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[Superdorf]

Dwarves are victorious with minimal injury! Wonderful!

Creepy demon thing can taste the night. Less wonderful.

+Fine work+ as always, Quaksna.

[mightymushroom]

I've got a technical question: You guys who voted on the polls before, can you vote without problems now, when I reset the vote count? I've been so messing everything up, I would like to know if it works properly, or I can start crafting another Toady memorial  Thanks!

A belated answer: yes, I can vote. I'm not sure how good my choices were . . .

[Quaksna]

Hah, my friend Weekend triggered poll voting. Delightful. I got new colors, new supplies, and soon I'll be ready for Chapter 3. Till then, I have some art.   

Olmul, Duto and Zomus.

Because we already know some locations, I've decided to draw a map. Here's piece mapping journey of seven dwarf settlers, from Black Pillar to Kudarkalur.

I wrote it in Gothic alphabet, but because it's 4 milimetres high it's hard to read. 

Here's updated map, with more locations, but still not finished.

[Quaksna]

Behold, the grand investigation is here!!!

"You're doing really well, lord overseer!" said Rikkir. "Soon you'll be renowned sword lord!"
"If you think so... Happy to hear that! Sorry guys, I must go. I've got... Work to do." said Alak. "Rikkir, come with me, please."
Militia bowed, Alak and Rikkir left.

"So Rikkir, tell me something about you. Urist said you are prominent."
Rikkir chuckled. "Oh no, I and my pals were just beast hunters before. One day, we met Urist, well, he was kinda searching for some skilled soldiers. He hired us to protect him on his travels. When he found out about Kudarkalur, we went here."
"Interesting. How much did he pay?"
"Well, he said he'll provide us something we want or need. We told him what we would like, in few days he got it. You know, food, bolts... Don't know if he's rich or what. He's... Mysterious."
"Rikkir, you're really honest. That's good. You helped me a lot. I need to find out more about Urist. He feels... Like if he wanted to hide something. You're dismissed. Thanks a lot."

"Hmm... Now I got few inspirations whom to accuse of treasonous behaviour. Let's go overseeing!"
He entered his office. Ermis was there with lunch. Alak came and inspected the lunch, using his senses of sight, smell and taste.

"Alak?"
"Hush! I'm investigating!"
Ermis shrugged.
"What's up, you don't like that meal?"
"Oh no, I do like it. It's my favourite, but... I need to ask you few questions."
"Right?"

"In this meal, there had not been used any alcoholic beverage?"
"No, no! We can't make such lavish meals, we don't have supplies! And Olmul took the last piece of cheese, the one from milk of Razes. The one from Unnos tastes too generic, dwarves are bored of the same old cheese..."

"Hmm... I see. That indicates he might be a glutton, but not sure if that's treasonous behaviour. Thanks for the lunch!"


"Hey Kin!"
"Hmph?"

"Did you take in account my prohibition of sock export?"
Kin widened his eyes, already red, demanding more beer.
"What?"

"We don't have any spare socks, lord overseer." said Kizbiz.
"That's the reason of prohibition! But you're good citizens. But... Did you notice any suspicious activity?"
"No one's at the still." said Kin, sadly.
"Well, I don't know, you should ask Zeg instead." said Kizbiz.
"Fine. Thanks!" said Alak, leaving. Then he stopped and faced Kizbiz once more.

"By the way, Kizbiz? Why are you shrouded? Are you afraid of us?"
"That's a custom, lord overseer." answered Kizbiz. "I'm fine. We're happy you're our lord overseer."
Alak smiled, he said goodbye and went away.


"Hmmm... This is weird... But there are still lots of dwarves around. Here!"
He came to Adur the caretaker, who was watching grazing cattle and geese. When he saw Alak, he bowed.

"Hello Adur!"
"Lo-lord?"
"Lolord? Yeah, I think too what something's wrong with him. How are animals doing?"
"Well."
"That's great. Aren't they're inappropriately misbehaving?"
Simple peasant did not understand this question. He was thinking.
Then he pointed at Unnos and said: "Calf."

"Calf? That's great! Oh look, here go our farmers, I'll go chat with them, okay? Good."
Alak went to the farmers, they looked exhausted after hard work on plots.

"Hah! Here we go! Dwarves on break, or attending party! It seems I have to make a black mark on the citizen list!"
"But we've..." started Muz.
"Let me guess, you've eaten the crops yourself to prevent their withering, too lazy to haul them to kitchen!"
"But no one designated the..."
"What? It's true?!!"
"No." said Urnût. "Crops aren't edible yet. You look kind of stressed, Alak. Would you like..."
"Ahh, pardon me. It's that pendant amaranth beer, and that weekly allowance of beverage!"
"But you mandated it..."
"I kno-o-ow!" said Alak and wept, but whenever his tears touched his red eyes, they evaporated into steam. Alak looked like some kind of chimney.
"Your head must be boiling. I'll fetch you some..."
"No..." said Alak, wiping his drops unsuccessfully, as they were becoming little clouds instantaneously. "Vúsh, do you know where Zeg is?"
"He left to do Omristïlun." answered Vúsh.
"Huh?
"He's dancing performance for trees." said Urnût, chuckling.
"What?" Alak stopped weeping, maybe because his eyes turned even redder. "That's affinity to hippies!"

"No!" said Vúsh. "It has nothing to do with Dákarom! It's his cultural duty, as a Zegmatul."
"Fine then. So no speaking with him for some time? Okay. I'll go to my beloved nobles. I'm sure they have very interesting topics to speak of!"

Alak left to the offices, farmers watched him.
"I think he's too lonely." said Muz.

[Quaksna]

Knock knock!
"Someone has come!" shouted Alak.
"Someone may enter!" shouted Urist back.

"Hello, Urist! May I do stocktaking of this office?"
"Sure!"
Alak went straight to the table, covered in parchments.
"So, what do we have here?"
"Oh, those are records and supplies list."
"I see." Alak took one parchment and read it.
Then he frowned and widened eyes.

"What does that mean, "Stone 50?", "Bars 10?"..."
"Those are... Presumptions."
"Hmph. What's next here... "Sheep Cheese √3/2" ? What in the world does that mean? Hey, you know what? Stuff the presumptions here, instead these weird formulas. And specify it more."
"As you wish, lord Alak."
Alak searched on the table, but it was just as Urist said, just records and lists.
"Are you searching for something?" asked Urist.

"What? Oh yes, I am, but... Nevermind. By the way, Urist's not your true name, I guess."
"Why shouldn't it be? Urist's my name."
"Just "Urist"? Are you so humble?"
"I try to aspire to these virtues."
"Or you have dark past... Or you occur in myths of our nation!"
Urist started laughing.
"You're funny, lord Alak."

They said goodbye, and Alak left the office, going just to the next door.

"Why are the halls full of these boulders all the time! When there's order, everyone's hauler, when there's boulder, everyone's something else!"

"Lolor! Are you done with your fan club?"
Lolor opened the door.

"They're not my fan club, and we're not done."
"Do you still need to discuss between six eyes? Because if you don't..."
"We do. Please, Alak."
"Fine. I'll come later."
"Hmm, where hadn't I investigated yet?" thought Alak. "I wanted to interrogate Olmul, but he's on his shopping mission. But I can visit his soapmaker's workshop!"


He came to the workshop. There were pails and buckets, barrels, soap and tallow, few jugs of oil...
"Well, I don't see any treason here. But it's mess like..."

Then he saw a small piece of cheese in one bucket. He grabbed it.
"This is confiscated!"


Then he returned to Lolor, his friends were coming out of the office. They bowed to Alak.
"Thank you, lord overseer. We're off now."
"Goodbye." said Alak, and he entered the office.

"Lolor, I hope you realize you have things to explain."
"Huh? My friends?" asked Lolor. "We don't do any harm!"
"I hope so. Why do you wear red, like, all of you? And why you don't want to share your thoughts with me?"
Lolor was contemplating for a while.
"Okay, I won't lie. We're kind of secret society."
Alak frowned a little bit.
"But as I said, we don't want to do any harm."

"Okay Lolor. I see you're not ashamed of secret societies. I don't have anything against you, but you know... I have to oversee, for sake of Kudarkalur. So before you'll do something with your fan club you should tell me. Don't get on my bad side."

Alak left to rest, after his exhausting investigation. Lolor then closed door.

"Ralsinsot, come here." he whispered.
His kea, well hidden behind the furniture, came to him.

"You'lll soon have a new message to deliver."


"Hello Nakuth! How's diggin'?"
"Digging's fine, but no riches of earth in sight. But I'll just hit this rock once more..."
Crack.
"Oh dear."
A section of cavern has collapsed!

"*Cough* Man, where are..." said Alak.
"Wow." Nakuth laughed. "That's the reddest cinnabar I've ever seen."

"Hey, this is some kind of statue! A dwarf, some sculptor maybe!" said Alak.

"Oh lord Alak, look here! There's dwarves! The dwarves are laboring!"
Alak laughed, astonished.
"Hey, and on the other side..."

"That's the dwarf on the statue! And a cheese!" shouted Nakuth happily!
"Wow. We've found some atelier? Nakuth, guard it here, I'll climb up and get some help. And don't touch anything! I hereby declare this as Kudarkalur Museum of Arts and Crafts! The others must see it!"

[Quaksna]

"What do you think, toad?" whispered Duto. "Should I tell Alhoñilun of the time we met for the first time? You know, when the dwarves..."
"Yes, yes! Tell them!" whispered the toad back. "You must intiate conversation on toads. I need to hear what they think."
"I see. But remember, if they find you I'm..."
"Don't worry. We'll do this."

Then the caravan finally arrived in Apapparu. It was a settlement on hills, consisting of various huts and tents. Tribesmen went to embrace their friends and relatives.

Duto was carefully searching for a place close enough to campfire where the Alhoñilun was supposed to assemble, but also safe so the toad could hear everything. Caravan already told everyone about everything, so the Alhoñilun was going to take place immediately. Duto quickly placed the box in suitable place and went to the fire.

Elderly tribesmen, densely tattooed, and other prominent people were slowly and nobly assembling. Some younglings brought them bowls with water, everyone present washed their faces, Duto too. One old man, covered in cloak, whispered something to two youths.

"So, what's the reason you called us, Ñabsizcasser?" asked the man with densest and whitest beard.
"I came home as soon as we could, because of the omens I've seen."
"What kind of omens?" asked elderly Ñabsizcasser.
"I saw a caravan of Pasubabo. We traded with them, getting gold in return. They bought two cats from us."
"Oooh! Ooooh!' the elders were saying, turning to each other, wondering and muttering something.
"After the caravan departed, a toad came."
"Ooooooohhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Stop ooohin', grandpas!" thought the toad. "Now it's gonna be interesting!"
Two men in hoods came to the box.
"Huh? What's this, customs revisal or distraint? No no no, don't come here, don't come!"

"I performed Budokercasser, the toad was calm already." continued Duto. "It spoke to me in our language!"
"Ooooooohhhhhhh!!!"
"And it asked me, where the Pasubabo went."
And now, no "ooooooohhhhhhh" came. Everyone breathed out, shocked.
"But that's..." said one.
"That's horrible!" said other.
"I know, it's succession of omens, too much of them..." said Duto.
"What are we going to do?" asked someone.

The cloaked elder said: "We should inform the Exalted one. I'll go."
Then he turned. "And Duto shall come with me."
Duto was astonished, not knowing what to say.
"We should go now. I'll fetch some helpers..."
He went away, Duto followed him. Rest of Alhoñilun was still muttering something to themselves, for the sake of bragging on length of their sessions.

"Mitacespi Cilko Arooku, is that?" asked Duto.
"It is." said Cilko. "Now, I've sent my apprentices here, where are they?"

By the box, there were two toads staring on them, croaking furiously.
Cilko and Duto widened their eyes, so did every tribesman around.

Then a nice chaos began. Duto started dancing and chanting, Cilko muttered some spells, tribesmen were running here and there, holding their heads, yelling...

"Don't worry!" shouted Cilko. "We have secured them, we'll take them away as we'll depart."
Tribesmen stopped panicking, Duto stopped dancing.
"Take the toads, Duto, we're off!"
"Okay, I'll just pack... Something."

"Sutad, you're not going anywhere now, are you?"
"I'm not. Now when these toads lurk everywhere..."
"Can I take Udma with me? Please?"
"Udma?" asked Sutad and turned to his bodyguard.
Udma nodded.
"Fine."
"Great. Let's go, Udma!" said Duto.

"Hey, hey! Duto!" shouted one old warrior.
"Hmmm? What is it you want?"

"You should really grow a beard, boy!"

[Quaksna]

"And then I grabbed it by my lower right hand and threw it back to the lake!" said Rane.
"Wow. Was it really so slimy as it's in the tales?" asked Olmul.
"Slimy indeed. I prefer to hunt giant cougars and so, not beasts like these. But, it's my duty, after all. We're here. You can park the wagon on this spot. Lord Dazelosric will be pleased the ogre is slayed. Come, come, no fear!"

"Where are the guards?" asked Berath.
"We are." said the spearman. "But lord Dazelosric don't mind not having them on guard all the time, for some reason."

Rane knocked. A tan-skinned servant opened. When he saw Rane and soldiers, he let everyone in, without a word.

Lord Dazelosric was standing by his desk, striking a triumphant pose. Candles and chandeliers were shining with a bright light, a bit unsuitable to our dwarves.
Soldiers bowed, Olmul and Berath did too.
"Greetings, my liege." said Rane.
"Greetings to you, Rane. You've returned sooner I expected."
"The ogre is dead, but it had not fallen because of us, but by hands of these two dwarves. They seek shelter and opportunity to trade."

"Greetings, dwarves. I'm happy you did take care of the beast. This year he stole a barrel of apple cider in it's lust for wickedness! Can you introduce yourselves?"
"Right. I am Olmul Angsikel and this is Berath Gusilmas. We were sent from newly founded fortress of Kudarkalur, our stocks of food are being quickly depleted, so we need to get some food. Would you trade with us?"
"And what kind of goods do you have?"
"We can pay in bars."
"Dwarven steel?"
"No, soap."
"Soap?"
"And gold."
"Gold? That's good! I'll send for some farmers, they have food to offer."
"Great! We're so grateful, you know, hillocks are far away. How much of your food is for sale?"
"We'll see. By the way... Do you know one particular dwarf, Lolor... Eh... Lolor Kitïgzilir?"
"You know Lolor? He's our manager!"
The lord was frowned for a moment, contemplating.
"Would you mind if I sent him a message?"
"Of course we wouldn't! What should we tell..."
"Not you. I'll write it down."

Nothing much happened then. Lord was writing a letter, guards were guarding, servant went to fetch food for trade. Razes and the ox were grazing together, mooing, having a nice chat.
Finally the door opened, servants came with leather bags.

"So, what do you have in the bags?"
"We have grain, apples, pears, cherries, grapes, potatoes, currant - red and black, gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries." said the servant.
"We've got twelve big soap bars and five decent gold bars." said Berath.
"Okay then. Let's count it in grain bag currency, okay? We've got lots of bags filled with grain and potatoes, not so much fruit, but we can sell some, one bag of each kind of fruit. My conditions are: A grain bag is worth three of your soap bars, potatoes the same. Fruit bag is worth two grain ones. Gold bar of yours should be worth five grain bags."
Olmul counted on his fingers, then he said: "Yeah, that should be bargain, I think. Deal!"
"What do you want to buy, then?"

[Quaksna]

"Aaaaah! Where are all those PTW guys when I need them! I'm way too bad at maths! What should I buy? For what? How much of it? Heeeeelp!"

[methylatedspirit]

I'll take a crack at it, then.

(For the purposes of this post, grain bag currency will be written as Grain.)

Spoiler: Recap (click to show/hide)

"We've got twelve big soap bars and five decent gold bars." said Berath.

Berath has 12 Soap + 5 Gold.

Let's count it in grain bag currency, okay?

Target currency: Grain.

My conditions are: A grain bag is worth three of your soap bars, potatoes the same. Fruit bag is worth two grain ones. Gold bar of yours should be worth five grain bags."

1.  Grain = 3 Soap = Potato
2. *Fruit = 2 Grain
3.  Gold = 5 Grain

*Fruit are "apples, pears, cherries, grapes, potatoes, currant - red and black, gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries."

We've got lots of bags filled with grain and potatoes, not so much fruit, but we can sell some, one bag of each kind of fruit.

Refer to Stocks.

Spoiler: Denomination (click to show/hide)

3 Soap = 1 Grain = 4 (1 Grain) 'notes'
5 Gold = 15 Grain = 5 (5 Grain) 'notes'

Spoiler: Stocks (click to show/hide)

1 of each type of fruit bag
'Lots' of grain and potato bags (assume unlimited).

12 Soap + 5 Gold
= (12/3) Grain + 5*(5 Grain)  [1/3 Grain = 1 Soap, 5 Grain = 1 Gold]
= 4 Grain + 25 Grain
= 29 Grain equivalent.

Costs of things you can buy are:
1 Potato Bag = 1 Grain
1 *Fruit Bag  = 2 Grain
1 Grain Bag   = 1 Grain

As for what to buy, I'm somewhat clueless.

EDIT: Corrected 5*5 to 25.

[Quaksna]

I'll take a crack at it, then.

(For the purposes of this post, grain bag currency will be written as Grain.)

Spoiler: Recap (click to show/hide)

"We've got twelve big soap bars and five decent gold bars." said Berath.

Berath has 12 Soap + 5 Gold.

Let's count it in grain bag currency, okay?

Target currency: Grain.

My conditions are: A grain bag is worth three of your soap bars, potatoes the same. Fruit bag is worth two grain ones. Gold bar of yours should be worth five grain bags."

1.  Grain = 3 Soap = Potato
2. *Fruit = 2 Grain
3.  Gold = 5 Grain

*Fruit are "apples, pears, cherries, grapes, potatoes, currant - red and black, gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries."

We've got lots of bags filled with grain and potatoes, not so much fruit, but we can sell some, one bag of each kind of fruit.

Refer to Stocks.

Spoiler: Denomination (click to show/hide)

3 Soap = 1 Grain = 4 (1 Grain) 'notes'
5 Gold = 15 Grain = 5 (5 Grain) 'notes'

Spoiler: Stocks (click to show/hide)

1 of each type of fruit bag
'Lots' of grain and potato bags (assume unlimited).

12 Soap + 5 Gold
= (12/3) Grain + 5*(5 Grain)  [1/3 Grain = 1 Soap, 5 Grain = 1 Gold]
= 4 Grain + 15 Grain
= 19 Grain equivalent.

Costs of things you can buy are:
1 Potato Bag = 1 Grain
1 *Fruit Bag  = 2 Grain
1 Grain Bag   = 1 Grain

As for what to buy, I'm somewhat clueless.

Well, if you were citizen of Kudarkalur, you would become broker for sure  . As for what to buy, I guess you have some food/drink preferences! Now, you have the power to force your eating habits to some starving dwarves... Do not pass the chance!

[mightymushroom]

Psst, I think 5*5 should be 25, not 15. So the gold bars are worth more, for a total of 29 grain equivalents to trade.


I propose roughly equal divisions between fruit, potatoes, and grain. The fruit can be for brewing, the grain for cooking, and the potatoes in a pinch can be either. Or the grain for brewing, the potatoes for cooking, and the fruit for either. Or . . . Y'know'what? Let's just say the dwarves are gastronomically flexible.

Priority should also be given to crops whose seeds might be planted, if our dwarves are brave enough to risk the rain.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rain is horrifying enough for regular dwarves, I can't imagine what it would do to paper ones! 

Our trading partner hasn't specified which type of grain, but they're all pretty much the same for eating or brewing.

So, how about:

1 x Raspberries
1 x Blackberries
1 x Grapes
1 x Pears
1 x Cherries
= 5 Fruit bags = 10 grain equivalent

9 x Potatoes
= 9 grain equivalent

10 x Grain
= 10 grain equivalent

== 10+9+10 = 29 grain equivalent = (12 soap bars / 3 exchange) + (5 gold bars * 5 exchange)

When deciding which fruits to pick, I left out currants and gooseberries because, while delicious, they're not in the RAWs and therefore no dwarf will have a preference. I decided on cherries and pears for the tree fruits because according to the wiki those trees become taller (thus producing more) than apple trees would, just in case they grow.

[Quaksna]

"Okay, so we'll take blackberries, raspberries, grapes and cherries, then nine potato bags and ten grain ones." said Olmul.
Now lord Dazelosric was counting on his fingers.
"Yes, that's fair! I agree. Help them load all the bags on that wagon!"

"Thank you very much, lord Dazelosric, you helped a lot! Our settlements may be partners in future!" said Berath.
"I am looking forward for that. Do not forget to deliver the letter! Farewell, dwarves, and may you safely return to your fortress."

"Heh, Alak will be pleased we're back sooner than planned, with lots of food!" said Olmul. "Hmm, this letter, it's sealed with some weird seal. Is it... Ash on the letter? Hmph, who knows, let's just deliver it."
"Lolor's known by the human nobility, huh?" said Berath. "We have stories to share. We'll be back, after that all... Finally..."
"Moooo!!!"

Meanwhile, in the forest of Aÿevamame...

"O druid, was the scrying successful?" asked one guard.
"Oh, it wasn't!" said Ebeca angrily. "I hadn't found any trail of secret or attained magic. If these powers of the toad were innate, better not to know who was that thing!"
"What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, and it drives me mad! I don't believe the toad. And if it's gonna meet some other tribe... Oh, now I've gotten an idea!"

But we'll let Ebeca with his ideas alone, and let's move for second time...

"Quiet, Többogosma!" whispered Oströtakåtôz.
The bird whispered a silent screech.
"Forget that! Hey, here we go!"

There was Aspdosusmat, still with the black blindfold. The beast was slowly crawling here and there, it looked as it was senseless.

"Hah, now you're mine, beast! But you're bounded with that stupid night power, let me take it off."

Oströtakåtôz tried to untie the black wrap, but whenever he move his hands too close to it, some force pushed him back, he couldn't touch it.
"Curses! It's protected by some spell. But nothing can stop mighty Oströtakåtôz, the greatest of whole goblin kin!"

He tried to dispel the force, unsuccessfully.

"By all spells and incantations! This is annoying! Seems only Zomus can take it off. But where's Zomus..."
The bird screeched.
"I know, I know! But what's it for when I have in grasp the greatest weapon here, but I can't use it!"
His breath was fast and full of fury. Then he calmed down a little bit.

"I could still use it as trump card. But not for now. I should look what my dear colleagues are doing out of Alsmustspås."

[Quaksna]

"He's living on a mountain, right?" asked Duto.
"Right." said Cilko.
"Is that a high mountain?"
"Yeah, but not that abrupt, you'll see. Now... We're far enough from Apapparu, take the toads out."

Duto took the two toads they found in village, and placed them on the ground. They were still furiously croaking.
"All of them. Where's the third one?" asked Cilko.
"Third one?"
"You have a toad in that box. Hey come on, I don't have time for this. Take it out."
Duto concluded there's nothing to hide now. So he took our toad out. The toad gave a grumpy glance to Cilko.

"How could you know that?"
"Secrets." said Cilko. "Now, turn them back to humans."
"But they won't try to snatch me, right?"
"I promise."
The toad looses a croak!

The Toad 1 is transformed to human!
The Toad 2 is transformed to human!
"What's your name, toad?"
"You can call me Necarbudok. Now, who's this Exalted one you keep babbling about?"
"He's a creature occuring in our legends, said to help our civilization to grow and develop. He's tall, shrouded in colorful cloak, served by pale, fair beings. Mitacespi are in contact with him." said Duto.
"Ah, so that's how you learnt such powerful spells... Must see this ancient guy."

"So Necarbudok..." said Cilko. "Why did you wanted to see us that much?"
"Guys, seriously, hadn't you seen it in that town, just two toads and everyone went: "Ahhh! Not a while ago I saw a toad! It's terrifying!" You tan guys, dwarves aside, detest toads for some reason. Hey, we're not livin' in a... Like... I don't know, procedural generated world or some other nonsense! And since I need to cooperate with you, I need to end this."
"Hm. As you might already thought of, it's because of the Exalted one that toad is treated like a dangerous omen. So you might ask him once we'll get there."
"But you won't do anything bad to Duto, will you?"
"No, I won't. The last thing I need would be everyone panicking that some miraculous toad visited our homes. That wouldn't be good."
"Happy to hear that." said Duto.
"You know what's kinda funny?" said the toad. "Not only yours, but maybe every other society I met here works on a principle, that the guy with a rank above yours is in better position because he knows something you don't. And then, you have a hierarchy where the commoners are kept aside of everything important, and they just can't change things. Because they don't know."
"You're some toad philosopher, aren't you?" asked Cilko. "You could teach others well."
"I do. But when someone refuses to believe what you teach them, what can you do? Beat 'em? Faith, trust, knowledge, these can be really, really powerful. But still, we can be so easily fooled. Who knows what's happening right now, somewhere far away..."

Somewhere far away

Crash.
Rumble rumble rumble!
A section of the cavern has collapsed!
"Oh snap. Watch out!"
A distant rumbling can be heard. But it's coming closer...
"Hey, I see light! We made it!"

"Woah, woah! Slow down, you beast!" yelled Uxzoustug.
"What's the problem, Uxzo? Just shut up and enjoy the ride!" laughed Limulsheget.

"You're really lucky I need you, Ong! After this business is over, you'll see something!"
"What's your problem? When you were in charge way back there in Alsmustspås were you such boring chatterbox too?"
"Shut up!"

"Where are we going actually?"
"Actually I don't know! You had the idea with rutherer!"
"Oh yeah, let's blame the bigger guy. Hey, you know your fans, take us to them!"
"How could I know where are we going when I don't know where are we right know?!!"
"Hey what?!! You're head of the pantheon and you have such limited powers? Pathetic!"
"Stop the beast and I'll scry!"

"Forget it. I'll scry myself. Preferably."

"Are you done?"
"Shhh."
"Hmmm?"

"Oh, we're near to some deserts. Big ones."
"Are we in Spunogmon?"
"Hope so. It's weirdly shaped, like the weird human letters."
"Yep, I know where are we. Let's venture to deserts, there should be some dark fortresses."
"As you wish, head of the pantheon."

"Pantheon of jerks, but let's be pragmatic."

[Quaksna]

"Hey, you there, warriors!" shouted Zeg. "Where are the others? No one's working, chopping trees or..."
"Oh, do tell us!" said Duthnur, the speardwarf.
"We're stuck here on guard, and they're having cultural experience down there!" said Otad, the marksdwarf.

"Down there?"


"So dear citizens, that's it. Isn't it marvelous?" asked Alak.
The citizens nodded.
"But... What's an atelier doing here?" asked Urnût.
"You know... I don't know." said Alak. "But we should find out!"

Urist came to the statue.
"Rigòth Anggatiz, that's written here! And on the engraving with the cheese, that's him too, isn't it?"
"Yeah, on that little slab over there is some other face, maybe some friend or relative." said Alak. "But... Does this mean there are another dwarves on our spot?"
"Hard to say." said Urnût.

"Lord overseer, I've found some engraving tools!" shouted Nakuth.
"Show me!" said Alak.
Most citizens were hanging out in this cave, admiring the craftsdwarfship, nobles and other friends of Alak were inspecting the tools.

"This is wood from underground, and the tools aren't that old, they have not fallen apart yet." said Nakuth.
"I see. Look at this cave. There are boulders by the walls, maybe this Rigòth was trapped here."
"And for rest of his life, he's been engraving pieces of art. Sad fate of his." said Urnût.
Suddenly Muz ran to Alak.

"Lord Alak, we found a coffin!" shouted he.
"Coffin?" asked Alak.
"Burial receptacle, code "n"?" asked Urist.
"It's sculpted from cinnabar, too. And there's skeleton, of dwarven proportions." said Muz. "Well, this dwarf had to be desperate..."
"No wonder." said Nakuth. "With these tools you can just engrave the walls. If he had a pick he could have made a way out."

"But what was a dwarf doing here?" said Alak. "It seems he was trapped here, so he was engraving and sculpting till his inevitable death, but how did he get here? You nobles, does history say something about Imkegethonol being populated by some civilization?"
"Well, the ruins near make sense. There were dwarves and even older civilizations, so ruins are pretty much everywhere. Imkegethonol was colonised, but that was hundreds of years ago!" said Urist.
Lolor was silent. With a pokerface. Alak took him little further from the rest.

"This engraver had to like cinnabar really much. He's red like your fan club!"
"Coincidence." said Lolor. "By the way, this cave is exclusively cinnabar. For higher aesthetic value of this room, it's better to make..."
"Okay, okay! But still, that your "society", have you got some records regarding this?"
"I can say only that there were always conflicts in dwarven kingdoms between certain groups, so there were always lots of refugees. Hard to say, if some of them got this far."
"Right. So it's an unsolved mystery, and I'll left it so... For now. Thanks dwarves, you can go back to work."

Nakuth was standing still with his pick, staring on the ground.
"Should I mine the shaft further? This room is... Aesthetical."
"Let it be, if it burdens you so much." said Alak. "But in that case, mine another one. We need to breach caverns. We will be exposed to beasts of deep, but it'll solve the food problem. Hope Olmul's doing well..."

[Quaksna]

"The road and nothing more..." sang Olmul.
Berath was silent.
"Hey, it's no fun singin' when Kin's not here." said Olmul.
"You think I'm having fun?" asked Berath.
"That's difficult, having fun in the process of moving from place to place. If you encounter an ogre, you'll have fun, but you have to fight him. When you don't encounter an ogre, you can think how lucky you are but no fun's in sight."

"Have you got a story to tell?"
"About a civilization or a site? Or local government?"
"About yourself. You didn't finish it last time."
"Oh, yes I remember. So, the big bad goblin broke to our mound, he grabbed me by seat of my neckerchief, and ran away. He put me to some bag, it was horrible! I heard other kids crying and screaming outside, but the goblin ran on, no turning back. And then..."
"Hey, travelers!"

Olmul looked on the road, there was a man standing, holding an axe, in a cowl and bronze bracers.
"Huh?"
"Do you happen to have something good to eat?" asked the man.
"Who are you? A footpad?" asked Berath.
"Footpad? No, no! I am from the hamlet over there. Friends told me you slew an ogre!"
"That's right, we did!" said Olmul. "Are you that impressed you came to beg?"
"Oh no, but, you know, I have to handle one dangerous business and you're the right dwarves to help me."

Olmul was considering this offer for a while. On one side he had adventure and fun, on the other was Alak and his hopping red eyes.
"I'm sorry, but we need to get these supplies to our home, then we might be able to help you. But, if you want help so badly, you can go with us."
"I will follow you if you'll lead me to glory and death."
"That's the attitude!" said Olmul. "Do you wanna climb up here?"
"No, I'm fine."

"What's your name?" asked Berath."And what's this dangerous business?"
"My name's Len." said the man. "You know, I'm kinda rebel against lord Alle Dazelosric."
"He's not a nice guy? Trading with him was okay."
"Heh, that's a longer story. Do you like stories?"
"Depends or your attributes and skills. But go on, we need some fun on our way."
"Okay, I'll try my best."

"Long time ago, ships of our nation landed at the northern coasts of this continent. Clans have settled there and later, they were expanding south. That's when our hamlet was founded, way back then it was a small camp. A clan of ours governed it well, the settlement developed into a little village, with lots of food growing there. Then a dragon came. With his fiery breath, he was on rampage in this area. Our clan fought him, not very successfully. Our former clan lord, Oli Adrenolok, went to fight the beast and we have never seen him again. The dragon left our lands, they were damaged, in chaos. After the second human invasion on this continent began, migrants from the other nation came, some settled at our hamlets and towns. They helped us recover from the dragon rampage, still, we hadn't a leader. And then this Alle Dazelosric came, and he became lord. He's not a bad governor. But I think he's fabricator and usurper."

"Wow. How many rebel fellows do you have?" asked Berath.
"Sadly, none. Luckily, I'm one man army. No one's listening to me, you know."
"What makes you think Dazelosric is bad? Shouldn't you be happy he's there, and your hamlet still standing?" asked Olmul.
"That's the second part of the story. Once, I was cutting wood, few days from here to north, good wood grows there. And I saw lord Adrenolok. He was running in the forest, waving his arms, but when he spotted me, he ran away. Apparently he survived the fight. And he got claims on the hamlet. He's our lord, not Dazelosric. He should be."
"Former lord alive? Okay, but wasn't he stark raving mad or something?"
"I hope he wasn't. So that's my dangerous business. To find Oli Adrenolok and bring him back."

"Sounds interesting, but it's on our boss to decide whether we can help. But when we get rid of the wagon, no problem, we'll experienced and heroic dwarves, we can wander wilds as much as we please."
"Or you can live in our fortress, if you don't trust Dazelosric enough." said Berath. "We would appreciate a helper of your height."
"Living in a cave?" asked Len. "Like, under the ground? Sleeping there?"
"Oh, I forgot. You could sleep outside, no problem."
"I'll consider it. But my quest is priority."

"Heh, Alak's appreciating loyalists like you. We'll get home and we'll see."