Drogan nods, listening to Thanion's suggestion. "Aye, and the further we can get them out the door, the more time we will have to react before anyone else inside is alerted."
Braham holds his breath, and tries to keep as still as possible, which is difficult given his bulk...
Drogan isn't paying attention to his volume as he responds to the question just as Sturla hollers out. He unconsciously adopts the usual stance of just having to always speak over Sturla, from a history of needing to in order to ever get a word in edgewise. He catches himself too late, when he realizes he was yelling alongside the loud man. The surprising volume right next to him causes Braham to jump a little given they were supposed to be quiet.
There is the sound of a flurry of activity within, a lot of movement past the windows as a person can be seen peering out of each of the eastern windows from the cover of the corner. A figure can be seen silhouetted by the light in the northernmost upstairs window, as a muted light can be seen from the darkened room beneath it.
It seems that the lodge has been made aware, and are making preparations for uninvited guests.
Aavelixia gets her bow out and prepares herself to shoot at first enemy that attacks. Her eyes scan the cabin and the nearby woods for anything suspicious. She communicates what she sees to the rest of the group that is near her in a low voice. Hopefully everyone heard.
Aavelixia's voice will probably not carry all the way to where Sia is located.
As she sees some movement by the windows she gets ready for a possible confrontation.
With the increased hustle and bustle within the lodge, Aavelixia is able to make out more details. In addition to the man at each of the windows beside the door facing out, she can see maybe two or three more moving around within the lodge behind them. The darkened downstairs is still tough to make out, but in the dim glow, there are more signs of activity. Also, the upstairs window still contains the figure looking out, but now a step or two back and not directly in front of it.
Sia peers around the corner of the window into the dark room, before turning back to try and pantomime what she sees in order to tell the others. She holds up four fingers, then places her palms together, puts it against her cheek and tilts her head with her eyes closed. Then she mimics rubbing her eyes and yawning.
It's tough to tell just how many of you were spotted, though it is safe to assume that Drogan got their attention. Either way, it looks like they are making no move to exit, and instead look like they are preparing to hold their ground within the warmth and safety of the lodge.
. She holds up four fingers, then places her palms together, puts it against her cheek and tilts her head with her eyes closed. Then she mimics rubbing her eyes and yawning.
Braham stares intently at Sia's movements, but his brain needs a more than average processing time before he understands what she means.
He tries to make his way towards her as quietly and as unseen as he can...
Thanion looks quizzically at Sia's signal. "There are four asleep? How could any of them be asleep with all that noise?" He thinks a bit more when an idea strikes. "She must mean four of them just woke up which means they are unprepared."
At that moment Thanion sees Braham starting to move up. "Braham must have come to the same conclusion. We should strike now." With that thought, Thanion begins to move up with the large man.
Aavelixia drops her backpack as soon as she can, covers it with snow. She stealth towards Sia. "Suzy, follow" As she leaves the safety of the tree lines she looks at her companions one last time before being completely expose. With a worrisome face, she heads out hoping that she is stealthy enough to not be noticed.
Cursing his clumsiness, Drogan trudges out of the trees, pulling his axe as he moves toward the back door of the lodge. He glances briefly at Sia, still crouched in the corner beside the door, then focuses his attention on the door, ready for whoever comes out.
As Drogon strides out of the bushes where he made himself heard, the activity within continues, but the door has yet to open. There's muffled voices from within.
It's tough to tell how many of you have been seen at this point, but it seems clear that the element of surprise may be lost.
Drogan glances over at Braham as he picks up the voices behind the door. "They know we are coming. We might be putting these axes of ours to good use, because it sounds like they are going to brace the door."
Braham nods, and with a determined look in his eyes, he continues to trudge through the snow towards the door, ready to put his axe in it.
Thanion moves up with the others "What are we getting into here?" he muses to himself, his estoc held ready
Drogan glances at Braham, then over his shoulder at Thanion. Nodding, he moves up and across the porch, giving room for Braham to get beside him before he starts swinging at the door.
Aavelixia doesn't have much time to get behind some cover, she crosses the pathway to meet Sia by the corner. Hearing that the door will be braced,she decides daze one of the enemy. Perhaps this may slow them down a bit.
As she draws nearer, Aavelixia's elven sight allows her to see into the dimly lit interior of the room beside Sia. Two men sit huddled on their beds, looking like it's already a really rough morning, but she is unable to target them with her spells without a clear path to her targets.
Throwing caution to the wind, Braham runs to the door as quickly as he can, and then starts throwing his entire bulk at the frame.
"Drogan, give me hand, will you?", he grunts.
As Braham and Drogan aim to break the door down, Thanion stands ready to attack whatever is beyond.
Drogan nods and braces to throw his compact bulk against the door with Braham.
Braham throws his entire bulk at the door, smacking into it with an incredible amount of force. Though he can feel the door itself nearly give way, the object or body barring it from the other side is just enough to hold it from opening. The lodge comes truly alive as the sound of the ramming of the door resounds through the entire front room. Aavelixia can see the two men she saw sitting in their beds, as they rise and collect their weapons. Sturla, though, continues to try and head for the side of the building unseen.
"Right, let's try this one more time!. He takes a few steps back, lets out a mighty roar and then starts barrelling to the door.
Aavelixia looks at her bow, she seems to second guess herself for a moment. Upon hearing the noise being made by her companions, she grips her bow tight and is ready for any enemy. She puts her back towards the corner of the cabin and scans the area to the North, East and South.
Seeing subtlety is completely lost at this point, Thanion calls out, "It's cold and no one really wants to be here. Just let the lady go and we can all be on our way."
Thanion calls out to the men inside, offering a peaceful exchange of taking the Lady Malassene off their hands for nothing in return. He shouldn't be surprised to hear a muffled call back through the door, "F!%+ off! We have the advantage! Go freeze your balls off somewhere else!"
Aavelixia moves to but her back against the edge of the building, allowing for a line of sight with her bow to any direction the enemy may come from. Looking in through the window, she sees another person in the darkened room standing and gathering their equipment. Suzy naturally follows to be beside her.
Braham once more angles into the door waiting to time his strike in conjunction with Drogan for maximum effect. He can tell, though, that it will take pretty much a maximum effort between the two of them to get this door open, but it does seem possible.
Sia taps Aavelixia on the arm to get her attention. Once she has it, she points to herself, walks two fingers toward Sturla, then pointing toward the southern corner of the building. Lastly, she mimics turning a doorknob.
Drogan braces, throwing his weight at the door with Braham.
The two men together slamming into the door do not seem to be getting the thing open. The thing is definitely made of sterner stuff, and the enemy can be heard and in some instances seen preparing on the other side.
Sturla follows suit with Sia, thinking the distraction of the big guys up front might allow them to get in unnoticed on some other side.
"This isn't working," Braham grunts. "Time for something else!".
He lifts his greataxe, and with a mighty roar lets it descend on the door.
If anything, the noise will be a suitable diversion while the others try to sneak into the building.
Aavelixia looks at Suzy and points towards the roof "Up, we need to get up there"
Aavelixia will try to get help from Suzy as she tries to climb up to the roof.
Suzy tries to climb to the roof.
Unsure what to do until the door is open, Thanion continues the dialog. "You have the advantage now, but the door won't hold forever. Whatever you are being paid can't be enough to risk your lives over"
Thanion tries once more to offer reason to the men within as the group assaults the lodge. The call comes back out again, in return as before, "So what if the door breaks? We easily outnumber you guys three to one, you stupid t#$@!"
Aavelixia has a different plan in mind and, calling Suzy to follow, moves into the corner of the lodge. The harvested unshaped stones that make up the base of the lodge, and the large timbers used to form the walls, make for fairly good handholds. Despite the snowy weather making the wall wet and slick, the advantage of being able to press against the perpendicular walls gives her enough to slowly make her way upward.
The call to Suzy is nearly unnecessary. As Aavelixia begins her ascent, Suzy casually and easily clings to multiple surfaces as she snakes her way slitheringly upward. The ivy-like nature of her form makes her a very proficient climber, and she reaches the roof before Aavelixia even gets close to halfway up.
Sia continues to use the distraction of the louder three members to keep making her way quickly and quietly around the lodge to the other door she saw earlier.
Braham, though, decides to switch his methods. Forgoing the attempt to bust the door in with his body, he switches to destroying the barrier entirely with his very large axe; one that is great for chopping into sturdy wood.
Drogan nods, glancing at Braham, and brings his axe up, swinging it at the door.
Aavelixia will continue to try to climb the the cabin.
Even though Aavelixia made it up a decent bit, she only got a few more steps up on the point where the wall turns to just logs before her feet slip and dump her right back down onto the ground. Lucky for her, she wasn't high enough to suffer any injury from the fall, and only slipped back down onto her feet.
Suzy isn't up top for long, as her reckless presence on the roof disrupts the snow atop it. A chunk shifts as she looks back over to where Aavelixia fell. Though she would have likely climbed down after her anyways, the fall is much quicker.
Drogan follows up Braham's swing like they are practiced loggers, hacking into the wood just as soon as the previous withdraws their axe from it. The force of Drogan's blow so soon after Braham's is more than the wood can handle, and the doors burst open along the space between them where the bar held.
As the doors swing inward with the mighty blow, Braham and Drogan are met with the sight of the interior of the lodge. They don't get much time to take in the details, as the hail of arrows flying at them take the precedence of their attentions. Despite the volley of shots, not a single one actually hits its mark. The closest they get, is that one each glances off both Braham and Drogan's armors.
There were at least two more at the edges of the room that didn't look like they had been ready, and a Half-orc woman standing defensively around the corner of the roaring fireplace that provides a welcome heat and light that dominating the center of the room. A large table and two benches run the length of this hall, and a twenty-foot-high vaulted ceiling rises into the rafters overhead. Lastly, a flight of stairs ascends to a wooden balcony overlooking the room.
The man just inside the doorway to the south under the balcony steps from the room and fires a hasty shot at Braham. As the one standing in between you guys and the half-orc finally gets his bearings and fires his bow after the others. But much like the previous hail of arrows, this one does not get close to its mark.
Hearing all the commotion kick off, Sturla looks back and forth between Sia and the way they had come from, before deciding to forgo secrecy for the sake of a lively battle chant that sets the blood flowing and the heart racing.
The Half-orc just stays huddled cautiously by the fireplace, gripping her crossbow nervously.
Braham is slightly taken aback by the missing arrows and by the number of opponents, but then he steels himself, steps up to the bandit in front of him, and starts hacking away!
Drogan curses, feeling multiple arrows fly past him through the doorway. Letting out a loud roar, he steps forward, closing the gap between himself and the bandits.
Garafi startled by the commotion and hopeful for rescue looks around for the cellar for anyway to see or hear exactly what is going on.
With the door open, Thanion quickly moves into the room attempting to find purchase on a set of small crates. He focuses his resolve and strikes out at his foe.
With the opening the group was waiting for finally available, Thanion darts in with elven-like speed and grace. Standing atop a large wooden crate, he jabs his rather unique spear into the belly of the man right before him. The puncture elicits a heavy grunt of pain from the man.