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[Superdorf]

Dead end... minotaur coming... one thing to do!

Len: Make as much noise as possible, so as to alert the others to our presence. When the minotaur arrives, try and dodge around it, then dodge away from it as it attacks. Our goal here isn't to kill it-- it's to buy time for our allies to arrive.

[Quaksna]

"Okay. Seems I have to do this, after all..."

"Heeeeeeey!"

"Whoa, that was fast! That's some big woodchop..."
Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!

"That's Len!" shouted Olmul. "It comes from here, this way, quickly!"

Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!
Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!
"It's no use!" laughed Len.

"A sword. But no trace of Len..." sighed Oluml.
"I hear that terrible grunting!" said Berath. "And... Swinging of some kind. Left!"

Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!
Minotaur tries to punch Len but he jumps away!

Minotaur tries to kick Len but he jumps away!
Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!
Len was becoming tired, of jumping all around.

"Ack, this is loooong hallway!"
"But he's definitely on the other side!"

Minotaur tries to hack Len but he jumps away!
Minotaur tries to hack Len but the attack is deflected with -bronze bracer-!
Still, the impact was very powerful, the force pulled the whole arm and dislocated his shoulder.
Len groaned.

"Fear not, here we come!" called Olmul.
"That's some beast." said Berath. "Trapped now!"
"Stop babblin' and strike!" shouted Len, angry.

[Superdorf]

Excellent! Now then...

Len: Keep dodging about; draw the beastie's attention.
Olmul + Berath: While the minotaur is distracted by Len's antics, sneak up and shank it in the ankles!

[Quaksna]

Minotaur misses!
Minotaur tries to hack Len but he crawls away!
Olmul misses!

The minotaur wasn't very smart, so he kept attacking Len. But, as Len was tired, with his painful back, he didn't managed to jump very well. He fell to the ground, and the minotaur tried to take advantage of it. But our heroes were faster.
Olmul slashes the Minotaur in right lower leg, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle! A sensory nerve was severed!
Berath stabs the Minotaur in left lower leg, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle! An artery was torn!
Minotaur falls over.

The minotaur couldn't stand now, so he used his left arm to balance, and maintained his mobility.
Berath misses!
Minotaur tries to hack Len but he crawls away!
Len touched wall behind him, and knew, there's no escape now.

Minotaur gores Len, bruising the skin!
Len wasn't any chubby peasant, he just fitted between his two pointy horns.
Len slashes the Minotaur in the neck, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle! An artery was torn!

Then Len collapsed, so did the minotaur.
Berath stabs the Minotaur in upper body, tearing the skin and bruising the muscle!
Olmul slashes the Minotaur in upper body, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!
Berath stabs the Minotaur in upper body, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!

The Minotaur was struck down.
"Phew... You okay, Len?" asked Olmul.
Len apparently wasn't okay. He was gasping and panting intensely.
"Good, no cut wounds, just bruises... Man, that beast pushed me hard! My guts..."
Len retches.
Len retches.
"Give him a support, poor guy he is." said Berath. "Let's take a look around."

"You saw this guy?" asked Olmul.
"Huh, who's that?" asked Len back. "No, I didn't. Looks like some cultist or something..."
They searched the hallways, to no purpose.

"Gah, this is awful! Such nice labyrinth and no treasures in it..."
"Don't worry, we'll just..." cheered him Olmul. "Set up camp, and..."
"This will take some time, ouch..." said Len, trying to move his dislocated shoulder. He looked truly miserable.
"You think you'll make it to that... Northern area?" asked Berath.
"The woods aren't far now. I'll try... Ouch..."


Copnutgashi, the mead hall

"Rane!"

"You called, lord Dazelosric?" asked the hero.
"I called, and I have assignment for you."
"Speak, I hear and obey."

"Great. Your task is, you'll find this troublemaker, Len Erdipatri, and bring him to me. He's up to something. We can't risk a rebellion, so... I would like to keep eye on him... More than I was."
"I see. If it's your will, I am on to catch that contumelious peasant!"
"If you want, you can take rest of guards with you. I don't need them right now."
"Oh no, I can't put Copnutgashi in danger. For the sake of my honor, I am going on my own."
"As you wish. Go!"

"First Lolor and now this woodcutter. Gah... Make me coffee."

[Superdorf]

Hooray, everybody lived! Except the minotaur. Which is as it should be.

Len's in for a little incarceration, it seems... here's hoping this Dazelosric fellow's just paranoid-crazy and not murderous-crazy.

[mightymushroom]

I'm hoping Rane the Hero catches up to Len & dwarves just as they find the old king everybody else thinks is dead . . . and since there have been hints of necromancy at work, well . . . maybe they'll be glad for an extra warrior even if he is arresting them.

[Quaksna]

These assumptions makes me feel... Good!

As chapter 5 is coming to the end (oh, how fleeting life is), I have one more battle in my sleeve, and prepare yourself well, for it's going to be biggest battle there ever was in this thread...

But, for it's going to be so epic and stuff, I need to get prepared too. And that's gonna take time (Prepare to be ambushed in few days). Now, when I got back into that wretched screw press of society again... And I got my first serious organist assignment... Not so much spare time.

I must laugh, seeing the rate I shot posts at the beginning of this story. Now I'm inspired elsewhere, rate has come down. And old Q'uaksnas gettin'... Older. Well, this post is big, and it would be sad if you didn't get anything from it, so I'll at least thank you all.

Thanks goes to all contributors, especially Superdorf and mightymushroom, but also methylatedspirit, snow dwarf, The_Saladman, scourge728, Willow Luman, Mad Monkey, High tyrol, NJW2000, Cathar, Delphonso, anyone who ever posted to this thread, took part in battles or suggested, or just wrote PTW. It means so much to me. Thank you. I thank you, and Deler and Tarmid too, of course. You're keeping this thread alive.

[Quaksna]

"Oh look, he's not greeting us on the ramparts!" said Limulsheget. "This is going to be legendary battle, he's not acting accordingly!"

"No wonder he's hiding himself, he's vulnerable. Prepare the army." ordered Uxzoustug.

Omot deployed squads of soldiers, everyone was ready to fight.
Horrible screeching and screaming was heard from the fortress.

Then, cloud of bogeymen flew above the walls, then down to attack the army. Those who had no wings climbed the walls down.
On ramparts, night heralds were waiting, some had bows and aimed.

"Go on, Ong." said Uxzoustug. "He's not gonna open the gate himself..."
Limulsheget nodded, took a deep breath, raised his hands, towards the fortress.

The bogeymen scratched and kicked with their supernatural agility, but goblins were holding well. With numbers, they managed to take some down.

Uxzoustug raised his sword, it set itself ablaze and shone like a beacon. The darkness faded a little bit, some of the bogeymen vaporised in the light.
The fortress rumbled, blocks were slowly jumping to edge, some fell out.

A figure, other than those around has shown up on the walls, in long coat and raised arm.
Limulsheget stopped muttering his incantations and said: "Look, he's here! Took him long enough!"

"Oströtakåtôz?"
Uxzoustug jerked and lost concentration for a moment.
"What? How?" he asked. "What's he doing here?"

Some wicked spell permeated throughout the army. Goblins started to cough, retch, and faint.
"Ong! Stop sieging and shield them!"
Limulsheget nodded, and muttered another spells. The former faded, but one chain of the raised bridge broke, and the other didn't withstand the weight alone. The bridge came down, only to reveal another unpleasant surprise.

"Oh, not this thing! What is happening? How's this possible?!!"
"Shouldn't be the pale guy keeping it in a pasture?" asked Limulsheget. "Shouldn't it obey him?"

"This thing does not obey." said Uxzoustug. "This thing just gobbles mortals, only thing you can do is to shackle it... Oh, now I got it. They must have made some pact between themselves!"
"This complicates things!" whispered Omot. To his men, he shouted: "Hold on! We'll take it down!"

Then he turned to Limul and Uxzoustug again. "Take it down!"
Uxzoustug wanted to lower his sword, Limul stopped him.

"No no no. You stay here and turn off that bogeymen thing, this beast demands opponent of larger size."
"But what about the disease spell? I can't hold them off both! What shall we do? Me or you? Bogeymen or Oströtakåtôz?"



What's the strategy?
Both Limul and Uxzoustug can ward off some threat. They can literally shape the world in way they like, however, the more significantly they do, the more fatigue they get, and you don't want them too exhausted.
Goblin army will obey your orders too, should it help you with your brilliant battle plans.

Analysis:

Uxzoustug, legendary fighter, can cast fiery and light stuff without fatigue risk. Fully armored and armed.

Limulsheget, he's big and strong, has a horn, his tail is partially shielded. His sphere is wealth, not sure how that's useful in battle. Maybe to transmute someone into gold or something.

There are trolls, infantry, beak dog cavalry and rutherer at your bidding, alongside the heroes.

Your opponents are attacking in many ways:
Night ward : Spawns bogeymen and gives strength to night creatures. Uxzoustug can almost negate it, but it'll engage him completely.

Night creatures : Night trolls and night heralds, coming from the fortress. They're not as numerous as your army, though.

Oströtakåtôz : Weakens your troops. Can be spell clashed.

Aspdosusmat : Giant beast that devours everything mortal. Dangerous like a vault boss (technically, it's a vault boss, not guarding a vault at the moment).

Zomus hasn't shown yet, so he's probably inside the fortress.

[Superdorf]

Hmm. I'm not much good at tactics on this scale... still, let's see what can be done.

Limul can basically change the world as he sees fit, yes-- subject to fatigue, and centralized around wealth and gold-transmutation and whatnot? Alright... so have him transmute a significant portion of Aspdosusmat's brain into gold. If this works, try it on Oströtakåtôz too.

(If I'm right, this should effectively remove at least one of our enemies from the equation with minimum fatigue risk on Limul's part. Good deal!)

If Oströtakåtôz survives Limul's transmogrification, sic everybody on him. Trolls, goblins, gods... whatever. Otherwise, sic everybody on the nightward-- that thing is bad news.

I'm hoping if we take the biggest things out of the equation first, we can mop up the fodder with relative ease. Then we'll just have to take on the demon...

[Quaksna]

Aspdosusmat struggled with the rutherer, its size and battle ferocity gave it upper hand. It has bitten through back of the other beast, piercing through vital organs.
The Rutherer was struck down.
Goblin army was step before the bridge, but the giant wolf blocked their path. Most of bogeymen had already dissolved.

"Uxzo, keep shining! I'll handle this one..."
Aspdosusmat misses!

Aspdosusmat aimed for Limul's head, but hit the golden horn, and couldn't click its teeth.

Limul then wrestled the giant beast, and managed to get his hands on its head. He shouted some words nobody was able to understand.
Aspdosusmat froze, and fell to the ground.

"Now for you, disease guy! You casted us out of Alsmustspås! You're finished, you understand?!!"
He shouted the same spell for the second time.

The goblin lord gestured with his right hand. Apparently, he resisted the spell, continuing casting his own.

Limulsheget grabs troll with his right hand!
"By thunder, fall!"
And he tossed the troll over the ramparts.

Oströtakåtôz jumps away from the spinning -troll-!
Night Heralds around him took care of it, and threw its body down on the siegers.

That gave them wonderful idea, to throw everything else on the siegers. They pushed big, loose blocks from the ramparts, down over the edge.

"Get inside! Get on the ramparts, storm the fortress! And defeat that freakin' wizard!" shouted Limul.

"Time for some serious spell business!"

Both Limul and Oströtakåtôz started shouting ancient words, area around them was blurring, for the amount of power flowing there, as both powerful beings were trying to knock out each other.

"Wait, Ong! I'll..." said Uxzoustug, but was quickly interrupted.
"Shut up and shine! They're not in the fort yet!"

"Must... Go... On..."

Blisters and ooze has appeared on Limul's tan skin. Their shouting ceased, their muttering faded.

Limulsheget falls over.
"Fine. Go... Get him... Ugh..."

Oströtakåtôz retches.
Oströtakåtôz retches.
Oströtakåtôz retches.
"Hah... Here you go, ya filthy..."

Oströtakåtôz stands up.
"Wha... What's this?!! I just..."
"He's the one with control over Alsmustspås, he must draw his power form the other realm!" shouted Uxzoustug, pretty angrily.

As goblin soldiers, trolls, Aslezslagka, everyone was pouring into the fortress, a horrible darkness, dense like swamp fog, black like nothing they saw before, flew from the entrance, circled few times above the army, and headlong came down to the ground.

"He's here."

Now you will know why you fear the night.

[Superdorf]

Oh dear.

Right then, we're focusing everything we've got on the newcomer.

Do we have archers? Ballistae? Anything like that? If so, have any such troops fire at the demon's wings and torso. We're hoping to ground and perhaps weaken it, to make the next part easier...

After a volley or two, have our light-flame-type warrior-- Uxzo, was it?-- engage the demon directly. He'll try and blind it with a fireblast to the face--as strong a blast as he can safely produce-- then move in to slash out the demon's legs from under it! Like felling a tree... if it works.

[Quaksna]

"Everyone, turn back... We need to get rid of this one..." whispered Limul, in between intense coughing.
Soldiers obeyed, and hurried to attack the giant Night Lord.
Zomus grinned, and breathed dense black fog.

"It's just you and me, Urtormuk."
Uxzoustug dashed forward with speed of a lightning bolt.

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in lower body, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in left upper leg, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in right lower leg, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle and chipping the bone!

After these three immediate slashes, Zomus turned into pure darkness again, in order to get further from Uxzoustug. He managed to do that successfully, and stroke a menacing pose.

Goblins got the idea both lords of Alsmustspås are in that big black cloud, but couldn't locate Zomus exactly. Aslezslagka managed to navigate to their enemy, but we're not so successful in attacking.

Imagine a werebeast, night troll, bogeyman, all in one big beast. That's what Uxzoustug had to fight, but being legendary fighter himself, he did well.
Zomus claws Uxzoustug in upper body, but the hit is deflected with searing spaulder!

Uxzoustug stabs Zomus in upper body, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!
Zomus kicks Uxzoustug but the kick is blocked with searing shield!
Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in the right wing, tearing it apart!

Zomus misses!
Zomus tries to claw Uxzoustug but he jumps away!
Uxzoustug misses!
Uxzoustug tries to stab Zomus but he flies away!
With wing torn, he crashed as soon as he took off.

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in the neck, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!

Oströtakåtôz muttered some new spell and turned towards Uxzoustug. He felt sudden weariness, his armor pushed him down to the ground. But that didn't stop him.

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in the head, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!
Uxzoustug misses!
Uxzoustug misses!

Zomus kicks Uxzoustug in the head, bruising the skin!

Uxzoustug is propelled back by force of the blow!

Zomus punches Uxzoustug in upper body, bruising the skin!
Zomus kicks Uxzoustug in the lower body, bruising the skin!

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in upper body, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!
Zomus was striking Uxzoustug with barrage of kicks and clawing, yet, even when now it looked bad for the siegers, nothing broke his determination to win this fight.
Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in the neck, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!
Uxzoustug stabs Zomus in the head, tearing the skin and tearing the muscle!

They were both panting, on knees.

Zomus Anuzosla, the Ustroakon, the Ogurxusmzûk has transformed!
When Uxzoustug saw he's in his normal form, he swiftly dashed towards him again. The Night Lord gestured towards him, knocking him back.
Oströtakåtôz's spell has fallen Uxzoustug on ground, but suddenly, it ceased.
Uxzoustug stands up.
Zomus tried to use some magic again, but Uxzoustug muttered his own incantations now, protecting himself.

Uxzoustug slashes Zomus in upper body, tearing the skin, tearing the muscle, fracturing the bone and tearing the lungs! A major artery has been torn!
Zomus falls over.

"Die, wicked creature of night!"

Suddenly Oströtakåtôz warped between, and grabbed both of them.
A green flash of light went down from his hands their feet, they fell down, motionlessly.

"By the power I wield, you're banished from this world!"

Zomus and Uxzoustug vanished. Everyone could feel, that many of the surrounding magic faded away...

The black cloud disappeared, and Aslezslagka looked somewhat confused.

"Goblins for goblins." said Oströtakåtôz. "I, Oströtakåtôz, am now the one and only lord of Alsmustspås. They are past. The fortress is yours. But before you'll claim it... Get rid of these night and fiery beings..."

"Whoa, what..." gasped Limulsheget. "You're not going to obey this dirty leech, are you?"
"Would you rather serve the Exalted lord of Alsmustspås or be slaves to a giant monster... Again?"
Limulsheget was silent. He snapped his fingers, and disappeared, before anyone got to him.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Oströtakåtôz. "I am here to protect you, one tyrant being might escaped, there are lots of others! Drive them away!"

Without presence of Zomus or Uxzoustug, Aslezslagka and night creatures couldn't stand against the goblin army.




"Phew... *Cough* Where... Where am I?"


"Ah, why should it matter. *Cough* I am lone wanderer, rejected by the world. Again... Oh life, how miserable you are..."

[Quaksna]

"So, it's you... Kâdol. Pleased to finally meet you..." croaked the toad.

"You're Luslemnod?" asked Kâdol. "You gave them this order, designated the adamantine to be mined out?!!"

"Easy, pal. We're not gonna open gate to the underworld. I'm aware of..."

"You won't touch a single pillar!"
Everyone froze.
"If we want to keep evil at bay, why risk so much?"
"You're afraid of the wicked ones, aren't ya?" asked the toad.
"Shut up!" shouted Kâdol. "We can fight them, but why to play with fire?"
"Listen... We'll make only few weapons, okay? That's all, no need to..."

"Just few weapons?" asked Alak, a little bit disappointed. "I saw myself in full adamantine plate armor, with crown on the helmet and toads on the spaulders..."
"I'm not going to side with those who don't hesitate to put world in such danger!"

"We're trying to get rid of a danger..." said toad. "But I understand you. No point convincing you. Sorry Alak, if we want Kâdol in our team, we must make a sacrifice for it... For the greater good."
Alak was... Well, sad.
"But you'll make me at least one personal sword, right?" he asked.
The toad nodded.
"Well, that'll do!" said Alak, not so sad anymore.

"My servants have told me of the whole matter. So, you want to eradicate some dark lord in order to save the kingdom and the world... That sounds good to me, but, some practical plan wouldn't hurt." said Kâdol.
"Since we don't have enough troops, we can't perform a full frontal attack, it would be wasted time and good dwarves. We could infiltrate the Mountainhome from below, though..."
"I know there are tunnels, but... I guess Zomus already took control of caverns as well." said Lolor.
"So do I know, but everyone knows there's secret escape route. But no one knows where. Only king and his closest friends." said Alak.
"I highly doubt that someone of this power fell for secret escape route." Kâdol said. "You shouldn't underestimate him."
Everyone was silent, thinking. Urist spoke afterwards, slowly and insecurely.

"I know of king's hidden tunnels..."
"He may know as well now!"
"I think it's worth a shot. He'll underestimate us for sure..." croaked the toad.  "That's what powerful rulers do."

"Okay, so we'll just ambush him from wherever he won't see us coming. And then?"
"Primary objective is, destroy his physical form. Once we do, he'll be vulnerable to banishing. Once he's down, night creatures should be clueless, and it'll be easy to reclaim the Mountainhome."
"That makes sense... But where's adamantine in it?!!" asked Kâdol.
"It'll help slay the beast, what's so incomprehensible about it?"
"You want to say..."
"That I'll do the last heroic blow, yeah!' said Alak.

"Nothing against you, dwarves, but... You think that you can oppose night lord? This isn't a mere werebeast, cyclops, or even goblin siege. This is trickier..."
"With your help, we can do it."
"Hey, I wanted to say that!" croaked the toad. "Everyone counts. The more the better!"

Nakuth came to the hallway.
"Gentlemen, some froggies are pleading for audience..."
"Let them in." ordered Alak.

First, two kobolds in copper masks entered. After them came Wõrv and his full armored bodyguard.
"I see more kobolds than froggies... Eh, who cares. Welcome!"
Wõrv bowed nobly. Then he went directly to the toad.
"After recollecting, I came to conclusion, that we're with you."
"That's nice to hear. We're just planning our attack. We want to somehow infiltrate into the Mountainhome, and ambush our enemy unprepared."
"Fine. Give us orders and we shall obey."
"Great. Now, Alak, would you be so kind and notify dwarves we have some adamantine to process?"
"At once." said Alak. "Lolor! Manage orders!"
Lolor sighed and went to his office.

"By the way, Urist, it seems you know a lot about Mountainhome..."
"I know where the levers are hidden, where traps are located, and I have some keys. That's all." said Urist.
"You sure had to be prominent man once..."
"This stuff just comes handy."

"I can't believe it. Yesterday, we were a little settlement with few dwarves and some toad, today, we have underground tribes and even guardian of dwarvenkind on our side! Speaking of which, I see what your Lolor club is so special. Which makes everything even better!"
"Don't proclaim victory so early." said the toad. "Even with all this, we don't know how many trumps has Zomus prepared to use."
"Yeah, yeah... Are we ready for mobilisation?"

"I see you're very eager, Alak. That's great, but..." said Kâdol. "We're not quite finished with planning. There's a whole lot of decisions before us..."
"I would like to know how's Berath and Olmul doing... With that lord thing..."
"It's just good we have some backup, just in case." croaked the toad.


"No, no! I won't return to the army, I won't!" yelled Otad.
"But..."
"No buts! My allegiance is to the kitchen!"
"But what about the glory?" said Rikkir. "Toil and troubles have place in war, yes, but... The glorious victory, the heroism!"
"We should smelt weapons and make pots out of them! I'm not going to fight again. Ever."

"And what are you going to do? You were member of Udirizden, a proud soldier, nearly your whole life!"
"I'm waiter. And I believe, one day, I shall be cook."
"Okay, let's make a deal. You'll be field waiter, yeah?"
"But..."
"No buts!"

[Superdorf]

The antics of Alak and his underlings remain as entertaining as ever.

Also glorious victory against demonic powers! ...Kind of!

[Quaksna]

Wálim wandered the wilds, without any plans, any goal, staring to nowhere.

He sat down, closed his eyes, and breathed, slowly and deeply. Wind was blowing between blades of grass, whispering something. The Tâdi warrior opened his eyes, and stared at the dancing vegetation.
"Oh, you don't say." he said. "I would like to find the elven ignoramus that stole my bird. I could've been past those hills there by now... Eh, what now. Guess I'll have to keep going."

He stood up moved on. He set up a direction for no reason, he just wanted to be as far from his former home as possible.

At end of a meadow, he saw a tree, lone tree on this plain, pretty much resembling Wálim's cool mind right now.
"Oh, finally!"

Wálim ran quickly to the tree, and embraced its trunk. In silence he remained few seconds in this pose, then he scratched its bark with his claws, and covered the spot with his palm.

He looked up, between the branches, searching for bird nests. There weren't any.
Wálim frowned a bit. He tapped on the tree, and went on.

As he was wandering, he examined the spear he was holding carefully. It was human sized spear, made of the best of adamantine. Very ornate, covered in runes, undulating. The blood smears that were on its tip had withered and fallen off. When he held it in his hands, they we're shivering.
"Heard about this before." he said to himself. "Slayer of the underworld kin, or something."
Then he turned back, in direction of the mountain.

"That snake thing mustn't ever get it in its filthy hands."


On that very mountain

"Duh duh duh... Let'sss sssee... Age of Erfinû... Age ended when Erfinû died. Wow, didn't know that."

"There are corpsssesss of lesssssser racesss ssscattered everywhere. What on earth wasss that wizard doing here? Purging elvesss? There are thingsss I can't quite get. But the ssspear! That'sss a ssshame..."

"If I had my damned wing, I would fly back to dessert, and ussse my devicesss! Now, I have to ssstay here. Or..."

"Heh. Raid!"

"Let'sss try thessse healing ssspellsss."
The Golden Queen closed her pierced palm, and muttered something. Her eyes shone, and tiny beams of light were coming from little gaps between her scales.
When she opened the palm again, only few bits of the mould fell off.

The Golden Queen retches!
The Golden Queen retches!
"Âsssemei sssmite that ssstupid ssspear!" she hissed angrily.

"Thisss'll take sssome time... I mussst be more careful, few more fightsss and I'll be ssscarred like Vaërgil the Deathless... Now..."

"What to raid? I saw some dwarven sssetlementsss in vicinity..."


In that very dwarven settlements

"Sooo... Let's take a look at this. You're commander of this army?" asked Oströtakåtôz.
"I am." answered Omot.

"Very well, then. Make sure a message is sent to your capital, demanding more soldiers."
"At once."

"Omot, is it? Omot, tell me, what's happening in the realm? I can feel chaos flowing through the air... I wasn't told much."
"First, this Uxzoustug and his giant friend arrived in Stothoaslud, to the dark fortress. I don't know what happened then, they barely escaped with lead taskmaster Gostus, as the fortress came down. Uxzoustug then coronated Gostus our new master. Then, we assembled army and went here to eliminate Zomus, without any unnecessary distractions."

"I see... I hope you realized now you're serving primarily me, secondly some Gostus. New master... So the old, wicked one, must have been killed... That's Uxzoustug's work for sure. But he can't bother us anymore, heh! They did me a good service... Anyway, I need to finish what that incompetent wretch Zomus wasn't able to finish, that is, get rid of the dwarven king."

Omot took a step towards Oströtakåtôz, waggling his ear.
"I'm listening."
"Not now, we need a plan. I doubt you have any capable assassins... You're dismissed."

As Omot went away, Oströtakåtôz muttered something to himself.
"Stupid golden giant, should banish him immediately it was possible... But he can't harm me now, fortunately. Both Ongnguutgub and Ngoruboxox must be in this realm. Defeating Ongnguutgub is going to be piece of cake, and Ngoruboxox isn't going after me... I should take advantage of this when I still can!