Hidden in Plane Sight

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 23: Hidden in Plane Sight, our assault was off to a promising start when our initial volley of attacks did more than find their mark.  A ferocious Guiding Bolt combined with one of Safira's special arrows made a considerable dent in our already fragile foe – and Orba summoned the service of the Sunken King to stand as a barrier between us and whatever the Coldlight Walker might throw our way.

Moments after the first blows landed, however, the creature reared back its head and began to siphon some kind of spectral energy from four separate sources hidden behind doors at this burial site.  The energy empowered the Coldlight Walker to shrug off any and all punishment we'd managed to dole out – and we knew right away that without cutting off the sources of healing, we wouldn't last long enough to wear our opponent down.

As Orba's conjured spirit did an admirable job absorbing the brunt of several powerful beams of frost, Erland and Graven averted their eyes and scuttled into the closest room off of the main chamber to find a hovering tear in the fabric of our world – an opening that led to what we assumed was the Ethereal Plane where the walker could draw upon the essence of the dead to strengthen itself.

To win this fight, we would have to start closing the ethereal tears – though doing so was easier said than done.  Each one posed a challenge that was not only dangerous but time consuming… putting pressure on those remaining outside the tear to withstand the onslaught of freezing rays.  Even more problematic was the fact that anyone passing into the Ethereal Plane would leave their physical body behind – making them especially vulnerable as they rushed to complete their tasks.

With work on the tears moving slower than we'd like, the name of the game was "stalling" – and we needed to pull out all the stops.  We broke out ensnaring arrows, hunting traps, pestifer canisters (that had been in our bag since all the way back in Mukmu) – anything to keep the Coldlight Walker at a distance while Erland hopped from room to room.

Despite the utilization of the many tools at our disposal, we were never more than one false step away from disaster.  Orba and Graven both fell unconscious and had to be revived by Safira's Healing Spirit – and in the Ethereal Plane, Erland fell from a floating platform… forcing him to restart his attempt to close the tear.

With her healing capabilities expended, Safira vacated her hiding spot in the stairwell to help her elven companion while the others rummaged through their knapsacks looking for anything else that could prove useful in delaying the monster closing in on us.

Even though we were short on energy for spells and ki techniques, we'd learned a lot about what the Coldlight Walker could and couldn't do: it was powerful but slow, luminous but couldn't see through cover – and could regenerate but wasn't immune to the nullifying effects of the Chill Touch cantrip.

The hope was that we could use this knowledge to tip the balance in our favor, but all of it still hinged on cutting off access to the Ethereal Plane – so we strapped in for a long, drawn-out confrontation and said a prayer for Erland's surefootedness.

## Trivia

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