Part the Forty-Third:
In which: The party walks into a bar…
Most laborers have finished their work for the day, and the tavern is full and busy. The air smells of beer and wood-smoke, and although Lira and Moira in particular notice more than a few appraising glances turned their way, the atmosphere is warm and friendly.
Anvil strides up to the bar, and addresses the man behind it. “We are seeking a man by the name of Benedic, is he present in this establishment?”
The bartender pauses. “Do you mind if I ask why you’re looking for him?”
“We are in need of a guide. We are told he has expertise.”
Apparently, the man is satisfied as to Anvil’s honesty. “Well, that he certainly has. He hasn’t been in yet tonight, but he’ll probably be along soon enough.”
Having no other plans for the evening, the party decides to wait for the mysterious Benedic to make an appearance.
Eva notices a card game going in one corner and separates from the group to see if she can get dealt into the next hand. Reyu stops to observe a group of humans engaged in some sort of contest involving hand-thrown darts and a wooden target.
After a quick word with the bartender, Moira pulls up a chair to one side of the fireplace, places an empty bowl by her foot, and starts tuning up her lute. A few men at a nearby table give their opinions as to her womanly charms, but Moira simply smiles and ignores them.
The rest of the group heads off with ales for an empty table in the corner opposite the card game. Soon, a man comes over and invites Thatch to join in an arm-wrestling contest. Thatch does, and presently has a few extra gold in his purse to show for it. Moira begins to play and before her first song is finished the bowl at her foot is no longer empty. Eva is even up for the night and it looks like it is going to be both a pleasant and profitable evening when a very large man walks over to the table where Anvil, Lira, Dennis, and Hue are sitting.
From the way that he walks, it’s clear that he’s been hitting the ale fairly heavily. Lira slides a bit closer to Anvil, whose posture straightens. However, the man stops in front of Hue.
He lets out a sound halfway between a snort and laugh, points at the diminutive adventurer and asks, “Why are you so short?”
The man grins, laughing at his own joke, and turns to his buddies at the table behind him to make sure they appreciated it. Most of them grin back and raise their tankards.
Hue considers the question. He doesn’t know. Lacking an answer, he asks a question of his own. “I don’t know. Why are you so stupid?”
“Who are you calling, stupid?” the drunk demands.
“You,” Hue replies, cheerily oblivious to the cringes of everyone within earshot.
“Why I’d like to—“ the drunk is cut off by a friend grabbing his elbow from behind.
“I’m sorry,” he tells Hue and the others, “he’s had a few too many tonight.” He turns to Hue. “No offense.”
“None taken—“ Hue begins, but the burgeoning of goodwill is abruptly cut off by a shout from the poker table.
“He cheated! I saw him! He cheated!” One of the players has jumped to his feet and frantically jabs his finger in the direction of the man across the table.
The accused stands up so fast his chair tips over behind him. And that’s when things start to happen very, very quickly.
The breakdown goes something like this:
- The accused card-cheat steps forward to defend his honor by belting his accuser across the face.
- The accuser, not to be outdone, punches the accused right back.
- The rest of the room, seeing that someone has hit someone else, starts thinking about who they would like to hit.
- Anvil, wishing to stop the fight before it can get completely out of hand, stands up and casts calm emotions on the group at the card table.
- The group of drunks at the next table takes exception to Anvil’s use of magic in a friendly tavern brawl, one of whom takes it upon himself to demonstrate to Anvil the consequences of conflict escalation by pulling a knife on him.
- The first drunk, seeing that everyone else is getting into it now, decides to beat up the little guy for calling him “stupid.”
- Hue ducks behind a table and casts color spray at him. This doesn’t make anyone feel more charitably disposed towards Hue, but it does mean the guy trying to beat him up is blind.
- Reyu casts barkskin on herself, but this doesn’t bother anyone as she has already taken cover out of sight behind the bar.
- Moira tries to calm the room with her singing, but to little avail. Thatch and Dennis set about subduing the members of the crowd by knocking them out.
Eva looks across the card table at the melee. She’d get involved, but she’s just feeling too mellow to get very excited about the point of the dispute. The point of dispute is pretty murky at the moment anyway. There is however, a large pile of coins sitting in front of her that no one is paying much attention to. Very
calmly, Eva sweeps the pile into her money pouch, and heads for the door.
On the other side of the room, Lira is also staring at the bar brawl unfolding before her. She runs through her options. With spell-casting off the table, she’s not left with much.
Thatch glances over her shoulder and notices her indecision. “Get out, now!” he yells.
Lira doesn’t have to be told twice.
###
Outside the bar, Lira ducks into an alley where Eva is already hiding. “You want to head back to the Way-Post?”
Lira cranes her neck to get another look at the main door of the tavern. “Let’s hang on for now, the others might need help. Then we can--”
Lira is cut off by the heavy sound of tromping feet—a formation in quick march. The two women shrink back into the shadows then peek out again after the group has passed.
The Watch.
Even outside, Eva and Lira can clearly hear the leader bellowing over the noise of the brawl, quickly dying down. “Everyone in this room is under arrest!”
