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What do they fight with?

Brawl/dagger stats, if I recall correctly (away from books)

That's the first thing I thought of as well, but most of them don't have that.

While not every opponent might pack a dagger (although I usually assume they do), all of them can brawl. Usually I assume that every NPC has at least a rank of 1 to fight with brawling or improvised weapons.

In my game, it depends.

Minions and grunts who get disarmed usually run away, unless there is still a lot of them and the chances to win the fight against the PCs are still high: in that case, they may keep fighting with Brawling attacks (1 Success dice, 1 Damage, 1 + Attribute level Damage in case of great success).

In case of boss monsters I don't bother too much, as they have 1, 2 or even 3 backup weapons to fight with. But if a player manages to disarm him of all of his weapons, then same rule as for the minions above.

I concur that most minions would not want to bare-knuckle brawl with someone who is still wielding a weapon. If they are not in a situation where they would be inclined to runaway, you could simply have them forfeit their next opportunity to attack while they retrieve their weapon. It may not have the same long term effect as a Shield Smash, but it many cases having them effectively lose a turn is much more valuable.

Page 68 of the Loremaster’s Guid says:

under normal circumstances, the dropped weapon may be recovered spending an entire action

This quote relates to player characters who have dropped their weapon, but I assume that this is also valid for their foes.

I agree. In addition, I would rule that an NPC (or Hero), who has to recover his weapon is susceptible to attacks (TN 6) for anyone attacking him, as he must bend down/lean over and take his eyes off his foes in order to recover his weapon.

In my houserules, I have an additional stance called "Compromised". It's basically the worst of all worlds; it is TN 6 to be hit and 12 to hit. You cannot perform any of the special combat tasks while in this stance, nor can you elect to be knocked-back or remove your helm. It's a forced (penalty) stance that usually happens under the following or similar conditions:

-You are knocked down or fall down.
-You are trying to fight while swimming, climbing, or similarly unbalanced/restricted.
-The round for which you recover your weapon, for example.