If there is any city along the Sword Coast that can surpass Baldur's Gate in all aspects of prosperity and power...
Undoubtedly, there is only Waterdeep!
Not only the coast of the Sword Coast, but also the entire Northland, and even the entire plane of Ashan, is powerful, prosperous, rich, and Waterdeep is second. I am afraid that no other city dares to say that it is. Be the first!
In this metropolis, which is even known as the "Glory City", it is said that the business district never closes. There is one bus during the day and one bus at night. And every night, in the countless lights, even Under the illumination of the Mingming Flame... this is the real city that never sleeps!
This city.
Many temples converge here.
Countless dark forces have never stopped greedy for it.
There are more forces of law and kindness, defending the order here with their lives.
The rulers here, or, more accurately, the governors, are a council composed of sixteen lords.
Moreover, because the lords of Waterdeep City are naturally hostile to countless dark forces, except for a powerful paladin of the "God of Justice" who is an openly identified lord, everyone else is a masked lord who hides his true identity. identity.
Speculating on the identity of the masked lord has always been one of the daily entertainment methods for the citizens of Waterdeep City.
Undoubtedly, a few days ago, the identity of a masked lord, or a former masked lord, was completely revealed, and he revealed it himself!
Of course, even if he didn't reveal it himself, in fact, according to the information that Isaac has mastered, according to many people's speculations, this person should be one of the masked lords!
The Archmage of the Black Staff, Kelben Orosan!
One of the leaders of the Harpers!
He is also one of the most powerful mages in the Ashan plane.
However, in Waterdeep City, this "one" still exists!
after all……
Although the mage guild of Waterdeep City, the "Anmin Mage Guild", is basically headed by the "Black Staff Tower"!
Although the dark side of Waterdeep City and what kind of evil power exists in the underground Skull Port cannot be fully revealed!
But, just the legendary Lost City, just the "mad mage" who created this legendary place...
No spellcaster dares to say that he can surpass this "mad mage" in the depth of the magic field, at least when he is awake!
Except for this crazy mage.
Isaac has been secretly paying attention to it all these years. One of the two people the Dragon Queen was referring to back then is most likely hiding here.
also……
The chosen one of the goddess of magic who has been recuperating in Waterdeep City in the past few years, Ms. Leila from the "Seven Sisters of the North", is undoubtedly at this level!
Therefore, even if he is as powerful as the Black Staff Archmage, he can only be described as "one of the most powerful mage" in a place like Waterdeep City.
Of course, "one of the strongest" is definitely correct.
However, if you want to add another word on top of it, "the most powerful magician combination"...
"These two old guys who are hundreds or even thousands of years old and have children and descendants have actually become a couple!"
"The two of them are together, as well as Kelburn's right-hand man, Archmage Malchow, whose spellcasting level has probably exceeded level 25..."
Among the information, in addition to the Black Staff Archmage announcing his resignation as Lord of Deep Water, there is also news of his true union with Ms. Leila!
These two come together, and with the power of the Black Staff Tower...
Even though Isaac had no direct thoughts about that, for a moment, his eyes wrinkled slightly.
This tight combination...
"The crash on Lei Loren's side is now."
"I'm afraid only the combination of the strongest elector and the Storm Queen can be slightly better than them!"
Thinking of those two people, something strange flashed in Isaac's eyes.
The goddess of magic is famous for her large number of voters.
The most powerful elector is said to be a person from a thousand years ago.
There are even rumors that all the "Seven Sisters of the North" were raised by him!
And then...he became a couple with the "Storm Queen" from "Seven Sisters"!
"The combination of Kelben and Laila, the 'Tower of the Black Staff', and the 'Tower of Order' of the Anmin Mage Guild, are just not suitable for direct visits!"
After all, neither Kelben nor Laila, according to the Dragon Worship Cult's information, is the kind of person who will only fight back after being offended.
On the contrary, these two people are often active in various schemes. When necessary, they even temporarily cooperate with the evil camp.
If he goes directly to the Black Staff Tower... Although Isaac is confident enough, he is not so arrogant!
"So this Waterdeep City and the group...Maze of the Earth may be the only target!"
His eyes quickly swept across, and he quickly read all the information.
Isaac soon made a decision in his heart.
The Lost City of Earth Lines was created by the "mad mage" Hellast in the endless dark region.
It is said that there are countless levels inside, not only the level of the underdark, but also various demiplane connections.
All the treasures of the "Mad Mage", including all his magic research, are hidden in it.
Of course, there are more, there are countless monsters and structures created, summoned, and enslaved by the "mad mage".
This is Waterdeep City, and even the entire Northland, a famous adventure place.
That "crazy mage"'s attainments in the field of magic are definitely not inferior to Kelben.
Since the "Black Stick Tower" is not suitable for visiting for the time being, taking a step back, perhaps the "Maze of the Earth" is more suitable for him.
After all... the "Crazy Mage" doesn't care if there are any taboos when it comes to magic research!
With this in mind, he collected the information and looked at Beasley: "How much involvement do we have in the deep water? Is there anything related to the 'Maze of Earth'?"
Knowing that the next stop would be Waterdeep, Beasley was already prepared: "We mainly have three parts of our involvement there."
"In the business district, we have real business agents who only conduct trading activities. There are not a few of them. Some of them used to belong to the Dragon Worship Cult, and some were specially developed by the Kingdom's Security Bureau."
"The port area and Skull Port are the dark places of Waterdeep City. Naturally, our spies are lurking in them, especially the Aiknansa Guild who was expelled to Skull Port. Based on our lurking and infiltration over the years, some clues point out that , the top brass of this Thieves Guild may be related to the Beholders, and furthermore, may be related to the Zhentarim and the Church of the Dark King."
"In addition, we have also made certain infiltrations into the city guards and the Adventurer's Guild."
"Related to the 'Maze of Earth', it can be explored from two aspects."
"On the one hand, adventurers' exploration of the Lost City has never stopped. Within the Adventurer's Guild, a certain amount of information can be obtained by paying some gold coins."
"On the other hand, Skull Port has an underground watershed directly connected to Earth Maze. If you need it, as long as you activate those lurking spies and unearth some information related to Earth Maze, there will be no problem. "
Beasley introduced clearly.
Isaac nodded slightly: "I'll leave it to you. Let's start from two aspects together."
He didn't have much time to slowly solve the puzzles in the Leyline Maze City.
Beasley took the lead.
After a while, he also exited the room.
…
Early the next morning.
With a long trumpet blast.
Leaving the dock and accelerating towards the ocean, the four Isaacs would not miss it.
Relatively speaking, the sea route between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep City is obviously more stable and safer than the sea route between Baldur's Gate and Amn.
Heading all the way north, after three or four days.
As the outline of Waterdeep City gradually began to become clear in the distance.
Along the way, not to mention pirates, we didn't encounter any fish-men or sea monsters in the sea.
On the contrary... Twice, I met the fleet that was constantly patrolling back and forth in the Sword Coast waters!
From this, it can be seen that the Sword Coast region, especially the two powerful city-states of Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, is quite stable.
Whether it's sea monsters in the sea or pirates further north, those related to the Luskans rarely dare to operate openly here.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Isaac, and he doesn't care about it.
At this moment, following the reminder of the crew and the sight of Waterdeep City, he was also looking at the place in the distance, which completely surrounded the entire bay and continued to extend inland. The continuous buildings were undulating, even if they were separated. It is still far away, but it can be easily seen that this is an unprecedentedly large scale, whether it is Baldur's Gate, its natural green, including Calimport and Askatra he has visited, and even The two major cities in the north and south of Unse... No city can be as large as the one in front of you.
and……
While Isaac looked far away, he squinted slightly and took a long breath, as if he was distinguishing the appearance of certain breaths spreading from there.
Then, he looked towards the bay port, and some vague sensations made his eyes move slightly: "Deepwater City also has a temple of the ocean goddess?"
The mind and will are sensitive enough, and there is a familiar atmosphere there, the closest place to here!
"It should be the place where shipwrecked sailors and widows pray to Him."
"It shouldn't be called a real temple. It shouldn't be comparable to the Temple of the Water Queen in Baldur's Gate."
The answer was not Beasley, but Barrett.
After all, among the well-known temples in Waterdeep City, these "temples" formed by sailor widows have no influence at all, and it is not enough for Beasley to know about them in advance.
On the contrary, Barrett has enough adventure experience that he still has a certain understanding of this kind of thing.
Isaac pondered for a moment and nodded slowly.
Shipwrecks, which always go hand in hand with ocean trade and ocean adventures.
Whether it is due to natural disasters at sea, pirates, or sea monsters, no port city can say that it can avoid shipwrecks.
And every time there is a shipwreck... it often means that everyone on the ship suffers.
As a result, the wives and children of these sailors, who were already together, naturally became closer. As time went by, they spontaneously prayed to the Ocean Goddess, and gradually transformed into the temple of the Ocean Goddess. , which is also reasonable.
And from Isaac's perception of the intensity of certain auras over there, it is also consistent with Barrett's statement.
Without saying any more, he looked from the bay to the outside of the port, where the terrain rose rapidly, like a mountainous castle area.
This was the original urban area of Waterdeep City, and it is also the most central urban area now.
It is said that this castle area, especially the Deepwater Castle located on the top of Deepwater Mountain, is equipped with numerous powerful slings.
The power of this catapult is far beyond imagination. It is hard to say whether it is combined with some magic technology. In short, all attacks from the ocean, whether it is pirate fleets or ocean monsters, including those sahuagin, including those deep-sea squids and aboleths. Fish, and no one from the ocean has ever been able to break through their bombardment.
In addition, Beasley's information.
The headquarters of Waterdeep City's two armed forces, the City Guard and the City Sentinel, should also be in this castle area.
And the only public lord, the paladin "God of Justice" Piergalen, lives in the center of the castle area, in Waterdeep Castle located on the top of Waterdeep Mountain!
Separated by this castle area.
On this side of the bay is the port area.
Then there is the southern area of the transportation center.
From left to right, there are the Marina District, which is the center of the aristocracy, and the Night City Commercial District, which is the commercial center.
Continuing to the north, it is the northern area where the wealthy class and minor nobles live.
also……
Go down to the ground.
There is also the Dark Skull Port that is connected to the sea of the Underdark.
And the even more mysterious Leyline Maze City.
In a moment, Isaac's eyes followed Beasley's information and completed the division of the distant city into regions.
then……
Looking towards the port, which is already approaching...
"The development ideas of these lords..."
A strange color appeared in Isaac's eyes.
It's different from Baldur's Gate's port.
Even Port Willen is better than it.
In this notoriously prosperous city, the mess and roughness of the port area are like two different worlds compared to the urban area in the distance, or even to the adjacent transportation center.
There are only a few guards in the huge port, and you can even see wild dogs wandering among the disorderly small houses.
"Because they were concerned about sea monster attacks, they moved the transportation center to the north and set up a southern area?"
"Or... is it because of the never-ending obstruction of the Skull Harbor underground?"
After all, Skull Harbor is known as the dark side of Waterdeep City. All kinds of smuggling and all kinds of evil will never stop.
The port area is in conflict with the interests of Skull Port!
Or... maybe it has something to do with those people who control the transportation industry in the Southern District, right?
In the divergence of thoughts.
The horn of the passenger ship berthed and docked was also whining.
