You Do the Aftermath

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 26: You Do the Aftermath, Orba attempted to quiet her mind in the wake of the Coldlight Walker's destruction, but a torrent of emotions was paired with vivid visons of past reapers – some succeeding but many failing in their own first attempts to conquer their undead quarry.

Emboldened by the experience of those that came before her, she tended to Graven's injuries before dragging her companions one by one into the farthest corner of the most concealed area – doing anything she could to reduce the risk that we'd be spotted if someone wandered down into the burial chamber.

Fortunately, no such intrusion followed – and Orba had the room to herself to calm her nerves and say a prayer for her unconscious friends; a trio of unquestionable merit who, each in their own way, had seen her through to the other side of this terrifying conflict.  The New Qelqian gods would surely hear Orba's stories of faith and words of praise, but they weren't the only ones to do so.

Marcus of the Mountain, after noting some strange and suicidal behavior from the remaining goliaths, had snuck his way inside and was hoping to pick up where we'd last left off: playing games and having fun… or at least, fun for him – while we stressed endlessly over being found or getting hurt.

This time, however, Marcus had a wager in mind.  The goodberries he could magically produce seemed like the perfect way to circumvent a long wait while the others regained consciousness, but they'd have to be earned through a dice-tossing competition that he called "Hills and Valleys".

The satyr was obviously a practiced hand and Orba quickly fell behind two rounds to none – and unwilling to leave her friends' safety up to chance, she shoved Marcus aside and snatched the berries before he could react.  Pouting and insulted, Marcus vanished – and as the rest of the party exhibited their first signs of life we had to wonder whether that would come back to haunt us.

Waking up one by one felt like a reunion of sorts; a chance to count our blessings and our bruises as Orba filled in the gaps for those that feared they might never make it back.  Above all else the prevailing sentiment was relief – and beyond that, a desire to leave these mountains behind now that we'd finished our business here.

Unfortunately, in the state we were currently in, we didn't think we were likely to make it very far – so we organized watches for a rest believing that, if Marcus was correct, we were the only ones left in the area.  Graven had already slept earlier on the way up, so he took this time to investigate the hillside – and though he didn't spot any lingering goliaths, he did find their possessions that had been cast aside when they fell under the spell of the Coldlight Walker.

It was a decent haul of both gold and equipment, but the excitement was short-lived as he started to feel vibrations coming from deep within the earth… and saw a massive, moving shadow approaching from the east.  This combined with the already worsening weather led Graven to believe that the Frost Giant had returned – a grave concern given the already compromised foundation of the burial chamber… and even the hill itself.

Reluctantly interrupting our rest, we evacuated the summit and started down the long, winding trail but the ice was already starting to crack.  Pieces of the path were crumbling beneath our feet as we sprinted toward the gate with its wooden support beams groaning under the pressure.  Barely slipping through before the entire structure collapsed, we endured a dangerous, icy slope before an avalanche cascaded down off the north face – forcing us to make a choice about how to proceed.

We'd hardly aced our previous tests, but we strapped on the longboards and finally felt a bit of muscle memory kick into gear – riding the drift down and out of danger without a single collision or fall.  From there we looked for a spot to wait out the storm and were welcomed by torchlight into a cave occupied by a man named Chandler Corbett, who'd been tracking the Frost Giant as a kind of journey of spiritual discovery.

Mr. Corbett seemed well-intentioned and even had some words of wisdom to share with Graven on the topic of how to channel the undisciplined thoughts that come with fractured faith and we considered how this might shape our party's composition going forward.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: one natural one was rolled in this Chapter, by Anthony.