To Kingdom Comeuppance

Thumbnail for Season 2 Chapter 48 featuring Talon, Anthony, and Steven

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 48: To Kingdom Comeuppance, a strained silence between Graven and the ambiguous, approaching silhouette was finally broken when he called out to demand that it reveal its identity.

The voice that came back was a familiar one – and stepping forward out of the fog was our former associate, Jillian Kosivo, who we hadn't seen since fleeing the Harvesting Yard in the Chaki Mountains.  She was a bit worse for wear but still her same formidable self – though it was hard to get a read on whether she was here to advise us… or turn us in.

Having guessed at our hiding spot thanks to a tip from a certain dwarven alchemist, Jillian walked us through the events of the days leading up to now from the Shade Assembly's perspective – which involved, above all else, a desire to dampen the growing influence of the meddling gods.

Advised by former operative Josco Tibbets, the intention was to capture one of Q'usñi's clerics and kill the other – then lock the holding pens down as a soul shelter, where the remaining cleric could be dealt with as they saw fit without worrying about divine intervention.

We'd thrown a wrench into their plans when we managed to sneak into Finlock Forest unnoticed, at which point the assembly thought it safest to simply let Graven and Aswan duke it out – but the next thing that happened was an irreversible course of action that couldn't be accounted for.

When Josco reached out to Orba and she activated the soul shelter, both of the light clerics were still alive – and furthermore, representatives of the Shade Assembly had yet to arrive… meaning that to deal with whoever emerged victorious, they'd have to unseal the holding pens – which would give Q'usñi an opening to reconnect with his chosen mortal and reclaim his power.

There was obviously a lot at play that we could not see as outsiders, but our efforts had led to a severed god strand, a dozen rescued goliaths and the deterioration of Finlock Forest itself – which was certainly a positive outcome, even if it made us fugitives of the Shade Assembly for a time.

Jillian concluded our chat by revealing two important bits of information: one, a strong implication that she would be retiring from her work as an operative – and two, that she was heading south to join Mohan Fowler on his crusade against the international proliferation of the myconid trade.

In the morning, we slipped by a sentry construct that had been deployed to scan for survivors and headed down the eastern coast, happy to put this whole mess behind us and hoping to be reunited with additional il-Vigos in the Wakchu barrens.

Hours later, a picturesque walk along the beach was soured when Rumik and Sascha recognized a pair of moored merchant vessels belonging to a group of smugglers known as the "hatchlings."  Back when Graven's friends and family were selling off belongings to keep the chimera caged, the hatchlings stiffed his brothers on a deal-gone-south – leaving them with neither money nor valuables in a time of need.

What was perhaps originally intended to be an intimidation or a shakedown turned into an all-out brawl, as the captain rubbed us the wrong way at the wrong time and found himself a victim of Rumik's bestial claws.  Backed up by lightning and newfound barbarian strength, the fight didn't last long – with most of the hatchlings scattering to the north when the tides began to turn.

We took our pick of the remaining goods and continued on to Verne – where we were pleased to find that one of freed goliaths, Skoze, had made his way out of the desert upon his release.  Unfortunately, some other members of the tribe weren't so lucky – and they were captured by slavers heading west to the Stouthill mining operations.

Skoze needed help, but the boat he'd acquired to chase after the slavers would only seat three – so Rumik and Sascha said a tearful goodbye and promised to return as soon as they were able.  The party's numbers had dwindled down to two, but we vowed to press on after a good night's rest – and in the waning hours of the night, we wondered…

## Trivia

* Natural one count: three natural ones were rolled in this Chapter, by Talon.