[The Rearing Stallion] Blood and Liquor (Imass)

[Emblem]

35th of Summer, 512AV A few specs of light began to pierce the sky and make themselves visible as the light blew sky gradually faded into darkness. The sun had dipped below the horizon, only leaving a soft, orange glow in the west, and even that would be short lived. Another day had come to and end in Syliras, the shining beacon of civilization in a rather untamed world. Shops began to close and workers made the trek back to their homes, that is if you could even call the windowless rooms of Stormhold Castle rooms. But other workers made their way to different locales, trying to avoid sleep as long as possible, or perhaps a nagging spouse, or maybe the children were petching annoying brats whose sounds could only be drowned out with alcohol. Whatever your reason, the Rearing Stallion didn't care. Smiths, farmers, shopkeepers, knights, and even some of Syliras' less than noble classes gathered here almost every night, looking to drown themselves in the drink, maybe try and chat up the barmaids, or just relax with friends after a long day in Mizahar's largest city. The Rearing Stallion was simply roaring with commotion. Laughter, singing, music, and discussion filled the large tavern as barmaids winded through the crowds carrying ale and wine to the patrons. Sounds of pots and pans clanging together came from the kitchen, where cooks prepared dinner for those who required a warm meal. A single lantern was placed at each table, and the hearth's flames danced at the back of the room. Near the fire, a group of men gambled away whatever earnings they had managed to make that day. At the table of across from them, a group of five young lads, all in their late teens, sat around the round table, occasionally glancing at the barmaids and discussing how beautiful they were. It was doubtful they would ever try to strike up any conversation though. A trio of musicians was also present, two armed with a lute, and one with a pan-flute. It seemed as if for once, nothing would go wrong at the Rearing Stallion.

[Imass]

Imass stepped into the bar tired after a long day at work. Still clad in his knightly garb, the Akalak stood out in the tavern. Not only was he knight protector and policeman, but he was also a tall, blue humanoid. It would be safe to assume he was noticed by the whole room. None the less he was polite and well-tempered. He tried his hardest to display the high ethics of the order for all to see. Imass walked into the bar with his head held high and his chest out. He was ever so zealous and courteous.

The knight walked in through the doors clad with broadsword and shield. Snaking his way through the crowd, the Akalak finally found an empty both in clear view of the musicians. He placed his weapons on the opposite seat to make sure no other would sit. Imass wanted to sit along. He did not mind the noise and music, but he wished not talk to anyone.

Scanning the room slowly, Imass took note of his surroundings. The first thing that caught his attention was the musician’s playing with the lutes. He also noticed the other knights like himself, as well as the gamblers in the corner. However, he ignored everyone but the musicians.

When the barmaid came around, Imass would order two full servings of the evening dinner. Although, Imass was a pious and zealous knight, it did not mean he starved himself. The Akalak enjoyed eating Syliran food and a lot of it. He did have a monstrous appetite though. He enjoyed eating food. It also replenished his energy and built muscle. It was essential to being strong.

Anyways, Imass also requested something else from the barmaid. Slipping a silver coin into her hand, Imass calmly asked in common, “Please, be ever kind milady, and request the bard to sing a tune from Riverfall?”

OOC -- (Minus 12 SM for dinner and minus 1 SM for tip to barmaid.)

[Emblem]

When the Akalak entered the stallion, a few heads turned to say the least. After all, Akalaks did stand out in Syliras, as accepting of other races the city was. His fellow knights shot the him a smile, before returning to the conversation they were having. The barmaids also smiled, but she smiled at pretty much every guest, no matter how different they may be. Hell, they were even flirty with just about everyone. There is nothing like a few flirtatious gestures to bring in some extra coin for the establishment. Most men had simply glanced up and quickly returned to their drinks or company. However there was one group that seemed to have taken some sort of curiosity with the Akalak. Three men sat around a table, to the right of the hearth. At the center of the table there was a large bottle of gin that the three were all sharing. Every few chimes, they would poor some of the bottle into their cups and drink, and every time they drink, their grip with reality began to loosen. Each one of them looked fairly rugged and unkempt, one even sporting a large beard. The others were simply covered in stubble. They must have come from a hard days work, or perhaps, they were not exactly the honorable type of folk. Between drinks they would jump from quiet conversations, to long hostile glares, targeted at Imass. The gazes only grew more intense, now that the music had changed to a song from Riverfall. "What the petch is this music?" The bearded one spoke. "I don't know, this is Syliras dammit, and I want Syliran music" another said. The third member of their group, who was of shorter stature than the others, remained silent, simply nodding his head in agreement with whatever they said. For now, they kept to themselves, only giving the occasional glare. They poured themselves some more gin, and drank.

[Imass]

Imass looked at the flirtatious barmaid and smiled. He was always serious with the women. As an Akalak, he treated every woman with respect and considered them his equals, but he also had a natural affinity to attract women. However as a worshiper of Tyveth, he was required to be chivalrous and honorable. Thus he found that being very serious with women was the only solution. Imass was a late bloomer though and had not dated too many women yet. Perhaps he was wrong.

When the woman returned to the table with his food, Imass noticed that she was smiling at him and winking. Imass' face was expressionless at first but he slowly grinned. Chuckling softly, he shook his head and began to eat the delicious meal as he listened to the song of his gentry.

Imass was actually beginning to enjoy himself. He only allowed himself time off his strict regiment to enjoy a tavern every once in a while. This was before he was rudely interrupted by the three drunken men sitting around a bottle of gin.

The Knight turned around in his seat and looked at the men. He had no shame in his actions. He was the opposite of sneaky. As a strict follower of Tyveth he held no secrets, unless it was from a superior. And this included gossip. He nipped it in the bud when he could so that everyone knew not to talk gossip with him.

And thus, he looked at the three men in dead locked eyes. He gazed at the leader who had until now remained quiet. The air between them must have been intense, because Imass' forehead was sweating now. With a stern and serious face, he formulated an statement.

"Is the music not your liking citizen? What would you rather hear?" Imass waited for a response. The Akalak tried to sound friendly and he tried to sound like he was being helpful in earnest. It was also painfully obvious that he was calling them out on their statements.

[Emblem]

The three men barely even recognized the Akalak had said something, as they simply grunted and drank from their glasses again. It was clear that from their body language that they did not fancy the Akalak. Perhaps it was human pride, or racism, whatever you would like to call it, or maybe alcohol was in control now. Either way, the rest of the tavern had not noticed anything out of the ordinary going on. In order to get the attention of the entire tavern, something like a brawl would have to occur. After the group of men had ingested some more liquor, one of them decided to formulate a response. It was the one with the beard who spoke up. "Ahhhh the Akalak speaks" he started, slurring the occasional word, "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that a tavern in Syliras, should be playing music from Syliras." Of course he was not speaking for everyone, as no one but Imass and the other two men heard him. "I say you take your petching music and shove it up your arse" he said as his he stood up, flipping the chair he was sitting in on it back. The other men remained seated, waiting to see what action their friend would take. By the now the pair of knights who had been in the stallion earlier had left, most likely on patrol duty as they were adorned in their plate. That left Imass as the only figure of authority in the tavern, and the three men certainly did not recognize it. Not only was Imass and Akalak, a warrior race to begin with, he was also a Syliran Knight. Any man in his right mind surely wouldn't dare go against such a being, but then again, there was liquor involved.

[Imass]

The three men blatantly ignored the Knight and continued to drink. It was as if they were thinking of what to say next. Terrible glances were shot to the Akalak and cold stares from the three. They were getting drunk fast and Imass sensed a lot of trouble and anxiety in the situation as well, even though the whole tavern was oblivious to the situation that brewing.

Turning back to his meal, the Knight scanned the tavern again and called for a waitress. He ordered for two empty bottles of rum filled with water. As a warrior, Imass was always ready for a fight, but he had a duty to the people. A fight breaking out in the tavern could potentially harm the innocent and would damage property. If he could sober up these drunkards and calm them down at the same time. A thus he formed a plan.

After a few minutes the bearded man formulated a response. To sum it up, the man straight up told Imass that he disliked the Riverfall music. Imass clenched his fist into a ball. This got him mad. Anger brewed in his chest, but he held it back. He had already committed himself to stopping the fight before it happened. He looked around the tavern again to see the peaceful people around. It was his duty as a Knight to make sure these people were not harmed.

The server returned with the water filled bottles. Imass stood to his feet and tipped the flirteous girl silver. Taking both bottles in hand he walked over to the three men and openly talked to them, "I wager 5 silver coins that three Humans cannot beat one Akalak in a drinking contest," He placed the beverage on the table; he did not mention it was only water. Removing the lid of his own bottle he raised it to his lips.

Imass did not wait for the men to answer. He figured that one of them would grab the bottle and start drinking in order to uphold their human pride.

"Ready... GO!" the blue skinned Akalak raised the bottle to his lips and began to chug.

OOC- minus 1 silver for tip to server

[Emblem]

As the Akalak approached the three men suddenly became apprehensive, as if the Akalak was about to throw a punch. Surely a knight would not do such a thing however, and the three men instead burst out laughing as the Akalak's bet. The three men against one Akalak? It hardly seemed fair, not that they cared about how fair it was. Under more sober circumstances, the three men would have probably declined such a challenge, recognizing they had already had enough for the evening, but they were disgruntled, and had already had more then their fair share of liquor. Before they even had a chance to accept the challenge or doe some sort of trash talking, the Akalak began to drink his "liquor". The three men chuckled and then quickly followed suit not realizing it would be impossible to win. Liquor poured down each man's throat, filling their stomach, and further clouding their minds, which was most likely a dense fog by now. After each glass, they were always quick to refill and continue, as was Imass. Soon the bearded one stopped, followed by the short one, and then finally the last of them could take no more. Was it the drink that made them stop, or was it too much liquid at once? Either way the challenge had been lost. "Hey now, wait a second," one began, slurring each word, "we had already been drinking when you challenged us." "Yeah you petcher" the bearded one spoke, as he clumsily rose from his chair. He approached the Akalak, no longer having any sort of grip on reality, he pushed Imass backwards, towards another table. However a drunken push would no doubt not do too much to an Akalak.

[Imass]

Imass' plan crumbled before him. The waitress had botched the order and brought out only a single bottle of water. The Knight had asked for two empty liquor bottles filled with water, but the wench had returned with a real whiskey bottle for the three humans.

As Imass drank the water, he watched as the three men had difficulty drinking the bottle. They were so faded already, that the shorter man was even spilling the drink. That when Imass noticed the dark color. The men would surely lose now, there was no way anyone would drink a bottle of liquor faster than a bottle of water.

Before Imass could make a decision he drained the last drop from the bottle. His plan had failed. He was hoping that the three drunkards would consume the water quickly, feel good about beating an Akalak, then sober up. He just further humiliated the three and beat them in a bet.

The Akalak placed the bottle down and said the only logical thing, "I win! 5 silver coins!" There was an awkward look on the Knight's face. Violent looks from the three men gave Imass a small frightening shudder; a tickle went down his spine.

The Knight really didn't know what to do. He had never been in this situation before. Imass decided he would follow protocol.

The completely hammered racist humans began to babble. Imass couldn't quite understand them, but it was apparent they did not like what just happened. They even felt that the Akalak had cheated and taken advantage of them.

Without warning one of the men stood up and took a swing on the Akalak. Imass was not expected it from such a wasted guy. The Knight turned and ate the blow in his arm. He did not waste any time.

Drawing his broadsword Imass swung it over his head and got into a standard defensive position. The sound of the sword swishing would surly get the attention of the whole tavern.

"Freeze! By the authority granted to me, all three of you are under arrest for public drunkenness! Surrender now and your punishment will not be severe. Or, continue this behavior and suffer the consequences." The Knight waited to see if they would cooperate. If he had time he would also mention for everyone in the tavern to remain calm and let him handle it.

[Emblem]

The three men far too drunk to be concerned with the law and the Syliran Knights. Rather than doing the logical thing and standing down, they would instead turn to violence. After all it was three vs one, as the other knights in the tavern had taken a step outside, simply to get some fresh air. Other patrons simply cleared out of the area where tensions were escalating, silently paying attention from afar. That left three drunk men and an Akalak. The men didn't even care that Akalak had brandished his sword. Their vision was so blurry it probably looked like a broom to them. The one who had thrown the punch took a step back, towards his table, before grabbing the bottle of whiskey they had been brought and smashing it. It was hardly a sword but it could probably give someone a nasty cut. But now he had pulled out a weapon on a Syliran Knight, which was usually a mistake in most cases. The two other men stood up from their seats and prepared to backup their drunken friend. Each slowly began circling around the Akalak, to have him surrounded. It was amazing that the three drunks were even trying to utilize some sort of tactics. With that, the bearded one took aa jab with his improvised weapon while the other two shoved tables and chairs out of the way before joining the fray. Now the rest of the patrons were watching the confrontation with fascination, although no one would be brave enough to intervene. Hopefully the commotion would draw the the knights back into the tavern so they could lend a hand to Imass.

[Imass]

No more words. The arugement escaleted into a tavern brawl when one of the men slammed a whiskey bottle on the table. The liquid in side of it splashed everywhere and shards of glass landed near Imass' feet. The whole tavern went silent as the confrontation when from zero to one hundred miles per hour in less than a second.

Imass stopped thinking; he began to react to the situation with instinct and knightly training. As soon as the glass shattered Imass shifted backwards knocking over a stool. He wanted to get the enemies in front of him, but the drunkards were smart enough to attempt to surround him.

The first man swung with the improvised weapon. It was a strong swing, but the man was too drunk to aim properly. The Akalak side-stepped out of the way and dodged the swing. He swung his sword down at the man who attacked him aiming right at the man's neck. His broadsword was used for hacking and cutting off limbs. If he managed to hit the man in the neck he would saw downwards towards the man's heart.

If Imass managed to cut the man down he would turn to the other drunkards and give them one more chance to stop their nonsense. If he failed to cut the first man down, he would continue to focus his attention on the man with the broken bottle.