Death Notice Book 8: Chapter 30: Zhentarim

Release Date: 2026-06-06 21:23:08

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“The Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission suffered heavy losses. The personal guards of Prince Milleras had many dead and injured, and even the Prince himself was slightly wounded.”

Iristin was slightly taken aback. Although she did not know why Qin Lun was asking about the Sun Elves, she still answered truthfully.

“Oh, that is truly… unfortunate!” Qin Lun’s eyes flickered, and he asked casually, “What about the mercenaries they hired? Didn’t they help the Prince?”

“Mercenaries? Hmm, it seems two human mercenaries also died. But, there were only eight of them total, so they probably didn’t play much of a role!” Iristin said somewhat uncertainly.

Qin Lun gave a light laugh and didn’t say anything more. Iristin had been with him throughout this battle and only had a general understanding of how the Sun Elves were attacked; she didn’t fully grasp the strength of the Apostles.

Judging by the close coordination between the Orc cavalry and the Assassins, the attackers had planned this in advance. The force behind them was powerful, even confident they could control the double-edged sword that was the Orcs.

In Qin Lun’s view, the main target of this attack was clearly the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission. As for the core leadership of the Moon Elves, including himself, the fake royal descendant, they were just secondary, incidental targets. Even so, the Stalkers he encountered were at least at the level of High-Rank Apostles.

Although Qin Lun didn’t have much equipment on him at the time, he had previously comprehended the Hunter’s Heart, and coupled with the “Blood of Dissection” transformed from the Heart of Slaughter, his combat power was extremely close to the Second Order. Yet, under the Stalker’s assault, he was completely helpless. Even Joey only managed to save his own life by relying on momentary ferocity and adopting a strategy of trading injuries for wounds.

This wasn’t due to lack of preparation or losing the initiative first, but rather the complete suppression of a lower-ranked profession by a higher-ranked one in terms of absolute power. As for the later counterattack using “Stellar Black Hole,” most of the credit actually belonged to Iristin and the two other Elven Rangers. Otherwise, with the “Stellar Black Hole” requiring several seconds of preparation time, how could he have had a chance to attack the Stalker?

If the enemies encountered by the secondary targets were this powerful, one could imagine the pressure faced by their main target, Milleras, who had a full team of Sun Elf personal guards. The attackers there definitely numbered more than just one or two high-ranking professionals.

“They actually lost two people!” Qin Lun raised an eyebrow; he had to admit this outcome was somewhat unexpected.

The combat effectiveness displayed by a single Apostle versus a team-oriented Apostle in small-scale battles differed greatly, especially for a mixed squad like the Lost Novices that was built with complementary professions. This was absolutely not a simple matter of addition or subtraction. Compared to a solo Apostle, a well-coordinated team’s combat power increased exponentially.

“Iristin, do the Elders know the identity of the attackers?” Qin Lun asked slowly.

“They do. It’s the notorious Zhentarim!” Iristin said through gritted teeth, a trace of ferocity appearing on her sweet and elegant face for the first time. After a moment’s hesitation, she added, “Elder Adeline estimates their target was Prince Milleras. The assassinations targeting the tribe’s high-ranking members and royal descendants were probably just done in passing. After all, peace-loving Elves have always been their mortal enemies.”

Zhentarim? Hearing this name, Qin Lun quickly recalled the two small information gathering tasks he had previously received: “Harpers” and “Zhentarim.” Taking a quick look at the Death Notice, he found that these two small tasks had vanished, but both terms could now be looked up within the Death Notice. It seemed Shattered Starry Sky had obtained detailed information from other Apostles.

Although the information gathering tasks were individual small tasks, they were issued to all Apostles entering this world. Once someone completed them, they would naturally disappear from the task lists of other Apostles.

Back then, to avoid exposing his Apostle identity, Qin Lun hadn’t gone around asking people about the intel for these two small tasks. He submerged his consciousness into the Death Notice, checking the information on “Zhentarim” and “Harpers” while listening to Iristin’s explanation.

The Zhentarim was composed of evil-aligned Mages, Priests, Warriors, and Rogues. Their main bases were the Citadel of the Raven, Zhentil Keep, and Darkhold around the Moonsea. They were also known as the Black Network, an extremely evil organization.

They would not hesitate to use any means of terror against anything they couldn’t directly control, to force its submission or secretly weaken its power until it no longer posed any threat to the Zhentarim and complied obediently.

The main goal of the Zhentarim was to control the Moonsea region, secretly manipulate all political centers in this area, and control the trade routes from the Moonsea to the Sea of Fallen Stars, Steam Lake, Sword Coast, and other most prosperous regions of the continent.

The leadership group of the Zhentarim was called the “Inner Circle,” composed of multiple people. This evil organization was powerful. By controlling the golden trade routes for many years, they had the funds to recruit numerous powerful individuals of evil alignment.

To this day, the Zhentarim had become a malignancy on the Faerûn continent, even threatening the peace of many human kingdoms and Sapient Races. However, the organization’s leadership was relatively loose, its members lacked strong cohesion, and it didn’t have a clear political program or ultimate goal, which was why it had never truly become a major power over the years.

The Zhentarim’s greatest rivals were the “Harpers Alliance.” Individuals of any age, profession, or race on the Faerûn continent who were not evil could become Harpers.

Elves, Half-elves, Humans, even Centaurs, Dwarves, and other highly intelligent forest races. The first three made up the majority within the Harpers; these were mostly Bards or Rangers, though there were other professions as well.

The Harpers were a very loosely structured secret organization. No one had heard of them having a clear leader, and their internal membership was complex. Most Harpers hid their identities, only acting at critical points in the situation, and retreating into secrecy again after completing their tasks.

Because the Harpers did not chase fame or profit, acting only based on their inner ideals and sense of justice, most of them operated alone. This made it difficult to precisely define the organization’s program and specific goals.

The only thing that was clear was that the Harpers believed their mission was to maintain balance in the world and thwart the schemes of evil organizations. This also made them absolute mortal enemies of the Zhentarim. Often, these two organizations were directly opposed to each other, neither giving an inch.

Listening to Iristin’s introduction of the Zhentarim, Qin Lun quickly understood why this evil organization targeted the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission. The Cormanthor Forest bordered the Moonsea, lying on its southern shore. The Cormanthor Elves themselves were the Zhentarim’s greatest geopolitical rivals, and many Harpers originated from Cormanthor.

The trade routes the Zhentarim strove to control went south from the Moonsea to the Sea of Fallen Stars and the Vihong Sea, reaching the Steam Lake via the Naga River and Alan River, then west from the southern part of the mainland to Calimport, and finally north along the Sword Coast trade route until Deepwater City. This horseshoe-shaped golden trade route essentially followed the Ancient Path of the Elven migration.

The Sun Elves’ migration route would inevitably cause turmoil along this golden trade route, reducing the Zhentarim’s control in this area and affecting their most fundamental foundation. No wonder this organization went all out to pursue and intercept the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission.

In fact, the Sun Elves’ long March-like migration would affect more than just the Zhentarim. The major commercial alliances, churches, and large organizations in the various human kingdoms along the route would all inevitably be significantly impacted.

For example: the Seven Suns Merchant Consortium of Calimshan, the Red Robe Mages of the Amn and Tethyr regions, the Iron Throne of Baldur’s Gate, the Council of Sixteen of Deepwater City, and the churches dependent on commercial ports and towns, such as those of Umberlee, Tymora, Gond, Ilmater, and Oghma.

The regions where these organizations and alliances were rooted covered the entire western and southern parts of the Faerûn continent’s human kingdoms, accounting for three-quarters of Faerûn’s essence and over 85% of its population. If you added the other Elven Courts that were unhappy to see the Sun Elves succeed, the Cormanthor Elves were almost making enemies of the entire continent.

In the history of Faerûn without Apostle involvement, the Sun Elves retracing the Ancient Path allowed them, after Aryvandaar, to once again possess the qualifications for Elven leadership both in terms of legal authority and prestige. Combined with the special geographical location of Evermeet, the rebuilt Sun Court essentially became the spiritual pillar for all Elves across Faerûn.

Unfortunately, now due to the Butterfly Effect caused by a certain Serial Killer, the future appearance of the Moon Court largely overpowered the Sun Court, becoming the new political center for Faerûn’s Elves. The migration Long March the Sun Elves were undertaking had already lost its greatest potential achievement before even succeeding. It also rendered the careful plans of the Elven God-King Corellon Larethian futile, ultimately splitting the Elven pantheon into two major factions.

…

After Iristin left, Qin Lun pondered for a while, then took the Glove of Sacrifice from his Storage Space and put it on his left hand. After this lesson, he didn’t dare be overconfident anymore. Even if he needed to conceal his identity, the Glove of Sacrifice, which could instantly cast three Sixth Tier spells, had to be on hand at all times.

Although he had only talked with Iristin for a short while, Qin Lun still felt his head splitting with pain. His right eye, swollen like a walnut, shed another line of bloody tears. Using big skills like “Stellar Black Hole” didn’t just consume Stamina/Energy Points; it seemed to also involve some kind of energy data not yet set within the Death Notice.

Judging by his body’s current reaction, this power had some relation to Mental Will, vitality, and the Soul. Qin Lun’s unbearable headache and difficulty concentrating were clearly due to excessive consumption of mental power. Additionally, his Health Points couldn’t return to their optimal state, and he had consumed a full 37 points of Soul Lifespan.

In this state, Qin Lun had no choice but to give up on thinking and fell into a deep sleep inside the tent.

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Volume 2 Chapter 31: Combat Model »