness enveloped her like a cloak.

The eyes of the two goddesses jumped across the huge chasm, passed through a portal, and stared at each other closely.

The portal stands between the planes of the goddesses, Lolth and the long-fallen Eilistraee, mother and daughter, the drow gods of darkness and cruelty and the gods of light and mercy.

A chessboard spans the portal between the two gods.

"We get on the board and play the game ourselves."

"A battle of life and death, the winner gets everything, and the god Io will be the witness of our bet."

…

Santila shook her head and forced the distracting thoughts away from her mind.

Out of instinctive precaution, she didn't want to know what everything in the dream meant. She just wanted them to disappear like smoke, that's all.

Goddess Rose, the goddess of kindness, and the battle of life and death on the chessboard are not as important as her own affairs.

She cheered up, a confident and familiar smile appeared on her sad and pretty face, and she stretched out her hands to comb her long, disheveled hair. Then she got out of bed, changed her clothes, and got ready to go out.

Today is a special day.

The once-in-a-millennium founding festival of the ancient city of Orens has arrived.

On this day, the clansmen in the city will visit family homes or hold picnics in the wilderness. They will even invite their families, who usually fight to the death, to have dinner together with smiles on their faces to celebrate the arrival of the festival.

At the banquet, a solemn toast is given, first to Lolth, then to the ancient city of Orens, then to the founder of the diner's family, and finally to the favorite ancestor or fallen hero of the relevant family.

and told about their great achievements.

The key is.

It is said that on this day, Lolth, the Spider Queen, will walk among her people, listening and judging her people in the form of a mortal of any gender, any age, any appearance, and any race.

Because no one can guarantee that the stranger passing by is not the incarnation of Spider Queen Rose.

Therefore, on the day of the City's Founding Day, no stranger or slave passing by will be refused a meal by the Drow family.

Instead, they are warmly invited to sit down, share food, and try to accommodate any requests they make.

Because if their hospitality makes Rose very satisfied, she will reward those who please her with magical power, the weakness of the other person, slight but permanent changes in flaws, or magic items.

Likewise, if the hospitality is not good, she will turn the food and drink into deadly toxins, killing the entire family that irritates or offends her.

If Lolth happens to hear or pass by a drow talking about her favorite person, she will sometimes appear in a real form reminiscent of the dead hero, responding to the words with silent hand ornaments and expressions.

It's as if they are still alive and can hear what they are saying.

Of course, she will use these illusions to encourage the drow to take on the tasks she wants them to take on, or make the decisions she wants them to make.

Santila couldn't help but think curiously.

If on this day, a smelly goblin asks the mistress of the Tux family to wash his feet or sleep with him, will this vicious old bastard bite the bullet and agree?

A smile appeared on the corner of the drow girl's mouth, and for some reason, she suddenly had the intention of finding a goblin to try.

After thinking about it, she shook her head again, but ultimately did not choose to put her thoughts into action.

Because right now she has a more important thing that needs to be confirmed in person.

To the northwest of the ancient city of Orens, there is the most chaotic trade bazaar.

The purpose of most people coming here is to trade goods that are strictly prohibited, and merchants from hundreds of races do business in a dangerous environment.

It is said that this place was once the burial place of a destroyed first family of their drow race.

Over the centuries, many unmanaged ruins have become homes for other, more dangerous creatures.

From time to time, treasure hunters come looking for hidden treasures that have not yet been discovered.

Most of these explorers left behind piles of rotting bones, strong evidence of the traps and monsters still lingering in the family burial grounds.

Santila walked through the dark tunnel with ease, the magic elf boots dampening the sound of her footsteps, and the elf magic cloak helping her hide her figure.

In the intricate tunnel, she suddenly discovered a faint blue halo.

This is a magical warning that only those wizards with natural magical talents and hard training can detect.

She left the main tunnel leading to the trading bazaar and approached cautiously.

She saw a terrifying blue light like a glowing scroll, covering the entrance to the cave.

Santila, who was in the invisible state, looked around and noticed that several kobolds, orcs and goblins were walking and discussing which drow family to go to for a feast.

They passed by her as if nothing had happened, completely unaware of the strange situation here and the blue aura of the cave.

This made her instantly understand that this was a magical halo that only wizards could see, and the blue aura it emitted could not illuminate the surrounding scene at all.

She hesitated for a while, wondering whether to risk breaking the ban.

In the end, curiosity overcame the fear in her heart. She temporarily put aside her to-do items and began to carefully observe the restrictions on the sealed entrance. Then she whispered and summoned an elf flame ball.

As expected, when she summoned the flame ball, the blue forbidden light began to sway in and out, which made her realize that this was just the simplest illusion.

A smile appeared on Santila's lips. She put away the fireball and walked in as if nothing had happened.

In the spacious tunnel, the corpses of goblins, kobolds, and ogres were scattered, and the floor and walls were spattered with blood and dark red blood clots that had dried for a long time.

Seeing this situation, Santila was immediately disappointed.

Because this looks more like an ordinary cave, there is absolutely no chance that there are any unknown treasures.

She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeves, waved her hands to drive away the nauseating stench, and then cast her blue gaze on a dead goblin corpse, observing it carefully, trying to find out whether the cause of their death was due to the indiscriminate division of loot.

Infighting between the two.

She raised her foot and kicked the body, and found that the little guy's head had been neatly cut open.

The simple helmet and bones were cut cleanly, and the edges on both sides were smooth, as if they had been polished by a master gem cutter.

Then, she looked at a thigh belonging to a huge ogre. Just as she guessed, the incision at the thigh joint was also very smooth.

Obviously, all the corpses here should be caused by a person with superb swordsmanship. Almost all of them were killed in one blow without any resistance.

What a sharp sword and such swift swordsmanship, she thought in surprise.

In her impression, only the martial arts masters of major families could achieve this level.

For some reason, Brian's figure appeared in her mind.

He also seems to be a master of swordsmanship, and the weapons Brian wears are the result of her specially selecting them for him.

If he was asked to do it, could he do it to this extent? She couldn't help but wonder curiously.

When she mentioned him, her thinking suddenly became a little confused.

Because the purpose of her trip was to confirm whether Brian had escaped or not.

From some secret channel, she learned that several Lolth priestesses and drow warriors had indeed died in the Spider Cave.

This proves that Brian has escaped according to their pre-discussed plan.

However, in the vicious cave where the spider elves were transformed, more than twenty people were killed at once, including eight low-level priestesses of Lolth.

It is said that even the maid of the Queen of Gods, the Wax Melt Demon, was kicked over the altar by an intruder, and then was forcibly expelled back to the lower plane with humiliation.

That scene must be very interesting, Santila thought to herself, she almost thought of the wax melt demon showing its teeth and claws at the intruder, but it was helpless and funny.
To be continued...