From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 401 Fire scene
Dror Ragzlin.

True Soul, a hobgoblin, and one of the three leaders of the goblin camp.

He was in the middle of casting the third-level necromancy spell, Speak with the Dead, on the corpse of a mind flayer when the explosion in the hall occurred.

The hall where his throne was placed was originally the main hall of the Temple of Selûne. In addition to the spacious space structure, the largest statue of the goddess Selûne was placed on the high platform in the hall.

Now the pure statue was destroyed by the goblins, the upper body of the goddess, with arms raised high to call for light, fell to the ground, and the goblins marked a red cross on her face with blood. Although the lower part of the goddess statue with its graceful curves was still standing on the ground, the goblins' blasphemy against it was no less than that of the upper body.

The scarlet skull mark of the Supreme God's palm was smeared by the goblins on the goddess's hips. Skulls of various races were piled under the feet of the statue, forming a base for the flag of the Supreme God. In front of the flag with a sheep's head on top was the throne of Dror Ragzrin.

The crimson-skinned hobgoblin is twice as tall as his green cousins, and about the same height as a normal human, perhaps even a little stronger.

Before this goblin tribe accepted the faith of the Supreme God, Dror Ragzrin was a powerful warrior. After becoming a True Soul, he also gained the ability to use mind flayer tadpoles to activate magic scrolls.

A pale green magical aura enveloped the hobgoblin, and with a series of mumbling ritual spells, the body of the mind flayer was awakened, and the tentacles in its lower jaw twisted like a humanoid octopus whose head had just been chopped off but was not yet completely dead.

"I command you! Corpse! Speak up and tell the truth!"

"Who killed you?"

The only remaining psychic energy in the mind flayer's brain was awakened by necromancy, and the psychic energy brought illusions that appeared in the mind of Dror Ragzrin. This psychic creature from the astral plane answered the question in this way.

It was a memory of the mind flayer before he died, a claw opening a living sac like a flesh cocoon - but there was nothing but darkness.

The mind flayer's remaining psychic energy is not enough to present a complete picture.

Dror Lagozlin asked again, using all the psychic power of the visitor in his brain: "Don't play tricks! Tell me who killed you!"

The storage bag on the conch shell ship opened again. This time it was no longer filled with darkness. He saw a beautiful face, like white jade soaked in blood.

"Red hair! Red tattoos around the eyes! Red as blood!" Dror Lagozlin shouted in ecstasy, "A woman! Find her! Now! The glory of the Supreme God belongs to us!"

Among the goblins dancing around Dror Ragzrin was one who had just survived the butchering of Minsara.

"True Soul Master Dror Ragzlin! I've seen her!" Xie Nian's cheek, which seemed to be soaked in blood, was indeed unforgettable, even if the other party was just a goblin.

"What?" Drol Lagozlin was overjoyed. "This must be the good luck brought by the Supreme True God! Where is she?"

"In our camp! I saw her with Lady Minsara!" the goblin told all he knew.

"What! That damn drow again! We can't let her have all the glory! Follow me! Little ones! Let's find that woman and the weapon of the Supreme God!"

Before the goblins below the stage could receive the order, a huge roar was heard in the hall, followed by countless pieces of gravel and dust falling from the top of their heads. Some sharp-eyed goblins even saw the cracked and deformed wooden beams above their heads.

"It must be that woman!" Dror Lagozlin shouted, "They sneaked into our community just to slaughter the followers of the Supreme God and destroy His great cause! We must not let her succeed!"

Fortunately, the smoke and powder barrel that exploded in the hall was just an accident, so it did not cause a chain reaction. Therefore, after the initial explosion and tremor, the Broken Temple seemed to have returned to calm.

In fact, the fact that the smoke powder barrels exploded automatically was not the fault of the evil team that set them up, but was related to the goblins' messy fire-using habits.

As a race that can turn any place into a garbage dump, the goblins have no concept of safety in their dictionary. Smoke powder barrels and fire wine barrels are mixed together, and the only way to distinguish between the two is to open the lids and smell them when taking them. Even if these two flammable and explosive materials are directly soaked in kerosene, the goblins will not even think of moving them away.

In this case, it would be better to say that the explosion happening at this time is a low-probability event.

Since there were too many goblins queuing in the hall waiting to be branded by the Supreme God, verbal and physical conflicts were inevitable.

But this time the goblins were unlucky. Two quarreling goblins knocked over a brazier while pushing each other, which ignited the smoke powder bomb that Xie Nian and his men had hidden.

This was when Minsara had just executed a group of drunken goblins, which improved the discipline of the entire camp. Otherwise, the goblins who had been quarreling before would not just be pushing and shoving, but would be directly fighting with swords.

Of course, in terms of results, the consequences of drawing the sword might be smaller if the battle between the two goblins did not involve other objects in the scene environment.

In any case, the explosion in the hall still happened. The statue, which was already crumbling due to lack of maintenance, broke off from the roots and crushed the goblin priestess of the Supreme God into a meat pie.

The broken stones submerged the priestess's throne and also killed several goblins who were close to it.

In this accident, the overturned brazier was not the only one that was overturned by the two culprits. Almost all the braziers in the hall that were originally used to add a mysterious atmosphere to the priestess were destroyed, because the priestess herself placed these braziers on both sides of the throne in pursuit of "the greatness and glory of the Supreme God", so when the stone statue fell, all these things suffered.

The iron that the priestess used to brand the believers and the brazier that she used to heat them red, flew into the sky because of a stone that hit the edge of the vessel. The scorching red coals fell from the sky, not only scalding the goblins below, but also igniting some of the garbage and wooden products randomly piled in the hall. Many goblins came rushing over after hearing the noise, holding various tools, trying to produce some effect.

Some goblins tried to put out the fire, but their talent in this area was not even one tenth of their arson; some goblins used shovels, pickaxes, long sticks and other tools to try to pry the remaining statues to save their beloved priestess.

"Stop waving your damn pants! It will only make the fire bigger!" Some goblins who thought themselves to be smart began to try to command their companions, and then they immediately started fighting with others, because all goblins knew that only the smartest and most powerful one was qualified to give orders, and except for the priestess who died under the statue, there were no goblins who were recognized as powerful or smart.

"Hey! Here's a bucket of water!" The mobile goblin has discovered the little happiness in life. What could be more effective in an emergency than a bucket of water right next to the fire?
Of course there was - a barrel of kerosene placed next to the fire.

Because when the fire spreads to a certain extent, the goblins will abandon their original residence, take everything they can take away and scatter, and then look for another goblin settlement, it doesn’t matter if it’s an ogres’ or hobgoblins’, at least they are all cousins.

But in this forest, the Supreme God has gathered all the nearby goblin tribes and united them under one banner. This is why we can see these goblins gaining momentum in the territory of the Emerald Garden Druids.

The Supreme God turned the scattered goblins into a fortress. Although it looked intimidating, it was still sand in essence. With the gnolls completely wiped out and Minsara the only drow sent by the Moonrise Tower left, it was really difficult for the brainless goblins and ogres to accomplish anything.

The flames in the hall burned more and more fiercely. The continuously rising temperature and spreading kerosene caused the explosives placed in various places by the Evil Mind Squad to explode one after another.

The other three statues on both sides of the hall fell down one after another, killing a group of goblins who were originally surrounding the scene of the priestess' accident.

By this time, the man-made accident that occurred inside the Broken Temple had shown signs of being completely out of control.

The flames that shot up high ignited the already rotten beams. In the absence of beam support, cracks appeared in the stones that were constantly expanding due to the high temperature. Bricks began to fall from the stone vault, gradually blocking the only way for the goblins to escape.

As for the adventurers who are still inside the Broken Temple, what are they doing now?
They are searching for the spoils of the hobgoblin Dror Ragzrin.

Although the sturdy hobgoblin was proficient in all kinds of crude goblin-made weapons and could use the violent force of the barbarians to launch them as threatening ammunition, the power of the group could not bring him any advantage when facing eight wolf-like adventurers and a huge cave bear.

The two teams collided at the wooden bridge leading to the hall, and a fierce battle immediately broke out.

The hobgoblin Dror Ragzlin hadn't even finished his morale-boosting battle cry when Ivy ripped the black-haired head off his neck with a single blow of his sword.

The whole process was relaxed and carefree, without a trace of worldly air.

The other adventurers in the party were doing the same thing as the flames and falling rocks in the hall—killing goblins.

----

"Father Oak! How much tobacco powder and fire wine did you bring?"

When the adventurers filled every pocket with the gold looted by the goblins, they saw this scene - a sea of fire and falling rocks completely blocked the exit from the Broken Temple.

Xie Nian, who led the team to place the smoke powder and fire wine, also felt wronged: "Weren't those goblins trying to put out the fire just now? How come the fire got bigger? And these flammable and explosive things were not brought by us! They were bought by the Supreme True God from the smugglers of the Zhentarim! Besides, the explosives we set up before were all placed in hidden places. They were supposed to be used in battle to reduce our burden... Who knew that these goblins would actually ignite them..."

"Goblins have a great talent for turning good things into bad things, second only to their ability to turn neat homes into garbage dumps." Ivy shook his head. "What we should be thinking about now is how to get out, not discussing whose fault it is for the fire."

"We can go underground." Archdruid Harsin took the initiative to end the wilderness transformation after the battle with the hobgoblins. "Somewhere in this Selune Temple, there is a tunnel leading to the Underdark. It can take us to the Moonrise Tower."

"Great! Leaving those tieflings behind is exactly what I need." Asdaelon said in a very dramatic tone, "It's second only to hearing that we don't have to risk walking through the fire."

Will glared at Asdeln disapprovingly. "The druids in the woods are performing the ritual of thorns. Once the ritual is completed, the refugees will lose their hiding place. They need help, and we can't just stand by and watch!"

"We can't even protect ourselves now, so how can we have the time to care about those refugees!" Asdeln disagreed.

“Rite of Thorns?” Halsin’s calm voice fluctuated violently for the second time. The first time was when he lamented the adventurers’ method of not leaving him a way out. “It seems that too many things have happened in the woods while I was imprisoned... I’m sorry, adventurers... I was planning to go to the Moonrise Tower with you, but now I have to go back to the woods. Now I just hope I can find a hole left by a rat..."

"No, Archdruid, this place is too dangerous..." Ivy looked at the flames that were about to spread to the wooden bridge and quickly gave an order, "You have to come with us. The Underdark has more than one entrance and exit in this land. We also found a way to the Underdark under the dried-up well in the abandoned village."

After Harsin nodded in agreement, Ivy continued, "Xie Nian, which room have you not been to before? I think the passage is hidden there."

"There is only the room of the goblin priestess... Wait, do you trust our search so much? If we miss the right path, we will be trapped in this temple by the flames!" Xie Nian was a little nervous. In fact, it was the first time she showed concern for her companions. Although they had only known each other for a few days, she already loved these teammates with different characteristics.

"Because I know you won't let go of any gold coin, so if there really is a hidden path in this temple, it must be in the room where you haven't moved the bottles and jars." Ivy raised his voice to answer Xie Nian's question while running towards the priestess's room.

"...That makes sense!" Xie Nian nodded in conviction.

(End of this chapter)