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"Whatever you can do," Ellery replied, her tone equally dry

Entreri learned the hard way that his location atop the keep&039;s roof had put hioyles He&039;d taken down three of them, but as four more of the beasts leaped and fluttered around hiblows

Froreenish goo fros and drove it dohere it stuck fast, hopelessly adhered to the stone A second of the gargoyles broke off fro drow, but before the assassin could begin to get his feet properly under hi two, another pair ca under his breath, the assassin continued his wild dance, using Charon&039;s Claw to set up walls of opaque ash to aid hilanced quickly at the rope line to note Athrogate&039;s progress and had to adlad to see the dwarf fast approaching - an adht he&039;d never make where that one was concerned

Entreri workednot only to stay away fro foursome but to turn theain a quick advantage

He started left, then cut back to the right, toward the center of the rooftop He fell fast to one knee and thrust his sword straight up, gashing a dropping gargoyle that fast beat its wings to lift back out of reach Entreri started to co hand slashed just above his head, so he threw himself forward into a roll instead He ca as he did, sword arm extended, to fend off the furious attacks With their ability to fly and leap upon him, the beasts should have had him - would have had any typical human warrior - but Artele of his whipping blade to defend against attacks fro by the harness under the rope, Athrogate caht up to the keep&039;s stone wall

"Get up there and get ye fighting!" he roared at Olgerkhan

With still just one are half-orc up over the lip of the stone wall Olgerkhan clipped his foot as he went over, and that sent hi tuood dwarf!" Mariabronne called froirl," Athrogate explained "Clihtin&039;!"

Not needing to be asked twice, Mariabronne scraentle, or at least tried not to stoate, both his hands free again, grabbed the ranger by the ankles and heaved hi on the roof beside Entreri and Olgerkhan Athrogate couldn&039;t see any of that, since he was hanging under the rope, but he heard the cohter

As soon as the rope stopped bouncing, the dwarf released a secondary hook on the harness and a few quick pu back down the decline toward the others He cla hi out toward him Unlike Entreri and Mariabronne, the dwarf had not hooked his ankles over the rope but was si hand and rotated his hips so that when he grabbed the rope again, that hand was in front And on he went, rocking fast and hand-walking the rope

Athrogate nodded and grinned as he watched the priest&039;s progress Pratcus wore a sleeveless studded leather vest, and theelse, Athrogate knew

"Put a bit of an enchantate said as Pratcus approached Athrogate turned himself around so that his head was doard the other dwarf, and reached out to take Pratcus&039;s hand

"Strength o&039; the bull," Pratcus confirate&039;s offered hand

A spin and swing had Pratcus back up high beyond the hanging dwarf, where he easily caught the rope again and continued along his way

Athrogate hoith laughter and resumed his descent to the toall

"Who&039;s next?" he asked the relanced at Canthan "Take Arrayan," she decided, "then Canthan, and I will go last"

"We&039;ve not the time for that, I fear," caard Jarlaxle

The drow tossed a second cord to Athrogate, and the dwarf reeled hi to our presence," Jarlaxle explained as he descended

He round, soue but lost his voice when he followed Jarlaxle&039;s lead to look down For there was the undead horde again, clawing through the soil andrope

"Oh, lovely," said Canthan

"They&039;re co into the wall tunnels, too," Jarlaxle inforh to cut the rope behind us?" Athrogate roared

"Oh, lovely," said Canthan

Jarlaxle nodded to Ellery

"Go," he bade her "Quickly"

Ellery strapped her axe and shield over her back and scraate

"Be quick or ye&039;re to get ate barked at her

She didn&039;t look back and irl and drop her to the horde, sounded a voice in Athrogate&039;s head

The dwarf assulance Canthan&039;s way

Our victory will he near coirl," the obedient Athrogate said to Arrayan

Jarlaxle alit on the wall top beside the worabbed her arm as she started for the dwarf "I&039;ll take her," he said to the dwarf, and to Canthan, he added, "You go with hier - and suspicion, for had the drow soe to the dwarf? Or had Athrogate&039;s glance his way sons for Arrayan? Canthan used his custo ee said

"Levitate," Jarlaxle corrected

"Straight up and down"

"Weightlessly," the drow explained, and he took the end of his second cord froate and looped it around the lead of the housebreaker harness "We will be no drag on you at all, good dwarf"

Athrogate figured it all out and howled all the louder Canthan was tentatively edging out toward hirabbed the wizard by the belt, roughly pulling hiate declared with a hearty guffaw

"Hook your arh the harness and hold on," Jarlaxle bade the wizard "Free up the dwarf&039;s ar, else this castle will catch us before we reach the other side"

Canthan continued to stare at the surprising drow, and he saw clearly in Jarlaxle&039;s returned gaze that the dark elf&039;s instructions had e drawn between them, Canthan knew

But the time to cross over that line and dare Jarlaxle to defy him had not yet come He had kept plenty of spells handy and was far froainst the castle&039;s hordes, whatever the outco at Jarlaxle, the wizard moved to the lip of the wall and tentatively bent over to find a handhold on Athrogate&039;s harness He yelped with surprise when the dwarf grabbed hi hih soate planted his heavy boots against the stone wall, pushed off, and began hand-walking the rope

Jarlaxle took up the slack quickly and moved to the lip with Arrayan

"Do hold on," the dark elf bade her, and to her obvious shock, he just stepped off

Perhaps to ease the grasping woman&039;s nerves, the drow used his power of levitation to rise up a bit higher, putting more room between them and the undead monsters Canthan had heard tell that all droere possessed of the ability to levitate, but he suspected that Jarlaxle was in fact using so or other piece of jewelry He ell aware that the ic ite precisely what they were ofast, Ellery!" Athrogate called to the woet yerself a dwarf head! Bwahaha!"

Ellery, no fool, seemed to pick up a bit of speed at that proclaht was still on at the keep, for the undead had begun scaling the tower - or trying to, at least - andto the central structure

Mariabronne worked his bow furiously, running frooyles above and skeletons scraerkhan, too, ishly He carried ate had unceremoniously tossed hie warrior, so bone-weary by then, had simply been too slow to react Still, he tried to help out, using gargoyle corpses as bo undead

Arteht feet down the s with a heavy iron door The door was locked, he soon discovered, and cleverly so A quick inspection had also shown him more than one trap set around the portal, another clear reyian construct kne to protect itself He was in no hurry, anyway - he didn&039;t intend to open the door until the others had arrived - so he carefully and deliberately went over the details of the jamb, the latch, potential pressure plates set on the floor

"We&039;ve got to get in quickly!" Mariabronne cried out to hi of his great bow

"Just keep the beasts off erkhan cried out in pain

"Breach!" Mariabronne shouted

Cursing under his breath, Entreri turned from the door and rushed back up the stairs, to see Mariabronne ferociously battling a pair of gargoyles over to his right, near where the rope had been set A third creature was fast approaching

Behind the ranger, Olgerkhan sluh wall stones

"Help erkhan struggled to get up, but argoyle just as Pratcus gained the roof The dwarf usted look and walked past hi not for theto show signs of battle wear, as claws slipped through his defenses and tore at hier cried to Entreri, and as the dwarf&039;s healing washed over hiy "The door! Breach the door!"

Entreri paused long enough to glance past the trio to see Ellery&039;s painfully slow progress on the rope and the other four working toward hi behind Athrogate and the hanging wizard

He shook his head and ran back to the keep&039;s upper before the rest arrived, and checked yet again for anywas near perfect, and he clicked open the lock just as the others piled onto the stairwell behind hiate rabbed hi hiue er over his pursed lips

The assassin stepped past Athrogate and bent low After a cursory inspection of the stones beyond the threshold, Entreri reached into a pouch and pulled forth some chalk dust He tossed it out to cover a certain section of the stones

"Pressure plate," he explained, stepping back and o on

"Got yer uses," the dwarf gruht up the rear of the line The drow looked at hiht atop the assassin&039;s chalk

"Make theratulated, and Entrerito understand it all," Jarlaxle added "Should I be worried?"

"Yes"

The sirin to Jarlaxle&039;s coal-black face