The Swordsman of Faerûn

Dove continued naively persuading: "Lord William, it is absolutely impossible for Dagger Valley to be the opponent of Shadow Valley. Even if our sisters don't intervene, it is very difficult for you to win. We hope you can put the overall situation first and go find Lord Moglin admits his mistake, apologizes, and removes the threat of war on both sides."

William's heart was extremely tired. He frowned and said, "Ms. Dove! There are many things in this world that are more important than personal life and honor. The things that Dagger Valley needs to fight for also belong to this category. Occupation, and some other problems, the people of Dagger Valley have always been low-minded, and now is a good time to build people's self-confidence."

Dove said with a face of disapproval: "Is there anything more important than human life?"

William said solemnly: "Of course! Dignity! Whether it is the dignity of an individual or a country, it cannot be underestimated. Let me put it another way, Dove, would you respect a farmer in the country? Do you think that a farmer Is it as high as yours?"

Dove replied without hesitation: "I will! I respect all farmers and recognize their identities."

William almost spit out a mouthful of reverse blood, you mother-in-law didn't answer according to common sense!I can't talk today.

So he changed the subject and asked: "Dorph, Shiron once took a young wind horse from my house, I think you should have heard of it. She came back to us a few days ago, but I haven't seen her for the past two days, and I want to know where Isabella the pony is now?"

Dove also knew that persuading people should not be stalking. When she heard William's question, she immediately replied: "You mean little Isabella? That cute little thing should be in the Temple of the Dawn Hall, Omar ( Elminster's surname) feared that the little one would get lost again, so she was temporarily locked up."

Nima!No wonder the little guy disappeared for several days. It turned out that he was locked up by someone.

William knew what the Hall of Dawn was like. This was the gorgeous sanctuary of Lathander, the Lord of Dawn. Its appearance was more gorgeous than any building William had seen in Faerun.It is said that even the Lord of Dawn himself (god) couldn't help being amazed after seeing this overly luxurious sanctuary.

But William knows a secret that only the gods know. There is a plane node at the location of the Hall of Dawn. Standing on the node, one can summon the ladder passage of the kingdom of heaven through special rituals, and then step on any god's Kingdom of God.

Of course, William doesn't know that special ritual, and he has no interest in exploring its secrets, just like Hieron was once warned by a certain god named Azuth, knowing too much will hurt everyone. no good.

William turned around and walked quickly towards the Hall of Dawn. Dove sprinted a few steps to catch up and asked, "Where are you going?"

William said: "I'm going to find Isabella and take that little thing out of this place of right and wrong."

Dove chased him and said, "Stay with Elminster, and the pony will be safe. Elminster is the most powerful mage in the world."

William didn't want to pay attention to Dove's self-righteousness, but when he stepped into the Hall of Dawn, just in time to see a tall old man with gray beard and hair leaving through a portal, William realized that it wasn't just him and Honey. Luna can maintain contact with the magic net in the disconnected state of the magic net, and the same is true for the famous Great Sage of Shadow Valley.

But Elminster's departure is also a good thing, at least William doesn't need to meet him directly when begging for Isabella, so as to avoid some unpleasant things from time to time.

The Hall of Dawn is not only where Elminster settles, it is also the gathering point for the followers of the Lord of Dawn in the Valley of Shadows. Countless priests and paladins who believe in Lathander gather here, especially this one that is connected to the gods. Disconnected, the hearts of the believers are full of moments of confusion, and the Hall of Dawn has almost become the last sustenance of the believers of Dawn.

Therefore, when William walked into the Hall of Dawn, the second scene he saw was the prayer ceremony being held by countless morning believers. They kept using mirrors to simulate sunlight, and then let those who were illuminated by the reflected light of the mirror sing hymn.

That scene was quite strange, but the disciples of Dawn were so absorbed in it that no one paid any attention to the arrival of William and Dove.

The Hall of Dawn has a large building area, and William doesn't want to wander around without thinking. Although the perception from the heart is enough to guide him, William still grabs a young paladin and asks him, or should he say It's her, about the whereabouts of little Isabella.

The female paladin wearing the heavy Dawn armor was very dissatisfied with being interrupted in the prayer ceremony, but out of the sincere habit of paladins, and William was accompanied by Dove, this somewhat angry female paladin told the truth honestly. The information that this hateful man wants to know.

When William saw little Isabella, the little thing was crouching in a magic cage studded with gems, fiddling with a bunch of magic gems.

The little thing was very happy to see William, and she hurriedly shouted: "Big William! Big William! Come and save Isabella! The bad old man locked me up again!"

"Don't run around alone in the future, be careful next time I can only find your bones in goblin feces." William said jokingly, while pulling out the autumn water knife, he slashed open the cage, and the enchanted man on it The spell didn't help either.

Little Isabella got out of the shackles, and immediately flew around in mid-air happily, and at the same time shouted excitedly: "Bad William, don't scare me, stupid goblins can't catch Isabella! I am very good at it!" hiding!"

But when Isabella tried to activate the spell [Invisibility] that belongs to the young wind horse, nothing happened, but Isabella didn't notice it yet, and she was circling around William while feeling proud Said: "Haha! You can't see me! You can't see me! You can't see me..."

William sighed, and Dove almost collapsed from laughter, the woman's smile was too low.He grabbed the pony by the neck and said angrily: "Idiot! The ass is exposed! Let's go!"

But little Isabella shouted in panic: "Impossible! My spells are very powerful, how can I show my butt?" She raised her head and looked at her own tail, but it attracted Dove again. I can't stop laughing.

William entered the Hall of Dawn and left without being stopped by any believers of Dawn. Perhaps for these believers of Lathander, even if the sky fell, it was more important than for them to regain the gift of the Lord of Dawn.

Arriving at the pier in the town of Shadow Valley, a ship in a bottle has been released.At a time when almost all magic and magic items are ineffective, only Miluna has the ability to activate the ship in a bottle that has almost become an ordinary handicraft, and even William does not have this ability.

William let go of Isabella, who had been chattering and losing her temper all the way. This little thing thought she had lost the protection of [Invisibility] because she had grown up!By the way, most adult wind horses will lose the [Invisibility] spell, of course, they can also relearn this spell and use it as their regular spell.

After seeing the magic boat, Xiaofengzhima immediately rushed to the little girls with joy. She wanted to show them her experience of being imprisoned for the past two days, and of course she had to tell her grievances in order to win some money. Sympathy between little sisters.

And William turned his head and said to Dove, who had been keeping pace, "Ms. Dove, I'm leaving, please go back."

Dove shook her head and said, "I won't go, I will follow you until the day you give up the war."

William shook his head and said, "It's up to you! But I will leave by boat, and there is no place for you on board."

Dove smiled slyly and said, "Your ship should have a seat for Hellen. I am Hellen's biological sister, and I have the right to exercise her qualifications to take your ship instead."

William looked at this innocent-looking lady, sighed and stopped talking, but he didn't stop her from getting on the boat.

The magic boat broke through the water and went upstream, but William did not leave Shadow Valley directly, but turned a corner along the river, and stopped at another slightly lower hill next to Old Skull Mountain, and then he Take the others to the top of the hill.

With the barrier of the Old Skull Mountain, it is difficult for the people of Shadow Valley to find their traces, but William and others can overlook most of the situation in Shadow Valley Town, which surprised Dove very much.

She couldn't help asking: "William, you seem to be very familiar with the terrain here, how do you know that standing on the Watcher's Hill can monitor the entire Shadow Valley Town?"

William said: "It turns out that this place is called Watcher's Hill. Ms. Dove, I am not obliged to answer your question, but I can still explain it to you. This is based on my war intuition about geographical terrain, and the line of sight is all On the contrary, I can see the outline of this hill in Shadow Valley Town, so standing on this hill, I can naturally see Shadow Valley Town."

Dove asked curiously, "What do you want to do here?"

William sighed and said, "In Shadow Valley Town, especially when standing in the Hall of Dawn, I felt a fatal crisis. I want to see what that crisis is."

Of course, William didn't tell the truth. He really felt that a war worse than the monster invasion was about to break out in Shadow Valley. His real purpose was to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and see which unlucky ones were coming to join in the fun.

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A great man once famously said that in many cases the outcome of a war is doomed before it begins.

Although many people may not have heard this sentence, it does not prevent those who have experienced wars from gaining similar experiences and lessons.But any experienced general understands the truth that the more adequate the preparations before the battle, the greater the chance of victory.

Therefore, when a human kingdom or city-state wants to launch a war, the preparations before the war will generally be cumbersome.

However, the army from Zhentil Castle broke this routine.Almost without making any pre-war preparations, they directly sent troops across the Tessa River, and drove straight along the northern road across the valley. pull.

These two cities once belonged to Far Mountain City and Shadow Valley, and they were also at the forefront of the tug-of-war between the two city-states and Zhentil Castle.

The leader of Zhentil Castle's army is an evil mage or priest named Tempus Blackthorne. His reputation is unknown to most people in Shadow Valley and even Zhentil Castle. The army of Zhentil Keep, the reason is that his master is a real god-Ban, the Lord of Darkness.

Bane in the mortal age may be a qualified king and commander, but as a god, he has forgotten the taboos that once belonged to mortal warfare, or he has not forgotten it, he just dismisses it.

How could God care about the life and death of ants!

The soldiers of Zhentil Fort marched very hard. Not to mention the lack of weapons and armor, at least the war machines used to siege cities and land were absolutely in short supply, and the supplies of food and grass were even more difficult to supply. If they were not After plundering in Yulas and Fuenla, he might even be on his way hungry.

However, the morale of the soldiers can still be maintained a little bit, at least following a real god to attack Shadow Valley, in the eyes of most mortals, this is a completely sure victory.

No matter how awesome your great sage in Shadow Valley is, you are just a mortal, no matter how crazy your silver-haired sister is, you are just another god’s lackey, and your god has fallen in full view. Look at you loach in the river ditch. How to turn over.

Well, the outcome has been decided!

In fact, the soldiers in Zhentil Castle knew that the supplies were insufficient and didn't worry about it, but it was because they all knew that Shadow Valley was famous for its abundance, and just plundering any farm or cottage would be enough to get a lot of food. Wait for grain rice and wheat as food.

However, when these mixed armies of humans and orcs rushed into the outskirts of Shadow Valley, ready to slaughter and plunder, they found that what awaited them were ruins all over the ground, and groups of monsters that hadn't dispersed.

This is a tragedy, and what makes Zhentil Castle people even more sad is that they had a fierce fight with the monsters, and then some of the monsters were incorporated, and they had to squeeze out part of the food they had left , distributed to those orcs and gnolls who surrendered.

Then more monsters chose to surrender to the Zhentil Fort people, which caused the army of Zhentil Fort to expand several times almost at once on the second day after entering the Valley of Shadows.

The god Bane and his servant Blackthorne who hid in the army were very satisfied with this, but he and he did not notice that the soldiers had begun to cut up and roast the corpses of dead monsters-the army's The logistics supply has completely collapsed.

However, the city walls and natural moat of Shadow Valley are enough to make this mob who has not made any preparations to attack the city helpless.

Of course, this was William's judgment. He and his men hid on the Watcher's Hill, secretly watching the battle below.Miluna's magic made William's eyes look like eagle eyes with a telescope, able to clearly see every detail in the distance.

In William's view, the army of Zhentil Castle is already a defeated army. If the people of Shadow Valley can't hold out for three to five days, they don't need to do anything to make Zhentil Castle The army was completely disintegrated.

As for the so-called gods, in William's view, that's all there is to it, and it's not like he hasn't killed him before.What's more, William also learned from Dove that Elminster did not lose his ability to cast spells because of the fall of the goddess of magic. Draw more power from the net, as long as he wants, he can become a new god of magic at any time.

It can be said that as long as the great sage of Shadow Valley is around, the saint Bane will not be able to turn around any troubles.

Of course, the above are all William's own judgments, based on the fact that the information he got from Dove is accurate enough.I have to say it again here, the silver-haired sisters are really nice in terms of messaging, even if the two silver hands are far apart, they only need to recite each other's real name to hear everything the other is currently saying .

At first, when William saw Dove talking to himself, he thought that there might be something wrong with this person, and then he realized that it was a humanoid bug.With such an inner ghost that works in real time, it is clear that the actions of William and his party hiding in the Watcher's Hill have not been hidden from the people of Shadow Valley Town.

However, the people of Shadow Valley did not pay attention to the small actions of William and others. Perhaps in their view, William, a group of big cats and kittens plus a team of less than [-] people, even if they were monsters, they would never be able to turn the corner. What storms come.

Then, the direction of the war in Shadow Valley completely stunned William. The leaders of this f*cking Shadow Valley grew up eating poop. Facing the menacing Zhentil Castle army, they did not carry out strict defenses like fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness. Instead of defending, he ran out of the city wall in a big stab, wanting to engage in a raid and decisive battle with the invaders.

William was so dumbfounded by the lord of Shadow Valley, that he ran out to play a tactical raid even though he didn't defend the city properly, let's make a surprise raid, but they were worried that they wouldn't be able to withstand the Zhentil Castle's three consecutive crit attacks at the beginning. They set up traps and set up ambushes, leading the invading army to disperse, and then launched a seemingly fatal surprise attack, but they really killed a group of mobs, and their own losses were not too great. Army vs. wartime losses are much better.

But in William's view, this kind of petty tactical victory is precisely the biggest failure of the people of Shadow Valley.There is a saying on the battlefield that no matter how brilliant a tactical victory is, it cannot redeem a strategic failure.

Not to mention that Zhentil Castle's army was overcrowded and its logistics collapsed. The small tactical victory of the Shadow Valley people will not weaken the enemy's strength, but will help it.

The Army of the Shadow Valley at the front foot thought they had a plan to end the battle, then hastily cleaned the battlefield, and retreated with the wounded and a few corpses of the dead.More orcs and gnolls rushed into the battlefield impatiently. They almost ignored the soldiers of Shadow Valley fleeing normally, but chased after those retreating with the wounded and dead bodies.

Soon the corpses of the Shadow Valley people were abandoned first, and then became the loot and food that the monsters scrambled for, and then some wounded and soldiers who fell behind were also chased and surrounded by monsters, and finally became the belly of the beasts.This caused panic among the retreating Shadow Valley soldiers. They gradually changed from actively retreating to being forced to retreat, giving up the originally good tactical victory, but in the end they suffered a loss for both sides.

Let's talk about the food of the temporary army in Zhentil Castle, not only human corpses, even the corpses of orcs and gnolls who died in battle were cut up and shared by more orcs and gnolls.

Those monsters who are more particular about lighting a fire and roasting the meat before eating, and those who are impatient and not particular about eating it raw.This bloody scene not only frightened the Shadow Valley soldiers retreating back to the town, even William's subordinates and a group of onlookers on the battlefield turned pale with horror.

Both William and Dove cursed angrily, but William scolded the stupidity and idiots of the upper echelons of Shadow Valley, while Dove scolded the brutality and brutality of the monster army incorporated into Zhentil Castle.The two have different perspectives on the situation, so the people who scold them are also very different.

But Dove didn't seem to notice this. She looked at William angrily, and blamed: "William, what does the monster army in Zhentil Keep have to do with the soldiers of Shadow Valley? They are enough. Be brave, you see Charlotte and Lord Moglin have been fighting on the front line, what is wrong with them, but they are insulted by you. I think you are deliberately picky, and you are very narrow-minded."

William was hurt by Dove's ignorance, and he couldn't help but cursed: "Ignorant stupid woman! Don't talk nonsense if you have no brains! You and the group of idiots below have almost nothing Two! Both are so stupid!"

Phineya, who was watching the excitement next to her, suddenly interjected like a villain triumphantly: "That's right! A group of stupid assholes, they deserve to be unlucky!"

This woman was always scolded by William for being insane in the past, but today she is a little enlightened. William is definitely happy to hear about this, and he couldn't help asking with the thoughts of the school: "Feniya, what about you?" Where are those idiots so stupid? Ms. Dove, look, Phinea, the worst brain in my family, is much smarter than you!"

You can say something else, but Dove can’t agree with this. There is a sister-in-law like Misha’er who can’t hide her words. Now many people already know the details of Phineya, including Dove. Ya is a half savage who came out of the wilderness and belongs to the kind of stuff with a very poor brain.

She would like to see what kind of high opinion this Phinea has, and she dares to despise the decision makers of Shadow Valley.

Not wanting to, Phineya sneered, and said: "As long as William scolds a fool, I think she must have something stupid that should be scolded, and of course I have to scold along with her."

Well, it’s pure wishful thinking to expect Phineya to really see through the essence of the incident, and William didn’t take it personally, he summoned everyone, and then started to explain the analysis of the situation to everyone based on the current situation of the monster army in the distance. The Achilles heel of Tilburg's army, the advantages of Shadow Valley, and the strategy they should have adopted to defend against the enemy.

Through William's explanation, everyone finally understood that the seemingly formidable Zhentil Fort army at the foot of the mountain was so vulnerable. No wonder the lord of his family sat firmly on the Diaoyutai here, accustomed to watching the enemy come and go.

Dove's brain is smart enough, so she naturally understood what William said, even more deeply than all of William's subordinates, because she lived long enough and experienced too many similar incidents, and she passed them on William's analysis is the same, but most of them are exactly right.

Dove still wanted to get more out of William's mind, so she deliberately pretended to be stupid and said, "Even if Lord Moglin and Storm didn't think of this, it can't be said that they are stupid when they go out of the city to kill the enemy, right?"

William sighed. These silver-haired sisters are all people who have lived for hundreds of years. If such a life is placed in the world of his previous life, they will definitely become real monsters and ghosts, giants in the conspiracy world.But in this land of Faerun, look at this older girl who is simple and honest. Isn't the water and soil here not suitable for growing brains?

William half explained to Dove, and half explained to his subordinates: "Facing a superior number of enemies like Zhentil Castle, it is not impossible to attack the enemy, but the tactical purpose of the attack must be clear. Like this The mixed army with an absolute advantage in numbers, not to mention killing hundreds of orcs and gnolls, even if they killed ten times more, it would be just a superficial loss to the entire Zhentil Castle army, and it would be impossible to move at all. Not a single bit of muscle and bone.

The biggest weakness of the Zhentil Fort Legion is that the personnel are mixed, the supply is difficult to sustain, and the lack of food in the army will inevitably lead to the difficulty of stabilizing the army.If I were the general of Shadow Valley, the purpose of this attack is not to kill many enemies, but to hit the enemy's morale.As long as the operation is good, perhaps just a little trouble, it is enough to cause the entire Zhentil Castle army to disperse in advance. "

"As for the blind attack of the Shadow Valley people, the tactical purpose is unclear, and the pre-war planning was chaotic. They even helped the Zhentil Fort people solve the morale problem of the army. This is where the Shadow Valley people are really stupid. "William gritted his teeth a bit when he said this, even if he did not deal with the people of Shadow Valley, the two sides are already considered real enemies, but there is also some real heartache.

Without him, William now regards Shadow Valley as his own, and any current loss of Shadow Valley people will reduce his future gains.

Dove couldn't understand how the attack of Shadow Valley helped the army of Zhentil Castle to solve the problem of morale, including William's men, who were also at a loss. They couldn't help but gather around their lord, eagerly looking forward to The lord's explanation.

William said: "Only a small part of Zhentil Castle's legion is actually from Zhentil Castle. They are the real core of this legion. As long as the commander of Zhentil Castle is not stupid, he will never use them to consume. However, most of the members of this army are members of the original monster legion. They have long been accustomed to the status quo of Shadow Valley, and they have an inertial understanding of the defense of Shadow Valley Town. Generally, they are not willing to attack the city and fight for consumption.

However, the attack of Shadow Valley this time told all the monsters that there is something they want in Shadow Valley Town, and the people of Shadow Valley are very weak, and the only thing they need to overcome is the moat and the city wall. "

William gritted his teeth and said, "Look, it won't be long before the Zhentil Castle Legion will start attacking the city with ants, and that will be the beginning of the nightmare of the people of Shadow Valley."

At this time, a young man under William asked: "My lord, aren't those monsters afraid of death?"

William said hesitantly: "Of course they are afraid of death, but they are more afraid of being starved to death or being killed by other companions than being killed during the siege. And the commander of Zhentil Castle should also be happy to see When these mobs are consumed, this move can not only reduce the chaotic miscellaneous soldiers, weed out the weak and keep the strong. Moreover, their dead bodies can also be used as rations for the living soldiers, and by the way, they can also boost their morale. The benefits of siege, I can't think of any reason why the Zhentil Keepers wouldn't use it."

But Dove said: "Being killed and eaten by his companions, and being eaten to death in a siege battle, the ending is the same. I can't think of any difference between them?"

William didn't want to answer Dove's stupid question, but when he looked around, he found that his mother-in-law, children and subordinates all showed a stupid look of "me too". answer.

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The collapse of any team or organization is often not from external oppression, but from internal disputes.

This scourge of infighting can apply to almost any creature, any civilization.And the most primitive, most direct, and most essential embodiment of this disaster is cannibalism.

In our world, our genetic ancestors spontaneously evolved a unique genetic weapon in order to get rid of this nightmarish cruel competition during the evolution process. Any creature that likes cannibalism, when it grows to a certain stage Finally, it will inevitably trigger a unique and contagious deadly gene virus-prion.

Almost all the characteristics of prions are specially designed for the kind of existence that likes cannibalism.In a sense, prions are not viruses, but a basic ethical protection lock for us, the dominant population of carbon-based organisms.

William is not sure if the natives of Faerun have such a unique self-protection mechanism for the species, but it should be common sense.But William is very clear that when all the individuals in a group are facing the surrounding peers but everyone is in danger, their organization is absolutely fragile.

Before William explained to everyone the dangers of the Zhentil Castle army killing each other, he first popularized the dangers of cannibalism to them, and explained it from two different angles of physiology and psychology.

Of course, the rookies from Dagger Valley just listened to these as novel knowledge, but Dove showed a look of sudden realization, she hit her palm with her fist, and sighed: "I see! I used to I have seen the destruction of many great city-states, and I feel that there is always an invisible hand behind them deliberately destroying them. It turns out that the residents of these city-states have really committed the unforgivable original sin, and it is fate that wants them to be extinct!"

Dove, however, regards the self-protection instinct of this biological group as the choice of fate.She looked at William with twinkling eyes, and said, "William, I never thought you would be so knowledgeable and wise that you could understand the mysteries of fate. But I still don't understand why the attack from Shadow Valley helps The enemy solved the fate of extinction? Didn't they eat the corpses of their companions?"

William said: "I heard that among the orcs, eating other intelligent creatures and even cannibalism is almost a norm. Presumably, the orcs do not reject eating dead bodies physiologically. But once the orcs cannibalize, their tribe will be torn apart. Even destruction is inevitable, as countless orc tribes have proven.

The Gnoll also had a similar situation.

But it is very important that their collapse and destruction are often not caused by diseases caused by cannibalism, but because the entire tribe can no longer be kneaded as a whole.

And Shadow Valley..."

When William said this, he suddenly realized that he had been repeating similar nonsense. He suddenly raised his eyes, but saw Dove looking at him with a smile on his face, as if he was admiring a perfect work of art.