"Well Val, this isn't quite what I had in mind, but we can probably make it work." Jex looks around the room with a childish grin on his face before sitting himself down on Val's bed

Aiden quietly closes the door behind the group and cocks an eyebrow at Jex's words. "I'm sorry, what's happening?"

Once everyone has gathered in her room, Val faces everyone looking sheepish at the outburst. "I am sorry call this gathering this way, but... I... I need your help! I know how to save my brother from this hammer." She gestures towards Rook. "I spoke with the beast inside the hammer, it's name is Rook. When those runes first appeared, I connected with the hammer in a way I have never before and it..." she frowns. "It did not speak to me, but it... told me that name. I do not know how to explain. I opened myself up to these thing within my hammer and I have overpowered it. It answers to me now, but... it is also feeding on Larkin's spirit. It says there is not enough room in there for both of them. I want to take my brother's spirit within myself to protect him from Rook. I know it is possible! The shaman of my tribe spoke of such things and told stories of other Kalukavi tribe members who were able to call upon our ancestor's spirits. That is why I need all of you." She raises an eyebrow at Aiden. "You seem as a shaman, or... a holy man, whatever your people call them. You can lead this! What say you all! Will you help me save my brother?"

Vark looks bewildered as Val explains the situation. "You... you overpowered it?" he mutters to himself, clearly impressed by the barbarian's willpower. "Are you sure you want to put your brother in... in you? If there's not enough space in the hammer... w-well what if there's not enough space in your body? Maybe we could find another vessel or..." he sighs. "I wish Seid were here, he'd know what to do."

Aiden ponders the question for a moment, stroking his short beard. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise, but he had heard of a ritual that could perform such a task. Some holy sigils and symbols arranged in a circle, some words in Norscan. All they needed was...

"Valaith, do you have something of your brother's? Something that he held precious in life? I believe that I have the capability to do this now, but I need something like that. Thurston, your help will be appreciated as well." He begins rummaging in his pack, pulling forth some parchment and a small prayer book. He begins tracing some Norscan runes on the pages and starts laying them out in a circle. As he works, a thought occurs to him. "This Rook..." he says, wanting to satisfy his curiosity. "Where did it come from? And how did your brother get into the hammer in the first place?"

 "I do." She holds up the hammer. "This was his, our father's before him, and his father before him for generations. It has been passed down from father to son for as long as we can remember. I know not how he ended up inside of it." She shrugs. "My entire tribe was slaughtered by orcs and frost giants while I was on a hunting trip. Those of us in the hunting party saw the orc horde moving towards the village and tried to beat them. I was the only one to finish the journey, but even then I was too late. They were already dead by the time I got there. I took the hammer and fled before more arrived. I had to leave them there in the frozen wastes... dishonored in death. They were not given a proper funeral. I imagine that made them restless, including Larkin... He... he was to be our next chief."

She looks over at Vark. "Yes, I have space. I am big enough. I already failed Larkin once. I will not do so again. I will save him this time... even if it means..." She trails off as she looks to the ground. "No matter the cost."

Aiden eyes the hammer suspiciously. The sigil on seemed to reek with necromantic energy. "If he's already in the hammer, I don't think that the hammer will work." He looks at Val. "But you were close to your brother, I assume. You're his blood. You might work, especially if we're to get his spirit to share your body. But I'm still not certain that this is a good idea..."

"Of course it is." Jex slaps Aiden on the back. "Val says it will work, so it will work. Her brother won't hurt her. Right Val?" He paces around the edge of the room. "Besides, freeing stuff from objects is something we do. So you better get used to it. Stick around long enough and I'm sure you'll get your own ghostly being to free from something." He gives Vark a wink. 

Thurston puts a hand into Val's shoulder

"Nothing to worry, Aiden will do this, I will help and Larkin will be safe with you, at least until we find something more appropiate for him. Now Jex, help me out to make room here, take the bed from that side. With Thor's help that Rook has nothing to do! " he says confindently as he starts to move the bed with one hand and without any real help from Jex. 

Aiden takes a deep breath. "Alright then," he says, settling to the ground and placing the last piece of parchment in the circle. "Let's do it."

He gestures to the goliath. "Valaith, place the hammer in the circle and when I say so, step into the circle with it. Everyone else, have a seat around the edges. Equidistant, if you can." He begins thumbing through his book of prayer. He finds a passage, and in Norscan, begins reading.

"Mighty Thor, God of Thunder, son of the strength of the world, I ask you to grant me that strength for myself and my companions. Make us as resilient and mighty as your own arm, make us unbreakable. We ask for one small portion of the vigor of the right arm of the Thunderer, that we might brave the tempest and stand firm in the gales."

As he prays, Aiden's eyes turn a crackling blue-white, and small bolts of lightning arc across his face and the wind seems to pick up within the room, not disturbing the papers on the ground, but ruffling the hair and the clothes of those sitting around the circle. In strange contrast to the power displayed, in Breannian, Aiden says, "Do your best to repeat after me."

Switching back to Norscan, he begins a rhythmic chant, and his voice sounds deeper, with a multitonal quality that is at first alarming. 

"Spirit. Show yourself. Unbind yourself from this object." 

The lightning from Aiden's eyes begins to travel down his arms and across the floor where it arcs to the hammer in the circle. He repeats again. 

"Spirit. Show yourself. Unbind yourself from this object."

The wind picks up, and a low howl fills the room.

There's a brief flash from outside the window and the distant rumble of thunder can be heard rolling overhead. The wind grows into a cyclone over the hammer and slowly Larkin's shimmering blue form begins to phase into view.

Vark follows along with the instructions, taking a seat near Thurston. As the ritual begins, he does his best to repeat the Norscan prayer but his eyes are distracted, frantically watching the growing storm and spectral presence before them.

Aiden feels the rumble of the thunder and sees the flash of lightning and smiles. No matter how far he went from the Norscan Isle and how much he separated himself from the traditions of his "home," Thor was still with him.

As Larkin's spirit begins to materialize, Aiden shouts, "Valaith, now!"

Thurston repeats the words that he had tried to teach to the others while Aiden was completing the preparations for the ritual. 

When Larkin's from begins to appear he motions Val to step inside.

Obsidian tendrils of shadow begin to snake out of the hammer after Larkin, grasping at his calves and arms in a bid to hold on to the ghostly Goliath.

Seeing these shadowy tendrils, Valaith lets the rage flood through her as she leaps into the circle as directed by Aiden. "NO! I said leave him be!" She tries to grasp and rip away the tendrils from Larkin!

What ever this Rook was, it seemed to be very malevolent in nature. It pulled at the spirit of Valaith's brother as she pulls at her brother's spirit. Aiden channels up well of protective energy and thrusts it at Larkin. "Keep chanting," he says to the others. Then, turning back to Larkin, he calls out, "Larkin, resist this thing! Fight back!"

Bründir had been standing vigil by the door, uncertain how to proceed and wary of what may come. However, his resolve finally came with the malevolent tendrils erupting from the hammer. As the dwarf's hand grasped the blade at his hip, a mailed hand clapped his shoulder and held him back. Valen had defied Valaith's command and come to see what transpired. At the sight of Bründir's intent to fight whatever was happening within, the knight pulled the dwarf back toward the door, "You are still in no condition to fight." The Valen's other hand fell on his own blade, however a sudden flash blinded him and numbed his senses.

"Ye still don' know me, boy."  As vision returned, Valen's eyes went wide. His dwarven charge seemed to hold a piece of the sun, and his ruined eye bled a similar radiance from within its dressing. The dwarf shook off the man's hand and barged into the room. Holy rituals and trappings meant little to Bründir's determination, and he readily stepped upon the circle to point Dumdrengi at the hammer before him, "Let 'im go. Dumdrengi seems t'want ye dead, an' I'm not one t'stop it."

As the tension in the room grows, Vark is swept up into the heightened emotion. His chants grow louder, and as the others begin to bolster Larkin and accost the abyssal entity, Vark addresses the shadows as well. “RELEASE him!” The first word booms with infernal power and crimson lightning momentarily arcs around the warlock, contrasting Thor’s divine storm.

Whether it's Thor's divine might, or the cunning of Matthew's sorcery, the demonic tendrils recoil from the thunderous onslaught. Suddenly free to move, Valaith topples backwards with Larkin on top of her. The ghostly apparition slowly sinks into the Goliath and fades from sight.  An instant later, the candles wink out and the room is plunged into silence, lit only by Dumdrengi's pale blue glow. Val is left breathing heavily. Goosebumps rise across her skin and a warmth thrums in her belly and chest.