Clouded Judgment

Thumbnail for Season 2 Chapter 9 featuring Riley and Jordan

## Synopsis

In Season 2, Chapter 9: Clouded Judgment, our plan to establish ourselves among the various mining claims was put on hold when we were forced to acknowledge the unfortunate reality that we might be traveling without Erland – potentially for the rest of the day, if not longer.

Desperate to peruse the potentially damning information Ortiz possessed about Atonement's End, Erland had left us short-handed – which is why we were doubly thankful to spot a familiar (reasonably friendly) face arriving at the campsite right as we were weighing our options.

After cleaning up the crypts in Bez'ufir had failed to excise the invading voice in her head, Ka'imi adopted a new plan of action that had brought her back to the Top Shelf – and her intentions lined up nicely with our own even if they were for entirely different reasons.

On her way back to Dylosuun, Ka'imi was forced into combat with some undead spirits – and after striking them down, found that the voice – henceforth known as Mr. Curse – disappeared, though only briefly.  It was her estimation that this was no coincidence – and that perhaps eliminating a greater undead threat would silence the voice for good, so she'd followed a trail of desecrated ground toward Myriad Meadow… where the rest of us had an idea of what she'd find.

We did our best to advocate for Merethyl Pastina in the limited time we had remaining: challenging the locals to an Axe Beak rodeo and planting a few rumors about the lack of valuable resources in the claim.  The results were mixed but we left on a relative high note – and though there was no shortage of anxiety about taking a fight without our fourth regular party member, further delays only promised to bring more vampiric mists… so we vowed to finally bring this undead nightmare to an end.

With Ka'imi borrowing a horse, we headed north – but soon deviated from the road as a trail of bone, ash and gore traced a more direct route to the meadow.  This desecrated path was disturbing not only to our senses but to Graven's god, who made one of his increasingly rare appearances to ask that his cleric purge the ground with radiant light.

It wasn't meant to be, however, for Orba was discovering that those deeply in tune with the dead could draw power from such a place – and now was not the time to spurn protections in favor of propriety.  Bolstered by what the spirits had to offer, we ventured forth and reached our destination just in time for the skies to open up.

Pouring rain and raging winds culminated around a black cloud that stretched all the way down from sky to earth – an ominous monument to the forthcoming battle.  With one last look to each other to steel our resolve, we stepped through the fog and found ourselves in a sectioned-off field where the terrain was hard and black as coal.

The skeletal figure with the barnacle-laden bones stepped forth to formally introduce the duel – and as Orba accepted, the ground beneath our feet began to rise… creating dozens of uneven columns surrounding a platform for the two of them to face off – a proving ground for the young Reaper.

Waves of skeletons and shadows were summoned to keep the rest of us at bay – but while Ka'imi was more than holding up her end, shattering bones with crossbow bolts, we struggled to land any meaningful strikes on the Sunken King himself.  We weren't yet in poor health, but we wondered if it would be death by a thousand cuts if we couldn't devise a strategy to deal out some punishment instead of just managing the minions.

As the storm continued to rage and we put our backs against the pillars to avoid torrents of air knocking us from our posts, we dug in for what was sure to be a long fight.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: seven natural ones were rolled in this Chapter. 1 each by Jordan, Matt, and Erica, and 2 each by Anthony and Riley.
* Following Erica's appearance in Chapter 4 of Season 2, this marks the first time a guest has made a second appearance in the show.