Just so that anyone else who wonders how it is done later can re-find this little film (the forum search sucks).

Demonpants and Alaric in this thread were claiming that it was pure luck whether you could get down to the ground level in stables safely or not. (Assuming you only had rocks)

The tiny film to refute it is attached. No inventory spoilers, just the safe descent itself.

Well...the descent is safe but there's very little time between getting out of the way and the guards getting up. Unless you're crouching as soon as you're out of the way, there's a chance the guards sends an arrow your way. Of course, it's still possible to duck an incoming arrow but any arrows shot at a long jump's distance requires quick reflexes to dodge...and even then, with the inaccurate controls if you're caught trying to throw a rock, the duck key won't register (or vice versa) leading to knocking the guard down a second time but getting an arrow in the chest. Or ducking and then having half a second to get back up to knock the guard down a second time.

imo, a safer descent would be waiting for the guards to be in the same position but on the right side of the level. This gives almost two to three long-jump's distance to safely duck any incoming projectiles.

Having experimented with the Guantlet level so many times (jumping the guards or using only the sword) I'd say anyone near a guard is playing with fire because there's no way to predict when they'll shoot arrows. Assuming the guards should be knocked down by only rocks, hitting them so close is dangerous if only because of inaccurate controls where some actions don't get registered in split second decisions.

I hear you, but I don't really agree there - I'm a long-jump's distance away (roughly 1/4 of the screen!) and have ample time to have a rock trained on the guard before he is getting up. That's very different to being right next to a guard to jump him - which I thoroughly agree is almost pure fluke. Plus one guard (the nearer one) is facing the wrong way. Sure he may turn, but I can have them both rocked whilst they are still standing up...

TBH, the second whacking of the guards isn't anywhere near as tight as the initial throws and jump as far as timings are concerned. Assuming you can do the first, the second is child's play. You can be holding left (or right) and jump whilst Bryant is dusting himself off. He'll jump the first frame he can, so there's no controls issue to worry about there.

I have attached an another example to illustrate - you can see me rock them both and consider ducking all in well under a second. :)

Alright...you have me convinced. :) The timing has to be precise though but you're right, it's definitely doable with almost a full second of time to get a good distance from the guards after dusting off.

Can you get those throws first try every time Richard or does it take a few?

I always have trouble "standardizing" my throws because Bryant's hand starts in a different place every demo, and he only displays like 8 different arcs, even though you can throw at way more than that.

More or less - very occasionally I miss the second guard (the one that is facing right), but then you just end up in the haystack with him moving past you in the wrong direction. You have to be very unlucky for him to turn round whilst you're dusting off.

The trick is the distances, note the long jump at the top - it is instantaneous in getting in to the room (you can hold down long jump on entering to always get the placement) and then the rock throw for the bat is at the top of Bryant's curve which is easy to get to. During the jump I move the mouse (or rather push the trackpad) straight up to quickly get in aim by the time I land.

The extra steps have to be done by feel, but then the first guard is got at the very bottom of Bryant's arc - so I've already got that easy aim ready by the time I've taken the steps.

The second shot is just fractionally up from the first. Again it has to be done by feel, but once you've got it down, you're likely to get it most times - and then the long jumps are ready to go. You can be re-aiming for the second round of rocks if you want while you are long jumping/falling.