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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1160361" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 53Arrows shot down the hall toward the dwarf from both directions, ricocheting off of his shield and plate armor.  Even as he identified the archers, standing in open doorways a short length down the hall in both directions, armored fighters leapt into the open and charged, their longswords held before them like spears.  There wasn’t much space in the confines of the hall, but where Arun stood, at the intersection of the hall and landing, there was ample room for the defenders to come at him from both directions.  Rather than retreating, the dwarf paladin merely hefted his hammer and waited.  Behind him on the landing, Dannel took aim and fired.  His first shot flew over Arun’s shoulder and down the left hallway, but the woman thug saw it coming and brought her shield up in time to deflect it.  With a visceral cry she hurled herself at Arun at the same time that the second warrior charged at him from behind.  Arun held his ground, keeping his back toward the landing and his companions so that he could look down both hallways and keep his guard up against both foes.  The narrow space was filled a moment later with the clash of steel on steel as the bandit warriors met Arun.  The dwarf, with his superior armor, held his ground, but conversely there wasn’t much room to bring his own hammer to bear against his foes.  Behind him, Dannel managed a shot past the warrior on the left in the general direction of the bandit archer still back down the hall, but his arrow lodged in the wooden threshold of the doorway in which the rogue took cover.    Mole leapt forward, tumbling past Arun toward the right fork of the hall and the second warrior.  Continuing into a second somersault she nearly slipped right past him to take up position at his back, but the warrior shifted and stopped her movement with a swift kick that caught her heavily in the side.  The gnome cried out and fell back against the wall of the hallway, scrambling back to her feet as the man turned toward her, his sword poised to finish what he’d started.Clucking her tongue in frustration, Zenna held her crossbow, trying in vain to line up a shot.  Behind her Illewyn stood holding her mace, likewise unable to work her way into a position where she could add her support to the battle in the confined space.  “This battlefield does not favor us!” the older woman said.  Zenna, unable to do anything more, silently agreed.With a slight screech Mole ducked just in time to avoid the first cut from the swordsman, his heavy blade knocking a chip from the wall just inches above her head.  She drew back, but cried out again as an arrow shot at her from further down the hall.  The arrow hit the wall a foot in front of her face, but as it shot past the steel arrowhead glanced off her temple, opening a nasty gash that quickly spilled hot blood down the side of her face.  “Ow!” Mole said, regretting her decision to join in the melee.Arun was aware of her plight, and he shifted his focus to the warrior on his right, driving him back with a solid blow that hit his shield with enough force to knock him back a pace.  As the dwarf followed up he left his left flank open to attack from the woman thug, but Dannel leapt into the breach, hurdling the edge of the railing that warded the stairs, drawing his sword as he came.  Elf and dwarf stood back to back as their attackers pressed in from both sides, seeking an opening.  Zenna took advantage of the brief opening to fire a crossbow bolt at the woman warrior, but once more the shot narrowly missed its target.  As the fighter threatening her turned his attention to Arun, Mole took advantage of the distraction to leap ahead and dart past him.  The man kicked out at her once again, but this time she was able to slip around him.  She couldn’t turn to sneak attack him, though, for once clear she found herself facing the second bandit archer, who stepped out from his hidey-hole in one of the open doorways, dropping his bow and drawing his sword as he stepped forward to face her.  Grimacing, the gnome hefted her own diminutive blade and went to meet him. The two hired blades were good, but Arun and Dannel fought together like veterans, moving with each other as they parried and counterattacked their foes.  Dannel lacked the heavy protection of the dwarf, but he was nimble and the reflexes of the two fighters had clearly been affected by drink, much like their late comrades in the chamber below.  Furthermore the woman was distracted by the bolts that Zenna continued to fire at her from across the landing.  Hindered by the need to avoid hitting Dannel, Zenna wasn’t able to score any hits, but each near-miss seemed to fluster the warrior a bit more, leaving her open to Dannel’s thrusts.  Within a few more exchanges both enemy fighters were bleeding, Dannel had taken only a slight gash to his off arm, and Arun wasn’t even scratched.  Finally, as if triggered by some secret communication, both warriors lunged forward, their battle cries filling the passage, swords raised high to strike down their foes.  Just as smoothly the two defenders adjusted, Arun deflecting the attack of his foe with shield, Dannel pivoting out of the way and turning the stroke with a high parry.  Arun’s hammer and Dannel’s sword lashed out in tandem, the hammer crushing his foe’s chest, the sword sliding into a gap in between broken mail links.  Both bandits sagged backward, and fell.  “Nice work, elf,” Arun offered.  “But mine fell first.”“Um... I could still use a little help over here!” Mole exclaimed, still trading blows with her enemy toward the end of the rightmost hallway.  On seeing the resolution of the main battle, however, the rogue darted backward, disengaging and disappearing into one of the guest rooms, the door slamming shut behind him.  Mole let him go, pressing a square of cloth to the gash on the side of her forehead.  “The other archer fled as well,” Dannel reported, “Along with the other fighter, the one we saw downstairs, I presume.”“They’ll be back with reinforcements shortly, I’d wager,” Zenna said.  “Along with the apeman Sarcem described... Tongueater, I presume.”“So?  I’m ready for a few more of this rabble,” Arun said, kicking the corpse of the man he’d killed.“These are no common bandits,” Dannel said.  “They’re clearly mercenaries, with no small skill.”“He’s right,” Zenna said.  “We don’t know how many more of them are left.”“We cannot leave until we find Sarcem,” Illewyn said, with determination. “Um... look, I’m all for a drag-down brawl,” Mole said.  The gnome looked a sight, with the bloody cloth held to her head and favoring her ribs where the bandit thug had kicked her.  “But we’ve lost the advantage of surprise, and if those bandits catch us in this hallway, we’re going to get squished.”“You want to retreat, then,” Arun said, making the word sound a curse.  “We can watch the roadhouse from the woods, make sure that none of them escape,” Zenna said.  “They don’t have horses, and we do, and we have reinforcements on the way.  I have a bad feeling about this, if we stay.”“If we don’t make up our minds soon, the decision will be made for us,” Dannel said.  He’d taken up his bow again, and stood vantage on the left hallway, his keen elvish eyes alert for any signs of movement. Arun and Zenna faced off, each meeting the other’s stare squarely.  “We’ll finish this,” Zenna said.  “On our own terms, not theirs.”For a moment she thought that the dwarf was going to stalk off, willing to fight this battle even alone, but finally he nodded.  “All right, we’ll do it your way.”The decision made, the companions quickly returned back the way they had come, heading back to the stairs to the common room.  They’d barely reached the top of the stairs when a loud roar issued from directly below them.  They were too late.</blockquote>

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