That was my going theory at the time, that Adira was taken because she was the proprietor and manager of Riftwall. As a major part of the community, her word would be trusted if she were to "cry wolf", as it were, pun intended. She's not a wolf, and everyone in the area knows and respects her, so the real Templar would have no reason to detain her. Clovis' goons, on the other hand, would need to silence anyone capable of alerting a guard; be it by knockout, imprisonment, or worse. We mentioned it back then, but Adira made the right choice in fighting back without calling to, or mentioning, her daughter. Knowing what we do now, that may well have saved Maeve's life.steelabjur wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:04 pmIf they were actually Templars, I suspect they were actually Clovis' minions. They came through the portal in Riftwall, after all, and pretended to be Templar before (twice). Adira might have been grabbed for the same reason Rom used the cuff on Kat...Elemental Templar wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 7:21 pmsnip
He gifts him to Adira as a protector for Maeve. With war on the horizon and plenty of potential dangers; I can't see why she'd say now to a Dragon-enchanted, Fire breathing Golem from the Grand Templar. (Plus having a fire breathing bouncer at a tavern would definitely dissuade drunken brawls)
Now... Assuming Adira and Maeve make it out of whatever shenanigans they're respectively stuck in, and can return to the tavern, having Stoney around seems like it could go either way, honestly. We've seen Stoney's reactions to some generic social situations, so aside from his clear and obvious protective and combat abilities, he seems more like a trained dog when it comes to interactions. He makes pretty much one sound aside from the roar, pounces, and even Trace seemed to talk to him like a child who should have known better, or even a trained dog.
Having a creature like that protect a child would be a strong deterrent, but would such a creature be able to make a rational decision regarding drunken barflies? The line between 'civil discussion' and 'all-out brawl' can be deceptively thin, and very hard to see coming without a tavern owner's level of experience with drunks. Adira's almost certainly skilled enough to give a drunk the little shoulder-tap right before things turn awry, but even IF she could teach that skill to Stoney, I highly doubt any normal belligerent drunk would respond rationally when they turn around to see a 6'12" sentient stone lizard smiling at them. Especially if they were about to start a fight. He'd probably scare more customers than he'd protect, at least for the first few months. If not years.