For a moment there was stillness across the whole area. It was dark. Peaceful. Whether the orcs were bored of the same thing day and night was hard to tell.

Also hard to tell was the movement from the northern side of the bridge.

A figure slipped out of the undergrowth, around the nearest, abandoned building and slid into the water.

It was not the silent entry that Tradden wanted. His footing was unsure, and almost immediately it became clear the water was a bit deeper than he expected. Rather than being knee high it was more like waist high and the torrent was difficult to wade against without getting pushed downstream and towards the waterfall.

Well, there was no going back now. Slowly and carefully he waded across the water, trying to keep low and quiet.

If any of the orcs had seen, or indeed heard him against the rush of water, it was not apparent.

Stopping for a moment he twisted back and gestured with his head for Zero to follow him. He then brought one hand up to where the water was, making a discrete gesture that hopefully Khalin or Kireth might understand — that the water came up to here on him. For a moment his blood ran cold at the thought of Rangrim doing exactly the same as him. Hey, maybe the water was indeed shallower the other side of the bridge?

Taking heart in seeing two of his companions make it half way across the inky river without being swept away, Zero rolled up his trouser legs and took off his boots. After stashing them in his pack, he picked his way around the dilapidated building, cursing at every sharp stone that jabbed his soles.

He kept moving, past the slumbering orc, and to the edge of the water. It reminded him of the holidays his parents used to take him on to northern coast of The Islands. That beach was mostly pebbles too. They loved it, but then they spent most of their time in the inn's bar. All he remembered was grey skies, the smell of seaweed and being stuck inside with his nanny as the rain drummed on the roof. Gods forbid they should have taken him someplace warm.

He reached the water's edge, braced himself and dipped a toe in.

‘Ohhhhhhh, that is not pleasant,’ he whispered to himself.

Grimacing and resolving to get Tradden back for this, he wilfully waded in.

The current was surprisingly powerful, pushing against him, and he couldn't brace himself. To his horror he felt himself slipping and he was pushed purther and further downstream and towards the waterfall.

Fortunately, a large rock presented itself to give him something to cling onto, and then he finally managed to make it to his friend who sheltered behind a rock, observing the silent, cubic guard tower atop the bank ahead like a hawk.

‘I can't feel anything below the knees,’ he informed Tradden, as he came up alongside the young fighter. ‘And it's a long way down there,’ he meekly followed, looking at the twenty or thirty foot drop near his feet. ‘Are you sure this was a good idea?’

Brünhilde looked at the space before her, the bridge and the courtyard beyond. A lot of open space. She did not like the idea of waiting till the scouts made contact and then having to run all that way to get into the fight. She pondered animals for a second, and then the correct form came to her. She smiled and dashed forward, angling slightly to the north towards the building.

As she got to the wall, her form started to shrink again.

Soon a small wild-cat stood where a dwarf had a moment before. Small, nimble, and able to stick to the shadows, she would ensure Tradden and Zero had support when they needed it.

Khalin surveyed the theatre of battle, still quiet before the melee would begin. As he regarded Brünhilde and Aukan's stealthy approach across the bridge he hoped he could maintain the relative silence. Strategy, tactics, speeches, crafting a fine hammer, he could all do, and rather well if he did think so himself. Stealthily creeping up to the enemy… well that was not so much his forte. He quickly checked the strappings on his armour were tight, to minimise any clatter, then padded out after Aukan as carefully as he could

As the marshal headed out onto the bridge he glanced down to his left, making out the huddled shapes of Tradden and Zero, waiting rather precariously by a rock in the stream.

He quietly readied his craghammer, and took a moment to whisper a silent prayer to Moradin as he waited for the others to complete the pincer movement and spring the trap.

Kireth walked forwards quickly, his pace picking up as he neared the bridge.

He looked down at one of the orcs as he passed, wondering why no-one had put them out of their misery. He contemplated the action for a moment, but it was beneath him. One of the others could do it. If they remembered. With a sniff, he walked on, onto the bridge.

With a graceful leap he cleared the gap and nestled himself behind Aukan. Just in case those archers decided they might like to take aim and fire.

Tradden glanced around. The problem here was that it was just as hard for him to see in the dark as, hopefully, it would be for the orcs. There had been a little noise from the direction of the bridge but with luck the orcs in the courtyard had not heard, or wouldn't think it was anything of note.

The fighter looked at Zero and nodded his head towards the nearby building, suggesting that the rogue should follow and let go of the rock.

Steadying himself against the current he pushed on, carefully making his way through the rest of the water and trying his best to stay undetected.

Watching from behind Zero could not help but be impressed by the way Tradden ghosted into the semi-light and like a shadow of a shadow took a position under the walkway. Had he not known he was there, Zero wouldn't have seen him.

‘Meh…’ came the mutter from under his cloak, as Zero started to move forwards also.

Zero hated the cold of the water and the realisation that it might take hours to get warm. At least his boots would be dry. As Tradden moved forwards he gave a sigh and then took his hand away from the rock to his right and ploughed on.

Fortunately the pool wasn't too deep and he managed to stand, trying to get his bearings in the dark.

He could see the side of the waterfall above him and where he could get back up and tried to move across to see if it was climbable.

The fall had taken the wind out of him and getting up and out of the water had sapped his strength, moving was slow and painful. He gritted his teeth and carried on.

He was close to the edge of the pool now, and the ten feet of cliff to the top looked like twenty, or thirty. It did look as though there were a number of handholds, though, which was at least a little bit of luck. He moved in and started to climb.

The climb wasn't too bad and he popped his head above the ledge and quickly brought it down again to avoid being spotted in the light.

He waited for a moment, hanging by his arms, but didn't hear any shouts or orcish cries. Breathing out he moved hand-over-hand along the cliff edge, before climbing up and over in the dim light at quiet as he could, spotting Tradden near the walkway.

Exhausted, cold and soaked to the bone, Zero squelched out of the darkness to Tradden.

The swordsman looked at him with concern. ‘Where have you been, Z?’ he whispered. ‘I was starting to…’

The rogue, deliberately avoiding his gaze, pointed a finger sternly at him. ‘Don't talk to me,’ he hissed.

From her new, low, vantage point, Brünhilde watched the others starting across the bridge. She looked at the wall of the bridge, which offered a way over without needing to jump.

She darted forward and leapt up onto the bridge wall, quickly dashed past the others, and over the bridge.

She then cut north, towards Zero and Tradden.

Khalin cursed under his breath as he spied movement on top of the towers, and pointed arms in the companions' direction. It looked like they might have been made. Most of the members of the two pincer groups were across though. Perhaps what was needed now was a distraction for them. The marshal grimaced as he gauged the distance. ‘We're not close enough yet,’ he whispered under his breath. With that he padded forward as quickly as he dared, covering the distance to the edge of the cobbles silently.

He stopped for a second at the edge of the gap before moving on towards Kireth and Aukan.

As he traversed the gap his shield scraped the wall, making a sound that surely must give his position away. As the dwarf glanced up, there appeared to be confusion on the towers though, the hand signals and gesturing perhaps miscommunicated? No matter.

The dwarf halted his approach on the very edge of the penumbra of shadow, waiting for Tradden's signal from beneath the tower to the left.

Kireth crouched and waited. Patiently. The dwarf had nearly given their location away with his clumsy actions. The orcs were definitely alerted to something, though he was cross that he couldn't make out what it was. And what was the shout for? Was it for the guards at the end of the bridge to return?

Tradden had shoulders to the wall, looking back, watching the movement of his compatriots. Or at least those he could see. Or hear — there was more noise than he would have liked. Similarly, there were also stirrings from the various orcs current behind him — not only from above but from the courtyard proper.

Well, everyone seemed to have got as far as they were going to. Maybe they could get a little further if they… No. This was it. Game time. There was the faintest of sounds of leather on leather as he gripped the pommels of his blades even more tightly through his thin gloves.

Making eye contact with Zero, Tradden pointed at himself and then upwards, towards the top of the building they were beneath. Then he gestured in an arching motion as if to signal that Zero try and attack the other orcs in the courtyard. There seemed to be a nod from the rogue, but then again it could have been the moonlight catching Zero's hooded robes in a certain way.

It was at that point that Tradden glanced down to noticed the small, relatively cute cat. It was stood next to him, tail up, looking up expectantly. Not one usually lost for words, they nevertheless failed Tradden at this particular point. With an ever-so-slight breath which equated to “What the…?’, Tradden, slightly more slowly this time, and in a more half-hearted manner, pointed at himself and then upwards, towards the top of the building they were beneath. Then he gestured in an arching motion as if to gesture that the cat should try and attack the other orcs in the courtyard. There seemed to be a nod from the cat, but then again it could have been the moonlight catching its fur in a certain way.

Now entirely off-balance mentally, Tradden completely forgot to utter any battle cry as he leapt out from under the walkway and in two bounding strides was up around the edge of the ramp and at the top of the building, next to the orcs. It was a feat of leaping worthy of a cat. For some reason Tradden felt a pang of pride and hoped the feline had been watching and was impressed.

Now face to face with the orcs, all Tradden could do was hope that this was enough of a sign to the others to attack.

Suddenly there was a tall human stood next to them, whirling swords around in a calmly precise fashion.

One cut came after another in a flurry.

One orc went down, carved open in an “X” by one blow from a longsword and one from a shorter sword. The other orc managed a snarl at having avoided any blows only to realise there was an ice-covered slice across its own chest.

Zero, still dripping, had frowned at Tradden's sign language. It was confusing and clumsy in the dark and he would be having words with him later about that. Still, there was work to be done.

He looked at the cat with a “that's, erm, odd” look on his face then slipped into the shadows and crept up to the bottom of the walkway. He moved up the slope quickly and vaulted the short wall next to Tradden and squeezed aside the orc that the young fighter was slashing at, before letting fire at point blank range.

Without further ado he ducked down, trying to get cover behind the low wall.

When she set out on the other side of the bridge, Brünhilde had envisioned sneaking quickly and quietly past the orcs, to attack suddenly, from nowhere, from behind. But things had not panned out quite that way. But in any case the fight was on, and she was over the bridge.

Her mind made up, she darted along the wooden walkway before jumping down in the midst of three of the creatures. There was a smell of… pigs? But there was no time to dwell on that.

She was already dropping the form of the cat and rising up, to the surprise and confusion of the orcs. Whilst they gawped at her, she furnished one with a maul to the face.

She then followed quickly by an over the head smash as it was falling down.

It would not be getting up again. She rounded on the other two, grinning.

As Aukan broke for the cluster of orcs on the north side of the courtyard, Khalin angled towards the group to the south. The marshal hugged the shadows as he rushed forward, clinging to any cover they might still provide.

The dwarf broke into the cone of light from the torch up ahead and raised his craghammer aloft, signalling across the courtyard to Zero on the tower opposite.

He pointed at the cluster of orcs who awaited Aecris' kiss and hoped covering fire from the rogue would provide a deadly distraction.

Kireth ignored the attackers jumping onto buildings and fanning out into the courtyard and simply strode forwards out of the darkness.

He passed the building without looking as Tradden and Zero cut down the archers and kept his path straight.

He finished by taking the last few steps onto the rubble, raising his height and gaining a good view of the whole courtyard, before turning to the north to watch Brünhilde swing at the orcs there.

With the archers neatly dispatched and the ones below now being tied up, Tradden's gaze fell once again on the gatehouse itself, and in particular the dark entrance way. That was the goal. The prize.

Without hesitation, Tradden ran forward.

Navigating the rickety, downright wonky wooden planking that was the raised platform with consummate ease despite the disorientating swinging motion, the melee below was bypassed.

With a few more strides Tradden found himself up on the roof of the second building. Closer to the gatehouse, from this vantage point the fighter was able to pick out more detail.

On what appeared to be the third floor there were only two small windows — archer slits, perhaps — and he could just about sense movement and noise and perhaps something starting to be poked out of the gaps. There was a soft glow from all of the windows, which was no surprise really — it made sense that there were people “home”.

Then the smell hit him, immediately bringing home long forgotten memories of being downstream of the pig farms on the northern banks of the Silver River back at home here. That was really… quite potent. And odd. Pigs? Here?

Trying to put that out of his mind, Tradden focused again on the gate area itself. Frustratingly, the view from here was no better, the arch was still shrouded in darkness. There was no real option now, he had to keep going. The ground below him was about twenty feet, although it looked smooth and stable enough. Not without danger, but needs must… Now, Aversward, nothing too flashy…

With a gentle crouch he swung down, using his hands as best he could to “drop” to the courtyard below, using his long frame to his advantage as best he could.

It wasn't particularly graceful, but it was effective.

It was still a heavy landing, but he used his training to have his legs absorb as much as the impact as possible and “stick” the landing.

Not the best, but not the worst. ‘Seven and a half out of ten…‘ he mumbled to himself. It did at least allow him to be standing and facing the right way. Now, let's see what this archway was all about…

Zero was left alone on the top of the building as Tradden sped away, but had a good view of the courtyard.

He crept eastwards to the parapet and took a look at the action below. It seemed that Brünhilde and Aukan had their hands full with the orcs in front of him, but the dwarf had taken one of them down already. Zero could make their lives even easier.

The orc was only just turning around to face Brünhilde when the bolt slammed into its shoulder. It staggered forwards for a moment before dropping to the floor.

Brünhilde looked up as the great war-boar charged Kireth, smashing him to the floor as the orc rider lanced him. She was not sure what to make of the half-elf. He was aloof and sardonic. Clearly, his mother had not given him enough hugs as a child. But he was one of the group, so he needed help.

Ignoring the remaining orc she started to sprint at the flank of the boar, picking up speed rapidly. As she reached it she brought the head of Balunâzduun down on its hind quarters.

It landed with a satisfyingly solid connection. She wanted to keep it from moving to further attack the mage.

Uttering a word, one of the runes on the head of the maul glowed with yellow-white light, and the ground around the beast erupted. Fingers of rock rose to try and seize the boar, as if the ground itself was grasping at it.

But, the beast managed to avoid being caught, although not before it was partly crushed. Grunting, Brünhilde brought the maul around again.

It was hard to miss, and again she struck at its legs looking to cripple it, if not kill it outright.

The beast snorted and squealed but remained standing, and annoyingly the orc rider still sat astride it. For now.

‘Rust and ruin,’ grumbled Khalin under his breath as he watched Kireth unwittingly draw fire, hooves, and Moradin-knew what else was still to be unleashed. What in blazes was the blasted half-elf thinking, poncing about on a pedestal of rocks? Well, he was nothing if not consistent, and a dwarf could appreciate that, at least.

Seeing that Rangrim and Rhasgar had the enemy on the right flank in hand, with Beltak backing them up, the marshal scurried across the courtyard towards the stricken mage.

Quickly assessing the situation, he looked at Kireth earnestly. ‘This is going to hurt, but the touch of Moradin should salve the pain. Roll with the blow!’ There was genuine concern in the dwarf's voice as he stared at Kireth to punctuate the final point.

The dwarf raised Aecris high in the practiced fashion of the master smith he was back on The Islands. Kireth's eyes widened as the half-elf squirmed to try move with the chain as the marshal had indicated, before the dwarf's craghammer came crashing down on the chain.

With Kireth freed, Khalin turned towards the mighty boar, still snorting angrily a few yards away.

Taking a leaping stride the marshal smashed Aecris into its snout

Somehow, slowly and awkwardly, the mage rose to his feet using his staff with his good right arm.

He looked at the bolt in his left shoulder and held back a grimace, though did not offer any thanks to either Khalin or Beltak.

The orcs had thinned out now, just a couple remained alongside the big one atop the boar. He pointed his staff at one of them, and then the other, and uttered a simple word. Out shot three bright darts.

The two orcs were instantly felled and the half-elf growled under his breath, seemingly more at the rest of the Krakens and the Talons than the remaining orc.

With that, he slowly retreated, aiming for some cover near the small building.

Tradden had been trying to study the gateway in the few seconds available to him. The entrance was pretty big, almost the full storey high — maybe twelve feet and easily wide enough for their cart. It was still frustratingly dark inside, but he was now close enough to see a raised portcullis about five to ten feet inside the corridor. It was open then. Good. Then there was darkness for quite a way, maybe another forty feet. Just temptingly out of eyesight there was… something. Maybe a lowered portcullis? Less good.

It was at that point that there was loud, familiar “thunk” and a howl of pain. The fighter turned to see another length of chain, this time ominously stretched out so as to clearly be attached to Khalin. The boar and its rider were also still causing havoc, nearby, although he couldn't see any other orcs.

Clenching his jaw, Tradden weighed up the options, and what they meant. Then he made a decision. He could be back into the melee with the boar and helping Khalin in seconds… but something in the back of his brain told him that having made it this far forward, he had to keep moving.

Striding forward, he sheathed his swords on his back, looking up and down the first set of chain, which was hanging limply whilst slowly disappearing upward as it was reeled in.

It was a chain. Strong, sturdy, good for grabbing a hold of. He did so.

With that, he started pulling himself up, his sinewy yet muscled arms allowing him to make good progress despite his own weight. He felt like he was about to lose his grip a couple of times, but he managed, just, to get a rhythm going.

Presently, he was able to put two feet against the wall of the keep, and almost hand over hand actually walk up the wall. Before long he was coming level with one of the slit-shaped windows on the first level. It was just about big enough to get through, he thought. Just. A squeeze… and not up where the ballistae were firing, but… nothing ventured.

Tradden reached out, found a handhold on the stonework and pulled himself through… ⇛

Things seemed to be going quite well, Zero thought. He was going to shoot the piggie, but it was bacon now. His stomach rumbled. With all of the orcs defeated except one, the element of surprise had surely worked.

He trained his lethal sights on the Guard Captain and let one fly.

With the boar down and the other orcs dealt with, it just left the rider. Given he was totally outnumbered, Brünhilde did not expect him to last long. With that thought, she got to work, swinging Balunâzduun.

The first blow landed solidly, squarely in the middle of the orc's back. Attacking directly from behind felt slightly unfair, but she knew the orcs would offer no quarter.

Her second blow smashed into its shoulder. He was tough, but if he stood and fought, he was going down.

She spared a glance back over the bridge. The two orcs of the far side were still sleeping soundly. They would need to be dealt with as well. If they awoke, they would likely head off after the company of hobgoblins that had left the tower. That could not be allowed to happen.

Khalin growled against the excruciating pain in his thigh. A quick glance confirmed the wound was a vicious one indeed. The marshal steeled himself moving forwards to get some slack on his bonds.

He made sure that the chain was loose on the ground before calling to Rhasgar beside him.

‘Smash the chain!’ the dwarf shouted, mounting alarm creeping through the pain in his voice.

The dragonborn nodded and heaved down on the chain.

Sparks arced from the impact, but the links held and Khalin was left grimacing.

Kireth continued to stare at the priest until Beltak looked away. He offered no thanks, the scribe had removed it when he was perfectly capable of dealing with it himself. Always reverting to brute force methods when intelligence was the superior option. He had expected better of Beltak.

He tried to flex his shoulder but found it too painful and grimaced, making sure Beltak was looking the other way beforehand. He then looked over to the gatehouse where the bolts had come from.

He thought he could make something out in those top windows, some machinery or contraptions inside. He pondered what a fireball would do to them, but was cautious about the consequences, especially considering the smoke already coming from the lower floor. What was that?

Gathering his strength he barked across to Khalin. ‘What now?’

‘Through the gate!’ yelled Khalin through grimaces of pain, as he pointed it at the gap beneath the portcullis.

It Looked like all of the orcs were dead as far as Zero could see, so he headed off towards the gatehouse.

He sneaked off the top of the low building and onto the walkway, swaying with the bridge as it led to the east.

Tradden had made it look easy, scampering quickly across, but Zero found it bit harder. When he swayed left the walkway bridge seemed to swing right and he stumbled more than once, He got to the other side, however, where the walkway was more sturdy and connected to the second building.

He kept going, right up until the end, where he stopped and gulped at the drop, almost two dozen feet. He made a couple of motions to jump, then bottled it.

With the orcs in the courtyard dealt with, Brünhilde was afforded a few moments to think. She glanced towards the outer portcullis of the fortification. It was partly lowered. Something about that seemed odd to her, like they were being lured in. Next, she looked back over the bridge to where the two orc guards still slept. She was still worried they may awake and escape to warn the hobgoblins that had previously left. She also quickly took stock of who was hurt. Khalin, seemed the most in need, however she decided she would heal Kireth first. She wanted him to deal with those two orcs.

Her mind made up, she broke into a run towards Khalin and Rasgar, mostly to check on how the young dwarf looked.

As she ran she glanced back towards Kireth and uttered a word of healing.

She paused at the dwarf and dragonborn and shouted back.

‘Kireth, I can go back and sort out those guards, but will have to over to them. Can you “keep them sleeping” from there?’

She did not hear if he responded verbally, but saw him sneer and nod. She did not care if he was sneering, as long as he got the job done. Khalin was injured and still in the fight. She grunted to herself and set off for the gate.

Rangrim was stood peering in to the gloom, and looked like he was about to head in. Quickly she looked inside, paying special attention to the walls and roof.

It took a few moments for her vision to adjust, but then she made them out. Small square holes in the roof, about halfway through the passageway. Turning to Rangrim she said, ‘There are murder holes. In the roof. Halfway in. If we mean to pass through, we must be careful.’

Khalin looked back in anguish as the young scribe was impaled by the latest bolt. He was a tough lad though, and was still on his feet.

‘Quickly, while they reload!’ he called, beckoning the priest to hurry towards the gate. The marshal then looked up to Zero on the walkway.

‘Put an arrow in that bloody slot!’ he called, hoping that even if the rogue's shot missed the mark, the covering fire might be enough for Beltak to reach relative safety.

Khalin frowned and set off.

He stopped adjacent to Brünhilde and Rangrim and peered into the gloom of the tunnel.

With a snarl Kireth headed towards the group.

Almost with disdain he held out his staff behind him, barely looking back at the direction of the bridge and uttered a sharp word.

Arcs of fire shot from his staff and cremated the pair where they slept. Kireth did not turn to see if they survived, he continued his walk towards the group, brazenly picking the most open route.

As he got closer he stared at Khalin and began to limp, though whether it was an act or out of necessity, none of them could tell.

Zero hopped down from the walkway with Aukan's help before dashing over towards Rangrim.

He flattened himself against the wall so the ballista couldn't hit him. He then peeked out into the gatehouse tunnel to have a looksee at the “murder holes” others had been fretting about. He could see them clearly in the light from Sorrow's spell — small and square, but there in the roof, covering the centre of the tunnel and going back a fair way.

‘Okay, I'm here,’ Zero huffed. ‘Now then, what seems to be the problem? Besides that giant harpoony thing up there, that is.’

The group had now moved up to the main building, so the danger from the ballista was lessened, but it had not gone. If they ran into too much trouble inside, and had to pull back, they would be moving back into danger. Brünhilde looked up at the arrow slit from where the bolts had been fired.

Her mind made up, she started to shift her form again. Once more she started to shrink down to the ground, and soon where the dwarf had stood, was a small lizard.

No sooner had the transformation completed then she started running straight up the wall towards the arrow slit. She was confident she could get up to the slit and through before being spotted, then it would just be a case of returning to her natural form and dealing with whatever enemies presented themselves.

Khalin saw the rope drop, and waved Zero to take up Tradden's invitation. As the rogue nodded in assent, the marshal turned to the others.

‘Hug the wall, that should keep us out of the kill zone,’ he said.

And he led the way carefully along the southern wall towards the beckoning archway further along.

Gathering his cloak with a scowl, Kireth moved to the centre of the entrance of the tunnel to see what all of the fuss was for himself.

Eyeing the murder holes and the others clinging to the walls he contemplated moving in regardless, but then thought better of it.

He followed in Rhasgar's footsteps along the northern wall of the tunnel.

Zero contemplated his options: climb a rope or enter a tunnel filled with murder holes. Neither was particularly attractive. Figuring he'd be better off on higher ground and with Tradden beside him, he rubbed his palms together and gripped the rope.

After a prudent tug, he leaned back, swung his feet against the wall and began to haul himself up.

The tiny feet of the lizard scampered up the wall. Despite the smooth, carved surface of the walls, all four feet clung with ease and Brünhilde was moving fast.

Brünhilde licked her eye, then paused for a second. It was an instinctive action, and yet an alien one at the same time. Had she more time, she would have dwelt on this further. It was always fascinating to experience the world as an animal. But she did not have time, and needed to press on. She made a mental note to try this form again soon.

High up on the arrow slit, Brünhilde thought that getting to a corner looked like a good plan.

She followed the line of the arrow slit and then up the inside of the wall before heading towards the northeasterly corner.  ⇛