"A commission?" Imric sat back on his chair, supported his head with one hand, and looked at Old John with interest.
"Yes, a commission. We hope to hire you to join our caravan and escort this batch of goods to Dragon Blade Castle." Old John said seriously.
Imric couldn't help but be curious. Old John had passed this caravan route no less than a dozen times, so why did he suddenly invite him to join the caravan this time?
So he asked: "Why did you invite me suddenly?"
Old John sighed and said: "We have been traveling on this trade route for a long time, but it has never been as dangerous as today.
The boss of our caravan has also reached an agreement with some forces in the Twilight Forest, and there is a trade route that can ensure our safety as much as possible.
But what happened today gives me a hunch that the situation in the forest may change, and we must be prepared."
Imric tapped the table gently in rhythm, lowering his head and meditating.
Now that he has reached the third level of wizard, he urgently needs a lot of spells to expand his spell book.
Banyue Village, a small village, could no longer meet his needs.
Now he has two choices, one is to go south and settle in Buck City where the caravan departed, or follow the caravan north and pass through the Twilight Forest to the Dragonblade Castle in the Sword Coast.
Although it is dangerous to go north, Old John's caravan has always cooperated with the forces in the forest, and its safety is guaranteed. As long as there are no major changes, it is still worth giving it a try.
It is naturally beneficial to take the risk to go to Dragonblade Castle. To the north of Dragonblade Castle, across Dagger Beach, is the famous mage holy land, Waterdeep.
There is a safe trade route between Dragonblade Castle and Waterdeep City that has been in operation for many years. Therefore, whether it is collecting spells or setting off to Waterdeep City for further studies in the future, Dragonblade Castle is an excellent springboard.
After making up his mind, Imric raised his head and said to Old John: "I will accept this commission, but I need you to agree to a condition.
After arriving at Longblade Castle, I hope to find a high-quality residence in the city, and I believe your Chamber of Commerce should have some real estate resources that can be sold to me."
Old John waved his hand after hearing this: "That's no problem. In addition, I noticed that you can already use the wind-making technique. You should have been promoted to the third level mage.
As a reward for joining the guard, I will give you 10 gold coins a day."
Imric listened without comment. Although the reward was not much, the daily consumption of a mage was very high. It was always better to have something than nothing. Moreover, his main purpose of joining the caravan was to reach Dragonblade Castle safely.
After everything was discussed, Imric sent Old John away.
The next day, Imrik rode Beanbag back to his little mage tower to prepare to pack his things.
Imric put all the precious materials into a package, and put the toothbrush and towel for washing into a small bag with him.
When passing the kitchen, Imrik hesitated, but brought a few dried salted fish. Although the caravan provided food and accommodation, there was no guarantee that there would be any emergencies.
Imrik cleaned the bedroom and put all the quilts and pillows into the closet.
He silently looked at the small home he had lived in for two years and couldn't help but feel a little bit reluctant to let go, but the unknown expectations and desire for magic made him forget about it.
When leaving, Imric watered the white roses at the door for the last time, mounted the beanbag, looked back at the little mage tower behind him, and thought:
Faerun, here I come!
When the caravan set off, it was already close to noon. When Imrik arrived, Old John briefly introduced the configuration of the caravan to Imrik.
Level 4 mage Old John, level 3 warrior Carrot, a level 2 rogue, and 7 unprofessional sword-wielding guards. In addition, there are three business staff from the chamber of commerce.
After entering the Twilight Forest, the movement of the large group of people slowed down significantly. According to Old John, the center of the Twilight Forest, the cooperative force of the caravan, is a group of Druid sects, with a Druid with a professional level of up to level 9.
Leader Rui is the most powerful force in this forest.
The caravan's route will not pass through the Druid's camp, but as part of the cooperation, the druids will ensure that most of the dangerous creatures that threaten the caravan's route are eliminated.
Late at night, the caravan stopped by a stream to rest for a while. Due to the agreement with the Druid, the caravan could not hunt animals in this forest to satisfy their hunger, so everyone took out the dry food they brought with them to satisfy their hunger.
Imric sat by the campfire and finished his hour-long meditation. Seeing that the moonlight was just right, he planned to take a walk along the river.
Imric walked down the river and was about to stop to take a bath in the river when a clicking sound suddenly attracted his attention.
At the same time, the smell of blood also drifted into Imrik's nose.
Imric was wary, and made a mysterious gesture with his hand, blessing himself with a shield and applying oil to the soles of his feet. He relaxed a little and continued to listen carefully to the source of the sound.
Imrik followed the sound and saw a black shadow squirming in the distance. When he looked closely, he saw that it was an ugly black spider biting a goblin corpse. It was similar to an ordinary wolf spider, but in scale.
Bigger.
It has more than a dozen eyes on its face, but unlike ordinary spiders, these eyes look like the eyes of a humanoid. Those eyes are symmetrically arranged in four rows of three eyes each. Its body is covered with long, rough
black fur.
What's even more terrifying is that it doesn't have the mouthparts of ordinary spiders. Instead, it has a mouth of fangs. Through these fangs, it used its teeth to tear up the goblin corpse and devour it like a mammal.
Imric walked to a position close to his 90-foot range, and his pale hands stretched out from the wide black mage robes.
Imrik recited a spell, and a fiery red sphere appeared in Imrik's hand. The strange flames instantly attracted the spider's attention.
The big black spider roared, and its mortal body's fear of flames made it want to run away, but the alluring flesh and blood beneath it kept tempting it to continue devouring it.
Imrik threw it out smoothly, and the flame sphere whizzed past and hit the spider accurately.
Flames burst out from the sphere, burning the ground like burning oil. The roar of the black spider was swallowed up by the flames, leaving only the flames burning quietly under the bright white moonlight.
First-level spell—Colorful Ball—Fire Evocation.
The power of Colorful Ball is not only that it is superior to the damage of spells of the same level, but more importantly, it can temporarily change a small area of terrain according to the elements, and its flame shaping ability makes the flames under the spider's body burn continuously.
The spider tried to roll to extinguish the flames, but this was in vain. The continuous burning of the flames eventually caused it to gradually lose its resistance and was burnt to a slightly charred black.
Imric waited for a few minutes to make sure it was dead, then stepped forward and looked at the body of the unknown monster with interest.
With a finger, a blue arcane hand appeared and lifted the spider's body. Imric took the body back to the camp.
When everyone saw the spider corpse that Imrik brought back, they couldn't help but be frightened. Such a disgusting appearance was really unacceptable.
Old John saw the corpse and observed it carefully. Suddenly he broke out in a cold sweat and asked loudly: "Where did you see this Goblin spider?"
Carrot walked up and asked, "What's wrong? What is this?"
Old John said nervously, "This is a goblin spider, a gregarious monster. If you see one, it means there must be a large group nearby.
They are natural predators and there are huge numbers. If we encounter them, it will be a fierce battle!"
Imric said solemnly: "I saw it not far away. It was originally alive, so I killed it."
After hearing this, Old John said to Carrot: "Man, we have to prepare to leave. It's best to leave overnight. I'm afraid this ghost is the source of changes in the forest."
Carrot said with a headache after hearing this: "The Twilight Forest is so big that it can't be crossed in a day or two. This is simply unrealistic!
Does this monster have any weaknesses? Maybe we can ask those druids for help?"