Vark isn't wrong about taking the conversation elsewhere. Gasps of shock go up around the common room in response to the sudden apparition of a ghostly Goliath and many Dwarves look on in fear or anger. Once Larkin's presence has faded once more, Hurrig shuffles over to the party's table.

"Ma would like ye to take yerselves upstairs... you're causin' a scene. I'll be stayin' here for a bit. Been away too long. Too many seasons. I owe her that much."

The cleric has changed out of his armour and is wearing a simple tunic emblazoned with Moradin's hammer.

"Karakaklad... it should stay in Sheercleft. It belongs there somehow. Maybe one day it will choose another."

Once he's said his goodbyes, Hurrig shows his friends to their rooms and returns to his family.

Aiden takes a deep breath. Goliath spirits, necromantic weapons, possession, something called Matthew? Whatever this group was dealing with was suddenly quite a lot more trouble than just delving deep beneath the dwarven city. But he stayed resolute, and steadied himself. After all, the more problems they had, the more job security he had.

"So," he begins slowly, looking among the members of the group, lingering a bit longer on the half-orc, and then the goliath. "You're obviously dealing with quite a few things at the moment. And one of your number has just had a touching family reunion, so you're one short. Specifically a cleric short, and you're delving into unknown territory. Hire me, and I can fill that gap. I'm not asking for anything up front. But my fee will be thus: an even share of whatever we find down there." 

He gestures to Thurston. "Thurston knows me, and can vouch for me. I don't have any secrets. I don't have any ulterior motives. I'm as honest as they come. I'm just looking for work."

He spreads his arms just beyond shoulder width, as if to say, That's it. Take it or leave it.

Leaning on Thurston as they walk, Jex answers the questions asked a minute ago. "I was distracting him see, make a target that looks weak. Couldn't have them carry on hurting you. You are a good and dear friend to me Thurston and I would not want to lose you. I would probably get over it, but it would take me a while. And I don't say that lightly" He slaps at his chest. 

When they reach the top, Jex eyes the newcomer up. Which is difficult as his head seems to be wobbling a little. "See, there's the problem. We haven't really been much for even shares. More, giving to the one who needs it most. And most of it is being reinvested. Sheercleft needs rebuilding, that's the destination of the majority share of anything we find." He points a finger at Aiden's chest. "But I like you. I say you can come with us. We can feed you at least and give you somewhere to stay."

Valaith looks around and nods to Vark. She gives a farewell shake to Hurrig and wishes him the best, hoping to see him again one day before she follows the others to a room. As they walk she also looks to Aiden. "If Thurston vouches for you, that is good enough for me! Welcome to our group, Aiden. You are probably wondering what sort of insanity you have just brought yourself into." She grins. "It is a lot, I promise, but I also promise that you will find no others more dedicated to saving each others skins than us." Despite her outwardly jovial attitude, her simple thought process is spinning with all these strange entities residing with her ancestral hammer... Was this the source of her power within Rook? If so, did she really want to remove it?

"Sheercleft needs rebuilding, hmm?" Aiden seems to ponder this for a moment, then shrugs and nods. "Sounds like a long term contract to me. As for the insanity-" He looks towards Val. "I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle."

Val slaps Aiden hard across the back and shoulders, throwing the smaller man slightly off-balance. "I like you, Aiden, you will fit in well here. Are we all turning in for the night?" As it seems the rest of heading off to their own rooms, Val saddles up to Jex and Thurston. "Thurston, I shall see Jex to his room. Go, show your friend the ropes! Teach him what it means to be one of us!" She laughs as she takes Jex's arm and works to ease him off to his room. Once they have split from the rest of the party and reached his door she lets go to look at him. "Jex... you honored me this night by what you said to Valen. I seem to have misunderstood you. I thought you were just here to use us for your own ends, but perhaps I was wrong about you. Now," she opens his door and then bodily shoves him into the room with a raucous laugh. "Get some rest! We have a busy day of ahead of us tomorrow!" She grins as she shuts the door behind and heads towards her own room.

Jex lets out a laugh as she closes the door. "No goodnight kiss? Come on Val, you always loved me! Nothing to be wrong about!"

That night, the newly dubbed Rikadron find their sleep interrupted no less than three times by bright red light and a pulsing drone from beneath the mountain. The beacon wakes.

As Bründir rests, he is plagued by repeated, jumbled flashes of the visions he saw after the battle at the goblin camp.

Jex sees himself trance like an elf, but when he looks down at his hands they fade from sight and in the mirror he has no reflection.

Valaith sees Larkin's ghostly, translucent blue form lost in a lake of shadow. He reaches out towards her, but is pulled ever deeper into darkness.

Vark dreams of a great spire of jagged red ruby erupting from the earth. It vibrates with power and he can feel the well of energy within him resonate in turn.

Thurston and Aiden slumber as only the righteous can.

Come morning, dim great light begins to seep in between the curtains. A new days has begun.

Aiden rises early to begin his morning. His morning ritual begins with exercise -- mostly to burn off the all the ale he's imbibed during his short time at Khaz a Grungron. Next, he says his morning prayers, reading in Norscan from a small book. Small discharges of lightning crackle up and down his arms as he recites his liturgy. Then he dresses, dons his armor, and heads down to the taproom to sit and wait for the others. 

He looks like he wants to relax, but he taps the head of his warhammer in anticipation of the adventure to come. Escorting caravans was fine. It paid the bills. But it wasn't exciting. Not like delving into dwarven mines in search of a strange jewel. He knew it would be dangerous. But the danger didn't bother him as much as the boredom he had been experiencing in his languishing in the dwarven city.

And besides, he thinks with a self-satisfied smile. This should be fun.

Vark is up early as well, unable to continue resting once his body begins to wake. He is filled with anxious energy; it's an exhilarating buzz despite the queasiness it causes in the half-orc's stomach. His own morning ritual of meditating with Path Maker is pierced by thoughts of this mysterious codex, of the red spire bursting from the earth, of Matthew's true intentions, and in a moment of distraction Vark's thoughts drift to Seid. They'd only known each other for a short time, but still Vark misses the wizard's grounding presence, and even though there is so much to be done Vark can't help but wish he was back in Sheercleft pouring over tomes with Seid. He takes a moment as he dons his armor to activate the cloak the wizard had gifted him, and the magically billowing garment is enough of a reminder to bring a smile to Vark's face before he heads downstairs.

As the group gathers and sits down for breakfast, Vark clears his throat and addresses them. "Uhm, I think we should get going as soon as we can. I think... I feel like the ruby is impatient. Maybe we should ask the Rhunki for directions on where to start looking. Was there anything else anyone needed to do before we go?"

Thurston is one of the latest to rejoin the others. He had taken his time on his morning rutine today. He doesn't even sit when he sees the others. He just grab some fruit for later and a piece of cold roasted meat as the others get ready. 

"I am ready" he says " the sooner we see Rhunki and he points us in the right direction the better. Do not fear Vark. " he puts a hand on the half-orc sorcerer " we will be at your side and before the day ends you'll have this codex gem in your hands. " 

Vark notices that he has shaved his beard and that he looks younger that he had first thought when he met the Norscan for the first time. 

Jex does not look a pretty sight in the morning. He sips at some water and nibbles some food. His makeup has not been fully applied and his Sarameian complexion clearly shows through, his ears though do seem to have been carefully capped to look more human. Val notices that he is taking more food when the others aren't watching though. "I have some climbing gear, and plenty of supplies in the wagon. Perhaps we should stock up before we head below?" 

Val sits up with a gasp as the dream begins to fade away. She looks at the scars upon her forearms and Rook sitting nearby. She sighs heavily as she stares at the weapon. 'Something within...' The dream was too much like what she had seen on the battlefield with Larkin. Was their family's heirloom swallowing his spirit? She sits herself cross-legged like she the day she had communed with Rook and Larkin for the first time, back in Sheercleft. "Larkin? Can you hear me? What is happening?" She calls out to her brother...

Val listens, but she hears only the silence of her room and the distant clanking of machinery outside. She feels a wave of dizziness and Rook seems to grow ever larger, while the new markings on her forearms pulse.

Val stares down at the hammer and the marks upon her forearms. 'This is why we do not trust magic...' She collects Rook and lays it across her lap, focusing in on the weapon and seeking out this lingering essence within. She opens herself to the icy of her homeland, allowing to rush through her like a sieve in hopes that perhaps it could wash away the taint of the thing that seemed to be consuming her brother... Her breath becomes ragged and heavy, she grits her teeth and she opens herself to whatever was within Rook. "Come then, monster. Feast on me, if you have the strength! Leave my brother alone! I am here! Come after me!"

A sudden, shocking cold engulfs Valaith. It's as though she has been plunged into icy water. Her vision goes black and she drifts unfeeling in darkness... but she is not harmed. This cold is extreme, but it is a foe that she knows well. In the emptiness that follows, Val can sense whatever force it is that drives this sorcery. Confusion touches it and then uncertainty. It is used to being feared. Bellowed fury fills Valaith's mind in the same aberrant tongue that Vark spoke in the common room, but this time she can understand.

RELEASE ME, it demands.

Within the darkness, Valaith felt afraid for a moment as she floundered, but the force of her rage drove her onward in this journey as she suddenly felt herself pulled down into such an emptiness as she has never known. Even the empty wastes of her homeland could not compare to this... it was awful and it lonely... No, not alone... She doesn't see, but rather feels the presence.

"Who---what are you?" She asks into the darkness, her voice thin and weaker in this strange darkness.

I ᴀᴍ ʜᴜɴɢᴇʀ. I ᴀᴍ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ. Rᴇʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴍᴇ NOW. The voice was hoarse, gravelly... angry, but Valaith Rimehand Kalukavi was angrier. This presence did not frighten her, she had the power of the mountains and Larkin behind her.

“Not until you tell me what I want to know. What is your name? What do you want?” She demanded, her icy rage causing her fists to freeze. The only response was the slow, ragged breathing of a great beast. "How do I release you?"

Dᴇsᴛʀᴏʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴀᴍᴍᴇʀ.

Val recoils slightly and recalls the paladin, Valen, threatening to destroy her hammer and the rage explodes from her in a showering of ice and snow. "No! Never!" she bellows at the presence, but then she has a thought... hunger... death... In one of the more clever moments in Valaith's life she grins and forces her will against this creatures. " You want death? I can give you death. You hunger? I can feed you the blood of my enemies." There is a moment of silence...

Fᴇᴇᴅ Rᴏᴏᴋ.

"You will leave the spirit alone, the man within. Or I will bury you so deep beneath the ice that you shall hunger until the breaking of the world." She had found its weakness. "I will feed you, but you leave Larkin alone. Do we have a deal?" Again... silence save for the ragged breathing of the beast. Valaith began to grow impatient until...

Nᴏ ʀᴏᴏᴍ.

Unacceptable. She was not afraid, this beast... this Rook will break. It will do as she commanded. She bares her teeth and growls in a voice that came from the mountains. "Make room!" She commanded and immediately severed the connection, leaving Rook to simmer in it's anger and frustration. Air abruptly fills Val's lungs like she's been suddenly pulled from the depths. Her vision returns as the cold recedes and she is left gasping for breath on the floor of her room.

As Val lay there, staring at the ceiling she had a thought and abruptly sat up with a gasp. "...no room..." She knew what to do! The tribe's shaman used to tell stories about cursed items and spirits taking control of others... With a dull, heavy thud she leaps to her feet and rips the door open to her room before tearing down the hallway, pounding loudly and heavily with her fist upon all the doors of her companions as hard as her massive fists could!! 'I am coming, brother...'

The cacophony echoes downstairs, and as the goliath comes barreling into the room, the conversation has already stopped as the party's collective gaze turns to the stairs. "Val, is everything o-okay?" Vark blurts out.

Seeing the distress in wich Val cames down Thurston stands, extending his hand and Rikkazarik flies up to it. 

There is an eagerness and excitement to Val’s face as she beckons everyone to follow her. “All of you, come with me quickly!” She stops and glares at Valen, pointing a massive finger toward the paladin. “Except you.” She says menacingly. “You stay here.” Without waiting she begins ushering everyone else up to her room.