Chapter 20 Chapter Sixteen A Secret Letter on a Sunny Day

Danica sat on a ledge of a majestic mountain range, with the majestic Goofy Spirit standing in the fields beside her.It is a church with high spires and flying buttresses, and the wide ornate windows are inlaid with stained glass.Well-trimmed hedgerows surrounded the vast grounds, many of which took on the shape of animals, one of which spiraled endlessly into a vast labyrinth. Goofy Spirit was built by Danica's husband, Kadlei, a powerful cleric of Deene, the god of knowledge.This building was Cadley's most striking creation, but in Danica's opinion, his most precious creations were the twins playing at the door of the maze and their sister sleeping in the church.The twins ran into the Hedgerow Maze, much to the consternation of the dwarf Pike Stoneshoulder.Pike, a druid practicing divine magic, created this maze and other amazing gardens, but the spells were rejected by his curmudgeon brother Ivan.

Pike yelled "Hey" and other Pike-like words, and ran into the maze after the children, pulling his green-dyed hair and beard.His maze wasn't ready for a visitor, and the roots weren't too well established. Of course, just as Pike ran into the maze, the twins sneaked back and played quietly in front of the maze door.Danica didn't know how far the green-bearded dwarf had traveled along the confusing paths of the maze, but she heard his voice drop rapidly, indicating that he had been lost in the maze for the third time this day, As fast as you want. A gust of wind blew across the face of the mountain, blowing Danica's thick, dark-gold hair over her face.She spat out a few strands of hair from her mouth and turned her head to one side just in time to see Cadley walking towards her.

He wears tailored clothing, a beige tunic and matching trousers, a bright blue silk cape, and his signature blue wide-brimmed hat with a feather.Cadley was quite old when Goofy was built, and both he and Danica believed he had reached the end of his life.To Danica's horror, Kadleigh expected to die and be sacrificed to the great library.But soon after the main building was completed—details, such as the ornate carvings on the many doorways and the solid gold leafwork surrounding the graceful arches, which may never have been completed—the growth of age reversed, and he The speed of rejuvenation.Now he looked like a man in his late thirties, with a vigorous stride and a twinkle in his eyes when he looked at Danica.Danica had also worried that the process would go on and on, and that before long she would find herself having four children instead of three.

He did not grow younger, however, but maintained his former image of a healthy, happy youth, as if he had returned to the time when the troubles in Eddie Fernando's library had not yet begun.At that time, before the ancient order of Dinai was destroyed, before the chaos came, the statue still stood on this ground.The willingness to give everything to the new sanctuary and the new order satisfied Deeney, and Cadri Bundus was given a new life, a life enriched by his wife and their children. "We had a visitor this morning," Cadley said as he walked over to her.He glanced at the twins and smiled heartily when he heard the lost Pike yelling frantically again.

Danica marveled at her husband's gray eyes that seemed to be smiling too. "From Carton." She nodded in response. "I saw him come in." "He brought news of Drizzt Do'Urden," Cadderly explained.Danica turned to him, suddenly interested.She and Cadderly had encountered the unusual dark elf some years earlier, and used one of Cadderly's popular spells to send him back to the Northlands. Danica looked at Cadley for a moment, thinking about the intensity of emotion that had crept across his normally calm face. "He got the Crystal Shard," she reasoned.The last time she and Cadderly had been with Drizzt and his human companion Catti-brie, they had talked about the Crystal Shard.Drizzt promised that he would take back the ancient and wicked artifact and bring it to Cadderly for destruction.

"He did it at one point," Cadley said. He handed Danica a roll of parchment.She took the scroll and unfolded it.A smile flashed across her face as she read that Wulfgar, Drizzt's once-lost friend, had escaped from the prison of the demon Errtu.She opened her mouth in surprise when she turned to the second page, which mentioned the theft of the Crystal Shard.A drow rogue named Jarlaxle dispatched one of his men to appear before Drizzt in the guise of Kadleli. Danica stopped reading and looked up.Cadley retrieved the parchment. "Drizzt thinks the crystal was probably taken to the underworld, to Menzoberranzan, the city of the dark elves. It's Jarlaxle's stronghold there," he explained.

"Then, it's a good thing for Menzoberranzan," Danica said gravely. She and Cadley had discussed the power of the sentient crystal at length, and she understood that it would be an instrument of destruction—the wielder's enemies, his allies, and ultimately himself. In Cadley's inference, there is no, and could not, be any other ending to the affairs of Crsshinbon.The morbid desire to possess the magic crystal shard will eventually become a disaster for others. Cadley shook his head before Danica's sensibility calmed down. "The Shard of Magic Crystal is the creation of the sun. Judging from its symbolic meaning, the sun may be its greatest source of power."

"But the drow are the creations of their dark caves." Danica reasoned, "If they take it back, in the underground world, the power of the crystal shard may be weakened or even destroyed." Cadley shook his head again. "The magic crystal or the person who holds it," he asked, "which one is stronger?" "That particular dark elf sounds so cunning," Danica replied. "I don't think it would be easy to deceive Drizzt Do'Urden." Cadley shrugged and grinned. "I doubt that Crsshinibon would allow him to retreat underground once he found out how to manipulate the bearer's mind, unless this Jarlaxle had the same mind as Drizzt Do'Urden," he explained. "It's not necessarily a question of which is stronger. The savvy of the magic crystal lies in its power to guide the holder to an agreement, not to dominate him."

"And a drow's heart would be easily controlled," Danica reasoned. "Yes, a typical dark elf," Cadderly agreed.They were silent for a moment, both thinking about the conversation and the new news. "So, what are we supposed to do?" finally Danica asked, "If you think the Crystal Shard won't agree to go back to the sunless underground, are we going to let it wreak havoc on the surface with a vengeance? But we know Where is it?" Cadley was still deep in thought and didn't answer her right away.What to do, what responsibility do they have in this situation, these questions go to the core of power surrounded by ideas.As a priest, should Cadderly go after the new owner of the Crystal Shard, the dark elf thief, take it back by force and destroy it?If so, what about the rest of the lawlessness of the world?What about the pirates on the Falling Star Ocean?Should Cadley charter a boat and go after them?What about the notorious Sion Red Robe Wizards?Was it Cadley's job to hunt them down and fight each one?And the Iron Throne, Zhentarim, Shadow Thieves...

"Do you remember when we met Drizzt and Catti-brie here?" Danica asked.It seemed to Cadley that the woman was reading his thoughts. "How sad is Drizzt when we realize that our call to Errtu freed the fiend from the banishment that Drizzt banished him years ago? What did you say to him then to restore him ?” "Errtu's liberation is not the main issue." Cadley reconfirmed his words, "There will always be demons who will be used by evil wizards. Either Errtu, or something else." "Errtu is only a member of the ancient Chaos," Danica reasoned, "and the Crystal Shard is another form of Chaos. Any catastrophe it brings is only the work of countless other tools in the place of Chaos." revenge, right?"

Cadley smiled at her, gazing into her deep, almond-brown eyes.He loves this woman so much.Intelligent and possessing the most extensive knowledge Cadderly has ever known, Danica can help him make choices in difficult situations simply by listening and offering advice. "It is the heart that produces evil, not the puppet of destruction." He perfected her train of thought. "Is the Crystal Shard a tool of the mind?" Danica asked. "That's the problem, isn't it?" Cadley responded, "A summoned demon, a puppet of destruction, whose heart has been tainted, is the magic crystal the same as them? Or is it a dominator, a The sole creator of evil?" He stretched out his arms, unable to answer. "Anyway, I thought I'd reach out to some special and reliable sources to see if I could find the crystal and this dark elf, Jarlaxle. I wondered what he did with the crystal shard, or, What's more troublesome is what the Crystal Shard wants him to do." Danica wanted to ask what he was saying, but she caught the meaning of his words before the question came out.Her lips lost their color.Perhaps the Crystal Shard would rather have this Jarlaxle take him to the sunless underworld, using him as the vanguard of the drow army's invasion of the surface?Perhaps, the Crystal Shard wants to use the identity and race of its new owner to cause an unprecedented catastrophe?To make matters worse, Jarlaxle stole the crystal by masquerading as Cadli, whom of course he knew.If Jarlaxle knew about Cadderly, so did the Crystal Shard, even knowing that Cadderly might know how to destroy it.A concerned look flashed across Danica's face as she instinctively began to worry about the children, and Cadley didn't ignore the look. "I'll try to find out where he and the magic crystal are, and see what troubles they've gotten into," Cadley explained.He couldn't read Danica's look very well, and wondered if she didn't quite believe him. "You do it." The woman who trusted him wholeheartedly said with the most serious attitude, "It's now." A scream from the depths of the maze caught their attention. "It's Pike." The woman said. Cadley smiled. "Is he lost again?" "Again?" Danica asked, "Or always?" They heard grumbling not far away.Pike's staid brother, Ivan Stoneshoulder, is staggering toward the maze, whining with every step he takes. "Bastard." The yellow-bearded dwarf mocked Pike's pronunciation, "yes, bastard, can't get out of a bush." "Will you help him?" Cadderly called to the dwarf. Ivan turned around curiously, as if he had just noticed them. "I've been helping him all my life." He snorted. Both Cadley and Danica nodded in agreement, letting Ivan continue his daydream.Even if Ivan didn't know it, they both knew that his favors for Pike often got both dwarves into trouble.Sure enough, a few minutes later, Ivan lost his way too, his shouts as loud as Pike's.Cadley and Danica, as well as the twins, sat outside the twisty maze for the fun of it. Hours later, after arranging the order of his spells and examining the protective circle the rejuvenated cleric had traditionally used against most of the weaker creatures in the lower planes, Cadderly sat cross-legged on the floor of the summoning chamber , chanted a spell, summoned some imp, and an imp came to him. After a while, the little figure with horns and bat wings actually appeared in the protective circle.It jumped up and down in bewilderment and anger, and finally set its sights on Cadley.It looked at the man for a moment, no doubt trying to sense his motives.Imps are summoned to the Material Plane, either for information or to serve equally evil wizards. "Deeney?" the imp asked in a hoarse, raspy voice that Cadley thought suited its smoky surroundings. "You're wearing Reverend Deeney's clothes." The imp stared at the red ribbon of Cadley's hat, where a gold-inlaid china pendant engraved a candle burning in one eye, Deeney's emblem. Cadley nodded. "Bah!" The kid spat on the ground. "Did you expect a wizard looking for his kind?" Cadderly asked slyly. "There's nothing better than you, Priest of Deeney," the kid countered. "Accept the reality." Cadley said, "In any case, it's better to leave your hellish situation and come to the main plane temporarily than not at all." "What do you want, priest of Deeney?" "News," Cadley replied.But when he said this, he realized that these questions were indeed more difficult for such a little devil. "I just need you to tell me the name of a more powerful demon so that I can summon it." The kid tilted his head like a dog, eyeing him curiously, licking his thin lips with his barbed tongue. "As powerful as a lizard," Cadderly said quickly, seeing the imp's sly smile deepen, to limit the power of the next creature he summoned.The lizard is not a lowly demon, but at least until Cadley gets the answers he wants, his power will undoubtedly restrain it. "Oh, Priest of Deeney, I'll tell you a name..." the imp began, but it spasmed suddenly as Cadderly began to chant an inflicting spell.The imp fell to the ground, rolling and cursing. "The name?" Cadley said. "I warn you, if you dare to deceive me into summoning a more powerful being, I will immediately send it back and find you again. Compared to the pain I will inflict on you then, this little pain now is nothing!" He uttered the declaration forcefully.Just inflicting this level of torture was already painful to the mild-mannered man, even for such a filthy brat.But he braced himself for his resolution by alerting himself to the magnitude of his problem. "Mizfek!" the imp screamed, "a glabra, stupid fellow!" Cadley freed the imp from the torment of the spell.The little devil flapped his wings, stood upright, and looked at him coldly: "Dinai's evil pastor, I have fulfilled your order, let me go!" "Let's go, then," Cadley said.The image of the little ghost gradually blurred, while making a few obscene gestures.Cadley had to interrupt it: "I'll tell Mizfek what you think of its intelligence." He was quite satisfied to see the last look of terror on the kid's face. Later that day, Cadderly summoned Mizfek, a tall, pincer-armed baublok who possessed all the hallmarks of a demon he abhors: filth, vileness, indulgence, and vile selfishness. Self-interest, trying to get as much as possible out of every word uttered.Cadley kept the meeting simple and to the point.The demon was asked to say something else very reliable about the whereabouts of a dark elf named Jarlaxle who was probably on the surface of Faerûn.In order to prevent the demon from stepping into the material world, Kadlei cast a powerful spell on it, but enabled it to return to the abyss and use those sources to discern information. "That takes longer," Mizfik said. "I will call you every day," Cadley said, making his voice as ruthless as possible. "I get more impatient with each passing day, and your pain keeps getting worse." "You have made Mizfek your fearsome enemy. Cadley Bundus, priest of Dinai," said the glabra, evidently trying to frighten him by uttering Cadley's real name. And Cadderly, listening to Deeney's powerful chants as clearly as he listened to his own heartstrings, laughed the menace only. "Fool Mizfek, if you are freed from your imprisonment and set foot on the surface of Toril, come to me. I will gladly reduce your body to ashes and banish your soul from this One hundred years in the world." The demon roared, and Cadley sent it back with just a wave of his hand and a single word.He had heard many times any threat a demon could make.In the life of this young priest, he has faced a red dragon, fought his own father, fought the curse of chaos, and even sacrificed his entire life to his god.After these trials, the words of few creatures, demons or not, frightened him. He resummoned the glabrat every day for the next ten days, until it finally brought the Crystal Shard and some information from the drow, Jarlaxle, including a surprising one.Jarlaxle no longer possessed the crystal, but he was traveling with a human, Artemis Entreri.The man was holding a magic crystal shard. From what Drizzt and Catti-brie recounted during their brief stay in the Goofy Spirit, Cadderly was familiar with the name.That man was an assassin, a ruthless killer.According to the devil's news, Entreri and Jarlaxle, the dark elf, are heading towards the Snowflake Mountains with the Crystal Shard. Cadley rubbed the glabra's chin when he heard the news.He knew the truth of these messages because he had cast a spell that would make him sure that the demon hadn't lied to him. "I have done as you asked," growled the glabra, clacking its chelicera restlessly. "Cadley Bundus, I have been freed from your bondage." "Come on then, I don't want to see your ugly face again," replied the youth pastor. The demon squinted its giant eyes menacingly and snapped its claws. "I won't forget this," it declared. "I'll be disappointed if you forget," Cadley replied casually. "I heard you have a child, idiot." Mizfik said, gradually disappearing from sight. "Mizfek, ehugu-winance!" Cadderly yelled, catching the demon just in time before it vanished and returned to the smoky abyss.Imprisoning it in place with sheer force, Khadr used the power of the spell to writhe the demon's body into painful contortions. "Are you scared? Human?" Mizfik challenged. Cadley smiled. "I'm afraid you won't be able to return to the Prime Material Plane for a hundred years." The blatant threat freed Mizfek from the bondage of the summoning, but the demon was still bound by another spell from Cadderly.A mandatory spell. Magical darkness created by Mizfek filled the room.Cadderly chanted the hymn to himself, his voice trembling with feigned fear. "I can smell you, stupid human," Mizfek said.Cadley heard its sound beside him, but he guessed correctly that Mizfek had used ventriloquism to keep him undetected.The young pastor was completely immersed in the melody of Dinai's hymn, listening to every beautiful note, absorbing the magical power quickly and thoroughly.He detects evil first, easily targeting the powerful negative energy of the glabra, but then another powerful negative energy, it seems that the demon has summoned allies. Cadley maintained his courage and continued to plan. "I'll kill the child first, fool," Mizfik declared.It began to speak to its new companion in Abyssal, and Cadderly, though using a spell he had prepared before summoning Mizfek today, understood the words perfectly: The accomplices hold the dumb priest down while he goes off to kill the kids. "I will bring them before you as sacrifices," Mizfek began, but the sentence ended in a distorted scream as Cadderly's spell erupted.A swirling array of blades encircled the two demons.Then, the priest released a ball of light, negating Mizfek's darkness spell.Mizfek and his accomplices, a slashed image of a giant worm-like smaller demon are revealed. Mizfek growled, gutturally uttering a word that Cadley thought was trying to teleport itself away.The spell has failed.The young priest grew stronger and moved faster at Deene's chant.He prayed and neutralized the demon's spell before it fled. Immediately afterwards, a spell of confinement fixed Mizfik firmly in place.And the magic blade continued to slash and destroy. "I'll never forget!" growled Mizfik, wheezing out the words in rage and pain. "Very well, you'll see that it's best not to come back," Cadley snarled in response. He cast a second blade barrier.The two demons were torn apart, their flesh sliced ​​into bloody pieces, which caused them to be banished from the Material Plane for a hundred years.Cadley left his demon-blood-stained summoning chamber satisfied, needing to find a suitable spell from Deeney to clean his clothes. Regarding the Crystal Shard, he had his own answer.This seems to be a good thing for him.Now that a dangerous killer, an equally dangerous dark elf, and even more dangerous crystal shards are clearly on their way to visit him, he needs to find a way to stop him. He'd have to talk to Danica and get the whole Goofy and Deeney order ready for a possible fight.