At the top of the Dragon's Nest Tower, the huge bronze dragon statue has its eyes wide open, like a real brass dragon, looking at every corner of the Singing Dolphin Street with curiosity and expression.

As the name suggests, Singing Dolphin Street is a well-known community of artists in Waterdeep, and on the one hand, most of the real estate here belongs to the famous Sindore family of Waterdeep, and the owners of Sindore are always happy to act as patrons of artists. The other reason has to do with the gods.

Not far from the Dragon's Nest Tower, stands an ivory-white marble temple. In Waterwater, there are many temples that use marble as building materials, but a large number of delicate and gentle stone carving patterns such as shells, roses, and laurel branches are used in architectural decoration, so that the curly relief flowers and plants cover the cold and hard texture of the stone itself.

Of course, such a temple style will not worship incomprehensible gods such as Tyr, the god of justice, and Haim, the god of guardians. In the square in front of the temple was a huge magical fountain shaped like a pearl oyster, and at the center of the fountain was a beautiful statue of the goddess, all as bright as gold, except for the long curly hair that shone like a molten ruby.

This is the famous goddess of love and beauty in the human god lineage, and among her followers, she is often referred to as the "Fire-haired Lady".

The handsome poet who accompanies the goddess is the servant of Ogma, the king of knowledge, and Miriel, the god of poetry and music.

Unlike the temples of the gods of good, who focus on the fight against evil, the goddess of love and beauty is gentle and never appears in the battle between good and evil if unnecessary, and her followers are not well organized, often becoming a salon for noble ladies or a sororring party for rich ladies. But because of this, the temple has never been worried about money, on the contrary, it has always been known for its beautiful architecture and numerous art collections.

As long as the temple is present, the down-and-out bard and the aspiring young painter will never worry about making a living, because according to the oracle of the goddess, the temple of the goddess will always be dedicated and generous in acquiring works of art and organizing art performances.

But it is precisely because of this anachronistic aesthetic approach that this powerful goddess is particularly harmless, just as her temple never interferes in the political issues of the main material plane, and this goddess has no sense of existence in the war of the gods, except for those goddesses (and a few male gods) who are loved by her can be protected and helped by the fire-haired lady, the goddess's presence will always seem extremely scarce.

But for the Sindore family, it was better to be next door to the Temple of the Firehair Lady than to live across the door from the Temple of Justice.

After all, what ancient aristocratic family doesn't have a few unsuitable private matters to talk about in public?

The bronze dragon cast looked away from the young portraitists and bards scattered around Pearl Oyster Square, and fell to the edge of the street, where a brown-yellow cat seemed to have jumped into the little myrtle bush by the small flower bed made of oak.

At this moment, in one of the tea rooms of the Dragon's Nest Tower, a door woven of wild roses suddenly appeared, allowing the brown and yellow cat to sit directly on the ivory-decorated chair through the small door of the rose.

Malcius, the lord of the Dragon's Nest, was making a pot of flower and fruit tea, and he skillfully poured rose dew and lemon juice into the already brewed black tea in turn, and then added foaming cream and raspberries to mix the sweet aroma of the black tea with the smell of fruit and flower oil, and then stirred in a spoonful of maple syrup.

When the cup of sweet flower and fruit tea was placed in front of the wild cat, Malcius was not surprised to see that the cat's body began to grow, and the claws with feline cushions turned into human palms, and skillfully picked up the teacup, and then sniffed the tea: "This is black tea that has been stored for more than a year, and the aroma is not strong enough." Malcius, have the Sindore family's finances been stretched to this point?"

Looking at the noble lady in front of him, Malcius replied calmly, "For the study of the arcane, wealth is only a necessity in our quest for the highest truth, but it is not the whole meaning of our lives. Precious stones and gold are no more precious than glass and sulfur in our eyes. Say, Dun Strono of Skull Harbor, did you come to the Dragon's Nest just to taste the Sindore's cup of flower and fruit tea?"

In response to the Sindore master's question, the noblewoman, who had regained her human-faced lion form, flicked her thick tail impatiently and whipped her ivory chair into a crackling sound: "I have been attacked, a kind of ooze monster I have never seen before, with a high degree of intelligence and a strong magical immunity, attacking my residence and taking my collaborator with you. I have come here to seek the friendship of the Sindore family and to give me a chance to take revenge. ”

Such a request seemed abrupt, given that Waterdeep boasted the best law and order environment in the northern part of the continent, and the legal and bureaucratic systems that matched it, and the clergy from the temples of Tyre and Heim filled the judicial and security forces. If a well-behaved citizen is robbed of his home, why not appeal to the sheriff and instead go through a secret portal to the secret chamber of the Dragon's Lair Tower?

The reason is simple, and Maltheus also knows that a slave trader like Dunstrano has no way to appeal to the sheriff of Waterdeep - for example, the "partner" she left at the scene of the crime using a dimensional anchor is actually a slave trader from the famous Twilight Chamber of Commerce in the Dark Regions, and this crime alone makes it impossible for her to gain a foothold in Waterdeep.

Although Waterdeep acquiesced to the existence of Skull Harbor, it did not mean that legendary mages like Kelburn Blackwand did not need to be faceless. Nominally, at least, Waterdeep was an abolitionist city-state.

With his usual graceful smile, the Master of Sindore sent a sympathetic glance to the Human-Faced Lion Slavers: "It sounds like the dragon that has just arrived in Skull Harbor is also a kind and noble metal dragon, and a fierce abolitionist?The Harpists League will probably be happy to hear this......

His words were immediately interrupted by the enraged front paws of the mother-faced lion, and the huge claws smashed on the tea table, smashing the expensive fine porcelain tea set to pieces: "Malcius Sindore, remember, you are not as innocent as the other magicians in Waterdeep, but my Dunstrano's biggest slave buyer in Waterdeep! If Kelburn Blackrod knew about the magical experiments you conducted in the Dragon's Lair Tower, the Sindore family would be removed from this hypocritical city of radiance, just like the noble families who betrayed the city lord before them!"

(End of chapter)