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.

003 - I demand an apology!

This encounter created the cliffhanger for the end of the first session. It will be concluded in update 004.

The Inn of Geys, its doesn't get old school more than a tavern brawl.

September 10th, FA 15
The spirits were high with anticipation for the Inn of Grays was coming up. For the first time since September 5th, the company would sleep in an Inn and enjoy the amenities of a warm meal and a large pint of ale. The company passed the peak of Halfirien, famous for the tomb of Eraendil, and entered the Firien Wood. The sun had sunk already and the company found themselve plunged into a moonless night. A few questioned the wisdom of night travel, but the Inn was just "round the corner". 

Eventually, a two stories stone building emerged from the dark near a small bridge over the Mering Stream. "Here comes the midpoint between Minas Tirith and Edoras, and here comes a warm bed for the night." exclaimed Araliniel from the rear. The Inn has attracted a number of people and dwelling over the centuries. The crossing of the Merign stream is a famous fixture for anyone travelling through Anorien. Some 30 or so building are strewn across a wide clearing centered around the bridge. The company rode to the Inn and disembarqued.  Galdor opened the wide door of the Tavern and beconed a stable boy. "A bowl for my hounds!", he demanded while tossing a copper coin into the air. The stable boy ran back to the rear and roused the landlord who was busy rolling a new barrel of ale into place. The landlord, a middle-age man with a rough nervous demeanor welcomed them inside and offered them a table, not before shooing off a few of the unpaying locals playing dice in the corner. He brought to them, on the house, a drink of their choice and offered them a bowl of stew. Araliniel promptly filled her cup from a large bottle of rustic wine that the landlord placed on the table.

This evening would have come down just fine had it not been of the ruckus caused by three locals at the back. They were loud and rude. The landlady was clearly trying to get her husband to kick them out, but he refused to cause a fuss. Beside, the drunkards were armed with shortswords, which was a foreboding sign of trouble. Sensing that HIS time had come, Sir Galdor seized the chance to make his knightly presence felt. He stared at the ruffians, with no effect. These guys were tough looking, and obviously the condemning stare of a young dunedain noble wasn't enough for them to keep quiet. If anything, it encouraged them to made ruder comments. Galdor stood up and, putting his hand on his sword's hilt, asked them to to quiet down. The ruffians simply smirked and carried on. Halin and Arnadil then stood up, going so far for Halin such as to pull the warhammer out of his seat in his belt in the best menacing way that he could. This worked, the ruffians nodded and lowered their voices.

As things should have simply fallen into place, Galdor asked the landlady whether she still wanted the men to leave the premises. She assertively responded that yes, she wanted them out despite the dissaproving look of her husband. The ruffians, in no mood for a fight, downed their ale and began walking slowly toward the exit. One of them, however more intoxicated, sent his gobelet rolling to Galdor's feet. A good chivalric code lawyer may have argued that this didn't constitute a valid insult to his rank, but Galdor decided to demand an apology for the insult. The ruffians simply smiled and walked away.

Galdor grabbed the ruffian by the shirt and re-asserted his demand for an apology. The ruffian took a wild swing at Galdor's head but the knight dodged the blow. There was a bit of a contest until the ruffian broke the hold of Galdor on his shirt. One of the ruffian's friend pulled him away through the open door. Galdor roused his three great danes and walked out of the tavern, certain that he will get an apology from these dirty commoners.