Message #175306

[Abstract]

Grabbing the side of the overturned table The Captain rose to his feet with one of the patrons mugs in his hand. "You have strength hairy one. But I have faced you four legged cousins before." For dramatic effect he lift his shirt to reveal three faded bear claw scars. "And they taught me the secrets of bear wrestling!" Then he launched the mug at Igor but his quick reflexes allowed him to side-step out the way.

At the same time Daeron rose to his feet, vision blurred massaging a throbbing pain in the back of his head. Unfortunately this allowed him to catch the mug with his face, sending him back to the floor on his back.

Undeterred The Captain unleashed the secret technique of "kick to the groin" but his knee was caught by one of Igor's hands while they used the other to grab the back of his thigh. Using this leverage they hoisted him from the floor in preparation to bring them crashing back to the earth. Yet just as they began to commit The Captain grabbed Igor's face in his hands and brought his other knee forward, connecting with the side of their face which sent the pair crashing through the crowd and into a stall of chicken.

As the Captain's knee blasted into Igor's cheek, Igor stumbled backwards before crashing into a stall of chickens. Feathers floated through the air and startled clucking called out from the crushed cages. Igor grimaced with pain while rolling over onto his stomach. Spitting out a loose tooth, which resided in a slush of blood, Igor staggered to his feet. With smeared fried chicken stuck to his hairy back, Igor approached the Captain. At a disadvantage from still trying to get up off the floor, the Captain futilely prepared a defensive. Igor's knee went right through the downed man's hands and crashed into his chest. Soft and furry, the large man's belly rubbed against the Captain's face in the process.

The Captain struggled to catch his fleeting breath and removed a couple of Igor's body hairs from his lips. Igor stepped away from the temporarily incapacitated man for he had no interest in pummeling someone who was on the ground. All this fun had made Igor thirsty anyhow, so he went over to a nearby table which had yet to see any action, and snatched up a half empty mug of ale. Quickly draining the rest of the liquid from the vessel, Igor dropped the mug back onto the table. Igor grinned at the nearby noble who just had their drink confiscated. Igor was vulnerably focused on the noble who kindly provided him with a refreshment as the Captain pulled himself together.

The Captain had crashed backwards into Moxie's table with Igor's last kick into the chest. As The Captain was composing himself, Moxie yelled out, "We playing tag here? Guess I'm it, eh?" Standing up, she broke into a run, tackled Eros Harte, yelling out, "You're IT!" and then ran off.

Moxie tackled Jarl Eros Harte who stood at the table next to Igor. Igor jumped with joy upon hearing the yell about a game of tag, a game Igor greatly enjoyed. As Moxie ran to one side of the tavern, Igor ran to the opposite, giggling the entire time. Grabbing a bystander at the far end away from Harte, Igor shielded himself with the unsuspecting noble. "Nah nah, Nah-nah, Nah," Igor yelled right beside the noble's ear as he taunted the Jarl, "hehehe."

The Captain lay there on the ground, winded. Covered in beer and chicken. The taste of sweat and hair alerting his senses. As far as he was concerned the fight was lost, the bear people had bested him.

However. In a state between delirium and drunken stupor an apparition appeared. The ghost of his father.
"Father?"
"My son. You have the strength within you to beat the bear man yet you have decided to forsake your promise to your house and given up amongst poultry of reasonable prices. Do you think I gave up so easily in my struggle against the daemons?"
"You wrestled daemons? It would not matter anyhow. If I could not wrestle this beast how could I compare to the skills you must have attained."
"Are you mad?! How would one wrestle a daemon?! They could fly and some where as tall as keeps! No way could I wrestle that!"
"But how did you defeat them then?"
"I did not rely on my strengths my son. I relied on my weaknesses of my enemies, as must you." The Captains father echoed as he slowly receded from this plane while he was left to ponder. What was his weakness? Through the drunken haze he searched, desperately but only one nonsense phrase came to mind "hoof, hoof" echoed just as his fathers words did. What could it mean? What secret could this provi-
"IT'S HORSES YOU SOFT MINDED FOOL! HE IS AFRAID OF HORSES!" The Captains father shouted down his ear but it made everything clear.
"Horses!" The Captain bolted up and ran outside, gathering the supplies he would need for the coming battle.

When he returned he had created a disguise to look like a horse-man. Straw for fur and wooden hooves where held in place by more tied straw and wax. The finishing touch was a bag with a hole cut into it in the shape sort of like a horse head. He trotted over to Igor who must have seen him enter as he was hiding behind a bystander, their eyes bulging at the sight before them.
."Hoof, hoof" Igor said in a mix of fear and confusion.
"Neigh!" The Captain boomed proudly towards the bear man as he turned about and placed his hands on the floor, kicking Igor through his shield and sending them both flying across the room.

Exhausted but defiant, he strode over to Daeron and hoisted them over his back. Making sure to take the ale he left from the table at the start of this, he trotted out of the tavern back to the hotel to the sight of confused and somewhat concerned onlookers.

Moxie was neither confused, nor concerned, when she saw Daeron riding a horse. Immediately hailing him, she hopped aboard behind Daeron and demanded they follow Kenneth MacArbin upon his steed, at once, at a full gallop! They were getting away!

Igor stopped his giggling as the odd Hoof Hoof made its way into the tavern. Full of dread, Igor's knees shook as the hoof hoof started towards him. Using the other noble as a shield in tag was going well, maybe it would work against hoof hoof too. The horse clopped awkwardly towards Igor and let out a fierce neigh. Oh the horror! Will anyone think of the children?!?

With a stiff kick to the noble shield, the horse sent Igor to the ground. Igor laid flat, and pretended to be dead. That was the best defense against a hoof hoof afterall.

After a few minutes past, Igor looked up to see the horse, and Moxie, had left the tavern. Igor let out a sigh of relief and moved over to the bar. That was a close one, Igor thought.