The angle is tight, given more time, Jex would have liked to reposition and take a shot at the dragonborn's head, but as he wrinkles his nose, and suspicion shudders down his neck and spine, all the way to his thick tail, Jex knows he has to silence him now or lose the surprise. He lets loose the arrow, finding a gap in the armour and the shudder intensifies as the poison enters his bloodstream.

"Think so." Vark responds. The second Jex let's his arrow fly, Vark floats up behind him and shouts out in primordial. A brilliant blue bridge of electricity jumps between Pathmaker's point and Vark's open hand before both ends of the arc lash out towards the furthest two dragonborn. The green scaled warrior is seared from the strike but the red dragonborn already poisoned by Jex fares far worse. In a gruesome but comical display the guard's body erupts from the sustained current arcing into it, his tongue lolling out and his eyes bulging and popping from his overcharged skull. The acrid stench of vaporized bodily fluid fills the room as the mutilated husk falls and the battle commences.

"RHOGAR!" The white dragonborn bellows in anguish and fury, charging towards the ambushers and unleashing a howling storm of ice from its jaws.

As Jex and Vark sneak off to continue their infiltration of the stronghold, Val takes a moment to fish the gem-crusted chalice from her backpack and pour some tepid water into it from her waterskin. She watches in fascination as the clear liquid begins to thicken and darken into the bright red of fresh blood. She grimaces as she prepares to consume the metallic tasting liquid and wipes her lips and chin clean from the bit that trickles from her mouth. As always, the rounded features on Val's face seem to sharpen, but in an appealing way. The scar running her face becomes less distracting and more of an exotic accent feature that seems to only enhance the terrible beauty that she molds into... a warrior Queen.

Val was slipping the chalice back into her backpack when she hears the roar from the dragonborn and she immediately knows that her friends have been spotted. She barrels down the stairwell, a grey imposing mass that cannot be held back against the flood of terrible rage at the thought of these bastards daring to harm her friends. As she rushes out of the stairwell, she spots a white dragonborn with frost building around its lips rushing towards Jex and Vark. With a roar of challenge, Val draws the attention of the enemy and braces herself against the bitter cold that erupts from its mouth! With Rook held in front of her like a shield, she crosses her arms over her chest in a 'x' to protect her internal organs from the brunt of the cold... sadly for the foolish dragonborn, Valaith had lived in such cold for far longer than she had not and she merely shrugs it off. She slams into the dragonborn, bodychecking it back as she unfurls her arms with a burst of violence and aggression as she spins Rook around rapidly before slamming it hard into the torso and hip of her enemy. The heavy armor protects its hips and spine from what would have been a horribly debilitating injury as Val prepares to continue bringing the fight.

Following Val's lead Thurston runs down towards the fight. He sees another dragonborn, a black one, starting to move towards Val, snarling. Thurston can see the acid droping form the dragonborn lips. 

"You want to attack her from behind coward?!" he yells "To that I say NO!" he jumps from the stairs. Leaping above Val and raising Rikkazarik over his head to smash the black dragonborn. But he is slammed hard by a brute spray of acid in the middle of his jump. The black dragonborn had changed his target and the acidic breath hits the Norscan directly in the face with such a force that he is throw away a couple of feet. 

Hitting the floor hard, Thurston covers his face, screaming in pain. The hammer falls with a silent thud in the middle of his jump. 

Aiden curses colorfully in an inelegant mix of Norscan and Breannian, then lets out a blast of lightning at Thurston's attacker. But the energy is snatched away by another of the dragonborn, this one firing its own lightning from its blue-scaled fingers. Aiden's cursing becomes more colorful as the blue dragonborn launches another bolt, this time at Aiden's chest. His muscles contract and spasm, causing him to bite his own tongue. 

He spits a mouthful of blood onto the ground and glares at the dragonborn. "Do that again, I dare you," he shouts in Norscan.

"Damn yer fervor, all of ye!" Bründir rushes down the stairs to the frenzied melee below, shield and sword waving. "Jex, get th' white one! Val, come 'round an' help me with th' green!" 

With a solid shove, he shoulders himself between Aiden and the green dragonborn, "Don' dare, jus' kill'em! Take a breath, I've got this one." No sooner did the dwarf reassure his comrade, a cloud of toxic gas spews into his face from the green dragonborn. Bründir retches and coughs a moment before raising Karakarin to ward a falling blow.

"Shite, yer breath! Ye been swallowin' demon c*** through a goat's ass on a midden heap?!"

Vark’s grey eyes dart to and fro as each of his companions slams into violent melee with the dragonborn below. Static still crackles at his fingertips as he tries to decide which foe to strike next, but a different crack of lightning at his side draws his attention. He watches in horror as Aiden’s divine strike is foiled by the blue dragonborn’s own fell bolt, and as the storm cleric is struck with a following attack the warlock’s eyes flare red. The spellcaster now seems to be the most dangerous target, and if lightning won’t work against him the hellfire shall have to do. Vark begins channeling the infernal power bound to his soul, causing ruby sparks to flash up the crystalline veins that score his arm. His hand extends towards the blue dragonborn and with a vengeful roar he unleashes a torrent of crimson flames straight at his enemy. The hellfire bores through the metal armor leaving blackened scales and flesh in its path.

Jex is already departing Vark's side as he raises an eyebrow at the fiery display. Jex places his bow and the arrows he had in his hand on the floor, "watch those, they're sharp" he murmurs to the distracted Vark. On the stair he can see his companions locked in combat, Val trading blows with two dragonborn.

No doubt she'll end up on top, but if she tries to bash her way through that plate, we may be here all day.

Jex had seen that plate before and spent enough time in the guardhouse to know the royal guardsmen all had one complaint, it chaffed where the backplate overlapped the waist, so they all left it unconnected, which was fine unless the strap got cut at the top and there was nothing left to support it.

Quickly he darts the few steps to the stair "On your left" he mutters to Val as he rolls past her right side, silent as a ghost, he rises, slashing not into the dragonborn, but up the gap in the armour where he hopes the strap will be, he hears a satisfying clunk as the backplate drops 5 inches though he hasn't waited, knife in his other hand as he reaches his full height, he plunges it into the now exposed neck, even as he frees the first blade and unnecessarily jabs that in too. He rolls back as the white dragonborn crumples at Val's feet.

"Good kill"

He steps back to retrieve his bow and arrows from the floor.

Thurston rolls in the floor, trying to to get to his knees and stand again, despite the pain of the acid burns. 

The black dragonborn, anticipating an easy kill grabs his greataxe and runs towards the fallen Norscan. Thurston hears him approaching and, still on one knee, extends his right hand. The dragonborn jumps in the air with his greataxe above his head. Rikkazarik flies fast to his master call and Thurston grabs it and spin, moving it upwards and positioning himself under the dragonborn. The impact with his jaw makes a thunderous sound, sending the dragonborn's head back in an impossible angle. Now its his turn to fall in the middle of the jump. The warrior falls to the ground as a broken toy, no longer moving. 

Thurston looks at him, panting. His left arm is bleeding for the greataxe, on its descend has made a cut on it. But the paladin seems to ignore it. With his long hair covering most of his face he looks around to check the rest of his friends.

The blue dragonborn, it turns out, did dare. He lashes out with lightning at the same time that Aiden does. The crackling bolts meet in midair between the two. A burning ozone stench fills the air as both casters push against each other. Aiden's heels begin to push back across the stone as the physical force of the magic pushes against him. 

"Enough of this," Aiden mutters. The norscan releases the magic from his left hand, allowing part of the dragonborn's magic to course into his body. It was excruciating, but Thor's will channeled the power through him. Lightning poured endlessly out of his outstreched right hand, beating back the dragonborn's power. The smell of burning scale and cooking meat fill the area as the blue dragonborn is reduced to black cinders.

Out of breath, Aiden looks around at his allies, hoping they've finished their own fights.

As the white dragonborn falls at her feet, Val turns to see Jex there and she grins just as she turns her attention to the green dragonborn nearby. She throws Rook into a massive overhead swing, but opens herself up to a counterattack! Just as the massive stone head of the weapon comes rushing down in a horribly fast downward arc, the dragonborn blasts Val in the face with a poisonous cloud... only to have its head crushed down into a horribly disgusting mass of scale, blood, bone, and brain matter... Val begins to hack and couch, leaning against the handle of Rook as the poison works its way into her system and she feels sluggish and weak. 

Alarmed shouts can be heard from below and to the sides. It seems that the fortress's inhabitants are finally getting wind that they are under attack.

The heat around Vark subsides as the current skirmish comes to a close. He quickly takes an assessment of his friends as they begin to catch their breath. “Here, Thurston. That acid got you pretty bad.” He presses a healing potion into the warrior’s hands before turning anxiously back to the sounds of rallying shouts. “Gotta move, gotta move, uhmm okay how bout another storm to slow them down?” Once the others are ready to move, Vark begins a low primordial chant and the air begins to stir. Clouds gather around the storm sorcerer as he attempts to conjure a whirling storm complete with gale-force winds and torrential rain.

Thurston nods to the rest. They had arose victorious and the breather they seem to need is not going to happen. 

"We must hurry. " he says ripping part of his tunic. He tries to keep his head down so the rest cannot clearly see the extent of his wounds. Still Vark approaches him and hands him a potion. The norscan pats his friend shoulder thankfully and drinks the potion. Feeling most of the pain of the acid subsiding under the effects of it, he uses some water from his waterskin to clean the rag he had ripped early and covers his face from nose down. 

"Are you ok?" he asks to Val seeing now that the poison could had affected her. She nods, and he asks Thor to give him strength to fulfill his oath to end the Morrigans. 

"Let's go my friends. We cannot hesitate now. We will clean this place completely from this pests but we better finish the sisters first..." he concentrates a little bit, asking Thor for guidance and trying to locate the white one, the first one they met and the responsible to kidnap or even kill their gnome friend.

Quickly, the Acharnost gulp down some potions and Aiden incants a simple magical restorative, but there is no time for anything further. Warriors can be heard assembling on the lower level and boots are already on the stairs and in the passages to the north and south, headed towards the intruders.

Vark's spell rapidly expands to fill the room, swirling in a cyclone around the column of green energy that runs down the centre of the tower. Bright arcs of lightning leap between the walls and the emerald beam, echoed outside by an almighty thundercrack that causes the stone walls to shake and rumble. A bolt of black electricity comes sparking down the middle of the tower and into the depths of the fortress.

"Well are we talking or are we moving?"

Jex pulls his cloak around him, lowers his mask over his face and darts for the stairs.

As Jex heads down the stairs, he immediately finds himself face-to-face with several warriors armed with spears coming up towards him!

Vark is definitely moving, attempting not to think about what that black lightning meant and once again assuming his place at the rogue’s back. Jex feels the static surge as a bolt of lightning shoots over his shoulder and into the chest of one of the rushing warriors. His cronies behind him just barely avoid being taken down as the freshly cooked corpse falls backwards down the stairs where its skull cracks open on the stone.

Aiden pulls a health potion from a pouch on his belt. Valaith had warned him that these were made by goblins and as such, may have unwanted side effects, but he couldn't think about that now. He quickly drains the red liquid from the vial and tosses it to the ground. It seemed to work, invigorating him...but it tasted foul. Almost like...old socks? 

Shrugging the taste off, Aiden reaches out. Lightning crackles from his eyes, down into his fingertips and lances out to dance across the armor of one of the warriors. The smell of charred flesh fills the air as Aiden cooks the man in his armor.