K43 - Beer hall putsch

This session is a continuation of the previous session: "K42 - Much ado about a bride".

Sparks

A group of battle-dwarves from the Mithril-Attack had gathered in the beer hall without drawing too much attention. They were conspicuous: in full armor while everyone else was busy shooting the breeze with friends. 

When another group of Mithril-Attack dwarves burst into the hall, screaming to high murder. Apparently, the witch was real and had killed a few of them a few minutes ago. This sent a wave of panic in the hall. Gror understood right away that the bride was in danger. He had been drinking for a while to gather liquid courage and eventually talk to her. He took off immediately towards Deema's quarters and was followed by a few other dwarves willing to avenge their comrades. 

Thordar read the situation similarly. However, his eyes caught the Mithril dwarves and identified Nair Marbleminer at the other end. He was trying to organize a group of fully kitted dwarves amid the chaos. Thordar sneaked to them and hid behind a pillar. They were getting ready to take advantage of the situation to capture the viceroy.   

Thordar headed to Bain's quarter to warn him of the impending trouble to his reign. 

Interrupted

Bain was at the time debriefed by a Lot leader from the Adarcer-Attack. Apparently, six dwarves from the Silver had crossed the chasm to adventure beyond the defended perimeter. Thordar, entered and explained that the threat of putsch was materializing. 

Bain led Thordar and the lieutenant into the hall. They walked to the mutinous dwarves to confront them. There was five crossbow-dwarves and six battle-guards. The hall grew silent as Bain's voice rose to a spine chilling command to stand down. Nair, the leader, was taken aback and hesitated long enough to kill the momentum. 

Bain demanded to know why they wanted to arrest him. Nair replied that the dwarves has lost confidence in his ability to lead.  The viceroy began to rough up Nair in a brutal but theatrical display which lead to the young officer to fall flat on the floor.

By them the noose had tighten around the pair, the lieutenant from Adarcer had melted away, and so had all of the Adarcer soldiers on duty.  Clearly, this would not end well for someone.

Food fight

The mutinous dwarves moved in to neutralize the pair as anger broke the heavy air in the hall. Dwarves from the Silver-Attack moved in to pull the viceroy out of trouble but were opposed by others. And so began a long brawl with no evident structure at the onset. 

Thordar and Bain didn't leave time for Nair to get back on his feet and had him nailed to the floor with a broken hand and a deep stab wound to the opposing leg. Bain put up a good show, climbed on a table to coordinate the efforts on his side. He absorbed a bolt at the hip which made walking more difficult. Thordar and himself managed to drift across the room, blocking attacks with his cloak. 

Unfortunately for the pair, despite the neutralization of Nair, the Silver dwarves were beaten down to the far corner of the hall and had to withdraw beyond a gate and close it solidly. 

Fallout

With Bain hurt, Thordar still in bad shape from the last beating at the hands of Gror (and earlier the infernals), and the impromptu supporters looking for cold slab of steak to cover their bruises, the situation was taking a turn for the worst. The good news is that it looked like the Silver-Attack dwarves were on the viceroy's side. Hopefully, Roghel would too and take control of the rear to finally cow the rebels. 

And meanwhile, some unspeakable other trouble were being resolved in the Hatchet dwelling where Khazek and Deema were quietly pondering on their next move.