Rhune continues her vigil, glancing at Marika, "I wish dawn would hurry and
get here." She smiles ruefully. She continues to watch and target any
goblins that come into the clearing or that she can get a clear shot. Her
dwindling supply of arrows concerns her. "Marika, can you check on the
others and see how their supply of arrows are holding up? And see
if there are any more to be had. If we run out of those we are going to be
pretty much sitting ducks," she asks her friend.
"Glad to." Marika trots back down to the armoury, where she scrounges
up whatever arrows are left. She takes some of them up to Rhune and
Sam, then makes a round of all the archers' positions, and distributes
arrows where they're needed. She also delivers an armload of spears to
the damaged kitchen door -- the gaps in the barricade there are
alarming, but on the other hand, they do give the defenders openings
through which to spear any goblins trying to dismantle the place.
She finishes her rounds in Petr and Darya's quarters. After handing
them the last few arrows, she gazes down from their windows on the
courtyard. The embers from the earlier fires still glow faintly,
throwing off an occasional weak shower of sparks. "None of us have much
magic left," she tells the pair regretfully, "and the warriors are near
exhaustion. If the wolfriders come again in force, I'm afraid we might
not be able to hold the door. Be ready to move quickly if the you hear
the kitchen crew call a retreat -- you don't want to get trapped in this
wing if fires start, or if the fighting reaches the second floor."
Observing the storehouse of supplies, Marika sees that it seems to be
unused largely, provided with plenty of dried foodstuffs and several casks
of water. It also seems to have other nick-nacks and forgotten items,
though nothing apparently of value. However, while gathering up food for
the group, she finds a soft boot, very finely crafted, which may be
slightly valuable. Try as she might, though, she cannot find it's match.
She shrugs and returns to her task of gathering food and water. She then
takes them up to the weary bunch of defenders.
When Marika comes back with the food and water, Rhune accepts both with
gratitude. She looks tired but tries to smile at the young woman, "You
should try and get some rest, Marika. It is going to be a long night,"
she says to her.
"Already has been," agrees Marika, stifling a yawn. "But I think we
better get used to sleeping in the daytime. These goblins won't leave
us much choice."
The others are equally grateful for Marika's efforts, and Petr and Darya
smile approvingly at her. When she makes the rounds of the gallery,
Stellios smiles at her rather unsavoringly, patting her behind with his one
good arm, "You're a honey. When we get some spare time, I'll show ya my
gratitude..." He chuckles and returns to watching the southern window.
At that moment she and the others hear a scream from the tower.
Rhune and Sam have been peering down hard at the forest, but not thinking
to look above them. Suddenly they are each attacked by some sort of black,
winged horror from above. Sharp fangs protrude from their mouths and they
have pointed mouselike ears. One latches onto Sam's shoulder, tearing at
his skin and hanging there. The other attempts to do the same, but is
unable to penetrate Rhune's leathers. At the same time, those in the
gallery and downstairs hear screaming coming from the western wing,
followed by an inhuman shriek which echoes throughout the building.
Rhune looks up at the attack. she has no idea what this thing is. Taking
her only shot at the moment with the prepared bow she hopes that she can
hit it. Unfortunately, the creature is too close for her to wield the bow
effectively, and the arrow drops from the string without being fired. Rhune
then drops the bow and whips her long sword out and begins to melee with
it. While she is doing this, though, the creature ducks down and attaches
itself to the artery in her left leg, quite pleased to feed itself on her
blood. She begins to swoon dizzily with the loss.
Uttering a curse in elven, Rhune weakly tries to fend this creature off.
She can see pinpoints of colored lights form in front of her as it drains
her blood.
Sam, meanwhile, slashes with his short sword in an attempt to rid himself
of the creature that has fastened itself to his neck. He does so by prying
it away, but it is quickly upon him again, this time attempting to suction
blood away from the wrist. In attempting to ward it away, he only manages
to cut his arm further.
Rhune, meanwhile, has her sword out and attempts to awkwardly stab at the
creature attached to her leg, but cannot find a proper angle to do so. The
creature seems to smile as it drains her fluids away. Rhune's head swims
now and she is perilously close to the battlements to be in such condition.
Matteo groans as he forces himself to stand. He turns towards the
tower at the scream and begins heading for the stairs. Then, upon hearing
screaming from the west wing as well, Matteo finds himself torn between
loyalties. Without the time to consider the nuances of his decisions,
Matteo turns back and continues up the stairs towards his companions.
Halfway up the stairs, Matteo is surprised to find that in the haste he had
forgotten to check and ready his weapons. With a mild curse he reaches for
his scabbard and is relieved to find his weapons at the ready. How could
he have possibly forgotten to care for and prepare his blades after the
last run. He had been trained day in and day out that care of one's weapons
was paramount for any warrior. To have forgotten to do so must mean that
the unceasing hostile contitions were affecting him more than he had
imagined possible. "I simply MUST find the time for some meditations,"
Matteo thought to himself as he climbed the stairs, sword and stiletto in
hand.
"Oh...." - whispers Krige, shaking of horror. Then he manages to overcome
his fear and rushes toward the tower yelling: "Rhune! Sam! I'm running to
you!" Xania dashes up the stairs as well after him. Matteo runs up the
stairs from the first floor, checks his weapons in the gallery, then falls
in behind the other two. Urak, Asif, and Stellios, fearing an attack from
the goblins while the party is distracted by the huge bats.
Xania too staggers to her feet and draws a dagger, heading toward the tower
to see if she can be of aid. When she sees Krige, she hesitates briefly, a
frown on her normally lovely features. She shakes her head, helping the
others is more important than trying to teach Krige a lesson in manners.
She continues on.
Marika whirls around at the sound of the scream, accidentally (?)
spraying the contents of the flagon of water she was carrying all over
Stellios. She sets down the tray and makes for the tower door, just as
the second scream erupts from the western wing. For a moment she hovers in
indecision, but seeing that Matteo has already started up the stairs to the
tower, Marika turns left and heads for Petr's and Darya's room.
Hearing the others running for the tower, Rhune turns her attention to her
companion. "Sam! Help is coming," she calls out to him.
Sam manages to ward the creature attacking him off once again, but it
flutters about him aggressively again, and he barely manages to keep it
away from another point. He feels the blood running down his chest and on
his hand. Rhune meanwhile is in similarly bad shape, clearly too weak now
to fend the creature off, which now appears bent on sucking away every drop
of blood she has.
Krige reaches the top floor and the open air and sees that both his
companions are in bad condition. He attempts to ward the bat off Rhune
without much success. Rhune slaps weakly at the creature with her sword
hilt. She looks terribly pale and very weak. Sam manages to skewer the bat
pestering him and hurls it from the battlements as Xania reaches the top
floor.
Xania distastefully assists Krige to rid Rhune of her bothersome attacker.
Matteo reaches the top step and is forced to watch along with Sam as there
is no room to approach. The creature, however, seems to be frightened off
by the number of people on the roof and leaves Rhune to fly off, apparently
satiated with half her blood instead of all of it. Krige catches Rhune as
she swoons, but finds her able to stand on her own with some effort. Sam
thinks to fire off a couple of arrows at the creature as it flees, but it
blends into the darkness so well he cannot find it with an arrow and it
vanishes into the dark.
Rhune smiles at both of them, "Thank you." she murmurs in a very weak tone
of voice as she attempts to stand. Which after a few seconds she is able
to, though she sways slightly.
Marika comes into Petr and Darya's quarters to find each of them engaged
with one of the black monsters. One is firmly attached to Petr's neck and
fluttering it's wings as he vainly attempts to clear it off. Darya is
slashing about with her dagger and managing to ward hers off quite
admirably. She seems to have some martial training, though her robust
physique makes that seem unlikely. Marika heads to help Petr, who she
briefly chuckles at having to assist.
As she arrives, though, Petr manages to use his round shield to ward the
creature off his neck, though it tries to reattach itself right away,
unsuccessfully. Darya and the bat exchange another series of dodges with
the creature. Petr attempts to right his honor by slashing at the creature
with his long sword and instead manages the almost impossible task of
tossing the weapon cleanly out the window and into the yard. Marika,
however, shows the martial skill she gained in her temple, smashing across
with her staff. A beautiful line drive has the creature flying out the
window more like a baseball than it's namesake. Darya manages to bring hers
down by stabbing it cleanly as well. Petr stands about for a moment,
somewhat bewildered by being made to look foolish while two women do the
warriors work.
Then you both hear a yell of pain coming from the other room, and Darya
yells out, "Taras!" in anguish. Petr dashes madly out toward his son's
room. He finds him bleeding from his leg and side as the creature flutters
madly about in front of him. The young man flails about with his
ineffective battleaxe as the bat manages to catch hold of his cheek and
slash at it. Petr grabs the creature with his bare hands and yanks it away
as Taras falls backward for a moment. The creature utters another shriek of
anger and begins to head for the door, but not quick enough to avoid
Marika's staff, which glances against it and sends it crashing into the
wall. It flutters about and rights itself as Taras stumbles about and Petr
holds onto him. Marika bashes at it again, but it manages to escape out the
window just as Darya comes into the room.