A Typical Azaari Friday

It was good to be back in Kaldenheim after almost a year.  Even better was seeing his two sons who had grown so much.  Their time living under the care of the Frostwells, as well as their two or three years of military training under their belts, had turned them into highly disciplined warriors that made Ellian proud to call them his sons.  But now that he had visited his boys and paid his respects to the Frostwells, it was time for one thing Ellian had been especially looking forward to: the tavern.  

The chill of the north nipped his nose red as a cool breeze whipped past him, typical of Kaldenheim in the spring.  He shoved open the door to his beloved 'second home' The Frozen Flagon.  The place was packed, as expected, and almost no one turned their heads to the newest patron of the tavern.  Doubtless, none of them even heard the door open from all the noise typical of such a place.  Ellian strode over to the bar, eager to quench a growing thirst, and waved to get the bartender's attention, "Hey Rax!"

The bartender, Rax, called back "Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, I'm coming."  Rax turned to Ellian, and was surprised to see the familiar face.  "Al! Hey, long time no see.  Didn't expect to see you back now.  Here to visit Maynor and Rainer?  They seem to have taken quite a bit after you.  They come in all the time to have a few drinks and chase after the barmaids whenever they have spare time.  Only difference is, unlike you, they seem pretty successful with the barmaids."  

Ellian grinned at the thought of his sons.  "Well shoot, you caught me.  But you know my biggest reason for coming here has to be the hometown taverns and barmaids."  Ellian glanced over to one of the waitresses helping another table. "Nothing beats Azaari girls, and you pick the best ones in all of Kaldenheim!"  Rax grinned, "Glad to hear it.  So, what will ya have?"  "Still remember my favorite?"  "Frosty Apple Ale comin' right up."  "You know me too well Rax."

Where do you hide an a secret agent? In the deepest darkest parts of your Castle? In your Dungeon? Under your bed? Lord Nightkin had all of these thoughts of where to store his Hand. But the wise lord realized that the further away from him that he kept Myth the more deniable his actions were. It was in this thought that Myth's orders were to keep on the move, moving from Inn to Inn, Tavern to Tavern, and town to town staying no more than a few nights before moving on.

Tonight he was in Kaldenheim.

Most of the time Myth stayed in his room, or wandered the town getting to know each so that he could be more effective when he operated in that area, but when it came time for the young man to take a meal he always returned to the Inn or Tavern that he was staying at. It was during this inconspicuous time that Myth exercised a different skill set. Namely people watching.

Myth was nursing a glass of Akvavit, when in walked a middle aged man with a scar across his face. This was someone important, someone that Myth had seen before, though only in a picture and only with an excerpt about who he was. This man was a protector of the Frostwell Clan.

"How was your meal Mister Tran?" The Barmaid interrupted Myth's quite observations moving to his table and beginning to take his dishes, she'd addressed him by his current alias Argus Tran. She was a comely young lass about Myth's age, with braided blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes.

"Yes it was very good. My complements." Myth responded with a curt smile at the young woman. "I would like another Akvavit when I finish this one."

"Very good." The barmaid smiled and scurried back passing Ellian with a smile, as she gave to all the patrons.

Myth went back to calmly diagnosing Ellian watching his every move, such a man was still a world away from him.

Ellian watched the blond beauty take the trays from a young man's table.  The young man was remarkably average so Ellian paid him no mind.  He kept a cool eye on the barmaid as she walked by, hands full, and gave him a polite smile.  As she passed him, his eyes drifted southward, following her tail end until she disappeared into the back room.  Ellian gave a whistle, "I think she likes me." Ellian said with a laugh, referring to the smile.  

Rax set the large mug down on the counter by Ellian, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Al.  You really never change, do you." Rax laughed and returned to his work.  Ellian took a gulp of his Frosty Apple Ale, taking glances at the door into the kitchen.  When the blond barmaid walked through the doors Ellian called over, "Barmaid!" He waved his wand and motioned her to come closer.  She scurried over, dodging a pair of drunks as they fumbled across the bar.  Upon reaching him she gave her polite smile with a "How can I help you, sir?"

"Please, my dear, I haven't been 'Sir' in a long time.  Call me Al if you please.  So now that I've given you mine, would you mind telling me your name?" Ellian said, trying to act as suave as he could.  A moment of confusion crossed her face before she answered 'Karmilla'.  "Well, dearest Karmilla, how would you like to have a drink with me? My treat."  

Karmilla took a have step back and hesitated, trying to find a way out of the situation. "Oh Sir, I couldn't possibly.  And I'm still on my shift."  She gave a pleading glance over to Rax.  "I told you to call me Al remember?"  Ellian saw the glance and called over to Rax, "It should be alright, shouldn't it? Just a few drinks?"  Rax looked between then two before sighing and shaking his head.  "Your drinks are double," Rax said this with a bit of reluctance. He knew Ellian well enough to know he wouldn't try anything too serious with her.  

Ellian's smile brightened "Sounds fair to me!  See Karmilla, nothing to worry about!" He grabbed her wrist and gave a light pull, moving her towards the counter.  He gave a gesture to his mug, coercing her to take a drink.  Karmilla nervously looked at Ellian before giving one more pleading look to Rax which was returned with no more than a shrug.  With a sigh, she took a small sip from the mug.  With her focus elsewhere Ellian spotted a nice target, and slowly reached down.  The instant Karmilla felt a hand on her buttock she spun and smacked Ellian across the face before gasping at what she had done.

Ellian sat, shocked for a moment, while a few guys near him laughed, and Rax just shook his head with a sigh.  "Guess I deserved that didn't I."  Ellian gave a hardy laugh, joining in on the people sitting next to him.  Rax threw a rag at Ellian, as Karmilla slapping him had caused his drink to spill a bit, "You don't say."  Rax glanced at Karmilla and waved her away. "Alright, off you go."  After a moment of hesitation, Karmilla left for the opposite end of the bar to wait on the tables.  "Your drinks are still double you know."

"C'mon, man.  I strike out and you do this to me?"  "You already agreed." Rax grinned and returned to his serving.  Ellian set the rag in the small puddle of Ale and downed the rest of his half full mug.  "Ahhh, definitely worth it.  Hey Rax, another!"

Myth didn't quite understand the interaction that'd happened between Ellian and the barmaid. Whom he now identified as Karmilla. He'd been upset for a moment when she slapped him across the face before Ellian and the man he'd called Rax laughed it off. Something else dragged Myth's attention off the ex-protector and Bartender to something more insidious, low voices seeming to scoff and insult.

Voices coming from down the bar, and without much ado, Myth turned an ear to the men listening to them as they spoke in hushed tones. "Ba-ha-ha. That old man thought she had a chance with Karmilla." The others would scoff in agreement. "Doesn't he know Karmilla is ours?" From the sound of it the three of them were locals, and though he'd not do anything to draw attention to himself, while nursing his drink Myth would examine the men slowly. Going over every detail.

The three men were obviously workers, being large and brawny, they wore little more than dirt encrusted rags, but the currency on their table showed that the three weren't poor off. They were also far from handsome, by any reasonable social standard, it was unlikely that Karmilla was in any consensual relationship with the three brutes.

"More Ale!" One of them ordered slamming an empty flagon on the table, prompting Karmilla to sigh heavily, her posture changing ever so slightly to show her lack of willingness to help the men, but moving to gather more Ale anyways. It seemed that she at least knew of these men and they seemed to be some kind of trouble. She would load up a serving tray with three of the brewed beverage the ogreish men asked fore before dantily moving over to the table and placing a beer in front of each man, when the last man was served, Karmilla did her best to get away quickly but was pulled by the hand she'd used to set the drinks into the lap of the largest, and perhaps ugliest men. "Come on Karmilla stay a while, and enjoy some with us." The man said holding the barmaid against her will as she helplessly struggled against the much larger man.

It was none of Myth's business what went on between the barmaid and her patrons. He would simply keep sipping his drink, many things happened in shady establishments like this all the time. He would just witness the happenings. Not lifting finger.

When it came to alcohol, Ellian could really out it away.  He set down his empty fourth mug and called to Rax for a fifth.  Ellian had been too busy drinking and laughing to notice Karmilla first get called over to the table of the three burly men.  He was completely oblivious to the situation, at least until he heard a squeak from across the bar.  Everyone was loud, so chances were few heard it over the other voices, but for some strange reason, Ellian had a knack for noticing beautiful women.  He glanced over to the source to see Karmilla being held seemingly against her will on the lap of the largest patron at the table.  He watched for a moment and took a large sip from his mug before a smile perked up on his face.  Time to get a little rowdy?

Ellian set the empty mug on the counter and grabbed the next one waiting.  He stood up and leisurely made his way over to the table where Karmilla was being held captive.  Rax looked at Ellian in a moment of confusion, "What are you-" his eyes traced a path over to Karmilla before looking back at Ellian in realization, "Al, just leave it.  You'll cause more mess than you'll save."  Ellian laughed, "Sorry Rax, you know I've always been the jealous type."  He continued his way across the bar, casually bumping into people and tables. When he was just about upon them, Karmilla looked up, prompting the others to do the same.  

"Evening gents!" Ellian mustered his most charismatic voice.  The larger man scoffed.  One of the other two spoke. "The hell do you want, old man?"  "Come now, I'm not that old.  I was just wondering if I could join you boys."  The man got right up in Ellian's face, standing a head above him. "YOU want to drink with US?  Like hell.  What, you gonna play hero and try and 'save' her?"  The biggest one finally spoke up, "As if he'd do something like that.  After all, he was doing the same as us. He probably realized he couldn't get Karmilla by himself so he thought he could get a little bit of 'er by using us."

"My my, how rude. And here I was going to offer you gents a drink.  Though you are right, I'm not so different from you lot.  There is just one thing, however-"  Ellian sent a palm flying right at the solar plexus of the man in front of him.  He put his entire body into the strike, rotating and making sure to put the majority of the power from his back muscles.  The man was sent flying past the largest man and went crashing into a table, spilling drinks, and causing those at the table to stumble away.  "The thing is, I'm a huge hypocrite." Ellian smiled and entered a battle ready stance, no weapons drawn.

It wasn't his problem... until Myth finished his Akvavit, and the glass remained empty. The level headed man wasn't any more than annoyed by it. Flicking the glass, making it ring with each little strike. It wasn't until Ellian stood up and intervened that the assassin took notice. It was that he took notice when the two standing men didn't reciprocate Ellian's Honor, one producing a dagger the other breaking a bottle on the table and holding the impromptu weapon at Ellian.

"You're gonna pay for that." One of them challenged, they obviously weren't about fair-play they wanted blood for their friend that Ellian had put through a table.

Myth was now paying close attention.

The men walked around the old warrior keeping their weapons ready as the third ogre of a man stood up out of the mess of a table he'd made, bloodied but almost completely unphased at the brutal palm-strike that would have killed a lesser man. This put Ellian in the middle of a bad triangle, no matter who he faced he'd have a man or two at his back.

The man with the dagger lunges first, then the man broken bottle, in a one-two feint-lunge, however the man with the bottle was quickly surprised as a glass tumbler sails across the room and strikes him in the face shattering. Slowing the man with the dagger down as his head snapped back around, leaving him completely open for counter attack.

Across the room the man who'd checked in under the name Argus Tran. He had enough money for the glass. He didn't have enough flesh to let a long friend of the Frostwell Clan to get hurt. The man had two on one easily, but three on one was pushing it for a bar fight.

Stepping past his table Myth joined the fray, bringing his hands up, though he wasn't as physically imposing as Ellian, the old warrior would be able to tell by his stance and footwork that he'd received quite a bit of training. He said nothing to Ellian, but let his actions speak for themselves.

In response to Ellian's sudden aggression, on of the brutes shouted, "You're gonna pay for that."  With his typical air of confidence Ellian replied "Of course, I always pay my debts.  I'll be sure to pay Rax back for the broken tables after this."  He kept himself ready as the largest one and his lackey approached him weapons drawn, and the man he had just sent flying getting up to join his companions.  That's unfortunate, I was hoping that would at least cripple him a bit.  Ellian internally shrugged.  

The three formed a triangle surrounding him, meaning he could be attacked from any angle.  Not his favorite situation to be in.  However, with their focus on him now, Karmilla had managed to get away back behind the bar.  One less thing to worry about.  Ellian watched them all carefully, attempting to predict the first strike.  The man with the knife came first, shortly followed by the man with the bottle.  It would be beyond difficult to dodge both at once, especially while trapped between the lot of them, so the best he could do would be to stop one and make the other hit a non vital spot.  Well, at least I'll get another scar for my collection.  Ellian gave a quick laugh, but a bead of sweat still dripped down his forehead.  

Ellian twisted, knocking the hand with the knife upwards with his left hand while moving in for a sharp elbow with his right arm, caused an audible crack of the man's ribs and a stumble backward.  Ellian positioned himself the best he could to avoid maximum damage and prepared for the sting of glass in his back, but the pain never came.  Instead, a glass tumbler had flown from across the bar, shattering on the man's face, and causing him to stagger, blood beginning to ooze from the cuts formed on his face.  With lightning quickness, an unremarkable man that should have been across the bar was now next to him.  

Ellian regarded the boy, surprised by the intervention.  While the man had few noticeable features and wasn't built like a warrior, Ellian could tell by his stance that this was no amateur.  This was also affirmed as the fight resumed, the near perfect footwork, and lightning reaction speed.  What this boy lacked in power, he certainly made up for in dexterity.  "Thanks for the aid, my boy.  Always good to have some backup."  In the few moments Ellian took to watch his new partner, the two brutes had been given enough time to recover and return to their onslaught.  

Now that he was no longer encircled, Ellian had enough room to properly fight.  He kicked up a chair at his feet and flung it straight for the man with the knife, where he dashed forward, following the chair.  The man sidestepped early to avoid the chair, leaving his knife arm on the far side of Ellian.  Immediately afterward, Ellian jumped into the air and roundhouse kicked the man to the head, timed perfectly to send him right back into the flying chair.  The two blows to his head would have rattled his brain quite a bit, causing dizziness and nausia.  This was a weak point for even the largest of fighters.  The man fell to his hands and knees, trying to steady himself and catch his breath.  

When Ellian went in for another blow, the man he had sent flying earlier lunged at him, knocking him to the ground.  Ellian attempted to punch the man off of him, but he did not have enough room to give the punch momentum.  The man was attempting to hold him down and was sending punches in himself.  A few knocked against the side of his face, but no full blow was landed.  Ellian laid his palms to the ground and twisted his body, rotating his legs around so he could hook his left leg around the man's left leg.  Getting the proper leverage, he rolled to end up on top, but before he could secure himself, the man kicked him off, sending him back a few feet into a table.  

Ellian righted himself and took a quick survey of his surroundings.  The man with the knife was still recovering but it wouldn't be long before he rejoined.  The man he was just grappling with was standing now, preparing to charge again.  He glaced over to the boy to see how his situation was faring.

Myth wasn't surprised by the sudden flurry of action from his tag-teammate. Instead he jumped in adding insult to injury, to the man who'd decided to bring a bottle to a bar fight. He would step up to the man whose face was now red with rage, about taking a cheap shot to the face and swinging wide with a powerful hay maker. The younger sleeker fighter would step up into the attack dodging low and inside it as the heavy miner swung again, and again the huge man hit nothing but air, as Myth dodged yet again.

Myth got warm tingly feelings all over, a side effect of the harsh psycho-physiological training he'd received to make in into an assassin, rewarded for every strike he'd landed and every one he'd evaded. To a normal person it might look like Myth was scared, but his stance and footwork portrayed a completely different story. His guard was still up in perfect form, and his feet stepped surely to keep his weight centered. Myth was playing with his food.

When it looked like the man slowed down just a little bit that was when the raven-haired boy struck, it was a rapid jab, followed by another right to the jawline of the man he was fighting. They hits weren't anything, fierce, it was more to draw out the rage in the man he was fighting to keep up the show.

That was when the miner did something smart and spat in Myth's face causing him to recoil a little, as the spittle landed in his left eye, the intense revulsion the young man was giving off was almost palatable.

For the most part, the boy was doing excellently. He seemingly effortlessly dodged everything his foe threw at him.  He didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat.  Ellian didn't feel he had anything to worry about involving the boy until the miner went as low as to spit on his face.  His reaction was expected: utter revulsion.  This may have given the miner a chance to finally land a counter attack.  Ellian would have jumped in if his own opponent weren't barreling at him at that moment.  

Ellian entered a defensive stance, crossing his arms in a defensive X in front of him.  The man slammed into Ellian, causing him to slide backward, and grabbed Ellian's arms.  Ellian flicked his palms up, rotating his forearms upward, out and around to break the grips on his arms.  Using the rotation, he pulled back his fists and sent them right at his chest for a two fisted strike.  The impact clearly affected the man, but he managed to recover instantly and followed up with a right hook that smacked Ellian's head to the side.  

Ellian stumbled back and was caught with a follow-up side kick.  The kick landed but Ellian managed to grab his leg and yanked up, causing the man to stumble back onto the ground. Ellian then made a quick step into a stomp on the man's already broken ribs, further damaging it, and causing immense pain.  The man yelled out in pain, then attempted to grab Ellian's leg.  Instead, Ellian just kicked his leg up into the man's chin, causing his head to kick back and smash against the floor, while also biting his lip, causing blood to start flowing.  He laid limp now, most likely unconscious.

"Whoo, that was a good one.  Now to finish of the-"  As Ellian turned to face his other opponent, a glass mug flew by his head, followed by a swift tackle to the ground by the man with the knife, sending him sprawling with the man ready to wail on him.  However, the blows to the head had clearly taken their toll on him, as his punches hit only air, or the floor more often than Ellian himself.

And secure an opening that cheap move did. As the miner fighting Myth got in shots to the boy's face, in a quick one two set of crosses stepping into each causing the boy to recoil, completely on the back food. It was followed by a liver shot, in the form of a haymaker hook that caused the boy to stumble backwards a few steps.

The burly black bearded miner only took a second, to cash in on his momentum, stepping into finish the job his first attacks had started but that was all that the boy he'd been fighting had needed to recover. Peering over his raised guard the boy sneered at the miner twice his size, with a gaze so could it could have been called the stare of the grim reaper. It caused the Miner to falter in his advance giving the boy that extra half second of opening.

From what had been instinctive call to duty was now a grudge match. The spit in the face and now the pain was all that Myth needed to make this hurt. When the man went into strike with another right haymaker, he hit nothing but air again as before, but this time he could not help but cry out in pain and fury as Myth's hand moved like lightning, striking down at the base of the huge miner's neck, landing with a wet pop that would make the skin of the most battle hardened veteran crawl. The very specific direct hit snapping the collar bone of the man's right arm, the arm he'd swung with causing it to recoil into his body.

But Myth wasn't done yet, sidestepping his opponents momentum, he would step hard outside turning his toe away from the man and leveraging the full power of his hips into a sweeping kick that would land against the side of the man's planted knee. It would produce another louder wet pop as the man's knee buckled under the weight of the strike.

With his eyes nearly rolling back up into his head the miner turned and made a hard cross with his left arm, but this was apparently exactly what, the young man had wanted this time dodging to the outside of the attack he pinned it to his chest and threw his right leg up over the man's head dragging the man down with his sixty kilogram body. Rolling his body to absorb the blow as his shoulders landed on the ground the man above him pulled through by his own momentum and levered against his will by his own arm would slam into the ground causing the floorboards of the entire establishment to creak and groan.  

Myth would grimace as he put the whole power of his body to work against the one arm of the miner, his bicep as big as the boy's thigh. He would groan in effort as another shriek and sick pop was produced when yet another one of the miners joints broke, this time his elbow being hyper extended. Kicking the miner in the head Myth rolled away releasing the arm and staring down in putrid disgust as though he was gazing at the feces of some animal.

It was then that the young man that had assumed the name Argus Tran realized where and what he was doing. He would bound across the room again. This time spinning on his the pad of his foot as he approached the pair on the ground, even with his obvious concussion, the man fighting Ellian was still very dangerous. He couldn't have that man hurting Ellian in any way. The at the end of his spin Myth planted his foot and brought his heel across the cheek of the man trying to impale Ellian, hopefully finishing the job that Ellian had started.

In between dodging bouts of punches at his face, Ellian managed to glance over to the boy to make sure he was doing alright.  He had been roughed up considerably by his adversary, but it seemed he was about to make a comeback.  He saw the miner ready an attack, likely a finisher, only for him to hesitate at the last second for some unknown reason.  The boy took the opportunity and went in for his own attack.  

That was when Ellian had to look away as another flurry of punches flew at his face, and he had to focus on wiggling to dodge and trying to break free.  It couldn't have been more than three seconds until Ellian looked back, but by that point the miner was already being thrown to the floor, causing the entire bar to shake.  The miner was obviously heavily injured and had many broken bones.  He would most likely not be getting up anytime soon.  Ellian watched in awe as the boy kicked the miner and rolled away.  This distraction allowed for the man on top of him to land another blow to his head, re-diverting his attention to escaping.  

That was when the boy came flying in, using his momentum into a kick that sent the miner flying off of Ellian and sent him tumbling across the floor.  Ellian gave a whistle of amazement as he watched the miner fly.  He sat up and confirmed that the miner wasn't getting up.  Ellian stood himself up, accepting help if it were offered by the boy.  He brushed himself off and turned his attention to the boy that had assisted him.  "Well, that was exciting, haha!  Appreciate the help, my boy.  That was some good fightin' you showed!"  Ellian gave a strong pat to the boy's upper back. "Wish I coulda seen it all.  I'm sure it was quite a spectacle!  The name's Ellian by the way, but my friends call me Al."

The majority of the patrons righted their tables and chairs and resumed as if nothing had happened.  Some got up and left.  And a few spat at or kicked the defeated.  Most brushed the events off as just another bar fight, a nightly occurrence in Azaari taverns.  Only a handful let their gazes linger, including Rax from the counter as he just shook his head with a snicker and Karmilla who was peeking from the kitchen door.  The other workers just began picking up after the mess and hauling the defeated out the door and onto the streets.