Radiant Cross Hospital

As they hurried back through the tunnel one of the men that had gone right came running towards them.

Savan, he said panting, come quickly, you must see this.

The whole group followed the knight as fast as possible through the tunnel towards the great vault. When they drew nearer the knight signalled them to go slow and quiet. The tunnel ended in an opening some feet above the ground of the vault, a ladder had been drawn up into the tunnel. From the vault came light and a multitude of noises. Having reached the opening Savan and the others crouched down to look down into the vault while staying hidden in the shadows.
Savan gasped as he perceived what caused the noise in the vault: The latter was no longer a hideout, but a bloody battlefield. Broken furniture was lying everywhere, mostly being used as cover, crossbow bolts whizzed through the room from all sides, every now and then men would charge out of a tunnel opening on the ground level at barricades, were beaten back and retreated again. Some barricades seemed to have changed sides at least once and behind most some wounded men in leather armour lay, some even now still firing bolts out of cover with what strength remained.

Give up, Carelus, they heard one man shout from behind a barricade on the left side of the vault, you stand no chance.

Never, came the answer from the other side together with another volley of bolts. You will doom us all.

Savan quietly gave the order to form up. "Get in your teams, one shield and one crossbow. We'll advance quickly into the room using our partners as cover and we'll take them by surprise." Savan unsling his crossbow, checking that it was loaded with a determined look on his face. He got behind Rickard, whom was to be his shield, and prepared to charge.

Whom do you want to attack, boy?, Rickard asked frowning. Everyone?

Savan watched the fight happening below them. "Pelfor, can you identify anyone?" Savan asked, surveying the seen. Savan was mulling over Rickards question, "We don't know who this other group of combatants are. I suppose it might not be ideal to have casualties that we'd have to explain if they aren't reds, but they're also in our way." Savan explained.

The men in the vault were shouting at each other again and then some more men charged out of a sidetunnel but were beaten back by a flurry of bolts. Pelfor, who had assumed an expression of general disbelief mixed with a ... work-related callousness, examined the scene, then said in a hushed voice:

Those on the left are led by Fabius, but those coming from the side tunnel where Quintus's men. The leader on the right side, where the entrance to the deep vaults is, is Carelus. They are all gang leaders, but I don't know why they would fight...

Savan watched the fight for a few moments more, watching as the bolts flew from side to side. "Obviously a conflict of interests. They're all gangs and Reds, we wait until one side wins this fight, and then we sweep in and take them out. I figure that means we have less men to deal with and by watching we could learn something about the location of our documents." Savan said, crouching low.

Savans face contorted into a frown as no side made any progress. "I reckon we could take a few out from over here, cause them to panic and move." Savan thought out loud, before giving the order. "Everyone release a bolt into one of the men closest to us." Savan ordered, as he aimed his crossbow ready to fire.

Savan watched the chaos that ensued from his men's volley, smiling slightly to himself. "Wait until one side is remaining, and then turn em into pincushions, lads. Try to leave one alive if you can, we can question em." Savan gave the order and then reloaded his crossbow, getting ready for another volley.

Rodrick nudged Savan, and whispered in his ear.

Your choice, lad, but they might not all know anything. Probably better to try to take a few more alive if we can. Again, we might get lucky, but maybe not. We might be able to find out if any of them are higher-ups some way, as well.

The large knight waited for Savan's orders in the darkness.

Savan took note of his superiors advice, and decided instead to look at each of the targets individually, looking for anything on their person that would mark them as more important than the underlings. This could be anything from different coloured clothing to higher quality armour or other adornments.

Pelfor watched Savan's attempts at telling one leather clad rogue from another for some moments, then pointed at an unremarkable man with a bald head.

That is Quintus, he whispered, and that - he directed Savan's attention at a corpulent man on whose face the pox had left their mark - is Fabius.

Savan smiled at Pelfor. "You heard him lads, volley fire, I don't want Quintus or Fabius killed. Incapacitated, perhaps, but I need to interrogate them. Don't take a shot unless you are confident that it will not hit anything vital to their rather sad existence." Savan gave the order to fire, raising his own crossbow.

Savan walked up to the two men, and started to pace in front of them. "You've just witnessed what we can do. We have eliminated both of your groups, and put an end to your fighting. Now, repay our kindness by telling me what I want to know." Savan then looked at Fabius, "I'm looking for some documents. They were stolen from us, and I aim to get them back. You can make this easy on yourself, or we can systematically put a bolt through all your non vital areas until you are begging us to end your life, and then we may, if you're lucky, grant your request. Now, where are they?" Savan smiled as he finished the sentence.

Fabius groaned and Quintus muttered: I knew this would happen. I knew it.

Carelus has them, Fabius managed to say holding his injured shoulder and Quintus, who seemed to bear the pain in his leg a bit better, added: We wanted to offer terms to your order, but Carelus wanted to remain hard and increase the pressure. We feared something like this might happen so we tried to seize the documents and artifacts to offer your order a bargain, but Carelus was faster and brought everything to the deep vaults. We tried to get there and that was when the fighting began. Carelus himself must have escaped to the deep during the fighting.

He weakly pointed to the far end of the vault. The entrance is over there and please - have mercy upon us, this was not our doing.

Savan smiled at the men. "If what you say is true then you will be spared, provided you take up an honest living. Some of you may even be welcomed into the hammers, if they'll have you." He then stood up from his crouched position, and barked an order. "I want two of you to stay here with these, tend to their wounds, make sure they don't die, that sort of thing. The rest of you, with me, we're going after those documents." Savan made sure his crossbow was loaded, and started to skulk towards the deep vaults.

Savan cursed under his breath, Why are things never easy!? he thought. He sighed, before looking at his assembled men, and then to Pelfor. "Pelfor, do you happen to know which way we should be going? If not, we'll split up...again." Savan said calmly, looking both ways down the tunnel.

The tunnel displayed a certain slope and Pelfor pointed into the direction that went further downward. That one leads to the deepest point of the vaults, which is a dead end, he said, the other leads out of the city under walls and ends as a grotto on the lake shore. If I was Carelus I would not go to the dead end, he added with a look at the knights.

Savan assessed the situation for a moment before speaking. "It's just typical that Noldor documents would end up back in nature, in a grotto. I say the majority of our force goes to the grotto with myself, and two teams go the other way, just in case. Right then lads, let's do this, Pelfor comes with me." Savan ordered, heading down the tunnel that lead to the grotto.

Savan surveyed the scene for a little while as the chest was loaded onto the boat. He watched for a while before speaking. "I only see three people from here. When they drop that chest, I want a bolt in both of their necks, as well as that one guarding the prisoner. Co-ordinate and bring all three down at once, while the rest of us get closer." Savan ordered, telling 3 of the Gauntlets to wait behind and take the shots. Staying low, he slowly proceeded through the foliage to get closer to the boat with the rest of the men.