The Bard's skill in playing the Sitara is remarkable, if not comparable to that of the elves.

Slightly different from the elves and half-elves who love music, the soul from another plane is more interested in the food of the ** than the food of the spirit, after all, in his world, he belongs to a gluttonous country that can transform food into the supreme art and pass it on for thousands of years - the elves eat with music, only this little black-haired guy with music with food, he eats everything that is served on the table, and drinks a lot of mead.

Even the elves, who were far more physically stronger than humans, were tired, and they whispered to their lovers, friends, or some kindred companions, and said goodbye to Kerry Ben and Birdwin, and climbed the narrow, dark, spiraling staircase with light steps, and the sound of them opening and closing doors could be heard in the hall, all the way up.

The bard duly exited the warm chamber, and Berdwin stood, and now only Kerribben and Cremar, who sat on the edge of the hearth, drowsy from satiety and alcohol.

Kerryburn's eyes followed the bard, and after his figure disappeared with the clashing of silver coins, he turned his gaze back to Berdwin.

"I know it's not fitting to let a stranger into Thundercastle at this critical juncture," said Berdwin knowingly and easily, "but he's funny, he can sing, he can play the piano, and he can play a little trick, and my soldiers and I like him—well," he shrugged, "I know what you mean, and to-morrow I'll send him to the inner city, where there are inns and merchants, and with his skill, I don't think it will be too difficult for him to survive this winter." ”

"Tricks?" Kerribben asked, "he's a mage?"

"Well......" Berdwin thought for a moment, "it's just ordinary tricks that can be played with quick hands and sharp eyes, like a silver coin out of his ear, I don't think he's quite a spellcaster, maybe he's a thief." ”

"I hope he's not either of the two. Kerry punned on it: "A dark winter is coming, and we can't afford to lose a little more." ”

"I would arrange for him to stay in a hotel run by a reliable person. Berdwin said.

Cremar yawned.

"Good night, then," said Berdwin, "may the light of Sulun always be with you." ”

"It never goes away. Carey Ben said. "Just as your courage and wisdom. ”

The lich awoke from a thick, soft, hot white bear skin, the tower's facilities were both rudimentary and extravagant, perhaps because it was only for wartime habitation, and the rooms were not overly decorated, with no tapestries and carpets, no draperies, no elaborate sculptures and unnecessary utensils—their beds and storage chests were not patterned at all, they were wide and large, as cumbersome as legless giants, but the bedding was made of silk, wool, and bearskin. There wasn't a speck of embroidery in sight, but they were very comfortable, and the copper lamps were filled with whale skull wax with a faint scent but no black smoke.

Kerry Ben left before dawn, the lich knew, but it had nothing to do with him.

The former immortal observed the condition of the souls of the other world. It was still asleep, floating, like a large translucent sol, and he walked to the window, where countless wide leaves obscured his vision, and he gently reached out to remove them and saw a dense spike sticking out of the vines, small and large, small enough to embroider and large enough to break open a wild boar, the thorny vine he had seen in the silver-crowned forest, which drew its nourishment from water and sunlight, but was also extremely adept at catching and strangling prey with its prickly tentacles, and then quietly waiting for them to stink and rot and add a special meal to himselfBut when the lich touched it, it was as docile as a newborn kitten.

Last night, before they entered the tower, the lich noticed that two elven mages had left silently, and there was no doubt that these vines were part of the magical chain they had set up.

But that wasn't what he was most concerned about now, the evil and unfortunate natives didn't want to get their hands on a boring thorn vine - he had never been to Thundercastle before, and like the King of the Jungle, he only skimmed its name and brief introduction in books and memories - When he was still an undead locked in the tower busy experimenting and researching, of course it didn't have a single copper coin to do with him, but now that he was standing here, maybe only a decade away from the war that was about to take place here, he had to get to know this place as soon as possible, the more profound and complete the better.

The tower where the elves live is located between the inner city and the fortress, and its height ensures that those standing in the top room can easily overlook the entire Thunder Castle.

Thundercastle is different from other castles in that it is built in a pass, which, as we have described before, is a long, curved and narrow passage. But this narrow length is 1,500 feet compared to the Dragonspine Mountains, and the ancestors of the Normans in the Highlands built a large and solid main fort, and then a secondary fort that houses and flanks smaller mountain walls, and the three are connected by an inner and outer wall that allows four knights to go hand in hand, and the inner and outer walls are hollow, leaving passages for soldiers to walk around and throwing ports for spears and arrows, and in the middle of the city walls is a dark passage commonly called the outer fortress, and even if the enemy captures the outer walls, as long as the defenders remove the temporary bridge with the inner and outer walls, they have to crowd into the outer fort to withstand the attacks of the soldiers on the inner walls and towersIf they want to get out of this painful danger, they can only move forward desperately, or give up the attack and retreat.

But it wasn't easy to break through the inner walls, which were taller and thicker than the outer walls, and at least in the hundreds of years since it was built, the orcs hadn't been able to storm Thundercastle once.

The inner city of Thunder Castle is located behind the triple fort and the double wall, and then it used to be a single wall to protect against scattered orcs and thieves, it and the inner city were built after the completion of the main castle and the inner and outer walls, the width and internal structure are similar to the double walls, the inner city is inhabited by the families of merchants and knights, and outside the single city wall is a moat that leads from the underground undercurrent, and beyond the moat is the outer city, where servants, serfs and outcasts live, and the low houses and mud huts are surrounded by a column of half-human high stone walls that can only be said to be comforting.

If you want to describe it, the overlook of Thunder Fort is like the lace that the ladies loved, with the triple fort, the double wall, the inner city, the single wall, the moat, and the outer city being layered on top of each other, gradually becoming solid and stable.

After reading this, the lich observed the two sides of the hill where the second fort was located, and they were nearly a thousand feet high, and they were as steep as two knives that had been plunged deep into the earth.

If he was willing to continue observing Thundercastle, he would have seen several horse-drawn carriages passing through the outer city, carrying not goods, but man-tall cages filled with naked, scrawny humans.

"Recently, the royal capital has sent a lot of prisoners," said one of the guards, shaking his head, "I have counted, and it is almost a thousand." ”

"I wish the more the better," said his companion, "and I don't want to deal with the mad slaves and orcs." ”

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