Kayden found everything decidedly NOT helpful, and it continued to regress as the mob outside pounded on the doors and tried to shatter the windows. It was lucky they had a few spears to worry anyone who managed to make a hole in one of the boards, but it wasn't going to keep them out forever. Morek and Otto and a few other lads kept the main bulk of the stacked up furniture from budging too far back, but the door itself was almost completely dismantled, and it was only a matter of time before they began to pull out various parts of the makeshift obstruction rather than continually push on it. 

A bullet punched through the wall somewhere to Kayden's left, the prince reflexively ducking but otherwise fine. 

"It'd be a whole lot easier if we could use our bows, captain!" Arnest called, having just cut the reaching arm of a man who had attempted to snake the arm out of a hole to try and unlock an obstructed sidedoor. 

"Don't I know it!" Kayden cried, his frustration mounting. An axehead broke through the top of the door, cutting into the hand of one of the knights. Had the man not been wearing a gauntlet, he might have lost a finger. He cried out and pulled his hand back, but before he shoved his sword through, Otto pushed him away and sent him to grab more chairs. 

"We have nothing more to throw on, knight commander!" He complained, exasperated. 

Kayden stepped back as Otto ordered the man to come and help push. The Wyvern captain knew this was a losing game. No matter what they did, there was no way they could stop the mob from entering and killing a whole lot of men, even if they were hired thugs. They lived here, some had lovers, maybe even children. Time seemed to slow as he pondered, his mind going to work. He was a good duelist, a better lover, but he was an unmatched strategist. Many lords and intellectuals who fancied themselves chess masters were unhappy whenever they tried to challenge him to a game. Alcohol? Fire? No. Pendulums? Collapsing the stairwell? Images flashed through his mind, and the moments seemed to drag until an idea burst forth out of his mind.  

"Take that table off the barrier!" Kayden ordered the men. "Get me a bottle of wine! Morek I need you and Gerhardt upstairs." 

Everyone stopped to look at him. Even the tumult outdoors grew more slothful as if the gods themselves were curious. Otto looked at him like he had sprouted four appendages out of his abdomen and revealed himself as the chief baby eater of the courts of chaos. Even More looked perplexed. However, an urgent look from the captain set his men and the dwarf to grab a table, before Otto tried to stop them. Morek shoved the man out of the way. 

"You curs! You're in league with them!" Otto snarled as he drew his sword. His knights followed suit, the sound of steel echoing across the timber halls. 

"Stand down!" Calliope ordered, her soprano voice thundering down the central stairway. She watched over the conflict like a perched black wyrm deciding which of her subjects she might devour. The noblewoman raised a well trimmed eyebrow at Otto when he whirred to face her. Kayden heard another shove from outside, and during this small reprieve, his longbowmen began to grab the table off the top and set it down at the foot of the stairs at Kayden's bidding. Otto's men waited for an order. It came from the sorceress. "Listen to Captain Caladwarden and do as he says." 

Otto glowered at her, and Kayden was unable to predict his next move, but after a few tense moments, the knight capitulated. The next few minutes passed by extremely quickly, followed by a very long minute that seemed to last an eternity. Kayden had heard time traveled strangely in the chaos wastes. He wondered if that's how it felt there, as he sat on his cushioned chair and awaited the assembled furniture to finally be pushed aside. A half a dozen toughs shoved their way in, only to find the most unlikely sight in front of them. 

"Might I speak to herr Ernst?" Kayden asked calmly, pouring a second glass of wine. They looked at him, dumbfounded, and glanced around to see no longbowmen or knights. The lead one, a cleft lipped ruffian, stepped back slowly, and went to fetch his master. Ernst Ruttiger strode before them, confused as all hell, and gazed at Kayden with unmasked incredulity. 

"What the hell are you playing at, traitor!?" 

Kayden sat at a long table, with a bottle of wissenland's best and two glasses filled with red wine. He was alone. No men or dwarf in sight, no Calliope. Kayden's sword was on the table, as was his pistol. He smiled pleasantly at Ernst. "Why not come join me for some wine, herr Ruttiger?" 

"Y- ..." Ernst's lips tried to form words, but they were unable to come. Vaguely he gestured at the wine as his men stepped back to allow him room to further gesticulate. "I asked you what the hell you're playing at!" He said angrily. "And put that poison away!" Kayden calmly poured some of Ruttiger's cup into his own, and took a sip. Even as he did so, Ruttiger cried out in frustration. "Stop it! Whatever you're doing I'm not falling for it!" 

"I'm just inviting you in, sir," Kayden said, his hands out wide. 

Ernst waved an accusatory finger at all the phantom assailants within the lobby, fumbling for the right words to sound dramatic. "Fuck all of you swindlers!" He said, and turned around to walk away. His men looked at one another, and Kayden waved them to come join him. He even gave them a wink, and they looked at one another and backed away. Kayden shrugged, as if to say 'your loss' and took another sip of the wine. It was quite delectable, though he's certainly had better. Somehow danger and drinking during the work shift made it taste all the sweeter. Outside, there was a loud [b]clrack[/b]! Dust and the hot outside air billowed into the room, as did Ruttiger and his handful of men. 

"Well, it seems the second part of the trap worked after all." Kayden remarked idly, as longbowmen, riflemen, and knights stepped out of the closets, their weapons in hand and aimed pointedly in the direction of Ernst Ruttiger. One of the ruffians thought to tip the scales and charge Kayden, but the prince merely tossed the remainder of the wine in his face. He blinked, and the sting caused him to howl. Kayden pushed the chair back and stepped out from behind the table as Ernst and his men were trapped between a fallen bookshelf and the weapons of those inside the townhouse. The prince took hold of his sword, placed it under the chin of the ruffian that had charged him, and urged him to step back. He did so hurriedly. 

"Now that we have your undivided attention, herr Ruttiger, I believe you have two choices." Kayden remarked, his sword point swinging to the pudgy merchant, who had begun to sweat even more than usual. "You can be our hostage, or our guest. One is decidedly more comfortable than the other. Either way, The Lady Blackwood awaits upstairs to discuss the terms of your legal transgressions."