(More plot threads.)
Rubluflis rubbed his nose. What a miserable day. Ever since they had settled in this old tower, there had been nothing but trouble. First a blind cave ogre came up from below, forcing them out of their cosy home-cavern. Then this ancient tower, filled with nothing but gnawed old bones and that strange rock with scratchings on it. Rubluflis wished he had never listened to that bandit who tried to teach him to read. Now, ever since looking at that rock, he'd been having weird pains in his head, like a bad cold, and every time he sneezed one of the old bones began to move. It was too much for a kobold to be asked to deal with.
-How many ddiffrent plots do we have? Whats next? A kobold is gonna steal Weird's soul, become him, and strangle me, revives me, uses my arm to strike down Zanzetutkuken, then kill itself?-
Well that would certainly be good entertainment...
One more strike till your dead Eric... Most likely by ninja dragon assassins!
Bring it on! I can take on the world with a xCopper pickaxex and ‼natural stone walls‼ (Coincidentally I've always wondered how the hell cave-ins generate boiling magma and why said "boiling magma" does not generate ‼dumbass miners‼.)
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Eric was astounded. Joykill had responded to his order with a flat "no."
That wasn't possible as far as he knew. The slab mentioned nothing about possible failures to guarantee an outcome. He had asked cog to impale his toes with his pickaxe, and he followed the directions without hesitation despite obvious pain. He then told him to forget the incident, which he did; he suddenly had no idea how his pickaxe had come to pin his foot to the ground. He told him that he had been a fool and tried to dig for foot fungus, and should go talk to gizogin about it. Which he did. To this day, Cog still believes he had a raging toe fungus infection at the time that had made him delerious and believe that a pickaxe could be used to cure it with a solid mining strike. Gizogin of course diagnosed him stark raving mad after finding no infections, and prescribed some sort of therapies to help cope with his overactive imagination. Eric had even told Corai to get lost in the terrifying deserts, or to look for copper or something. The little bugger did it, without even questioning it, and still believed it was his own idea, and had so far been wildly successful in the endeavor. Even Zanzetkuken was convinced Eric had actual authority, even though there was no apparent leadership or decision-making body in the fortress; everyone worked on what they felt needed done, and most of them worked in multiple fields, Eric just worked on designations of mining and construction alone to keep everything simple and not risk endangering anyone for lack of understanding what other designations were being planned or carried out, and to make sure mineral resources were monitored appropriately. 5x5 bedrooms with domed ceilings were architecturally sound for the surrounding bedrock and geologic activity compared to the boxy rooms or shafts Zanzetkuken was insisting on, and competing designs in such a tightly packed fortress would mean disaster in the future.
But here was Joykill, after having given Eric access to any explosives available just because Eric had asked for it without so much as a "what the hell do you need them for?", refusing to cooperate on the terms of necromancy.
"Uhh..." He was thinking quickly and irrationally... "
Forget that... You should teach me the secrets of life and death anyway, Wierd."
"No. There's no way in hell I'm going to do that."
"Ooo-kay... I'll be going then." He started walking away, but turned and stated sharply "You know what?
Just forget about all of this. It doesn't matter anyway." Then he turned and started to sprint up the stairs.
The scary-ass metal-elf Vemini turned back to Wierd, "What the hell was that all about?"
Completely oblivious, Wierd responded with "What was what about? Aren't you paying attention to me when I'm talking? Thari was-" The noise trailed off as he climbed the stairs, the architecture of this place rather soundly dampening noise at a distance. Should have targeted Vemini with that spell as well, he figured, but that had revealed something important; he hadn't failed to cast the spell either time nor was Joykill immune to the noble-god's gifts, but for whatever reason the topic of necromancy was off-limits. He had to find a boulder to pluck away at while he worked over this. Maybe he could start tearing the place apart while he was at it.