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Zigny mused
silently viewing the carnage below. He knew the C'Mander would have a
plan, now he understood. He would need to take a small force, maybe one
rank. They would have to scale the stone wall in full view of the drow
attackers. That was where Reke and the rest of the svirfguard came into
the plan. They would distract and weaken the invaders, while Zigny
hurried to the alcove.
Zigny turned to the gathered warriors and signalled for
the Fourth Rank to accompany him. With one more look, he and Reke
parted company. Reke lined up the remaining gnomes, all the while
watching the retreating backs of the strike force moving down to one fo
the adjacent tunnels. He set them in two groups, one of skirmishers to
follow him into the inverts, and one of archers, crossbowmen, and
sling-throwers to cover their attack. Then Reke began to count.
Zigny took the men of the Fourth Rank down side tunnels
and through widened cracks into a passage leading to the back wall of
the Cavern. Through the disguised exit, he could see the backs of the
drow watching the inverts tear into the defenses. Zigny turned to
Mand'r Scaris and held up his hand to stop the men. He signalled
silently that the men were to wait while he took to the first
opportunity to jump out and scale the wall. Mand'r Scaris lined up the
men, setting them in two pairs, then sent one pair up the rest of the
tunnel to a point parrallel to the exit where they could watch the
tunnels from the northern gate. Then, the remaining four gnomes waited.
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Zigny and his
men did not have long to wait. Soon they heard the familiar noise of
battle. He watched as Reke, followed by the majority of the gnomes
charged the inverts. Spells, arrows and sling-stones flew from the
disguised tunnel dropping several of the insect-handlers of the drow.
The skirmishers were able to bring down a couple of the beasts, but for
the most part were uneffective in causing major damage to the inverts,
due to their armored hide. Reke signals to switch targets and leads the
skirmishers into the now developing front line of drow attackers.
Zigny had seen enough to know the dark elves were occupied
and dashed forward, out of hiding, and began scaling the rough wall.
Mand'r Scaris took Zigny's place as he dashed out. Once Zigny had
gotten a good distance up the wall, he sent the next pair after him,
then followed himself.
Zigny hadn't quite reached the hidden alcove, when he
heard several tiny bolts hit the wall near him. He climbed quicker and
chanced a glance over his shoulder. A few drow had levitated to get a
better line of sight on the ranged attackers, a couple of them had also
discovered the reason for the diversion. They were firing their
hand-crossbows at the gnomes, but seemed unable to get the attention of
their fellows.
As Zigny watched, one was hit by several sling-bullets and
fell to the ground. The rest seemed to be suffering similar fates.
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