-----Sol turns Thunder back down the rise and says to Raven, "I'm still backing on a night attack. Th' guards are active on th' walls, an' I don't really want t'ride up there only t'have th' gates slammed in my face, preceeding th' tingling, ever so slightly searing sensation o' boiling oil being dumped on me."
-----Raven nods, "The cover of darkness sounds good to me. Now..." Raven turns attention to the captured orc, "..let's see what this pile of evil has to say."
-----Raven draws a sword and crouches in front of the orc. With the point of the sword Raven pokes the orc in the shoulder. The Hunter then speaks to the orc in his own language.
-----Sarah smiles at Garrison. "It doesn't sound so bad coming from you." She grins. "Just don't start throwing your jacket over mud puddles for me."
-----On the subject of strategy Sarah says, "If we do wait for night I could try to sneak up the walls and open the gates for the rest of you. Perhaps if some of you attacked with arrows on the opposite side it would make things easier for me."
-----Sarah winces as Raven begins to interrogate the orcs. She doesn't make a secret of the fact that she has no stomach for such things. But she knows better than to tell the hunter what to do.
-----Sol pauses as if to give his usual remonstration but stops short, as he narrows his eyes in Sarah's direction, "Well . . . We probably won't want a distraction from the other side whilst we're getting in. That'll just put th' whole keep on alert. An' I'd really prefer if it weren't you who headed up there on yer own. Yer magic is great fer taking down groups as long as ye have backup, but if yer caught on yer own, ye could still be overwhelmed." It's obvious that he's coming up with this almost as soon as he speaks. He ends with, "Anyway, who knows, perhaps they're stupid enough, or confident enough, t'leave th' gates down fer th' eve."
-----The orc still has its eyes closed as Raven talks to it. It rolls its head and groans as it begins coming to. With a start, its eyes flash open and it shakes as it focuses on Raven. Then its eyes move from the hunter's face to the hand he holds the sword against the orc's shoulder. The humanoid freezes as he takes in Raven's words.
-----For a moment, it is unclear if the orc will answer. Then a hint of a sneer comes across its face and it answers Raven in its cruel language.
-----Sarah slips her arm around Sol's waist and kisses him lightly on the cheek. "Maybe." She says with a smile. She does not want to argue with Sol, mostly because she knows he is right, and very sweet to tell her in the way he did. Sarah was merely offering to help. She squeezes Sol tightly and waits for the result of Raven's interrogation of the orc.
-----Raven looks at the orc and snorts, "He says there are over a hundred orcs in the fort." Raven eyes the orc. "He looks pretty sure of himself, it could be the truth. He also said the orc army we saw is over fighting the humans and elves. No surprise there." Raven thinks for a moment and then says, "Do any of you have any questions for this curse of life?"
-----Raven looks over at Sarah, "It would be a great blow to orcs if we took out this keep." Raven looks over the battlefield, "We made short work of this group. It would depend on the magic you could wield and if we could use the element of surprise." Raven looks at the keep and snarls, "I'm up for it."
-----Sarah grins in response to Raven's enthusiasm. "For me to have the best chance of helping we should wait until dawn. In addition to having the maximum number of spells I could also memorize the ones that would help most in storming a keep." She says with an eager tone. "But I think we can do it!" She glances at Sol. "What do you think?"
-----He holds Sarah's glance for a good few seconds before turning to look towards the now out of sight keep. One short nod later and the Stormbringer is nodding at the mage's question, "Yes, we can do it. Dawn could work, especially if we wait fer th' sun t'hit th' walls, an' we come in from th' eastern side. Raven, can ye ask yer guest if he was a part o' patrol from th' keep or th' force that just left?"
-----"I could do some scouting," Rinda says as Raven turns back to the orc. "Even during the night I could get inside the keep and find out more before we attack."
-----This time the orc seems a bit more agitated as it speaks with Raven.
-----Raven looks back to Sol, "He doesn't seem to help us. He said his kind will find and kill us." Raven says to Rinda, "Yes, let us do some scouting before dawn. Then once Sarah is ready, we'll move on the keep."
-----Raven turns his gaze to the orc, "Let's see what he knows about the keep." With amazing speed and without warning, Raven drives his sword in between the orc's legs and into the earth under the orc, missing the orc by an inch. Raven speaks to the orc in orcish.