Aozaki Aoko [520-522] (Patreon)

Chapter 520: The Duergar Outpost

After some discussion, they decided to have Doric transform into a bird species commonly seen in the area and fly above the outpost for reconnaissance. Given the snowy and icy environment, Stark, with his dark fur, would be far too conspicuous and easily spotted by the duergar spellcasters.

Doric crouched slightly on the ground as the magic of the Wild Spirit enveloped her. Soon, a mostly white bird with black markings soared into the sky, heading toward the area above the duergar outpost.

After about half an hour, Doric flew back to the squad's hiding spot, reverted to her human form, and began describing what she had observed.

“It’s definitely a duergar stronghold,” Doric reported. “The outpost has two large gates, both facing the same direction. To the northeast, there’s a culvert with a frozen stream inside.”

“The majority of the outpost's walls are fenced with iron bars,” Doric continued, “but further to the southeast, there's a stone fortress partially buried underground.”

After finishing her report, Doric squatted down and used a branch to draw a simple map in the snow, marking the various important landmarks.

“What about their personnel?” Edgin asked. “Roughly how many are there?”

“From what I saw patrolling outside the fortress, there are about five duergar,” Doric said, marking each one on the map. “One is near the main gate, another is on the watchtower, and next to the watchtower duergar is a large bell used for sounding alarms.”

“Looks like we’ll need to take out the one on the watchtower first,” Aoko said. “He has the widest field of vision and could raise an alarm.”

“Right, and there’s also a heavy ballista on the watchtower,” Doric added. “The remaining three duergar are moving in and out of the bunker entrance, seemingly carrying things. Since I couldn’t see inside, I’m not sure if there are more duergar.”

“Doesn’t sound too difficult,” Edgin said as he studied the map. “Holga and I can take care of the guard at the gate. Aoko can use teleportation magic to deal with the one on the watchtower. Then Simon and Doric can sneak into the outpost via the frozen stream through the culvert. How does that sound?”

“No problem,” Aoko nodded. “We can regroup behind this rock near the fortress entrance to stay out of sight, then take out the remaining duergar inside in one go.”

After hearing Aoko and Edgin’s plan, everyone nodded and moved to their respective positions.

Doric and Simon headed toward the frozen stream, while Holga and Edgin went to the main gate guarded by a duergar.

Aoko glanced up at the watchtower. In the next instant, her figure vanished—her teleport spell instantly brought her onto the watchtower, right behind the duergar sentry.

Not wanting to attract undue attention, Aoko reached out and gently tapped the female duergar sentry on the shoulder from behind, causing her to instantly lose control of her body.

Fifth-circle Enchantment, Dominate Person.

The duergar dropped what she was doing, stood up expressionless, and walked to the edge of the watchtower as if taking a leisurely post-lunch stroll.

Then, the young female duergar quietly leapt off the edge, plunging into the bottomless ravine below. Even the sound of her body hitting the ground never returned.

Aoko glanced down nonchalantly, then moved to the edge of the watchtower and waved toward Edgin and Holga, who were lurking near the main gate.

Receiving the signal, Edgin strolled casually toward the gate, strumming his lute.

The duergar guard at the gate heard the music and, puzzled, peered through the viewing slot to see Edgin. After a moment’s thought, the duergar picked up his axe and decided to go out and deal with this strange human—he found Edgin’s music unbearably bad.

Unbeknownst to him, Edgin’s tune was a special bardic technique designed to provoke and lure the listener closer. As soon as the guard stepped outside, Holga, hidden nearby, leapt out, knocked him unconscious with a punch, and then finished him off with an adamantine dagger.

Edgin and Holga then buried the duergar’s body in the snow and entered the outpost through the now-open gate, waving at Aoko on the watchtower.

After receiving the signal, Aoko looked toward the culvert. At this moment, Simon and Doric had already slipped into the outpost through the frozen stream.

After confirming that no one emerged from the bunker, Aoko used a sending spell to tell Simon to proceed to the rendezvous point.

Her figure then dissolved into a cloud of smoke, disappearing from the watchtower and reappearing on the ground. Aoko quickly made her way to the prearranged meeting spot near the fortress.

She was the first to arrive, but it wasn’t long before her teammates joined her.

“We saw the missing snow sled from Frozenfar Expeditions at the other side of the bunker entrance,” Simon reported. “This confirms it—the duergar are behind the thefts in Caer-Konig.”

“Why would they do that?” Edgin wondered. “The duergar guards were well-equipped; they don’t look like they’re short on money.”

“They’re probably after something,” Aoko mused. “Stealing from the town might just be a cover for their real objective.”

“What do you think their real goal is?” Holga asked.

“We’ll have to enter the bunker to find out,” Aoko shrugged. “I suspect there’s at least one duergar spellcaster in there. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to control those zombies.”

“Then we should proceed cautiously,” Edgin said. “The bunker won’t have a lot of open space, so Doric might not be able to fight at full strength. Is there any way to scout inside quietly?”

“I’ll use Arcane Eye,” Aoko said. “But it might be detected, since Arcane Eye isn’t invisible. We should be ready in case an alarm is triggered.”

Chapter 521: Nildar Sunblight

Aoko conjured a semi-transparent magical eye with her spell, which drifted into the bunker.

She found a guardroom near the main entrance, manned by a male duergar armed with a heavy crossbow.

Deeper inside was an armory filled with duergar armor and weapons, watched over by a single duergar.

As Aoko guided the Arcane Eye further, she soon encountered an obstacle—a barrier pulsing with negative energy blocked further exploration, meaning the reconnaissance ended there. The third duergar remained unseen.

“I saw two duergar,” Aoko reported after dismissing the spell. “One in the guardroom, the other in the armory. The third is probably hidden behind a negative energy barrier; the Arcane Eye can’t get through.”

“A guardroom, huh…” Edgin raised his head to study the bunker’s layout. “It looks like we can approach the main entrance while staying out of sight of the guardroom window. We should be able to sneak in if we’re careful.”

“That’ll work,” Aoko nodded. “Even if we’re spotted, it’ll just take more effort.”

Perhaps her words were prophetic. As Aoko and the others approached the bunker, they were indeed spotted—but not by any magical trap. The duergar in the guardroom had a very inconspicuous firing slit, and he saw them through it.

But Aoko, with her specialization in divination, sensed the incoming attack the moment she was targeted. She immediately cast a quickened, metamagic-reflected arrow spell.

The crossbow bolt, meant for her, was sent flying back through the firing slit, killing the duergar who tried to ambush her.

Even if the arrow had hit, it wouldn’t have been a problem—Aoko’s various defensive spells and gear were more than enough to handle a single crossbow bolt. It would just have been embarrassing.

“Huh, no alarm?” Aoko glanced around in confusion. “Was that an automated device? Or was the guard asleep?”

“I think it was a person,” Doric said. “I can smell his blood—he's definitely dead. Let’s hurry inside!”

With the guard dealt with, the group boldly slipped through the main entrance. After confirming the guardroom was clear, they headed straight for the armory.

This time, the duergar in the armory reacted much faster. Sensing the intrusion, he used one of the innate duergar spells—invisibility.

But he was still too slow. By the time he finished, Aoko’s team was at the armory door. Simon tossed in a flash powder.

Though Edgin was also dazzled, the flash exposed the now-invisible duergar, and Holga promptly knocked him out.

Aoko wanted to extract information from his mind, but couldn’t do so while he was unconscious. So she killed the duergar and had Simon use Deathly token to ask five questions.

Thanks to their previous experience with this spell, the interrogation went smoothly, and they quickly got the information they needed.

The outpost currently had only five people, as most of the duergar forces had departed for the Eastern Wastes to search for something.

The current commander at the outpost was named Nildar Sunblight, son of the duergar clan’s chief, Xardorok Sunblight. Their mission was to find the Chardalyn Stones in the area.

“Chardalyn Stones…” Aoko pulled out the black crystal she had bound with an adamantine frame from her extradimensional space. “So these duergar are connected to the tieflings in Bryn Shander?”

“It does look that way,” Simon said. “But normally duergar wouldn’t ally with tieflings. Maybe there’s a devil or something commanding them behind the scenes?”

Edgin and Holga were confused, since Aoko, Simon, and Doric hadn’t told them about what happened in Bremen. They gave a quick summary.

“Once we catch Nildar and interrogate him, we’ll know everything,” Edgin said. “They’re collecting so many Chardalyn Stones—it can’t be for anything good. It might even be related to the Everlasting Rime!”

“Good point. Most of these troublemakers only showed up because of the Everlasting Rime,” Aoko said. “Who knows what shocking secrets they might know!”

“I may not like riddles and reasoning, but I love when you guys make the final call,” Holga said with a laugh. “Let’s rush in and beat the crap out of that bastard!”

Though Nildar Sunblight’s negative energy barrier could block Arcane Eye, it was nothing against Aoko herself. She easily dispelled it.

“Damn pests! How dare you invade my domain?!”

A powerful shout echoed from the depths of the basement behind the barrier—it had to be Nildar Sunblight, the outpost commander.

Aoko had no intention of giving the suspected spellcaster any more time. She charged in with her teammates.

They were immediately confronted by a duergar at least as big as an ogre.

“Duergar’s innate Enlarge ability!” Simon exclaimed. “I’ve heard of it, but didn’t expect it to be this extreme!”

Before he could finish, Nildar Sunblight swung a two-handed hammer, forcing the team to scatter.

“Tell us exactly what you intend to do with the Chardalyn Stones,” Aoko said, “and maybe I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, I’ll just kill you and question your corpse.”

“How dare you!” Nildar Sunblight roared, releasing all the undead creatures caged in the basement. “I’ll subject you to the most painful torture, then make you into zombies to wipe out all the mortals in Ten-Towns!”

Chapter 522: The Dragon?

Nildar Sunblight didn’t act like a typical spellcaster, or rather, his abilities made Aoko suspicious.

His size was obviously due to the Enlarge spell, but his attack speed and strength seemed more like effects from transmutation magic, not to mention his control over ogre zombies.

Was he really a wizard? Aoko doubted it.

Doric, transformed into an owlbear, charged forward to hold off the ogre zombies. Simon fired a volley of magic missiles, but they were blocked by a reactive shield spell triggered from an item on Nildar Sunblight.

Aoko quickly noticed the pattern: every time Nildar used magic, a piece of jewelry adorned with a black crystal would flash.

But there was no sign of him connecting with the Weave—these spells seemed to be stored in advance, like simplified magic scrolls. The answer was clear: the duergar were collecting Chardalyn Stones, and all of Xardorok Sunblight’s items were set with them. He couldn’t command undead himself; most spell effects came pre-stored in the stones.

What a pay-to-win player, Aoko thought with some disdain, but her hands never slowed—she calmly unraveled Nildar’s various magical effects.

After a few exchanges, Holga was struck by a thunderous wave from the Chardalyn Stone set in Nildar’s hammer and knocked back.

Realizing this group of adventurers was no easy prey, Nildar immediately activated several spells stored in a ring on his left hand: first a sickly green cloud, then a wave of fear, and finally a black beam of negative energy.

None of these worked. Each triggered Aoko’s stored, heightened antimagic field.

The green cloud dissolved, the fear effect never manifested, and the deadly necrotic beam shattered against the field.

Nildar’s gray skin looked even darker now—he was considering how to escape.

He tried to have the ogre zombies buy him time, but the party’s bard was already blocking the only exit, and the owlbear druid had torn most of the zombies to pieces.

It was over. Nildar’s heart sank. His brother and father were nowhere nearby—no reinforcements would come.

If it were only the others, Nildar might not have despaired, but the pressure he felt from the staff-wielding spellcaster was immense, like a herbivore facing a top predator—a difference in life’s very essence.

“Looking for this?” Aoko said with a sly smile, pulling out the Chardalyn Stone she had taken from Hwafo and waving it in front of Nildar.

Seeing it, Nildar lost all hope. He knew he wouldn’t survive. He suspected this group had been sent to eliminate him.

Screw it, he thought desperately. If I die, you’re all coming with me!

Nildar ripped open his shirt, revealing a mass of Chardalyn Stones hanging around his neck. He tried to activate them all at once, intending to cause a magical explosion and take Aoko’s team with him.

Aoko was briefly startled by Nildar’s extreme reaction, but quickly realized his intent—she couldn’t allow it.

Her hands became a blur as she unleashed her unique abilities, metamagic feats, and spells in seamless succession.

Protection School, Mystra’s Wisdom Blessing, Arcane Reservoir Activation, Quickened Spell, 8th-Circle Abjuration—Maze.

Just as Nildar was about to explode, Aoko banished him into a temporary demi-plane created by Maze. The remaining ogre zombies instantly lost control and turned on each other or lunged mindlessly for the living.

It was too late for anything else—the rest of the party quickly dispatched the mindless flesh, with Holga’s adamantine axe cleaving a giant zombie from head to toe.

“Where did you send him?” Edgin asked as the last enemies fell.

“He suddenly tried to self-destruct,” Aoko frowned. “So I tossed him into a Maze. Back up, I’m ending concentration.”

The others retreated to the basement entrance. Aoko also backed away and released her hold on the Maze.

What fell to the floor was once Nildar Sunblight—now a charred, mangled, and poisoned lump of meat, his head nowhere to be found.

“This is troublesome,” Aoko sighed, frustrated. “He blew off his own head—now we can’t use Deathly token for intel!”

“There are still plenty of letters here,” Simon said, picking one up. “Looks like this one’s from his brother?”

“I’m now at the frozen ferry in the Eastern Wastes. From this new base, the search for Chardalyn Stones will continue. May our father rule this land of darkness forever! —Durth Sunblight”

“These duergar are operating over a wide area,” Edgin remarked. “And it sounds like their father wants to rule all of Ten-Towns?”

“I’m afraid it’s more than that,” Aoko said, picking up another letter. After reading it, she continued, “The important thing isn’t the Chardalyn Stones themselves, but what they intend to do with them.”

“Nildar Sunblight’s father, Xardorok Sunblight, seems to be planning to resurrect and unleash a dragon that can absorb the power of the Chardalyn Stones in Icewind Dale,” Aoko continued. “He intends to use this dragon’s power to devastate Ten-Towns and rule here forever.”

After some discussion, they decided to have Doric transform into a bird species commonly seen in the area and fly above the outpost for reconnaissance. Given the snowy and icy environment, Stark, with his dark fur, would be far too conspicuous and easily spotted by the duergar spellcasters.

Doric crouched slightly on the ground as the magic of the Wild Spirit enveloped her. Soon, a mostly white bird with black markings soared into the sky, heading toward the area above the duergar outpost.

After about half an hour, Doric flew back to the squad's hiding spot, reverted to her human form, and began describing what she had observed.

“It’s definitely a duergar stronghold,” Doric reported. “The outpost has two large gates, both facing the same direction. To the northeast, there’s a culvert with a frozen stream inside.”

“The majority of the outpost's walls are fenced with iron bars,” Doric continued, “but further to the southeast, there's a stone fortress partially buried underground.”

After finishing her report, Doric squatted down and used a branch to draw a simple map in the snow, marking the various important landmarks.

“What about their personnel?” Edgin asked. “Roughly how many are there?”

“From what I saw patrolling outside the fortress, there are about five duergar,” Doric said, marking each one on the map. “One is near the main gate, another is on the watchtower, and next to the watchtower duergar is a large bell used for sounding alarms.”

“Looks like we’ll need to take out the one on the watchtower first,” Aoko said. “He has the widest field of vision and could raise an alarm.”

“Right, and there’s also a heavy ballista on the watchtower,” Doric added. “The remaining three duergar are moving in and out of the bunker entrance, seemingly carrying things. Since I couldn’t see inside, I’m not sure if there are more duergar.”

“Doesn’t sound too difficult,” Edgin said as he studied the map. “Holga and I can take care of the guard at the gate. Aoko can use teleportation magic to deal with the one on the watchtower. Then Simon and Doric can sneak into the outpost via the frozen stream through the culvert. How does that sound?”

“No problem,” Aoko nodded. “We can regroup behind this rock near the fortress entrance to stay out of sight, then take out the remaining duergar inside in one go.”

After hearing Aoko and Edgin’s plan, everyone nodded and moved to their respective positions.

Doric and Simon headed toward the frozen stream, while Holga and Edgin went to the main gate guarded by a duergar.

Aoko glanced up at the watchtower. In the next instant, her figure vanished—her teleport spell instantly brought her onto the watchtower, right behind the duergar sentry.

Not wanting to attract undue attention, Aoko reached out and gently tapped the female duergar sentry on the shoulder from behind, causing her to instantly lose control of her body.

Fifth-circle Enchantment, Dominate Person.

The duergar dropped what she was doing, stood up expressionless, and walked to the edge of the watchtower as if taking a leisurely post-lunch stroll.

Then, the young female duergar quietly leapt off the edge, plunging into the bottomless ravine below. Even the sound of her body hitting the ground never returned.

Aoko glanced down nonchalantly, then moved to the edge of the watchtower and waved toward Edgin and Holga, who were lurking near the main gate.

Receiving the signal, Edgin strolled casually toward the gate, strumming his lute.

The duergar guard at the gate heard the music and, puzzled, peered through the viewing slot to see Edgin. After a moment’s thought, the duergar picked up his axe and decided to go out and deal with this strange human—he found Edgin’s music unbearably bad.

Unbeknownst to him, Edgin’s tune was a special bardic technique designed to provoke and lure the listener closer. As soon as the guard stepped outside, Holga, hidden nearby, leapt out, knocked him unconscious with a punch, and then finished him off with an adamantine dagger.

Edgin and Holga then buried the duergar’s body in the snow and entered the outpost through the now-open gate, waving at Aoko on the watchtower.

After receiving the signal, Aoko looked toward the culvert. At this moment, Simon and Doric had already slipped into the outpost through the frozen stream.

After confirming that no one emerged from the bunker, Aoko used a sending spell to tell Simon to proceed to the rendezvous point.

Her figure then dissolved into a cloud of smoke, disappearing from the watchtower and reappearing on the ground. Aoko quickly made her way to the prearranged meeting spot near the fortress.

She was the first to arrive, but it wasn’t long before her teammates joined her.

“We saw the missing snow sled from Frozenfar Expeditions at the other side of the bunker entrance,” Simon reported. “This confirms it—the duergar are behind the thefts in Caer-Konig.”

“Why would they do that?” Edgin wondered. “The duergar guards were well-equipped; they don’t look like they’re short on money.”

“They’re probably after something,” Aoko mused. “Stealing from the town might just be a cover for their real objective.”

“What do you think their real goal is?” Holga asked.

“We’ll have to enter the bunker to find out,” Aoko shrugged. “I suspect there’s at least one duergar spellcaster in there. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to control those zombies.”

“Then we should proceed cautiously,” Edgin said. “The bunker won’t have a lot of open space, so Doric might not be able to fight at full strength. Is there any way to scout inside quietly?”

“I’ll use Arcane Eye,” Aoko said. “But it might be detected, since Arcane Eye isn’t invisible. We should be ready in case an alarm is triggered.”

Chapter 521: Nildar Sunblight

Aoko conjured a semi-transparent magical eye with her spell, which drifted into the bunker.

She found a guardroom near the main entrance, manned by a male duergar armed with a heavy crossbow.

Deeper inside was an armory filled with duergar armor and weapons, watched over by a single duergar.

As Aoko guided the Arcane Eye further, she soon encountered an obstacle—a barrier pulsing with negative energy blocked further exploration, meaning the reconnaissance ended there. The third duergar remained unseen.

“I saw two duergar,” Aoko reported after dismissing the spell. “One in the guardroom, the other in the armory. The third is probably hidden behind a negative energy barrier; the Arcane Eye can’t get through.”

“A guardroom, huh…” Edgin raised his head to study the bunker’s layout. “It looks like we can approach the main entrance while staying out of sight of the guardroom window. We should be able to sneak in if we’re careful.”

“That’ll work,” Aoko nodded. “Even if we’re spotted, it’ll just take more effort.”

Perhaps her words were prophetic. As Aoko and the others approached the bunker, they were indeed spotted—but not by any magical trap. The duergar in the guardroom had a very inconspicuous firing slit, and he saw them through it.

But Aoko, with her specialization in divination, sensed the incoming attack the moment she was targeted. She immediately cast a quickened, metamagic-reflected arrow spell.

The crossbow bolt, meant for her, was sent flying back through the firing slit, killing the duergar who tried to ambush her.

Even if the arrow had hit, it wouldn’t have been a problem—Aoko’s various defensive spells and gear were more than enough to handle a single crossbow bolt. It would just have been embarrassing.

“Huh, no alarm?” Aoko glanced around in confusion. “Was that an automated device? Or was the guard asleep?”

“I think it was a person,” Doric said. “I can smell his blood—he's definitely dead. Let’s hurry inside!”

With the guard dealt with, the group boldly slipped through the main entrance. After confirming the guardroom was clear, they headed straight for the armory.

This time, the duergar in the armory reacted much faster. Sensing the intrusion, he used one of the innate duergar spells—invisibility.

But he was still too slow. By the time he finished, Aoko’s team was at the armory door. Simon tossed in a flash powder.

Though Edgin was also dazzled, the flash exposed the now-invisible duergar, and Holga promptly knocked him out.

Aoko wanted to extract information from his mind, but couldn’t do so while he was unconscious. So she killed the duergar and had Simon use Deathly token to ask five questions.

Thanks to their previous experience with this spell, the interrogation went smoothly, and they quickly got the information they needed.

The outpost currently had only five people, as most of the duergar forces had departed for the Eastern Wastes to search for something.

The current commander at the outpost was named Nildar Sunblight, son of the duergar clan’s chief, Xardorok Sunblight. Their mission was to find the Chardalyn Stones in the area.

“Chardalyn Stones…” Aoko pulled out the black crystal she had bound with an adamantine frame from her extradimensional space. “So these duergar are connected to the tieflings in Bryn Shander?”

“It does look that way,” Simon said. “But normally duergar wouldn’t ally with tieflings. Maybe there’s a devil or something commanding them behind the scenes?”

Edgin and Holga were confused, since Aoko, Simon, and Doric hadn’t told them about what happened in Bremen. They gave a quick summary.

“Once we catch Nildar and interrogate him, we’ll know everything,” Edgin said. “They’re collecting so many Chardalyn Stones—it can’t be for anything good. It might even be related to the Everlasting Rime!”

“Good point. Most of these troublemakers only showed up because of the Everlasting Rime,” Aoko said. “Who knows what shocking secrets they might know!”

“I may not like riddles and reasoning, but I love when you guys make the final call,” Holga said with a laugh. “Let’s rush in and beat the crap out of that bastard!”

Though Nildar Sunblight’s negative energy barrier could block Arcane Eye, it was nothing against Aoko herself. She easily dispelled it.

“Damn pests! How dare you invade my domain?!”

A powerful shout echoed from the depths of the basement behind the barrier—it had to be Nildar Sunblight, the outpost commander.

Aoko had no intention of giving the suspected spellcaster any more time. She charged in with her teammates.

They were immediately confronted by a duergar at least as big as an ogre.

“Duergar’s innate Enlarge ability!” Simon exclaimed. “I’ve heard of it, but didn’t expect it to be this extreme!”

Before he could finish, Nildar Sunblight swung a two-handed hammer, forcing the team to scatter.

“Tell us exactly what you intend to do with the Chardalyn Stones,” Aoko said, “and maybe I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, I’ll just kill you and question your corpse.”

“How dare you!” Nildar Sunblight roared, releasing all the undead creatures caged in the basement. “I’ll subject you to the most painful torture, then make you into zombies to wipe out all the mortals in Ten-Towns!”

Chapter 522: The Dragon?

Nildar Sunblight didn’t act like a typical spellcaster, or rather, his abilities made Aoko suspicious.

His size was obviously due to the Enlarge spell, but his attack speed and strength seemed more like effects from transmutation magic, not to mention his control over ogre zombies.

Was he really a wizard? Aoko doubted it.

Doric, transformed into an owlbear, charged forward to hold off the ogre zombies. Simon fired a volley of magic missiles, but they were blocked by a reactive shield spell triggered from an item on Nildar Sunblight.

Aoko quickly noticed the pattern: every time Nildar used magic, a piece of jewelry adorned with a black crystal would flash.

But there was no sign of him connecting with the Weave—these spells seemed to be stored in advance, like simplified magic scrolls. The answer was clear: the duergar were collecting Chardalyn Stones, and all of Xardorok Sunblight’s items were set with them. He couldn’t command undead himself; most spell effects came pre-stored in the stones.

What a pay-to-win player, Aoko thought with some disdain, but her hands never slowed—she calmly unraveled Nildar’s various magical effects.

After a few exchanges, Holga was struck by a thunderous wave from the Chardalyn Stone set in Nildar’s hammer and knocked back.

Realizing this group of adventurers was no easy prey, Nildar immediately activated several spells stored in a ring on his left hand: first a sickly green cloud, then a wave of fear, and finally a black beam of negative energy.

None of these worked. Each triggered Aoko’s stored, heightened antimagic field.

The green cloud dissolved, the fear effect never manifested, and the deadly necrotic beam shattered against the field.

Nildar’s gray skin looked even darker now—he was considering how to escape.

He tried to have the ogre zombies buy him time, but the party’s bard was already blocking the only exit, and the owlbear druid had torn most of the zombies to pieces.

It was over. Nildar’s heart sank. His brother and father were nowhere nearby—no reinforcements would come.

If it were only the others, Nildar might not have despaired, but the pressure he felt from the staff-wielding spellcaster was immense, like a herbivore facing a top predator—a difference in life’s very essence.

“Looking for this?” Aoko said with a sly smile, pulling out the Chardalyn Stone she had taken from Hwafo and waving it in front of Nildar.

Seeing it, Nildar lost all hope. He knew he wouldn’t survive. He suspected this group had been sent to eliminate him.

Screw it, he thought desperately. If I die, you’re all coming with me!

Nildar ripped open his shirt, revealing a mass of Chardalyn Stones hanging around his neck. He tried to activate them all at once, intending to cause a magical explosion and take Aoko’s team with him.

Aoko was briefly startled by Nildar’s extreme reaction, but quickly realized his intent—she couldn’t allow it.

Her hands became a blur as she unleashed her unique abilities, metamagic feats, and spells in seamless succession.

Protection School, Mystra’s Wisdom Blessing, Arcane Reservoir Activation, Quickened Spell, 8th-Circle Abjuration—Maze.

Just as Nildar was about to explode, Aoko banished him into a temporary demi-plane created by Maze. The remaining ogre zombies instantly lost control and turned on each other or lunged mindlessly for the living.

It was too late for anything else—the rest of the party quickly dispatched the mindless flesh, with Holga’s adamantine axe cleaving a giant zombie from head to toe.

“Where did you send him?” Edgin asked as the last enemies fell.

“He suddenly tried to self-destruct,” Aoko frowned. “So I tossed him into a Maze. Back up, I’m ending concentration.”

The others retreated to the basement entrance. Aoko also backed away and released her hold on the Maze.

What fell to the floor was once Nildar Sunblight—now a charred, mangled, and poisoned lump of meat, his head nowhere to be found.

“This is troublesome,” Aoko sighed, frustrated. “He blew off his own head—now we can’t use Deathly token for intel!”

“There are still plenty of letters here,” Simon said, picking one up. “Looks like this one’s from his brother?”

“I’m now at the frozen ferry in the Eastern Wastes. From this new base, the search for Chardalyn Stones will continue. May our father rule this land of darkness forever! —Durth Sunblight”

“These duergar are operating over a wide area,” Edgin remarked. “And it sounds like their father wants to rule all of Ten-Towns?”

“I’m afraid it’s more than that,” Aoko said, picking up another letter. After reading it, she continued, “The important thing isn’t the Chardalyn Stones themselves, but what they intend to do with them.”

“Nildar Sunblight’s father, Xardorok Sunblight, seems to be planning to resurrect and unleash a dragon that can absorb the power of the Chardalyn Stones in Icewind Dale,” Aoko continued. “He intends to use this dragon’s power to devastate Ten-Towns and rule here forever.”