Corvane's Unwanted Banquet Feast

Lore & Background

The "Unwanted Banquet" occurred during Lord Aldric Fenn's visit in Book 7. Unlike the chaotic raids of Roke or the relic-hunting of Kesh, Fenn represented a new kind of threat: the cozy siege of manners. He arrived with Captain Hale and clerk Pell, intending to annex Hollowmere through legalistic pressure and social dominance. The "banquet" was his opening gambit—a display of superior refinement meant to shame the locals into submission. Fenn brought his own silverware, his own wine, and a menu designed to highlight the scarcity of the valley's resources, effectively trying to eat the town's future before it could be built.

Bram, however, recognized the trap. The System flagged this as a breach of [House Rules]: "No debts left at the door" and "All are fed." Bram refused to let Fenn dictate the terms of the meal. Instead of serving the cold, precise dishes Fenn expected, Bram unleashed the full power of his Innkeeper class. He filled the long table with an abundance that defied logic—[A Room Always Waiting] ensuring there was enough for everyone, and [Hearth's Welcome] infusing the food with a restorative warmth that the Baron's men could not resist. The "banquet" dissolved into a communal meal where Fenn’s carefully constructed barriers of class and authority crumbled under the weight of genuine hospitality.

The event is remembered in Hollowmere as the day the grey sash was unbuttoned by soup. Fenn left empty-handed, his lists burned, having realized that the valley could not be conquered because it refused to be hungry. The "Unwanted Banquet" stands as a canonical proof of concept for the series' core thesis: that in a healing world, the most powerful weapon is not a sword, but a table set wide enough for an enemy.

In Their Own Story

The candlelight seemed too thin for Fenn's silverware. He sat at the head of Bram's long table, his posture rigid as a drawn bow, while Captain Hale and Clerk Pell arranged their napkins with surgical precision. "A modest meal," Fenn said, his voice smooth as oil on water, "to discuss the future of this... charming hamlet."

Bram placed a wooden bowl before him, steaming with a broth that smelled of thyme, onion, and something deeper—like rain on dry earth. "The table is set," Bram rumbled, his eyes crinkling. "Eat while it's hot. The cold air outside has no mercy for the hungry."

Fenn hesitated, then lifted his spoon. He took a sip. His shoulders dropped an inch. He looked at Pell, who was staring into his own bowl as if it held a secret map. "This is... adequate," Fenn muttered, though he reached for more.

Bram slid a loaf of bread across the wood, warm and soft enough to tear with fingers. "It's not about the silverware, Lord Fenn," Bram said softly, pouring wine into the clay mug of a young grey-sash levy who looked ready to weep. "It's about whether you're full when you leave. And I see you're still hungry."

Fenn opened his mouth to argue, to cite the Baron's tariffs, but the warmth in his chest spread outward, unspooling knots of tension he hadn't known he carried. He looked around the room. The locals were laughing. The children were stealing crusts from under the noses of the soldiers. And for the first time in a century, the grey sash felt less like armor and more like a shroud.

"Pass the bread," Fenn whispered, his voice cracking. "And... tell me where you got that thyme."

Reader's Guide

**The Unwanted Banquet** is not a recipe found in any cookbook, but a culinary event defined by its intent: to feed an enemy until they forget why they came.

In Book 7, Bram prepares this by ignoring the Baron's demands for "proper" service. Instead of serving the cold, measured rations Fenn brought, Bram utilizes his [Hearth's Welcome] skill to infuse a simple stew with restorative warmth. The ingredients are humble: root vegetables from Sable's garden, broth made from the day's bones, and fresh bread baked in the morning.

The craft lies not in complexity, but in abundance. As Fenn attempts to impose a rigid hierarchy at the table, Bram serves without asking for payment or names, breaking the tension with [House Rules]. The moment of the story arrives when the grey-sash soldiers, expecting to starve the town into submission, find themselves unable to stop eating. The food mends their fatigue and frayed nerves, leaving them too comforted to raise a weapon. By the end of the meal, the "banquet" has transformed from an act of conquest into a shared peace, proving that in Hollowmere, no one leaves hungry.

Did You Know?

• The 'Unwanted Banquet' is the only time Lord Fenn was seen eating without his silverware, choosing to use his hands like everyone else.
• Clerk Pell's list of annexation demands was accidentally used as kindling for the hearth fire during the meal.
• Bram did not use any Sovereign-class powers; the victory was achieved entirely through [Innkeeper] skills and bread.
• The levies from the grey sash later returned to Hollowmere not as soldiers, but as customers, specifically asking for 'that thyme soup'.