Time:  A.C. 1010, 13th of Klarmont, start of the holiday known as the Day of Duels
Place:  Baronía de Narvaez, village of Paz del Sol, the common room of La Taberna de Rosa Dulce

=== Lord Rasesisk Salasar ===

The Salasar family agent was relieved when Rask finally arrived in Paz del Sol even though he was several days overdue.  He was worried the young Rakasta Lord may have run afoul of Los Elegidos in Puerto Morillos.  Although it was very expensive to hold the exquisite lodging secured at La Taberna de Rosa Dulce because it coincided with the commencement of the week long festival of the Day of Duels, the Salasar agent paid extra to absolutely guarantee the reservation.  Luckily, he secured the one of the two suites that the inn had to offer; the other suite was occupied by Don Rivera who was a visiting Lord from Gargoña.  

The business between Rask and the Salasar agent was conducted immediately upon his arrival in Paz del Sol, and it was over quickly which suited the agent.  Frankly, he wondered why Viscount Kesilask Salasar had sent his daydreaming son so far from home during this particular holiday, but he never voiced this concern out loud.  His interactions with Lord Rasesisk were proper and went extremely well as the young Lord was ecstatic with his freedom and quite affable at the moment.

=== Don Dulce Rivera ===

Dulce had quickly and hastily left the hospitality of the Narvaezan in the village of Almavegas when he was nearly forced into a duel with a particularly intrusive and inquisitive Los Elegidos officer.  After following the Rio Guadiana north a few days he arrived in the village of Paz del Sol just in time for the start of the Day of Duels festivities.  The village was lively and had a festive atmosphere, and was swelled with visitors from the farms and hamlets that depended on the village for trade and goods.  Although it took some difficulty in securing his lodgings due to the high number of visitors to the bustling village, Don Dulce Rivera was able to secure one of two suites in La Taberna de Rosa Dulce.  It was costly to secure the room, but necessary to uphold the state of luxury worthy of young Lord on the road.

=== Duncan Mosstone ===

It was closing on nearly two years since Duncan started his long journey from Rockhome far the east of the Savage Coast.  He had ridden nearly every known domesticated species known, and traveled in nearly every known conveyance to reach the city-state of Slagovich.  The city-state of Slagovich was located on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Hule was known as the gateway to the Savage Coast.  He secured passage on a Texeiran merchant ship headed home to the capital and port city of Boa Mansão in Estado de Texeiras.   Duncan spent nearly all his personal savings and the money that his ancient grandmother had given him as a gift for the journey.  He spent nearly a month in Boa Mansão getting his bearings and getting acclimated to the climate.  Luckily, Slag had many commonalities with the Common tongue and it only took him a few days to get accustomed to the accent of the Texeirans.  After he felt confident enough in understanding the locals of the Savage Coast, he decided to explore the Savage Baronies on dry land rather than by sea and followed the trade route south into the Baronía de Narvaez.  After nearly a week of walking he found himself in the large farming village of Paz del Sol at the start of a local festival called the Day of Duels.  He wasn't completely clear on what exactly the festival represented, and, in fact, he wasn't thinking clearly at all over the several days.  He thought that he might be picking up a local bug and it was causing his mind to fog and become extremely irritable.  Nonetheless, he was able to secure reasonable lodging in a very fine established by the name of La Taberna de Rosa Dulce.


It was shortly after noon and the hottest part of the day and the common room of La Taberna de Rosa Dulce was packed with both locals and visitors gathered for respite from the heat and refreshments.  The barmaids were busy moving about the crowded common room trying to service all the patrons.  The inn was filled with merchants, farmers, gauchos, locals, and about a dozen Los Elegidos in uniform.  The majority of the patrons were humans, but there were a handful of non-humans as well; a strangely dressed dwarf, an exceptionally well-dressed Rakastan noble, a non-descript Elven man.  There was even a group of four Tortle farmers sitting quietly at a table.  

Duncan was in a foul and sour mood despite the festive feel in the air of the common room, and he sat at the crowded bar on stool.  He had been jostled, poked, and spilled upon while he tried to eat his meal.  He felt his anger rising with each passing moment.  He tried to control himself, but found the task terribly difficult for some reason.  Unconsciously, he found his free hand resting on the hand axe on his belt.

Don Dulce Rivera was sitting at his private both enjoying his meal in a moment of solitude when he noticed the shouting coming from the common room.  The private booths were located in the common room, but could be screened off with light wooden panels that were slated.   At first he thought nothing of it and continued eating his meal and drinking his glass of local wine.  

Lord Rasesisk Salasar was also in a private booth, which was adjacent to Don Dulce Rivera's booth.  Although, the young Rakastan Lord had the wooden panels pulled back nearly fully so he could observe the common room and the locals during his afternoon meal of Steak Torero and red wine.  He heard the shouting from the common room, but at first it didn't register as anything more than the normal din of such a crowded establishment.  However, when he heard the sound of breaking glass, woodened chairs scraping the floor, and angry shouts he looked out over the common room to assess the disturbance of his meal.

Suddenly, the festive atmosphere of the common evaporated and it became very tense.  The strangely dressed dwarf at the bar was in a shouting match with several of uniformed Los Elegidos that were sitting closing behind him at a table.  In an instant they were all standing and ready for a fight.  The patrons nearby quickly scrambled out of the way in case a fight did erupt between the small one and Los Matónes.  

Much to Rask's amazement, he sees the dwarf's hand and arm turn into a reddish-hued hand axe before his eyes.  Clearly, he was not the only surprised as there are gasps from the people nearby the dwarf as well.  There was an instant of silent calm, but that silence quickly evaporated when the soldiers and the dwarf started fighting.  Patrons screamed and moved away quickly.  The soldiers from the other tables quickly stood up as well, and started pushed and punching patrons to get to the fight near the bar.  Tables were over turned, bottles smashed, and food wasted as the common room erupted into a free-for-all.

Don Dulce Rivera could no longer ignore the noise and commotion in the common room, and pushed back the wooden panels to reveal the turmoil.  A moment later, the innkeeper appeared before Don Dulce Rivera with a distressed look on his face.  Lord Rasesisk Salasar also saw the innkeeper approach the booth next to him and speak to the noble within.

"Don Dulce Rivera!" he said loudly with a pleading tone, "el extranjero dwarf is Afflicted has gone loco.  He is fighting Los Matónes... er, Los Elegidos with a Legacy!  You must intervene before they destroy my place, and... do worse.  Please help us!"

The dwarf fights like a badger and lands a terrible blow on one of the soldiers and he goes down in a spray of blood, and within an instant the flash of naked steel leaving sheaths of Los Elegidos can be seen.  The screams of the patrons nearby the fight rise and, like rats leaving a sinking ship, the locals pour out of the common room and spill into the streets.

Looking past the innkeeper, both Don Dulce Rivera and Lord Rasesisk Salasar can see that there is still a large fight going on in the common room.  Several of the visiting gauchos are also fighting the soldiers of the Baronía de Narvaez.  The dwarf is hit in the head with a chair and stunned and dazed.

"ENOUGH!" shouts a woman facing off several of the soldiers.

She stands about five-foot nine and looks to be in her early twenties.  She has black hair with coppery-hued streaks, and she has dark and ruddy skin.  She looks to be in shape and is neither skinny nor plump, and he is fairly attractive.  Before she can get another word out she is hit over the head with a clay tankard.  Fortunately, it didn't knock her out but it did splay her onto a table.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers near her points to her exposed necklace shouts, "heretic!  Get her!"

She quickly recovers her wits and backs away from the soldiers pushing the table in their direction, and as she does so she starts to change appearance slightly.  Small, silvery-red scales appear on her face and neck and move down her body to her exposed hands.  The soldiers quickly toss the table aside and slowly start to move around her trying to encircle her.  However, before any of them could take two steps, the lead soldier is suddenly encased within a thin, hard, red, amber-like shell.

"Inheritor!" one of the soldiers gasps.

Quickly, one of the soldiers near the door runs out into the streets of Paz del Sol.

A look of abject horror flashes across the innkeeper's face momentarily before he turns and flees around the fight into one of the back rooms.

Spoiler

OK, this is the set up scene.  I took some liberties so please bare with me here.  

Duncan, is effectively subdued at the moment and BSJ can make his moves in another 2 rounds; also, his arm has returned to normal now.  Rask and Dulce can react at this point, but we won't go into combat round immediately- unless you want to take it there.  Currently, there are 10 soldiers in the common room standing facing off two groups: the woman and three gauchos.  There still are a good number of patrons hiding and cowering in the corners of the common room, about a baker's dozen or so.

Rask and Dulce can take an action; pretty much anything you can do in a round.  Well take it from there depending on what you guys do.

Please keep all OOC talk and any linked dice rolls in the Spoiler tags.  I want to keep the IC stuff as clean as possible.  

I'll let you know when to roll any dice.

Rask observes the commotion excitedly but with a trained warrior's eye.

Spoiler

Does it seem that the dwarf that started the trouble has been subdued and is no longer a risk to the other bar patrons?
In my opinion do the guards have the numbers to arrest the other troublemaker?

I make a tactical assessment of the main tavern room,

Spoiler

How high is the ceiling?
Is there a balcony overlooking the main room?
Is the woman cornered agaisnt a wall or is there an exit behind her, either a door or a window on to the street?

and determine if any civilians uninvolved in the fracas are at risk

Spoiler

Spoiler

Are there any 'innocents' in danger or does it look like a fight between the two troublemakers and the guards at this point?

For Rask:

Spoiler

Sorry if I didn't communicate it well.  Honestly, Rask is not sure who exactly started the fight as he only became aware of it after it had begun.  The fight was going to happen when Rask looked over at the bar, but the dwarf was facing down a dozen men alone when his arm turned into a weapon.  The dwarf is currently dazed with several soldiers near him.

Your father warned you about the Baronía de Narvaez because they are intolerant of the worship of any other Immortal than Ixion, and that there is currently and Inquisition in the nation.

As far as Rask saw it, she was attacked after calling for a halt to the fighting and defended herself.  Given the knowledge from your father, it's quite possible that they have the numbers to arrest her; but, it doesn't seem right given her actions thus far.  She did something to the man who is encased, but Rask is not sure if he is dead or alive at the moment.

There is no balcony, and the ceiling is about 15-feet high.  There are two doors in the NW corner that probably lead into the kitchen and other behind the scene rooms of the tavern.  There is a stairway in the SW corner that leads up the rooms and suites.

There are still are approximately two dozen civilians and employees who are cowering in the corners, behind tables, and the bar.  They are not shown on the map, but they are effectively out of the way- for now.

So ....

Spoiler

The problem of course is that the guards represent the legal power in the city and Rask the Noble thinks that the best option is for both of the combtants to surrender and then face justice. He is also naive enough to assume that the truth will out and justice is even handed even amongst these lower species just as it would at home in Theeds.

So on that basis he will only intervene if the criminals start killing guards or if the guards fail to treat their prisoners fairly once they have them subdued.

Reminds me a bit of that scene in Pulp fiction

Duncan collapses against the bar dizzily and looks down in complete bewilderment at his hand covered in blood. "Only meant t' punch him..." he mutters.

Dulce stands up and spreads his arms addressing the soldiers "gentlemen can we please take this outside and avoid further damage to this fine establishment."

Rask stands and smooths down the front of the red and black tabbard that bears his families sigil, and pausing for a few moments to brush away a few crumbs of bread and wipe his mouth with a napkin speaks out in a clear but slightly sibilant voice,

"An excellent idea I would second and I am sure that if you surrender yourselves to the authorities this can all be talked through very simply in an ordered and sensible fashion.

If you all put down your weapons I will attend to the fallen soldier's injuries."

With the air of someone used to being obeyed he then starts to walk casually, though slowly, towards the fallen man.

Finur Dalgaard had recently spent time in the Montoya district of the Baronía de Narvaez with the elves there doing research, and during the course of his research he was directed to see an elf in the village of Paz del Sol to complete his investigations.  Finur has spent the last two weeks in the village and concluded his research there with satisfactory results.  The conclusion of his research happened to coincide with the the start of the Day of Duels holiday week and so he decided to stay in the welcoming village for at least a couple of day of the festivities.  Luckily, he had secured a room in La Taberna de Rosa Dulce before many of the visitors arrived in the village for the festivities.

During lunch on the first day of the holiday, Finur found himself in the common room enjoying a nice lunch of local cuisine when all hell broke loose around him.  Like many of the other patrons, he found himself scrambling out of the immediate fight zone with his back against the wall.  He was behind the long table against the west wall with three other patrons waiting for a chance to exit the common room when the free-for-all brawl took a lethal turn and naked steel flashed.

Spoiler

Finur is currently behind the long table located near the west wall and close to the stairway, and just below the table where the female Inheritor is currently standing.

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The rapidly increasing tension of the moment seems to hold at a temporary stalemate with the sudden of appearance of the two finely dressed individuals from the private booths along the southern wall.  Several of the Los Elegidos soldiers turn and face Dulce and Rask with weapons still out unsure of their intentions.

"Can you not see that the Curse has taken the foreigner and he is now Afflicted!"  the young woman says forcefully to the soldiers, "let me aid him with cinnabryl  now."

Suddenly, several loud whistles can be heard from somewhere outside the tavern.

A Los Elegidos soldier with a thin goatee and mustache smiles slightly before taking charge for the soldiers and says in a commanding tone, "the Small One and the Inheritor are under arrest, and the rest of you are detained for questioning.  Do not attempt to leave the room.  Any who resist will be dealt with accordingly."

The are several moans of fear from the remaining patrons and workers in the common room.

Turning to face the rakasta, he says with a slightly questioning tone, "if you are a healer, then you may attend Pedro."

The woman with reddish scaly skin says, "I will submit to arrest if you allow me to attend to the foreigner.  I will release your man as a sign of good faith."

There is a collective gasp from the patrons as the reddish encasement surrounding the frozen soldier disappears.

"Enrique!" one of the soldiers nearest to the recently encased soldier blurts out.

The encased soldier shakes his head as if dazed but doesn't seem otherwise not adversely affected.  This seems to lower the agitation of the soldiers somewhat, but they are still alert and reading for action if the Inheritor, foreign dwarf, gauchos, and patrons take any aggressive actions.

The gauchos still have their weapons drawn as well and don't seem to be shaken by the soldier's declarations like the patrons and staff of the tavern.

Spoiler

OK, everyone is free to act as they see fit.  Please assume that any actions taken are within the realm of a standard round for the moment.

Approaching the soldiers with my arms out and smiling, I say "The woman speaks honestly. I have seen this sort of thing before."

Duncan picks himself up a bit, still confused and a bit angry.
 
'Afflicted? Inheritors? By Kagyar's beard, what's going on?'

Finn moves slowly from behind the table and closer to the woman and dwarf, watching intently, hands at his sides.

I walk towards the fallen soldier.

"Who is in charge of your regiment soldier? I suggest you summon them here forthwith so we can resolve this matter. I have business later and cannot afford to be delayed."

Spoiler

I make a heraldry check to workbout their regiment and allegiences.

I tend to the injuries but if they are not lifevthreatening I will merely bind them rather than use the legacy.

The woman carefully puts her hands up and slowly walks over to the bar and foreign dwarf, and Rask walks over to the wounded Los Elegidos soldier.  The soldiers watch her and the rakasta carefully as they move across the common room.

As Rask nears the wounded soldier, the sergeant says with a smug tone, "you'll meet El Jaguar Rojo soon enough."

There are some gasps from the locals still trapped in the common room once the sergeant names his superior officer for the rakastan noble.

The woman approaches Duncan and takes off a bracelet of gold with a piece of cinnabryl and hands it to Duncan as she says, "you must wear this next to your skin at all times to stave off the afflictions of the Curse.  However, first I most cast a healing spell on you that will allow the cinnabryl to do its work.  Do not fear as I will not harm you."

When she says that she is going to cast spell, the Los Elegidos soldier become a little on edge but watch her closely.  They are also watching Rask closely as he approaches the wounded soldier.  Rask can tell right away that it is a grievous wound once he looks at it; the gash is so deep that the bone can be seen.  The young Rakastan noble gently puts his hands upon the wounded soldier's leg and concentrates for a moment.  He furred and clawed hand take on a faint reddish glow for an instant, and then he pulls away.  The soldiers nearby gasp as they can see the wound magically start to knit itself, and in an instant the soldier femur is no longer visible to the naked eye.  However, the wound doesn't heal or close completely.

The woman appears to enter a trace and starts casting a spell that calls upon the Immortal Al-Kalim for assistance in aiding Duncan.  She holds an amulet between the palm of her hands which has the symbol for Al-Kalim upon it.  A reddish nimbus appears around the Inheritor and Duncan briefly before fading away at the conclusion of her spell.  She opens her eyes and smiles at Duncan as he slips the bracelet onto his left wrist.

Outside, the sounds of whistles being blown seems to be getting louder; although the common room is momentarily stilled while watching the Inheritor and the Rakastan aid the wounded soldier and the foreign dwarf.  However, that moment is shattered when suddenly the three gauchos make a break for the front door and all heck breaks loose.

==================================================

For Duncan:

Spoiler

Duncan is currently fully Afflicted by the Curse.  The Inheritor woman casts remove curse on you.  The spell allows the cinnabryl touching your skin to work at reversing the condition now.

For the PCs:

Spoiler

I have broken the encounter down into four groups; the PCs, the gauchos, the patrons, and the soldiers.  I checked for surprise and there is no surprise.  Initiative checks are as follows:

01 = Patrons
03 = PCs
08 = Gauchos
10 = Soldiers

So we go into combat rounds.  It is very clear to the PCs that both the gauchos and the patrons are trying to exit and flee the scene, and that the soldiers mean to stop them.  Please state your actions for Round 1 and make any dice rolls if needed.  I'll adjust die rolls accordingly if necessary.

For Rask:

Spoiler

I rolled Rask's Heraldry check and got a 2!  Rask knows that the Baronía de Narvaez heavily employs mercenary companies for protection and police action.  However, Rask knows that the Los Elegidos (derogatorily known as Los Matónes) are the backbone of the Narvaezan martial forces and answer directly to Barón Hugo "El Despiadado" de Narvaez y Montoya.  Furthermore, Rask has heard of Lieutenant Luis Pereira, El Jaguar Rojo, who is a particularly despised soldier known for a predilection toward violence.

Duncan attempts a smile back at the woman. "My thanks, lady."
 
Combat:
 

Spoiler

When combat breaks out, Duncan is hoping that a guard will try to move past him while in pursuit of a gaucho.
He intends to attempt to trip a guard as he moves past him (stick a leg out, perhaps or ram him), then try to grab some sort of convenient object (or the flat of his handaxe, and sap him with it while he's down.
 
Rolled two attacks in case Duncan could use two weapon fighting to do both this round- um, first attack roll is a "1" though.
href=[URL="[url="http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3588552/%22%3Eattack%5Dhttp:/"]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3588552/%22%3Eattack]http:/[/url]/invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3588552/">attack[/URL] 1 (trip); attack 2 (sap) (1d20=1, 1d20=12)

Spoiler

Finn intends to wait and watch. If the Inheritor or dwarf are threatened he will react. He also tries to quietly stay fairly close to them.