A Climb of Rime

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 22: A Climb of Rime, Orba and Safira stationed themselves on the roof of the guardhouse to keep watch while Erland and Graven tried to rest up in anticipation of the forthcoming battle. The sightlines were good, but given the level of activity on the mountainside we felt it was a question of *when* (not if) we'd eventually be forced to confront visitors in some form or another.

A lone goliath was the first to arrive with a sled in tow and the cargo was an animal encased in *jotusfrol* – some kind of offering, perhaps, for the Coldlight Walker who seemed to be recovering after the Frost Giant had passed through the Skybowl.  We attacked from a safe distance and subtracted one from the ranks of the possessed – and once again a hush fell over our gated pass.

The next sign of life wasn't hostile but he was just as troublesome – maybe even more so. Marcus of the Mountain, looking to have some fun with his new acquaintances, had tracked us down using his invisibility… and though he didn't pose an immediate threat, we worried his presence might attract the wrong kind of attention.

Orba cleverly distracted him with a suggestion of hide and seek, but the game was interrupted when more goliaths came marching down the hill with woodcutting axes in hand – reinforcements to trade places with the ones chopping down trees to make, as they so eerily echoed, "a home for the light".

This group, while not heavily armed, got a better jump on their attempted siege of the guardhouse – enough to start banging down the door and forcing Erland to abandon his hopes of getting a full rest.  It took some creative maneuvering in Safira belaying off the battlements, but we held the line just long enough to keep Graven from being dragged into the fray; a significant victory given that this was the last encounter we'd face before daybreak.

Now at full strength with that all-important healing magic at his fingertips, Graven gave the okay to start our final ascent – and it wasn't long before we reached the plateau to gaze upon what the goliaths had been hard at work assembling for their perceived savior.

A network of ramps, planks, doors and ladders had been fastened into the icy rock with *jotusfrol*-encrusted creatures scattered across the terrain – and without any beams of light streaking across the sky we could only assume that the Coldlight Walker had been stashed away somewhere in the interior of the mountain to protect it while it was on the mend.

Several small pockets of goliaths stood between us and investigating further, so our search was unfortunately not free of bloodshed.  Additionally, in the process of sneaking around checking every opening for a secret passage or a fortified position, we noticed a glint in the eyes of the frozen animals and surmised that the walker might be watching us – a fact that didn't change our approach but surely guaranteed that, if we managed to find it, we wouldn't be taking it by surprise.

A few missteps on precarious ledges got us into more fights than we would have liked, but we persevered with mostly minor nicks and bruises until we arrived at a door that led down into what looked like a kind of burial chamber.  With an almost suffocating silence in the moments leading up to this room, we burst through the doors with weapons at the ready and stood face-to-face with the shriveled, faceless corpse that had long been the object of our pursuit.

Safira drew her bow, Graven felt the fire in his fingertips and Orba summoned the essence of the Sunken King and we all prepared to unleash the full brunt of our might on this withered undead horror.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: five natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 by Riley, and 2 each by Jordan and Matt.