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[CaptainLambcake]

I remember when likot was a humble dwarf with his red sock

[CountAlex]

I remember when likot was a humble dwarf with his red sock

That was hella long ago
_____________________



Meanwhile, under the amazed gazes of bystanders, the house on wheels drove up to the gates of Akrulaban. King Likot has returned to the fortress! However, Queen Ivety didn't arrive.
Locals stared in amazement at the strangers - a human girl and a ridiculous goblin cornstalk. Among the familiar faces were Urdim, llama Libash and SUDDENLY chaplain Sedil with her hands tied. And of course Likot himself, he was leading the deadly pale limping dwarfess by the arm.
There were no exclamations of jubilation, everyone was in confusion. The procession entered the Mountain Home, while the spear dwarves remained behind to guard the wagon.
At the entrance, the king was greeted by a delegation of geese. They cackled excitedly, seeking the ruler's support.
- We'll solve that, - Likot said, - This one goes to a cage, and keep both eyes on her.
Urdim and Libash together led the necromancer to the prison, and the king proceeded further. Entering his office, he found the chest hard-unsealed. There was a piss puddle in the geese paddock. For some reason, tailor Gratin Lamugat walked proudly with the Champion's medallion around his neck. Finally, the king met That One Goose, and it immediately complained. After expressing its suffering, it took Likot to the offender. Approaching the library, the king heard some kind of fuss and, looking inside, he was stupefied.
- This is not what you think!
- I can explain everything!
You and Tok said at the same time.
The king put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, waiting for an answer.

[CountAlex]

- We have a very heated discussion regarding the peculiarities of the interpretation of the author's notes in Onil Vaboktyrist's monograph on grinding kimberlite teeth for gears for bone-setting couches, the dispute turned out to be melting hot, her heart misbehaved a little from my arguments, she fell and tore off my pants while falling. Tok can confirm!
Buketotil froze, taking in what was said, and after a couple of seconds nodded:
- Yes.
- Well, a dead girl doesn't belong here. Throw the corpse outta the gate, no need for it to stink here.
- No, no, she's alive!
- Really? - the king softened, - What are you waiting for then? Take her to the hospital, pronto.
Kisat appeared in the doorway:
- Ah, Bukkaketotil. Having all the fun you can? How are your wife and children?
The engraver dropped the scholar's legs and swallowed in dismay:
- Q-queen Vellocum?
You pulled up your pants and put the woman on your back. Buketotil stayed behind mumbling something, and you dragged the poor thing to the hospital on your own. There were plenty of free beds, and you carefully put Adamel on one of them.

[CountAlex]

Likot's back at business! All hail Coop.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thread 35

_____________________



Eight months after you returned to the fortress, the day has finally come for the general assembly. As the King, you were sitting on the throne, while your right hand, Sinsot, was speaking from the podium to the hall full of dwarves:
- And only now, after many attempts, it became finally clear that the head would not speak, as the brain was pierced... - the manager spread his hands, - Our situation is deplorable. We've all heard how stories like this end. Everyone knows a million examples of fortresses that could not stand against the armies of necromancers and, as a result, the whole world was captured by the dead. True, this has never happened in our world... BUT we all know such examples!
Anxious whispers swept through the hall. Someone shouted:
- We must decisively commit suicide so enemies won't get us!
- Not an option, - Fernokzam shook his beard, - You will be still useful dead for a Necromancer anyway.
- Then we will launch a megaproject - a giant meat grinder and grind us all inside it!
- Let's dive into the lava!
- Let's drop a bridge on us!
They shouted at each other. Kisat, sitting next to you, even seemed to smile:
- What if Sedil is lying? What if there has never been any "teacher", and this is all her personal machinations? Has anyone ever seen the right side of the map? Maybe there is no purple zone with a necromancer tower?
- The right side of the map? Sinsot turned around.
- This is where she came from by her words.
The hall hummed softly again.



Over the past eight months, a subway has been completed in the fortress. Two lanes of narrow-gauge railway carried trolleys back and forth. Tok reunited with the family and now he was picking your brain about how his wife and children are picking his brain.
Kisat hit the Arol Iton a couple of times, pushing up some matters, sorting things out, and generally checking that everything was going well. The rest of the time she hung around in Akrulaban, probably because she was simply fed up with her home cesspool, while here everything was new.
Also the undead queen changed her hairstyle at Shilo's insistence. The girl's hair grew back and she began to experiment, so she invited Aunt Kisat to her club of weird hairstyles. That was all the same for Kisat, so she joined. Now, it seems that Shilo even began to have some influence on her in matters that Vellocum was too dead-inside for. Like what kind of outfit to wear and whether to wear shoes.
Ostox the goblin had tangled up with Nux, the alcoholic kobold, and now they were drowning sorrows together, sometimes bawling songs from behind the door of their room, but mostly kept quiet.
Scholar Adamel recovered after Sinsot's dizzying proposal, but when the ring came out of her, for some reason she returned it. Probably not the right size. The manager was saddened by the rejection.
The crown of Kisat perished in a fire in Muya's laboratory and you sat in your old crown like a fool. It was a shame that such a trophy, obtained by the way with the help of Iveti's snatch (then the queen, just to think of it), was snatched... ehh, it’s too sad to think of that.
Vellocum's smile was the result of her work on herself on the advice of the necromancer. She tried to show emotions, even though she did not experience them, as if she cared. It worket out tolerably, with a stretch. The inhabitants of the fortress were generally neutral towards her, sometimes with apprehension, but only because the queen was smarter and more reasonable than them.
The captive Sedil spent all this time in a cage in an attempt to talk to the head of the SAE, but all attempts failed. Even technically animated, the asshole did not respond to requests - either Sedil did not have the skills to understand which line of the spell had an error, or her teacher was an asshole and could not properly explain to the beginner what's the difference between public and private is, and why she constantly needs to create void. And in this matter, the undead queen for some reason believed her. Or maybe Sedil was really self-taught, but she lied about the teacher to give herself some authority?
You sat gloomy, waiting for proposals from the audience. You yourself thought to wall yourself up in a fortress and starve everyone to death, but Kisat's words about the right side of the map brought doubts to your violent mind. Now you were waiting for ideas on where and how to find this very map.

[Uthimienure]

Yay!  Thank you CountAlex for another post

[CountAlex]

Ooof the maps are huge.

Yay!  Thank you CountAlex for another post

Hey, pleasure's all mine!
Looks like that's a post that could really use input from readers here on what heroes should do next.
_____________________

Resort to the help of the hall. Surely someone at least heard something or maybe knows something.
We are asking everyone about the places they visited, maybe there is someone from the Far East. And we draw maps according to their answers.
Give Sinsot the task of finding someone with high cartography skills (another reason to hit on Adamel, she is a scholar, she might just know something), so that she puts all this on maps.
I support that, we will call on Adamel and offer her to serve the king of the dwarves. Let her share the knowledge about the right side of the map or help find it. Sinsot is responsible for communication with the scholar.





The meeting ended with a decree to everyone in the fortress to share both reliable knowledge and rumors regarding the right side of the map. Sinsot and scholarAdamel were appointed responsible for collecting the data. Reception of citizens was held in the recently completed temple of Armok. Sinsot wanted to question everyone in the tavern, but drunken tongues might be more bull than truth. Adamel insisted on the library, but the dust and sleepy atmosphere didn't help either. You insisted on the temple so that Armok would also participate in this matter indirectly. So, when all the information was collected, recorded and sketched, the following map turned out:
Directly beyond the elven-goblin Grove of Arrogant Paphos, the desert biome began. On the north side, the desert was surrounded by a wall. And the gates led into the desert. Directly opposite is the City of Three Lakes, Akkuhodeno, that watches the gates. In the desert, the traveler was met by a ruined goblin fortress, and on the right hand of it, a pyramid was visible in a trembling mirage. Only death awaited lonely travelers there. Well, groups too. On the left hand, the Labyrinth was visible. Its mere existence already terrified everyone who learned about this place. What evil mind or deity built it in the lifeless heat under the scorching sun? And what a secret was imprisoned inside... Or maybe NOTHING! Nobody knew the answer.
Further away - Mountain Home, Father of Three Rivers, Uremmezigor. It is rich in stone and sand, rich in water, and that's it. So they say.
To the south, down the map, there is an oasis. Even lower is the city. The city is like any other city - stands on the river. Named something like Romdisolerdi. Gotta pay to cross the bridge. There and on the way back too. There is a road to the south, and to the right there is a whole fortress. It's full of goblins, everyone avoids it. There is also the fault there. Such a hole, huge... bottomless. Slightly to the north in the distance there are columns. High as the skies, no one dares to approach. Gigantic spectacle that is painfully breathtaking.
In the very east, on the hot coast, the port Gustemotebir is located - the largest of the cities seen so far. Merchant ships sail in and out there daily. Some rumors about sea monsters.
Now to the most important thing:
Sedil's words were confirmed. The surviving refugees from those parts, or rather those who said that they met them in taverns... In general, the rest of the map was sketched basing only on rumors and conjectures. Not geographically, but "zombically". The Necromancer Tower did indeed exist, and its master had taken over a big area. To him, a single zombie was only a drop in the wave that swept through the two human kingdoms, the elven grove, and forced the cowardly dwarves to barricade themselves in the Mountain Home, leaving their hill brethren to fend for themselves.

[CountAlex]

GOTTA HAVE A CAROUSE



Before taking any action, you decided to find out what kind of fruit this necromancer, Sedil's teacher, is. Having collected some drinks, you went down to the prison. A small room with six cages was now the home for the single prisoner.
- Wow, - Sedil noticed you, - What a guest! Long time no see King Likot. How can I help? Or have you come to announce the day of my execution?
You sat down on a bench and poured wine into two mugs.
- There's nothing to execute you for. You haven't committed any crime.
- Then let me...
- But! - You interrupted, - You yourself understand why you are kept in a cage. Don't push it. Instead help us. And then I'll review your terms of detention.
- My "detention"? - The prisoner raised her eyebrows.
You handed her a full mug:
- You wanted to be a court necromancer, didn't you? Here is your chance. Tell me about your teacher. Who is he, what is his character, what to expect from him?
Itdun took the wine and drank the whole mug in one gulp. You got up to fill again. The woman smiled ruefully.
- Okay, I was bluffing. My teacher is dead. I only wanted you to bring me closer to the court, to take up a high post again. Maybe even as adviser? In fact, I have no idea whose experiment it was that met you in the Grove.
You filled up to the brim and sat down to wet your throat too:
- Dead? Then where do these rumors about the tower of the necromancer and the vast lands overrun by the armies of the dead come from? We did a perquisition and everyone agrees, that...
- That's right. There are more than enough dead, - Sedil sat down more comfortably, - Admit it, I'm still alive only because we have a common past... some kind of. You are a sentimental fellow. And my teacher exterminated all living things in his path when he set out on his "Great" campaign. According to his plan, absolutely everyone had to submit. And who obeys the necromancer better than the dead? Living only bring problems. Therefore, he subjected all his students to a special ritual - we could not harm him. The rest of his "subjects" were expected for posthumous faithful service in the ranks of his legions. The teacher personally revived all the fallen, so that the new soldiers would be devoted only to him. Even after the ritual, he didn't trust us. Didn't trust anyone.
Cedile took a generous sip of wine.
- Moron missed drama. Probably fed up with immortal life and the absence of any needs, he constantly added fuel to the fire of conflicts between students. We were a sort of entertainment for him, living puppets in his puppet theater. And then one day... we were standing with the siege of that Mountain Home, we never learnt the name. I watched from a distant hillock as he and a group of hangers-on laughed at some of my words. They drove me away for brushwood, "since I'm such a fool," and they themselves remained to amuse themselves by the fire. I don't know how the dwarves managed to slip through unnoticed, but soon I heard screams. A group of scouts killed all the students on the spot, and the teacher was captured and dragged to the Mountain Home. The dead rushed after them, but the dwarves blocked the entrance. For some time, the zombies unsuccessfully threw their bodies onto the stones, but in an instant everything just stopped. The dead stood motionless, like trees in a forest, aimlessly standing for an eternity. At that moment I realized that he was killed. My teacher was gone, as were all the other students. I was left alone in the midst of hordes of motionless zombies. Dwarves won't go to these undead fields - this army is too large in number, and it won't disperse anywhere. The zombies did not listen to me, of course, and I had no choice but to just leave... To look for my way away from those places.
You drained the mug:
- Yes, yes, it's all sad, but where did this purple freak come from?
- Maybe someone else came across the deserted necromancer’s tower? Do you have enemies?
You thought and moved to her, resting your back on the cage:
- Well...
- Oh, where would you get enemies from? - She lightly patted your cheek, - You are such a cute little fool. It was nice and easy to manipulate you. If not for that damned cave-in, now it could be me, and not Kisat, who shares a bed with you. Not because I like you, it's just convenient.
- How do you know that Kisat and I...
- Come on, - Sedil waved it off, - Entire Akrulaban knows. You are the king, she is the queen. What else is needed? Don't worry, your union's approval rating is one hundred and forty-seven percents. How do I know? I am a former chaplain, although in a cage, the residents trust me and come to pour out their souls. By the way, they sympathize with me more often than with your divorce from Ivety.
The mugs were filled with wine again, and you decided to crack Sedil with pressure:
- Just admit that the purple weirdo is your experiment! How else to explain that it brought us to you?
- Oh, you have a high opinion of my abilities, - she raised her mug, as if drinking for it, - So far, the pinnacle of my research is the leg of your queen successfully fused with the body. And then, the queen herself did not become my subordinate.
You nodded in agreement, and Sedil enthusiastically poured wine into herself:
- You know what I realized sitting under the rubble? And in this cage, of course... That my original goal was wrong! I... hic... came to your Mountain Home looking for that stick... haha, you know, the one that bends the will. I blindly followed in the footsteps of my teacher. He picked me up from the village he had ravaged and took me as an apprentice. For many years he was like a father to me. And then I thought - by Armok's! - I'm just like my father! I want to take over the whole world just for nothing! What is the end goal? What is the result? Sitting on a mountain of corpses and realizing your greatness? Do I need that wand for this outcome?
You looked at your reflection in the mug:
- You talk a lot.
- And I thought that whether that wand actually exists or not - it doesn't matter to me now. I don't want to own it! I don't want to conquer the whole world! I want to live in it and enjoy the various little things that make up ordinary mortal lives. Which was mine before. I want simple joys, and simple foolish happiness. Am I not worthy of happiness, Likot? ... Likot?
Sedil turned, but the king was already asleep, drooling into a mug of wine.



A whirlwind of thoughts swept away from the unconscious king. For a long time it circled over the lands, tales of which filled his head in the last days. Until finally...
You woke up SUDDENLY in the dark, damp dungeon of Gishdistkalur Mountain Home. A steel chain and shackles on your leg have long been a familiar attribute of your small residence here. But unlike any, even an unwanted guest, you were not fed, watered, and were treated extremely unfriendly. Well, the hosts could be understood, because it was your army that stood at their gates for the last three years. But you couldn’t manage it from such a depth. The connection was broken, you felt that even if you were on the surface now, the dead would not obey you. Now it's up to you to animate the bolted bodies to hone your skills with dwarven crossbowmen. Well, fate really is a villain.
But suddenly, for the first time in three years, the door to the dungeon opened. A drunken dwarf stood in the doorway:
- They ran out of bolts... - he grumbled under his breath, - There is nothing more to shoot them with, you see. Go collect the bolts, Nukad... Go and collect it yourself, you moron. Well, it stinks.
Squinting, he went down to the pile of corpses and began grunting and removing bolts from the bodies.



As the dwarf tugged bolts enthusiastically, you made a stealthy gesture and the bodies behind him began to rise, one at a time. After a couple of minutes, Nukad decided to straighten his back and suddenly found himself surrounded by a crowd of zombies. Although he was armed and in armor, this did not save him. Very soon, your small army marched through all the floors of the Mountain House, as it was planned three years ago, not from top to bottom, but vice versa. The dead cleared all the discovered premises, and you gladly added to your army even those who had long since rested in the majestic halls of sorrow. But now an ancient ancestor could stand shoulder to shoulder with a relative who had just died. What an idyll!
With the capture of Gishdistkalur, your dream of conquering the North was fulfilled. You felt undoubted satisfaction from the long-awaited victory. The only fact that overshadowed it was that you remained walled up inside the dwaf fortress, and you missed your necromantic tower so much.