Why get timid now

Picking up the bundle of deadly looking arrows and leaving your distinctive shield against the wall you head up the stairs. Mimicking exhaustion, you lumber up the stairs with your sword hidden under the arrows. The stairs were wide and climbed more than 20 feet into the next level. Inside you saw five well armed fighting men bracing the door against the blows of a heavy axe or hammer. Up a smaller stairwell you see the face of an angry man motioning for you to hurry.

“Move your lazy ass, we needed those arrows five minutes ago, what do you want us to do? Spit on these bastards?” Picking up your pace you climbed the second set of stairs as you got to the top you saw three lightly armored archers reaching eagerly for the bundle of arrows.

You really put you self into it this time. If you leave them the arrows then the men outside the gates will be sitting ducks for the unexpected hail of arrows from above. But three men on this floor and five more below, even with surprise, 8 to 1 odds were not what you were hoping for.