The Zhentarim's Conspiracy

The night was past its midpoint, and the dark clouds that had gathered in the gloomy sky were gradually dispersing, allowing the cold moonlight to spill once more across the vast land. A biting, bone-chilling wind whistled past, joining the intense clashing of weapons between the two combatants on the hill to compose a grim, murderous melody.

Ryan's sun-bright golden hair danced wildly with his movements, his staff flicking up and down as he launched powerful strikes at the thief's head, heart, and other lethal vitals. As the saying goes, "one inch longer, one inch stronger," and Ryan relied on the staff's full-body length to ruthlessly compress the combat space of the dual-wielding thief.

Yefalin likely never imagined that the usually quiet and humble Ryan would be so wild in battle, appearing like a furious lion defending its territory.

The situation on the field looked excellent, but Ryan knew deep down that his position was not as relaxed as it appeared. After all, his ability to suppress the thief relied entirely on the buffs from Bull's Strength and Cat's Grace. No matter how useful these buffs were, they were essentially low-level second-circle spells that could not be maintained indefinitely; once they expired, it would be the thief's turn to counterattack.

Clearly, the experienced thief understood this as well. After his initial surprise and frustration, the thief had adjusted, using his agile footwork and master-level dagger skills to perfectly defend against Ryan's fierce staff strikes, his cold, ruthless eyes filled with murderous intent and patience.

Ryan skillfully thrust the sharp end of his staff toward the thief's abdomen, while simultaneously multitasking to chant an incantation, using the sapphire on his staff to launch a fist-sized Magic Missile at the thief's head.

The thief twisted his daggers, his body contorting to dodge the whistling staff while shadow energy coated his cold-glinting blades, allowing him to slash and shatter the incoming Magic Missile.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, it seems this assassin came prepared, even bringing something to counter magic," Ryan remarked with feigned wonder while continuing to suppress the thief's limited movement space.

Looks like I'll have to pay a price, the mage calculated silently, weighing which method would be most appropriate to finish off his opponent.

Just then, the magical alarm Ryan had set up near the hill detected a living creature approaching. Ryan's heart stirred, and he connected to the Spell Eye high above to look in that direction, only to see the beautiful half-elf ranger from the adventurer party riding a Black Panther toward them.

A plan formed in Ryan's mind. He adjusted the brightness of the light orb summoned by his Light spell, causing it to flash repeatedly in the pattern of the Elvish words for "enemy" and "ambush."

The thief looked at the flickering light source, confused and unable to grasp the meaning behind Ryan's actions, assuming it was just another trick from this strange mage, which only made him more cautious in his parrying.

Jelona, who had been tracking the Orc tracks, heard the sounds of fighting ahead. She leaped off the back of the Black Panther and carefully crept through the darkness toward the source of the noise.

When Jelona saw the scene on the field, she was taken aback.

Through the familiar dark robes, Jelona recognized the mage from the caravan, but she had not expected that the mysterious mage would be a young, handsome golden-haired boy.

Even more absurd was that this boy was currently engaged in close-quarters combat with a sinister-looking man in black, wielding a heavy, ornate staff. Jelona felt as if she were hallucinating, and her hard-won worldview began to crumble.

But then, Jelona was drawn to the flickering light orb. She watched it and whispered, "This light? Enemy? Ambush?"

After a moment of thought, Jelona decided to trust the mage who had single-handedly helped the caravan win the battle against the Orcs.

She took a deep breath, drew a steel longbow arrow from the quiver on her back, and nocked it to her string. The excellent vision granted by her half-elven bloodline allowed her to clearly see the movements of the two combatants from hundreds of feet away. She aimed at the thief's heart, focused all her energy, and unleashed an Elven archery technique: Rapid Shot.

Ryan observed the elf's movements through his Spell Eye. He swung his staff with all his might toward the thief's head and shouted, "Eat my Fireball!" before closing his eyes and cranking the Light spell to its maximum intensity.

The dark-aligned thief heard the words "Fireball" and instantly focused his attention on Ryan's staff. Having witnessed the power of Ryan's Fireball firsthand, the thief never expected that detonating one at such close range would leave neither of them alive—and the life-loving Ryan would never trade his life for another's.

But when he looked over, he was met with a blinding, intense white light. The thief's eyes stung, and his vision blurred. The cunning Ryan had lowered the brightness beforehand using the flickering frequency, making the sudden shift in light and dark even more jarring. The caught-off-guard thief fell for it completely.

The thief realized something was wrong, and at that exact moment, the whistling arrow flew directly toward his heart. Relying on the sound of the wind and his years of experience, the dark-aligned rogue threw himself to the side, his agile body twisting in the air as he attempted to dodge the hidden arrow from afar.

Seeing that the rogue was about to dodge the lethal blow through sheer agility and sound-based positioning, Ryan secretly cast Mage Hand to deflect the trajectory of the speeding arrow, sending it straight into the thief's heart.

The thief, who thought he had successfully dodged the fatal attack, wore an expression of disbelief as the arrow pierced his heart. Struck in the back, he fell from the air, spat out a mouthful of blood, and glared at Ryan with hatred, still trying to crawl up from the ground.

Ryan smiled slightly; an unexpected surprise. It seemed he wouldn't need to expose his hidden trump cards after all.

Thus, the half-elf ranger had the fortune of witnessing a terrifying scene.

The handsome, cheerful golden-haired boy wore a sunny, radiant smile, yet the staff in his hand whistled with ferocious power as he brought it down on the dying thief's head, blow after blow, blood splattering everywhere.

By the time Jelona approached the spot, the unfortunate rogue was unrecognizable, having gone to meet his god.

The boy stopped his movements, raised a hand to wipe the blood droplets from his face, and looked at the stunned half-elf ranger with a bright smile.

"My friend, thank you very much for your help!" As the half-elf ranger reached him, Ryan said with a sincere expression.

Jelona curiously examined Ryan's slightly disheveled face after the battle, truly stunned by his handsome, sunny appearance.

What surprised Jelona even more was the ruthlessness and coldness the boy had shown just moments ago. As a battle-hardened adventurer, she certainly didn't believe in saintly forgiveness toward enemies.

However, looking at such a young and green boy, no one would expect him to be so crazy and decisive in battle. Honestly, Jelona quite appreciated that; on the road of adventure, sometimes, if you aren't ruthless enough, the one lying on the ground might be you.

"It was the right thing to do. In a way, we are comrades-in-arms."

Seeing the bright red blood droplets on the boy's handsome face looking strangely alluring, Jelona dropped her usual cold demeanor and smiled back at the young mage.

"By the way, why were you fighting such a... well, a thief?" Jelona asked Ryan, looking curiously at the bloody corpse at their feet.

"Who knows? Maybe one of my enemies didn't like the look of me and finally found an opportunity to give me some entertainment."

The golden-haired boy shrugged and answered nonchalantly.

He knew that he had been sprinting along the path of a mage, inadvertently stepping on many people's toes. It was only his teacher's protection and his own strength that had kept these troublesome matters from finding him.

Now that Ryan had finally left Silverymoon, many people were naturally restless. However, the situation left Ryan somewhat puzzled; after all, those he had offended didn't seem capable of figuring out the specific details of his mission.

"Dead men are sometimes more useful than the living. Corpses can speak, too. Let me see what this assassin fellow is hiding."

With that, Ryan crouched down and began searching the dead man's body for clues.

"Found it, there's a letter here." After a brief search, Ryan found a letter in the inner lining of the thief's clothes.

"I hope it's not a love letter." Ryan smiled as he opened the letter, but after seeing the contents, the mage's expression shifted, and his brows furrowed immediately.

Jelona looked at Ryan, whose face had suddenly turned grim, and asked curiously, "What is it? What does it say?"

Ryan let out a breath and replied, "These are people from the Zhentarim."

Jelona was startled upon hearing this and couldn't help but exclaim, "Zhentarim! How did you manage to provoke that bunch of lunatics?"

The continent of Faerûn is vast and boundless, with thousands of races. While it has given birth to countless brilliant legends and stories, it has naturally also bred endless darkness and sin, with many evil organizations in existence—and the Zhentarim is one of the most prominent among them.

The Zhentarim is an evil organization composed of wizards, clerics, rogues, and warriors of evil alignment, all united by the goal of seizing control over the Realms. For anything they cannot directly control, they do not hesitate to use every terror tactic at their disposal to force submission, or to covertly weaken its power until it no longer poses a threat to their dark intelligence network and is forced to yield.

The Zhentarim has long strived to establish a monopoly over trade routes between the major towns of the Sea of Fallen Stars, the Inner Sea, and the Sword Coast, with a particular focus on Waterdeep. This includes engaging in trade and mercenary services that violate current laws and local restrictions, such as the illicit provision of poisons, harmful narcotics, weapons, slaves, and a range of other highly profitable goods.

They have even covertly spread an intelligence network, infiltrating every political center in the Sea of Fallen Stars region. They are ruthless and cruel, exterminating anyone who stands in their way. Their targets include numerous figures in Shadowdale (Storm Silverhand and Elminster), the military of Cormyr (King Azoun, the court wizard Dahast, and the leaders of the War Wizards), the Church of Cyric, Mulmaster, Far Hills, all merchant fleets and trade organizations maintaining ties with the Sword Coast, and a good-aligned organization known as the Harpers.

Although Ryan believed he had a few cards up his sleeve, the boy was clearly still in his formative years. To make him go head-to-head with one of the most terrifying organizations in Faerûn? Only a paratrooper would do something that stupid.

Ryan felt a massive headache at having provoked such a powerful group of lunatics. He looked helplessly at the progress bar for his Planeswalker talent, which was about to unlock, and thought: If the worst comes to the worst, I'll just run off to another world to lay low. I refuse to believe you lot can chase me across dimensions!

He looked at Jelona, who was still in a state of panic, and comforted her:

"Don't worry. He didn't manage to send out any messages before he died, so the Zhentarim won't know it was us who took him out for a while. Besides, once we reach Waterdeep, I will contact my family and the local Mages Guild. This world isn't run by the Zhentarim just yet."

Jelona realized her loss of composure and felt a wave of shame. Compared to the boy, who had already recovered from his initial shock, she felt like a truly pathetic adventurer.

However, the half-elf ranger's panic was hardly surprising; the notoriety of the Zhentarim in the Northlands was enough to make children stop crying at the mere mention of their name. Anyone would panic if they knew they might be targeted by these madmen. It was only because Ryan had his own escape routes that he could remain so calm.

Ryan looked speechlessly at the blushing half-elf, then took a silent look at his own Charisma stat, which stood at a high of 20 (18+1+1; equipment bonuses cannot exceed the transcendent limit).

The mage muttered to himself in his heart: So she just believed it. Should I say that high Charisma really allows you to do whatever you want? As expected, no matter the world, whether elf or human, everyone is a visual creature.

"Alright, the caravan is still waiting for us. Let's quickly deal with the body and the traces and head back; everyone must be getting anxious."

"Yes, okay." Jelona snapped out of her daze and immediately nodded in agreement.

Seeing that he had successfully bluffed his way through, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and secretly tucked the letter into his demi-plane space.

In truth, Ryan hadn't lied to Jelona—the thief was indeed a member of the Zhentarim—but Ryan hadn't told her everything.

"Saber, the organization is sending you to hunt down a wizard from Silverymoon. He carries an item of great importance to the organization's grand scheme. Remember, you must bring the item to the Waterdeep branch after completing the mission. Obtain specific intelligence from the relevant personnel. —The Zhentarim, Fuzhuo"

The above was the full content of the letter, and it was precisely because he had read it that Ryan chose to keep the details from Jelona.

After all, this matter involved far too much. Whether it was the coordination plan between the Mages Guilds of Silverymoon and Waterdeep, or the Zhentarim's conspiracy and the "grand scheme" mentioned in the letter, it was not suitable for an outsider like Jelona to be dragged into it.

Teacher, oh teacher, you really know how to pick a mission. This time, you've really set me up for a disaster!

Ryan sighed helplessly, as if he could already foresee the monstrous storm about to break in Waterdeep.