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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1788611" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Price5/18/370 O.L.G., 6 p.m., the Halls of Healing, VarHorbin sits alone in his room in the Halls of Healing.  Dusk is falling outside even now.  He reads through his Galadron, two large candles lit, as the light recedes.  Horbin the MFKG Holy looks up.  He feels as though someone is watching him- in fact, someone probably is.  “Estelias,” he says aloud, and smiles.  “Please feel free to come to me or to bring me to you or whatever you want to do.  I would appreciate a chance to meet and talk.  My friends have perished, and I seek aid in obtaining the diamonds I need in order to restore them in their full glory.”  He falters.  I hope it isn’t one of our enemies, he thinks then.  The Bile Lords...But no.  In an instant, a figure appears beside him, materializing from the air itself.  Estelias is certainly the most beautiful woman that Horbin has ever met.  She is tall and elfin, with long silver hair in a single thick braid that falls all the way to the floor.  Her skin is a perfect pale shade of marble white.  Her large eyes are a deep amber that Horbin feels he could almost fall into.  Silver, white and sky blue adorn her.  Her jewels tend to silver (or platinum), some set with sapphires.  She stands with a sort of unearthly poise that is almost startling.  She bears herself with an air at once intelligent, alert, observant and relentless.  She is, in every way, breathtaking.“Horbin,” she greets him with a warm smile.  “I am Estelias.”The cleric nods at her, impressed despite himself.  “And I am Horbin the MFKG Holy.  Pleased to make your acquaintance.”  Awkwardly, he shakes her hand.  “So,” she breathes, “your friends are dead?”Horbin nods affirmation.  “Mmm.  And you are powerful enough to restore them, but don’t have the diamonds?”  Again a nod.  “Understandable, in these times.”  The grey elf smiles.  “Perhaps I can help.  I’d be willing to make inquiries for you in the Delphinate, if you’d like- you could even stay in my home there in the meantime.”“Really?”  Horbin is shocked.  As far as he knows, it’s very difficult to enter the Delphinate- the society of wizards- especially if one is unwilling to give up all other affiliations.*  As it turns out- Estelias explains- the war has changed things.  Now the Delphinate, a fairly low-population state with an increasingly-unruly underclass- is almost desperate for more powerful wizards to replace those that have been lost in battle or assassinated by Forinthian agents.“A lot of us Tirchondians didn’t even foreswear our homeland,” she smiles.They talk for a while- Horbin is desperate to know what else he doesn’t know that has changed in a major way- and, in the end, Horbin takes her up on her offer.  Hell, how can he refuse?***5/27/370 O.L.G., 2 p.m., Estelias’ house in Spell, the DelphinateHorbin sips his juice as he sits on Estelias’ porch, looking over the amazing capitol city of the Delphinate.  Called Spell- for obvious reasons- the city is lit by magic, has many maintenance dweomers in place, has doors that lock magically, is full of magical services- including messengers, street spell-vendors, potion shops and much more- and its streets even have constructs and strange magical creatures walking down them, accompanying powerful wizards and- lately- sorcerers.  And even stranger creatures, Horbin reflects; someone is out walking with elementals.  He smiles to himself.  This place!  Very strange.  And Estelias is a gracious host, but a strange one; she seems to spend as much time elsewhere as she does at her home.  And she doesn’t even really know Horbin very well!  She’s showing a lot of trust in him by letting him run loose there.Or maybe the whole place is warded with deadly anti-thief spells.  That would be just like her.  Suddenly she’s there, teleporting onto the circle in her foyer.  She smiles at Horbin and steps out to him.“Good afternoon.  I have an offer for you.”“At last!” Horbin sighs.  “Well, let’s have it.  What terrible quest or task do you have for me?”She smiles even wider.  “Oh, Horbin, nothing so contrived or convoluted.  No- all that we ask is that for each of your friends that you return to life, you true resurrect two of our people.”Horbin stares at her.  For a long moment he’s silent.  Finally, he asks, “You mean you’ll provide the diamonds for all that?”Estelias nods.  “All of it for your friends, and for ours.”“Why...”“We have lost many capable wizards, Horbin.   People we can ill afford to lose.  We don’t have many clerics, and even fewer who are in a position to raise the dead at all- much less if we have no body, which is often the case in these things.  Law,” she says wryly, “nearly has a lock on true resurrection.”“That’s all you want?  What about equipment?”“We’ll even throw in some low-level magic gear for you all, if you’ll agree to find something for us and overthrow it.”Horbin thinks, The catch at last, and aloud he asks, “What is it you want me to overthrow?”A queer look comes over the elf’s face.  “Well, it’s called the Bastion of Law, but that’s all we know, really.”“You don’t know where it is?” the cleric demands incredulously.  “How am I supposed to find it?”“Horbin, all of our divinations indicate that you, of all people know how to find it.  We think you’ve been there before.”The cleric strokes his smooth-shaven chin.  Something from years ago pricks at his memory, but it refuses to surface for the moment.  “Hmph,” he says.  “What if I can’t find it?”“It doesn’t have to be immediate.  Sooner is better, but whenever you can.”  Estelias shrugs.  “We understand that it might take a while.  And we’ll only be able to provide you with the most basic gear to start with, but it’s better than nothing.  And we’d love to help you more, but it’ll take some time.  Still, we’ll do what we can.” Horbin nods his head slowly.  “I can’t believe it’s going to be this easy.”I was just thinking the same thing, Estelias thinks.***5/27/370 O.L.G., 9 a.m., within the Palace of Scrolls, SpellSybele’s eyes snap open and she screams.  “Look out!  Don’t bunch up- we have to- aaagh!!  What’s happened?!”  She look around in a panic, then settles down as she sees Horbin.  “I died, didn’t I?” she groans in a quavering voice.”We all did,” Horbin replies.Then he turns to the task of bringing back two of the most powerful wizards of all time.Watching intently as they return from beyond the grave, Estelias muses, This is brilliant.  By the time all is said and done, the Delphinate will be stronger than it has ever been, for Horbin is restoring the greatest wizards of the past millennia to life.  These two were Delphins themselves.**  And now they will live again.These two, and many more.  Many more.Next Time: Who doesn’t come back?*Horbin has likely heard some of Malford’s or Lester’s stories from back in the day when they were trying to get in to the Delphinate while first reclaiming Dorhaus and while preparing for their great airship journey.</blockquote>

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