It is now early autumn.
After the defeat of T'yogh in early spring, Childerik animated some replacements from among the dead and then moved to regain one of my farms. He then moved onward in search of the missing cultist and fortuitously discovered him even as I was reorganizing the rest of my forces at the citadel and taking back the gallows.
Childerik prepared for a long chase, but the fish cultist doubled back toward the citadel and once more raided the farm. My apprentice and his numerically superior soulless engaged the wretch and his two bodyguards, but unfortunately the apprentice was greater than the master.
All I would learn later was gathered from the impressions of one of the soulless minions, of how the cultist called out to the night and piercing white light lanced down from the stars, spearing Childerik and burning him to a cinder. His victory was shortlived, however, as the soulless tore him and his men limb from limb before they ran out of instructions and reverted to standing guard.
Childerik's victory from beyond the grave was the final annihilation of this disturbing new cult, which with the death of both master and apprentice is no more.
With no minions under my command and reduced to doing everything myself, I spent the next three months gathering nearby resources before yet another herd of venison steak once more disrupted my gallows and I had to head back. At least the treasury is somewhat on its way to recovery, what with taking the nearest coal mine that the cultists had thoughtfully cleared and adding a village beyond it to my realm.
I even had to resort to reanimating dead myself, and I hope I do not need to do it many more times.
The Colossus still roams the vicinity of the southern mine and my ally is buried up to her ears in wildlife and patrols of dwarves have been skirting her territory. We received reports from spies that the Druid has been defeated, all his strongholds lost to hostile forces.
Pantariste also discovered the citadel of the Bakemono. It is disturbingly close to her own tower, though fortunately there is a lot of difficult territory in between.
The Bakemono citadel was discovered in late summer and now it looks like Pantariste's apprentice Androdameia has attracted the attention of the master of that forbidding fortress. She may follow Childerik to an early grave.
I need more minions and even one of those scruffy goblins will do right now. Anyone who can spare me the tedium of administering more farms and similar things is more than welcome. I would summon something to bolster my forces, but the current situation has left me no choice but to hoard the Hands of Glory so that I can summon something more powerful later.