An amazing evening was enjoyed by all at the
"cancelled" brawl of the Shady Lady this past Friday, April 12 in the alleyway behind the tavern. At the beginning of the evening, Brawl Ringmaster and Shady Lady co-owner Irvin
"Vinnie" Rawlins cancelled the official version of the brawl for lack of interest. But over the course of the evening, more participants and more viewers arrived. By the middle of the evening, the back alley was crowded with excited onlookers and eager participants!
There were several patrons interested in participating in a casual brawl. With only a handful of onlookers, two hungry participants, Aerin Nightflare and Marian Hart started the action. Nightflare was able to destabilize Hart with a leg sweep, before Hart returned with an attempt at a kick to the knee. Nightflare displayed her gymnastic prowess using a back flip to avoid a knee injury.
Nightflare rushed Hart with a fake-out, then attempted a second surprise leg sweep. Both parties were gripped with a sincere respect for the other’s brawling technique and fighting knowledge. Hart was toppled and acquiesced to Nightflare as the winner. With Hart laying on the ground, the winner of the brawl, Aerin Nightflare, offered her fallen opponent a hand up. The level of good sportsmanship was highly appreciated by this old newshound.
It was at this point that Brawl Ringmaster Rawlins asked a strapping man if he wanted to fight. The unnamed man rejected the idea of fighting a lady, the previous winner Aerin Nightflare. Although many people tried to goad him into brawling with the previous winner, he just could not fight a woman. I can tell you, this old newshound was torn between whether the unnamed man was being sexist or being a gentleman. Either way, he remained true to his moral standard and refused again and again. But Brawl Ringmaster Rawlins could not pass up the opportunity to see this man brawl and offered himself as opponent.
The two men stripped off their shirts and began a mild brotherly verbal skirmish. Rawlins hit first with a rib jab after faking out a punch to the face. Taken by surprise, the unnamed man was struck in the ribs after raising his hands to defend against the fake out punch. The unnamed man’s return offensive was enthusiastic, but did not hit it’s intended mark. Rawlins dodged both a gut punch and a jaw punch attack. Rawlins returned with an attempted head butt, which the unnamed man deflected before raising his arms to jab Rawlins in the jaw. Rawlins swung his head to the side as
the elbow merely brushed against his jaw. Rawlins took this opportunity to push himself backwards before planting his boot into the unnamed man’s chest. He stumbled backwards, barely preventing himself from falling. He circled Rawlins and attempted a punch to the throat, which was deflected. Rawlins grabbed the man’s shoulders and attempted a knee in the solar plexus. The unnamed man deflected the knee with his hands and attempted a head butt, which landed spectacularly. Rawlins was struck hard and stumbled backwards before returning with 2 feigned punches to the side and stomach with a third and genuine punch to the unnamed man’s chin. The man twisted to the side to avoid contact, presumably getting familiar with Rawlin’s style of fake-outs. As Rawlins nose bled, an uppercut to the jaw blasted Rawlins backwards, falling into the cobblestones. Standing up, Rawlins exclaimed
"Hah, shit, you’re a mean bastard," grinning. Rawlins then charged the unnamed man, kicking at his foot and combining this with a hook punch to the man’s cheek. The man deftly avoided contact and threw a fake-out punch of his own, to the underside of Rawlin’s chin. The fist struck, Rawlins stumbling backwards, landing backside onto the cobblestones. Knowing he was out of the fight, Rawlins, laughed. The unnamed man sighed, and was victorious!
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The following opponents were a Dame Poe versus the previous contestant, Marian Hart. Dame Poe had not made a good impression on those around her, having made several disparaging remark about wealth and poverty. She had, however, somehow acquired a flunky named
"Squire Nicenuts" who ended up underneath a pile of her clothing she removed for the fight. Is was then that Poe made a rather brutal comment about Hart’s mother. Hart returned with a plea for Poe to shut her cakehole, not in so many words. Poe started the attack, cackling like a madwoman. Hart seemed to be slightly taken aback by her opponent’s bizarre behavior and was struck. Hart used the closeness to ram her fist up Poe’s jaw. Poe deflected, and returned with an elbow to the jaw. Poe also felt the need to spew verbal attacks, and the crowd responded with fairly stereotypical, and accurate, comments about how the wealthiest among us often don’t have any good manners or feel the need to follow general rules of good sportsmanship. Hart reeled from that blow and followed with a fist to Poe’s nose. Poe dodged and threw her fist into Hart’s ribcage. The blow struck, along with more verbal disparaging and unnecessary remarks directed towards Hart. Hart, and to be honest the entire crowd, was done with this fight and gave Poe the win.
The next couple of hitters up were funnily called Ironheart – a dwarf – and Ironfist – a tall man who seemed to also have dwarven heritage. They shook hands like gentlemen and Ironfist offered to buy the rounds if his opponent, Ironheart, won. A gentlemanly gesture, sorely needed after the hot mess of poor sportsmanship previously witnessed. Ironfist struck first with a hefty right hook to Ironheart’s jaws, sending the dwarf reeling backwards. Ironheart struck back with an attempted knee to the chest, which Ironfist deflected with his own leg, simultaneously returning with a punch to the face. Ironheart was sent reeling backwards, landing in his posterior. It appeared as though Ironheart was going to give up, but Ironfist offered his opponent a hand-up and gave him a friendly pep talk,
"Nae lad, ge' back up. Yer nae doon an' oot jus' yet." Ironheart was going to end the fight, but his dwarven friends goaded him on, and he continued. Ironheart charged Ironfist, deftly avoided and returned with a clothesline attempt to send Ironheart back onto the ground. Ironfist avoided being struck and attempted to shove him with his knee. Ironheart deflected the knee and attempted a head butt. It struck, and Ironheart was again on the ground. Wiping blood from his mouth, the dwarf then said he’d rather get back to his drinking than fight more. Ironfist offered a hands-up and the two went off to get a drink together.
The next opponents were Gilnean Lars Blackmane and Gilnean Trista Gunn. Blackmane started with a stomach jab and an uppercut, which Gunn deflected. Gunn grabbed his wrists and ran her paw into his chest. Blackmane used the momentum to perform a backwards somersault, ending up in a standing position. Gunn chuckled at the gymnastics of her opponent, but was not surprised by his physical rebuttal. Her fist swung out to his gut, downing him. As he fell, his legs attempted to sweep Gunn’s legs. Gunn fell over on top of Blackmane, but took this opportunity to elbow him in the gut. Blackmane had the wind knocked out of him and tapped out. Trista Gunn was victorious!
It was another fantastic evening of fun and (mostly!) good sportsmanship at the Shady Lady. Hopefully they will hold another Brawl Night very soon.