Avery sat by the dwindling fire of his camp, nursing away at a bottle of ale as he used a stick to tease the flames awake. He'd been put in charge, so to speak, in Cassius's absences due to Lady Maren. God, Avery hates it in Tamberle. It reeks of the fire-fens even inside the city, there's [i]too many people[/i] - he [i]likes[/i] a crowd, and there's still too many! - and Cassius had told them all explicitly to just [i]lie low[/i] unless given direct orders, which is the exact opposite of why he joined this damned group. He wanted action! Adventure! Treasure! Damsels in distress! Sure, he's eaten and drank better in the last month than he has in his entire nineteen years, but [i]still![/i] He longed for something more. Something meaningful. Something-

[i]"Wake up!" comes a feminine voice of which Avery does not recognize. "Prepare for battle! Your captain has commanded you to rally to the walls!"[/i]

Avery grins as his brothers-in-arms start to rouse awake. An uninvited guest! This is more like it, even if only a bit! He stands up and draws his shortsword at her, using it almost like a pointer. "And who do you think you are, [i]woman[/i], to boss [i]us[/i] around? You don't know our captain!" Avery can sense two - [i]maybe[/i] three? - of his allies coming from behind to.. well, to [i]back him up[/i], ha!

As this strange woman unsheathes her sword, she raises it high, allowing the firelight to illuminate and reveal that the sword is actually  their [i]captain's sword[/i] - it's hard to mistake that etched blade for any other. Avery lowers his in response, and he can sense the one of the two men take a step back, as if embarrassed for jumping to conclusions. Avery, frankly, was also somewhat flushed, and it's not just because of the alcohol.

[i]"Surely you heard the war horns?" The woman asks, "The city is under attack. Captain Cassius has ordered us to be ready to defend the walls!"[/i]

"Alright, men!" Avery raises his voice, "You heard her - suit up and arm yourselves!" He starts to walk around, making sure his voice is getting to every man there - he gives one man a kick in the side. "Get up, William, you lazy [i]ass![/i] We don't have all night! They could be tearing through the city as we speak!"
[hr][hr]It didn't take long at all for the men to properly suit up - only maybe 4 of the dozen men had a good set of steel-plated armor, the rest had light leathers. The follow the woman - who they now know as Annabeth - and Avery, swords as well as bows and arrows at the ready just in case of-

[i]SPLAT[/i]

Three men let out a surprised cry as Avery stops mid-step and turns around. He grimaces, and then looks down at the broken sack of, eh.. [i]fertilizer[/i] in the midst of them. One of the three behind him let out an uncharacteristically girlish shout as he frantically tries to get the manure off of his leather armor, "I just [i]bought[/i] this, for fuck's sake!" Classic Erik.

"We need to hurry this up," another voice says - Arthurus. "if they're chucking [i]cow shite[/i] across the wall, they're likely to bombard us with worse."

Avery nods, gesturing for the men to start running. "Other than the timing, the plan is the same - Erik, Gregory, Art, you're on the wall with the archers; Quincy, William, and Aldwin, you're at the gate with your bows; the rest of us are with the footmen. Aye?"

"Aye!" a chorus of twelve men.. and then Erik's voice chimes in, "what about the lady?"

"Does it really matter?" Arthurus retorts, "She has a [i]war hammer- [/i]she's probably stronger than your arse!"

"Hey now, it takes [i]strength[/i] to draw this string back!" Erik insists indignantly.