The White Rock Tavern is the worst tavern in the city, bar none.
There are no horses at all in the so-called stable. At first glance, there is only a huge donkey cart filled with animal carcasses. The entire stable is shrouded in the smell of urine and food residues mixed with fermentation. Both the sight and the smell make people want to die.
.
What do you think Raven saw there?
A drunken dwarf with almost no beard, an extremely burly white-haired bear man, a down-and-out archer with drow (that is, dark elf) blood, and a halfling bard who kept complaining.
"Oh! Thank you Yodala! Finally a rogue is willing to join the gang!" The halfling jumped off the belly of the unconscious dwarf, greeted him enthusiastically, and grabbed Raven's hand: "I am Ya
De. Do you want to join us? We are preparing to try our luck outside the Valley of Shadows, and we are just missing a rogue."
Halflings are easy to get to know each other. Before Raven could even speak, Yade kept introducing his teammates to Raven: "The one who got drunk is Darak, a great dwarf guy."
What a shame! This guy is totally underage!
"Although this half-elf Shuva has drow blood, he actually believes in the Dark Maiden. This is a kind deity recognized even by the Harper of the Justice Organization." When Yade introduced him, Shuva nodded silently.
.
Well! I have to say that those who believe in the kind goddess Elytris of the Dark Elves, also known as the Dark Maiden, are idealists who drowned in their dreams.
At this moment, Raven had already equated him with cannon fodder.
"The bear... his name is too long, so he usually asks us to call him Bai Mao." When the halfling introduced him, Bai Mao also added: "Well, let me do the job of blocking the knife."
Raven was a little speechless. Should I call him cute or upright? He was so straightforward, and Raven was a little embarrassed to trick him.
After the introduction, facing six blazing gazes, Raven actually wanted to say no.
To be honest, the guys in this team are weirder than the last. Raven can bet that no one will notice him if he is among them.
This is the territory of the human empire of Arslan. Humans are the mainstream race here. Generally speaking, elves, dwarves, and halflings get along better here.
It’s really a ghost to be able to put together such a weird team!
"Dear Mr. Wanderer, the allocation of our team is based on needs, and it will be given to whoever needs it. Is that okay?" Yade continued to invite Raven.
"Okay! My name is Rex, and I'll join. As long as you don't mind me being a rookie wanderer."
"It's okay. If you encounter a trap that you're not sure about, just tell me and I'll go there and give it a try." Bai Mao comforted Raven.
If you have the guts, look at a bunch of [Finger of Death] over and over again!
Raven roared in his heart.
Raven has completely lost his temper towards this team.
"Okay, everyone, let's go!" Halfling Yad said happily.
"Let's go? Where are the supplies?" Raven looked around and saw nothing like food or tents.
"Supplies? We can just hunt on the road." Bai Mao touched his head with a huge bear paw, expressing confusion. The half-drow did not say a word, the halfling said that he had brought his own dry food, and the dwarf continued to sleep soundly, and then the matter was settled...
Raven's eyelids jumped, Damn! Am I leading the Boy Scouts?
"Come with me." Raven shouted almost every word.
When they saw Raven's almost fully armed two-horse carriage, everyone's eyes lit up.
The halfling yelled and did a triple front flip before jumping onto the car. The half-drow jumped up. The dwarf... was thrown into the car like the bears threw garbage.
Finally, there was Bai Mao, who actually had the nerve to ask Raven in a coy manner: "Can I sit on it?"
The corners of Raven's mouth twitched: "Do you mind if I ask how much you weigh?"
Bai Maohan smiled: "This...should be no less than a ton."
As soon as he finished speaking, the two horses snorted contemptuously, as if they were pretending to be dead as soon as Bai Mao got on the carriage.
In the end, Bai Mao followed the carriage dejectedly. He had no choice but to walk in front. The two horses were very nervous, and the others were sitting on the rope.
Yes, no one realized that they were actually sitting on top of a ferocious golem.
After walking for most of the day, they finally arrived at the town of Salles, which is closest to the Shadow Valley, in the evening.
What was once a quiet town has now become a huge market.
Not only the adventurers, but also the traveling merchants who heard the news occupied every open space in the town for hawking. The only hotel in the town was occupied by the richest adventure team, Ellison's people. All the latecomers
You can only pitch tents and camp outside the town.
Thanks to Bai Mao's huge body, the adventurers consciously gave up a leeward spot at the bottom of the hill to Raven and his party.
Raven prepared two tents. One was Karin's before, but he didn't throw it away later, so he is using it now. Raven asked the dwarf who was still awake to continue lying in the carriage, sleeping in a tent for himself and a tent for the half-drow. He kept chattering.
The halflings went out to find out the news.
White hair? Let's lie down somewhere cool!
When it was almost dawn, the halfling Yade came back. Facing several temporary teammates, including the dwarf Darak who had woken up, he felt unspeakably frustrated.
"This public bounty is very problematic. The target of the bounty is a rare silver-level dagger [Black Moon Blade] in a mysterious treasure house in Shadow Valley. Anyone who can get it and hand it over to the Adventurer's Guild can get 20,000 gold coins."
At this Riad stopped.
"The problem is that no one knows where this shadow valley is. Or the people who know it don't want to tell you. There are at least twenty barren valleys near the town. What's worse is that when you go out during the day, they are all ordinary valleys, but at night you can't go out.
Someone in the team is missing. Listen, it seems like people and equipment have completely evaporated from this world."
"Oh, no -" the dwarf Darak slapped his forehead painfully: "I was still thinking about picking something from the peripheral ruins to take back as proof of adventure."
Raven didn't say anything. He knew that Ellison would definitely take action if he couldn't catch him.
In fact, in the hotel on the other side of the town, Ellison was lost in thought.
His confidant Catrick came in: "Sir, we still can't find it. The number of adventurers who came is much more than we thought. We simply don't have enough manpower to screen thousands of adventurers."
The old thief Vanderfar added: "If...I mean if that Raven is a real rogue and knows the art of changing face, then no one except high-level wizards and warlocks can detect his disguise."
"It's okay, just carry out the planned plan."
At noon, a breaking news spread. The entrance to the Shadow Valley was found, but the entrance was only open at night.
People suddenly became excited and talked about it. Some dreamers were even thinking about how to spend their money after getting it.
As night fell, the adventurers eagerly began to charge, swarming towards the entrance like locusts.
Raven could not stop the impulsive dwarves and excited halflings, who were also surrounded and walked towards the entrance.
It was a strange silent valley. No matter how noisy the crowd at the entrance of the valley was, not a single echo came back inside. Walk down the rocky slope to the bottom of the valley, and follow the direction of the rumored entrance to a huge road.
Entered a cave through a crack in the rock.
The crowd held torches, illuminating the surrounding area like daylight.
But soon, the rolling mist gushes out from the depths of the cave. At first it just spreads, but after a few seconds it curls around everyone like ghostly tentacles.
"Don't leave me!" Bai Mao yelled.
Almost all adventurers unconsciously move closer to their teammates.
Suddenly, I felt a brief dizziness. When I came back to my senses, the world around me was filled with only black.
Yes! Only black!
Different shades of black!
Everything still has the same lines as before, and the white hair is still the huge bear-man before, but his white hair has turned into different shades of black hair.
He never thought that black could be divided into so many different shades.
"Oh! Damn it, what's going on?" the dwarf Darak cursed.
Still a half-drow with some knowledge, he spoke for the first time, with fear in his voice: "Trouble, we may have entered the shadow plane by mistake."
"Shadow plane?!" the three rookies exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes!" Shuva gritted his teeth: "Be careful, there are many shadow creatures here that cannot be understood by common sense. Moreover, except for high-level rogues, I have not heard of anyone else who can survive here for a long time."
The halfling shouted: "Oh my god! I always thought this was just a demiplane secret realm! What should we do? Why don't we evacuate first?"
The half-drow's face turned darker: "It's too late! The entrance and exit of the shadow plane are never fixed. Likewise, only high-level wanderers can sense the existence of the entrance and exit."
Raven next to him was decisively ignored by the rest of the team. Because that high level refers to gold level or above, which has nothing to do with the weak Raven.
Raven didn't say anything. He observed quietly. He wanted to confirm something. Before confirming, he would not remind this temporary team.
In this way, the team wandered aimlessly for an hour.
After the vote, they descended a solid rocky path and reached a black moor.
In the middle of the wilderness, there is a hut that should be made of thatch and mud. On the eaves, some small animal bones sway and rattle like wind chimes in the black breeze.
Suddenly, the halfling screamed.
"Oh my God! Look!"
ps, okay, I admit that pressing seconds is a bad habit...