Tavern Brawls S02W05

Justivius paused as he walked past the stables at the Tipsy Turtle Inn. A great deal of commotion and chaos was noted by his keen eye. The barkeeper had decided to make some renovations to the stables, to grow the Inn’s lodging business. During the fifth week of the Tavern Brawl competition, the stables were closed and all horse stabling had been temporarily relocated to the nearby Constantine Farm, to complete the repairs more efficiently.

Despite the best of intentions, the barkeeper had not hired a professional workforce but instead had gathered a haphazard group of low-cost day laborers. Looking around the grounds, it was littered with empty buckets and drained casks of grog. As the questionable carpentry work continued, for a moment, Justivius felt a small tremor from the ground underneath him, and then that subsided. Was that a sign or bad omen of things to come?

Moving on, he softly said some prayers for the two nearest laborers still hard at work. Both were dressed in rags and their faces were obscured with sawdust and dirt. Hopefully, in the future, these two paupers would find more order in their life, as well as a better standard of living.

Exiting the Inn, Justivius headed down to the river docks of Thandar, into the district controlled by the Harbor Master, Captain Heinrich’s longshoreman, and the now all-too-familiar Trade Commissar. Today’s meeting was at the Customs House, where the Commissar performed many of her official duties in service of the Kingdom.

He had been quite surprised to have been invited to personally meet with this distinguished government official and local celebrity in a one-on-one private meeting. Unlike many of the other Brawlers in the League, Justivius had no prior personal connection to the Tipsy Turtle Inn. Nor did he have an underworld connection like the Street Thugs, Robin’s Smugglers, or Captain Heinrich’s Brave Trawlers. His team had been formed to be a team of honor and one that could hopefully bring prestige to The Order that he so piously served in Thandar.

The Commissar’s anti-corruption campaign, as well as her background in trade regulation, were all things that he fully supported. But it was still unclear why this government official was taking such a strong interest in this series of weekly contests among the local mercenaries?

She was affiliated with a Battle School, to help train warriors. Curiously, while some of the Brawlers in the League had attended the Monaghan Brothers’ Fight Academy in the past, the school itself had done little to promote the competition and did not organize a team of their own members.

Justivius entered the Customs House, alone and without his regular entourage of followers, per the meeting request. Ushered upstairs to the private quarters of the building, steady booted footsteps announced the entry of the distinguished bureaucrat.

The Commissar interrupted his bow of greeting, turned to face him directly, and then spoke plainly and forcefully, “I would like to propose an alliance of convenience. You have a temple in need of reconstruction funds and as for me… danger is afoot at the Tipsy Turtle Inn. I need someone above reproach and without any criminal connections to perform a discrete investigation. Perhaps you are the one who can heal this Tavern Brawl tournament once and for all of the plague of corruption. What say ye, Healer?”

This week’s statistics visual is from the new glide-app made by Agentc13. Check it out here!

After five weeks of competitions, only one team remains undefeated, The Decepticons. They displayed  tremendous skill, besting Blood, Sweat, & Beers in a 3-2 set, with only BSB’s DaOwlSesHoo and Razor able to score victories in individual play. 

In a dramatic showing, Hrothgar’s Street Thugs showed the Heroes of the Damned the power of street fighting, besting one of the top teams in a tight 3-2 set, thanks to wins from Hrothgar, Wuijin, and Doctor Benway.

In other news, Robin’s Smugglers continued their winning streak by vanquishing the Realm Heroes, bringing them into third place, and proving they are a team to watch this season.

In individual matches, the healers are beginning to gain some momentum. Two of the top four players in the entire TB league are Clerics – Krondys of HotD and DaOwlSesHoo of BSB.