Dawn came quickly to the slowly awakening town. Fummau and Tasaki alike reluctantly stirred from their slumber to begin the day anew with plenty of work and socializing. The dwarves' tavern slept quite soundly roughly three hours after midnight. Storm was the first to come around. The night before was a blur of laughter, enjoyment and drunken shenanigans. The aftermath however, was not so pleasant. She felt some of the effects of the hangover but only the migraine was the hardest hitting pain.
It took a brief minute for her sight to clear up and when it did, she was surprised about where she was. She was flat on her back, sprawled out across a table top. Her clothes were still on which was a huge relief to her. She sat up and looked around at the scattered motionless bodies that remained. Tilamo had apparently managed to fall asleep standing and he snored rather loudly.

Gelmen was in the same spot as he sat down last night, only just face first in a half finished salad. After a good look around though, Falcher was nowhere to be found. Believing that he woke up even earlier than herself, Storm got up and walked out of the tavern. It was early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen but the sky was a dull grey. The roads were no longer lit by candles as they'd been used up throughout the night. The world itself was bright enough to see without the need of candlelight.

The dwarven couple's tavern was on the town's edge. The field of dry grass started again just a few feet from the walls. The one or two trees nearby looked like they propping up something but a second look proved otherwise. Storm came back to the roads and began a morning walk down a side road. The air was cold again and the rare slow breeze blew through the town. It chilled her face slightly. She continued walking.

Another minute in and she found a gnoll. The large wolf-like beast was hunched over, snoring louder than Tilamo. Storm walked up to him and nudged him with her boot. "Falcher."

He only fell over. The snoring stopped and he laid down in the dirt. She nudged him again. He didn't wake. She grabbed his arm and yanked it quickly. The jolt was enough to spark a groan from him.

"Wake up," she commanded. "It's time to get up"

Falcher was slow to come around. Sluggish and disoriented, he sat up. "Is it morning again?"

"Yes, yes it is. Now get up. We have things to do."

Something's... wrong. It's dark... uncomfortably dark...

Storm towed Falcher back to the tavern to awaken the other two members of their party. To her surprise, Mirvelle was already there and actively trying to wake up Gelmen. Storm approached her in curiosity. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to wake up Gelmen. He doesn't want to wake up." Mirvelle complained. "I'm ready to get a bucket of water."

"There's an easier method." Storm grabbed Gelmen's leg and dragged him out of the booth. He slid out and slammed his head into the wood floor. Suddenly, Gelmen was awake and he thrashed around in pain.

"I would've used the bucket of water." Falcher commented.

"Ow..." Gelmen groaned, holding the back of his head between his hands.

Tilamo was awake by this point. He walked on over and laughed upon seeing Gelmen on the floor.

"We got a busy day ahead of us."

"Doing what?" Mirvelle inquired.

"Two things, waiting on Tangurple to finish his business and get back here. The other is finding the next zone boss."

As if on cue, the ground shook violently. The whole tavern was rattled to its core as glassware was thrown from its shelving units, chairs toppled over. The shaking came in waves, quick bursts of heavy force with brief moments of calm between each hit. The pattern was inconsistent too.

Jodi was the first of the two dwarves to complain about it. Still dressed up in sleepwear, she stumbled out of their shared bedroom and out into the main dining area. "What the hell is going on?!"

The shaking persisted for several more minutes which drew the group outside. Towards the south side of town, beyond its road limits, a giant was casually walking from east to west. From where they were, they could see some of its top half which appeared to be made of stone.

I remember... it was big, grey and unnatural... but the world was also so tiny...

Falcher rubbed his eyes and then looked at it again in disbelief. "Am I tripping?"
"Not this time, old man." Mirvelle was also shocked.

"Gelmen no like this..." Gelmen was seemingly on the verge of pissing himself.

"It's a giant and it looks like it's made of stone. Why are you surprised?" Tilamo pulled out his scythe. "Let's kill it."

Storm put a hand against his chest. "It doesn't seem to be coming towards the town."

Just like that, she jinxed it. The stone giant adjusted its path and started thumping its way towards the town. Storm grumbled and ran towards it, the others following out of habit. From the edge of the town, the giant wasn't too far away. From where they stood, they could see all of its finer details.

It stood almost a hundred feet tall, casting a massive shadow as the sun struggled to climb up into the sky. Its body was indeed made of stone. It was human shaped and wore parts of old castles and houses as armor. The armor didn't seem to offer protection like real armor but rather provided platforms and ridges for things to grab onto.

Weirdly colored fur or grass clung to its chest, legs, back and head. The giant was fuzzy looking up close as if dwelled in the swamp for too long. Its eyes glowed a bright blue like sapphires. That is until it saw them. Then the game's combat music kicked in and the giant's eyes quickly flared up in an angry reddish orange. In its right hand was a large club which had the appearance of the rook chess piece but the size of a skyscraper. The giant raised the weapon and slammed it hard into the ground just a dozen yards in front of them. The ground shook violently and seemed to raise and dip like a horrible earthquake.

The group was knocked off their feet by the impact and revertibrations that followed. When the shaking stopped, the giant started dragging its club back to its side. Storm jumped up to her feet. "Alright, we got opportunities. This giant wants us dead and will probably attack the town as well."

Mirvelle remained laying in the fetal position, "my head..."

Tilamo rolled over and pushed himself up onto his feet. "What's the plan?"

"Something tells me this giant doesn't fight like previous bosses."

Gelmen pointed to something on the giant. "Blue glowy things."

Tilamo followed his finger to where it pointed. "I see it too, wanna place bets on those being the parts we have to hit?"

The parts he was referring to were large abstract glyphs that glowed blue. There was one glyph in plain sight on the giant's stomach. Storm saw it too. "I put a thousand gold on that. Gelmen, got any ideas as to how to get up?"

Before Gelman could say anything, the club came crashing down again and knocked them all to the ground. The world shook violently. Rocks flew past them like shrapnel from mortar fire. They quickly recovered and were up on their feet again. Gelmen spoke as quickly as he could. "Club and fur, climb!"

Storm nodded and barked out orders, "Tilamo, Get on the club and climb the arm, Falcher, see if there's a grab point on the legs."

The two of them nodded and sprinted towards the colossus. Storm waved her arms around like a lunatic, yelling and shouting at the giant whose gaze quickly focused on her.

The colossus pulled the club back and lifted it. Tilamo jumped and grabbed ahold of it, briefly. He was thrown up into the air with the club and he forcibly launched himself off of it. He held his hands out in front of him like some superhero as he went sailing through the air. The giant saw him but it was too late. Tiamo grabbed the giant's beard, getting a noseful of old musty basement and wet rotting wood. He groaned but held tight to the grass fur. Storm clapped and cheered from the ground.

The colossus however brought its left hand in to crush him like an unwanted fly. Tilamo let go and dropped to a lowey part of the giant's chest. From the ground Storm continued waving and shouting. "TWENTY FEET! DROP!"

As he was just getting ready to let go, the giant hollard and fell to knee, shaking him around. Up the giant's right leg, Falcher quickly scaled the back side of it, up the thigh and onto the platform that wrapped around its waistline. The colossus stood up and shook its body in hopes of throwing him off but to no avail. Falcher laid flat on the platform and barely moved. While he waited for the shimmying to stop, he looked around for another glyph. There was none on the back. "Damn, probably on the head then." He scrambled to his feet, grabbed clumps of the grass fur and resumed his climb.

Tilamo dropped some more and grabbed a clump of the grass fur that was in front of the glyph. Up close, it was hard to see the glyph but what he did see was unique. Up close he saw a small hole in the giant's abdomen that released a bluish light but the problem was his weapon, the two handed scythe he had was useless for this kind of situation. "Storm! I need your sword!"

Storm pulled her sword from her bag and threw it like a javelin towards him. It wasn't enough though. The sword arced and flew too low, zipping by just beneath its crotch. "Scheisse." she cursed.

The beast screamed again and its health took a heavy hit. The giant thrashed its upper body around in pain trying to shake something off its head. Barely holding on, Falcher readied his rapier again and jammed it into the hole, blocking the blue light. Black blood spewed from the colossus with immense strength to rival a fire hydrant. Falcher yanked out his rapier and even more blood poured out, drenching him in black ooze. Conveniently, his other rapier fell out of its holster and down the front side of the giant. Tilamo happened to see it and caught it as it came down. He readied it, aimed and struck. The giant folded in on itself, slamming the hammer it held into the ground and using it to keep itself up. The impact and following shakes nearly knocked them both off.

Tilamo jammed the rapier in and kicked it, repeatedly until the hilt was flush with the skin. Each kick did a good portion of damage to it. As he tried to pull it out though, the colossus' hand came around and punched him off. Tilamo flew a good football field or two and hit the ground hard. Gelmen raced after him.
Storm called out from the ground, "all you Falcher!"

Falcher tightened his grip on the grass fur, his knuckles turning white from his iron grip. He flopped around like a dead fish with the way the giant was thrashing around. His grasp on the giant was very short lived. The colossus snapped its head back and launched Falcher off. Falcher sailed through the air. He threw his rapier at the giant's head but it ricocheted off and jammed into the ground. Falcher bounced off the ground, tumbled and went head first into a tree.

Storm groaned as she watch him fly away. "I gotta do everything myself don't I?" She ran towards the giant with almost inhuman speed. The giant, despite its low health, forced itself up onto its feet once more. It saw Storm run by and behind it. The giant turned and slammed the hammer down. Storm was within arms reach of her own sword until the ground shook and rippled. She was tossed up and over, a couple of yards off from the sword. The giant had already begun to lift the club again. Storm scrambled to her feet and lunged for the sword.

The hammer crashed again and she was knocked to the floor again, pelted by hundreds of rocks. Storm stood up again and made a break for the hammer. She clamped the sword between her teeth and began a quick ascension up the face of the hammer. The giant lost sight of her and started a short patrol route around the area. Storm ran across the top of the hammer, jumping over its ridges and grabbed the grass-like fur. She scaled its arm quickly, maneuvering around the armor.

The giant didn't notice her until she was running across his shoulder and up his neck. The colossus brought its hand around to smash her like a fly. She saw the hand coming for her and she jumped out and over it. The hand collided with the head and suddenly, there was an explosion. A large poof of smoke enveloped the area around the head as large chunks of rock splintered off the now fractured head. Storm clung to its shoulder with only a handful of its fur in her grasp. She reached up for another clump and slowly pulled herself atop once more. As the dust dissipated, she could see the inside of the colossus' head. In its center was a rotting corpse with a blue gem sticking out of its skull.

"What the?" It was as she said that did she then realize she no longer had the sword with her. Having no other option at that moment, she approached the exposed corpse and the crystal. She grabbed the crystal and yanked it out. Suddenly, the giant stopped moving. The light from its eyes faded away leaving only a dull salt rock tone in its crystalline eyes.
She took a second look at the crystal and eyed its flavor text:

"Containing the soul of a once living and sentient being, this crystal preserves their life in return for power, service or other uses."

"Soul gem? That's an interesting use-" She was cut off by a sudden touch. The rotting corpse came alive briefly and grabbed her arm. The flesh hissed as old boils popped and spewed black blood. The sudden exposure to the air caused a very rapid decay of the corpse and seconds later, the flesh fell off the bone and the hand fell to pieces. Storm was speechless if not actively ready to empty herself of her stomach's contents.

Even then, she wasn't given more than a moment of respite. The structure of the stone giant seemed to only be held together by the magic that was channeled through that soul gem. The legs began to give way, cracking, splitting and breaking off. The rest of the body toppled over a minute later with Storm still on top.

The crash that followed shook the ground far worse than when the giant walked and attacked. Boulders and rocks were thrown for miles around resulting in some severe damage to the houses in the town. Her ears kept ringing. No other sound could out power the heavy and deafening ringing. Storm pushed herself up to her feet but fell over. Impact took out most of her health leaving her at a near critical percentage. Amidst the thick dust cloud, she could see movement, people running around frantically. One of them approached her, "Gelmen?"

The figure in front of her was Gelmen. The small wood elf was trying to tell her something and he looked rather panicky. She couldn't hear the words much less read the words his lips were forming. In quick succession, wave after wave of relief washed over her. It became very obvious that he was casting healing spells trying frantically to rejuvenate her health. It worked and with the help of Tilamo, dragged her out from underneath the rubble. The ringing wasn't the only issue for her however. Her head ached with sudden spikes of pain which quickly rendered her unconscious.

When she woke up for the second time that day, She was laid out on a table of stone in what looked like a crypt. That was the first glance at least. She was greeted by a female Tasaki in what looked like Shaman armor. Naturally, this Tasaki was rather unstable. "Oh goody, you're awake."

Storm tried sitting upright but the Tasaki pushed her back down. "Where am I?"
"You're in my clinic... well a morgue but the clean portion of it."

"Ah shit..." Storm cursed. "I've died and gone to hell."

The Tasaki eyed her curiously. "Hell? You mean the bad place?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"You're not dead though."

"Double shit."

"You wanted to die?"

"Rather be dead than feel this migraine. Worse than having three days of hangovers."

"That'll pass quickly. When they pulled you out from underneath that rubble, your legs were bent all the wrong ways in the wrong spots but not even an hour later and they're back to normal."

"My... legs?"

"Oh yes, you had three new bends in your leg bones, between the knee and ankle. I wanted to cut you open and steal some bone marrow. I've never seen any elf with your kind of regeneration capacity. It was marvelous." the tasaki started digging through drawers of some wooden desk.

"What are you looking for?"

"I want to test something with your legs. Bone heals by creating a new weld with itself. Usually comes with a bubble-like effect. I've marked your legs in yellow dye where the bone was broken."

Storm sat up and pulled up her pant-leg and saw the markings. "You're looking for a knife aren't you?"

"Did I make it too obvious? Oh well. I was going to slice you open to see if that weld had formed or not. You have a unique regen property that the likes of us could and would love to have."

"Yeah, no. You're not cutting me open. I'm in enough pain as it is."

"It's only a quick incision, nothing worse than the combat you adventurer types are used to."

"Touch me and you're dead." Storm growled.

"Don't be like that, deary. You're much too pretty to be that mad. Well maybe not that mad. Besides, you don't have a choice." The tasaki leapt up onto the bed and promptly sat on Stom, using her own body weight to keep her pinned to the bed. "Thirty seconds is all." The Tasaki was quick about making the slice. The silver knife tore through her skin where the yellow marker was and pried open with the fox's fingers. "Amazing, it doesn't even look like there was any damage!"

Storm had about enough at this point. There was a side table next to the makeshift gurney she was on and on that table was a large blunt object with a small handle; likely a box meant for holding organs. She reached for it and grabbed it. She swung it up and over, hitting the tasaki in the head and knocking her to the floor. She threw herself off the bed onto the fox and started throwing punches left and right, pummeling her into submission very quickly.

It was at this point did Tilamo come to the rescue. "Storm!" he called out. He rushed over and locked his arms around her. He pulled her off but not before she got one last good hard kick in. "Storm! Calm yourself!" he shouted in her ear.

It was enough to get her attention. Storm looked up at him seemingly confused. "I'm calm. Where am I and what happened?"

"You took a nasty fall when you brought down the colossus. Myself and Gelmen got you out of the rubble. There's no hospital in this town but there was a morgue. Less sanitary but doable. After that display though, you seem yourself again."

"That display was some much needed venting." She stood up on her own and broke free of Tilamo's restrictive grasp.

"I don't doubt it, Storm. But did you really have to go all out on the only doctor in town?"

"Yes. She tried slicing me open."
   
"Uh-huh." Tilamo sounded very doubtful of her. "Anyways, I assume you saw the crystal we pulled from the rubble?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The Thane wants to talk to you about it."

"Thane? Who?"

"The mayor basically in olden tongue. I guess this is not the first one that's come through here."

"Oh joy, there's more. Where's Tangurple when you need him?"

"No idea. He hasn't shown up yet."

"Great..." Storm was starting to walk towards the exit when she realized she was not in her armor, instead in trashy looking garb. "Where in hell is my armor?"