It was freezing. His armor went from normal temperature to slabs of ice in a heartbeat. He gasped in shock as he went under the surface. He sank like a stone under the weight of the armor. He thrashed under the water, his armor slowing him down. He brought the dagger in his hand up before turning it against himself to slash through the leather bindings on his armor. He was running out of air and he knew it. He worked as fast as he could, and the breast and backplates came away to roll away in the current. They left his thoughts as soon as he was rid of them. He worked on his shoulder pieces as he struggled back to the surface.
He broke the surface and gasped for breath as he thrashed his way free of his arm pieces. The current slammed him against a rock and he lost hold of the dagger. His hand scrabbled for purchase on the slick stone. He was able to hold there for a moment before he noticed the arrows shatter against the stone not an inch away from his head. He looked up to see the ranks of archers aiming for him. He released his hold of the stone just as the second volley was loosed. He cried out as an arrow went through his upper arm. He sank under the waves once more, his last view of the archers being the view of that giant of a man lifting up a stone the size of his head to heave into the river.
He swarm as well as he could with one arm, able to get most of his leg plates off to leave them to the current as well. The current was strong, and it was exhausting to fight it. He surfaced once more and his gaze caught on the same cave that the elf had found before him. He worked his way towards it, striking out with renewed strength. He just had to reach there and then he would be relatively safe. He reached out with his working arm to grasp onto a rock and slowly pull himself painfully up into the mouth of the cave.
…and came face to behind with that dark haired elf woman.
He had to smirk towards her and he pulled himself further into the room. “…what armor?”, he gasped out. He was exhausted. The arrow that impaled his left arm was burning with the stress the trip downriver had put on it. It bled sluggishly into the water even as he pulled himself out. All he still wore was his plain spun tunic and his padded leather pants. His pack hung from his right shoulder, stubbornly hanging onto one battered strap. One plate armor boot still clung stubbornly to his foot as he slowly dragged himself painfully across the rocks.