The man on Thurston's left scrambles to his feet and bolts west along the walls, ducking beneath the reflexive swing of Thurston's hammer as he runs.

On the ground in the courtyard, the bandit sent tumbling from the battlements pushes himself to his feet with a groan. Clutching at his ribs, the man he draws a dirk and staggers away from Aiden, watching the advancing cleric warily.

Still reeling from the thunder and lightning, the remaining two men on the walls make a break for the east.

Quote from Lyrel >>

Val watches the others depart, thinking that splitting the group yet again was likely not the smartest of choices, but it would seem the Brundir was intent on going to see the prisoners and she did not want him wandering alone in this place. "Yes, I shall come with as well. I could go for something to eat and drink." As the wander along, quietly for a time, Val suddenly turns to Brundir with a frown. "Why do your people hate mine so much?"

 Val's question makes Bründir stop mid-stride for a moment before resuming, "What's all this about? I always heard about bad blood b'tween th' people, but never really knew why. Somethin' about giants an' dwarves, I get that. But're you a giant stompin' through Sheercleft, eatin' families an' makin' our temple a squathouse?" The dwarf smiles at his own joke a bit. "Truth told, I've been nervous fer meetin' Vark's giant friend, but he don't sound so bad."

Thurston scoffed at the men trying to run away. He pointed Rikkazarik towards them and the hammer flew him in that direction. Just before reached them, he swinged up and down the hammer and got the man in the back while he landed. 

"You are cowards" he spits to them "ready to fire at what you thought were helpless people, but now you ran like chickens. This is what you did with the Morrigan? Fire and kill innocent, defenless people?. That's what you are going to do again if you ever leave this place. Am I right? To that I say NO!" 

Thurston raised his hammer to end the man's live but another one of his comrades fired a bolt that he had readied to him. The angle and the moment were the right ones and the force of the impact disarm the Norscan. With a heavy thud the hammer fell a couple of feet away from the paladin. 

"You shouldn't have done that" he said to him. 

Just as the man who was thrown from the battlement rises and prepares to face the oncoming cleric, another bolt of lightning crashes down upon him from the rumbling heavens. As the man is knocked back into the stone wall behind him, Vark once again vanishes into the dark clouds.

Raising his crossbow in front of him, the archer on the ground looses two bolts at Aiden in quick succession. However, the man is clearly still swaying from the lightning strike and both shots are wide of their mark.

Atop the battlements the crossbowmen fleeing to the east turn to pepper Thurston with bolts as he pursues their comrade, but the shots ping off of the paladin's armoured back like brittle twigs. Meanwhile, the remaining man once again tries to run, only to suffer a brutal blow from Thurston to the leg. There's a horrific crack and the bandit screams as he limps away from the Norscan.

A thunder cracks up in the sky.

"You had the chance to surrender or flee when your leaders fell. Yet you chose to ambush us."

Another thunder. Thurston walked towards the limping man. 

"You had the chance to surrender when you saw us flying towards you. Yet you chose to fire at us."

He raises the hammer and another thunder cross the sky, the tremendous sound almost hide the cracking sound of the man's skull being crushed by the Norscan.

Thurston stands, leaving the hammer in the body of the man as he turns towards the two fleeing brigands, taking the great bow from his back and loading an arrow. 

"I could had forgotten that but before that, you decided to join those witches, preying on the weak. For that you are going to pay!"

The arrow flies true and gets one of the remaining brigands in the chest, literally throwing him a few feet backwards. Thurston extends his hand and the hammer comes back flying to him, with the same movement he uses it to fly again towards the two men as he screams. 

With the man on the ground soon to be at Aiden’s mercy, Vark returns his attention to the archers fleeing along the battlements. Two crackling blasts of crimson energy are flung from the tip of Pathmaker, both slamming into their target and sending him tumbling to the stone beneath him.

The two remaining archers atop the battlements make a run for the keep, while the man in the courtyard looses another bolt at Aiden. However, his injuries hamper his accuracy and he yet again fails to hit his mark.

Aiden stalks toward the man, his breathing heavy from his run. The cleric raises a hand and lets loose a gout of lightning that catches the man in the head. A brief outline of the bandit's skeleton is visible as he collapses into the mud. "Well, that was anticlimactic," Aiden says.

"Where are you think you are going?"" yells Thurston to the fleeing archers as he uses the hammer to fly towards them. He then tries to fire his greatbow again, by trowing Rikkazarik up un the air and, load, arm and fire the bow before he falls too much and catch the hammer again to keep his movement. 

The bow almost fall from his hand, he barely put the arrow and doesn't even notch it and he just pull the string a few inches before releases it and, because he was already falling, he was aiming to the sky. 

Fortunately, the magic of the hammer brings it to his hand again before he can plummet to the ground. The arrow barely leaves the string and falls behind him for he keeps flying forwards. Definitely that movement was much better on his head.

"Hmm" says Thurston looking down and back to the arrow who scatters at the battlement "Just stay there and accept your doom!!"

Vark is too hellbent on his mark to appreciate Thurston's spectacular fumble as they fly alongside one another. He lets loose another blast that rockets into the man, but fails to take him out. Frustrated, a guttural growl escapes Vark as he launches another blast empowered with his own vigor. This time the ruby bolt knocks the archer from his feet to the ground where he lies motionless. Thin streams of ichor-like energy can be seen drifting back to Vark as the haggard mage continues forward. Behind him the rumbling storm begins to dissipate as the fight draws to a close and he attempts to not completely drain himself.

The single surviving archer throws open the door to the keep and runs inside.

Thuston, forgettin about trying to fire his bow while flying, follows the man inside. As soon as he crosses the door a crossbow bolt hits him and pierce his shoulder. 

He looks at it and then to the archer. He slowly descend towards him and, without looking at it, grabs the bolt and throw it away. 

He growls to the now lone archer.

Vark flies after Thurston, popping himself in between the paladin and the door frame. Two more pulses of magical force fire from his left hand, both connecting but neither finishing off the resilient archer. “Please, Thurston...” he says between ragged breaths. “Finish this.”

Val was quiet for several moments. "The dwarves were not kind to me at all as I traveled north to Sheercleft. I had nothing left, my people and my home were gone. I had my hammer and the few supplies I cobbled together before I fled. I went to the dwarven lands in hopes I could find work or shelter, but instead I was spit on and driven out of their holds like I was diseased. It left me with a lot of resentment towards your people and I even see it sometimes in Sheercleft. Even with everything we have done, the mistrustful looks cast at my back as I walk by. I never felt it with you, so I thought you might be the one to talk to about it."

Thurston grins to Vark and raises the hammer. 

"You made your choice. Now face the consequences... in Hel!!" 

The sound of the thunder masks the bones crushing of the bandit chest and he lies broken in the floor. 

"How many snakes like this do you think are still lingering in the fortress? How they could ever think they could have accomplished? Such a pity their minds are so consumed be greed and evil that they are not able no longer to think clearly..."

Aiden's breathing is heavy as he crests the top of the stairs to join Thurston and Vark on the battlements. "I think...pant...they're desperate men...pant...doing desperate things. You would do the same, should your...pant...situations be reversed." He holds his side as a stitch sends a sharp pain shooting through his abdomen. "Next time you do something like that...pant...warn me."

Bründir gives a sympathetic sigh at Val's difficult past, "I've never known a home like other dwarves, an' what I do have isn't even close. I've spent years helpin' in little ways, an' it showed me ye can work through hist'ry of people. I don' feel right sayin' it in front of ye, but too many o' my elders used t'say some nasty shite about giantfolk. So much sometimes, it's like how humans say 'can't teach an old dog new tricks', old dwarves would say....ah....well nevermind, ye get it." Imtermittent clings and echoes still whispered down the halls from former owners fleeing. Every so often, Bründir would grip Dumdrengi reflexively.

"Point is, dwarves an' giants've been fightin' since Stone was young. I'm older'n most old humans, so I've seen feuds die angry, an' others melt away with smiles. When I saw ye th' first time, sure I was nervous. Now, shit, I'd be struck dead fer lyin' if I didn't say I'm jealous of ye! Never seen someone hold ground with an ogre. I mean, I'd never seen an ogre before anyway, but I'd go into any dwarf hold an' blast a horn announcin' you as a champion. When we get back t'Sheercleft, I'll drag anyone out who looks sideways at ye." The pair finally came to a servant's door that seemed to bear a more pleasant smell. Opening slowly for danger, Bründir sees none at first, but a kitchen within large enough for a staff to feed a great banquet.

"Speakin' of which, how did they treat ye at Khaz a Gungron? I wasn't all in my head then." Bründir goes about the room gathering sacks and platters while sampling anything left out.

“Oh! Aiden!” he responds, clearly feeling a little guilty about the situation. “I’m sorry... if I’d had more energy I could have made us both fly... and I wasn’t really expecting Thurston to join me.” he adds with a smile to the paladin. “How was your first flight?”

Thurston looks ashamed. 

"Sorry Aiden... I should have carried you but... I was quite surprised. I mean " he replies to Vark " It was incredible how fast I can reach them... and I still have to learn how to control when to stop before I attack but what I meant by be surprised was that... It wasn't the helmet who made me fly but Rikkazarik!" he raises the hammer in front of his friend's eyes "So you are full of surprises aren't you?" he says to the hammer.  He looks at Aiden and after a few moments he says

"Here my friend. This way you will be able to join us. " he gives the winged helmet to the cleric. "But I am sorry to tell you that I do disagree with you. I will never turn into attacking innocent people on roads, enslaving them and join a sect to bring back some kind of trio of demonic goddess.. no matter how dire are the circumstances... No, we are not like them at all. None of us. "