"You can leave me next time, I'd sooner steer clear of the murder." 

Matteo volunteers. 

"The work may have been too good though, Marcellus intended to scout this route, given the inflicted damage and the strength of the force, it may be wise to keep an eye and make sure nothing happens against the plan. Much as I have no wish to shed more blood, the thought of that army disbanding and ravaging the countryside fills me with dread."

Thurston doesn't let any solider to kneel before him, he rather grab one or two by the shoulders and lift them. 

"You only bend the knee before the Aesir... or the one you've chosen to be your mate. " he says smiling to them. 

"Ah! Brundir! You got us. You were left back because we needed a chance to make ourselves useful! Had you come with us there will be no enemy army left!" Thurston punches the dwarf on the shoulder. "I do think that most of the catapults were destroyed. Aiden burned them to the ground. I almost got another one before that coward came and got me, perhaps one is still operational, but we've impaired its ability to attack our walls from the distance. And yes... they managed to take out many commanders, their Mabinogi, their wizard and their cleric are gone, as well as one of their scout commanders. At least half of the Baron's personal guard fell under Val's and Jex might and the rest ran with their tails under their legs. I do think it was a good night all things considered. Still... that Marcellus showed strange powers and his forces are strong in numbers. Tell us. How are you and our own soldiers? "

Brundir laughs at Thurston's account. He doubted his involvement would cause a full army to rout, but he at least knew he'd have a wicked time of it. "Army's well an' dug-in. 'Round that bend there, th' road twists an' turns like a snake. We're in after that first turn, so Marcellus'll 'ave t'come t'us. Funneled in, we'll be in fer a slog, but we've got an ace," Brundir points at an outcropping of rock stretching from the mountainside on the road's flank. "B'hind that stone, our army's all bunched up waitin' fer a scrap. It'll be long, bloody goin' fer'em t'get in it. However, Jex's scaly frien's made'emselves good'n useful. They dug in that rock, so what we're seein' from 'ere - from where Marcellus'll be standin' - is just a curtain. When we give a signal, those kobolds'll drop one more good hammer'n the wall'll come down. Then, some o'ye take our boys through an cause a bloody mess o' their army dug in fightin' in th' main pass." Brundir spun in his saddle once more to look at each of his companions, "Can't say as I've thought much on where y'all'll take up when it starts. This sorta stuff's no good fer our way. Hundreds'a bodies crammed in, nowhere t'move, just as like t'take a friend if ye peel off with that lightnin' an such. I'm sure we'll figure it, though. Like I said, we got a big tent with beds, food, an' drinks just fer th' Acharnost. We'll mull it over there."

Thurston nods at Brundir's words

"Incredible work my friend. They will have a nasty surprise when they arrive here. We should have eyes on them to be ready and to see what they are doing about the deaths of their lieutenants and the destroyed catapults. But we need to rest. Let's head to that tent and taste some of the food. Not much drink though, we must remain vigilant. Perhaps only five or six mugs for me... " 

En route to the Sheercleft army's encampment, the Acharnost came across a kobold lingering in the fading dusk. As Brundir's great boar strode past, the kobold jumped to match its pace and address the rider, "No news, except the Acharnost coming back.  The peaks are quiet."

"Good," Brundir nodded, "Keep yer scouts in th' hills now more'n ever. Marcellus'll be hot comin' in now, an' we know he's one fer dark magic. Keep yer eyes open an' heads down."

After the dinner and the exchange of news, the Acharnost decided to get some well deserved rest. As usual, Thurston took the first watch. The Norscan noticed how Matteo walked, looking at his feet towards the bed. He knew there was something amiss with his friend, and that it should be addressed. But he decided to let it go for now. All were exhausted. He just hoped that it wasn't a decision he would regret later. 

He saw Val spend some time finishing her last ale near the fire, but he only nodded at her as he took position just outside the tent. 

The cold mountain air helped a little bit to clear his head. Since he woke up in the middle of the night he has gotten this headache, this puncturing pain in the back of his head. He started to walk, circling the tent, trying to clear it. He didn't make more than two circles around the tent in the same direction, and even turned to trace his steps in the middle of one, just not to be predictable. One doesn't walk with Jex and doesn't learn a thing or two to make infiltrators things a little bit more complicated. He has a bad feeling though, for he also knew that no measure was enough to stop determined foes. He reflected on this new concerns. He had kept watch before, with his friends and before. But now it was different. He always thought that the Norns had determined the fate of all long before they were born, and that they need to fulfill that fate and not let the opportunities that life brings to pass on, and to be worthy of join the halls of Valhalla one day, thus, he had no problem accepting death as a part of life. It came when it came, and nothing can be done against it. But now... he looked at the interior of the tent where the rest of the Acharnost were sleeping. He didn't fear for himself, he feared for them. He didn't want them to join the einherjer. No yet at least. He took a deep breath and resumed his watch. Perhaps part of his doubts came from his confrontation with Marcellus. Since he heard of him was craving for a chance to meet him face to face and settle it once and for all, but when it was going to happen, the weird witchcraft of that man put him to sleep. To sleep!! in the middle of a fight!! Thurston didn't know which feeling was greater inside of him. Anger, shame, or... fear. How he could battle that man if he was capable of such thing? He would be useless to his friends! He could not protect them if he couldn't fight!  

Perhaps that Marcellus hasn't wounded him, but he had inflicted a more insidious wound into the paladin's heart. For the first time in his life he had doubts. And that wasn't good for a captain in the eve of a battle. No one could know. 

The headache was getting worse, and Vark was already walking out to relieve him. With a few words between them. Thurston took a last mug of ale while donning off his armor and let Rikkazarik near his blanket. For a second he considered laying down with Val, take comfort in her warm arms, but he finally decided not to. If he was about to have a rough night he didn't want to awake her. He laid down and hoped that a few hours sleep will put his concerns at rest. And that bloodied headache. 

Thurston conscience dive into the blackness of the sleep. The warrior  saw glimpses of his friends faces as they called for him. He was riding a chariot, flying over an immense battlefield. Two giant goats pulled the chariot in the sky and Rikkazarik pour lighting and thunder toward the enemies below. The hordes from Muspelheimm were countless but the Gods were fighting them with courage and honor. The Ragnarok had come and he was fighting on it alongside the Aesir. 
Suddenly the hordes of demons and undead started crying, the great giants turned up and fell to their knells in despair. The Valkyries turned their winged mounts and the einherjer cried for help. A mantle of pure darkness were falling upon the battlefield. Thurston looked up and saw an indescribable horror coming from beyond the stars. An unspoken creature beyond the comprehension of mortals or gods alike approached, devouring everything on its wake. It encroached its claws around Yggdrassil, whitening and killing the tree. From the blackness that was its head, gargantuan tentacles slither away, searching for stars and planets and destroying them. 
Thurston was alone in the void. No chariot, no hammer, no friends. He was naked in the coldness when the beast turned his attention to him, reaching out towards him with one of its claws. 

-AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!! ¡¡¡¡KRAAA- KOMMM!!!!! - 

All happened at the same time. Thurston wasn't aware that he was awake and that he had called upon Rikkazarik. Or perhaps it was the hammer who responded to the distress of his owner. When he opened his eyes he had the mighty weapon on his hand. All the things that were nearby his blanket had been scattered around the tent. He was in one knee, cold sweat covering his body and an expression on his face that none of the Acharnost has seen before. 
Terror.

Thurston's screams awaken Aiden and he darts over to his friend in an instant. "Thurston, what happened?" Aiden says, terror on the paladin's face enough to shock even the calmest person. He begins to reach out with senses not of his body, but of his spirit, searching for the evil that had awakened Thurston. He could sense Didymus somewhere nearby, and Valaith's hammer, but nothing else. "Are you okay?" he asks.

Thurston looks up at the sound of Aiden's voice, but he doesn't seem to recognize his friend. For a moment it seems that the confused paladin is going to attack the other Norscan. But then Aiden's voice reaches his mind and Thurston blinks, looking to Aiden and then around him, noticing the things scattered around the floor and his own blanket, which had caugh a little fire due to the lighting he had unleashed on his night terror.

"I... I... I am sorry" he says not only to Aiden but to the rest of his friends that look at him. "I.. I had a nightmare. It was...so real...so...horrible... " he sits on the floor, still shaking from the adrenaline rush and the disturbing memories. "I.. I think I was dreaming the same thing when he put me on that magical slumber. " 

He looks outside of the tent and turns to the others, realizing that one of his fears could turn real. The morale of the men were the most important thing.

"I think... I think that someone needs to tell  the man that there is no problem, just... I don't know just a ritual to Thor to ensure us the victory or whatever... they should not know that I... not now " he looks really worried about that. 

Once that has been take care of he looks around to the worried faces and he tries to calm himself. He starts talking again after drinking a glass of water, his eyes fixed in one particular point of the ground. With a uncommon low voice for him, he tells them about his dream. The Ragnarok, the falling of the stars, the creature... everything. When he finish he ends. 

"I am sorry. I failed you. I failed you all. I should have been stronger and resist his witchcraft. I... I do not know if I will be able to fight him again. Not if he does that to me. I do not know how to fight that. For the first time in my life... I... I do not know... I just do not know " 

The great Norscan appears vulnerable for the first time, feeling a mix of shame, impotence and weakness. He let his head drop to his chest. 

"Witchcraft is witchcraft. You are not to blame, and this does not shame you," Aiden says. "Even Odur was tricked by Loki into wounding Baldr." He sighs, sitting on the ground next to Thurston's bedroll. "This is not Ragnarok...you may be right to be frightened. But bravery does not exist without fear." He lightly punches Thurston in the shoulder. "Take heart, friend. You will not have to fight him alone."

Vark is one of the first to be summoned by Thurston's terror, already being awake and not far from the tent's entrance. The news of this nightmare deeply troubles him; having stared into the aberrant visage of Marcellus's patron himself, he knows that what Thurston has seen holds credence. He tries to relax as Aiden comes in with Norscan wisdom, then adds in support of his friend, "And- and if he tries to do that again we'll be right there to wake you up! Better yet... I'll just counter his spell! Aiden is right, we just have to look out for each other. There's a bunch of us and only one of him."

Quote from FrandalSilvereyes >>

-AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!! ¡¡¡¡KRAAA- KOMMM!!!!! - 

All happened at the same time. Thurston wasn't aware that he was awake and that he had called upon Rikkazarik. Or perhaps it was the hammer who responded to the distress of his owner. When he opened his eyes he had the mighty weapon on his hand. All the things that were nearby his blanket had been scattered around the tent. He was in one knee, cold sweat covering his body and an expression on his face that none of the Acharnost has seen before. 
Terror.

 A complimentary shout came from across the tent after Thurston's violent dream. Well, a scream, a thud, some frantic thrashing, the sound of something made of wood and leather thrown and landing elsewhere, then swearing. A lot of swearing punctuated the ruckus. The dwarf scrambled around his cot with a naked blade in hand. While he grumbled over lost sleep, he fumbled through the darkness for his now-lost scabbard. He could see Aiden and Thurston over there - or at least as much as dwarves "see" anything in the dark on the hard ground - and he knew there was little to concern himself over. By the time Brundir had recovered his scabbard and sheathed Dumdrengi, he'd taken to listening to Thurston's dream and doubts. It was a poignant reminder of the days following the loss of his eye, when he'd seen his own visions and struggled against fevered nightmares.

"Thurston!" He called out to the darkness, "Don' worry 'bout Marcellus, cause ye won' be fightin' him. I will. Y'all took yer glory, so now's my turn. Im'ma put Dumdrengi where sun don' shine, then dance 'im 'round that field like my own puppet."

Thurston smirks when Aiden talks about Loki's trickeries. 

"It is not him what I fear. Although what gives him power startled even the Aesir. I fear... " he looks around to the other Acharnost "I fear not being able to protect you. To fight for you. " he thinks "You.. you all need to promise me that if he does that to me again.. you'll kick my ass to wake up... No one will tell that Thurston Barnatson was so lazy to be asleep while his friends kept all the fun and the glory!" 

It seems that he is starting to pull himself together. He knew that, but hearing his friends sayin out loud that he will not be alone fighting Marcellus gave him hope. 

"I would like to see his squid face when you do that Vark. Making his magic useless will make him put a face that will make him uglier than he already is.."

"We must kill him" he says almost abruptly. "Not taking him prisoner, not parley, not commitments for him to bring back to his Lord. We cannot let his poison spread in the world. It is worse than Hel and the fires of Jottunheim. It wants to devour everything, leaving no light or darkness, no life or death, only void. You all must promise me this. We will kill him, decapitate him, burn him and scatter his ashes to the four winds. " 

"When we are done with him," Aiden says, "There will be nothing left but memory."

Matteo looks on with concern from his corner if the tent, watching his friend suffer, he goes to speak some words of wisdom about violence taking its toll on them all but bites it back for concern that they might not be well received. He settles instead for giving Thurston a simple pat on the shoulder and a sad smile and allowing the others to speak instead.

When Val hears the shout, she jerks up from her bed, her lips already frosted from the ever present icy rage. "Thurston? What happened?"

"Only the worst nightmare I've ever had " he replies with the tentative of a smile "Just a reflection of what I saw under Marcellus spell. But I'm fine now. Sorry for have startled you all " he says to all of them. 

A few moments later, a Sheerscale kobold bursts into the tent. The little dragonman is clearly out of breath from running.

"Ix say three bigfolk coming up mountain," he rapidly pants. "Something strange... they move wrong."

Vark flashes a panicked expression at the rest of the Acharnost, but it quickly hardens to a furrowed brow of determination. “He’s striking back. We should move.” A flash of crimson lightning leaps between his hands and crystalizes into the runestone form of Pathmaker. 

"Ha!" Brundir bellows, "About damn time th' rat-bastard came calling! You," The dwarf levels a stern finger at the kobold, "Wake th' other commanders, then th' watch at our front. Tell'em all put a dozen spears in front an' twice that with bows behind'em. Acharnost's comin' an' they better be ready when we get there." The dwarf rushes to his bunk, throwing on as much armour as can be fastened with haste. Thurston and Aiden were his benchmark for readiness as they carried a similar load. The others travelled far lighter, so there was little hope of being ready before them. By the time his breastplate was affixed and his sword belt hung, he glanced about at the others, judging what would be priority for such a sudden, if unorthodox encounter.

Aiden dons his breastplate and pushes out of the tent, sword and shield in hand. The blade glows softly in the moonlight, illuminating his face as he concentrates, reaching out with divine magic to see what the creatures are.