"Guards on the food stores has already been taken care of," Aiden says to Thurston at that dinner. "As well as rationing for the entire village. I saw to it, don't worry."

Aiden has spent the last several days organizing the food stores and taking a rough count of the town. They should have enough food to last them until the siege was done, provided the sabotage that Thurston had worried about was prevented. 

"I've also been talking with the people. I know little of Moradin, but I have told them of Odin and the seeming sameness of the all-fathers. Reminders that the gods are on their side always bolsters their resolve."

Following the Archarnost’s planning meeting, each of its members we set with a seemingly monumental task before them. For Brundir, he set about the rest of the day sending work across Sheercleft. He called for mercantile representatives, a guard contingent, and influential figures within the community and clans alike. Sheercleft was to stand as an independent force, so it must represent itself as a unified populace with strong support for its leadership. Through the day, the evening, and the following day, he enlisted a retinue of two dozen. In this microcosm, Sheercleft could be seen at a glance. Miners, traders, dwarven clan elders (or their heir, if required), human and dwarven faithful, then a handful of guards from the garrison. This was the expedition to be led by Brundir Halfshield, now elected leader of Sheercleft, to the dwarven hold of Khaz a Gungron. The Archarnost were in the good graces of Thane Forgekeeper from their previous visit. Brundir planned to leverage this reputation, along with the voices of Sheercleft’s connected interests, to request reinforcements.

On the third morning, Brundir met with an assembled caravan on the trade road out of town. The dwarf was dressed in resplendent Karakalad, Karakarin slung over his back, and Dumdrengi ever-present at his hip. Two large, covered wagons, strong draft horses for each, and riding horses for guards and those not traveling in the wagons. The expedition leader called all present with Stonebrow at his back. “A’right, y’know where we’re goin’, an’ I’m sure ye know why. If ye don’t, here it is: We’ve got a mess comin’ our way, ‘bout a fortnight if we’ve got no luck or help. So now we’re headin’ fer Khaz a Gungron. They’ve been long friends, an’ I don’ see’em turnin’ us down now. If my good looks don’ win’em over, that’s where I need y’all.” This last bit drew out smiles and a few laughs. “Ev’ry one o’ya’s got Sheercleft stamped on yer face. We’re th’ mines, trade, and life of Sheercleft. If we can’t win the Khaz over, well damnit, we’ll find new friends an’ give’em our ore instead.” Another round of small laughs, and Brundir felt content with himself. With a signal, the riders mounted and progress was underway. It would be three days without trouble to reach the Khaz.

I made it safely to Endelfjell. Aury is… okay, but he’s trapped here, incapacitated. I’ve repaired his circle, can you clear the circle in Sheercleft?

Four days after Vark's departure, the words ring out in Seid's mind as he sits taking his breakfast. The village has been a hive of activity since the news of the impending Cambrian invasion. Just yesterday, Bründir set out to seek the aid of their dwarven neighbours in Khaz a Grungron, while Aiden and Thurston have been working non-stop to prepare the villagers to yet again fight for their home.

Also I’m bringing a friend… one of Matthew’s kin. He’s offered to help so… can you make sure the others don’t freak out?

The second sending causes Seid's brown to furrow in a frown. Matthew's kin?! Not for the first time the wizard finds himself wondering just what Vark has got himself into now. Nevertheless, if the young sorcerer needed the teleportation circle cleared for him to return, then there was no time to lose. Not that that was something that Seid would be able to manage alone.

Rising from the dining table in the town hall, he goes in search of the Acharnost and before comes upon Valaith training in the courtyard. Never one to abandon a friend and ally, the giantess quickly graps the situation and sets out for the mines, calling to Seid to gather others as she leaves. Soon, a small team has assembled in Lord Erik's dungeon deep below the village, working steadfastly to clear the rubble that the village's heroes had previously filled the chamber with in order to render the teleportation circle unusable. It's a gruelling task that takes a full day of work, but by sunset the runes and sigils of the circle are clear enough that Seid deems it safe to use.

"We need you to find these saboteurs that are bound to be coming soon," Aiden says to Gabe as they arrive at the teleportation circle to await Vark's return. "Do not kill them, maim them, torture them, harm them in any way unless it is absolutely necessary to capture them. Bring them to us. We'll want to question them."

Gabe groans and rolls his eyes.

"You make it sound so boring. Remind me why exactly this is the best use of my valuable time?"

Aiden stifles a sigh. Working with this trickster was becoming tedious. For a supposedly all-powerful being, Gabe...or Matthew...complained a lot. Frustration boiled over inside him and he says in Norscan, "Du gikk med på å hjelpe oss, Loke. Slutt å klage og hjelp."

Aiden's use of the Norscan name provokes a short laugh from Gabe.

"Du liker ikke det navnet, gjør du?" He teases.

Aiden turns on Gabe, meeting his eyes with a gaze colder than the heart of Hel. "Jeg liker deg ikke," Aiden says. He pokes Gabe in the chest with a gauntleted finger. "Du er en luring. Du har Vark så innpakket i planene dine at han ikke kan se rett, og uansett hvor mye du forkynner at vi misforstår deg og din type, gjør du ingenting for å fraråde våre antakelser."

One by one, the runes that line the circle flare to life. Suddenly a roaring wind billows through the room as an ocular rift open up in the space, and a grey-lit study at a macro scale can be see through the portal. Out steps Vark and his new "companion" Didymus. As is to be expected, Vark first goes to greet Seid with a warm embrace, "Seid you're never gonna believe it, Aury has been trapped inside a storm, I think by air elementals, and they had messed up his circle and when I was fixing it I accidentally teleported to the Hells, and... oh yeah, uhm, this is Didymus. Oh, hey what ever happened to that sigi-" his stream of information is cut short as he catches the tense Norscan exchange that precedes Aiden and... who? That's surely not Thurston's voice... As the pair enters, Vark flashes them an awkward grin "Aiden! And... M-matthew?"  He guesses correctly. "Ya know... I didn't actually think you were going to show up so soon," His eyes scan Aiden's face, only able to imagine what other tense conversations have been had between the Acharnost and his patron in the last few days. "Uhm, d-do you know Didymus? We... have an agreement, he's going to be helping out for awhile."

"Kanskje," Gabe concedes, delicately pinching Aiden's hand between his thumb and forefinger and carefully removing it from his chest. "Vi får se. Det er så vanskelig å se hva som ligger i hjertet til en annen når vi ikke engang kjenner oss selv."

For a long moment the man's eyes fall to the shining sword that the cleric wears. "I hear that Ahtohallan is beautiful at this time of year," he adds in Breannian and then the teleportation circle activates, thrusting Vark and Didymus into their midst. Gabe's eyes immediately narrow as they fall upon Vark's new companion.

"בחיי, תומס, היית עסוק." he remarks. "חותם ברית עם בן התמותה הראשון שנופל בחיקך ?אתה באמת כל כך נואש לזכות בטובתי?"

"אני מבקש רק לקדם את האג'נדה התופתית שלך, השקר שלי," Didymus replies with a deep bow. "המטרות של הגיהנום הן שלי."

"עוד נראה," Gabe tells the devil, arching an eyebrow. "Yes, Vark, I am familiar with Didymus. You will find that your friends have benefited greatly from my counsel in your absence, much to their own chagrin."

Norscan

Infernal

Vark’s nervous smile shifts into something more like a tight, uncomfortable grimace though he tries to maintain an upbeat demeanor. “Oh… uhm… good.” He turns to Aiden and there is an awkward beat before he continues. “Well… I’m here to help now. H-how have the preparations been going? What still needs to be done?”

Aiden swallows a hard lump in his throat. It boils in his stomach and he only just stops himself short of letting lightning begin to course through his veins. He wanted to shout at the devil. Demand to know what Loki knew of his home. But even if the devil acquiesced and told him, it would come at a cost. A cost to high to bear. He took the tight ball of lightning in his chest and pushed it away, sealing it in hard sea ice. 

With a deep breath, he turns to answer Vark's question. He gives a glance to Didymus and feels the ice start to crack. With a grimace, he looks away from yet another devil in their midst and answers. "Preparations are going well. The village is ready, and Bründir is away securing help from the dwarves of Khaz a Gungron. We were hoping that you could travel and petition Lady Lelfaer for additional help."

“Oh! Yes! I can definitely do that, it’d take no time.” he responds eagerly. “Uhm… Didymus here is available to help too… is there uhm… anything he could do with his skills? What,” he asks, turning to the fiend, “Exactly are your skills Didymus?”

"Yes, Didymus," Aiden says, crossing his arms. "Do tell."

Didymus opens his mouth to reply, only to be distracted by Aiden's obviously caustic mood.

"He doesn't like us," he notes to Vark in a faux whisper, raising the back of one hand to screen his mouth from Aiden's view. "Why doesn't he like us?"

Vark pushes past the lump of anxiety welling in his throat. “It’s uhm, just uh… e-everybody’s on edge and… they’re not gonna trust you at first… because ya know… you’re a devil.” he says apologetically. “I…” he starts, a little louder as he tries to find confidence. “I was fixing Aureaonus’ teleportation circle so that I could get back here in time to help out. S-somehow I got teleported to the Hells. Didymus helped me get back. He didn’t have to. We have an agreement s-so… at the very least we can trust him that far. I… I saw the thing that Marcellus is working with. We need all the help we can get.”

An agreement? With a devil! Aiden opens his mouth to begin to reprimand Vark when the significance of his last few lines hits him. "What thing?" Aiden asks, deadly serious. 

Vark shakes his head as he recalls the alien visage that had stared back at him through the crystal ball. “I… I don’t know… it definitely looked like something from ‘beyond the stars’,” he says, echoing the description Gabe had given them. “Aury has a crystal ball -actually we could maybe use it to spy on their forces, thats another reason I had to fix the circle- but… I used it to scry on Marcellus and… it’s like he looked back through it, it’s like he could see me, and his face changed into a mass of tentacles with these cold red eyes and… you said he has a pact with some entity but it looked to me like he is the entity.” Vark turns to Matthew now, hoping his patron might have more light to shed on this.

For a brief moment, Gabe hesitates as Vark describes the entity that he was saw in Sir Marcellus.

"That would be troubling news, were it truly the case. Fortunately, I find it extremely unlikely. To my knowledge the Great Old Ones remain sealed away in a realm far from Arden. Their ability to touch our reality is typically limited to such conduits as your Star Knight."

"What can we expect when we fight this...conduit?" Aiden asks, still pressing down on the ball of lightning in his chest.