Yagello cuts one of the surprised guards down before he can act, and Cervin's arrow and Arkady's acid take out another.
Nadya charges into the room as well, swinging her axe at the first guard she sees.
Nadya cuts quickly, and the guard shouts in surprise. The other guards stand, agape at the sudden intrusion.
Cervin winces at the shout, and steps back, nocking another arrow as he waits nervously for more guards to emerge from the doors to the south.
This is going to be bad. Erastil guide my bow. My arrow shall strike true.
"I'll try to hold off reinforcements, once that room is clear we need to all get inside to avoid being surrounded; also if that thing outside shows up a small doorway is to our advantage!"
Arkady waits for an opening, then darts into the room, rapier in hand.
With Cervin covering their flank, Yagello realizes he and Nadya need to secure this room as soon as possible. He strikes quickly to finish off the injured guard.
Nadya charges into the back of the room, swinging her pick as a distraction before slicing into one of the two remaining guards with her axe.
Nadya cuts the man down, and he screams alarmingly loudly. The final guard runs out into the hallway. Cervin is surprised that a guard comes from the other door, but his readied bow makes quick work of the guard.
The man hurt by Nadya stumbles towards the chest, unarmed, and Nadya takes another swing.
Unarmed and unarmored, the man is cut down by Nadya. There is a brief moment of silence before the sounds of other guards moving about the building can be heard in the next room.
Arkady takes advantage of the moment of respite to sheath his rapier and get out his crossbow.
After a bit of shuffling around, the south wing becomes quiet. Obviously, whatever is on the other side is listening to this side.
Nodding to the Varisian, Yagello follows a similar course of action. He moves back into the corridor alongside Cervin, stowing his blade and drawing his longbow. He cocks an arrow and trains it on the south wing, waiting for the enemy to make their move.
Cervin keeps his bow steady as he watches the door with Yagello.
"Nevinia," says Cervin quietly. "Move back."
Arkady waits, crossbow loaded and ready to fire.
Nevinia moves back into the north corridor, away from the doors. Nadya steps up, though, ready to charge into action.
The door opens, and one female guard briefly looks out. Yagello lets an arrow fly, and it hits the mark, but glances off her chain shirt. These guards are obviously ready for a fight. Yagello briefly sees another guard in the room, but both guards quickly move out of sight behind the wall, and the room is quiet again.
Nadya draws her axe in one hand, and her pick in another, anxious to fight but not foolhardy enough to go in alone.
"They wait for us," she says softly. "We must move before they get help."
There is no further movement through the doorway, through which bunk beds and modest wooden chests indicate another wing of the tower's barracks.
Yagello's eyes meet Nadya's, and he nods his head severely. "Aye, it's best to leave the bows and arrows for the experts. It truly is better this way, steel against steel, blood against blood..."
"Come Nadya, follow my lead. This ends NOW!"
He puts away the longbow and redraws his elven curve blade. With a final glance at his companions, he moves forward into the barracks.
Arkady waits with his crossbow, ready to take a clear shot.
Cervin follows behind Yagello, his bow nocked and ready.
Nadya follows closely behind Yagello, hoping to get an early hit in.
As Yagello crosses the threshold of the open doorway, the female guard cries out, swinging her longsword, but keeping the frame for cover. Behind her, along the wall, Yagello can see another guard, his sword ready. There is a small partition that prevents Yagello from seeing easily into the other room.
Yagello easily dodges the blow easily, ready to take another action.
Cervin plants his feet and snaps off two arrows in rapid succession, trying to take out the guard so Yagello can push in.
Cervin's first arrow deflects off the wall, but his second arrow hit Yagello's assailant, and she drops to the floor. Unable to wait, Nadya barges into the room, swinging at the first guard she sees.
"For my Thora!"
Nadya moves quickly, and the guard misses. Nadya quickly returns the favor, and cuts into the guard's side with her axe. The man shouts out in pain, but keeps her sword arm steady.
"More guards back here!" Nadya shouts to the rest as she glances further into the room.
Yagello looks with disdain at the fallen female guard but also breathes a sigh of relief he didn't have to engage her himself.
A shame she had to be injured, especially since she was only performing her duty... I must check on her once the room is cleared...
He pushes past her fallen body, engaging the next guard in the room.
Arkady allows Yagello and Nadya to move in. Knowing he is less effective in a crowded room, he watches the group's back, crossbow ready.
"Not for long! Erastil is with us friends, the hunters shall have their quarry!" cries Cervin as the first guard goes down. His bow is already nocked with another arrow.
Yagello steps into the room and cuts down the man. From his new vantage point, he can see what Nadya was speaking of. In the next room, three guards are clustered around the next door. Two men, and a woman wearing the captain's uniform he can recognize from the ones on sleds.
As they see Nadya and Yagello enter, the captain nods to the guard nearest the door, and he opens it, letting out a shout before heading out.
"Axrel! Komme oss til unnsetning og beseire disse inntrengere!"
The three guards exit through the door in turn, two of them running towards the fountain, while the woman turns and waits near the other side of the door.
Arkady sees the first guard come around the corner from the south, and fires.
At the same time, the immense fountain takes the shape of a person. An elemental forms from the water, and attacks the unsuspecting Nevinia.
Nevinia falls with a surprised shout.
Yagello hears Nevinia's shout, and his eyes almost pop out of his skull. "NO! NEVINIA!"
He rushes out of the room, ignoring the fleeing guards for a moment, and emerges just between Cervin and Arkady. His mouth goes agape at the living fountain, but his honed instincts quickly take over.
"Must protect Nevinia, must protect Nevinia, must protect Nevinia," he whispers to himself over and over again as he swings at the creature.
As the guards emerge, Arkady fires.
He then drops the crossbow and pulls out his rapier. He tries to dodge the guard's attack, then counters with his own.
He then backs up to give the others a clear lane.
Cervin's eyes go wide as the elemental arises.
Of course they have an elemental handy. Why wouldn't they?
Seeing Yagello charge to Nevinia's aid, Cervin focuses on just reducing the number of guards. His hand is a blur as arrow after arrow soars from his bow.
"Nadya! Swing around through the south and let Arkady get a flank!"
Arkady misses with his crossbow, and the guard deflects the Varisian's rapier as he cuts into Arkady's side with his blade. Cervin shoots an arrow into the man's side, and he yelps in pain, and growls in return.
Yagello gets back to the fountain, and his blade cuts through a not-quite-solid piece of the elemental, and the creature roars in anger.
Nadya give a quick not to Yagello, and charges into the hallway after the guards. The woman surprises Nadya with her speed, bringing her sword down hard.
Nadya shouts in pain, but channels her fury into her axe in retaliation.
The guard was ready for the assault through, and steps aside in the hallway, leaving Nadya only air to swipe at.
The guard engaged with Arkady continues to engage the Varisian.
The guard connects again, and Arkday feels splitting pain from the wound in his side. The other guard steps up and attacks Yagello.
Yagello barely has time to dodge the blow before the elemental tries to grab him.
Meanwhile, the captain uses her spiked shield and sword to drive back Nadya.
Nadya dodges the shield, but suffers another cut from the sword as the captain becomes more aggressive.
Nevinia gets up from the attack, and moves to a more guarded position where she can benefit those around her. She reaches out and touches Arkady, and her cool touch causes some of the pain to subside.
Feeling the enemy all around him now, Yagello's face contorts into a vicious snarl, and he begins swinging his blade furiously left to right.
Invigorated by Nevinia's healing, Arkady decides to be bold and try to get into a more favorable position.
He then stabs his rapier at the guard, hoping his sudden movement will confuse the man.
Overwhelmed by the heat of the battle, Yagello bats away at the creature and one of the guards, but his blade misses both.
Arkady dives between the two guards. Only the one closer to the fountain reacts in an awkward swing, but Arkady slides past and replies with a stab before the guard can recover.
Nadya positions herself closer to Arkady, but continues to swing at the captain, the two women clashing blades, shield and picks.
The captain deflects the pick with her shield, but Nadya's axe swinging from the other side catches her off guard, catching her leg.
"Is going well over there?" Nadya shouts over her shoulder to her companions between blows, smiling. "I done here soon if needing help!"
Very cautiously watching the elemental near him, Cervin fires at the guards again.
"Calm yourself Yagello! Be better than them!"
Cervin's arrows both hit, and the two guards in the room drop to the ground.
The elemental takes another swipe at Yagello, trying to pull him into the fountain.
Yagello feels rushing water surge around him, and he temporarily loses his orientation as the waves surround him.
As Yagello is enveloped by the watery creature, a pair of additional guards come rushing out of the eastern doors. One heads towards Cervin, and the other emerges between Arkady and Nadya. But both of these are easy to ignore when the main doors fly open, the troll from the courtyard squeezing through the doorway. The leg of a dog can be seen hanging from her tusk.
"Raskt!" the captain says, seeing reinforcements arrive. "Omgi inntrengerne! Kjemp i ære for Radosek!"
Nadya's smile fails and she lets out a brief exclamation before falling to the ground from the captain's blows.
Cervin's delight at the guards falling to his attacks is immediately gone as Yagello is dragged into the fountain, Nadya collapses, and the guards charge in from the eastern doors.
"Erastil!" he cries.
Heading Cervin's advice, Yagello tries to hone his anger and use it to his advantage. He plants his feet firmly on the ground and swings at the living fountain as the creature moves to envelop him.
Yagello swings but the water moves around him, and his blade hits only empty space. One of Cervin's arrows hits the elemental before it closes around Yagello, trying to pull him into the fountain.
Yagello feels the fountain's waters surge around him, and he struggles to keep his head above water. Summoning all of his remaining strength, he swats the creature's arms away and makes one final push to escape its clutches.
Arkady cries out as he sees Nadya fall and then Yagello get swallowed up by the elemental. Worried about becoming exposed himself, he flicks acid at the nearest guard and backs up toward the others.
Nevinia follows the wall, behind Yagello and Arkady, and reaches to touch Nadya on the ground.
Nadya, awake once more, tries to quickly arise to get back into the battle. The captain uses her shield to push Nadya back down.
Nadya dodges the blow and returns the favor, backing up against the wall next to Nevinia.
Nadya misses, still disoriented from her recent collapse.
The reinforcements arrive into the battle, and the room descends into chaos.
The two guards from the north approach and attack Cervin, while the one from the south, the captain and the troll move towards Arkady, Nevinia and Nadya, although the troll moves slowly, being constrained in the small hallways. Meanwhile, the elemental tries to submerge Yagello in the hot spring water.
Yagello easily fends off his attackers, but he finds his options with his bow are now limited now that he has two guards nearby. Arkady also parries a guard's blade with his rapier, even as he feels the troll-like creature's hot breath bearing down, and Nadya snarls loudly as she pushes back against the captain.
However, Yagello gets one breath of fresh air before a force of water pushes him beneath the steaming surface of the fountain.
Yagello holds his breath resolutely as the waters rush around him. A strange thought pops into his head as he tries to fend off fountain and rejoin his friends.
At least the water is not cold...
As the troll squeezes up next to him, Arkady tries to remember what his grandmother taught him about the beasts.
Meanwhile, he does his best to fight back against the guard.