The Land of the Azure Sun
Chapter 1: The Beginning
It was an early morning. The tavern now empty didn\'t show any sign of that night\'s party. The only sound filling the room was the sound of pouring rain raging outside. The party itself didn\'t have any special occasion. Once again, the only occasion was lots of ale in the store.
Kada took a look around. With smile she esteemed the room as completely cleaned. There was a pleasant scent filling the tavern. Nothing great, hardly sensible and always there... yet it never became dull. That dark-haired elven lady most likely went through more parties than anyone else in the whole Yliakum. Hydlaans were certainly a fun-loving bunch. She took a step towards a painting. The view of a peaceful hut surrounded by forest and lake was now covered in some liquid... most likely spilled by one of the drunk guests. she made a small sigh. Such a nice painting went to waste... as well as ale. All of candles placed on the tables were about to burn out. Although there wasn\'t many of them left anyway. Most of them got knocked over during the party, many times bringing a fire peril. She glanced at an edge of a table - visibly damaged by one of candles. All the staff was now leaving to get some rest. Kada wasn\'t going to stop them, they certainly needed it. Instead she turned to the bar, only to see a drunk elf lying behind it. Cad was always a great help for her... and always had inclination for alcohol. Despise his urges to pass out during parties, as well as in the middle of a day, she couldn\'t imagine how would she manage to run the tavern without him. She felt her eyes closing. Maybe some rest would turn out useful at that time. She slowly walked down the stairs and took a look towards fireplace. A black enkidukai was sitting there, staring at the fire. It was truly admirable that Seperot could stand conscious to the end of a party, despise drinking more than any other guest. At the time he seemed to be pondering about something. With her usual prudence, she decided not to interfere into his affairs. Seperot was never completely safe to approach and now, him being strongly affected by ale, with katana by his side, he surely wasn\'t any safer. She only smiled a bit and took the stairs up. Seperot looked behind. It was very quiet, rain was still pouring outside. He wasn\'t going to leave the tavern yet. Instead he gripped the hilt of his katana and turned back to the fire.
The door creaked as it got opened. Two elven newcomers started looking around the peaceful tavern. One was a female, widely smiled despise being all wet, didn\'t show any sign of being exhausted. She was dressed in a robe, colors ranging from azure to pure white. Strangely, hues seemed to be constantly changing, as if altered by the will and mood of the robe\'s wearer. She made a gesture with her right hand, causing the door to close under the force of arcane power. In same moment the other elf turned around and then looked back at his companion. She smirked to him. Unlike his friend, he didn\'t show any sign of joy. Being completely wet and tired didn\'t seem like a good situation to smile for him. His face certainly was showing a sign of recent exhausting journey. Despise that, one could notice lots of pride on his face, even more than normally. He wore a light brown cloak, under which hid chainmail and some other parts of quite heavy armour. He had a sword covered in sheath by his side and a round wooden shield bind to his back. Now, they both needed to sit by a fireplace and dry their soaked clothes. Just a moment later they noticed the enkidukai rogue resting after the party.
- \"Seperot!\" The male elf exclaimed.
The tired enkidukai turned around and glanced at the companions. His face lacked any emotion, he just kept staring at them, not showing any interest in what they want. The warrior took a sit on the opposite side of the table, while his companion, with her usual smile, walked further and sat on a bench by the fireplace and, after drawing her hands near it, began looking at the sparks.
- \"You won\'t believe it!\" The male elf continued \"I\'ve heard many tales of this place, but never thought I would come across a chance to see it with my very own eyes! I mean the old haunted vault, where the corpse of a powerful diaboli mage is supposed to lie. And with it, of course, all of his mythical wealth! Me and Ravna...\" He reached into his pocket and put a piece of old paper on the table \"...found this deep in the dungeons. It is a map showing the exact location of the vault. Of course, normally I would reconsider if it isn\'t fake, but it has sign of Armanal, diaboli I told you about, cast into it! This is our--\"
- \"Drak...\" Seperot interrupted him \"You missed the party...\"
- \"Huh... but...\" Draklar\'s excitement decreased at once.
- \"Let me see that\" Kada picked up the piece of paper.
- \"Oh, well met, Kada.\" Draklar looked up \"What happened with Sep?\"
- \"Good morning, Drak\" she smiled \"It\'s nothing, he just drank too much ale I guess.\"
- \"Didn\'t pass out yet, eh?\" he grinned to the enkidukai.
- \"No, in fact I believe the only time he passed out from alcohol was when you two started a drinking contest.\" Kada smirked and got back to checking the map.
- \"Aye, I remember that\" Draklar grinned once more \"I was the one who won after all.\"
- \"Actually, you both passed out at the same time\" Kada giggled.
- \"Yes, well... I bet Cad was giving me stronger ale...\" He shrugged \"So what do you think about the map?\"
- \"Well--\" Kada\'s answer got interrupted by an enkidukai kicking the doors open and entering the tavern \"Oh! Zetsumei! Be careful with that!\"
Zetsumei brought an awful stench into the tavern. His clothes were completely wet and torn in many places. Not exactly what one would expect from someone of such wealth as his.
- \"Well, my hands are quite tied at the moment.\" He answered and raised his hands, showing two bags full of something. \"Is Aleena around?\"
- \"Yes\" Kada sighed \"She\'s in her room--\"
- \"Good\" The enkidukai started walking up the stairs.
- \"But Zet! She\'s still sleeping!\" Kada was getting more and more annoyed.
- \"Then I will wake her up, duh!\" Zetsumei shrugged and went up.
- \"Ugh!\" She clenched her fists \"Sometimes he can be so annoying!\"
- \"Hey! Be careful with that!\" Draklar jumped up from the chair and pointed at the map.
- \"Oops! Sorry about that...\" She loosen her grip and looked at the map \"Now... what were you asking? Ah yes. Indeed, the Armanal\'s sign seems to be real so I don\'t think the map could be faked. And if what you say is true, the wealth in the vault--\"
- \"Would be enough to split between quite big number of adventurers\" Ravna joined the discussion.
- \"Well it seems taking the road to Ojaveda would be the best start.\" Kada continued.
- \"Good\" Draklar nodded \"We\'ll get some rations there\".
The doors opened once more and a loud, dwarven voice filled the room \"Where\'s the service? I need some ale!\"
- \"Valbrandr...\" whispered Seperot.
- \"Oh look! Sep is awake!\" Draklar chuckled.
- \"Now Sep...\" Kada tried to get him to calm down.
But Seperot didn\'t wait any longer. He grabbed his katana and jumped towards the newcomer, yet got stopped by Kada who grabbed his tail.
- \"No Sep! There will be no bloodshed in my tavern!\" She frowned.
- \"How about some dwarf-tossing then?\" he inquired.
- \"No!\" Kada pulled the enkidukai back \"Now if you excuse me, I need to take care of some customers.\" Said that, she walked to the bar.
\"Well well well...\" Zetsumei chuckled and made sure he would remain unnoticed \"Drak turned out to be useful after all... splitting the money? Ha! They must be insane... such wealth asks for gathering by just one person... and I think I know the person to do it...\"
