Jarl Bjornsson was excited when he came over the hill and hearing the faint bustling of the large city in front of him. Immediately his eyes lit up as he started thinking of a way to get into the city.
After settling into the camp in the woods, the Berskaggr men were summoned into the tent of Jarl Svygard and shared a delicious meal. "So how are you men feeling about the siege of this city? It seems as though they do not know we are here." Svygard began talking to his guardsmen, asking them all sorts of questions, prodding their brains. This man was very smart, smarter than almost every man in these isles. After discussing tactics and sharing ale, Jon retired to his tent and looked out the open flap at the stars in the sky, as this was the first time the clouds had broken in 2 days. Jon wondered what Woden would do in this situation. He sat on the floor of his tent, facing the fire and began to meditate.
Jon's goal this time was to put himself in the position of his God. Jon called to Woden, even though nothing happened immediately. Jon focused a little harder and called to Woden again, and in his mind's eye he saw the Old God looking back at him. In his mind he saw himself approaching Woden and the Old God acknowledged his presence. "Ahh, calling to me from your own realm, eh? My, you are a competent one, what can I do for you, my champion?" Spoke the Old God.
"We have come up to a great city and I wanted to ask what you would do, if I may." Jon replied, eagerly awaiting his response.
"I see. Well I have seen this city besieged countless times and all have failed. The rich nobles of this city have spent fortunes on building great, thick walls around their city. Attacking the walls has never had success, as the oil and stones the men heave down and the rain of arrows has always stopped even men on ladders from scaling the walls. You can not break the gates either, for they are strong iron and are thick and incredibly heavy. Even though it is Winter, the food stores of the city would last until the first snow fall of the next Winter. No.. What I would do, Jon, is..."
Jon and the Old God discussed the strategy togther for a long while and by the end of the discussion Jon knew exactly what was going on in the Old Gods head. Jon was very impressed by his knowledge and memory.
"Jon, to reward you for your progress, victories and hardships, I would like to give to you the knowledge of another page of my Sacred Tome. Listen closely my child and take this knowledge."
As Woden finished his sentence, in Jon's mind's eye, he saw the Old God point a finger at him.
Jon's brain began to burn like when he was given the spell to summon Gungnir, Woden's spear of light. Jon sat there taking the pain, not moving or making any noise whatsoever. As his brain burned Jon watched as flashes of something went by in his mind, he felt a complex mix of emotions like happiness, fear and anxiety.
Almost 10 seconds after his brain began to burn the pain eased and the information slowed. Jon was able to see everything clearly and was surprised by this knowledge. This was an ancient knowledge of the time before men walked the earth. The knowledge given to him was an ancient technique to increase flow and capacity of ones personal energy, a way to cultivate the soul and build up massive amounts of spirit energy to use in spells. Jon was so excited he forgot to breathe until he began to feel lightheaded. Jon decided to practice this technique immediately as he sat on the floor, he imagined his body in his mind's eye.
Jon saw himself appear in his mind and began to make his entire body grow at the same rate. Jon made himself twice his normal size and began to visualize his energy as water. The water energy was only filling his giant body halfway, as Jon began to make the water rise, Jon also began to feel a strange feeling across his whole body. Jon's heartbeat began to increase and his temperature increased as sweat beaded on his brow. Jon kept making the water energy fill his body, as it reached the top of his head, Jon felt like he was sitting a little too close to a fire.
Jon needed to hold this only this image in his mind for as long as he could take it. Jon sat there for almost 5 minutes until he was soaked through with sweat and his whole body turned red.
As Jon was slowly standing up, he felt lightheaded and actually collapsed onto the floor of his tent. This feeling passed after a few seconds and Jon stood back up feeling strangely better than normal.
Jon went out of his tent and sat on a stump next to the fire. Grabbing a pitcher from the snow, Jon began to drink directly for it, letting the deliciously bitter ale quench his thirst. Before Jon knew it he had drank more than half of the pitcher of ale. Jon looked at the fire and began to imagine some meat cooking over the fire. Jon's stomach rumbled with hunger as he had not eaten since late last night.
Jon went to the center of his camp and looked into the large cast iron pot hanging over extremely hit coals. The extremely thick, green peas pottage was slowly bubbling, one large bubble coming through to the surface at a time. Jon took the wooden ladle from the hook beside the pot and stirred the pea soup. Jon hungrily grabbed a bowl and served himself. The pea soup had large chunks of soft, red meat. Jon greedily gobbled up the salty, sweet pea soup and saved the largest piece of meat for last.
Jon walked through the deep snow to get to the Jarl's tent and asked to see him. Jon explained the siege plans to the Jarl and his eyes went wide with excitement. "Jon! Please if you will excuse me you have given me a great idea! I need to be alone for a little while. Thank you my Squire, you will be rewarded for your intelligence!"