[Leif_-]

Turns 8 and 9

There are three great forces that rule the hearts of men. Power, lust and gold. I am power, Epiphania is my leash on lust and now that my two dogs have control of Nern and the great mines there, I do not want for gold. I set a Numerican petty chief to the task of overseeing the mine and keeping the gold flowing, and urge Eioneus and Askalaphos deeper into the Sleepy Mountains, to reqconquer the old foundations of my old stronghold. I make bold Grifec take his leave of the two lovers and turn back north. I have another task waiting for him.

I watch the streets of Arcoscephale for half a day before I find what I seek in a grey-bearded, aristocratic man overseeing a team of slaves digging a trench. He is not a Kallikrates, but he knows enough of the sacred geometry for my purpose, and I do not have time to wait for a Kallikrates to emerge. I show him to Epiphania, and once she is done with him I send him south in the path of blood my two dogs have left behind them, to start the work of erecting my Fortress of the Edge once more.

Epiphania's daughters have, at long last, prepared the bare bones of my sacred workshops. Feathers of owl and stone-oil ink. Petty trifles and children's toys! But they are a beginning.