Boogie in the Bowl

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 21: Boogie in the Bowl, the Meddling God of trickery spoke to Graven on the hilltop – wondering why he'd been neglected in our cleric's prayers and offering his services in exchange for a public display of devotion.  As was customary of Bufmir, such a display required subjecting us to some embarrassment and frivolity – a price we were willing to pay for a powerful tool to protect us during our imminent showdown.

With lights and music projected from beyond, we spun and danced in tribute – but whether it was the thick snow, a lack of practice or the concern that our pageantry would draw unwanted attention, our moves failed to impress… and after one last proposal for Graven to dip his toes into the waters of chaos, Bufmir vanished without providing what we needed.

Frustrated as we were, there was little time to process the rejection because one of the Coldlight-possessed goliaths had wandered over when he saw the mysterious glow. Luckily, a vigilant eye from Safira caught sight of him before he could attack or call for help – so we quickly dispatched him and vacated the area before curiosity drew others to our location.

Moving down the hill, any advantages gained from continued practice with the longslides were outweighed by the difficulty of riding in the dark of night – and the falls were bad enough that Orba needed a bit of healing when she finally limped to the finish line.

On a positive note, we believed we'd be putting the slides away for a while now that we'd landed in the valleys of Zone D3: so close to where Erland had seen the sweeping beam of light and even closer to where the goliaths were methodically chopping down trees.

It was along this path that Graven put together the reason why the pockets of felled trees seemed to be scattered, and also why the Rapra wildlife was fleeing to lower elevations – *jotusfrol* (or "giant's freeze") on trunks within the forest indicating that a Frost Giant had passed through the Skybowl within the last week or so.

A testament to their persistence (or perhaps their madness), even in the frigid evening hours there were still goliaths hacking away, collecting logs for some unknown purpose – but this time rather than simply slay them, we sent Graven to collect information.  Unsurprisingly, they weren't much for conversation, repeating a few phrases over and over including "a home for the light" and "must protect the light".

It was our estimation that the Coldlight Walker may have been injured by the Frost Giant when it lumbered through, and now the goliaths were building a shelter where it could recuperate and return to its full strength.  On the surface this seemed like good news, but a lack of additional beams in the sky meant that perhaps the walker was being housed inside somewhere – which made it extraordinarily difficult to pinpoint its location.

Fortunately, on a thin trail winding its way up the steep slopes of the northmost hill in Zone E3, more log-toting goliaths weren't exactly hiding their whereabouts – so we made the call to follow and began what we hoped was the final ascent in this relentless pursuit that had taken us into the heart of the mountains.

There was only one functional path that didn't involve breaking out our climbing kits and it soon led us to a long-abandoned but recently renovated barricade where several goliaths were keeping watch and reinforcing the façade.  We made an attempt to deceive them by acting disoriented and trying to pass quickly through – a valiant effort unfortunately thwarted by the fact that we weren't carrying timber as all the others had been.

A dangerous skirmish on the edge of this cliff ensued that revealed a few things: one, these goliaths were so singularly consumed that they didn't even bother to call for help.  And two, they had no hesitation whatsoever in sacrificing themselves for the cause – including one of them flinging himself from the guard tower to try and crush Erland who was fighting two stories below.

We got through to the other side without any critical injuries, but it occurred to us that this outpost provided a unique opportunity to sleep and ready ourselves for the larger confrontation.  Even if it meant that those on lookout couldn't get the full benefits of a rest, we knew that just having a bit of extra healing power available from Graven could be the difference between life and death, so with the understanding that we might be interrupted at any moment, we hunkered down.

## Trivia

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