"... I agree that Alliria has its charms, it is quaint and relatively quiet. That was the first thing I noticed on my first night watch, when the sun goes down the night life is practically non-existent. You won't hear businesses still hawking their wares, no heavy road traffic, just a few rowdy taverns, maybe a turf war down in the lower districts, a protesting mob down at the docks and barking dogs in the distance."
"No doubt, for a major trade city I am surprised how quickly the streets are given over to the creatures of the night as soon as the sun goes down. Nothing like Mardus, but those are some high expectations."
A general murmur of agreement went around the table.
"It is not exactly a fair comparison. Mardus was built by giants, Alliria was built by humans from the ground up. I think it is an impressive accomplishment."
Dianna sipped her drink and leaned back in her chair, something she never would have been allowed to do back home, let alone drinking cheap booze in a subpar establishment. Nobility were sticklers for personal image, soldiers, less so.
A chunk of bread landed in the middle of their table. They collectively looked over at the table beside them and noticed that mischievous blond haired girl who was currently entertaining a stout drink and not at all hiding her offensive behavior.
They all collectively turned back to each other, electing to ignore the troublesome girl and peacefully continuing their evening. Surely a single girl wouldn't want to continue to antagonize a group of five foreign soldiers...
A chunk of bread bounced off the shoulder of the soldier who sat with his back to the girl, he pursed his lips into a thin line but didn't respond.
Another chunk of bread bounced off of Dianna's head, but she followed suit with her comrades and didn't react.
Plop!
One of the Mardanian soldiers looked into his cup. Another chunk of bread floated to the top of the liquid.
He grimaced and looked up at his companions, each individually with a nod.
The thing with "quiet"
cities and
towns is they made for very bored soldiers... And bored soldiers made for a brand of trouble maker all their own.
The rest of the tavern was not idle, they were aware of what was transpiring and were waiting to see what would happen.
One soldier stood up, cracking his knuckles as he pushed his chair back and approached the blond girls table.
"Well... Let's get to it then!"
With that he grabbed the edge of her table and picked it up, trying to flip it up on top of her.
Almost as if on cue, the entire tavern erupted in a huge bar fight! The Mardanians rose to their feet and started laying into the crowd.
Dianna was no exception. A big local swinging a chair swished over her head, Dianna popped back up with a rising elbow to his chin, sending him crashing down to the ground, groaning with a mouth full of broken teeth.
She moved in concert with her companions, except for the one who engaged with the blond girl they moved as a loose unit, watching each other's backs and expertly taking down the common rabble with their elite training.
They weren't the only targets of the mob, most of the patrons present had separated into their own individual brawls, fighting each other and occasionally some of the biggest of the bar brawlers would come test themselves against the soldiers.
The Mardanians were holding their own with the general attention so divided, but as attention was slowly brought to them things began to go wrong.
Atros went down from a bottle to the head, Daniel got separated and buried under a dog pile. That left Dianna and Mark to fend for themselves, and whatever happened to Agnosis who engaged with Charity.
Mark took a chair to the legs and was tripped up, landing hard.
And Dianna now fought alone, taking on three at a time, dealing knockout blows, breaking arms and kicking out knees.
She kicked high and hooked one man around the neck with her leg, bringing him down to bust his nose against a table. She had little doubt that she would be leaving the tavern between two of her comrades with bad bruises and hardly able to walk... But this was fun! Therefore it was worth it.