Tevyn follows a short distance back, his bow nocked and ready, keeping an eye wary toward places where a sniper might be looking to pick them off from above.
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Tevyn curtly nods. "Then let's be about our business. The outbuildings first." He keeps his bow out and an arrow nocked in place and begins making his way to the stable the spider had come from.
Tevyn moves forward to help with putting down the unconscious Corbies. Once he is done, he wipes the blade of his longsword clean before returning it to the scabbard. "It seems likely that the strange man retreated rather than face us. I'd prefer to press on while we can. I'm still operating under the assumption that Ameiko's time is limited." He looks to the rest of his companions. "Are there many injuries?"
Tevyn repositions himself in a place where Melon won't be in his way and keeps up the attack.
Though he was growing a little concerned at Melon's precarious position, with four of the creatures fighting against her, Tevyn takes a step back before firing directly at the corbie he'd last shot. "How are you doing, Melon?"
Tevyn doesn't bother himself with the red-skinned man for the moment. Instead he turns to the Corbie in the doorway before him, raising his bow and loosing another arrow.
"Could we perhaps resist the urge to mock the strange red-skinned man until we're ready to fight him?" Tevyn asks with a growl as he steps away from the Corbie and fires another arrow.
Tevyn calmly takes a step back, and fires an arrow into the nearest Corbie's face.
"He seems more a madman than a wizard," Tevyn remarks as he lines up another shot and fires.
He makes a disgusted sound at the poor aim so close up. Tevyn silently rebukes himself for talking in combat.
Tevyn, who'd been uncertain that rushing for the front doors was such a bright idea, nevertheless snaps his bow up and fires at one of the corbies.
"We finish our task," Tevyn says, his expression grave. "If they continue to fight us, we'll kill them. We don't want to involve the caravan in this. Remember, Ameiko is in no position to defend herself."
With a slight smile of pleasure at the way the catapult fails their attackers Tevyn takes a single shot as they flee.
"Corinna's right. We must stay and finish this now. I can shoot at the corbies manning the catapult from here. Can anyone make it to the roof?"
Tevyn pauses, uncertain of the best choice. He had little more desire to be in a building under attack by a catapult than out in the open but it would not be easy to get a clear shot at his attackers from out here either. Quickly scanning the guardhouse, he spies a reasonable place to attack from and moves into the tower toward the nearest murder hole, pulling an arrow free and readying it in the process.
Tevyn grits his teeth as their luck turns against them. "Desna, a little help, please." He takes a deep breath and holds it as he lifts his readied bow, studies the target and releases.
Frustrated at his inability to hit his target, and concerned for Melon, Tevyn grits his teeth and makes another shot, offering a silent prayer to any god that might be listening.
Gratified to see that the battle had turned firmly to their favor, Tevyn returns his attention to the spider-humanoid creature. He concentrates, aims, and fires another arrow, careful not to hit Melon as she does her strange dance around the creature. Unfortunately, the woman's unusual motions prove distracting and his aim is off.
Seeing the effort Melon is making to take out the spider, Tevyn steps to the side so that he can get a clear shot and fires on the spider.
Tevyn turns to the spider-like humanoid creature and shoots an arrow at it.
"It's like I said," Tevyn says as he struggles against the thick webbing, "Corbies can be especially tough to kill! Just keep hitting it!" Relying on the effects of the grease that magically coated him, he twists in the web in an effort to get free.
Successful, he slips out from the web's sticky tangle and steps away, carefully clutching his bow.
"Not yet," Tevyn grunts to Corinna's request for withdrawing. "You're doing fine." Pleased to see that Melon is keeping her protected, he turns his attention to one of the Corbies in the doorway and fires point blank at it.
He then takes a step back to give himself a little more room.
Tevyn takes a step back and swivels to aim at the Corbie confronting Corinna, smoothly firing an arrow. The creature's tumble to the ground protects it, however, and he misses.
Corinna nearly jumps at the rattle of the locked door; she looks longingly at the door of her fallback tower but judges the distance too far to cover if the noise attracted any attention and emphatically doesn't want to get caught all by herself in the open. "Should we retreat?" she hisses to Tevyn hopefully. "At this point, perhaps whoever is behind the door may come to us. If we're ready, we can still surprise them by our numbers. Hold for a moment longer."
Tevyn bites his tongue to keep from making any noise as he scans the surroundings. So far, no targets were in sight but that was likely to change very quickly. He forces himself to remain calm and wait for a target.
Satisfied with their preparations, Sarien checks the line of his bowstring with his thumb as he glances around one last time. Then he turns to Melon and nods. "Let's go."
"Corinna, can you keep an eye out for anyone approaching from behind while we move in? Just a word of warning and I can shoot." He turns himself to the side so that he can get easily watch the nearby wall as well as see within the doorway.
Despite feeling doubtful that everyone will be able to get inside in time to act, Tevyn gives a short nod. He lightly slips an arrow in place so he'll be ready to draw and release on an instant.
Tevyn nods with approval at Corinna's words. "Yes. I'd have a good position to fire on any thing threatening us without exposing myself too greatly."
Tevyn nods slowly at Malan's thoughts. "It may well be that they were still dealing with their supplies when an attack had begun. I doubt there's any way to know the truth here, but perhaps a journal or log remains intact somewhere about the keep." He turns away from the barrels. "Clearing the entrance sounds a rational plan. Let's get to it."
Tevyn nods agreement with Corinna. "It can't hurt. With luck, there'll be something of use."
Tevyn just shakes his head in bewilderment and shrugs, concentrating on the targets below him.
Tevyn moves up to where he can get a clear shot of one of the Ogrekin and prepares to fire if one acts against his companions. Readied Action:
Tevyn takes a closer look down into the opening and grimaces. "Ogrekin. More human blood than ogre, is my guess. I doubt they'll kill each other...more likely they just like to bloody each other up."
Tevyn looks to Corinna and Gilfroy, nodding to show that they should go first. He keeps his bow ready to fire from above if trouble comes.
"I'd always imagined the corbies to be somewhat intelligent but how far that goes, I'm unsure. It does seem strange that they haven't investigated. Unless they did look and weren't interested in what they found."
Tevyn readies his bow and nods to indicate he's prepared to proceed.
Tevyn grabs the rope that Melon drops down, checks to see if it's reasonably secure and then climbs carefully up, dropping down on the other side and quickly scanning the area for trouble.
Satisfied and slightly surprised to see the plan work, Tevyn hurries toward the wall. "Want a boost, Melon?" He whispers as he links his hands together and bends down so he can help her up.
"I can certainly have an arrow ready for him. Hopefully they'll not be as alert as the ones in front here are. It sounds like a fine plan." Tevyn inclines his head in respect to Gilfroy.
"Scaling the walls, particularly in back, may be a good idea. But I do not have rope or hook."
Tevyn crouches down behind the trees again. "We saw no other point of entry but the sentries are not keeping a close watch. I counted three corbies and it's obvious they have no idea that we're here. At least one of them was half asleep. The back side appears to be unwatched but again, no source of entry. I wish I could be certain a single shot would slay them. I've no doubt I could catch them by surprise but they'd surely call the alarm immediately after.
Tevyn shrugs. "I don't know if it'd be locked or not. Corbies are probably smart enough to think of that, but they might also be confident enough not to bother." "If you can get it open, that'd be a nice start. Otherwise I'd suggest that a few of us who can move quietly enough make a circle of the castle to see what we can. Perhaps we can start by going to the left and move around from there.
"I was thinking the same, Malan," Tevyn whispers back. "But it looks to be in better condition than I'd thought. If we had a better idea of just how many are in there we could try Corinna's idea but if it turns out that there are a lot of them on guard that could backfire on us. Maybe we should try to scout it out a little and see if there's another entrance."
Peering at the castle walls between the trees, Tevyn scratches at his beard as he thinks. "If one of them is out keeping watch we can expect others to be too. Getting in without raising an alarm could be tricky."
"I don't believe that time is on Ameiko's side," Tevyn states plainly. "And while we're trying to use unfamiliar ground to set up an ambush on creatures whose movements we have no knowledge of, Ameiko and the rest of the caravan are exposed. Furthermore, we told them that we'd be coming back by nightfall." He shakes his head. "An ambush can only be successful if you know where the enemy is coming from and in what numbers. We have no information except that they might be somewhere out there and we have no way of knowing how reliable the source of that information is. And given that we have no certain knowledge of how stable Ameiko's condition is, I think we should act quickly."
Tevyn shrugs. "No one can know what'll happen until we try. Let's see if we can reach the castle. Be ready for human-like, wingless birds to leap out at you." He holds his bow with an arrow nocked, keeping a wary eye as he makes his way back toward where they believe the castle to believe.
Tevyn looks regretfully after the departing lyrakien. "I wish we could have asked her the best way to get to the castle." "Well," he says in response to Corinna's question, "I don't know of immunities along those lines. Only that after suffering wounds that would knock most creatures unconscious, they're able to keep fighting. They literally fight to the last. And they have an ability to leap upon their foe and bring all their attacks swiftly to bear, ripping and gouging. " |