The Norscan nods and throws the hammer towards the magical cage as far from his friend as he can. His aim is true and the ancient warhammer hits the cage. Sparks of lighting erupts in all directions but when Rikkazarik flies back to his hand the cage seems to be unaafected. 

"Well, at least little Jex hasn't been harmed this time " 

Following closely behind Thurston, Aiden eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Jex's predicament.

There was one time, back home on Eikthyrnir, where some of the other children had lured him out into the forest. They jumped out of the thickets and beat him, ganging up on him. The left him bloodied, with nothing but his undergarments and a seething rage. He followed them, trying to take his revenge on the largest one, a bloated seal of a boy named Bjorn. The fat boy's friends had peeled Aiden off Bjorn's back and threw him to the ground, proceeding to beat him again, yelling insults about the naked thrall.

It was the first time that Aiden had conjured lightning. And Bjorn still had the scars. So Aiden didn't laugh at Jex. Not out loud anyway.

 "Perhaps brute force isn't the answer here. Let's look around for a way to turn this off," Aiden says, stepping carefully past Thurston.

Valaith smiles and places a hand upon Vark's shoulder as he confides in her. "I understand, Vark. I do. Some might think I have misplaced my trust in this hammer." She casts a dark glance at Valen. "We must be careful with power, especially when it is given to us from someone else. You had power in you long before this Matthew came around. You do not need him. Just remember that, but it sure seems that he needs you. I trust you. I have trusted you since the moment we all set out from Sheercleft. You and Brundir are the last of that group left. You did not need this Matthew when it was just us. Never forget those times. Trust in yourself, not him. You do not need him. I only say this because you are my friend and I feel it needs to be said. I would never forgive myself if I did not and something happened to you." She squeezes his shoulder as she looks him in the eyes. "I do think we need to see your friend, Aury. I think he would have a lot to say about this Matthew fellow."

Val rushes forward with the others as Jex cries out for help! She skids to a halt, her eyes alighting upon his partially naked form and she chuckles at the sight. Being from a wandering tribal society, goliaths did not have much in the way of privacy nor propriety. So seeing a naked man was nothing new; however, given the context in which she was seeing him brought a slight purplish blush to the goliath's cheeks as she looks around the room. "It would seem that you have finally found someone willing to remove your pants for you, Jex! What did you do? Did you touch anything? Perhaps we could break that, Thurston, if we cannot break this cage?" She hefts Rook helpfully.

"Just the floor. And then the cage." Jex shrugs. "Perhaps the clue is in the runes. Can you read them to me?"

Vark leans in to her strong, reassuring hand and smiles at her words. "Yes I... I think you're right. He has to know about Matthew, or at least what he's trying to do." Vark seems about to continue but is cut off by the cries of help from the other room.

"O-o-oh wow uhm...." he begins muttering to himself as he rushes in and sees Jex standing there in the buff. Like many orcish traits that Vark lacks, a disregard for nudity is one of them. The embarrassment is apparent as he attempts to avert his eyes and moves forward to try to deal with the arcane barrier before them. Still able to see the glowing magical auras of the runes, Vark kneels down and sends a jolt of electricity into one of them with hopes of shorting this magical circuit. When that fails he stands and turns to put the half-naked half-elf behind him. "Uhm I- uh y-yeah I'm not sure what uhm... what to do about that."

Aiden takes a long look at the set of runes outlining Jex's prison. After watching Vark's small jolt of electricity, he unleashes a bolt of lightning from his fingertips. The lightning impacts the stones, and the runes inscribed on them seem to charge up from the energy. The whole ring of symbols glows with a crackling blue light. But rather than open up, Jex's prison becomes smaller, the walls shifting inward towards the trapped half-elf. Aiden's eyes go wide and he begins to ponder what this group will do to him should he end up causing the death of one of their own, but the walls stop short of the half-elf. Aiden lets out a breath as Jex glares at him from the trap. "Sorry!" the cleric says, feeling a bit sheepish. "But at least we're getting somewhere."

He takes a second look. The stones had seemed to shift when hit with the lightning. "Let's try changing their orientation," he says after a moment. He shifts one, and the blue glow fades, but the energy field remains. He curses in Norscan under his breath. "Let's switch all of them around," he says, waving for the others to help. Once reconnected, the runes light back up once more, but the barrier still remains. Aiden grunts in dissatisfaction, scratching his chin.

An idea slowly dawns on him. If the previous circuit of runes had closed the box, maybe the opposite would...

"I have an idea! Let's--"

Seeing his companions playing with the stones, Jex starts to take serious notice of the pattern. He squeals in fright as the cage closes in a little closer.

"Zap the opposite direction!" His voice is almost a shriek as he interrupts Aiden. "It should make the barriers stretch out a little at least, then I have another idea or two, but first, some breathing room, and perhaps either you or Vark should stand outside the room in case more of us are trapped in cages, one of you will be needed to charge the stones." 

He hesitates. 

"If this is to go wrong... I leave my possessions to Val, hopefully that will make her feel awkward. Except the snakes, Thurston, take care of them for me? Oh, and use those merchant's notes to buy those goats, I really want them. And possession of my new building should be transferred to Nakia, upon arrival in Sheercleft."

Aiden rolls his eyes at the melodrama and looses another bolt of lightning into the reversed rune pattern. Jex's prison grows a little, but Aiden's power is mitigated by his distraction. The box does not grow back to its original size. 

"I could keep doing this all day, but I don't think that it's going to get you out. Any idea what the other two possible patterns will do?"

"I imagine they are an off on switch, but I fear the consequences of hitting on when it is already so very much on." Jex rubs his scorched finger. "Perhaps buy me some more space first? If it starts rapidly closing, reverse and hit it again as fast as possible. And I do suggest you or Vark leaves the room in case we all need to be freed because we guess wrong. But face the patterns outwards I think."

Aiden nods and with the help of the others, the patterns of runes are moved so that they face out, away from Jex's prison. Vark volunteers to leave and Aiden stays behind. Once the half-orc is clear, Aiden counts down. "Everyone ready? þrír, tveir, ein, NOW!" He lets loose a blast of Thor's lightning that impacts the runes. The walls surrounding the half-elf crackle and arc out across the floor! Aiden attempts to dive away, but the arcs of energy course through his body, causing every muscle to spasm -- including the ones surrounding his bladder. He falls to the ground with a yelp of pain.

The lightning clears, and Jex's prison is gone. Aiden sits up, his legs splayed out in front of him like a child waiting outside the longhouse during an althing. A warmth was dampening his trousers near his crotch and upper thighs. "Everyone okay?" he asks, looking up to make sure nobody had been directly caught in the blast, "Think I've just pissed myself."

Vark winces instinctively as the elemental barrier discharges across the room. He looks on with concern from the doorway as his friends reel from the shock, but is relieved to see that they are mostly fine and Jex has been freed. Vark walks back in just as Aiden confesses to having lost control of his bladder and he looks down at the damp spot with second hand embarassment. "Oh no, uhm d-don't worry Aiden, I think I can help."

Vark had been here before. As the runt of his tribe, his much larger peers had grabbed the half-orc one day and dumped him in the worg pin as a cruel joke. Like a mouse facing down someone's pet snake, a puddle formed beneath the quivering boy's feet. Meanwhile the orcish children burst into hysterical laughter, and for months afterwards they would continue to remind Vark of the mortifying incident.

With these painful memories in his head, Vark hurries to help his friend avoid the same fate. His eyes glow blue as he taps into his own elemental power, grabbing hold of the 'water' soaking Aiden's pants with his sorcerous will. The dark patch shrinks as the liquid is pulled out, then flung back and out of the room with a splash. He gives Aiden a relieved smile and then turns to see if any of his other friends need the same assistance. His eyes immediately land on Little Jex. The gears in Vark's head turn as he makes the connection. How could the barrier have burned just his pants? He levels an accusatory look at the half-elf, though the corners of his mouth hint at a smile. "Wait... Jex... You said WHAT happened to your pants?" The implication in the question is clear as day.

Thurston walks towards Jex

"C'mon! your snakes? I mean I don't even know a thing abou..." his words are cutt by the lighting discharge crosses the room. He feels the lighting crossing his body and he lloks around to see his companions more or less affected by it.

" You ok?" he asks to Aiden " I mean it tickles.. " he then turns to Jex " What I was saying? oh yes.. I don't know what that snakes eat! How do you expect me to feed them? With slices of Little Jex?" he says pointing to his legs. "Here" he says removing his spare pants from his backpack " Don't let little jex become even smaller due to cold..." he winks to his friend.

A bead of sweat drops from Jex's brow as the field bursts around him, followed by an outward sigh. He quickly collects himself though, confronting Thurston with a grin and a wink.

"It is a little chilly." Jex smirks confidently. "Not sure these will stay up around my slender waist, toned as it is..." He flexes, pulling his shirt up to emphasise the point, his abs, clearly toned over years of an intense exercise regime none of the group had ever noticed him performing, ripple with the movement. "Perhaps my belt can hold them up. Can I cut the bottoms off? I don't want to be tripping over, I will get you replacements from the town.

He looks distastefully at Vark over his shoulder, "I slipped ok? It's embarrassing. My legs trailed and got caught in the field, it burned the trousers and I had to pull them off and leave them behind. In my rush they flew against the field again and what was left of them got burned." He waves at the pile of ash and scorched cloth on the floor. 

Aiden looks up at Vark with gratitude. "Thank you," he says, getting shakily to his feet. He glances over at Jex's outburst. Having just made a mess of himself -- from lightning, no less -- he wasn't about to get involved. Jex was welcome to whatever illusion he wanted to present of himself. Attempting to waylay the conversation from getting too far out of hand in what was still a dangerous environment, he looks at Thurston and says, "I put good odds that Thor's bent over in Bilskirnir laughing at me right now."

Vark's brow furrows with skepticism. "Riiiight." It's clear that, with his intimate knowledge of lightning based magic and how it affects people and their clothing, and with his general distrust for any story that comes out of the rogue's mouth, Vark does not buy Jex's explanation for a minute. But he doesn't press the issue. Instead he helps Aiden to his feet and adresses the group. "Should we get going then? I'm pretty sure we're headed the right way now."

Vark leads the way onwards, guiding his friends down the stairs and deeper into the dungeon towards the source of the ruby's power. He can feel it waiting for them. Warm and dense and throbbing like a beating heart.

The next chamber is darker than the level above, lacking the flickering pale blue torches and braziers that lit the upper levels. A gaping hole in the floor looms at the foot of the stairs, like an open maw in the middle of the room, and ornate bronze chests of ancient Dwarven craft lie against the walls beneath a thick layer of dust.

To the left, dim red light trickles through the arch to the next room.

Vark's eyes immediately glance over to the warm glow coming from the archway. "It's there." He seems almost hypnotized, not moving his gaze from the light. "Should we uhm... check out this room first?"

Val just shakes her head at the strangeness of men as the group moves onward. Such things happen, why the big fuss? She stops at the sight of the hole and the red glow. "Whatever we do, let us avoid that." She points towards the large hole at the bottom of the stairwell. "I feel as if we should test our footing before moving off the steps." She glances at Jex and gestures for him to go first. "You are best for such things."

A distant rumble makes the stairs shake and tremble.

Jex points, "There, it shook. Usually one of the key signs of instability, best avoided." He sighs before quietly stepping forward to look for any traps or runes on the path down