People have
said most of what I would've said about Bretbug, except maybe one thing. There's a reason Bret went after Karpf, a professor, and not some random shit talker. Karpf is lower in the hierarchy than Stephens, which is why Stephens tried to assert his AUTHORITAH, but he's still in the hierarchy. Karpf is supposed to know the rules. The peasants outside the castle are allowed to get drunk and talk shit because who cares about the peasants? Well unless they get too annoying and then you just shoot some arrows at them. But Karpf was violating the rules of the court.