Tabesha'l nods, then points at the arrow slits on both sides of the barbican:

" Methinks these could prove to be a fine advantage for our efforts to down said-wyrm, if we could just get behind them... especially for thee and thy lethal projectiles, couldn't they, fair Thuniviel ?" she says, turning to Connak before her eyes rove up and down the broken main gates, " However, we would need to find a way to keep our target from either entering the main room or retreating back onto yon bridge, when we start our attack and..." 

A slow smile creeps on her perfect ruby lips as she swings back to look at the bridge, her brow furrowed:

" Unless of course this is exactly what we plan the whole time... what if we could manage to not only sever the dragon from its ability to fly, but also somehow get it to fall off yon bridge ? Why, gravity is a powerful force indeed, and I see no reason why we shouldn't employ it to support our party, yes ?"

Minsys hefts his maul and moves over to the skeletons.  "No disrespect, just can't have ya risen on us," he says and the he take the time to smash each one to ensure they don't rise up.

Connak moves to the personnel sized door on the south side and (opens it if necesarry) peers inside.

Tabesha'l does not detect any hint of life (or unlife) in the skeletons and Minsys ensures so with his maul, just in case. As he is crossing the large room, Connak notices not one but two secret doors, positioned on the northern end of the eastern and western walls. Pulling open the door on the south wall, he finds a darkened hallway, with two more doors on the opposite side of the hall, another at the western end and a third secret door to the east. At the very least, the hallway looks as though it may provide the sort of cover the wood elf had been looking for since they dashed across the bridge in plain sight of the dragon (though none were sure if they'd been spotted or not.)

A fierce cry split the air and it was immediately evident that Cryovain had finished its meal...

Connak calls out to his party as they catch up, "This hallway looks too small for Cryovain to follow.  We'll be able to set ourselves up and figure out how and where we want to take the fight to Cryovain.  I'm also pretty sure there are secret doors over there..."  Points to the north end of the eastern and western walls.  "I think there's also a secret door in this hallway..."

Vaxis nods.

"I'll cover your backs."

"So...shall we check out the doors first? Or deal with the dragon immediately?"

Tink asks quietly as she moves up with the group.

Tabesha'l calls out to the party:
" Methinks I have held an illusory spell for naught then, 'less thee wisheth me to cast it upon our foe as it approaches ? Yet 'tis obvious that Thuniviel  hath the right of it: we shall all meet the same horrid fate as yonder iced horse and rider if we doeth try to confront our White Wyrm, even one as young as this, out in the open without a clear strategy on how to best do so..."

Her voice trails off as she attempts to spot the dragon from the inside of the barbicane, scanning the sky and the valley below for it.

The elven wizard takes up her post in the entrance hall, peeking carefully through the partially open massive doors. She spies Cryovain soaring silently through the sky, circling above the gatehouse as if looking for more like poor Runa and her horse. The dragon lands on top of the gatehouse with a heavy thud, peering at the doorway below as if waiting to ambush the next attempted escapee.

She sees the dragon begin to scale down the north wall, clinging to its icy surface with the ease of a squirrel navigating down the trunk of an oak tree. The dragon moves out of Tabesha'l's line of sight, blocked by the walls of the barbican, but a few seconds later, she is able to determine Cryovain's location as the silence is split by the sound of the remaining horses in the gatehouse being ripped limb from limb...

Minsys anxiously paces.  He wants the to fight but he know the others want to fight at the right moment.  Unable to be just standing still, he decides to move towards the secret door that was pointed out to him.  Checking the door would at least keep him busy. 

Minsys pulls at a seam in the stone wall and slowly a section of the wall begins to hinge open towards him revealing a narrow landing at the top of an equally narrow staircase that descends into the darkness. Across from him on the other side of the landing, Minsys sees the back side of a similar secret door which looks like it opens into a room to the west. He judges that the staircase is only three feet wide - more than enough for the party members to fit through, but not likely to allow passage of the dragon. Peering through the darkness with his attuned vision, Minsys sees a dirt floor (not stone) at the bottom of the single flight of stairs.

MINSYS' FLEETING THOUGHTS:

Connak, feeling like they're running out of time, yells out, "Where we going!?"

Around corners and through nearby doors, Tabesha'l sends out a flurry of short Messages to Connak: their tone is falsely naive and the wood elf detects, unsurprisingly, the wizard's unnerving touch of aristocratic superiority tainting each of the telepathic communications:

" Dear woodland cousin, I know thee and thy kind are prone to fits of impulsivity, but is this truly the time and place ? Dragons have ears too... I'm quite certain that hath not escaped thy notice ?

" Why, I daresay such shoutings and hollerings art but a fit of unraveling and all-too-human emotions, unbecoming of someone of thy breeding and ancestry. Wouldn't thee agree ?

" Do be a dear then, leave such shows of impatience to mere mortals, perhaps considering opening yon remaining secret passages instead, yes ?

" 'Lest, of course, thou hath decided on confronting our Cryovain, in which case do say so clearly as I'm still holding a spell here and... oh never mind, I can already feel it fizzling out anyhow."

" Thou canst, of course, reply to these messages."

Connak is not one to mince words, "Tab, we are not immortal.  Breeding is something snobs came up with to feel superior to everyone else.  Only those who need to feel superior are actually less than whole."

"A second ago you were afraid the dead were going to jump up and attack us.  Now you want us to split up and open doors all over the place..."

"How about you go open yonder doors.  If something jumps out, you can fight them off while the rest of us come to your aid..."

" Oh fine, be that way if thou must, although 'tis truly below thee... Very well then: make room if thou pleaseth ? Thank Thee Kindly."

 This time the words were directly addressed to Connak in plain speech, as the wizard walked up to him with a haughty smile, before she regally saluted her woodland brethren with an over-the-top, theatrical cursty.

" Well... shall I start with this fine hall here, then ?" she asked, in a mock bow. " Where to, first ? Do enlighten me, dearest... I daresay I do not have thy skill at detecting hidden latrine doors and abandoned larder rooms. Lifestyle choices, I assume. Very useful this, though, do not get me wrong ! I was simply busy with... let's call them 'higher pursuits', yes ?"

Her smile was innocence itself, though from the spark of amused disdain in her eye, she seemed to be enjoying the vitriolic banter a little too much for comfort.

Tink sets Whisker to keep surveillance before going to join the discussion. "Could I suggest that should we choose to continue an explore this structure, we go upwards? Unless you think there is the minute possibility that it would keep something that could contribute to its demise so close to it, the best way to heal with this creature is probably to engage it in a scenario where we have the advantage. I wonder if we can trap it somehow."

The screaming of the horses ended, almost without notice as the party tried to collect themselves...finally seeing the dragon they had quested for had everyone scrambling to react with their own plan/direction, not realizing that the others were all doing the same. Tabesha'l continued to stare hard out the main doors, searching the sky for their foe...as Cryovain crept slowly out from under the bridge, as effortlessly as a spider transversing chandelier.

The elven wizard slowly lowered her gaze from the sky to the bridge an realized she was standing near face-to-face with a snarling, angry-looking white dragon...

Tabesha'l swallowed hard, once... and released her illusion spell. Would her Arcane Powers be enough to distract the beast ? 

As soon as the illusion started to take hold, she intended to make sure she had a solid, thick stone wall between her and the dragon: she tensed as she prepared a hasty tactical retreat inside the hallway whenever the dragon turned away from her.

Cryovain snaps its head away from Tabesha'l to face rearward - towards the approaching green dragon that only it could see and hear. The young white opened its jaws wide and let out a near-supersonic blast of ice in a 30-foot cone extending back across the bridge. Before the mist, fog and swirling ice crystals could even clear, Cryovain made a hasty escape over the side of bridge and out of Tabesha'l's line of sight...

The elven magus sends a flurry of Messages  towards her companions as she retreats at full speed inside the keep:

" Now ! 'Tis now of all will be for naught ! The beast is occupied by my glamour but t'will only be so for the shortest while, I fear ! Where to... ?"