Now THIS was an entertaining chapter to write. I hope you enjoy it just as much. Anyways, if you read this, please (and I mean PLEASE) review. I want to hear back from my readers, after all. Even the simple act of reviewing goes a long way to making an author such as myself feel happy.

This is my longest chapter yet, though it's really not that long compared to my other chapters. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 4: Drunk

At first there were five women. Then there were six, each contorting their bodies in ecstasy as the massive orgy continued, unabated. Oghren grinned, the center of it all, the epitome of sexual dominance. Branka, Felsi, Mardy, Teli, Morrigan and Leliana swarmed him, hounded him. They demanded his body as each struggled to deny the others the extreme pleasure of Oghren's massive manhood.

"Alright, alright, ladies. One at a time." Oghren snorted as he laughed, motioning for Felsi first. "Trust me, I can keep going long enough for all of you."

As Felsi moved closer, the other women fought briefly, dissatisfied by how they weren't first. But they continued with their gyrating, each falling back into the collective mind-merge of large scale pleasure.

Oghren sighed, grabbing Felsi just above her hips. He neared slowly, relishing every moment, ready to sheathe his sword and quell the lust of this insatiable strum-

ooo

"Maker's breath, Oghren! Put some damned pants on, at least!" The dwarf felt himself jerk awake, instinctively retracting his hands from his lower body regions. Oghren stared around blankly for a second before realizing Anders stood over him, a horrified expression on his face.

"You ain't ever see a man have fun before, pretty boy?" Oghren grunted, searching for his pants. Always the damned pants. Even with the dog gone, they still managed to disappear every time he fell asleep.

"You call that fun?" Anders backed away, shaking his head. Oghren didn't really get why. "I call it a chemical hazard." The mage shivered, disgusted. "Darius sent me to tell you he needs to talk to you, but forgive me while I regurgitate my breakfast."

Anders ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Grunting while sitting up, then heaving his ass to the edge of the bed, Oghren absently looked about him, the hangover only now hitting him with full force.

"Bloody stone, you'd think the headaches would get better if I'm getting drunk every night." Oghren complained, reaching for his tunic, which lay on the nightstand next to his bed.

But there were perks to being a Warden. One of which was the free booze – always a nice touch to Oghren – and another was the free, private room. Back in the army in Orzammar he bunked with the men, which often led to awkward situations considering Oghren's frequent drunkenness... and how he often lost his pants.

"That boy doesn't know how easy he got it. Hehe." Oghren stood, slipping the tunic over his head, jamming it over his beer-belly with some slight difficulty. He strode to a mirror, looking himself – naked from the waist down – over in the mirror before sighing, exasperated about how he looked. "Bleeding nug pellets, but I'm getting old. Fat too. No wonder Branka took to carpet munching."

Oghren walked back to the night stand, still looking for his pants. Though the dwarf wasn't sure why, people tended to scream when he walked about with his manhood jingling about, so he had to cover it up. Not that Oghren cared if people screamed upon the sight of him – in fact he preferred it – but he usually ended up in jail or getting yelled at. Or drunk, but most situations usually ended that way anyways.

Oghren stopped short after noticing a letter lying atop the stand face down. He must not have noticed it before as the parchment was browned, giving it a similar hue to the desk. He opened it carefully, examining the contents.

"Heh. It's a letter to his wife." It took him awhile, but the dwarf finally read the letter through. He set it down gently, sobering slightly from the content.

It was addressed to the wife of a former Grey Warden, one that was killed in the attack by The Withered. From the looks of it, he had been in the midst of composing it when the darkspawn attacked, leaving it unfinished.

Oghren's first thought was that now the Warden's wife was single – which was always a good thing – but the second was that his room wasn't entirely his – not yet. Now that he thought about it, the stench of the other Warden hung over everything. The clothes hanging in the closet, the hardwood floors, the dresser, the nightstand, the bed. His presence seemed to be all around him, suffocating him.

"Need a damned drink..." Oghren said, finally spying his pants, which lay atop a drawer just short enough to reach. He hurried to them, sliding the thin material over his junk and fastening the belt at his waist. "Where'd my drinking flask go?"

Oghren walked to the door, flinging it open, annoyed at the loss of his alcohol. He hesitated in the hallway. Looking back at the letter, Oghren approached it, glancing over the parchment. Again the presence seemed to surround him, but Oghren blocked it out.

After snatching the letter and stuffing it into his pocket, Oghren huffed, exiting the room again, slamming the door.

Stone be damned, he needed a drink.

ooo

"That's the gist of the situation, Commander. All in all, it isn't looking good." Oghren leaned against the door, studying Darius as he talked to two strange humans. One, an older lady with breasts like paper sacks, and the other, a young man in full dragonscale armor, a large sword sheathed on his back. Darius sat on the throne, examining them as they spoke.

"Your theories are nothing but rubbish, Garavel. The Commander must take action, not rely upon the rumors of a drunken scouting party." The woman spoke sharply. Oghren snickered as the other man, Garavel, looked slightly taken aback.

"Mistress Woolsey, with all due respect to your seniority," Garavel seemed like a confident man, but Oghren couldn't help but notice his insecurities around Woolsey. Oghren chuckled again, snorting. "You cannot assume these rumors are baseless. Colbert and his companion were very clear about the sheer number of darkspawn they saw in the Knotwood Hills."

"Yet there is much more legitimate threat in the Wending Woods. Our trading caravans are being attacked!" Woolsey exclaimed, surprising Oghren. He didn't think elder humans were capable of showing large amounts of emotion. "Mervis of Amaranthine has suffered enough losses as to make the future of the Mercant's Guild uncertain. Something must be done and quickly."

"Trade matters little if we have an army of darkspawn knocking down out doors, Mistress Woolsey." Oghren could tell Garavel was trying to be calm, but his anger was starting to show.

"So I am left with two choices." The two immediately stopped bickering when Darius spoke. "Either send men to clear the Pilgrim's Path of whatever is killing the soldiers or send them to Knothole Woods."

"I trust you know what is the correct choice, my lord." Mistress Woolsey bowed, backing away. "But I must take my leave. The nobles will be arriving soon to swear fealty to you, and I must make sure their accommodations are acceptable."

Both Darius and Garavel stared silently after Woolsey as she exited the throne room. After the door shut behind her, Garavel spoke again.

"So what will it be, commander?" Garavel asked. Darius paused for a moment, thinking. Oghren sighed, wondering why the commander thought about things before doing them. Thinking was a sodding waste of time.

"I will go to the Wending Woods personally." Darius said finally, to the surprise of both Oghren and Garavel. "Send soldiers to Knotwood hills to investigate the supposed Deep Roads entrance. Woolsey is right in not trusting rumors, but in these dark times we must be cautious."

"We don't have many men to spare, but I will see what I can do." Garavel nodded, bowing before turning away. He too left the room, leaving Darius and Oghren alone in the throne room.

"The mage said you wanted to see me, Commander." Oghren approached slowly, annoyed by how sober he was. If only he had that damned flask back... but Mhairi fell off the balcony with it after she got run through. A great way to lose it, but that didn't excuse the fact that it was lost.

"Yes. It's about the matter of your constant drunkenness." From Darius' tone of voice, Oghren could tell this conversation wasn't going to be full of praise for the ol' dwarf. He knew this tone. He'd been lectured before. "I believe it's going to be an issue if you're more drunk than capable most of the time. I can't depend on a drunken dwarf to lead men or command respect."

"Trust me, commander." Oghren snorted. "I'm better drunk than not. Sure, I may throw up on babies or get enraged at the smallest sodding thing but, ancestors honor, I'd stab the baby and crush whatever annoyed me if I'm sober."

"Which is precisely what I'm worried about." Darius shook his head. "I will not punish you yet, as I do not know exactly how much truth is behind that statement, but know that I am going to be watching you. Carefully."

"Commander!" Both Wardens turned as a newcomer ran into the room, panting. She looked flustered and panicked, but Oghren couldn't help but notice her armor was just a slight bit too tight in just the right places.

"What?" Darius snapped, stopping her in her tracks. "Speak quickly, Private. It better be good to excuse this interruption."

"S-S-Seargent Maverlies sent me. She said that darkspawn pooled together in the basement of the Keep. They were beaten by the guards, but she's afraid there are more further within." Oghren snapped to attention, reaching for his axe.

"Darkspawn, you say? Hehe." Oghren smiled as he spoke, shaking his head. "I could use a bit of fun."

"Get Anders and Nathaniel." Darius stood quickly, grabbing his weapons and running after the private. "Meet me at the entrance to the basement!"

"Got it, commander." Oghren saluted, though Darius was already gone. He turned towards the other door, thinking he could find Anders in the kitchens. A glint of metal caught his eye, and Oghren turned.

His drinking flask lay on the throne, as it had been positioned behind Darius when he was sitting, hiding it from view. Oghren picked it up, shaking it and smiling when he saw it was near full.

"Finally, I found you." Oghren kissed the flask fondly, then strapped it to his belt.

By the time he found Anders, Oghren was nearly falling over drunk.

ooo

The alcohol washed away the pain, just as it always did, but Oghren always felt something missing. Maybe he just wasn't getting drunk enough? Yeah. That was it. Next time he'll drink 6 pints more than last.

"Sod it all." Oghren took a large swig, feeling the familiar, comforting burn of the clear liquid as it cleared his esophagus. "But this place looks like I just got through with it."

The hallway itself was littered by corpses – darkspawn and human alike, though Oghren did notice a few elves here and there – and blood pooled on the floor, covering the walls. All around them was death, as if there had been some large battle here.

"Looks like some of the guards tried to hold this entrance during the battle." Darius noted. Oghren didn't miss the grim tone in his voice, despite the happy scenery. "They didn't last long enough, unfortunately."

Darius led the group as they slowly moved down the dark hallway, illuminated only by a magical light Anders conjured. Oghren hung behind, occasionally veering off and hitting the walls. Oghren chuckled, amused by how he couldn't even walk in a straight line and how funny it was to see how oddly contorted some of these bodies were.

"Hey Nathaniel, hehe. Check out that one!" Oghren pointed at a peculiarly positioned body, the head of which was half torn off, its foot wrapped around its body and resting inside the open neck. One of its arms was torn off, while the other had its hand over its crotch. "He liked playing rough, I bet."

"Truly." Nathaniel barely responded, not even bothering to look at it. Oghren chuckled, now feeling somewhat awkward. He had moments like this back in Orzammar. Ever since Branka left and he lost his right to bear arms, Oghren was always either being ignored, laughed at or fought with. Not that he cared, he told himself. At least he could kill whatever sodding messed with him now, right?

He took another swig of alcohol as Darius finally reached the end of the hallway. He drew his swords, rushing away, followed by Anders. Relieved that he would finally have some fun, Oghren laughed, pulling out his axe.

Roaring a battle cry that sounded distinctly like small animals dying, Oghren charged through the door, ramming his axe into the head of a nearby hurlock, splitting it to the neck. He didn't bother to dislodge it, simply tearing out of the side of its neck as he sliced at another hurlock. The blade of his axe cut deep into its stomach, the contents emptying onto the floor as it stumbled, thrashing as it died.

Oghren laughed, drinking some more of his alcohol while a genlock charged him. He yelled, slamming the flat of the axe against the genlock's sword, knocking it away and opening it for a deadly chop to its torso, splitting it in two.

In his drunken rage, the dwarf failed to protect his flank, however. He snarled as he felt the bite of a hurlock sword plunge into his ass between two plates of his dwarven plate armor. Oghren turned, swinging his axe in a wide arc, but missed. Oddly enough, the hurlock had already moved behind him, stabbing into his shoulder, though leaving only a scratch on his armor.

"Sodding phantom darkspawn!" Oghren yelled, swinging again and missing. He couldn't even get a good look at the thing. Finally, the blows stopped, and Oghren turned as a light blue form disappeared into the hallway on the other side of the room, a low moan escaping from its direction. Seeing no other darkspawn to kill, Oghren took a swig of alcohol, belching nice and loud afterward.

"What in Andraste's ass was that?" Anders wondered quietly, pulling his staff from a hole in a darkspawn's neck while gazing in its direction. "A fade demon? A shade?"

"Aren't you supposed to know such things, mage?" Nathaniel slung his bow over his shoulder, pulling arrows from the corpses of the various darkspawn. "If you can't tell, then what's the point of having you come along?"

"For my cheery wit and happy demeanor, just like you." Anders shot back. Oghren didn't pay much attention, instead looking at the hallway the strange specter had vanished down. It was... familiar.

Instantly Oghren felt a memory resurface. Through the grungy muddiness of his drunken mind he saw an image appear, that of a demon in the Deep Roads. Adrian had gathered the pieces of an ancient demon, fitting them together in some strange blood ritual. The two spirits – the one that appeared back then and the one that appeared just a few moments before – gave him the same uneasy feeling.

Adrian had let the demon go. Had it returned?
"It's a pride demon." Oghren felt himself blurt out, though for a moment he wasn't sure if he had actually said it or simply thought it. Judging from the stares of the others, he assumed he had spoken it.

"The dwarf makes a more accurate observation than you, mage." Nathaniel sneered. "It seems he may not be a lost cause after all. But you, Anders, certainly are."

"I'll be sure to write that down in my journal as I cry myself to sleep." Anders shot back dryly. Oghren stifled laughter.

He looked about the room, examining the broken casks, barrels and the numerous bodies. It wasn't large, so the floor was nearly entirely covered with corpses. Just how I like it, Oghren thought absently, before noticing movement at the other side of the room. A mabari lay there, licking the blood from a dead darkspawn, whining softly.

"I recognize that dog..." Nathaniel spoke, bending down next to it. He pet it softly, trying to comfort it. After a moment it relaxed, nudging towards a note tied to its leg.

"It'll be a dead dog soon." Oghren huffed, walking towards Nathaniel and the mabari. "Might as well put it out its misery."

Nathaniel started to protest, but Oghren's axe came down, severing the dog's neck from body. Nathaniel stared at the dwarf, then at the dog, apparently unsure how to react. It took him a long moment to react, during which Oghren found himself shifting uncomfortably.

"The note was from Adria..." Nathaniel finally said, turning towards the door, apparently ignoring what just happened. "She was a maid in the Vigil, and it says she's scared and alone. She was like a mother to me. We need to find her."

"I don't see how it detracts from the mission of killing the darkspawn here." Darius spoke coldly, opening the door to the next room. "Let's go."

The three Wardens fell in step behind the commander. Oghren thought it might just be because of his drunkenness, but he could swear Nathaniel kept looking at him, staring angrily. However, whenever he turned to the Howe, the man's eyes were turned forward.

They were walking for a few minutes before Darius stopped suddenly, pressing his ear against a door up ahead. He listened carefully, signaling the other three to be quiet. A moment passed in silence, then two. Oghren found himself growing annoyed, tapping his foot, running his hand on his axe head, doing anything just to keep himself entertained.

"What in the sodding blazes are we waiting for!" Oghren finally shouted, letting his drunken impatience overrule his orders. Darius urgently told him to be quiet, but to no avail. "Tear down the damned door and kill whatever is inside already!"

As if on cue, the door burst open, but not because of Darius. A fleshy mass appeared there, shrieking wildly as it struck at Darius, who barely managed to defend himself as he tried to crawl to his feet. More of them crawled through the doorway, their disgusting and twitching maws shaking with madness and rage. They resembled humans but... corrupted. Changed.

"Ghouls!" Darius shouted, finally regaining his footing. Oghen charged, yelling as he swung his axe down on the head of one of the deformed creatures, tearing it in two. He spun, taking the arm off of another with his axe, but it still came on, the madness of the taint destroying its sense of pain.

"What in the Maker's name?" Oghren heard Nathaniel shout as two of his arrows embedded themselves in a nearby ghoul, yet the creature didn't fall, its charge instead gaining momentum. Oghren shouted, lashing out with his axe, tearing the armless ghoul in two, then striking at the head of the other ghoul. Axe bit through skin, bone and brain, tearing a long, fatal gash down its back.

"Gotta hit it harder, kid!" Oghren shouted at Nathaniel, who drew his sword. The dwarf turned, wading back into the fray as even more of the disgusting, twitching creatures pulled themselves through.

Oghren felt the drunkenness give way to rage, the familiar flow of battle, the grip of the axe, the way his beard swung, the sweat on his balls. He recognized it all, letting the berserker's way guide his actions. In other words, he was striking madly, tearing apart anything that came near.

As he struck down another of the tainted creatures, Oghren saw a large form lurch through the doorway, roaring. It looked like two men, two ghouls, had grown together, joined together at the shoulders and hips and possessing only one head. It rippled with muscle and taint, its skin covered with festering, blackened boils.

Oghren shouted, charging at the giant newcomer. Two of Nathaniel's arrows pierced its chest, but the thing didn't even notice. It swung one large, misshapen arm at Oghren. The blow landed heavily, launching the dwarf – armor and all – into the side wall. Oghren felt his breath escape him, but recovered in time to run away from another blow.

Another arrow buried into the gargantuan mass of flesh, this time striking an eye. The ghoul roared, charging towards Nathaniel. Seeing a chance, Oghren rushed forward, jumping into the air as he slashed at the back of the ghoul with his axe. It cut deep and, feeling something snap, Oghren pulled out, hanging onto its back as it fell. He finished the thing with a head-splitting chop, sending tainted brain matter across the floor. When Oghren stood, the room had been cleared. Darius sliced the front open of the last remaining ghoul, ending the fight.

"Those are ghouls?" Anders spoke quietly, examining the misshapen and horrendously deformed corpses. Some had three arms, others with two heads. None looked distinctly human, though they may have been as such once. "What a terrible thing to become. Losing your mind, your body... your devilishly good looks..."

"Beauty means nothing in the face of death, it seems." Nathaniel said, following Darius as he entered the next room. Anders shrugged before following, while Oghren stared at a certain odd-looking corpse, enraptured by its positioning.

"Looks like he's giving himself some loving." Oghren chuckled, running after the rest of the Wardens.

ooo

"Please! Please just let us out!" Oghren kicked the door as hard as he could, to no avail. The prisoner's whining grated on his ears, but he tried to focus on the ancient stone portal Darius told him to open.

"Why? You are prisoners. There's a reason you're down here." Darius replied, his voice even and calm, as usual. Oghren sometimes felt as if that voice actually unnerved people, though he never experienced it himself.

"They might have been falsely imprisoned, though." Anders piped up, arms folded as he gazed at them. Oghren turned, annoyed by his impossible task. He spied Nathaniel, who was busy picking arrows from the corpses of ghouls.

There had been a large number of the sodding things in the prisoner's chamber, along with a strange, blackened door that a few of the ghouls popped out of, yet none of the Wardens could get the door open. Still, the fight was fun. Oghren chuckled as he remembered impaling one of the ghouls against a spike protruding from the wall.

Roaring, Oghren raised his axe, slamming it down upon the door. A large chunk of metal broke off and Oghren smiled triumphantly, before realizing the metal was a shard from his axe. He stared at it in shock, surprised.

"Commander, it's impossible." Oghren approached Darius, who was busy staring at the whining prisoners. "The blighted door just won't open."

"Then leave it. We're done here." Darius stalked to the door, ignoring the cries and pleading of the prisoners, who begged from behind the bars. Finally, Darius turned, glaring at them. He spoke slowly, menacingly. "If you truly wish to be free, be my guest to be caught and slaughtered by these twisted creatures. If you don't die a horrible, painful, slow death, then you will turn into one of them, a monstrosity worthy only of death. Believe me when I say that it is you prisoners who have it lucky, for I am a prisoner of the duty bound to me as a Grey Warden, yet I can never escape."

They fell silent. A few looked down, ashamed. Oghren smiled, patting the commander on the back. Darius forced open the door on the far side, which led to the rest of the underground.

"What about the sodding black door?" Oghren motioned to the strange, glyph engraved portal he couldn't get open.

"Leave it. We need to clear these tunnels." Darius walked through the door, Oghren close behind. Nathaniel ran ahead, squinting into the darkness.

"Mage, light up the hallway ahead of us." Nathaniel said, still squinting, motioning for Anders to cast some spell.

"Thief, I'll give right on it." Anders rolled his eyes and Oghren chuckled, noticing and enjoying the annoyed expression on the blonde warden's face.

Anders lowered his hands, weaving them back and forth together, then bringing them above his head. He finally separated his hands, a large burst of light escaping from his fingertips, filling the room. Oghren squinted against the large amount of light before realizing there was a figure standing a slight distance away, just in front of a collapsed section of wall. She stood with her head bowed, her brown hair falling over her shoulders.

Her hair and clothes were matted with blood and a longsword hung loosely from her left hand. She turned slowly, her mouth moving imperceptibly.

"The creator visited us today."The woman spoke slowly, her words giving a slight sing-song feel. Oghren found himself staring at her considerable bust instead of listening, though. "We felt illustrious, even as we ate."

"Adria?" Nathaniel stepped forward cautiously. Oghren felt warning bells go off in his head, and he readied his axe. "No... Adria... We have to help her. Darius, is there anything we can do?"

"We feasted well on blood tasting of souffle."Adria continued, her head still hanging. Nathaniel approached slowly, speaking to her softly. "For once we thought the hunger would abate!"

"What terrible rhymes." Anders shook his head. "She's gone mad from the taint, it seems."

"There's nothing we can do." Darius approached, drawing his sword. "She must be slain so that the taint will not spread to others. Nathaniel, back away."

"No!" Nathaniel drew his own sword as he stood between Adria and the Warden-Commander, pointing it threateningly towards Darius. "I can't let you kill her."

"Four of them thought they could give me pity."Adria raised her head, staring at Nathaniel. The other three noticed, but Nathaniel just kept his sword angrily pointed at the commander. "Oh, how we desire as we stare at them hungrily."

Nathaniel let out a shout as Adria pounced upon him from the back. Oghren ran forward, chopping at the ghoul, but she had already retreated, pinning herself against the collapsed wall.

"You've got nowhere to run, you stone-cursed blightress." Oghren laughed, swinging his axe overhead. Adria ducked out of the way as Oghren's axe dug into the stone.

"Apparently we don't either!" Oghren heard Anders call. The dwarf turned as ghouls poured into the room from behind. They must have come from behind that blasted door.

Oghren shouted, tearing his axe from the wall and charging the nearest ghoul, which had another head growing out of the top of its own. He sliced into the air, taking off an arm, then a leg. The thing stumbled, thrashing, but Oghren brought his axe down, severing head (or heads) from body.

But there was another five to take its place. Oghren shouted, swinging his axe towards the nearest one. The thing caught the axe, gripping the flat of the blade securely from both sides. Oghren wrestled it for control of blade while also trying to dodge the clawing, raking strikes of the other ghouls, which stumbled over their own, misshapen body parts as they reached for him.

A blast of fire knocked a few away, scorching the ghoul with a handhold on Oghren's axe. Making use of the surprise, he thrust downwards, cutting a gash down the ghoul's chest. Then he ripped upwards, tearing the front hemisphere of its head in half.

Oghren looked approvingly towards the mage, but Anders was already focused on another ghoul. The mage slammed his staff into its head once, then twice, crushing it, teeth and eyes popping out.

Nathaniel was only then starting to recover, reaching for his sword while staring at the battle. Likely, Oghren thought, he was searching for Adria. She wasn't hard to miss, however. She fought Darius, her single sword somehow fast enough to match up with both of the commander's blades.

Oghren yelled, chopping another ghoul in two. More and more fell beneath his blade, but there seemed to be even more filling their places. Ghouls everywhere, packing the small hallway with their disgusting, mutated appearance.

"Slide it up yours, blighted bastard!" Oghren shouted, taking the head off a ghoul with three arms and four legs. He charged for Adria, cutting the leg off a ghoul as he passed by. Darius looked over at him briefly, jumping back when he realized what the dwarf was doing.

Adria didn't react in time. She turned just as Oghren was close enough to strike. The ghoul tried to block the swing, but too slowly. The axe tore through her torso, ripping her in half through the middle of her chest. Her top half spun through the air, coming to rest a few feet away. The lower half simply fell over.

The ghouls started panicking, but they didn't get far. Without the head, the body simply thrashes blindly. With Adria, the leader of this pack of ghouls, lying dead, they devolved into unthinking beasts, turning on one another in a mad bid to escape.

After a few moments they all lay dead or dying.

"Adria..." Nathaniel crouched over the corpse of the ghoul. Even Oghren didn't miss the shocked and horrified expression on his face.

The dwarf walked over, unhooking the flask of alcohol from his belt. He handed it the Howe, turning his head so as to appear disinterested.

"Thank you, good dwarf." Nathaniel took the flask, tilting his head back as he put the flask to his lips. When he gave it back, the flask was empty.

"No problem, kid. Now quit your pouting." Oghren said brusquely, turning away.

ooo

"Don't you worry, commander." Voldrik Glavonak saluted sharply to Darius before delivering a disgusted look to Oghren. "My men will have the blockage cleared in a week or so, provided everything goes smoothly. We'll also look into the stone door you mentioned."

"You have my most gracious thanks, good dwarf." Darius extended his hand, which Voldrik took eagerly. "Inform me as soon as the work is done."

Voldrik marched off, a motley crew of dwarves and humans following behind him. Oghren sighed, reaching for his flask. He brought it to his lips, only to realize – for the third time in the last fifteen minutes – that it was empty.

"Last time I'm giving anyone my private stash." Oghren huffed, stalking off.

By the stone, he hated being sober.