Tavern Brawls S03W02

Abacus and Arwen sat in a plain stone room, with a flickering illumination from an oil lamp hanging in the far corner. Slowly, an oaken door opened quietly, and their boss, a true crimelord and rising star within the Syndicate, entered the room. He was a tall and thin human man, middle-aged or possibly older.  He kept to the shadows in the room so neither Abacus nor Arwen could glean a clear look at his features and know his face.  “It is time to review your performance to support the guild and the activities of the Silent Syndicate. You two have been quite active, it seems, and have generated significant profits for the organization.” 

An awkward pause filled the room.  Neither the wise Abacus nor the clever Arwen knew where this was going. Their operations have depended on traditional smuggling orders. Nevertheless, this year they achieved an impressive 90% delivery rate.

“When you two were assigned to organize an operational hub at the Tipsy Turtle Inn,  your mission was clear,  keep the smuggling lanes free of trouble and work with Robin’s group to grow the business.  The directive was to blend in and not attract too much attention to these vital trade routes.  When you opened a new gambling circuit at the Inn, you two did deliver record profits, thanks to the wagers you were running on the Brawls.” The boss paused for a moment and then calmly lit his pipe, briefly sharing his facial profile with Abacus & Arwen.  The smoky tendrils quickly obscured the Boss’s features before either of them could grasp what he looked like and deduce his actual age. “Come, come; you must have something to say here; we just need to get a better idea of your work… for the good of the organization.”

Arwen looked at Abacus, realizing the irony of describing anything related to the Silent Syndicate as good, and attempted to steer the conversation to a more comfortable area.  “Well, the Tavern Brawl league is continuing to expand. This Season will be the largest yet, with 12 teams of mercenary bands now competing. So the profit opportunity is showing vast potential, as long as we hold your support for the operation.”  Abacus nodded affirmingly as his young friend Arwen deftly steered the conversation to a safe topic of discussion in a respectful manner.

The boss sighed heavily.  “Yes, we see the opportunity that you have leveraged, and while the gambling profits are steadily growing weekly, we need a realignment.  The amount of pure chaos you two are bringing is unprecedented.”

He continued, “In Season 1, you got too deeply entwined with the Trade Commissar’s agenda.  So deep that when you couldn’t deliver the Brawl outcome she demanded, you both had to go into hiding.”

Abacus and Arwen both tried to modulate their facial expression and keep calm. They were hopeful that this review would be short and to the point and not dwell on the comedy of errors that seemed to follow them.

The performance review continued. “Instead of laying low and shirking your responsibilities for the smuggling rings, you decided to hide yourselves in plain sight and keep the operation active. You managed to escape capture by the Commissar’s militia for a long time, but then you decided to attract attention to yourselves as minstrels.”

Arwen took ownership, “Yes, that bit of tomfoolery was too much, and we were captured by the know-it-all Justivius the Just.”

Their boss seemed taken aback by Arwen’s directness. He paused for a long moment and then continued, “Well, I am glad you can see things from the management perspective.  But to learn from these incidents, you must reduce the pure and unadulterated chaos you keep bringing to the table.  We haven’t forgotten all the madness that ensued during your time of “laying low” at the Tipsy Turtle Inn during Season 2. During your tenure, Captain Heinrich destroyed some of our precious smuggling routes that you were supposed to maintain.  The only saving grace is that all the contraband was secured and delivered on time. And with Season 3 of the Tavern Brawls underway, we need your help urgently and can’t afford to reassign you to a less critical operation.”

Abacus leaned in, “We can make the gambling ring work more smoothly now too.  Both the Commissar and the BrawlMaster are willing to cooperate with us.”

The boss nodded.  “Improbable as it seems, your assessment is accurate.  You have your orders, rebuild the smuggling ring and continue to grow the gambling operation,  but without the myriad disasters that have plagued you two!  Can we have a peaceful life of crime without public arrests, arson, and floods?  Can you do that?  And one more thing,  this time,  maybe it would be helpful to figure out why the BrawlMaster and the Commissar are so damn interested in these competitions? Figure that out, and you will have some real leverage and insight.  Maybe then, the two of you won’t be chaos magnets?  Maybe.”

A long silence filled the small room as the three men let the words sink in. Then, when the atmosphere was most uncomfortable, the boss interjected, “And you have more to worry about than the Commissar and the BrawlMaster. There is trouble afoot at the Turtle.  Our spies have identified two additional things for you to watch. First, keep an eye on Van Helsing; he is supposedly a vampire hunter from a distant land far from Thandar.  Something about his story doesn’t check out since vampire attacks have been exceedingly rare in Thandar. Maybe that’s why he is taking up brawling?  Or perhaps this new hunter isn’t who he says he is?  Whatever the case, just be sure he isn’t bringing trouble to our organization.

Also, keep a close watch on Jaemyra.  She is investigating the disappearance of her brother Janus.  His last sighting was at the end of Season 2 Tavern Brawls.  She seems to be searching hard to find him,  but there is something odd about this stranger; she is unfamiliar with our customs and even her mannerism seems almost alien.  Having someone investigate a missing person is the last thing you two need right now in the middle of your operations.”

And with that curious piece of advice, the crimelord left Abacus and Arwen alone to ponder his many criticisms and plot their next steps.

After two weeks of competition, the league divisions are now led by Stoned Alchemists in Division A and The Fellowship of the Bling in Division B. The Fighters continued their winning ways, with a best in class overall average > 60%! Remarkably, only the Big Bad Brawler of Guess Congress remains undefeated, with a perfect 6-0 Fighter record, out of a field of 60 brawlers! It remains to be seen if the always deadly Rangers will be the next class to achieve high overall win percentages this season.