Sir Marcellus turns to stare up at Aiden and then extends his hand, raising it towards the flying man. He clenches his fist and whips of flame lash out at Aiden, wrapping themselves around the cleric's limbs and searing his flesh as they drag him down to the ground. A crushing sense of gravity keeps Aiden grounded and, when he looks up, Sir Marcellus has crossed the distance between them.

Aiden takes 20 fire damage.

Seeing his allies so brutally laid low, one of the knights facing Valaith breaks and runs back east towards the command tent. The other presses on with an impressive series of thrusting strikes. However, enraged as she is, Valaith seems almost unbothered by the minor scratches that pass her armour.

Valath takes 11 piercing damage, reduced to 6 by DR, reduced to 3 by resistance.

Jex weaves out of the tents again, sheathing the sword and grabbing an arrow. He lets it fly into the back of the fleeing guard. It thuds into his armour, wedging itself into the shoulder plate as Jex once again disappears into the darkness.

As the catapults begin to crumble to ashes, Didymus comes slinking out of a nearby tent to where a disorientated Thurston is slowly coming to on the ground.

"Time to go," he whispers and both vanish in another burst of hellfire.

With the crimson power of the Ruby thrumming through his body, Vark rockets towards Thurston… only to watch as the warrior of Thor disappears in a familiar burst of hellfire. Now it’s Aiden who’s in trouble, seared and shackled by lashes of flame. Vark course corrects and slams into the ground next to him. “I got you.” he says to the cleric, paying no mind to the looming Marcellus above them, before a sudden burst of storm clouds swallow the pair.

Vark and Aiden reappear in a simultaneous burst ninety feet away, close to Didymus and the groggy Thurston.

Thurston tris to shake his groggy head. What was going on? He only remembers that creepy trying to... touch him? then all was blackness and... no.. there was something more. The Norscan feels a shiver down his spine. He tries to stand, reaching out to grab Rikkazarik who flies to his call. Where was that coward? He looked up, seeing that now he has focused his attention on Aiden, who for some reason, was in the ground near them. 

Suddenly Didymus appeared at his side, before he can even recognize him, the devil grabs him by one arm and a fiery flash later, retching of sulfur, they are among the trees, too far from Marcellus and Aiden for Thurston to be helpful.

"What are you doing?!! " he asks to the fiend "They need me there!!! I need to go back!! Take me back!!" he takes  step towards the devil, but his stomach disagrees and he almost fall again, his legs failing to support his weight. What kind of witchery had that Marcellus cast on him? 

Suddenly, Vark appears and takes Aiden away, appearing somehow nearby them and Thurston takes a couple of deep breaths to calm. It seems that their mission is accomplished, perhaps not entirely, knowing that there is still a catapult operative, and he regrets not being able to take Marcellus with them. It would have been so easy, he was too close to fight him. That treacherous prick, he couldn't spent him to fight honorably. 

"You... you did well" he admits to Didymus between teeth " Where are Jex and Val? We need to get out of here, the whole army is now looking for us" 

Val's smile upturns into a wicked grin as the one warrior breaks and runs, while she turns her attention to the solitary figure. "You should have run when you had the chance." One warrior stood no chance against Rimehand as she whirls Rook around her in a wild, reckless attack. The air whistles with the speed and ferocity of the attack as the soldier raises his shield to try and block it, but like the others before him, he stood no chance. Rook tears through the shield, destroying wood, steel, and bone before crashing into his chest and rupturing internal organs. As he falls, the sparks encircling Rook once more down into Val's hands, knitting together all remaining injuries from her battle. She stands there a moment, panting from the exertion and briefly contemplates going after the deserter, but stops as she follows his path back into the command area... towards Marcellus. She knew she would need her friends to face that foe. She looks for Jex, but smirks at herself; he can get himself out of here much better than she can. With her exit strategy taken from her, Val turns towards the north and begins running out of the encampment as quickly as she can move with Larkin's spirit form matching her stride for stride. She grins. "Not fair, you can run through the tents." 

Aiden staggers as Vark releases him. His armor seared his flesh where the flaming lashes had drawn him down. He rolls his head, looking back at Vark. "Thanks for the rescue," he says. "We need to keep moving."

The dark metal of Sir Marcellus's armour glistens in the flickering light of the burning catapults as he strides down the path between two rows of tents towards Vark and the rapidly retreating Norscans. The Star Knight raises his hand towards the sorcerer and clenches his fist once more. Vark feels his muscles begin to seize up, but then the ruby veins running up his arm throb and the sensation fades.

Seeing everyone leave, Jex turns and follows Val northwards. On his way past he can't help but to run his sword into the back of one of the soldiers running across his path as an outlet for his frustration. Without even waiting to see if he drops he slips back off and runs into the night.

Seeing with relief that both Vark and Aiden appears a few feet away Thurston nods to Didymus and begin to run to rejoin the others. He looks back to the burning and crumbling catapults over his shoulder. He can see the fire reflecting at the black armor of Sir Marcellus and promises himself that next time he will be ready for the fight. They have done pretty well with the siege machines and he trust that Jex, Val and Vark would have eliminated the wizard. They had even the odds a little bit that night. Now they only needed to get away to count the incursion as a win, even with the bitter flavor of his humiliation on his mouth. 

Crossing the last few feet to the edge of the camp, Sir Marcellus stands and stares as Vark flies at speed away into the trees and Didymus vanishes in another plume of flame.

"We meet again," Vark hears Marcellus whisper inside his mind. "Run while you can. The next time will be the last."

“Yes. It will be.”  Vark thinks back with as much defiance as he can muster. After a few more moments of racing away through the air Vark catches up with Thurston. He lands for but a moment, touches the paladin and then both of them blast off again into the sky.

"They should be back by now...how long does it take to scout an entire army?" The human seated alongside the Sheercleft commander  drummed his fingers on his leg impatiently. The dwarf beside him, however, simply kept his eyes on the road and hummed.

An hour passed, and the dwarf hadn't moved from his seat. A new visitor came, this time the dwarven captain from Khaz a Gungron, "You s'pose they're alright?" The commander smiled and nodded. The two talked over final defensive positions and shared a drink before the captain returned to his men. Still, the dwarven commander sat patiently waiting.

Two more hours passed before a dirty kobold approached and sat with the dwarf. He gave several updates on the progress of the digging through a large, jutting outcrop from the mountainside. The reports were received with cordial, if distracted, approval. A genuine thanks was given to the kobold for the hard work of him and his folk. While they would not be a part of the battle to come now simply due to the exhaustive work, their efforts would prove a tactical trump card should it come to it. Brundir smiled and played the scene for them: A great sheet of rock falling like a curtain, and dozens of angry militiamen pouring through, hungry for blood and retribution.

The sun had risen, peaked, and now fell as shadows lengthened in the pass. Darkness fell quickly when the walls around were high. Still, Brundir kept his vigil. It was not a somber one, but it required the patience of one raised among evermore patient stone. Captains came and went, and the dwarf gave his directions from his own post. The others would be back by now.  They should have been back in the morning, but here it's entering dusk now. They probably got stuck a bit, he thought, wouldn' be th' first time. He held no doubt or fear they would come, but he was curious. If I find out they took more'n they planned an' left me 'ere t' wait, I'm gonna hang'em from these cliffs.

Jex runs from the camp, eventually having to break cover and just run, relying on the mask as he jumps between the patches of darkness. Once free, he can see Val catching her breath, or was it physical rage steaming from her mouth? He goes to wave, slipping the mask from his face so that she can remember him when all of a sudden he is struck by confusion and doubt.

He looks at the blood on his hands and the sword at his hip and drops to the floor, tears running down his face.

Val spots Jex running towards her, but as he slips the mask from his face she spots a look of confusion wash over him before he falls to his knees and begins to weep. She rushes over and immediately begins checking him for wounds. "Je--er--Matteo, are you injured? Where? I do not... see any blood coming from wounds." She looks at the encampment still so close by and sighs before picking up her elven companion and taking off running with him over her shoulder. "I am sorry for this my friend, but now is not the time for such sentiments this close to those who wish to kill us. You may grieve later if you wish!"

Matteo offers no resistance as he lets Val scoop him up.

It's a short time later when Vark's magical flight begins to fade, and it seems a good opportunity to regroup with the others on foot. Vark, Thurston and Aiden circle back a bit to find Val with Matteo slung over her shoulders.

"Val! Matteo! You guys are okay..." Vark says with heavy relief. "V-Val I'm... sorry for leaving you back there. I was coming back to get you out but," he glances over to the two Norscans, "Seemed like you were doing alright on your own."

Aiden feels the weight of his armor as he trudges through the snow toward Vark. The half-orc looked as exhausted as Aiden felt. He lays a hand on Vark's back and lends him the vigor of the gods, then falls backwards into the snow with a muffled clang and does the same to himself. "That Marcellus is an arsehole," he mutters.

"He is a coward!" almost spit Thurston "And he uses strange witchery to move He even put me in a deep slumber, in the middle of a fight!!Can you believe it? The outrage!!  He is no man to fight hand to hand so we cannot expect him to fight honorably. You did great Aiden, that catapults must be ash now. And what about you?" he asks to the others "Could you put down his wizard dog? I tried to catch his attention to draw him away from the tents you were" 

The hunched over figure on Val's shoulder continues to shake and mutter. 

"So much death, so much. What have I done. I am so sorry."