Tavern Brawls S07WK05

The rain had not let up for 4 days.  As the weather was transitioning to winter, each droplet (that in other circumstances might have been refreshing) was a new icicle stabbing into its victims on the ground.  This morning, the rain had finally turned to snow, leaving small drifts all over the area.  Although the inventive owners of The Two Brothers were confident in being able to reopen half of the underground arenas, this week all of the brawlers had been forced outside while repairs were made.

Fletch had never seen the Brawl sink to such a low.  There were only a handful of observers watching the matches, and even those select few looked like they wanted to be any place else but here.  Cantrip and Selena were roaming between the makeshift arenas, but looks on their faces echoed in his own mind:  Who would bother to disrupt this sorry event?

Mike Murchadha and his friends were camping outside of the town, afraid of causing any more damage.  The young man had felt awful about the accident with the avalanche, convinced that his presence was more of a danger than ever before.  Fletch sighed heavily.  The ranger was not normally a believer in superstitions, but Mike had given him pause in his beliefs.

A burst of arguments cut through the haze of his thoughts.  He glanced over at the arena hosting the Crotch Shot Only Fans and Labella Magic.  Fletch made his way over to the commotion, where the arguments began turning into trash talk.  He involuntarily smiled to himself as he heard them toss insults at each other, each time tongue firmly in cheek.  Most of them had finished their matches and had grabbed drinks from Iris, who was bundled in layers as she ran back and forth to the tavern.

Fletch turned his attention back to the last remaining match between the wizard Flubs and the necromancer Sugar Deady.  Flubs had just summoned a fireball and was ready to launch it at the necromancer.  However, his face morphed into concern as the fireball began to change color and spin wildly.  The wizard stumbled backwards as the fireball’s energy grew more chaotic, tiny fireballs erupting from the main flame and shooting out in all directions.

Mercy, a wizard himself and team captain for Crotch Shot Only Fans, recognized what was happening and, more importantly, what was about to happen.  A moment later, the fireball shot towards Sugar Deady.  Mercy shouted, “NO!!!” and leapt at his teammate, shoving him out of the way.

When questioned after the incident, many of the observers noted a flash of orange light as the magical orb struck Mercy.  Others noted the calm on his face, which was illuminated for all to see clearly.  They all agreed that the explosion upon impact was deafening, sending everyone to the ground holding their ears.  When they looked up, nothing remained where Mercy stood except for a blackened crater and his staff standing upright in the half-frozen snow covered ground.