nyslfriends Chapter 12 The Giant Spider from the Underdark
Chapter 12 The Giant Spider from the Underdark
After receiving Ronan's affirmative answer, the middle-aged man revealed his purpose.
This man is named "Rhys Carter," a native of Eltorgard. Baldur's Gate is a port city, with Waterdeep, the largest city in the Sword Coast, to the north, the merchant empire of Tuam to the south, and the divinely favored kingdom of Eltorgard to the east.
Therefore, he plans to conduct trade between the three parties here.
Five days ago, I found a real estate agent and bought a two-story house in the Brampton neighborhood.
When he hired dwarves to renovate the house, he discovered that there was a tunnel underneath it.
The tunnel was dark and he didn't know where it led, so he had the dwarves seal it off with bricks, leaving only a small section as a cellar.
Unexpectedly, one day he saw the dwarves hurriedly climbing out of the tunnel.
Some of the dwarfs had blood on their faces.
Upon inquiry, it was learned that when the dwarves were laying bricks in the tunnel, they found many spiders in the tunnel.
After they killed all the spiders with shovels, they were about to continue building the wall when suddenly a large spider appeared.
The dwarves fled for their lives, but three dwarves were still trapped.
They didn't know whether they were dead or alive, because they dared not go down into the tunnel to check.
Rhys, naturally, didn't dare stay in the house, so he booked a room at the Elf's Song Tavern.
For the past few days, Rhys has been looking for agents and sellers in the city, but hasn't been able to find anyone.
After much deliberation, he had no choice but to pay the adventurers to solve the problem.
Ronan was the first adventurer he targeted when he went down to the first floor of the Elf Song Tavern.
According to Rhys, when he saw Ronan, he felt that Ronan had a confident air about him and should be able to help him solve his problems.
Moreover, he also saw many adventurers coming to find Ronan, which shows that Ronan is indeed extraordinary.
So he waited quietly until the other adventurers stopped looking for Ronan, and until Ronan had almost finished eating, before he came up to talk to him.
After getting a general understanding of the mission, Ronan asked about the price.
Rhys said he planned to recruit a four-person adventurer team, with each adventurer contributing 100 gold coins.
Ronan thought for a moment and said, "How about 400 gold coins if I help you get it done?"
After hearing Rhys's description, Ronan deduced that what was in the tunnel was probably the giant spider, a creature commonly found in the Underdark.
After all, beneath the surface lies the Underdark, and this tunnel is very likely connected to the Underdark.
The average challenge level of the giant spider is 1, which is considered a low-level monster.
That's why some dwarves escaped.
Otherwise, if they had encountered a higher-level monster, probably none of the dwarves would have survived.
If it were a giant spider, he felt he could kill it all by himself.
With his 14 points of agility and the lightness skill [Rock Leap], he could wield a plain longsword and slowly grind the giant spider to death.
Rhys initially found Ronan's suggestion somewhat dubious, but seeing Ronan's confident expression, he hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
Ronan said, "Mr. Carter, is it possible to find those escaped dwarves? I'd like to talk to them about the spiders."
The spiders lurking in the tunnels were giant spiders, but this was only his initial guess.
He hadn't yet taken into account factors such as whether those dwarves were professionals or how high their attribute values were.
If those dwarves are professionals, or if they are born with high attributes, then the spider's strength needs to be reassessed.
Just to be on the safe side, he had to see the dwarves' panels with his own eyes.
Rhys agreed and immediately took Ronan to visit the dwarves' dwelling.
There were four dwarves who escaped that day. Ronan checked their stats one by one. None of them were professionals or quasi-professionals. Due to their race and profession, some of their individual attribute values were slightly higher than the human average, but overall they were still ordinary people.
At this point, Ronan was fairly certain that the spider in the tunnel was most likely the giant spider.
After gaining a thorough understanding of the monster, Ronan had Rhys lead the way.
Rhys then led Ronan to the Brampton neighborhood and into his two-story villa with a yard.
Once inside the house, Rhys led Ronan to the study on the first floor.
The desk and blanket were moved to one side, and in the center was a square entrance of one square meter, through which the stairs leading down were visible.
"Mr. Jonas, are you sure you don't need to find another teammate?" Reese asked.
Ronan shook his head and said, "Let me check it out first. If I can't handle it by myself, I'll call my teammates."
After saying that, he suddenly made a strange sound.
It sounded to Rhys as if he had returned to his childhood, when he was often bothered by mice at night.
Ronan cast [Gathering Beasts], uttering words in rat language—
"Come quick, brothers, there's plenty of food inside the tunnel."
Before long, a squeaking sound rang out, startling Rhys. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw two mice sneaking out from under the bookshelf, their tiny, sesame-seed-like eyes shining as they looked in his direction. Then, they scurried towards Ronan.
Rhys glanced at Ronan again and couldn't help but exclaim, "Mr. Jonas is truly amazing; he has really broadened my horizons."
Ronan ignored Rhys and continued to speak in rat language, describing the wonderful world inside the tunnel to the two rats.
Then, the two rats ran into the tunnel.
Just as Ronan was about to go down, he suddenly realized that there was no light at all inside the tunnel.
He was about to ask Rhys for the lantern, but after thinking for a moment, he said to Rhys instead, "Mr. Carter, I think I need to prepare a little more. Could you give me three days?"
Ronan just imagined himself in the tunnel.
If you're carrying the lantern yourself, one of your hands will inevitably be occupied.
Moreover, if one moves at high speed, the lantern might go out.
Just to be on the safe side, he still needed to acquire dark vision like that of dwarves and drow elves.
For the native inhabitants of this world, dark vision can be gained for a short period of time by drinking potions or using a reel.
However, among the knowledge instilled in him by the "Heavenly Book" was another method that allowed cultivators to see clearly in the dark.
He needs to go back to cultivate before returning here.
Since Rhys had already moved out and wouldn't mind paying for three more hotel days, he agreed.
Ronan spoke in rat language, trying to call the two rats underground back.
However, after a long while, there was still no movement.
It's unclear whether the two rats escaped the range of his voice or encountered spiders in the tunnel.
After a while, seeing that the rat still hadn't come up, Ronan stopped talking in rat language and left with Rhys.
The two then parted ways; Rhys headed towards the Elf Song Tavern, while Ronan went home.
Back home, Ronan immediately took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, and recalled the knowledge that the "Book of Heaven" had imparted to him.