The shrine has just enough space for all four of you to cram in, if you want to, and is a little closer than the bridge (see the village map), but is on the wrong side of the Taalsbruck. The knight would have to dismount to come at you if you were inside it.
If any of you so chose, you could try running in a straight line and wading the Taalsbruck rather than taking the bridge - it's a lot deeper than the little stream, but still probably wouldn't come up above your armpits. The banks, although only earth, are quite steep and would probably cause trouble for the horse. Then again, at its narrower points a speeding horse could probably jump it. Taking this shortcut would involve running through the short screen of trees on the other side of the road.
The current distances are as follows:
Illiiya & Ithelus lead Leopold & Pieter by 10 yards.
Leopold & Pieter lead the knight by 20 yards.
Distances from Illiiya & Ithelus (add 10 for distances from Leopold & Pieter, add 30 for distances from the knight).
- To the shrine: 37 yards
- To the bridge: 62 yards
- To the river (in a straight line through the trees): 44 yards
To work out how quickly the knight will gain on you, you can consider things playing out in combat time, with you guys going first. The horse's effective Movement characteristic is 7 (not 8), thanks to its barding. Feel free to crunch the numbers to your heart's content (your characters would have an accurate idea of how fast the knight is bearing down on them), but
please do not discuss them OOC: your characters are having to make split-second decisions here!
If you have any complicated plans, feel free to give me instructions in a spoiler or similar and I can incorporate any conditionals into the next update. And remember, you don't all have to do the same thing!