Tavern Brawls S03W04

The merriment of the night’s celebration had taken rather a toll on Abacus and he clung to the ladder in an effort not to fall to the dirt floor in the tunnels beneath the Tipsy Turtle. The two Wizards; Shockwave and the Rotwurst had found special reasons to celebrate after their win in the tournament and somehow Abacus had been caught in the middle. Not that he minded. Life would be little fun if it were bereft of drinking. 

But a night such as this did make it much more difficult to find his way home to the rooms that he and Arwen had rented and instead of trying – and risk ending up sleeping it off on a street corner – Abacus had decided to head down into the tunnels which were still littered with enough sacks – abandoned after the flood – to fashion himself a makeshift bed. Carefully he placed each foot on the step before he dared put his weight on it and try for the next and when he finally stood on the ground, he was damp with sweat from the effort. 

“Why are you so stubborn, old man?! If not the Captain, who else would benefit from sabotaging the work on the stables?” Even in his merry state, Abacus had no trouble recognizing the voice of the barkeep and it reminded him of another time where he and Arwen had heard him conversing with someone down here.

“People don’t believe that he is gone for good.” The barkeeper was clearly answering a question and Abacus inched closer. “A man like him doesn’t just up and disappear. He would have too much to lose.” Abacus heard a crinkly old voice reply, but when he still couldn’t make out the words, he decided that enough was enough. 

Last time the two friends had been too afraid to come forward to see the mysterious person, but this time it seemed less scary and he didn’t stop to wonder if his newfound courage had to do with the amount of ale he had consumed that night. He simply stepped into the doorway of the storage room that the voices came from. “What is happening here?”

The surprise that washed through him as he recognized the old man on the nearby crate was almost enough to sober him up. The man did a quick gesture and a portal opened beside him, but as he realized that he was too late, he let it close again and seemed to almost sulk.

Abacus had to swallow before he was able to say anything and even then his words came out as only a whisper. “You are Wishard the Protector, aren’t you?” Awe and wonder battled within him and he stumbled closer to the two. “But no one has seen you since the Battle of the River Banks.”

“And nobody is gonna see me, understand?!” The voice was harsh and Abacus clutched the top of his head – and found a small bleed – when the old wizard’s cane rapped him hard to underline his words. “I have gone through great lengths to stay hidden all this time and a greenhorn like yourself is not gonna ruin this for me!”

“Give it a rest, Pa. Abacus knows how to keep a secret. All you have to do is offer to pay him.” The barkeep sounded more tired than annoyed and Abacus couldn’t help but swallow as he suddenly saw the similarities between the two men – who apparently were father and son. Now that he thought about it, he did remember stories of how The Protector had owned an inn before he joined the King’s forces.

The old man looked at Abacus who was just too drunk and too stunned to say anything. “It would be safer just to kill him,” he mused but was then distracted by the heavy and pointedly loud sigh coming from his son. “Oh alright! How much do you want??”

When last week we had 3 undefeated teams – this week we have none. And it has opened up the field for some of the mid-tier teams to still have a chance of the semi finals! Six teams are tied for first place after Week 4, but that doesn’t mean that other teams are out of the running! The Unlucky Bunch is up against Hero Cool and Fellowship of the Bling is up against Guess Congrass and while the winners of these fights undoubtedly are in the Semi-finals, the Decepticons and the Stoned Alchemists are still in the running for the final spots! No time to relax just yet!

Fighters and Rangers are still dominating the field, so let’s all try to even the score this coming week!