Tavern Brawls S07WK04

They felt the impending disaster before they heard or saw it.  The floor began to vibrate and the dishes on nearby tables began to clatter.  Kevin’s delivery carts began falling off of their tracks, ales crashing onto the ground.

A low rumble grew in both amplitude and frequency, starting from nothing until it grew into a deafening roar.  Just as it began to peak, it transformed from a wall of sound into chaos as snow flooded the lower arenas.

The snow was vomited through the portal below, crashing into brawlers and structures alike.  On its journey down the mountain, it had picked up stones and various arboreal debris.  The avalanche threw small boulders and large tree branches through the air.  The snow itself was unrelenting and quickly buried anything in its path.

Thirty seconds passed as the avalanche was transported through the portal, though it felt both as if it had taken an hour and that time had also stood still to allow for the horror of the onlookers.  With a suddenness that shocked the observers, the noise and snow stopped.  The cries of those buried, however, began in earnest.

Iris was the first to act.  She ran to the nearest storage closet and grabbed brooms and waste pans, tossing them at anyone standing nearby, including Zeb and Maggie, and shouting at them to get downstairs.

Selena and Cantrip scurried outside and grabbed souvenirs left at the Two Brothers last year by The Poopsmith.  They came back in with 2 shovels and ran down the stairs.

Kevin and Chris hurried to the back room, talking rapidly.  Mike only caught a few fragments of the conversation as they left, but heard “…control the length…”, “…can’t hit the injured…”, and “…just use the fryer oil…”.  A few minutes later, Kevin emerged with a large metal wand that seemed to be hooked to a large pack on his back.  Chris followed behind, carrying a bucket of what appeared to be oil.  As they made their way down the stairs, Kevin grabbed a torch from the wall.

As Mike watched, Kevin turned a knob on his contraption and then held the torch to the end of the metal wand.  A giant flame streamed from the end, drops of fire falling from along the length of the flame.  Kevin adjusted the knob to control the length of the destructive weapon, then began to carefully work his way through the snow.  As he did so, some of the wizards who had escaped the unwanted burial took a cue from the man and began to cast fireballs, creating paths through the snow.

Mike backed towards a wall, not wanting to influence events any further.  In doing so, he stumbled over Fletch, who had seen Cantrip and Selena outside grabbing shovels and hurried over to evaluate the situation.  The ranger looked down at the carnage below him and shot an imploring glance at Mike.

“An avalanche came through the portal they had set up to the mountain to bring in snow.  They’re down there now, trying to dig people out,” he told Fletch.  “I don’t think I’m the right kind of help.”

Fletch nodded and ran downstairs, grabbing a plate along the way to use as a digging implement.

—–

Miraculously, there were no fatalities.  Numerous victims had broken bones, and more than a few lost eyebrows or were otherwise singed by the flames used by Kevin and the various wizards.  Two of the ogres had concussions, but they insisted on helping to find other survivors as they were used to the head injuries.  One of the smallfolk took longer to find than the others, developing a minor case of frostbite.

The arenas, however, were another story.   3 of them were completely destroyed while the other 3 took significant damage.  Upon inspection, Chris thought they may be able to salvage the less damaged arenas with a little time, but the rest were too far gone.

“I guess we’ll have to set-up some makeshift arenas out back,” he thought out loud.  “I’ll talk to the wizards guild about moving those viewing portals, but it might take a while.  Everyone will need to be out there for at least a week,”

Kevin tried to pull a charred branch from the depths of a melting snowbank nearby.  It disintegrated in his hand.  He paused.  ‘How had it been so burned, yet buried in the snow?’ he asked himself.

—–

The dark hooded man looked down the slopes of the mountain to where the portal had been visible and was now buried.  A wry grin crept across his face.  He had seen the cursed fool walk into the tavern and knew they would blame him for this ‘accident’.

Pulling his cloak closer around himself, he turned to another nearby figure.  “Our work here is done,” he barked.  “Get us back to town.”

As he stepped through the portal conjured by his companion, he was already considering his next move.  But first, he had a different part to play.