The professor sits down. 

"Umm. What are you trying to tell me?" He puts his hand on his forehead dramatically. "You had a part in this? But Jex said you were a good person. Look at what you did to these people!" He shakes his head, it seems he is fighting tears, a look of utter disbelief on his face. 

The big Norscan lowers his head. 
“I know, in fact. And I am so sorry. Perhaps I wasn’t aware of the whole scope of it until now that I have known the histories. I blame myself for not being smart enough to discover the stone and destroy it. I thought the faint trails I was  sensing was the weird abilities of Vark and her hammer. And I blame myself everyday not to be powerful enough to stop them before. But listen professor, we tried, we fought hard and well to avoid it, we liberated Sheercleft from the goblins slavery and destroy the Maginobi cult. We couldn’t anticipate that young Vark was going to be controled in that way. We failed on stopping that but we make some good deeds and we helped a lot of people, and are doing more things to help all of them, including the good people of Hyrantar. We will go to the Empire and will stop them to release the evil. This I swear to you, I will become stronger, more powerful with the help of Thor we will stop this. All of this including the Morrigans you”ll see professor we will fix this.” 
As he speaks he closes his fist and sparks of blue lighting crosses his fingers. When he spoke his last words the rumble of a distant thunder can be heard despite the clear skies. 

The professor nods sadly. "Promise me that you will think hard before you act though. Do not go rushing in with these." He points at the hammers and swords. "But wait and act with these." He points to the heads of the people around him. "Remember, your actions have consequences. For the little people especially. With great power, comes great responsibility. You must act for us here in our homes." He pats Thurston on the shoulder. "And listen to Jex. He has a good head and a good heart. I've never met a more moral soul."

He hops off the stool where he sat down. 

"I must go and think on what I have learnt. Write it down for the future. Fair well and do good deeds Thurston and friends." He heads for the door. 

“Until we meet again dear professor...” says Thurston and the elf walks away. 
He follows the elf until he leaves the Silver Tower he then turns towards Val 

“Don’t get me wrong but... Jex the most moral? I mean I like the guy but I think the professor doesn’t know him very much... anyway he had a point and we must plan better our next actions... and where is Jex anyway? The day is late and we should regroup and start our next step.” 

Val hangs her head in shame a bit at the professor's disappointment, but the shimmering rage that always hangs just out of 'sight' boils a bit as he seems to place the blame of the outcomes squarely upon their shoulders; however, before she can point this out he is gone. He returns Thurston's look with an angry huff towards his disappearing back. "He is a liar... there is something off about him. I know it, I just... No one that knows Jex would ever call him 'moral'. He is not a fool, but... It matters not. Let us go."

Later, Jex appears back in the Silver Tower, back in his usual adventuring garb and with a casual smile on his face. Sitting down with his friends he grabs a drink.

"So, what did we discover?" 

"We've spent quite some time with your friend, Professor Sylfarion, looking for some devilish influence and he finally determined that it was caused when that smoke where released back in Sheercleft. He seemed a little bit dissapointed that we were involved but, he is a good fellow I think. Anyway, where have you been? we could had use your help... "

Val eyes Jex, checking to see if anything seems off about him when he returns. "Yes, where have you been?"

Jex looks a little embarrassed. "Well. Truth be told..." He coughs. "Well I'm sure you noticed. The professor is a little..." He makes a side to side gesture with his hands and scrunches his face "... Intense shall we say? Or shall I just be candid and say annoying?" He shrugs apologetically. "And maybe he didn't show it, but he's a little obsessed with me. I prefer not to be around him too much. But he was absolutely the best person to investigate this. I'm sorry to have landed you with him for a morning." He smiles sheepishly. "I promise it would have been much worse if I was here too, he can't stop asking me things. He wouldn't have had his mind on the task. So our fault you say? That's a nasty business."

Vark has maintained his excitement by the time he and Seid reunite with the others in the main room of the Silver Tower. "He's alive! Aureaonus! I mean... Matthew gave my a scrying card and well I didn't see Aury exactly, but I saw his home which means he's alive!" There is a momentary glance to Seid as if he is trying to confirm the mechanics of scrying as the wizard had explained them. "Uhm we also found out more about Matthew. Well, I guess it's kinda just mythology but it's something at least. Seid is probably better to tell you guys the details. Oh and we're waiting on word from the Marquise of Wydrioth. I guess she knows Aureaonus?" He finally pauses as he looks around and realizes that he seems to have interupted a conversation. "Uhm, what have you all been up to?"

"There was this professor and we have discovered that due to the smoke the elves had bad luck and... wait you've been in contact with that Matthew again? and you have used something he gave it to you? are you out of your mind?!"

Jex sits, biting his tongue, watching carefully for Vark's response to Thurston's reprimand and suggestion that the actions of 'the acharnost' have led to bad outcomes for the elves. The attention is written on his face as nerves and he wrings his hands slightly.

Vark’s mouth drops open in shock at the sudden aggression. “N-n-no- w-well I just- I didn’t c-contact him he- it the-the card- he sent me a dream, I yelled at him! And I think I hurt his feelings... But the card! It was under my pillow. And Seid identified it first s-so we knew it wasn’t bad!” The whole time he talks he occasionally glances at Seid as if calling for back up. “And... and it was exactly what we needed, to find Aury. He helped! And-and now that I think about it he’s been helping... well he was helping to get to the prison because he wanted to get out of there, and I don’t know if that means he’s good or bad... we’re pretty sure he’s not a lich at least. But- oh, yeah we figured out it was him in the prison! Well I’d kinda assumed but now we know. It wasn’t an ancient evil... unless he is an ancient evil... but he said Spangelhelm was just jealous of his power and well maybe he was just misunderstood? I don’t know...” He starts to trail off as his train of thought shifts from self defense to just rambling out the details they learned.

“Oh! He is not a lich! That’s reassuring... you hurt his feelings because you yelled at him? I... I can’t...”

Thurston stops trying to calm down. He looks at Vark, then to Seid, then to Vark again. 

“Even Loki thinks he has been wronged and justifies his misdeeds. Yet, he will cause Armageddon.” 
He stands.

”And my father said I was stupid...” 

And he leaves the Silver Tower,after paying for his last ale.

Feeling frustrated and betrayed he walks around the settlement and ends in the forge, asking if he can help . He needs to vent the guilt and frustration and some hours working with the hammer could help. 

Seid steps up as Thurston storms off. "If I may, I have learned a lot about this situation before another of you decides to get a hot head and storm off half-cocked with an empty head that has no idea as to full circumstances of this situation." He raises an eyebrow as he looks around at the group assembled as he prepares for the cascade of ignorant and stubborn responses he had come to expect with them. "Now, if you lot could hold your tongues for more than half a second I will explain to you all what I have learned while you were off doing who-knows-what. There is a saying; it is best to remain silent and appear a fool than to open one's mouth and prove that you are a fool." He then begins to explain everything he learned about the card left behind by Matthew and the things he picked up about the history of this area. Once done he looks around. "Now there are still some obvious holes in the lore, important bits I feel. This "Shadow War", I feel that will shed an immense amount of knowledge about our current circumstances with these beings of power. I cannot learn what I need here, I need to find a large repository of lore to find what I need. We know who we are dealing with now, at the least. I feel these ancient kings likely made some kind of Infernal deal, it would make sense as to what is happening here. Either that or they themselves were devils, it is difficult to know. While I feel sympathy for the plight of some of the folks here, what happened has happened and there is no sense wasting time and energy wishing things had played out differently than they had. It is quite possible things would have had a worse outcome without Matthew's intervention. It is possible we could have all been killed during our assault, in which case the Mabinogi would be in control of Math and his powers for whatever they had planned with it. All we can do now is to learn what we can to fix the situation as best we can. Vark made some mistakes in the past, but he has done everything he can to rectify the situation and if you all want him to stick around, like you claim you want him to, then quit badgering the young man! What is done, is done. Either get over it or do not, but stop rehashing your frustrations upon Vark! Do you think our enemies would prefer us divided or united?" He shakes his head and he looks around the table of assembled heroes of The Acharnost, looking more ashamed and disappointed than angry. "Now, we know that the giant lives, but something is off. Vark's spell did not show him, which it should have. It is possible either he or his domain is protected against scrying. Or there could be something else blocking our vision. Either way, I feel this mountain is a good destination once we have learned everything we can. What is our plan? Shall we continue back to Sheercleft or shall we continue onto the next elven territory where I am hopeful to learn more about this Shadow War. It seems the dwarves and elves were fighting against something. Quite possibly the humans of ancient Breanne or even this Math fellow. Which could possibly account for why the elves seem to be suffering whatever it is that they are suffering."

Jex eyes Seid as he speaks, his face blank but his stare does not avert. Allowing him to finish he sits up. 

"You should be careful how you choose your words. You speak as though you are the authority on events that transpired and that your wisdom is beyond that of others here, but you have made mistakes in the past too. Big ones. You are not immune to folly or perfect at recognising when it happens. Thurston was rash and hot headed, but not wholely wrong and you should listen to what he says." His voice remains level and his words carefully chosen. "You, would do well to consider more carefully before assuming good on Matthew's part, and on using his gifts, which I believe was Thurston's counsel. Gifts from a devil are rarely freely given, and it appears from what we have discovered here today, even without the aid of the books you rely on so heavily, that that is his nature. Else a large coincidence is in play." He sits and waits for his words to sink in a second." Of course we want Vark to stay, and have said as much, but that does not mean we should sit in silence in the face of rash action. Part of being in a group with people is to accept their involvement in your actions too."

He frowns a second, sitting back looking towards the ceiling in deep thought squinting heavily. 

The whole exchange was as much entertainment as tension for Bründir. Like a dramatic play or ballad, it had conflict, struggle, betrayal, and spirit. It was enthralling, yet tedious, and Bründir cradled a drink as he sipped and waited patiently for the actors to finish their impromptu performance.

When all was said, the dwarf looks to each, then asked plainly, "So we're just ignorin' th' hidey-hole a stone's throw from th' basilisk farm, then? Might be wrong 'ere, but I think they'd know somethin', right? Don' ask th' left hand what the right's up to, you know?" Bründir thinks for a moment on the last bit, wondering if the wisdom wasn't a little contradictory to his point.

"You're one to talk about people speaking as if they have authority Jex. You don't know anything about magic and Seid knows a lot and he said the card was safe to use. And Peldirion was there too so.. so it was fine. I wouldn't put anyone in danger again. But... uhm w-what did you discover about Matthew's nature? Thurston... he-he said something about bad luck?" he pauses a moment. "Anyway Bründir is right too, those dragonborn are connected to all of this somehow. We couldn't find much more about the Mo-" he lowers his voice to a whisper "the Morrigan, but I don't like that they're out there doing gods know what either. Just... another loose thread."

"Did you not listen Vark? He is a *devil*" answers Jex, frustration clear in his voice. "And whilst I know more than you think about more things than you can imagine, I was not claiming my authority on this topic, just that perhaps the judgement of one who accidentally joins a devil summoning cult that would slaughter half a town is not the only advice you should be seeking when it comes to predicting intentions." He stares Vark in the eye, trying not to push as far as last time whilst still getting his point across. "Thurston is looking out for you, and all of us in proximity to you, is the important thing, and we should not have him slandered in his absence, nor should we accept this condescension and judgement." He gestures at Seid. "For a ll his help he has earned my respect and a certain amount of trust, but not the right to instruct us on the actions of others in such a way, nor do I accept his authority on Matthew over that of my own trusted investigator."

He sits back in thought. 

" But the Morrigan, yes, we cannot leave them unmonitored. They will doubtless come for us again." He shifts uncomfortably, remembering the nightmares that haunted him after the last time they faught one of the dragon born sisters.

Vark crosses his arms indignantly. "Private investigator? What-ever. You-you... you don't know what you're talking about. He's not- well we don't know- it doesn't matter right now! He helped and now we know Aureaonus is alive. And Aury would know about Matthew, and the Morrigan, all of this. That's why I wanted to go there first anyway. But... well we could deal with the dragonborn and then go to Endelfjell." He looks to Val, Seid and Bründir for their opinions on that course of action, not interested in hearing Jex's mouth any more.