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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1810552" data-attributes="member: 1210">Tax Collecting7/1/370 O.L.G., 11 p.m., in the ruins of Ostraghan, DorhausMull Skybreaker is not by nature a patient giant.  He is shifting from foot to foot eagerly, but nothing he can do can make the appointed hour closer.  Still, the time is approaching.  He has seen the alignment of stars coming together; it won’t be more than another few minutes.  Breathlessly, he watches as the four stars important to the Great Calling slowly creep into a line.  Finally, it happens, and he hurries below into the chamber and gives a shout.  The chanting finally starts as the force of powerful clerics that Fnogghi Chaos-Hand has gathered begin the Great Calling.Xurkrischis, they chant, over and over again.  Xurkrischis!  Xurkrischis!  Xurkrischis!Fnogghi is making complex gestures, as if he is beckoning something very, very far away.***7/4/370 O.L.G., 8 p.m., elsewhere in the ruinsOstraghan was a thriving city two centuries ago, before the coming of Fuligin and his armies.  It sits on the northernmost point of a kidney-shaped lake, and it is right in the midst of the barony granted Drelvin by King Malford long ago, after the destruction of that same Fuligin.  Ostraghan seems a good place to start clearing out the remnant evil.    Our heroes run across their first group of giants early in the evening.  They engage and defeat them fairly easily.  There are four of them- two fire giants and two fomorians, weird deformed creatures of limited intellect but daunting power.  They are laired in a ruined tower.  Of course, their daunting power is not so daunting of heroes as powerful as these.  Sybele shoots volleys of arrows that just keep sinking into giant chests, Thrush slams the fomorians brutally with his blade, Drelvin pin cushions the enemy with aplomb.  Kagera springs in and out, landing crippling blows on her foe.  And Horbin channels the light of Dexter, flinging both sunrays and flame strikes.  A quick examination of the tower finds that, although the upper levels are collapsed, there are rooms beneath that seem to store thousands of bones stacked on shelves.  “Ossuaries,” Horbin comments, glancing at a dusty stone plaque like a headstone on a shelf.  “It’s a good way to store bones if you don’t have much space in your graveyard.”  Our heroes look around uneasily, but find nothing especially noteworthy.  As they are leaving, Horbin starts to say, “I’m surprised there weren’t any undead there,” but his last word is cut off by a rumbling coming from the ground.“Damn it, Horbin, why’d you have to say anything?” Drelvin groans, then laughs.  He catches his balance easily as the ground bucks, but several of the others aren’t so lucky.  Something is rising from the ground, something huge.  It’s like the ground and the bones have fused into some sort of humungous living graveyard.  A great arm-like extrusion slams down on Drelvin for a tremendous amount of damage and he gives a cry of surprise and pain.“Oh crap!” cries Sybele.  As the thing pulls itself from the ground, leaving a huge gaping hole in the ground behind it, our heroes scramble for firm footing.  Thrush is the first to manage to get an attack in, stumbling over the rocking ground and slashing at it multiple times.  The blows knock earth and bones free, but the thing is resistant to the blows.  He grits his teeth, anticipating a reply flurry of blows, but Horbin prevents it- by blowing the monster to smoking black smithereens with a sunburst.“Undead,” the cleric tsks.The group retires for the night, moving away about half a mile in the ruins to rest.  The rest of their night is undisturbed, though the group does occasionally hear strange noises and the chirps of odd bugs.  The next day they ascertain that the ossuaries are now collapsed and destroyed, but a thorough search turns up a pair of bottles of wine.  Perhaps they were buried with one of the bodies in the ossuary?*The rest of the day passes uneventfully, as the party searches the ruins mostly fruitlessly.  Jezebel does turn up a few items of jewelry off a long-dead skeleton, and one of the rings is magical.  (It is later identified as a ring of protection from pickpocketing.)***7/6/370 O.L.G., 11:45 a.m.The search continues; so far, our heroes haven’t turned up anything interesting this time.  Perhaps if they knew where to look?  Several of them are already considering asking around.But Horbin stiffens suddenly as he receives a sending.Horbin the Holy- this is Prayzose.  We should be on the same side.  We should be allies.  Join me, don’t stand in my way.Horbin sighs.I am on the side of the greater good and of the people of Dorhaus, he replies.Damn it, he thinks.  ***3 p.m.The party has a short and amusing chat with a leprechaun who steps out from the shadows.  With a grin, he introduces himself as McHenry.  The group shares a round of beer with him.  McHenry puffs on a corn-cob pipe and seems to wink a lot.  He tells them that the fey are watching, and approve of what they’re doing in the ruins. “When the old man asks for wine,” he adds, “don’t give him yours.”  He belches.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must relieve myself.”  He staggers into the shadows and vanishes.***5 p.m.That evening, Horbin communes.  There’s a lot on his mind, including memories from years ago of an ongoing battle in a field before a fortress**...Is the Bastion of Law a place? Yes.Is it on its own demiplane? No.Can we get to it easily with our present abilities? Yes.Is it on the Plane of Law? No.Is it on the Outer Planes at all? No.Is the old man that McHenry referred to Old Man Rheumy? No.Is he Prayzose? No.Was he referring to anyone in particular? Yes.Someone we’re likely to meet? Yes.Is Prayzose safe? Yes and no.Do Prayzose and our party share common enemies? Yes.Is the existence of the Bastion of Law contingent upon one creature? No.Is it ruled by one creature? No.Can the battle stop? Yes.Is it within our power to bring this about? (There is no response.)Are there clues of how to bring this about in the Bastion of Law? Yes.Does Prayzose wish to recruit me to the side of Law? Yes.Will he kill me (or try to) if I refuse to join him?  (There is no response.)Is the side of Law benefited by the constant battle at the Bastion of Law? No.Does the battle reflect the state of things in the greater struggle? Yes.If we influence the battle we the battle influence the material world? Yes.Is Drelvin gonna lose any more legs? Eventually.With a sigh, Horbin retires for the night.Next Time: Our Heroes check in at Drelvin’s little community on the lake and we meet some relatives!*Truth to tell, they were buried in the rubble in the tower above by the giants, but turned up after the search after the living graveyard’s eruption remodeled the area.**This happened long ago, in my Old Story Hour.</blockquote>

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