The night had just begun and as I approached the great fortress of Kelredan Castle I could hear the merriment had already started. Accompanied by my long time banner man Lord General Admiral Swagathor we walked towards the gates. It was a fair spring night with hints of dew on the grass from rains earlier in the day time. The weather had cleared up by now and I could clearly see the starts of the twinkles of stars as the sun steadily fell. The smoke of a few fires could be seen above the walls, presumably being used to cook all the food that they were feasting on. My scouts had reported to me that the Dwarves had already arrived so they would need as much food as they could possibly make. As we arrived at the gate I heard the grumbling of my companion as he repeated his complaints from earlier.
"I still dont see why you are too cheap to buy any god damn donkeys. We could've been here in half the time, they're like 50% off in that one village anyways." he said, out of breath, as he adjusted his tabard over his armor and fixed his sword.
"We've been over this, they barely even give you a movement bonus if you compare them with Rounceys. Its totally more worthwhile to just spend the money I'd spend on donkeys on rounceys instead for the better movement speeds." I said as I smoothed my moustache over and took my helmet off, getting ready to announce myself to the guards.
"Yeah that would make sense if you actually bought Rounceys, instead you just spend all your money on more gear for your village and castle." Swagathor retorted.
"Hush now." I said somewhat annoyed. Raising my voice I shouted up to a guard who was looking down at us patiently from the gates. "Greetings good sir, my name is Tristan of Erzoth and this is my companion Lord General King Sentinel Rear Admiral of the Navy Swagathor, we have recieved invitation to a feast being given by the new Marshal of the realm Gryphter. May we have passage through the gates?"
The guard leaned over the wall and looked closely at us. "All weapons must be handed over at the gate, you'll get them when you leave. Try not to start any fights while you're in there." and the gate slowly started to rumble upwards. I started walking towards the gate while undoing my sword belt. Luckily I had left my trusty crossbow at home, would rather not let someone else get their grubby hands on them after all. As we entered the castle we were stopped by a guard who asked for our weapons. We both handed over our swords before he stepped aside to let us pass.
"Good sir, would you point me in the direction of your lord Gryphter? I wish to greet the man who threw together this feast for us all to enjoy."
"Eh? Yeah he's up there drinkin himself half to death with some dwarves. Go talk to him if ya wish" the guard said dismissively, obviously upset that he has to stand guard while all his colleagues are getting themselves drunk. I started to walk through the courtyard and up to the fire where I saw a mix of short dwarves and men dressed in crusaders garb drinking heavily and having themselves a merry time. Its hard to look at and imagine just a few days ago these fellows were trying to slit each others throats on the battle field. I approached and looked for the man called Gryphter. I remembered seeing him a few times a long time past when I worked more closely with Acre and he seemed like a good lad. Strange to think that now he leads the entire thing. As I approached the flame he stood up and walked over towards me.
"Tristan of Erzoth is it? Aye it is! Welcome to my feast! I hope the travel wasnt too hard on you?" he said while grasping my hand and shaking it heartily before doing the same to Swagathor.
"It was nothing too bad, just a short walk. We are neighbors after all" I replied with a smile and a small bow of respect. "This is my companion God General Rear Admiral of the Navy King Sentinel Ranger Captain of the Guard Champion Swagathor." Swagathor nodded at him with a grin. "Oh yes, by the way before I forget. Here is a gift I brought. It is a exotic ruby, the specialty craft of my castle. I had my best men work on cutting it for you, unfortunately I did not have the chance to do anything else with it." I said as I took it out of a pouch on my belt and handed it over. The ruby was a decent size, it fit snugly into Gryphters palm.
"Thank you kindly for this gift, I think I shall put it in the pommel of one of my blades." he said before handing it to one of his servents that are scurrying about to take back to his keep. "Now enjoy yourself, have a drink, eat some food, and most importantly have fun!" He said before going back to what he was doing before we approached, which upon closer examination seemed to be a drinking contest with HESKEYTIME. Swagathor said something about looking for a drink before wandering off in pursuit of it. Taking one last look around the feast I settled into a corner with some food before beginning to eat.
