Aiden watches carefully, Thor's divine power granting his eyes the ability to pierce the veil of the supernatural world - he finds no trace of the undead presence visible before.

Aiden shrugs. "I think maybe it did work, then. We can go now."

"Wait" Jex stops. "You changed something, it no longer responds to me."

With no further comment he sits cross-legged where he was standing, pulling the mask on and off as he concentrates on reattuning to it.

"There, check now." He stands back in the shadows, blades drawn.

Bründir leans back in his saddle, chuckling at Jex's worrying, "Like a boy who's broke a toy, eh?" Despite his jest, the dearf slides a hand down and nudges an inch of Dumdrengi's blade from it's scabbard, just to be sure...

Thurston calls on Thor in silence and asks him to allow him to see if there is any undead nearby, his hammer at the ready.

The steel of Dumdrengi's blade remains dull and neither Aiden nor Thurston detects an undead presence from the mask.

After waiting a few moments longer, Jex leaps to his feet with a grin. "Well I guess that's that then, no need to get all smashy after all eh? Shall we get going?" He strides ahead with a joyful skip in his step, leaps up onto the wagon and points it in the direction of Sheercleft.

Bründir leans over his saddle with a wide grin, "Shucks, here I was hopin' t'meet some old friends of yer's. Must be hungry stuck in there, maybe we could all 'ave tea an' brunch in a nice shady patch." The dwarf bellows a great laugh as he turns to get on the road.

"The sooner the better" says Thurston "We get a long way ahead of us and I think we have left the alleged Morrigan too long to their own devices." 

Val had been quiet for much of the time after Vark had taken Jex up into the daylight. The others' talk about smashing property and objects belonging to others without their permission had bothered her, reminding her far too much of that irritating paladin from the dwarven city. She keeps Rook exceptionally close to her for the remainder of the time, watching Vark and Aiden closely lest they suddenly decide that her hammer was a danger to them and got overly excited. She also did not appreciate how Vark had seemed to have forgotten the literal object of Matthew that he carried upon his person and used without hesitation. There was division being sown amongst the party and to Val felt like outsider influence. It felt very much like the ways that Larkin would often suggest when dealing with an orcish horde that threatened their tribe. 'As one we cannot hope to defeat them. They are too many, but if we can turn them against one another... we can handle the individual tribes without problems.'

The chill mountain wind is bitter cold between the peaks. It bites at Bründir and Thurston's tired muscles, reminding them of the warmth of their bedrolls, still calling for a couple of hours more rest.

"Uhm.. I agree but... it is pretty early. Maybe we should at least have breakfast before we get moving?" 

Jex sighs, looking up at the sky. He stretches.

"Fine. I guess that was pretty exciting."

He stretches out in the seat of his wagon and closes his eyes. A few hours later they are all ready to go, and rolling on down the road once again. 

With a couple more hours of rest under their belts, everybody is ready to face the new day. After a brief breakfast, the tents are struck and the Acharnost set out on their way south towards Sheercleft. The skies are clear, though cold, like a painted dome of crystal blue and the good weather makes for easy going throughout the morning, the only landmark of note being the remains of the goblin encampment where Bründir lost his eye.

An hour before noon they break for lunch, before pushing on for another six hours in an effort to use as much of the light is possible. Though the travellers are steadfast, for the most part, Jex and Stonebrow both grow weary towards the end of the day.

"I'm tired, let's find a place to rest. Sorry Val, not hot the energy to compete today, I'll just find the nearest place." Jex jumps down from the wagon and heads off up the pass, hugging the river it doesn't take him long to find a nook in a sheer stone edge suitable for hiding the wagon. He heads back up to the path to flag down the others.

Once camp is made, Vark spends most of the evening communing with the codex, only seeking his bedroll around midnight. Fortunately, come dawn there are no shadows to be seen and, once the camp has been struck, Sheercleft's heroes set out for home with hope of reaching it before dusk.

It's late afternoon when Lord Erik's runestone finally comes into sight, marking the joining of the High Road and Hyarantar Pass. Sheercleft lies just a few miles further east. By the time Jex's wagon rolls up to the western edge of the village there's only an hour or two left until dusk.

"We should build a little outpost here where the roads meet. A little watchtower, maybe a sell horses, food, water, encourage people to seek rest in the town. Maybe tax vehicles passing through..." Jex sits dreamily looking off, presumably to a wealthy future, silently riding from then as he dwells on the idea.

" Finally, home at last. Now let us see what kind of a mess they have made whilst we were gone eh? And Vark, we should go and see Seid."

A warm smile spreads across Vark's face as they draw near to his newfound home. "Yes! There's so much we have to tell him!" he responds to Jex.  The rogue has read his mind, for despite all his studying over their journey his thoughts have been singularly focused on seeing Seid again. Truly it hasn't been that long since they said goodbye, but still there is an excitement welling up in Vark like he's never felt before. It's not the thrilling electric charge he's felt when gaining new arcane powers, it is light and warm and effervescent in his chest. He's already beginning to float up off the ground before he realizes it, fluffy white clouds accumulating around his feet. "Actually I think I'm gonna go ahead to find him! He's probably at the study, wanna meet us there once you've sorted out the wagon and your... kobolds?" He gives a playful shrug; clearly he hasn't paid much attention to the half-elf's various developments in the town. Without another word he blasts off, flying high above the streets and zooming towards the library where he imagines Seid has spent the entire time researching.

Aiden quirks an eyebrow as Vark takes to the skies. "He's certainly excited. This place..." He looks around at the various buildings and up and down streets. "...It seems nice. I suppose I'll go find an inn to stay at. Any suggestions?"

"Of course! You should stay at my Inn!" Jex smiles warmly. "There is a discount for those who have killed with me!"

His smile fades again though as he dwells on Vark's words. He raises an eyebrow, as he considers, had he been too obvious about the Kobolds? He'd tried not to mention them since they left the mines beyond warning against attacking them on sight. He'd have to make sure the boy hadn't been shooting his mouth off.

"Come Aiden, I'm taking the wagon there now anyway, I'll get you a room. It's very conveniently placed next to everything important too, so we can do the tour from the roof."