Faerûn: Lord of the Eternal Sun

Chapter 20 Treasure Hunt, Hidden Compartment

"Isaac, you actually killed the gnoll chieftain all by yourself!!"

Antontans and Liam stared in disbelief at the leader's enormous and grotesque corpse, which still exuded a fierce aura.

Large craters appeared on the floor and walls of the main hall, huge holes created by a massive flail, demonstrating the intensity of the battle between the monster leader and the Son of the Sun.

It looked as if two ferocious brown bears had once fought here.

Anyone else would most likely have been smashed into mincemeat by the gnoll leader in just a few rounds.

"It seems hiring Isaac at a high price to participate in the adventure was the right thing to do!" Anton Tans thought to himself.

The wounded were treated in the main hall. They took bandages and hemostatic powder from the camels tied to the backs of the camels nearby and helped each other bandage their wounds.

Apart from the wanderers, everyone else was injured, with the most serious injury being Captain Antontans, whose right shoulder was dislocated.

If I don't have the priest use divine magic to heal me after returning to the city, I'm afraid I'll suffer from the injury and become half-crippled.

The female druid's animal companion also looked terrible, with its body covered in wounds of all sizes, and half of its tail had been cut off and swallowed back into its belly.

However, the desert monitor lizard is incredibly resilient; given enough food, its wounds and broken tails can regrow.

Seeing the two corpses of their companions on the ground, everyone's expressions turned grim. The female member of the Sandblade Adventurer Group and a skilled lone wolf had perished in the battle.

That female team member was Anton Tans's lover; although she wasn't officially recognized, she had been with him for many years.

The wanderer Liam looked remorseful. If it weren't for that gnoll leader, and with Isaac holding the line, the adventurer's party wouldn't have suffered any casualties.

But accidents are common in adventure, so he can't be entirely blamed.

The team members all looked grief-stricken, and Isaac's face was heavy. Fortunately, over the years, he had experienced the loss of his comrades many times, and he had only known the deceased for a few days.

"Logically speaking, since this group of gnolls has been entrenched here for so long, there shouldn't be any other dangers in the temple. However, we still need to be careful."

Having not forgotten the purpose of their visit, Antontans shook off his grief and rose to gather his team to explore the temple.

"Let's go."

"Isaac, here's the shield, you go first."

"Um."

Isaac, the strongest among them, shouldered the most responsibility. His scalp was wrapped in a clean bandage, making him look both comical and pitiful.

The remaining five people went inside the temple, while the desert giant lizard stayed behind to guard the camels to prevent the escaped gnoll from doing anything bad, as it was also badly injured and urgently needed to stop and rest.

……

The side corridor of the main hall leads directly to the rear buildings. The group walked along the corridor, searching the clergy's quarters, the prayer corridor, and the animal enclosure, but all of them were abandoned and they found nothing of value.

This discouraged the group somewhat, as any supplies they had would have already been looted by the gnolls and traded with desert caravans for survival materials.

Behind the temple is a small fountain with a babbling stream, which must be the water source that the jackals rely on for survival.

The water looked fairly clean, and the female druid determined it was drinkable. So the group stopped to rehydrate and planned to fill their water bags before leaving.

The buildings behind were even more dilapidated, connecting to the Gobi Desert outside. Presumably, the escaped jackal had vanished without a trace.

The female druid was quite experienced with the temple's architectural structure and led the group through several turns until they arrived at a relatively intact stone chamber located deep within the temple.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the residence of the high priest at that time, or the temple's repository of sacred objects."

It is worth mentioning that, unlike the lawful sun god, the goddess of the wilderness's followers do not worship gold and silver, but rather have a preference for natural items.

Therefore, the temple interior is filled with dried sacred wreaths, deer tooth amulets, animal skin scrolls, and so on, all of which have lost their efficacy over time and become worthless junk.

The stone door of the chamber had collapsed, and the entrance was half-covered by yellow sand. Several people climbed into the chamber by stepping on the sand dunes.

Inside the stone chamber is a sacrificial altar, and the inner walls are decorated with murals depicting natural harmony, including wild animals coming to the temple and living in harmony with the believers.

The place was also ransacked, and no valuable items were found. However, the group did not leave immediately, but instead asked the wanderers to look for a secret room.

This was their only hope; the rest of the buildings were buried under yellow sand, and they couldn't possibly dig here with just a few people.

Liam was very professional. He took out the small hammer he had brought and kept tapping along the walls and floor, listening to the echoes to determine if there was a dark room.

After some fiddling, they actually discovered something unusual. To everyone else, the echo sounded exactly the same. The wanderer, however, was pleasantly surprised and beckoned everyone to come to the wall.

"The space behind this mural is empty."

We need to find a way to open it.

"After all these years, the locking mechanism must be obsolete by now. How thick is it?"

Isaac asked, and the wanderer knocked a few more times, determining that it should be more than ten centimeters thick.

The thickness is acceptable, but considering that it has been weathered for so many years, the temple has lost its divine protection and the building is no longer that sturdy.

So Isaac told everyone to wait a moment, and he ran to the front hall and brought over the gnoll chieftain's large flail.

That flail must weigh seventy or eighty pounds; only Isaac could swing it.

The crowd stepped back to make room, and Isaac swung his flail. The hammerhead, with its sharp horn, spun several times as the chain rotated before finally smashing it hard against the mural.

With a loud bang, sand and gravel flew everywhere, leaving a large crater in the wall. Sure enough, an object could be seen faintly behind it.

The group was all excited. Isaac put all his strength into it and used the simplest and most brutal method to open the mechanism. A few minutes later, he completely destroyed the mural, revealing a grid about half a meter long and wide.

The lattice was hidden in the wall, and inside were four items: an embroidered pouch that looked like a money bag, a silver pendant, a black ring, and a beautifully crafted book that was two inches thick.

As the captain, Anton Tans took out the items inside and examined them one by one.

First was an embroidered pouch, bigger than the palm of your hand. It was indeed a money pouch. As soon as I took it, I heard a slight clinking sound of gold coins. When I opened the pouch, I saw that it was full of glittering gold coins, about a hundred of them.

The group's frustration vanished. According to the rules of adventure, Antontans had to give everyone a share, and the wanderers were no exception.

This trip wasn't a waste after all.

The silver pendant bears the emblem of Merika, depicting a unicorn head facing left, with golden horns and bright blue eyes.

It also has a faint magical aura, and besides being a holy emblem, it is also a magical item.

The black ring, with its rough patterns, appears simple and unadorned at first glance, but it is actually a magical item.

The beautifully bound book was covered with hardwood and leather, with brass inlays at the four corners. Inside, it contained the learning methods for three nature spells, making it a spellbook for the Druid profession.

"Let's go back first. After we get back to the city and have the harvest appraised, we can discuss how to divide it."

This harvest is considerable. The value of these magical items can only be determined after they are appraised. The journey back is somewhat dangerous, so it is not advisable to divide the spoils here to avoid causing internal conflicts.

As for the uneven distribution back in the city, we can always take it to the city hall and seek arbitration in court.