Axiom Gaiden: Chapter 1; Bloody reunion.
 

A man swabbed heavily in dark robes, and tattoos prayed to an altar. He muttered with a throat choked with sobs, "We will revive our mistress..."

He then rose, and passed a hand in front of his face, seemingly removing all the tattoos. Not wasting any time, he walked outside to get changed...

***

At the Belak manor, there was a "party" going on. Except, unlike most pompous nobles, only about half of the people there were pompous nobles. The other half were various travellers.

The group was obviously mismatched, but the travellers saw free-food, and the nobles saw courtesy and enjoyment at no expense of their own.

So, they happily continued on they used the time to their advantage. A small orchestra was playing a slow sweet dance song. Some of the travellers boo'd the selection, and the nobles silently applauded the pointless complication.

Despite all the dissimilarities, they all seemed to enjoy their time there, chatting with many people.

Lord Belak hadn't arrived, but everyone used that time to converse and joke with as many people as possible.

Kay held a glass of wine and was examining it, He had yet to taste it, and was swirling the crimson liquid about the glass, It looked like he was deciding whether or not the drink was edible or not.

He sipped it, then went back to swirling it.

Fredan was sitting by the table, casualy eating all the food he could and playing tricks on the nobles. He had just made a particulary fat woman walk into a wall by making her think there was a door there when decided to have a look at the travelers in the room. He stood up and had a look around to see if he could find any warriors, someone he could talk to.

Ganurath looked over the food present. Everything seemed to be in tiny bite sized pieces. This was not the sort of thing a fighter like him should have to eat. He looked around for somebody to talk to after grabbing some tiny pieces to meat on toothpicks and popping them in his mouth, spitting the toothpicks back on the plate.

Axel was sitting in a big, comfortable chair, a large mug in his hand and a plate full of food on his lap. His sword was up against the chair, looking almost like an antique because it was so old and used. Other than the occasional stare from a noble, Axel was at peace for the moment. Some nobles even tried to get him out of the chair, but he just gave them a stare that made them move away with a face that made them look like a frightened child. He smiled every time that happened.

After finishing his food, Axel put the plate and mug down by the chair and dozed off. He didn't feel like doing much when he had finally found a nice place to sit down for once, so sleep seemed like the best option.

Man, look at all these stuffed shirts.

Alaroth had no clue as to why he was invited. Or, why the other travellers where there, either. All he knew was that there would be free food, and some of the rich people might be scouting for a "private investigator" or other hired goon titles.

He wore what he considered his "good" clothes, but kept his arms and armor. Never know who will crash the party...

A waiter walked by with a plate of fancy weiners on a stick. He took several, and made his way to the open bar.

"Hey, bartend, got anything good?"

The man behind the counter looked up and seemed to be about to answer the question, but instead chose to balk at Alaroth.

"Quit staring and pour me something. I'm thirsty."

Lucian had come to the party for one reason: He wanted to know what this 'Lord Belak' wanted with him and the other travellers. It was a rare event indeed that a noble would bring travellers to his home, much less famous ones like the few he saw which were rumored to have killed a god, or those who were rumored to murder nobles to get at some of their more interesting family heirlooms, like himself. Particularily when both rumors were well known to be truth.

And so, curiousity had lured him out to this place, and set him down in a chair as far removed from the other fools as possible, merely waiting for the lord of the manor to make his intentions known. Although, as he waited, he also watched and studied the other travellers, taking stock of their worth.

Celes had recently just arrived. She was a bit late because she had just arrived from her hometown and her transportation was a bit too slow for her likings. Bringing the cloak all the way around her, she walked into the dining hall and glanced around. It had been a long time since the last time she had been to a party as a guest. She saw a few glances in her direction, then whispering, but that had become a common occurance ever since she had supposedly helped save the world.

Not immediately recognising anyone in the room, she went to sit down at a table and sipped at a drink a servant brought her soon after, glancing around to see if she recognised any of these people.

Vindro sat as close to the orchestra as he could while staying hidden from their view. As he listened to them perform one of his earlier pieces, he began to note the minor changes that the conductor had made in an attempt to make the song more fitting as a dance piece. "I wish he had left it in it's original form..." Vin muttered under his breath. "I put that repeat there for a reason."

Guy was doing what he does at all noblemen's parties. Stuff himself at the baffet. Usually this would take a large portain of the party since Guy had to eat a lot more then most people to substain himself.

While Guy was feeding himself, several people had stumbled on his chain, which was lying across the floor, all fifteen feet of it. Usually Guy would wrap the chain around his arm, but then he can't move his arm, which he needed for eating, so he let it loose.