Roland had expected the ambush to start earlier, perhaps they simply fled and wanted to smear his reputation by bringing him out here? But why then bother to hang the girl?
He is almost there, just need to get a little closer to cut the girl down, and then he hears the distinct sound of crossbows, only then noticing the shapes of men ahead on both sides as suspected. He feels no pain, hears no ringing of metal of any glancing blow or the blow against his shield, an arrow could hit with all the strength of the man holding the bow, and a crossbow could be more powerful still, certainly the Myrish sorts with pulleys used to wind them up.
Cloudstepper is not so fortunate, the Dornish steed collapses as the villains appears to have set a more insidious trap, their bait had brought Roland this far, so they waited until his path forward to save the girl was shorter than his path to safety. Obviously expecting him to carry on further into the trap, giving them plenty of opportunity to get in that one lucky shot that would count as he tried to save her and then get to safety.
So how this plays out until in medias res kicks in:
Sprint speed 41 with roll:
Round 40: 120 yards remaining.
Round 41: 79 Yards remaining, mooks holds fire.
Round 42: 38 Yards remaining, mooks opens fire (they technically would use counterattack to shoot at a rounder number, but cleaner to treat it this way).
Stealth, extra time, aim.:
6#8d6k4 13 17 24 16 20 195 surprise vs horse, 1 without.
They all shoot the horse (full aim):
8d6k3+1 17 5#10d6k4+1 21 21 24 19 232x 2*4-3=5
4x 3*4-3=9
Roland to leap clear then do his Round 43 actions, I gave the mooks their light crossbows back, so they get to attack each round now. All this probably means Roland won't make it back in time for the battle, but should be reasonable chances of being able to get in, revive the girl, and carry her out since he's effectively able to outrun them now. The part about reviving the girl may be tricky though.
Updated stuff:
Saving the maid:
-Between Roland and the girl, there's effectively 1760 yards, sprint movement being 4*Movement-Bulk.
-Once per 10 combat rounds, the rope makes an attack (3D) vs the girl's passive endurance, each DoS inflicts 1 point of damage, the most efficient way to stop the attacks is to cut her down (Smash TN 9 with a sword is the quickest solution, the fall isn't high enough to be threatening).
-Upon being reduced to 0 health, the girl continues to take attacks until cut down, and she takes an additional point of damage per round until successfully revived.
-All rope attacks will be tested for when Roland succeeds on a heal test (9 is sufficient for this if the damage should make the TN for revival more than that).
-Being a tertiary character, no injuries can be taken to avoid defeat, as a greater action (on the ground, cannot benefit from cautious technique or shield), Roland may attempt a healing test with a TN equal to 9 or the damage in excess of her health, whichever is greater.
-Roland may as a greater action attempt a TN 6 healing test to assess how far gone she is, learning the total amount of damage upon success.
-Extra time is allowed, taking a greater action per +1D, the aim action may also be applied to heal tests.
-If successful, her health is restored to 1.
-On a critical failure, 1d6 damage is inflicted to her.
-If the TN grows too high for success to be possible, the consequence is her death.
-Roland will need a hand free (not wielding a weapon or having a shield on the arm) to perform a heal test, having both hands free grants +2, not being prone while making a heal test also grants +2, these bonuses can only be combined with the bonus from extra time and aim actions if these conditions were true during the rounds these were taken.
-Roland can lift the girl if he wants as a greater action, she counts as 3 bulk if carried and requires him to use both arms to do it.
It's a trap:
-Roland ought to know that this one is coming, once he gets within 90 yards of the tree, he will be within range of any archers, it's how he'd set an ambush.
-If there are enough men, they will probably be set up on both sides of the tree, 25 yards from one side and 35 from the other. Gaining cover from one group is thus possible while staying at the tree.
-The cover from shrubbery, planned ambush and good sight-lines allows any ambushers with ranged weapons to take maximum extra time on their stealth tests to gain the benefits of a surprise round, they may also take as many aim actions as they like for these stealth tests and their first ranged attack, surprise or not. If using the ambush action, they gain +1D on the stealth test because of distance and cover, but cannot take extra time for that test, they can use any bonuses for aim on the stealth test for ambush, but then not on their first attack.
-One cannot benefit from the cautious technique against enemies with surprise.
-The penalty from using the cautious technique will apply to heal tests, this is also the case if the cautious technique was used during rounds where aim or extra time was taken to gain a bonus to a heal test.
-The bonus from reckless technique will apply to heal tests as well, but must also use the technique during rounds where aim or extra time was taken to gain a bonus to a heal test.
-If defeated, Roland will certainly not be in shape to participate in Battle Valley, and the villains most likely have no intention of letting him live (but defeat remains possible without any of them having the chance to deliver the finishing blow).
Gallant Bravery:
-True Knight very obviously applies for this scene until the girl is either safe or with the seven.
-Ignoring damage works in the fashion that Roland may take injuries and wounds as normal, but ignore any penalties to tests (taking too many wounds will still kill him outright).
-He may also simply let his health go to 0 and thus take defeat with consequences delayed until the girl's fate has been resolved as noted.
-Additionally, when using the reckless technique, Roland will gain a bonus to his base movement equal to his dedication rank and may ignore the effect of bulk on his movement. This only applies when moving towards the girl (until she has been revived or declared dead) or carrying the girl.