A knock at the door

roland looked at the remains of the swrod and the drawings that cassandre had made with the translation looked something like this:

XXXXXXAPCXXXX

he then showed it to everyone around.

- Thank you my friend, said the baron to Roland.

- I am sorry to bothered you with that Sir Cynan but, what the name of your son again ?

cynan told xathor :

" as is customary with us from the northern culture we only give names to children when they have survived their first birthday since he was taken before he was never named here. maybe he has a name where he is now but none know of it here."

"However, " cynan says eyeing the runes "AP in the tounge of the hill folk means 'his father was' Cynan ap Rhys is Cynan whose father was Rhys.... if in the shadpw realm my son learned of our traditions he might have called himself 'ap Cynan'..."

Cynan forces himself to look again at the old men. "They said that time worked differently in the shadow realm... that he was a grown man there after only a few short years passed here, and an accomplished rebel against teh lord of the realm of shadow. In the time that has passed since he could have grown to be an old man.... Could it be that he found a way to return to our realm?"

darius

ragnar goes forth to find everything flamable around.

he returns without much. the lions have a few torches with them most of the oil has been used for guibourgs giant torch though a little remains. there is a few capes and flammable object the lions carry with them but not much. everything flammable inside the circle of light created by the torches has already burnt to ashes and outside the circles there seems to be only a few twigs and leaves that are now covered in fresh snow.

the pile of things for the pyre is pretty small...

Roland listened intently to what Cynan was saying.
"If you are right, Sir Cynan, then we must do everything we can to wake him for he must hold the key to defeating or at least resisting the demonic influences at work here...."

"Good job Ragnar, light this shit up oldschool. In the meantime, I'll head quickly into the stone circle and make sure that Sir Guibourg hasn't encountered anything too troublesome."

Taking a quick look around too survey the situation before leaving Bear shouts before running off "Sir Darius, I'll be back! I'm going to check on Guibourg, he's been gone too long!"

Leaving the safety of the Lion formation and heading into the dark unknown unsettled Bear. Regardless of the fact that he was both quite experienced, and a battle hardened slayer of fell beasts and men alike, the idea of fighting something that he cannot see deeply disturbed his normally unshakable confidence. Concern for his friend trampling down this bit of exposed imperfection, Bear sprinted into the darkness.

sir bear went in search of guibourg. he folowed him into the chapel. guibourg was looking around trying to figure out the place.

once he reached guibourg he saw some movement coming from behind him. he turned just in time to see his own shadow, cast from guibourg s torche, shift and claw at him. he instinctivly swung his sword but hit nothing but air. his right side suddently flared in terrible pain and he collapsed on the ground, a pool of his own blood forming around him.

guibourg reacts quickly and picks him up from the floor and runs back to the lions. darius comes to his side and starts healing him.

darius then says:

"i can save him but i m soon gonna be too tired if this keep going at this pace."

fresh energy and life flows through bear his gaping wound across his right flank stiches itself but he still feels light headed from the blood loss. ragnar lights up the fire and soon the lions have a fire going.

then from the darkness

" see cowards always win out in the end brother"

" yes brother i want some more of that foolish brave ones blood. sweet so sweet. like that little bonfire is gonna stop us." then more laughter reverberates through the crevice.

.

Not quite healed yet, and desperately clinging to consciousness, Bear struggles to lift a blood soaked hand and grab Darius by the tunic. "Darius..." he whispers with blood gurgling out of his mouth "They're manipulating the shadows...Our shadows...and attacking through them...."

Feeling Darius' healing magic flow through him and imbue him with strength anew, Bear says more firmly "When I turned to strike it, my sword passed right through!" Hoping the implications of this statement were enough for Darius to understand what he was trying to say, Bear pooled all of his mental faculties to focus through the dizziness of near fatal blood loss, and attempted to stand.

Getting halfway up and falling down again hard, Bear admits shakily "Guys, I need to stay down for a bit. Give me one minute and I'll be back up and ready to go." One minute. An eternity on the battle field. Provided that one minute is enough for him to shake off a deadly injury and return to battle, even with the aid of magical healing. Bear closed his eyes, and focused inward, searching for the power to rise again.

the fire burns brightly for a few minutes and banishes the shadows away bear cimes back to his senses thoigh slightly wobly on his feet each minute that passes the fires gets smaller and the laughter closer.

Cynan kneels and beckons for Roland to join him "We should pray for his recovery then. For my part, I will beseech the old gods and the new"

Cynan closes his eyes and prays fiercely thinking that there is little else to do.. after a moment Cynan's eyes open "Perhaps he would wake if we said his name?"

- Maybe he have some clues on him. I don't know tattoo, chain, medaillon ?

xathor goes through the old mans possesions. he finds some tatered clothes, a some blood stained papers amongs them some sort map all inscribes with the same runes as on the sword, a crystal that has a very soft glow and a few scraps of food of unknown origin.

``We have to bring the fire to the chapel! Perhaps there is an artefact of some sort that allows these shadows to be. What say you, *next knight to take command*?``

ragnar

the knights not having a better idea agreed to ragnars plan it beat standing out in the open getting pletted by snow.

they load the fire on a shield thus making a makeshift brazier and step inside the chapel. the light engulf the small room. they then search the chapel for anysort of artefact but find nothing the chapel ia pretty barren...

Ragnar's fiery idea inspired Bear. It led him to explain himself further before making his way back to the protective circle formed by the Lions and taking his place beside Ragnar and Sir Guibourg. We can fight them with the light, he though to himself, if only there was a way to weaponize it...

All healed up and finally feeling like himself again, Bear look to his exhausted Lieutenant before running off and says "Sir Darius, I don't have much time to explain, but are you able to channel the remainder of your magical powers into a weapon? Like a sword or spear? I believe that these beings are immune to our mundane weapons, and the key to their defeat lies in fighting their magic with our own."

Guibourg has a sudden flash of brilliance :
"If our own shadows are used against us, we should sheath our weapons, therefore disarming our enemies. Swords and spears have no effect on them anyway."
He throws his hallberd to the ground.

chapel

darius says:

"i can do it but it s going to be it so we have only one chance we have to make it count.we need a plan"

brotor turns to guibourg and points to his damaged leg armors and says

"yo guibourg wake up those aren t swords slashes."

"Guibourg, those monsters have weapons of their own. Their claws are as sharp as steel. Do not let your guard down."

On the verge of collapsing, Sir Darius musters his vital strength into his spear. His head starts pounding, his vision blurs, but he mustn't falter. He puts one knee to the ground, his legs can no longer hold his weight. Looking at Ragnar by his side, he says

"My brother, this spear... holds all power I could muster. Please... STRIKE TRUE!"

Exhaustion took its toll on the lieutnant. He fainted.

Seeing the powerful spear in the hands of one who will strike his enemies  down with extreme prejudice Bear cries "NOW GO RAGNAR! DESTROY THESE FELL MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Sire Auguste ayant reprit son calme retourne dans la bibliothèque du chateau pour y étudier rapidement les livres traitant d'iconographies runiques païennes et par le fait meme trouver aussi un moyen de raviver la Lumiere afin de conjurer les sorts qu'ils peuvent produire.

The power of the Holy spear coursed through Ragnar's entire body, mind and soul. He could hear the snow falling, the crackle of the brazier, the laughter of his ennemies...

''you motherfuckers don't know where you are! YOU'RE IN THE DANGER ZONE!''

He struck at the cackling fiends with all his might

ragnar

ragnar took the spear who was pulsing with energy. he stepped outside the chapel and into darkness. he streched out his senses looking at every shadow knowing they could turn deadly any moment.

the other lions looked at him from the relative safety of the fire hoping for his success. the all noticed a shadow creeping to ragnar from the left stopping whenever he looked that way. it was almost upon him and he still haden t notice it...

Yriel ?

Xathor intrigué par la pierre, la montra aux autres, pour essayer deviner son utilité. Il s'agit peu-être d'un moyen de décoder le parchemin pensa t,il en essayant de la mettre à proximité du papier

- Auguste devrait revenir avec la lumière p-e que cela va faire réagir le crystal.

Xathor essaya avec l'aide de Cassandre, Roland et les autres de déchiffrer le dit parchemin.