Odd job gone wrong(Eridanus, Zenai)

by **Antar** on October 27th, 2011, 3:03 pm

53rd of Fall, 511av, (south woods) Just after noon...

'All for a petching free 10 gold mizas,' Noth thought to himself before snorting in displeasure as he considered his present set of circumstances. 'Note to self: when a merchant caravan asks some random people to help escort them just to the western hills before going ahead with his main guards on a journey: Don't take it.'

That was the only way Antar could describe the predicament he was in. The wagons had been circled, both figuratively and actually speaking, and the set of the three covered wagons bulk was the only thing between him and a very untimely demise. The treeline of the woods offered a faint hope of shelter, but it was about a hundred yards off the road, and one would have to cross a veritable killzone to get to it.

Then there was the fact that the merchant who hired the extra manpower lay bleeding with an arrow through his leg, and one of his son's was trying to hold the wound shut. Noth might go over to help the man when he could, but he had even bigger things to worry about. Aside from himself, only five temporary 'guards' were present, a few of them 'taggers' as they were called and he wouldn't have put it past any single one of them to have told the bandits the details about the caravna's departure. One of their number had made a run for it to the woods, only to be feathered by arrows.

'Petching idiot.'

This was a siege, there'd be no safety until they could break it enough to force their way through. Turning to look at the other guards... trying to keep in mind one of them might be teh turncoat Noth's eyes searched for anyone who might seem remotely competent. For the last few minutes, he had kept a vigil with his longbow, watching the surrounding hills where the bandits had to be hiding for any sign of movement. If they didn't find a means to break this soon, then the situation would just devolve further into disarray as the bandits picked them off one by one.

by **Eridanus** on October 27th, 2011, 3:15 pm

Eridanus whistled at the predicament he was in. He accepted what seemed to be a simple job offer. It was one that he was pretty used to, and in fact this time it was easier than previous escort missions, for the merchant only required escort till a mid-point where his main guards will take over for the bulk of the journey. This was a short-term and easy task, and one that the Ethaefal considered free gold. Well, the key word here is the past-tense. The task had turned from an easy one into a really difficult one. He tried not to downplay the situation, but 'difficult' seemed hardly an appropriate word to use here. 'Mortal danger' would be more appropriate. His Ethaefal personality appreciated the word-play, but his more down-to-earth Vantha form - who was in dominance here as Syna reigns - was focused on more important issues. Like staying alive, for example.

The Vantha was a close-ranged melee combatant, and he excelled in beating people senseless - more so the closer they get. Now they were getting picked off by arrows and god-knows-what other kind of projectiles being blasted from a safe range.

Now this is most definitely unfair.

Lacking the long-range capability to perform an effective counter-attack, he also ruled out charging them, after the last guard got turned into a human pincushion when he tried that tactic. Eri swore and rolled to the side, an arrow landing into the ground just where he was. He won't be able to keep dodging all day, and once the fatigue sets in he'd be sitting duck for the bandits.

One of the guards, who looked like the most experienced one of the lot, possessed a longbow and Eri looked at him questioningly. If they were able to coordinate a counter-attack with the survivors, this archer would be the key.

by **Zenai** on October 27th, 2011, 3:38 pm

Season of Fall, Day 53, 511 AV

I can do it on my own, Carsten. No worries about it. Zenai said confidently.
I think by now I should be able to do this on my own. Zenai thought.
So you don’t need to hold my hand on this. Zenai’s hands were cold.
By the time I’m done with this. I’m going to be the talk of the town. He predicted.
So you go off with whatever Ol’ Leg has given you and I’ll go off with mine.
Carsten simply nodded. Skeptical but she kept her hopes up for the Guppie.
Alright, Guppie; just don’t do anything stupid, you hear me? She warned.
I’ll be back before you for drinks! Zenai proclaimed before running off.
Those were his last words to Carsten and he’s going to die for it. Petch!

It was a dire situation and something he should have expected. He should have expected that even in the open, danger lies and waits. This is a situation where he was not equipped for. He was more used to the enclosed spaces of Sunberth’s narrow streets and alleys; he hasn’t been out of the city limits since he first took step onto Sunberth, engaging opponents in close quarter combat in confined spaces. He was a fool. Now, they’re out in the open, being bombarded and shot at by volley after volley of arrows. It was devious yet simple strategy. Their only option was to encircle the wagons and used them as a makeshift fort to shield them from the arrows.

This wasn’t the usual job Ol’ Leg would have given him. Zenai took it as a chance to be more self-reliant and independent. Ol’ Leg was skeptical at first but he let the Guppie do what he think is best for himself. He’s going to miss him and he felt guilty for falling in the line of duty before he could repay Ol’ Leg’s kindness and Carsten… There wasn’t a love affair but Zenai respects Carsten as a sort of mentor and a close friend of sorts. So many regrets are going through his head right now that he just want to scream and get it over with. No… That would be stupid and Ol’ leg doesn’t like stupidity. Zenai convinced himself that Ol’ Leg would get Zenai to pay his due somehow and Zenai wouldn’t want to see Ol’ Leg trying that. He has a responsibility to Ol’ leg as well as his mother in far off Wind Reach. He’s going to survive this and even triumph over it but he needs a plan…

There’s a few of them left; one of them is Eridanus, a nobody like him just trying to make a living in Sunberth. He also considers him a friend and one of the reasons he partake in this venture. Not much of us left but it has to do. But he has no-petching-thing to fight with. He can’t just charge out, not get fired with volleys of arrows, and slash the bandits to bits. No, that would be stupid. The smart thing would be to stay in cover and… Yeah, he got nothing. He needs a petching bow. At the thought of needing a bow, Zenai turn to the dead man besides him and he so happens to have a composite short bow. Well, that’s convenient.

Zenai grabbed the composite short bow and his arrows from the corpse. I hope I remember how to shoot. Getting his hands to feel the bow and arrow almost felt like nostalgia but he has no time for that, he needs to win this smartly, of course. He got into a proper shooting stance; still staying behind the wagons but crouching behind it so when he wants to shoot, it would be much easier than lying down and shooting. Standing up makes you more of a target. He took a cursory glance at the general of the arrows are firing from. He can make out that it is coming out of those hills; an advantageous firing position but he can’t seem to see any of them.

He look at Eridanus and shouted, “Eridanus, grab a bow. A sword can’t do much here.” He then looks at the others. “Anyone has an idea? Something that doesn’t involve us dying?” There’s the off-chance that one of them might have an idea. Desperation can be a good motivator but petch it all, this seems to be a lose-lose situation. Too many advantages for the bandits, not enough for Zenai and the rest to take a hold of. The main problem is that he can’t see the bandits as they might be firing from just behind the hill and out of sight. Zenai took a chance; remembering his training with the composite short bow, he fired an arrow just over the hill in the hopes he might hit something that would tell him more of the bandit’s position.

by **Antar** on October 27th, 2011, 4:03 pm

Noth sighed a moment taking a glance for the woods, and then back towards the others. Worse came to worse he could just outwait this assault, and just keep in cover until dusk fell. Then it would be a matter of making the attempt to sneak to the forest, break off and leave the rest ot their own devices. That was what his training was screaming at him to do.
It surely was the most tactical bet to keep himself alive.

The one thing he knew from being in sunberth: playing the hero got you dead faster then a plump turkey at a farm during a celebration.

It just wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Still, a small bit of him wondered at the other guards, and the injured merchant and sons. They were the survivors of the first skirmish of this little fiasco. They weren't liable to leave sunberth anytime soon, but perhaps they'd consider their survival worth something. Definitely a means to get a bonus or two. The bandits were the one with all the time in the world here. They could pick all of them off if they weren't careful, and noth just hoped they wouldn't set the wagons alight.

He honestly didn't think they would, since what bandit would want their hard earned take destroyed by fire?

The others seemed to be scrambling, a few of the injured merely sitting with dazed looks in their eyes, and only the five guards seemed to be keeping their heads about themselves.

But one could have been working for the bandits...

Who it was there was no way to tell yet, but the rogue wouldn't trust any of them more then he could throw them until he knew for sure. At least one guard had made an attempt to fire back into the hills... though Noth's ears strained he couldn't hear any form of sound marking that a person had been hit. It was a token gesture, but at least they were fighting back.

Sorta. The worse thing was that no one seemed to want to step up and take any form of lead to organize a defense. Petch! Fine, he'd do it. "Alright, these petching bandits have the advantage here for now. But we need to fortify this place a little better to shore up the weaknesses in the defense. If you can pull any barrels out of the wagons without getting shot: Do it. We'll be better off if we can use the thick canvas of one of the covered wagons to stretch over the wounded and start preparing ourselves for the siege. If we can mask our ability to be targeted they'll have to come at us in force and we can thin their numbers. So we have to get this done fast. Understood?"

Without waiting for another word, Noth raised an arm and slithered it into the back of a wagon to pull down a heavy crate. letting gravity tumble it to the ground into one of the small gaps between the wagons. Then he got another out, ducking slightly as an arrow thunked into the wagonside about three feet from his arm before moving to bring another one down to stack it upon the first.

It was a peculiar order to be sure, but it was one tinged with at least the semblance of experience in his voice. In such a times that people might freeze up, you had to make them move. Once they were moving physically, the mind would begin to follow. Staying in one place, not doing anything would just make one dead. Conversely, taking the time offered to bolster ones defenses got the blood pumping , the adrenaline surging, and yet would give a common man with any experience of danger time to think, and plan and move while doing something productive. Makeshift defenses weren't the best, but the thick planking of wood between you and your opponent could mean the difference between life and death...

by **Eridanus** on October 27th, 2011, 4:19 pm

Eridanus nodded at Zenai's suggestion. This was technically not his job, and he joined more as a freelancer, while his friend was more skilled in the ways of a guard. He looked around, searching for bow or some sort but could not find any. It was not a loss anyway, since he preferred to deal with combat matters up front. Still, bandits had no sense of honor, and they were interested in was to rape, kill, pillage and loot.

The archer outlined a battle plan, showing his experience in tactics. Now this was great, it was fortunate that someone here knew what to do. Without saying a word, he strode into a wagon, nimbly side-stepping an incoming arrow. At least this was where his natural evasive skills came into play. He had no idea he would be dodging projectiles, however.

Reaching into one of the wagons, he found a longbow and a quiver of arrows leaning against the outermost crate.

Now this is convenient.

This was probably an arms merchant, and it was ironic that he was unable to defend his convoy especially since he probably had caravans stock full of weapons.

Eridanus grasped the longbow and slung it behind him, using his attached long swords to keep it strapped, and mounted the quivers at his side where people usually sling their short swords. This will weigh him down a little, but it'll at least provide an opportunity for a counter attack. Grunting, he pushed the crate down until was slanting, gravity doing the rest. Kicking the crate forward, he yelled for one of the survivors to place it at a strategic location for fortify the area. He intended to set up a kind of assembly line of retrieving crates, moving them and placing them. It would help set up their defence much faster and the sooner he had a wall of wood blocking him from the arrows the happier he'd be.

by **Zenai** on October 27th, 2011, 4:29 pm

Shoring up defenses, not a bad idea considering they don’t have much other than themselves and the wagons with their cargo. They couldn’t well move the wagons themselves since the horses are dead. Good riddance to them. while another said What a waste… He still has a thing about horses, he guessed. Anyway, fortifying their defenses was the main concern right now which pretty much what stands between them and getting hit by an arrow in the crotch. The survivors took orders from an Ant or was it Antar? No... Oh! It was Anthony! Anthony! Yes, his name was Anthony. Weird and almost mismatched name for such a fellow. Zenai dismissed the thought. He needs to get to work. Crates were pulled down from the wagons. Tarps were forcefully torn off the wagon.

Zenai does what he can; he put away his bow by putting over his head and letting it slung around his torso. He had to be quick otherwise he’s going to be hit. The wagon was full of crates so he jumped into it, still keeping his head low inside the wagon. He starts pushing crates and barrels off the wagon while on his belly. “Incoming.” Zenai shouted as an avalanche of crates and barrels fell down from the wagon. Zenai pushed out whatever that can be used to create a makeshift fort; barrels, crates, planks of wood and so on. When he was done, an arrow struck the wagon that Zenai was in. He looked at it with bewildered eyes. Time to get off.

Zenai crawled pass the arrow but could hear a few more striking the wagon and the crates he just pushed off. He crawls out of the wagon, still keeping his head low, and fell on the ground. He saw some of the survivors piling up the crates and barrels and joined in. Zenai also used the bodies of the fallen to buffer and fill the gaps in the wall. No need to waste them, he thought. Some of the survivors look at him as if he was mad or something. A few more arrows struck and they suddenly saw the practicality. Zenai also got the tarp off and covered some of the wounded.

Now, they were in a much better position.

by **Antar** on October 27th, 2011, 5:30 pm

When Noth shoved the last crate out of the wagon, it split open revealing a set of feed bags for the now dead horses A Barrel to his right seemed to smell of the sickenly sweet stench of brine, and preserved fruit and indeed the thing was heavier then hell to lever off the wagon, but it did and fell heavy to the ground. He rolled that one towards the center of the wagons, if the siege did last long at least they'd have something to eat to maintain their strength.

He rolled out of the wagon, letting his body fall to the ground as the other survivors were beginning to take shape, of the total, there were only two other able bodied men besides the silver and the red head. He thought their names started with an E and a Z respectively, but he hadn't bothered to pay too much attention. After all , this was supposed to have been an easy run.

But nothing in this petching rotted town was 'easy.'

Motioning towards one of the other remaining guards to help him, Noth tipped the now empty wagon, letting the wooden bottom form more of a wall as he turned to see the preparations the others had mad. The Z guy was stuffing dead bodies into cracks but when he was about to stuff an armored one in, Noth stopped him with a curt gesture to draw his attention. ""Check them for arms and ammunition first, and toss it towards the center. If it's a siege we'll need it. What's your name anyways, mine's Anthony."

He ducked instinctively as another arrow thudded into the cover behind him as he asked the other merc his name. If the man actually answered with Zenai, he'd be addressed as such in the future, if he didn't Noth would stay oblivious."Hell if we really need arrows, we'll just pull them out of the wood to resupply. Use the armor of the dead to help shore up by the wounded."

He turned to the only other mercenary who looked like he was ready for a scrap and would ask his name in turn. "Be on lookout for the charge. I'll take a quick glance to see if I can stabilize one of the wounded. I think they might be useful with a crossbow even if they can't move much."

With that thought, Noth ducked into the semi cover of the tarp Zenai had set up and glanced at the three wounded men. The first was the merchant, whatever his name was unimportant. The man's face was pale from blood loss. An arrow in his leg. One of the other two wounded was out cold, knocked off the wagon by a bucking horse. The only thing wrong with him was an arm bent savagely in the wrong direction , he was probably lucky the fall had made him blacked out. The last was the merchant's youngest son, a boy of about thirteen who had a wide eyed and wild look in his eyes. A look of fear.

He had a few cuts from some near misses, a graze across his arm, but nothing too serious that he could see. But the smell of warm piss and the puddle of earthen soil belied the situation rather well.

Shock.

It was paralyzing him, and Noth figured he'd be almost useless in the upcoming fight unless someone snapped him back to his senses. But that didn't mean that he was the priority concern right now.

The merchant with the arrow wound was, as he wasn't sure he could do anything for the unconscious man. He might have a head injury from the fall that could knock him out for days, weeks even. He'd reset the arm if he had time and splint it, but there wasn't much else he could do. The bleeding man had to come first. Cursing his luck , Noth reached down to tear a strip of cloth from the merchants shirt as he drew his kukri.

Cutting the fletching of the arrow, off, he left a good three inches of shaft as he cut around the bloody mess to pull of the pantleg to give him time to inspect the wound. The Merchant was barely lucid , gazing at him and blinking as Noth began to mutter some words as he took a look at the puncture. The arrow had penetrated itself through the flesh of the thigh, with the point sticking a good six inches out of the leg.

Putting his right hand to grip to the side of the arrow, and his left to secure the leg he pulled it out without giving the merchant any warning. But a howl of pain filled his ears as the man began to thrash and the blood started to flow a little more. Not having time for niceties, Noth forced the wounded merchant back against the lip of the wagon with his left arm, holding him there by the pressure of his elbow on his chest as he shifted his crouch to pin the leg with one knee as he pulled off his gauntlet with his teeth and held his hand to cover the wound as he began to concentrate.

Slowly the liquid fire of his djed came to his palms and beneath the barest amount of res began to seep as he directed a small thin veneer over the two ends of the wound. He held it there as he grabbed a small tapier from his pocket, a fire starter he used occasionally if he needed it. It was a charade of course, no more then a prop now but he was extremely careful to ensure he didn't let anyone know his secret of using magic, not unless it was the last resort."This is going to hurt like hell when I burn the wound shut you fool. If you value your life: Stop petching moving!"

The merchant blinked, perhaps realizing the rogue was trying to help him in some way and his son seemed to come out of the paralysis enough to look into his father's eyes. "Hold his hand!"Noth barked out with the voice of a command, "let him grip it to ward off the pain as I press the brazier. We don't have time for niceties!"

Flicking it with his thumb he used a tiny drop of res to bring the firestarter alight and brought it to hover over one side of the puncture. More for effect he moved his hand away and pressed the burning item down into the wound, simultaneously igniting the res which he had layered over it. Together, they generated enough heat to begin cauterizing the skin, and the smell of burning flesh was echoed by the stifled grimace of pain from the merchant.

He then set it to the other side and did the same, this time bringing the res a little deeper into the wound, intent to cauterize it along the entire length if possible to ensure the man lived. Whether or not the leg remained would be another thing to worry about later. But soon enough the arcana fire and lit brazier did their work. and the wound was closed in a scarred burn of melted skin.

The boy and the merchant began to speak, just the words that any family might share in these circumstances. But Noth ignored it. Shoving himself off the merchant he turned towards the unconscious man and took the broken arm and pulled it, aligning it up with the rest of the arm by a sharp twist and before he pushed. Setting it back into place the hard way, with no anasthesia, or remorse.

The pain brought out an moan from the man as his eyes fluttered open and a bark of pain echoed through the shelter.

Noth didnt' care as he grabbed a bit of twine from around one of the crates and two bits of wood to tie around the arm in a crude splint. Having wasted enough time, he bade the boy to care for the two as he crawled crawled out from under the canvas and took a look around to see the guards watching the hills caerfully. He took a quick dreg of water from his waterskin before making a soft inquiry to the rest, "What do you guys see?"

by **Zenai** on October 27th, 2011, 6:37 pm

“The name is Zenai. Pleased to nice to meet you, Anthony. I’m sorry that we couldn’t meet under less threatening circumstances.” Zenai said with a bit of satire. Zenai is bitter at the situation which he should get used to as this was indeed Sunberth. Actually, they were outside so Zenai wondered if this situation counted as something linked with Sunberth itself. Anthony, still an unusual name for a person like him but he doesn’t want to complain. Anthony seems to be the more experienced one here so Zenai may as well defer to his command for this situation. Not like Zenai had anything else better to say or suggest so may as well go with the one they had right now.

As per Anthony’s recommendation, Zenai searched the dead armed guards for anything they could use. Zenai searched the one he has right now and only found a sword and shield. He also found some mizas which he tucks it away somewhere else on his Zenai’s persons. He took the sword and put in the pile of weapons that the other survivors were gathering. The shield, Zenai put it in one of the gaps in their fortification while the armor on the armed guard was wearing was taken off. He stow the armor, which was chainmail, in any gaps that were left while the body itself was packed into one of the other gaps in the fortifications.

He search the other bodies and found little else than the clothes on their back as well as their bow and arrows. Again, the bow was thrown into the pile of weapons while some arrows he kept for his own use while some of it was thrown in that same pile. Zenai repeated what he done with the other bodies and just stuff it into whatever holes in the defenses that were left. Looks like their little wall of wood, fruits, dead bodies and salvaged armor was almost done. His section was reinforced enough that he would send leftover materials to other sections of the defenses.

Anthony, in the meantime, was dealing with the merchant and his son. Poor boy, too much of a shock he got today. He will learn soon enough. This was Sunberth after all. Innocence doesn’t exempts you from neither danger nor harm. When they were almost done with the fort, Anthony came out to see what their current situation is. Zenai look passed him and saw he tried to heal the merchant’s wound but it wasn’t much of a success. They need more skilled hands than they could offer currently. Zenai was crouching with bow and arrow in hands, and Anthony asked if they saw anything. “Rolling hills, grassy plain, a man in pain, a group of guards cowering behind a makeshift fort and oh, looks like we got a spot of rain. Rain of arrows, that is.” Zenai gave a sarcastic answer but then gave a more serious one. “We’re still pinned down and though we’re alright at the moment, those bandits are still up on that hill, raining arrows and pain on us. Still, haven’t seen any charges from them.”

by **Eridanus** on October 28th, 2011, 9:22 am

Eridanus had a mini supply chain ongoing, the few barely-standing civilians and the other surviving guard helping to stack the crates. He finished building a make-shift fortress, and stepped back, admiring his work even as the structure shuddered every now and then, absorbing the impact of the arrows. He smacked his hands partly in habit, partly to signify to his fellow compatriots that their job in this area was done, and surveyed the region where his friend Zenai had took charge of. It seemed that they had a lesser amount of crates than he did, but achieved pretty much the same effect while lacking the manpower he had by improvising and using bodies and armour pieces to patch the holes.

It was an admirable effort of innovation, The Eridanus had to give him that, but he felt a little uneasy desecrating the bodies like that. After all, corpses were not merely the flesh shell of a soul but sometimes served as an anchor for this spirits in the mortal plane, and he did not want to risk offending the occult unless he really needed to. To be fair to Zenai, he supposed that he probably viewed this situation as one where "he really needed to".

Shrugging, he looked back at wagon to find the one who gave them these orders, just in time to see him coming out of the main wagon, probably administering some form of aid to the merchant. In the heat of the moment, he had more or less forgotten about the status of his employer, and he was glad that at least someone paid some attention to the merchant, for he intended to haggle properly for a more appropriate compensation if they survived this.

After they survived this, he reminded himself. Thinking was half the battle, after all, and with these new developments things were looking much better for them. Unless one of the bandits happened to be one of those bloody wizards and set the whole area ablaze. In that case he would probably use the resulting smoke and confusion to save his hide and get the hell out of there.

He remembered hearing the archer introduce himself as Anthony to Zenai earlier and he asked for a battlefield survey. After Zenai gave his own summary, Eridanus volunteered some information. He was no scout, but who knows, with this man's understanding of tactics every tiny bit of information counts.

"We basically have four walls now." The two directions he took was pretty different form Zenai's two sections, for his one was more sturdy and neat-looking with boxes and crates stacked securely, while Zenai's was a mash of corpses, boxes, armour pieces and random debris and trash. Still, both sides achieved their purpose pretty well and that was all he asked for.

"Interesting thing is, two sides - opposite to each other - have stopped receiving arrows, while the remaining sides have actually an increased amount projectile attacks."

OOC: Basically the bandits stop shooting arrows from North and South, but maintaining their ranged attacks from East and West. This is to keep our company suppressed in order to launch a melee assault from the North and South to assault us in a pincer attack. The idea is for the East and West sides keep us suppressed to prevent us from picking off their melee troops, and they'll probably join in the melee charge when the north and south engaged us in combat. Just a suggestion on how things could go from Eri's vague observation.

by **Antar** on October 28th, 2011, 4:30 pm

Welll that's just swell... He might have to work a little harder to get out of this one. Dropping down to the dirt, he surveyed their resources. Three injured and incapacitated. Two other guards, besides himself, Zenai, and Eridanus. One of which was probably a traitor in the making and try to backstab any of them at a moment's notice. Last but not least two more of the wagon drivers, each armed only with a crossbow.

Seven able bodied men total. Three wounded including the merchant, and the merchant's son.

Seven men to hold the fort as it were.

Digging in the dirt he sketched out a quick map of the area. They were on the western road running roughly East to west, to the north was the hills, the south was the forest. The road was the flattest terrain around and thus a double edged sword for their opponents who , according to Eridanus' report were the only direction the arrows were coming in from. It was an interesting tactic to be sure, the road could allow the bandits ranged men to creep from the forest and attempt to shoot them from the flanks as the ones from the forest and the hills approached.

But there was a fatal flaw in this as well if they could exploit it. The flat road left their own archers open to a counteract and he doubted there was much cover provided to the east and west bandits from their own arrows. Not only that, but the east side would have proven a problem for the bandits in positioning their men, as it was the direction of Sunberth. They'd have to deplete their ranged strength on the other sides in order to double their fire. If he was their leader and had done the same he probably would have allotted all their archers to each side of the road.

Of course, that did not gainsay the threat of swamping their defenses from the north and the south. Seven men, one probably in league with the bandits to turn the tide. But where would the majority come from? The north or the south. He'd have to pick one and the decision was an easy one to make.

The woods and the land between them was the less varied of the two in ground which meant more men could come from the south quicker then from the north... the brunt of the attack should come from there. He stood up and unlimbered his bow from his back."Zenai, Eridanus, help me deflate the hail of arrows from the sides, the targets should be clear shots on the roads if you have any sort of skill. Don't worry about those shooting at us from longer ranges. I'll deal with them. Just shoot the ones that are closer.The rest of you I'm dedicating the other four people to defend wholly the south side. When the charge from the north comes, I'll deal with it myself though prepare to assist me if it's too heavy. Now aim carefully and make them dead. We won't have much time till the other sides rush."

Without another word, Noth knocked an arrow and rushed towards the side wall of an overturned wagon near the west and 'peeked' up and over the lip for a brief second to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough there were four men in the road, each at varying distances. He ducked back down to prevent an arrow from sticking him as it sailed over his head to plunk down into the earth in the center of the makeshift fortification.

Breathing deeply once he leaned out of half cover, spotting the smallest blur in the distance carrying a long bow, about a hundred and eighty feet away, drew and fired as the arrow was released. The fingers of his gauntlet simply rolled off the string, not plucking it, as such was bad form you know.

The arrow flew straight and true and imbedded itself into the farthest archers chest, bowling him over to the ground. Whether he was alive or dead didn't matter right now. He was onlys ure the man would be incapacitated. "Three left, West." he called out as he ducked back into cover as a hail of arrows.

Knocking another arrow he moved to the other side of the wagon before 'popping out' into a new position as he lined up for a shot on the remaining furthest archer, a shortbowman at about a hundred and forty feet away and fired. This shot was blown off by an errant gust of wind and plunked itself down down at the foot of the crouching archer, and he ducked back inside cover to knock a third arrow before popping up over the lip of the wagon to reorient his shot. The shortbowman was moving slowly now, as he reknocked his own arrow but Noth's third shot flew true and struck him in the leg.

His target crumpled to the ground wounded and in pain and his peripheral vision only noted two other shadows near the road. "Two Left. West!" he cried out , alerting the others to the situation as he knocked a third arrow and prepared to dive towards the northern 'stack of boxes facing the north as he heard a loud cry rise up from the north and south ,echoing from the hills and forest.

Terrain Word Art: :

Friendly and Enemy units :