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[Quaksna]

"So that's it. He just keeps sitting at this workshop, drawing some stuff." said Nakuth, pointing at Muz.
"I see. Let's take a look at his works of art!" said Alak, and he came closer.

Muz had widened eyes and widened smile and he overall looked like if he was drugged or something. He was muttering weird words.
He has drawn some pictures with ash on parchments,  it looked like boulder with rectangles,triangles and circles on it. On another parchment was goblin eating a cheese, with words written above the picture. It said: "Beware mortals, for culture shall perish." On another sketch were boulders and logs rolling down from a hill, with dwarf running under the hill and crundle standing on it.
Then Muz suddenly turned to the first parchment and updated the artwork. He drew pyramid made of logs under the boulder, and crowds of crundles going to the boulder from every direction. "Acöbkegeth, Acöbkegeth..." he muttered.
"It must have hidden deep symbolic meaning." said Vúsh. "But who knows what."
"I may be able to read it..." said Zeg, and took a look at the parchments, Urnût doubtfully watched him.

"So? What do these mean? What's his deal, what does the madcap want?" asked Alak.
"I think he lost his mind." said Zeg. "Doesn't make any sense to me!"
"He really looks like someone's controlling him. Heard stories about such dwarves, he should revert to normal as soon as it's finished."
"He was collecting stuff from all over the fortress..." said Olmul. "But not my soap. Outrageous!"
"And what did he collect?"
"He's got wood and stone here..." said Urnût.
"Well, one could get that from these pictures but what does these rectangles and circles mean? I'll go contemplate to my office."


"Hah Fâel, we made it!  We're in Imkegethonol"
"Bok bok!"
"Come on, just few flaps of wings and we're in Kudarkalur."


Dwarves were labouring as always, but marksdwarf Otad spotted the bird.
"Beasts! Beasts are attackin'!"
"Don't worry dwarf, it's me!" shouted the toad. "Don't shoot, and don't rouse this cockatrice."

Otad stopped aiming, looking at toad with suspiciously.
"Where's your boss? Have to say him something really, really important."
"He's in his office. The one with that throne, looooong dining table, two stools, without boulders. Cats can be spotted there."
"Thanks! I'll leave the bird here."

Toad entered the cave.
"Looks better than last time! They finally hauled that boulders away. Diligent are these dwarves, that's good."
It fairly tapped on the door, but no one heard that.
Toad looses series of croaks, toadish and generic!

Alak opened the door.
"Oh, hello Luslemnod! What brings you here? Come in, come in!"


"Something to eat? We've got lots of vermin from our crops..."
"Thanks, I'm fine. Hey, you have crundles here! Neat! I am coming with bad news from the Mountainhome."
"Hm?" Alak moved his head closer.
"It was no goblin army from Stothoaslud! Well, it was them but they weren't the winners! It's a lot worse! The Mountainhome is now in hands of Zomus!"
"Zom-who?"
"You were in Alsmustspås, that guy in black coat, hooded..."
"Ah, this one! What? So that rumours of bogeymen flying in day are true?"
"I fear, yes, they are. I was there. He already made a darkness shield to shelter his minions. But now, he's got place to hide, access to underground, everything he would want! And I saw another guy from Alsmustspås going there, chatting with guards!'
"Well... That's.." Alak wasn't sure what to say. "Definitely bad."

"We must stop that beast!"
"I would love to, but..."
"But what?"
"I've got a fortress here... Settlement to run. Besides, what could I do against someone of that power. Is he mortal anyway?"
"Well... By your mundane means, he's immortal. But I'm telling you, if that darkness come here, your "settlement to run" will become nothing. If we won't fight against evil, where's some purpose? Accept evil? Rather die trying to fight it."
Alak looked at his sword. He saw his own face, reflected on the polished searing blade. He closed eyes.
"You're right. It's... The right thing to do. You told us that already. Act so that outcome would be better. But what to do in this situation? Like, some example?"
Toad grinned.
"You really don't know, or you're lazy to think? Well then, we sho..."
"Wait a minute." said Alak. Then he stood up and shouted: "Nobles! Come 'ere!"

Urist, Lolor and Rikkir came to the office.
"You called, lord?" asked Lolor.
"I called. Gentlemen, we're going to save the world."
"Great." said Urist.

"To save world, our kingdom, ourselves. It will be hard, but we must do it. We must take on lord of the night."
Nobles stared at Alak with suspicion.
"Is it... Our problem?" asked Urist.
"It is your problem!" shouted the toad. "It's Zomus, the one who conquered the Mountainhome, who destroyed homes and families, and we must bring him down!!!"
"Fine, fine!" said Lolor. "But, what can we do?"
"Don't ask such nonsensical questions!" said Alak and winked at the toad. "Luslemnod has a plan!"

"I haven't a plan yet, but I know some facts you should know." said the toad. "We could raise an army, there are those who'll fight for our cause. But Zomus is a creature of higher class, and something you can defeat yourselves. Luckily, I'm of higher class too, and I can help you."
"Why don't you just go there and beat him yourself?" asked Lolor. "Haven't you power to defeat him?"
"He has army of night creatures there! I can't go alone, that'll be worst mistake we could do! We must unite ourselves and defeat him together!"
"We can fight night creatures, but what about him? If he is "of greater class"?" asked Rikkir.
"That's the point. We can't dispose him by your mundane means, he'll just return every single time. The bound between this world and his, eh... Like... Supernatural part is too strong. When a "mortal" dies, his soul will move to another world. Creatures like him won't... So easily."
"See the problem here. So we can't dispose him like we dispose people?" said Rikkir. "But then, our means of fight are useless!"
"Actually, it's not. You can still weaken him. By beating him on all his aspects, we can eventually render him weak enough, so I can banish him whole, out of this world, and he won't bother us anymore."

"So that's why we need you? I'm starting to get it." said Lolor.
"Good, good! I must avoid direct duel with him, he knows lots of powerful spells and secrets. You weren't there during the siege?"
"No." said Urist.
"He has his own night creature form, that he shifts to when fighting in "mundane" terms. And this his form has a vulnerable spot. It's adamantine!"
"Ahh, I see your point!" said Rikkir with a smile.
"How many adamantine does your kingdom have?"
"You know, our kingdom... We haven't mined much adamantine. The mines and shafts were collapsing few days as we started them, like if someone sabotaged it."
"Oh noes, that's... Not what I expected. I think adamantine would come really handy in this war." said the toad.
"You wanna me to mine some?" asked Alak. "We have revealed a cavern, I can give orders to everyone to mine ore, smelt ore, forge picks, and off to depths they go!"
"Industry can help a bit. But that's... Too slow. We must strike while he's not too powerful yet..."
"Haven't you that toad union? Can't you invite helpers from there?" asked Lolor.
"I have, and they'll help us, but not someone on my power level, unfortunately. They're handling... Similar problems elsewhere."
The toad was silent for a while, then it grinned and said: "There are many ways to obtain adamantine, though..."

Someone knocked on the door.
"Enter!"
Len came in.

"I wanna ask you, mister Alak, what about the adventurers going with me..."
"Ahh... You know, we have now... Different concerns, but..."
"What does this lad need?" asked the toad.
"I want to find my lost lord and restore his lordship over hamlet of Copnutgashi."
"A human lord? Why not? Would he support us?"
"If we manage to bring him back, I think he'll be glad, so yeah!"
"Good. Eh, where were we? Ah yes, adamantine."
"You can... Move us to layers below!" said Rikkir.
"That's pretty exhausting, to move someone here and there, I wanna be as fresh as possible for the war... Send letters to other fortresses, that we have plan to crush Zomus and liberate the Mountainhome. Their help can come handy. I'll leave this realm and I'll try to get help from ours, hope it'll be worth it."

"Write to Belbezstodir and Emenkegeth, that we're developing plan to reclaim the Mountainhome, but we need supplies and supporters. Lolor, give it to your kea and send it." ordered Alalk.
"My kea?" asked Lolor.
"Oh don't play this on me, I know you have a pet kea! I caught it stealing an anvil in the hallway!"
"Right..." said Lolor. "She'll get there, hopefully."
"And for us, we're continuing our normal lives, till further instructions!"
"So... That's outcome of this world-saving meeting?" asked Rikkir. "Wait till further instructions?"
"Yes. You know, after all, it's not so hard to fight evil!"
"Okay then. I'll find someone to go with you." said Alak. "To our plans, successful shall they... Oh wait, where's mah mug? Forget it."

[Quaksna]

"So. Here we are, ready to war." said Limul. "Mountainhome is far to the north, that'll be looong and boooring way. Hah, but Zomus can't stand a chance! We have an army to counter his, and we're two, and he's alone."

"Thanks for recapitulation. Are you marching with us, Gostus?" asked Uxzoustug.
"Sadly, I can't, there's work to do here. But Omot ans lords will go with you. Hope you'll be successful."

And so the army marched, marched towards the Mountainhome, where great battle was about to take place. Meanwhile, another army was assembling, under banner of the Exalted one.


"Both elves and other tribesmen by my side, splendid." said the Exalted one. "Last time I saw Zärseîl during scrying was in Dimshascuggán. Who knows where's he now. Anyway, we have men ready to fight, should it be needed..."

"Who's this Zärseîl? Some kind of deit..." asked Ebeca.

"This fine fellow." said Exalted one and pointed at statuette on his table. "During the time of our glory, he was truly someone in the world, lots of civilizations looked up to him."
"Right then, o Exalted one, but where are we heading, if we don't know where he is?" asked Cilko.

"Nowhere. We must know safely where to find Zärseîl, we can't march not knowing where. Be patient... Wait, what's this?!!"
"Huh, what?" asked Ebeca.

Exalted one gestured over a little pool and muttered some spells. The pool started to swirl, and when the surface of water becalmed, it revealed an image, a place under the mountain they stood upon.

Four dwarves were marching there, with Udma.

"Is the... Kodolith siding with some random dwarves he met right now? Where's his rebelling friend?"
"O Exalted one, we can't leave it this way! Let's go down an..."

"We're not going anywhere. You shall lead armies down there, I'll stay here."
"Wha... But you're the Exalted one! You coul..."
"No. I'll be lot more useful here. As for the Kodolith... Let him be."
"But he has seen you!"
"He won't speak, he's a Kodolith."
"These punks are nowadays doing just as they please! But okay, I'll obey." said Ebeca with a deep sigh.
Exalted one came back to the pool.
"I must scry more. I must know more! Even when it doesn't seem so, we're in big danger. An..."
"What about your race?"
"Too few of us. Can't fight directly. We weren't as lucky as... The others."
"Fine, fine. I'll take a closer look at this... Army."


"So you, tribesman, now that you want help us on this journey... Tell us something about yourself!" said Ïlon.
Udma pointed at his covered mouth, and slowly wiggled his head.
"You're mute?" asked Alåth.
Udma wiggled his head again, he banged his left arm, then raised it with two fingers pointing up, and then bashed his chest. Dwarves apparently didn't understand the gesture.
"You know how to speak and you don't? Well, at least you can't complain like these guys..." said Ïlon and smiled. Then he saddened, as he looked at Gemesh's dead body.

"You must sure miss your friend too. He saved us... Some random passerby saved us and stood against all those bogeymen alone..."
Udma was silent, staring at ground, as they walked by the mountain. Then he raised his head, did the bashing gesture again, but this time, he didn't bash his chest, he raised left hand towards Ïlon.
They stared for a while at each other, then Ïlon raised his hand too, and they shook them. Udma then headbutted Ïlon gently. Don't know if you can imagine gentle headbutt, but it just occurred.
Alåth, Adur and Neth came to Udma, and greeted him this way too.

"So, welcome to the team!" said Ïlon. "The thing is, if you can't tell us your name, how should we call you?"
"The brave guy called him Udma. Is Udma your name?." asked Neth.
Udma nodded.

"We're going to fortress of Emenkegeth, okay?" said Ïlon to Udma. "We have friends there. It's far away, but we're mighty warriors!"
Udma showed them his bronze blade.
"You're mighty warrior too? Great!"
"What about some shorter break, captain? I mean, we hadn't rested much that night." said Neth.
"Though it's a rare occurrence, I agree with you. Let's regain strength, we have a long journey ahead!"

[Quaksna]

This is outrageous! Ôvok was just going to travel between realms, and it's nowhere to be found! I looked everywhere! In the rutherer's maw, under cape of Limulsheget, in the pasture of crundles... everywhere! Must press harder on this search... I'll show you at least some pictures.

Ôvok mentoring.

Ôvok enjoying its innate powers.

Limulsheget and his golden nails.

Omot Mällunog

Ïlon Urirlînem

"I am the Alsmustspås."

Urist, not happy about being blamed.

"I'll be back... Soon..."

[Superdorf]

D'aww those doodles are well worth the hiatus! We look forward to your return.

[Quaksna]

It seems Ôvok lost its physical form while travelling between the realms... Looks like old Q'uaksna has to save the day. Let's take a look, how such magical toad physical form is done.

Step 1.
Q'uaksna is opressed and pressed in the screw press of society. This leads to many negative effects, including boredom. Q'uaksna gets angry and calls forgotten beasts.

These beasts can't wait to take part in this notable process.

Step 2.
Seems like some of them aren't sharpened and fit. To make them worthy, we let Deler Rítemen fight with them. Now they're prepared.

Step 3.
Deler Rítemen bites the paper. We'll navigate the beast carefully to shape the exact shape we need. In this case, a toad body.

Now we have a toad body.

Step 4.
We'll use extracts from certain types of forgotten beasts we need, and brush them over the toad. We want to make an openable mouth, so we'll color it red.

Step 5.
We'll decorate the part further, to make it more cool. Now it looks like a toad. But since we want a cool toad with openable mouth and legs like the old one, we must proceed to next parts.

Step 6.
Deler will bite off a mouth part. It's too big, so he'll bite it till it's just enough for the toad.

Step 7.
We'll color the mouth, red from one side and brown from the other. Then we'll decorate it, and use sticky FB extract to glue it to the body.

Step 8.
Ôvok is rejoicing : "Hooray!"

Step 9.
Now we need the legs. We'll bend the paper, so Deler can bite off two nearly identical parts.

I ordered him to bite off long legs, so we can bend them in the fashion of frogs and toads.

Front legs can be shorter, we don't need to bend them that much.

Step 10.
We'll color and decorate legs. Don't waste FB extracts unnecessarily, they're not easy to acquire!

Step 11.
We'lll bend them just as we need.

Step 12.
We'll glue them to the toad body. They fit, fortunately.

Dear dorfs and dorfesses, Ôvok is ready to continue its journey!

We'll put it in protective barrier so it can stay safe until Q'uaksna gets out of the screw press of society. So much for the process, new story episode ahead!

[Quaksna]

"Ah, finally at home! Sweet is this place, where plump helmets are growing just below the sun..."

The frogs and toads around bowed.
"Lord Ôvok, we've been waiting for you."
"Really? What's the matter?"
"We don't know, lords do."

Ôvok came to a cliff, with frog statue on it, where party of toads, toad men, frogs and frog men waited.
"Oh, why are we assembled like this? Something happened?"

The assembly was silent, staring at ground, not sure what to say. One toad finally spoke:
"Rëîm is not coming back. It left this world for good."
Ôvok was shocked, stunned, paralyzed, numb, all those nasty effects you can imagine. After a while it started to wink.
"How? Someone..."
"No." said one frog councilman. "It left voluntarily."

"Wha... But... I need help!"
"Sorry Ôvok. Rëîm is not returning."
"And is there some Âsem who can go with me?"
"Uprisings are happening in many realms, everywhere. They're occupied. Sorry."

Ôvok saw everyone is mourning, but it couldn't stay. It had work to do.
"Phew, with these conditions... Let's make... Another plan..."
Then it turned.

"Would you be at least so kind and scried area near Zomus? I need every single information. Because now... Dwarves are going to take the major part in this."

[Quaksna]

"So? Are they going..." asked Alak.
"Our master left the world. They're not going to come." said Ôvok. "Hope other dwarves won't abandon us..."

"But how are we going to stop him, then?" asked Rikkir. "If I get it correctly, your plans can't be accomplished."
"You get it correctly, Rikkir Baktuskugik. I have some amphibian men and followers nearby, I'll call them. But it's too few. I'll stay here for a little longer, let me think."


The toad has left, contemplating. It was slowly wandering the halls, after a while it got a good thought.
It croaked before door of Lolor's office.
"Enter, Luslemnod!" called Lolor.
"I can't reach the handle! Won't you help an old, short, clumsy toad?"

Lolor opened the door, Ôvok swiftly hopped in.

"What brings you to my place?"
"You my have solution to our problems, you know!"
"Really? Why I? Just because I'm manager?"
"Oh, don't be silly. I do know things. I know the others here don't..."
"Is this some kind of threatening?"

"Why don't you use the power and knowledge you have for good cause? You have things at disposal others don't have."
"You know, it's hard when half of all dwarves in this civ hates you!"
"If you are afraid of that, I can give you protection if needed..."

"I must consider that. What's the deal you have on mind anyway? Why do you need help from me, and not someone else?"
"The deal is, to effectively breach through caverns. I know you excel at this stuff..."
"And what if I'll just do this job secretly? Without... Like... Blowing our cover?"

"Do as you please, if you manage to do that!"
"I'm master at managing things. Just tell me what caverns do we need to connect. And I'll need help from my pals, we should notify them."


After while of planning, the toad went out of the office. Alak was standing in the hall.

"I hope you wasn't eavesdropping 'ere?"
"Don't worry Luslemnod, I wouldn't do that! But, you know, you're good at talking with people, wouldn't you like to talk to Urist as well? The guy troubles me... And Muz! He's just drawing some sketches, no one understands his objectives."
"If you think it'll help... I'll do my best!"

[Quaksna]

Alak sailed in soap workshop.
"Olmul!" he called.

"Right 'ere, boss!" said Olmul.
"This is call-up! Call to arms!"
"What?"
"You and Berath are going with Len to find that mad lord."
"Great. We three only?"
"You three only."
"Fine. I'll fetch them and we're off."

Alak watched him, as he was leaving the workshop.
"Is he so bored here? Let's go to Muz."


Alak entered little clay cave, where Muz was working. He was working furiously, parchments he had drawn on weren't in the place. He still muttered name Acöbkegeth over and over. Urist was standing by him.

"I gave him few gemstones Nakuth had found and I had cut. He grabbed them and sat here, maybe he's got everything he needs." said Urist.
"Hope so. Wonder what he is gonna craft. Maybe... A rock salt mug, with gemstones on it!"
"Or something like a string for a lute which is valued more than an actual lute, thus unused. I met such guy once."
 "Yeah, dorfs will be dorfs. You are a jeweller, huh?"
"Always appreciated gems, love to make artworks from it. So colorful and shiny..."

"You were born in the Mountainhome?"
"Yes, I hated the complex hallways. Only the few floors under surface were okay. I was living in Belbezstodir, after these... Goblin attacks. Hoped I could finally rest here, and then this toad came!"
They both chuckled.
"We're going to be okay. Don't worry. I won't let Kudarkalur fall."
"Eh, every fortress is destined to fall..."

Nakuth sailed in the room, gasping.
"Oh c'mon, what's up again?" said Alak, with annoyed face.
"Some dwarves have problems in the caverns!" shouted Nakuth. "We must go help them!"
"Let's go, then." said Urist.

The three dwarves ran from layer to layer, since Nakuth already made stairs to cavern ground, they got right there.

"Oh no, you reddish guys again!" sighed Alak.
"Oh, lord overseer, it's terrible! Sections of cavern walls are collapsing!" said Nel. He was trying to not shout, but he looked very frightened. A loud bang could be heard, followed by cracking of rock. "And down here is... There's..."
"Who's down here?" asked Alak.
"Lolor's trapped! The rocks sealed him off!"

A section of cavern roof has collapsed!
"Shafts are crumblin'! Shafts are fallin'!" whispered Nakuth, trembling. "Doomsday's comin'!"
Elk birds and cave swallows were heard, they flew over heads of the dwarves, trying to find way out of the cavern.

"What now?" asked Urist. "This whole thing may fall on us!"
"Call Luslemnod! Nel, run up and call the toad! In the meantime... I don't know. Ideas?"

[Superdorf]

Hm. Obok mayyy just be able to solve all this himself, but in the meantime...

First off, get everybody out of the caverns-- if the whole thing collapses, we want as few dwarves inside as possible. Next, find the most skilled miner this fort has to offer, and have said miner determine if it's even possible to free Lolor without sending the rest of the cavern tumbling down.

If it's determined that Lolor can be safely freed, have the miner work out how much force will be necessary to do so. Can the obstructing boulders be moved by means of dwarfish pick alone? Or will larger implements be necessary? If the boulders are especially large, perhaps the shaft of a woody mushroom could be used for leverage...

Once a means of freeing Lolor is determined, get the miner out of there and send in a squad of dwarves to execute the necessary labor. Send only the bare minimum necessary to complete the task in speedy fashion, and select if possible the least useful (but still competent) dwarves around.

Once again, Obok may decide to try and fix everything himself. If he does, get out of there and let him do his job. If he asks for help, grant it.

[Quaksna]

Oh guys, this is terrifying. I may throw tantrum any moment now. It seems i need to make army of toad stuntmen.
Before I go nuts, here you have some random sketch:

[Quaksna]

Got four toad stuntmen, and special container for them, hope they'll last longer than their predecessors. Anyway, the show can go on!

"Okay, guys, sorry to say it, Lolor must wait for a while! Run to the fort, bring the toad and more miners!"

Dwarves left the crumbling cavern, they ran quickly to stable layer. Urnût with a pick and the toad were already waiting there.
"What's happening?" asked Urnût. "Horrible sounds are coming from below!"
"Cave-ins. Lots of cave-ins." said Urist. "Lolor's trapped in another cavern, sealed away from our tunnels."
"What? Quick, dwarves, no time to lose!" shouted the toad.

"What are we going to do?" asked Alak. "You have some decent solution? If we stay there for too long we'll be crushed!"
"If we can't risk saving Lolor, we should wait, though it does not sound cool... How strong is the barrier, that sealed him?"
"Three wagons long, how high I don't know." said Nel. "If the cavern base survives this, we could get there somehow!"

"Aren't any crundles of ours down there?"
"No, they're annoying Ermis in the kitchen." said Alak. "This is... Terrifying. We need to save Lolor but we must wait?"
"When did this happen?" asked Nakuth. "Usually, caverns aren't doing this by themselves!"
"We were collecting stuff down there with Lolor..." said Nel.

The toad knew perfectly what happened. But it could not tell, neither send dwarves to inevitable death.
"Hope his cavern is stable!" it said. "Where's the miner boy, he was right there!"

Nakuth came from below, he had left to take a look at the cavern.
"Guys, it's not so bad. Roof is stable, falling rocks are decently small but they've completely crushed the mushrooms!"
"Lolor's not stupid, he can cope in harsh situations, but I'm still worried!" said Alak. "Hey, do you hear that?"
"What?" asked Urnût.
"Nothing. The banging and crashing is ceasing..."
And truly. All those nasty sounds couldn't be heard anymore.
"Okay, now it's safe to do something!" said the toad. "Come, dwarves, show me where Lolor should be!"

"Wow, it was boring, but you were right after all! Again..." said Nakuth.
"Patience is sometimes the key."
"Sometimes?" asked Alak.
"If you'll never dare to do anything in fear of failure, congrats, you just lost purpose."
"Oh. But we haven't lost purpose, I guess?"
"No. With what we knew, we acted right. If Lolor's alive or not... It's not your fault. You can't know everything, you must work with the little you know. It's hard, but worth it."

"It was behind these rocks!" said Nel. "But who knows, what is behind the wall now! The cavern may be elsewhere, or may not exist anymore!"
"Courage, dwarves."
The toad looses a croak!

The croak echoed through the cavern, then toad opened its mouth, and breathed out some magical mist. The mist quickly disappeared, but dwarves were already feeling some sudden load of strength.
"Get through!"

The dwarves were hitting the rocks with pickaxes with miraculous strength, after few hits they crumbled to pieces, and smaller rocks were hauled by the dwarves, who got severe good thoughts from this uplifting experience.

"I'm sorry to say it..." said Nel. "There definitely wasn't this many rocks before. And this large. Maybe the cavern have crumbled to another layer..."
"No! That can't be!" shouted Alak. "We'll remove all these rocks! Come on, we'll..."
"I'm not sure that'll be of any use..." said the toad sadly.
"We shouldn't have waited!" said Nakuth. "We could have saved him!"
Urnût heard with his keen ears some noises coming from below. He tapped with his pick on the rocks that fell and sealed the shaft.
The noises ceased, when Urnût stopped banging with pickaxe they started again.

"Someone is answering!"
"You mean... He's alive, after all?" asked Alak.
"Great. Get dwarves here, to mine this rubble. And some to guard the miners. I'll be givin' you some support." said the toad.

"Haven't you heard, civilians?!! To work, go, go, go!"



"Oh great, they're up there. Luckily." thought Lolor. "Now to get out of this perilous situation..."

Lolor pulled his limbs and managed to free himself. He hadn't anything broken, but it hurted like being in HFS alone, surround by locals.

"I can't just sit there, who knows what's lurking here! I got pretty deep, I can feel dwarf best friend in the air... One tunnel on left, one on right. Hmph..."

Since Lolor is alone now, you can control him like in interactive webcomic. Or let him be, waiting...
By the way, you have now access to his thoughts and memories... 

[Superdorf]

Hm. Complications.

Roll around in some cave-in dust to mask our smell and dull our clothing. Assess surroundings. How far away are our buddies? How long will it take them to reach us? Are there any visible threats in the area?

[Quaksna]

"Man, this cave-in mess is just everywhere! Wondering I'm not choking yet. It doesn't seem like something's here, but, in a cavern, no one can be sure..."

"Hmmmm... I made a vertical corridor, pretty high, connecting many layers. A unnatural deep pit, but it got clogged with rocks! I can't tell from how high these pickaxe noises come, but I can't reach it myself for sure!"

[Superdorf]

Roll around in the cave-in dust to mask our smell and clothing. Then get away from underneath the shaft-- if our buddies break through, we don't want 'em sending rocks crashing down on top of us!

Here is probably the safest spot this cavern has to offer, for now. Keep our back to the wall, have a couple escape routes planned out in advance, keep our eyes and ears open... and try not to draw too much attention.

[Quaksna]

"Okay, I'll just go..."

"I'll sit in this dirty hole and I'll wait. Not very exciting, better than getting crushed or eaten. Oh boy..."


We'll let Lolor wait, let's look what's happening in the meantime...

"How long now?" asked Neth.
"Loooong way." said Ïlon. "Don't tell me that stop was too short for you. Hey, here! That's a nice place!"

Alåth removed Gemesh's coif from his blonde head.
"Who should equip it?" he asked.
"You take it. Your shots saved us from lots of troubles." said Ïlon.

Adur cut off pieces of his long shawl, and covered Gemesh's still face in it. Together they dug a hole and placed the dead body into the ground, and buried him.

On the top of his grave they placed a round stone, with decorated ends of Alåth's crossbow they engraved name of the dwarven veteran.
"We'll miss you, Gemesh." said Adur.
They remained there for a while in silence.
"Alright. Gemesh can rest in peace, but we can't. Let's move on." ordered Ïlon.


And so they went. They passed around mountain of the Exalted one, and went their way, swiftly towards fortress of Emenkegeth. Soon they came to a river, not very big one, more like a brook.
"Great, water!" said Alåth happily.
"Water's okay, but what about booze?" asked Neth.
Ïlon stopped, because he just realized the problem.

"Gah, Neth, you're right again! We haven't drunk in ages!"
Udma searched for something under his cloak, but didn't find the thing desired. He shrugged.
"Oh, look, what's that!" whispered Alåth, pointing at something.

They saw a long-haired figure, sitting on a stone on the shore, shrouded in glittering cloth.

"Is that... Some kind of fairy?" asked Neth.
"Hey, I don't know. Udma?" said Ïlon.
Udma scratched his head, then he shrugged again.
"Nah, fairies should be recognisable!" said Adur. "Let's go and see!"
"Okay, but cautious, and weapons drawn." whispered Ïlon.
"Like if we ever sheath them." said Neth. Ïlon gave him annoyed glance.

They crept slowly on their bare feet, as the only boot was buried with Gemesh, honorably. They all copies moves of Udma, as they preconceived he's most skilled in ambushes. And they were right.

Not a one sound they did, nevertheless, the figure turned.
He was babbling something in goblin.
"Obuxo Gnuutâ kapö tergnutgub?" said Neth.
The goblin facepalmed, he looked very triggered, he sighed deeply and opened his mouth again.

"Dwarves!" he shouted in dwarven. "First kobolds, then some beastmen, and now dwarves!"
"Oh, he can speak dwarven!" said Adur.
"Must be weird, then." said Ïlon.

"Weird?!!" shouted the goblin, absolutely out of patience now. Dwarves decided, whoever he is, better not to pick fight with him now.
"Terribly sorry, mister, we ran into misunderstanding!" said Ïlon. "I'm Ïlon Urirlînem, captain of Udirizden. This is Udirizden, and this is Udma, our good ol' friend. Who happen you to be, dear mister?"
When the goblin heard that he can start talking about himself, he reversed the wheel of thoughts.
"Good afternoon, or what is it, captain. I am Ongngnuutgub Snukoukkar, the Zutulxor, one of the five lords of Alsmustspås. I used to be fairest being in the whole Alsmustspås, now I'm just... Fairest being here. Other lords got mad and they plunged the realm in chaos. Otherwise, it's not so bad... But I'm stuck here!"
"How was that freakish name again?" asked Alåth.

"Wait, wait." said Ïlon. "You say that some goblin magical realm is in chaos?"
"Yeah, and who knows how's it now, I can't get there, the way is shut tightly, I tried." said Ongngnuutgub.
"This could be it! Maybe that horrible darkness that swallowed the Mountainhome is connected with this!"
"Darkness? Like night, bogeymen, turning goblins into pale strongmen? That's Zomus. Yep. Definitely him. At least this guy isn't in Alsmustspås anymore... He was very unoriginal when it came to colors."

"So this... Zomus, right? He's one of the five lords, you say? Pretty bad." said Alåth.
"Lords of Alsmustspås... That's a big deal, eh?" said Neth.
"Let's be honest, when you're trying to cooperate with four different sphere-aligned beings... They even threw out one nice glitterin' golden wanderer!"
"Sphere-aligned? You can cast spells or something?" asked Ïlon.
"I can. Depends how difficult ones."
"Can you give us something to drink?"
"You've got a brook right here."
"Oh, I mean like... Wine, or beer, or rum, or..."
"And why? You just keep me occupied with chatting!"

Ïlon scratched his head, then he said: "And what are you going to do anyway? If you're so helpless right now..."
Ongngnuutgub frowned. He waved his arm, and a little berry appeared on his palm. Then he crushed it with some cool magical effects, and the juice turned to pleasantly smelling liquid.
He moved his hand to front of dwarves.
"Puny mortals, lick."
"Gah, gross! I won't lick booze from your filthy goblin hands!" said Neth, and he got a bad thought.
"Don't you have some... Container?" asked Alåth. "It's terrifying."
"Hey, I won't waste my power because of your weird preferences!" said Ongngnuutgub angrily. "Lick or let be!"

"You can brew fruit so easily?" asked Adur.
"Yeah, that's not that hard."
"I've got a bowl, let's find another fruit."
"Good idea." said Ïlon. "Come, Ong... Ognugn... Zutulxor."
"Why should I help you?" asked Ongngnuutgub.
"We need your help. If you want to stay jerk forever... Do as you please. Or be actually useful. You're wizard!"
"Ack, you got me there. So... Where are we heading?"