-----As the bottom is reached, the young warrior draws his longsword and charges the center of the troops. "In th' name o' th' Great Rager!" comes his shout as his voice fills the air around the castle.
-----Garrison quickly comes next down the rope. As his feet touch the ground, he just as quickly kneels and nocks an arrow in his bow.
-----Two spears fly toward the catwalk. One strikes the solid stone of the wall and veers harmlessly away. The second spear hits the protective starry sphere surrounding Sarah. With a bright sparking of light, the weapon fails to penetrate and falls off into the courtyard.
-----Three spears are now hastily launched at Sol as he makes his bold charge. All three weapons miss and very quickly the Gorian takes down one of the guards with a mighty swing of his Lathanian blade.
-----Not letting up the pressure for a moment, Sol continues to push into the middle of the mercenaries. He seemingly chooses his targets at random, striking out in viscous arcs and thrusts.
-----Sarah looks somewhat perturbed at the continual failure of her discs to hit the targets. She raises her fingers and sends three golden missiles streaking down towards the men below, careful not to hit any that Sol is about to dice up. The discs are sent out, yet again.
-----Raven readies his bow and begins to fire at the guards with crossbows.
-----Sarah's magic missiles streak down and take two of the guards to the ground while a third appears badly wounded from the magic.
-----The guards closest to Sol now draw hand axes. As the young warrior swings at the nearest, his long sword rings off of one of the shields. The three guards then strike back at him but fail to connect. Sol then thrusts in with his weapon cutting the number of close opponents to him to two.
-----Meanwhile, the two magic discs hurl back into the fray. One disc strikes one of the guards in the face taking him off of his feet and he lies badly dazed on the steps of the keep. The other disc strikes a shield. As it seems to bounce straight up, the magical disc suddenly vanishes.
-----Raven quickly fires two arrows. One shot barely misses one of the guards, shattering the arrow as it hits the stones of the courtyard. The other one pierces a soldier's neck killing him instantly.
-----Suddenly Rinda is there at Raven's side. The huntress draws her own bow and fires twice. Although one shot misses, the other arrow strikes one of the spearmen in the leg.
-----Garrison grabs his battleaxe after dropping another guard with his own arrow shot. He begins to move forward to back Sol up.
-----Seeing half of his force fall before his eyes, the commander begins running up the steps to enter the keep.
-----"Raven, Rinda, stop their leader!" Sol calls as he eyes his opponents contemptuously. As he swings in again, the warrior comments harshly, "Come on ye louts, get stuck into it! I'd 've expected tougher swords fer hire from Krondor, especially after all th' money's th' bastard's looted off th' people o' Hearthorn!"
-----Sarah calmly walks into the battle. She takes a few seconds to glance around and determine the status of their foe, as well as look for potential exits, or entrances, etc. "What do you reckon we should do after these guys are gone?" She asks Sol calmly, apparently not all that concerned with all the mercenaries about.
-----Raven turns to Rinda, "Keep firing at them, my love." Raven flashes a snarl, "Time for their leader to face the Hunter's wraith." Raven puts away his bow and draws his swords. Like a wolf closing in on a kill, Raven races towards their leader.
-----Raven quickly lowers himself into the courtyard while Lovan above them all curses. "Blast!" the priest shouts, "I could send these bastards howling in fear if we didn't already have four of our own down there." A strange expression crosses his face. He then says, "It might affect them but it would still scare the guards."
-----Suddenly catching Lovan's meaning, Romney looks sternly at him and states, "You most certainly will not!" That seems to bring a bit of silence to the storm priest, . . . for now.
-----Meanwhile, down in the courtyard, Sol faces two of the guards while Sarah speaks to him. One of the guards swings his hand axe at the young warrior, which Sol parries easily. But the follow through motion accidentally throws Sol off balance. Thankfully, he does not lose his footing, but he misses his opportunity to swing his weapon as he rights himself. The second guard comes close to hitting him but misses.
-----"The witch! The witch!" two more guards yell and they begin to thrust their spears in Sarah's direction. Luckily in the excitement, one of them trips before he comes close to the young mage. The second one jabs his spear toward her only to have it stopped by her protection sphere.
-----"No!" Harland screams from the catwalk. The enchanted guard then begins to scramble down the rope.