Tavern Brawls S02W08

“I’m telling you, he sounded suspicious. And it wasn’t just your usual over-the-counter-talk either. Especially because I haven’t ever seen him sitting at the counter before.” Gerard’s voice was low enough that it didn’t carry far, but Abacus was standing so close that he had no problem hearing him. Both were leaning in over the beforementioned counter. It was late enough that most of the patrons had left for the night and only a handful of people where halfway sleeping over their ale in the dimly lit inn.

“Justivius?” Abacus couldn’t help the note of incredulity that snuck into his silent mumble. “Why would he be asking about us? We haven’t spoken two words to him and he seems like your run-of-the-mill cleric.” He had to admit that he didn’t know all that much about the guy and there were definitely room for misconceptions. But he did know that Justivius hadn’t arrived in town until after the dramatic Finale of last season. Why would he have a stake in this?

“Well.. If you can keep your trap shut, I did hear something on that subject.” Gerard rubbed his thumb against his index finger long enough to make Abacus reach into his pouch and pull out a couple of gold coins that quickly disappeared in Gerard’s hand. “Well, last week Red Nell told me, that he was seen exiting the Customs House…” Gerard shot him a look that more than suggested foul play.

“Really? He has joined ranks with the Commissar?” Abacus mulled that over for a bit while he tried to get all the pieces to add up. If the Commissar was really recruiting people to ask around about them – even now after months of hiding – it would mean that their hopes of things returning to normal soon were farfetched.

Gerard nodded and continued even more quiet than before. “Yes. And you two weren’t the only people he was asking about either. He asked me of… Of ‘The Captain’…” The last two words were hardly even a whisper, but Abacus’ eyebrows still rose in something akin to disbelief. No wonder the Commissar had wanted an outsider for this task. She would never get any of the locals to go around asking questions about Heinrich. They valued their lives too highly.

The information he had gotten this night had been well worth the gold he had paid and eventually Abacus decided to go back to their hideout and talk things over with Arwen. Something was brewing in the city and he wasn’t thrilled about it. Last week it was the fire and the week before it was Connor’s betrayal. And while both had blown over without it doing much damage to their business with the Smugglers, there was a distinct possibility that they would soon find themselves in the middle of something they would be better off staying out of.

He just wasn’t sure if they had a choice in the matter.

After week 8, two teams are sharing the leading position. Both Heroes of the Damned and the Decepticons have won 6 out of 8 matches. Street Thugs are following closely behind and might still make a play for the Finale as we are moving into the final week of the regular Brawls! Next week is really going to be exciting stuff, as the Decepticons are actually matched against Heroes of the Damned in this last week!

So if Street Thugs manage to win their match against Nightmare on Realm Street, they will have won as many sets as the losing team in the other fight. Then it is down to whichever team has the most Set Wins (and if those are tied too – who has the most points)! So all three teams need to perform their absolute best if they want a spot in that coveted Finale!

In other news, Blood, Sweat and Beers pulled out another win. This time against the Smugglers – taking them out of the race for the Finale and evening out the middle field a little. After this week, we have six teams with either 3 or 4 wins.

The Rangers of the tournament continue to outperform other classes while the Thieves have been taken completely off the scoreboard and only a single, lonely Wizard has managed to grab on to the Top 10 Ranking. Well done Birdlaw!