Chapter 555 Dark Alliance

Pushing the slave traders captured in the nest of petrified lizards to the bottom of the city, the slave traders stationed in Irip were in a mess.

The walls of Irip were not much higher than most earth giants. Let alone jumping, they seemed to be able to climb to the edge directly with their hands.

The two sides were deadlocked for less than an hour before the other side opened the city gate and surrendered.

The most difficult thing about this kind of criminal nest is not the attack and occupation, but the conviction afterwards.

It is a bit exaggerated to say that the whole city is involved in the petrified lizard slave trade group. It is not a bit exaggerated to say that they have direct or indirect links with this industry chain.

Gavin and Veronica discussed it briefly, and directly cut the Gordian knot. After gathering the representatives of Irip, they directly issued a series of orders.

There are two core contents.

1. Only the main culprit will be executed, and the accomplices will not be investigated.

Second, hand over all the private prisoners and captive slaves, and they will be forgiven. If they are found to be hiding or committing the same crime again, they will be punished as the main culprit.

It took only one day for them to rescue all the slaves, and by the way, they swept away the stolen money and stolen goods of the petrified lizard slave trafficking group, and even withdrew all the basic troops without leaving them.

Because it was meaningless to do so.

The geographical location of these two towns determined that their fate was determined by the city of Afonso.

If the conqueror army took down the city of Afonso, they would not need to send any more soldiers, but only need to send a governor.

If there was no way to take down the city of Afonso, even if they sent troops to garrison here, they would be alienated from them and secretly trip them up.

The significance of Gavin and his men taking the two towns first was to completely eliminate these local evil forces, because once they took down Afonso, they would immediately turn into the dark, and it would be exponentially more difficult to eradicate them.

The progress on Ye Shandala's side was also smoother than expected. Whether it was the Purple Mask or the Tide Flower, the combat power they could show off was only a dozen extraordinary people. The rest were either small thieves or ordinary thugs. They were enough to dominate a small town, but they were not enough to face an extraordinary war group.

The more famous they were, the faster they died.

On the contrary, those who were unknown could hide in the crowd and escape.

But their ability to plunder wealth was quite amazing.

Even if part of the wealth accumulated by the Tide Flower and the Purple Mask over the years was distributed to the local residents, the collected wealth would be nearly one million.

The half that Gavin mentioned at the beginning was just an imaginary number, not really cut in half, and most of the things distributed to them were not very useful to the conqueror army and were not easy to carry, such as daily necessities such as furniture, and large quantities of loose coins that were not easy to carry.

Because of the unremitting help of the half-blue dragon earth elves, the harvest on the side of the petrified lizards was even more amazing.

In addition to the three three-masted sailing ships with a total valuation of 500,000, the wealth seized from their secret nests and warehouses reached 1.5 million, plus more than 500 slaves. Only one-fifth of them came from the Dragon Coast and were escorted home by the Conqueror Army. The rest were all incorporated into the Conqueror Army.

Just as Gavin and his team expected, when these three local evil forces were destroyed, the dark forces around the Dragon Coast were all shocked. They became unprecedentedly efficient, and a secret meeting of the dark forces was held at the West Gate.

West Gate.

Not only is it the most influential city on the Dragon Coast, but it is also one of the most influential cities on the entire southern coast of the Fallen Star Sea.

It is said that its economic power is the sum of the entire Dragon Coast cities. This huge strength makes them the third largest trading force in the Inland Sea, second only to Sembia and Cormyr.

Westgate is definitely responsible for the Dragon Coast's reputation of "everything has a price tag", and its citizens are not ashamed of it. On the contrary, they are proud of Westgate as an open city - open to all races, all beliefs, and all currencies.

It is this thorough openness that has brought them a lot of wealth. Many transactions that are not allowed in other places are carried out in large quantities and openly here - such as the dirty sales of pirates.

Both Sembia and the Kingdom of Cormyr have cracked down on it, at least on the surface, but Westgate is openly auctioned.

In name, Westgate is ruled by aristocrats composed of wealthy families. In fact, it is a thieves guild called the Night Mask that controls all key areas of Westgate.

This secret dark meeting was naturally hosted by the Night Mask. Only they have this influence in the Dragon Coast, which fully shows that even they feel the pressure from the conqueror army.

There are more than 30 dark forces attending the meeting, and countless heads are crowded in the dimly lit conference room. That situation is like their identities, which cannot be exposed to the sun.

"They are a group of lawless executioners, butchers, and robbers. Today they can capture Pros and Irip, and destroy the purple masks, tide flowers, and basilisk men. Tomorrow they can capture Taysil and destroy you Astor. Ruian, occupy Bosku the day after tomorrow and slaughter your Light of Bosku. The day after tomorrow we can capture the west gate and uproot your Dark Night Mask. Therefore, we can no longer sit idly by and do nothing. We should unite and form our own army to protect The Dragon Coast that belongs to us, our city, completely defeat this group of evil invaders."

A pirate leader waved his arms and roared with righteous indignation.

"Hey, Thorns, if you are not the leader of the purple mask, you might be more convincing. Who knows, do you want to use our hands to avenge your destroyed branch?" There were cold words in the darkness. , unceremoniously removed the purple mask leader's stage.

These dark forces on the Dragon Coast have never been harmonious, and there are countless overt or covert battles between them.

The battles between dark organizations in the city will also be secretive and conducted in private to prevent wars between cities.

These pirate groups in the inland sea do not have so many scruples. Many of them greet each other directly with ballistae when they meet at sea. They can squeeze into this small conference room together without drawing knives on each other, except for the army of conquerors. Qianglong suppressed him outside because he was afraid of the Dark Night Mask.

The Night Mask is very secretive. Not to mention the citizens of other cities on the Dragon Coast, even most citizens of Ximen don't know that the city is actually controlled by a secretive thieves guild.

But these dark forces are very aware of this and their terrorist methods. The Mask of the Night has such a high voice in Ximen. It is not a pie falling from the sky, but something they killed. Their enemies are either out of thin air. Disappear, no one alive or dead, either turned into pieces with a bang in front of the public, or torn into pieces alive by a group of ferocious rats.

Compared to the secret assassination, they prefer this kind of public execution to warn other enemies.

Thornes said angrily: "What I stated is a fact. If you didn't have this concern, would you still be sitting here? In any case, we cannot let them toss around at the Dragon Coast. This will seriously hinder Our business, we have to come together and take it down."

"I agree with the first half of you, but I cannot agree with the second half. Why do we have to use force to solve the problem? Instead of negotiation? In essence, they are still a group of immigrants composed of civilians. Migration is their main task. As long as they are sent out Dragon Coast, they will no longer be a problem for us.”

"Naive, negotiation is based on absolute force. If we don't unite and prove our strength to them, will the other party leave so easily?"

"They just wiped out a few small guilds and scared you like this? They seem to be so powerful. In fact, there are only a few thousand real professional soldiers, and they mainly rely on the two extraordinary battle groups. As long as they defeat these With two extraordinary battle groups, they no longer dare to act rashly. Moreover, their main energy now is in Ivanso. Before the entire problem is solved, they should not have the energy to use force against other cities. They sent troops to Pros and Yilip. Probably to relieve worries."

"Stupid, really stupid. How can you place your hopes on other people's plans? It is most correct to take everything into your own hands."

"You seem to have forgotten that they have more than these troops. They also have a city of hobgoblins on the Giant Plains, and an expanding hobgoblin army. Their main force has been wandering east of the Giant Plains recently. , do you think that if we use troops against the conquerors, they will just sit back and watch?"

"It's easier said than done to form an army. It's not just a matter of stacking numbers for street fighting. It requires precise command. The most important thing is, who will give the command of this army?"

Soon the leaders of the dark forces began to quarrel in all directions, each holding his own opinion. Some were in favor of forming an army, while others were dismissive.

This disdain stems from their own nature. Their origins determine that they are full of distrust between each other.

How can a coalition without basic trust form an army of unity and cooperation? But without an army, there is no confidence to confront the conqueror's army.

"The Faceless One has arrived." Along with the sound of communication, the conference hall, which was as noisy as a vegetable market, instantly became silent, and all eyes turned to the entrance.

The first thing that came into view was a domino mask, which was the kind of mask commonly used for noble dinners. Only the eyes and chin were exposed. However, this mask was completely white and had no shape, leaving only three holes. From a distance, the whole person looked completely different. It's like he has no face, which is probably where his name comes from.

Scarlet light flashed in the empty eyes, and whoever it glanced at could not help but feel a chill in their body, because they could not feel any emotion in the other person's eyes. It's looking at the delicious prey and weighing which place is more suitable for eating.

This person is the Uncrowned King of Ximen, the supreme ruler of the Mask of the Night, the Faceless Man who is known as the King of the Night.

As for his name and true appearance, no one knows it. He has always shown this appearance to outsiders.

The faceless man sat in the chair, but had no intention of speaking. Following closely behind him, the mysterious woman who was also wearing a domino mask said, "Only you brainless pirates can come up with the idea of ​​forming an army. If we really do that, do we still belong to the guild?

What do you think of those noble rulers?

Aren't you afraid that you will fight with these noble rulers before you go to war with the conqueror army?

Aren't you afraid that those ordinary citizens will unite to fight against you?

Secret manipulation is our foundation.

Even if we are forming an army, we are not the ones who form it, but we urge those rulers in the open to do it. It is their sacred and inescapable duty to protect our city."

This person is wearing a purple close-fitting robe, which perfectly shows her exquisite figure. The mask she wears is not faceless, but a fox mask. The eyes exposed are standard fox eyes. Every move has a soul-stirring taste. The arc of her red lips is perfect, and she is painted with bright red lipstick, which is extremely charming.

"Madam Zi, what you said is reasonable. For this kind of thing, hiding behind the scenes is the wisest choice. If it succeeds, everyone is happy. If it fails, the merchant nobles will take the lead, and there will be no loss for us."

"We can do two things at the same time, that is, encourage those merchant nobles to form an army to pose a direct threat to the conqueror army, and secretly organize elites to form an assassination team to put pressure on them from the side and make them dare not act rashly."

"We can contact Ames in Afonso and provide them with connections so that they can fight the conqueror army over there. It would be best if we could get a Both sides will suffer. "

"Stupid, this kind of playing with fire, if we are not careful, will bring disaster to ourselves. I believe you have witnessed the horror of the plague virus in Arms before. Once it spreads on a large scale in the city, the damage it causes will be devastating. If the Conqueror Army completely wipes it out, it will be fine. Once the Conqueror Army fails to attack Avanso and these necromancers obtain a large number of corpses, what consequences will be caused? I don't need to say more, right? It may even cause a natural disaster of the undead on our Dragon Coast, causing a devastating impact on all cities. At that time, the damage to us The damage will be ten times more than that caused by the Conqueror Army. "

"Yes, we can use all methods, but we should not mention the method of using the necromancers of Avanso. In this matter, we must stand firmly on the side of the living. Even if the Conqueror Army will threaten our interests, this is still a matter between the living. When the undead are mixed in, the nature will change. "

"Aren't the Conqueror Army going to the Valley? We can use this matter as bait and use our super shipping capabilities to send them to the other side of Dragon Lake and let them harm Sambia. This will save them the trouble of A lot of time and energy. "

"This proposal is too fantastic. You seem to have forgotten who you are. Will you believe the promise of a group of pirates and hand over your goods and people to you for transportation? Aren't you afraid that there will be nothing left in the end?"

"You can give it a try. Even if it fails, we won't lose anything."

"I don't know if Lord Faceless has any better suggestions?"

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the charming woman named Madam Purple is obviously the spokesperson of the Night King. What she said is no different from what the Faceless Man said, and these dark leaders can't help but pay attention to it.

And the opinions she put forward are also very pertinent, which tickles the itches of many leaders.

The reason why the purple mask leader's suggestion to form an army was strongly opposed is that it is seriously inconsistent with their previous style of doing things.

Although the Dragon Coast is dominated by evil, it has not reached the level of hell on earth. Everyone is a vicious devil thug. If that were the case, basic rule could not be maintained at all, and this place would have been in ruins long ago.

Most of them are relatively kind, ordinary citizens who are easy to rule and slaughter. The vicious ones are a minority after all. They can only manipulate in the dark. Once they surface, even if the citizens of Dragon Coast do not unite to overthrow them, the heroes from other countries and cities will not sit idly by.

There is no shortage of such people in Faerun, especially the Harpist Guild, which is famous for being nosy. The Valley is their headquarters, and their spies are active in many cities, especially West Gate, the evil city has always been their focus.

If they find that the dark forces of the entire Dragon Coast are preparing to form a coalition, they will definitely not sit idly by.

On the contrary, secretly manipulating those merchant rulers and letting them act according to their will is what they are best at and most commonly used.

"So, you have no objection to secretly prompting major cities to form city armies?" Madam Zi asked again, her eyes mainly on the leaders of the two major forces, the Light of Persku and Astorian.

They represent Bosco and Tesir, which, along with Avanso and Westgate, are the four core cities of the Dragon Coast.

As long as they firmly support this strategy, the remaining small and medium-sized towns will naturally follow.

"We have no problem with Bosku." The person who answered was a woman, most of her body was hidden in the darkness, and it was impossible to see her real face or figure. She was like a ghost. This person was the leader of the Light of Bosku.

"Taishil has no problem either." A gloomy male voice answered.

"We have no objection either."

"I agree."

Others followed suit and expressed their opinions.