After being slain by the arrows of the goodly but misguided folk of the Vale, Udoros' body was saved from the Winterhaven skirmish by his allies. They carried him away in the Thundercloud Tower and safely back to Gardmore. Everyone rested while Kun immediately set about casting the ritual that would bring Udoros' soul back to his physical body. There was no time to lose, with the snow falling more heavily than ever.
Kun lay Udoros' body on the main altar slab in the Abbey of Gardmore. This beautiful Abbey that they had freed from its temporal taint of being filled with monsters, and freed from its founding taint of being influenced by dark forces of the afterlife. Together, Kun and Udoros alone among the Lords took their residence in the Abbey itself. Kun knew that Udoros' beliefs were different from his own. Kun worshiped Ioun, the goddess of knowledge, while Udoros' gods were the nature spirits of the world, which Udoros believed dwelled in hidden glens and forests with the spirits of his honorable ancestors and forebears. That difference aside, Kun and Udoros had bled time and again to create this home for themselves and their people. Gardmore stood strong, and filled with good and free dwarves and shifters. But now, to save not only their home but the Nentir Vale itself from a snowy apocalypse, Udoros had fallen.
Kun went through the ritual with focused experience and confidence. Hours later, as he completed the complicated casting, he waited for the effect. He didn't hesitate in doubt, worrying that it might not work. He knew his magic was strong enough, and he knew Udoros' will was strong enough. The shifter would return.
Udoros opened his eyes and started convulsing with the remnants of the pain from taking seven large arrows into his body. After a few seconds, he shook off his last memory and sat up. He oriented his mind and looked at Kun.
"Thank you, my friend." Kun nodded.
"I asked Zarel not to be here, so I could concentrate. But I also wanted to talk with you," Kun said.
"I understand. Quinn was right," Udoros said. "We were fools to let Erban live so long, gather so much strength. Time and again, we gave him the benefit of the doubt. I thought I had been overcoming my anger, my shifter nature, in holding us back from acting. I thought that since Erban had insulted me and my shifter kin, I was being the bigger person by letting him live and carry on. I realize now, though, that we should've put him down months ago. He's not the harmless fool we thought him."
"No," Kun said. "He's not."
Udoros sighed. "I understand now that the times are too dangerous, with the gods walking the lands, to risk the whole of the Nentir Vale on random townsfolk or mayors being manipulated. For better or worst, we can stop the gods and resist their control, and nobody else can. It's a brilliant tactic, to turn the town guards against us, from the very towns in this Vale we are trying to save. But we cannot allow it again. Going forward, we are the Nentir Vale, and anyone who says others, mayor, lord, theocrat, or farmer, will have their mind promptly changed. We need to be able to focus on the real threat, and these petty barons cannot get in our way again. Our own goodness cannot be used against us."
Kun's eyebrows went up at that. It was practical, but Udoros had always been somewhat soft-hearted about dealing with townsfolk, compared to Kun's hammer-to-the-face policy. Udoros truly was changed, for the better, Kun thought. Kun nodded. "Let's go have a conversation with our old friend Erban, shall we?"