Spurned by Rogram, Ontharr frowns and gets back up from the table. "Ale will help loosen you all up. You've got some catching up to do," he says, sauntering over to the bar with his own empty tankard.

After Samir's introduction (and after everyone has had a chance to introduce themselves in turn) Leosin speaks softly to the party. "I know Ontharr seems a bit...much, but I promise that impressing him is in your long-term interest. My word on what I've seen from you can only go so far. Fortune has looked kindly on you for you to cross paths with one that he already knows and trusts. He thinks quite highly of Samir as well."

After a moment, Ontharr returns with a server and a dozen mugs of ale that get distributed around the table, and the large man returns to his seat. "Alright, then. Drink up. And tell me about yourselves; who you are, your abilities, what you can do. Karib, catch me up on what you've been up to. How did you meet these folks?"

Rogram only looks at Samir's extended hand a second before grasping it and pumping hard. His facial features soften, and he gives the man a nod of acceptance before taking part in the introductions. "Rogram Hloradur. The cult that kidnapped Leosin still has my Pa."

After Ontharr returns with the ale, Rogram sits across from him. "Before we get into that," the half-dwarf says seriously, "I believe I was invited to a contest." He throws his beefy elbow onto the table and spreads his fingers in invitation.

Yevele will take the ale and sip lightly at it. Following Rogram's introduction, the monk will speak up: "I'm Yevele, another monk like Leosin. I originally went to Greenest at his request. I've got some ability with a sword and bow, and been doing a fair amount of scouting for the party."

When Rogram agrees to the arm wrestling challenge, Yevele turns her focus onto that event and will cheer the half-dwarf on in his competition.

Ontharr stops mid-sentence to look toward Rogram, and a wide grin slowly splays across his face. Downing a fresh flagon of ale in one gulp, he wipes the foam from his beard with one meaty hand, placing the other upon the table and gripping Rogram's. "Now that's more like it!" he bellows. A knight sitting near him provides the countdown, and the muscle-bound warriors begin.

The table shakes as the pair's hands clench, rattling the mugs still on the table. Ontharr's face grows red as he strains and struggles against the powerful blacksmith, but after a few tense moments, the paladin finally forces Rogram's hand back onto the table. A cheer resounds from both tables and Ontharr stands in victory, nearly knocking his table over in the process and toppling one half-filled mug over. When he sits back down, he is panting from the exertion. "Haven't had a match like that in ages," he says, "Not bad at all."

Without missing a beat, he turns to Yevele. "A sword, eh? I've seen a monk fight before, but Leosin doesn't use a sword," he chides, which Leosin takes in stride with a smirk. "Fedor!" he calls to the other table, "Time for a spar!"

A paladin stands, a human man of middling age with salt and pepper hair, and grabs a wooden longsword from the wall, then straps on a shield. "Take your pick. First to three strikes wins," Ontharr tells Yevele. If any eyes in the tavern weren't turned to these tables during the arm wrestling match, they're all now peeled on the pending spar. None seem to be taken aback, indicating this is likely a regular occurrence within A Pair of Black Antlers.

Like Ontharr's, Rogram's already ruddy face turns bright red during the struggle. He looks intense, concentrating hard on the game. After his arm is bent backward, and the back of his hand is forced down onto the table, Rogram can't help but let out something in Dwarvish in an angry roar. After Ontharr stands to bask in his glory, Rogram slams both of his hands down onto the table with one final angry protest. He grabs his ale and downs the beverage gulp after gulp. After returning his empty mug to the table, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Noticing the next contest beginning, the half-dwarf half mumbles, half cheers, "Go get 'em, Yevele."

Yevele will get up and take a couple practice swings with the various wooden swords until she finds one that she likes. As she steps away from the wall with her chosen sword, she'll look at the paladin holding his shield and say "You going to hide behind that shield?"

Samir has taken a shield from a strap on his pack and is holding it in front of himself with both hands. He peers overtop of it at the sparring match. 

Without so much as a smirk, Fedor answers in Common tinged with a Damaran dialect, "Sword is no good if one is too dead to swing it."

OOC: Yevele has won the initiative! Feel free to describe the approach of her first round as thoroughly as you'd like.

Rogram gives Samir a curious look, then calls to Yevele, "You want my shield?"

At Rogram's question, Yevele shakes her head slightly 'When did she over use in a shield. It slowed her down'

Figuring that she was probably faster than the paladin, the monk didn't waste a lot of time trying to feint or figure out her opponents strategy. But, she did make a feint with her left leg, before going in with a swing of her sword. (To hit: 24). As Yevele feels her sword make contact with the paladin's side, she briefly smiles before readying for his counterattack.

She will then step back and spend a ki point to take patient defense.

Quote from nschrock >>

"Samir Windriver. I am sort of... Um... Shadowing Ontharr, if you can call it that. Learning the ins and outs of what he does, as I grow in the church." 

Samir extends a hand to shake. 

Karib smiles, "In's and out's eh? No wonder we meet you at an Inn then!"

He shakes his head when Rogram loses, "I'm sure he cheats, I've never been able to spot it. Can't be the healthy life style, that much is certain."

In between bouts and in answer to Ontharr's question, karib tried to fill the warrior in. "The ones you sent to meet me never made the rendezvous, so I joined as a mercenary." He rubs the side of his face where the bruises are now mostly gone. "Everyone always like blacksmiths, except for one who try to free prisoners."

He stares into the flames for a moment before continuing, "You can add punching bag to my skill set, if you hadn't already. Were it not for these folks, I would be drake-fodder by now."

Frowning his gaze is drawn back to the fire until the sight of Samir hiding behind the shield draws him back to himself and he laughs, "Discretion over valour, eh? That's a lesson Ontharr will never learn! perhaps it's something you could teach him?"

Samir shrugs. "Well, I'm no swordfighter or anything. Ontharr keeps trying, but I just don't see the point. I'm more involved in helping congregation members with marital troubles than fighting bandits. I mean, I suppose I could do some of that. I've been blessed with magic for my faith, but really... It's not like this is Greenest." 

Karib nods. He carries a polished wooden staff, though there is a mace strapped to the back of his pack. "I'm not above knocking a few heads myself, but I do prefer more peaceful solutions where they can be managed."

"How did you get involved in all this? Onatharr's doing?"

"Oh, I'm hardly involved in anything. Ontharr asked me to come meet Leosin, and then stay to meet you all. I should probably get back to the temple soon, but I am supposed to be learning from Ontharr. He's a bit of a handful." Samir has no idea that he'll be an addition to the party at this point lol. 

Fedor, overbalanced by attempting to fend off a leg strike that never came, spins with a horizontal swing of his dulled wooden blade to gain distance between himself and Yevele. Veins bulge from strain as he stops the swing to lunge toward the monk, pressing her toward the back wall of the inn, only for her to kick off of one booth to another, using a leg on each to propel herself up and aside of the knight's swing, rolling to come back up to her feet in a fighting stance.

"Ha, not an easy feat! My knights know how to counter a faster opponent, but she still got around his defenses and maneuvered out of an aggressive counter attack. Point to Yevele!" Ontharr calls out among a smattering of appreciative applause in the tavern.

After scoring a hit with her first attack, Yevele figures that Fedor will be expecting a similar move from her, so shows a little more patience this time around. The monk will circle around for a couple steps gauging the quickness of her opponent. After having some idea of his speed, she will move in low and hit her opponent in the knee. With another hit, the monk will again spend a point of ki to take patient defense.

When Yevele gets in the first hit, Rogram cheers, "Good one!"

"Well, I'm no swordfighter or anything. Ontharr keeps trying, but I just don't see the point," Samir says to Karib.

Rogram, his eyes on the swordfight, chuckles. "Don't see the point," he repeats quietly to himself.

When the monk skillfully dances out of the way of Fedor and ends up behind him, Rogram joins those who are applauding. "Keep it up, Yevele!" he calls. He smiles at Leosin. "You teach her that one?"

Leosin shakes his head at Rogram. "No, Yevele has learned much since I last saw her. It's impressive to see how she has learned to fight with a blade without sacrificing speed," he says.

Fedor moves like a blur after taking the hit on the knee, spinning fast with a leg kick. The unexpected speed of a knight in plate armor gives Yevele just enough time to leap over the kick, but being caught in mid-air allows the knight to bowl her over, bull-rushing forward with his shield. Yevele lands gracefully backward, tucking her chin and rolling backward to leap back to her feet.

Another excited gasp from the crowd is accentuated by another guffaw from Ontharr. "Fedor is adjusting to her speed quickly; it doesn't matter how fast you are if you're off the ground. He's got to figure out how to defend himself against it though, or this spar is over. He can't keep trading hits," he says mainly to Karib, Rogram, Samir and Leosin at his table.

"Two hits to one in favor of the monk!" Ontharr calls out.

Rogram grins. "She can take him," the half-dwarf says confidently to Ontharr. "Give him another, Yevele! Your sword is a part of you! An extension of your hand!" Rogram yells.

Bardic inspiration to Yevele. :) 1d6 toward one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. This can be added after seeing the roll, but before knowing the outcome.

Hearing Rogram urging her on, Yevele felt a surge of energy and decided to try and end it quickly. And, she would show Ontharr how deadly a monk's speed was.

Moving forward into her opponent, Yevele makes a kick toward his shield, followed by a spinning swing with her sword toward the sword arm of Fedor, which was rapidly followed by an elbow to the head of the paladin.

(ooc that as a sword attack for the action and bonus action flurry of blows for the kick and elbow).