As the company enters the main room once, again, meaning they are close to the exit, they hear shallow breathing. Athlenah says, 'You hear that?'
Caithryth raises her voice a bit. "Byrhtnoth?" The shallow breathing continues for a moment, before an unintelligible murmur is coughed out in response. Caithryth slowly drops down the chest. "That didn't sound good." Gaeded would nod in agreement, keeping hold of the chest. "If he is still alive, there shouldn't be any skeletons about. We should carry the chest with us." Athlenah rise up the lantern higher to see more. Caithryth hauls the chest up again, nodding. "Alright." There are no signs of skeletons nearby as Athlenah shines the light higher. Caithryth says, 'Wait a minute, we came from here. We must be close to the exit!' Gaeded would nod, smiling some.
However, just as the company gets happy for their closeness to the exit, they see a figure slumped against the opposite railing. It is a man and he is still standing, but his legs quiver and looks like they will give way any moment. Caithryth calls out the name of their Rohir companion again. "It's us!" The figure looks up but says nothing. The shallow breathing continues - it is coming from him. Caithryth looks at Gaeded. "You think he's alright?"
Athlenah says, 'He is looking even worse than me.'
Gaeded looks to Caithryth, 'He must be injured. Let's help him. Get him out of here.' Caithryth puts the chest down this time and walks over to the man, slowly. "Everything alright?"
Now that the company is closer and Athlenah has the light, they can see that Byrhtnoth is battered and bruised. He holds his hand to his stomach, his hand and clothing stained a deep crimson, with wet, fresh blood. Gaeded would translate Caithryth's question to him. He shakes his head, and replies with a shaky voice. Gaeded looks to Caithryth, "He wants to be helped outside, to see the sky before he dies. Because he knows he will die."
Caithryth narrows her eyes. "Tell him he was wrong before, so he might do so again. However, he's right. We should hurry."
Gaeded would nod some, 'We'll have to leave the chest here. He cannot walk on his own, he said, and will need someone to help him.'
Athlenah says, 'We can hide the chest in this room and come back for it later.'
Caithryth raises a brow, 'There's not much hiding necessary, just get him out. We can always come back.'
Gaeded says at the same time as Caithryth, 'No time. Just leave it here. Who will steal it?'
Athlenah says, 'You never know', not seemingly concerned for the dying man much.
Gaeded would speaks to Byrhtnoth and he nods. He then pushes with his hand that is on the railing so to move towards Caithryth so she can help him, as she is closest to him. However, his legs fail him and he ends up falling towards her. Caithryth will have to catch him. Caithryth takes a step towards the man and tries to catch him, which she manages somehow, despite his size. "Careful, big one!" She looks over at Gaeded. "I think we need to hurry." Gaeded would nod to Caithryth and would moves to try and help. Quite suddenly Byrhtnoth takes several sharp, deep breaths and his body spasms before falling limp in Caithryth's arms. Caithryth lets the man carefully down onto the floor, so he lies on his back, and tries to slap him awake on his cheek, "No! Stay here!" Byrthnoth's body just lays there for a few moments, his body still warm. Then, his eyes open, just barely and his hands reach up, feeling for Caithryth and he tries to grab her hand with his free one.
Athlenah takes down her hood and looks pale. Caithryth kneels down at the man's side, looking relieved for a moment. "Attaboy!" Then, she puts her hand on his chest. "It's going to be all alright, we'll be out of here in no time."
As Caithryth puts her hand on his chest, she realises that Byrhtnoth is not breathing anymore. That is when she realises his hand with the long dagger in has moved and the tip of the blade is now pressing against the leather armour of her abdomen. She has moments to react before the dagger will be pushed in further...
Caithryth is still grinning and tries to get over the dire situation by making some kind of jest. "Are you happy to see me or is that a ..." the next word she calls out, "Knife!" and pushes herself off, stumbling back and landing on her ass in the dust with a thud. Caithryth puts a finger through the hole in her leather jerkin. "I got a bad feeling about that."
Athlenah steps back, 'I say we need to get out of here. Now.'
Bryhtnoth looks up, his expression rather blank. He murmers something in Rohirric, barely audible and then pushes himself up, ignoring his injury completely. As soon as Athlenah says 'Now', he lunges at her with the knife. Caithryth pushes herself up, swaying a bit after having hit her head on the uneven stone floor. "Now you, stop that shit." she calls out to Brythnoth rather ineffectively as she steadies herself against parts of the wooden railing. Gaeded would ready her sword as Byrhtnoth starts to attack them. She swings her shield down to ready it also. Athlenah drops the lantern and grabs his wrist that he is holding the dagger in and hold him at a distance, "What the!"
Byrhtnoth, with some strength that doesn't seem quite natural, tries to pull his hand free from Athlenah's grip. Then he will try to send an uppercut at her chin with his free hand. Caithryth fumbles for her sword and calls out to Gaeded. "Tell him to stop this madness!" Then she shakes her head to clear her foggy mind and start taking proper stock of the situation.
Byrhtnoth yanks his hand away, making Athlenah's fingers hurt some from the force he pulls his hand away with. Gaeded calls out to Byrhtnoth and he pauses some just before he goes to do the uppercut, but doesn't respond. Athlenah releases her grip as she feels the pain. She looks at him confused but when he turns back to Ath and attacks her she moves back.
Byrhtnoth grumbles in Rohirric, frustrated. He takes a step back and then takes out the axe from the frog on his belt. Caithryth finally freed her sword, seeing Athlenah and Byrhtnoth fight with each other frees her from her stupor and she takes her sword in a two-handed grip changing to a high guard. "Do we take him out?" Gaeded would keep her shield up on guard, "I don't know whats come over him. We could try to knock him out and restrain him, perhaps."
Athlenah shouts desperatly, 'Please think of something fast!' In that moment, Byrhtnoth turns to Caithryth and tries to charge her with the axe. Caithryth tries to move to the back of the man, her sword still raised high. He sees her, though, and when he charges she easily takes the steps back, back out of the way of the war axe's reach. "Restrain how!" Athlenah take off her bag and take out some rope. Gaeded would shout to Caithryth, 'Knock him out and then restrain him!'
Byrhtnoth pulls his axe back, seeing Athlenah put down her guard and open her bag to take out some rope. He turns and sprints at her, trying to slash her shoulder with his axe. Athlenah looks up and sees him coming and quickly rolls aside, holding the rope in her hand. Caithryth lets her sword drop down and takes two, three swift steps before launching herself against the back of the much bigger man, trying to keep his arms under control by bearhugging him from behind, wrapping her legs around his waist.
Byrhtnoth, as Athlenah rolls out of the way, manages to kick her bag that is full of gold towards the edge of the raised platform. He is stopped from moving further by Caithryth landing on his back and bearhugging him. Byrhtnoth struggles against Caithryth's bearhug for the time being. Athlenah quickly make a lasso of the rope and starts spinning it above her head. She throws it at the two and captured them both with the rope, pulling it tight before she realises what she's done. Byrhtnoth looks rather surprised at the rope falling around his waist and tightening, with Caithryth still on his back. However, he tries to counter this by turning and running in the opposite direction to try and pull Athlenah over as she holds the rope. Caithryth tries to keep her arm around his weapon arm, keeping it pinned close to his body with relative ease, when the rope hits them. She was just about to work her other arm up, to try and choke off his throat when Athlenah pulls at the end, calling out "Not me!" Athlenah holds the rope with an iron grip and leans a bit back, standing strong.
Caithryth hooks her arm underneath that mans throat, finds the right angle and pulls heavily, but apparently it doesn't slow him down at all, despite all her straining. Athlenah starts to pull in the rope some. Byrhtnoth stumbles some at Athlenah pulls the rope, however is able to regain his balance. He grunts and then tries to run towards.. the chest filled with gold that they put down. He tries to kick it. Caithryth lets go of the man's throat and reaches down to grab her dagger. "I don't think it's him anymore!" Byrhtnoth gets stopped by the rope, again. He grunts, and then tries again to kick the chest off the ledge. Athlenah pulls the rope harder, stopping him from kicking the chest again.
Caithryth frees the dagger from its sheath, moves her arm back up and forcefully stabs it back against the man's chest or throat, difficult to hit while being on top of him. Caithryth's blade lands just underneath is collarbone, sinking into still warm flesh. It doesn't stop him, except from a small grunt and he kicks the top of the chest hard, sending it backwards and over the ledge. The lid, which was unlocked, falls open and the sounds of the coins that were splashing into the water below can be heard.
Gaeded would call out to Caithryth, "Try to get off his back! I don't want to accidently hit you if I attack him!"
Caithryth nods, grips her dagger tighter and tries to get off this wild ride, as her mount starts to thrash wildly, pulling the rope tighter as well. Waiting for the opportune moment, she pushes herself off, sliding down Byrthnoth's back, even managing to not get entangled in the rope, although it does take quite some effort. As Caithryth drops down, Bryhtnoth is able to get his arm with the axe free of the rope and he sends the axe towards the rope. Bryhtnoth's axe slices through the rope and it falls limp in Athlenah's hands. The man grumbles something and then charges at the woman who captured him with the rope.
Caithryth gets her proper balance again and throws herself against the back of the beast, pushing her dagger in deep between the shoulder blades with a meaty thud. Black blood spills out as she withdraws the length of metal.
Athlenah holds tight to the rope but when the Rohir, or whatever he is now, cuts the rope Ath loses a bit of balance, taking a moment to steady herself, then pulls in what remains of the rope. She just jumps out of the way as he swings at her, yelling to the others, "Help me!"
Gaeded would run over at the man, sword raised. She swings it round and slashes at his hip. It hits, but the man doesn't even acknowledge the hit. Bryhtnoth shrugs off the attacks at him, focusing on Athlenah still and slashes at her.
Caithryth sees the glint of metal on the floor and spots her sword, which she dropped earlier. She makes a dash for it, to grab it on the run before returning to aim the freshly reacquired sword at its legs, causing a red slash over the back of both shins. "Take someone your own size!" she calls out at it. Athlenah quickly moves aside, looking annoyed at Caith, "Hey!" Gaeded would go to swing at Byrhtnoth, but he moves to attack Athlenah, her swing missing the man entirely. Byrhnoth would glance in Caith's direction a moment, not really noticing the hit. However, when Athlenah speaks, he turns back to her and swings at her again. Athlenah ducks and jumps back, "Looks like he is reacting to sound."
Caithryth laughs out. "What do you think I'm trying to do here, fool!" then her sword strikes out, cutting through his mail and clothing on his back, the gleaming tip returning bloody. Gaeded would make a quick stab at the man's thigh, focusing on try to cause some damage to the man.
Athlenah screams in frustration, 'Oh, shut up! Weren't you all over him earlier!?'
Byrhtnoth barely winces as Caithryth slices his back. He again quickly acknowledges her with a glance, but Athlenah's exclamation draws his focus back to her, and he swings at her with his axe, taking a large step forward.
Caithryth calls out the word 'idiot' as she goes in for the next attack, aiming for the man's weapon arm this time. Another cut that drew blood, as the slim blade found a way past the leather to harm.
Athlenah moves more back, being close to the side.
Gaeded would swing her sword low, at the man's ankles. It cuts through the leather of his boots, blood staining the tip of her sword.
Athlenah notices her bag on the floor next to her, next to the ledge. She bends down and picks up her bag.
Byrhtnoth stops as Athlenah moves backwards, hearing Caithryth's voice and then turning towards her, quickly slashing at her with his blade. Caithryth grins broadly in the dim light as the hulking shape turns around to face her. Bringing her weapons in pose she calls out. "Now. Let's dance." And dancing she must, as the speed with which the axe descends towards her causes her to dodge a step backwards, out of reach of the heavy swings.
Gaeded would swing her sword downwards, towards the mans back. But as he moves to attack Caithryth, her blade just falls short of hitting him.
Byrhtnoth seems to grin, toothy and wide, malicious intent shining in his eyes. Caithryth continues to mock their enemy. "Fighting, not gawping." She stretches her arm forward, the metal tip of the sword punching neatly into the man's chest, going in a few fingers deep after overcoming the resistance of leather and mail. He doesn't seem to notice it, even, and as if he has waited for it, the axe comes down now, with force. Metal scrapes over metal as she brings blades up to meet the axe halfway.
Athlenah takes out her bow and an arrows, taking aim, breaths in and releases on her outward breath, hitting the man in his left shin. Gaeded would, as Caithryth's blades meet the axe, stab her sword into the man's side, passing through his mail and into his flesh a few inches before pulling it out. Byrhtnoth would keep grinning and with the long dagger in his other hand, he goes to stab Caithryth in the stomach. Caithryth grins back. "You got to try harder!" He does. She sees the movement a bit late, but manages to twist her body to the side, so the blade just cuts through leather. His knuckle hits her, though, and makes her wince somewhat. Gaeded would slash at the man again, hitting his lower back, blood flicking off the end of her sword as she draws it back. Athlenah take out a new arrow and releases it and hits the man's right shoulder.
Byrhtnoth is looking worse for wears, but doesn't seem to care. At Caithryth's words, he quickly swings at her with the axe, followed by another stab with the dagger. Gaeded would take another swing at the man, going for his shoulder. He shifts and moves out of the way as he goes to attack Caithryth. Caithryth brings her steels back up to meet the axe, catching the shaft easily to parry that blow. This time, she can't weasel her way out of the man's thrust, and he draws blood. "You're getting the hang of this." she half shouts, half winces. Athlenah take out a third arrow and takes aim and releases, the arrow missing the Rohir and nearly hitting Caithryth.
Byrthnoth begins to laugh manically, trying to then feign with the dagger and then hook the axe around her back and slash the backpack and then her back itself.
Caithryth winces as he pulls his axe free, almost twisting her wrist fatally hard. She stumbles back two, three steps, fending off the idle dagger thrusts with a slash of hers before deflecting the heavy axe blow downwards, where the axe head throws up a small cloud of dust and dirt. Gaeded would stab at the man, managing to get him good in the gut. This doesn't fell him though, when it should really. Byrhtnoth, after the stab to his gut, would turn to Gaeded, swinging down at her, the axe reaching quite far.
Athlenah takes out a new arrow and knocks it, letting it fly towards his upper left arm but the arrow only scratches it. Caithryth sees the man turn to the side and thrusts her sword arm forward, extended to the maximum, to guide the steel between the man's ribs on his side. Gaeded would twist her body and shield to try to defend against the swing of the axe. She doesn't quite anticipate it properly and the blade catches her side and onto her back, managing to rip into the fabric of her bag. It splits and coins start to fall from it onto the ground.
Byrhtnoth seems to grin at this, despite looking quite beaten by this point. As Caithryth stabs him in the ribs, he snaps his eyes to her and then turns from Gaeded back to her, swinging at her with his dagger swiftly. Caithryth frees her sword with a swift pull, eyes opening wildly as the man turns to face her nonetheless. Reflexes and training take over, and the swift thrust of his dagger is cought by the crossguard of her own dagger, deflecting the force of it off to her side. Athlenah take out a new arrow from her quiver and takes aim, But the Rohir is moving to much so Ath doesn't have a clear shot. The moment Ath thinks she has one and releases, the Rohir moves away and the arrow hits stone with plink and breaks.
Gaeded would, as Byrhtnoth moves to slash at Caithryth, lunge and flick her sword at his leg, cutting through an unarmoured part and making a deep wound there. Byrhtnoth grunts as his blade gets deflected and he gets cut at the same time. Quickly, trying to catch Caithryth off guard, he send the axe straight at her face and then tries to hook her foot to knock her to the floor. Caithryth brings her sword upwards, meeting the axe blow with both her weapons in a crossblock, causing her to grunt at the strain he puts onto her arms. His footwork was entirely unexpected, and so she senses it way too late - and gets sent sprawling onto the ground. The impact knocks the air out of her lungs. Caithryth pushes herself up onto her elbows - and stares at the incoming boot. Without thinking, she throws herself to the side, landing flat on her stomach, scrabbling for gain on the stone floor to get up again.
Gaeded would, as she sees Byrhtnoth manage to knock Caithryth to the floor, drop her shield and swiftly draw her seax from it's sheathe. Before Byrhtnoth has much of a chance to react, she plunges the blade into his shoulder, deep, and then moves back to grab her shield from the floor. Athlenah looks at the two fighting. Now that Caith is on the floor, Ath can have a clear shot on the Rohir without accidently hurting her. Ath quickly takes out an arrow and takes aim and releases when Gaeded bends down to grab her shield, so, the arrow soars above her into the other shoulder of Byrhtnoth.
Byrhtnoth, after getting hit by Gaed and Ath, pauses and wobbles some. Caithryth pushes herself up, finally, and whirls around to pay him back. Just as she lunges out, he strikes her weapon arm with his, deflecting the blow. She feels the pain shoot down her forearm, yet her grip around the steel remains. Athlenah moves more to the side to get a better shot, not firing an arrow at him this time. Gaeded would take a swing at Byrhtnoth as he wobbles, but when he surges back to life the swing that was intended for his shoulder hits nothing but air. Athlenah pulls out another arrow and carefully takes aim waiting for an opening. Seeing how he is wobbling, Ath releases her arrow towards his right foot.
Byrhtnoth grins and then tries to hit Caithryth in the face with the shaft of his axe. Caithryth pushes her sword up, hitting Byrthnoth's weapon arm with the flat of the blade with enough force for him to miss her completely. "Winded, eh?" She asks, slightly out of breath herself. Gaeded would go to swing at Byrhtnoth again, going for a forceful more bludgeoning blow with her sword. Again, she misses but the force of the blow actually makes the sword leave her hand and fly into the pillar at the side. Luckily, it doesn't seem to get damaged.
Byrhtnoth still keeps standing, despite having been hit many times now. He growls some and slashes fast down with the axe and then with the dagger at Caithryth.
Athlenah choses not to attack but takes out one of her daggers, shouting, "Gaeded! Catch!" She throws her dagger and it lands near Gaeded's feet, so the shieldmaiden can pick it up to fight. Caithryth growls out a low noise as she brings her weapons up to parry the barrage of attacks, taking more and more steps back as the onslaught continues. "How is he still alive!"
Athlenah calls, 'Lets try and go for the head!'
Gaeded would just manage to catch the blade in time as Athlenah throws it to her. She stands back a moment though, watching Byrhtnoth for an opening.
Byrhtnoth lets out a garbled laugh and then looks over his shoulder at Athlenah, his face bloody and gory now. He gives her a look before deciding to charge over at her, swinging the axe to try and break her bow. Caithryth sees the man turn and stops her retreat, to push forward with a heavy, low slash at his legs. Caithryth shouts out. "Don't talk, he's reacting to it!" Athlenah rolls aside, dodging him. Gaeded would slash at the man as he moves past her, hitting him but not felling him. Byrhtnoth gives Athlenah a toothy grin and then tries to kick her in the chest.
Gaeded would try to throw the dagger at Byrhtnoth from this distance, but misses completely and the dagger flies over the edge and into the water below. Athlenah rolls aside again, dodging the attack and sees her dagger flying over the edge and hears it hitting water, casing a splash, "Dammit, Gaeded!"
Gaeded calls to Athlenah, 'Sorry!'
Athlenah calls back, 'You better retrieve that later once we kill this thing!' Caithryth sees the man continuing to keep attacking Athlenah and decides to push it further. As he was raising his axe to go for another blow she strikes, pushing her blade forward forcefully. It finds its way between leather and mail, and deep into the man's chest cavity. Athlenah can see the tip protruding out on her side, for a moment, before she pulls the weapon free again. Byrthnoth's movements slow down, and with a luck of puzzlement his grin fades as he collapses to the floor.
Gaeded would watch the man fall to the floor, "He's dead? Did you kill him, Caith?"
Athlenah takes some steps back. She is suprised when the sudden sword appears through his chest. Caithryth stands there, breathing heavily, her long steel heavy with dark red. "I don't know. What does it look like?" Byrhtnoth stays down on the floor, a pool of blood seeping out from under him.
Caithryth sheathes her dagger, but still with sword in hand, tries to roll the man onto his back. Caith is unable to move Byrhtnoth's heavy and limp body. He is quite certainly... not conscious. As they are doing this however, the clicking of bones, many bones, comes to the ears of the three.
Athlenah looks to Caithryth, 'I think you went through his spine.'
Caithryth and Gaeded, as they hear the sounds of clicking bones, are able to make out in the darkness the shapes of several skeletons. Some in the water, some on the stairs, some in the passageway. It doesn't matter where they are really, it is evident that they were drawn by the noise and are coming for the three. Caith notices that he still has some of the gold he took from the tomb on him, stuffed in his pockets.
Athlenah says, 'Gaeded, lets see if we can retrieve some of our treasure and my dagger.'
Gaeded would jog, somewhat out of breath, over to her sword, speaking quietly, "Skeletons. Too many. Go, no time."
Caithryth gives up trying to roll him over. Instead she looks for something on him, or in his pockets. She's ignoring the others for now, fully absorbed in what she's doing.
Athlenah walks to the edge to look around but after few steps and pain shoots into her left shoulder and falls to her knees, an arrow in her shoulder.
Gaeded calls, 'Ath!' Gaeded would run over to Ath, "Can you get up? Can you walk?" She speaks fast, hurriedly.
Caithryth takes a good handful of the gold coins out of his pockets into hers. Then she continues looking over his fingers for rings, or for a wrist bracelet. Athlenah looks around her in a panic and sees a skeleton behind her on top of the stairs with its bow. "Help me up"
There is a tattoo on Byrhtnoth's wrist. The imagery looks important, as if referring to family, as there are five figures drawn with a knot shape around them. Gaeded would hold out her hand, which still has the shield on it, "Pull yourself with this." Athlenah takes hold of her shield and pushes herself up. Caithryth gives up and finally looks around. "We need to go."
Gaeded would look over at Caithryth, "Yea, go!" She then looks to Athlenah, "Go as quick as you can. I'll take the rear." Caithryth ducks a bit as an arrow flies over her, clattering against the far wall. Then she stands up, and runs over to grab Athlenah by her shoulder. "Let's go!" Athlenah grunts in pain as the arrow is still sticking out of her shoulder.
Gaeded would raise her shield, an arrow piercing the wood just as she does, Gaeded barely defending herself in time. Caithryth shouts, 'Go! It's the shoulder, not the legs.' Athlenah push herself up and starts moving. An arrow lands on the spots where she just got up from. Caithryth says, 'You're doing good.'
Athlenah says, 'Lets hope no skeletons are ahead.'
Caithryth says, 'I'm hoping for the sun.'
Athlenah says, 'I wouldn't mind the moon as well.'
There three were able to outrun the skeletons with ease, however, now that they are out of the tomb, they should try to close the doors, lest the skeletons come out and attack them. Athlenah aids them with one arm. Caithryth turns around as well, and once Gaeded followed through, she pushes the door shut. Caithryth strains, putting her shoulder to work. "Help me Gaeded!" Gaeded would quickly turn and push against the door.
All three of them push, but Athlenah feels pain in her shoulder and has to stop because of the arrow in there. However, Gaeded and Caithryth, with their combined forces, push the door shut. They successfully escaped the tomb, though with about a third of the treasure they originally found.
