Of course, the high couldn’t last forever, a few minutes later the group started to panic, cut off from the others in a strange place without any idea of how to leave. Erika found that Bjorn had been in the group that appeared with her and the veteran ranger had helped her rally people. Bjorn led a few of the best rangers out into the chilly darkness chasing the Wargs.

Erika meanwhile had the whole group moving the caravans, the droogs had… gone? Died? Been disintegrated? She didn’t know which so she’d gotten old fashioned.

“PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT!” She howled stood beside the team of men dragging the caravan, after you got it wasn't too bad… or so it seemed, Erika wasn't pulling. She was resting to help regenerate her odium… because that’s how it works.

The carts that had already been formed into a crude wall were being reinforced, the less physical of the delvers (mainly archers) draping them in thick leather sheets studded with spare spears or arrows, like a hedgehog curled into a ball, they formed a ball of spikes with a safe centre. Ropes used for droogs were stretched out to form trip lines and binders, a handful of bear traps someone had brought were also thrown around the place before being collected again at Erika’s order since… you know… Bjorn was still out there and hadn't seen the placement!

After the first hour Erika was no longer scared or wired, just bone weary of dealing with stupid people. “Is this how Alvis feels all the damn time?” She muttered as she, once again, had to threaten to acid someone who had immediately started food hoarding, they weren’t even hungry yet! It had been less than half a day!

As the man scurried off, suitably terrified of the big scary vitki Erika stormed off and quickly found herself sitting with… the other leaders? Is this what being a leader is? It’s terrifying!

Luckily for her Bjorn was waiting and passed Erika a mug of hot sweet mead, then he waited and let her catch her breath as she nursed it. Only after she visibly began to relax did he begin, his smooth deep voice accentuated by the rhythmic tap tap his leather capped stump made as it drummed against his thigh.

“We aren’t in good shape,” he said plainly. “Honestly if it wasn't for you scarring everyone into line, I think most of the delvers we brought would have legged it, this place has them terrified and getting sucked in here didn’t help… on that subject.”

Bjorn turned to one of the other three people in the tight confines of Erika’s caravan, not someone Erika had spoken to before, one of the scouts, in fact the only one who’d survived when the expedition… flew here? He was small, drawn, pale skinned and flaxen haired with watery blue eyes, he reminded Erika of a rabbit that had just been given an enormous tax bill.

“Oh… what… yes… Ma’am! Um… lordship?”

Erika sighed loudly and shook her head. “Technically vitki is a title itself, lady Erika suffices.” She was sick of trying to put people at their ease, it wasn't helping her or them, they could be at her ease for once!

“Right... right… uh well I wasn't out in the Fimbulwinter itself o’ course what with the whole eating your soul stuff… but all us scouts had to take the furthest out caravans and stay alert… when we… when it all happened I was facing rimwards and I saw a… sort of like a reverse flash thing? Like lots of light in the distance sort of pulling in… even with the blizzard your ladyship I could see it clear as day, scared the lights out of me it did…. Then everything started to like, hum, but not like a person… and then we started flying!”

The others all turned to Erika who decided to do the most leader-y thing she could do, delay and prevaricate.

“How are we for supplies?” She asked one of the people leaning against her wall, an old scar covered copper ranked delver named Ranald Olgasson, despite looking like someone had given life to a great axe he was rarely shadowed by fewer than ten of his apprentices and a flock of junior delvers who had latched onto him. Erika didn’t understand the appeal but his popularity let him rally people quickly and made them unlikely to lie to him, as a result he’d been field promoted to quartermaster.

“Bad.” He growled, a few seconds later he seemed to realise that wasn't enough and mumbled a few more words. “Got a bit of trail food, got some potted water, not much of either, less arrows, even less thunder rounds.”

Erika nodded and, still unsure why she seemed to have been silently elected, decided to let Ranald deal with all the supply stuff from now on, its not like Erika knew how to gather food and scrap water off walls… was that wall water drinkable? Dismissing the idle speculation Erika turned to the last person in the impromptu council and one she had, thankfully, met before Solvor Sigsdottir, a Silvermane employee under Alvis, her spear still had warg blood on it and her eyes looked haunted but her posture was straight and her words were strong, if sometimes unintelligible.

“My people have catalysed several dozen injuries amongst our various personal, fermenting-ly there have been no deceased so far. Our personnel are also on guard around the wagons in case of intrusion and I have several reintroducing the wagons walls with extra armour. However, my lookouts are unstable to trace the path of the Wargs and so their egress was unknowable.”

“I can help with that,” cut in Bjorn giving Solvor a winning smile that caused the scarred woman to blush faintly. “My rangers went after them, hoped to get a few more ears you know? But the motherless monsters move fast and this place… it’s so dark… anyway we lost them but they were heading vaguely trunkwards.”

“How can you tell from inside?” Asked Ranald, Erika had been wondering to.

Bjorn just grinned airily. “I am a bronze rank with the delver’s guild, I can afford a realm-marker. Checked the needle just before I came back for this.”

The group nodded and Erika tried not to yawn, she was tired, overworked, over stressed and for some reason everyone was deferring to her, she was barely out of childhood! Bjorn had 3 kids! Why did she have to deal with all this!

“I say we hold up here and layer the defences,” rumbled Ranald. “Traps ‘n’ barricades and more armour on the wagons, sleep in shifts with plenty o’ watchmen, the rest of the expedition must be lookin’ for us, right? We should just wait for ‘em to find us.”

“What if they got split up to?” Asked Bjorn with a frown. “This isn't half the expedition you know, barely a quarter of it, what if it’s been split up four times?”

“They got two silvers,” Ranald said dismissively. “Don’t matter none how much they got split, two silvers can take a city right?”

“Alvis himself said that wasn't all that was necessity.” Solvor muttered, her voice slightly choked before she continued with a gimlet glare. “Bedsides what if they take a significant momentum to reach us? We would starve before they appear!”

“She makes a good point,” said Bjorn with a shrug. “But so, does Ranald, it’s a mess out there you know? Dark, cold, unknown territory with confirmed monsters in it, wargs look silly but they can still bite through bone.”

Erika realised that, physically or not, the entire room was turning towards her. Someone needed to make a decision and that was apparently now her, damn it all to Helheim.