"Take care with your shots."<br/><br/>That was Lyle, having taken a similar position on the rooftops that happened to be right next to the elven thief from the tavern.  Currently the archer was at a ready stance, his legs spread, an arrow nocked and ready on a bow that was, at the moment, pointed at the roof beneath him.  Though having carried a short bow, Lyle had the smaller weapon at his feet,his longbow being more suited for the job here.  To say that he was unhappy with his position on the roof would be an understatement but, really, what choice did Lyle have after the conversation with Ser Kathrine?<br/><br/><i>Should've left here a lot sooner,</i>he thought bitterly.  Whether Kathrine had been serious or was just telling tales to scare them, Lyle had believed her either way about the lurking bandits that were waiting for some frightened townsfolk to come stumbling right into their clutches.  Though the hunter had confidence in his skills with stealth and could possibly move passed an average Joe without them knowing in a dark forest, he had not wanted to test them against possible death when there could've possibly been a lot of bandits that would've waited for him to slip up and slit his throat.<br/><br/>And if the approaching army was any indication, there were<i>a lot</i>of bandits out there.<br/><br/>So, with no other choice, Lyle had went back to his room to the tavern, got his longbow, some extra arrows, and went to the nearest rooftop that had been fortified and was now manned by archers and their protectors.  Oh, he also had a last meal.  And a last drink.  He may've tried to drink more then the one round that he actually drunk but he was afraid about dulling his senses with alcohol.  Senses that could lead him to slip-up and die in the coming battle.  Of course, that was back when he<i>thought</i>that he had a chance for survival.  Seeing the forest light up with hundreds of torches didn't exactly do much for his confidence about winning.<br/><br/>But hell, if he was going to see this to the end, he might as well look like he was expecting to live through this.  This included giving tips to a food-stealing, sword-drawing, albeit pretty, elf.  Usually Lyle wouldn't had even thought to give tips to an elf but it was immediately noticeable as to how Aure awkwardly handled the crossbow that had been given to her that she was certainly not like her Dalish counterparts.<br/><br/>"Take your shots carefully," Lyle continued. "That weapon you have there is going to take a long time to reload so put that eye down the sight and keep your hands steady.  You'll have all the time in the world-"<br/><br/><i>Until they kill everyone down there and then come for us.<br/>
<br/>
Shut up!</i><br/><br/>"to set up the kill." Somehow Lyle managed to complete that sentence with a steady voice despite the distracting thought. "Make those bolts count."<br/><br/>He, on the other hand, was very confident in his abilities.  Really, a human being was larger and slower then any other animal that he had hunted before so Lyle felt confident at taking shot after shot into the coming melee.  And unlike Aure's crossbow, he just had to worry about shooting as fast as he could nock an arrow into his longbow.  Which was helluva a lot faster then what someone could do with a crossbow.  When the bandits came charging forward, it was time for him to act.  Raising the longbow and pointing it down at the approaching combatants, Lyle pulled back the arrow he already had in place and with a slow breath, released it.  Designed for these long distance shots, the longbow had the arrow go flying through the air, eating up the distance between him and the bandits in seconds before burrowing into a body.<br/><br/>Though Lyle would've usually admired his handiwork, there were a lot of bandits to kill.  As soon as he fired the first arrow, his hand was already at the quiver at his back, retrieving another arrow which he nocked, pulled back, aimed, and fired.<br/><br/><i>I'm going to need more arrows,</i>came the thought before Lyle thought of nothing else but the steps of nock, aim, and fire.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>