Tavern Brawls S07PRE01

Fletcher Periwinkle felt odd without his bow and quiver over his shoulder.  It was like walking around naked, but sacrifices must be made; he must not be recognized.  Not yet.  Pulling his hood over his head, he proceeded down the street towards the large tent in the park.  The ranger kept to the shadows, a task that was increasingly difficult the closer he got to his target.  He wasn’t trained for this.  He was too old for this.  But he was compelled to proceed.

He circled to the back, listening to the chatter within.  He heard the voices of DblDubz and Tuff, who had come in person to manage the draft of this year’s Tavern Brawl.  He heard DblDubz congratulate one of the daredevils on their last team pick.  It was almost time.

From inside his cloak, he removed a bottle he had gotten from the site of the Brawl, The Two Brothers.  Soaking a rag in its contents, he put one end of it back in the bottle.  From inside the tent, he heard Tuff congratulate Asawesomas for receiving spudmckeegan as the final sponsor on his team.

Now.

Using his flint and steel, he lit the alcohol soaked rag and threw the bottle hard on the ground at the bottom of the tent.  The bottle shattered and exploded, the tent quickly catching fire.  The flames ran up and around the outside of the tent.  Inside, he heard shouts and a few screams as people began fleeing from the structure.  Fletch ran back to the front of the tent, looking frantic as he met the people pouring from the flaming canvas.  He found the two people he was looking for: a young female mage named Cantrip and her best friend, Selena.  They were holding the entrance open, trying to escort the guests out of danger.  Selena spotted Fletcher and waved him over.

“The tent just started burning for no reason!” she exclaimed.  “Did you see anything?”

Fletcher shook his head, pointed to his eyes, then waved his fingers frantically upward.  He had seen the fire and ran here as quickly as he could.

Cantrip wiped the sweat from her forehead.  “You must have been close by then.  I’m glad you’re here.  Maybe you can help us figure out what happened.”

After what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a few more seconds, Tuff and DblDubz emerged from the tent.  “We were the last ones in there,” DblDubz coughed.  His face was dark with soot.  “Thanks for helping to get everyone out.”

Clerics had arrived to check on the attendees, so Selena escorted the two hosts to them.  As they continued to violently cough from the smoke they had inhaled, Tuff turned back to face Fletcher.  “You know what this means, don’t you?”  He gave the ranger a pointed look, then retreated into the care of the clerics.

Cantrip wheeled to face Fletcher.  “What does that mean, Fletcher?”

The old ranger stared over his companion’s shoulder back to Tuff and DblDubz.  He had no idea what the man was talking about.