The floating horrors were slain with ease with Cernetu's help. It was a pleasure to watch him wield bane fire against the things, though I am annoyed at the losses they inflicted on the longdead.
Once that threat was eliminated, we parted ways. Cernetu will go south to eradicate the brigand lair and rejoin me later. That black charger of his can move much faster than anything on foot.
At the cusp of summer, as spring was fading, the Colossus once more called my attention to its location, this time east of its pedestal.
It appears that the brigands I thought my rival had eliminated had instead escaped and are still a menace and the Colossus blundered into the midst of their camp on the plain.
I left the giant to deal with these vermin on its own, but soon my stone servant called my attention back with insistent force, accompanied by an unfamiliar note: Distress!
I linked with the statue just in time to receive an impression of resignation and failure. I felt the Colossus lose balance as its foot detached from the statue and the ground rushed forward. Impact...and the link that had been there for these years was...gone.
Somehow these outlaws found a way to harm it and the Colossus is no more. It's ruined body lies on the plain less than a week's travel from the base on which it had stood for centuries beyond counting.
I was not far north when this happened, at the site of the hamlet where that feathered priest met his end. We spotted the campfires of the brigands to the southeast and there are not quite as many left as there were before.
Soon there will be none left alive. If there is a way to snuff out their souls after death, that is what I will do to them!
There would be an opportunity to reanimate more troops at this site, but I dare not do it at this time. It is time to focus the increase of my troops on summons. Cernetu, being an accomplished necromancer on his own, can reanimate things in an emergency and he will do so on his return from the south if it is necessary.