The Festival of the Undead had begun earlier in the evening, and many vampires were already roaring drunk. Most were stuffed into the Halls of Sport, but some could be found wandering the surrounding halls, more specifically, the hall of Khledon Lurt. Here you could find vampires stumbling around with more barrels of ale and bowls of bat broth, and the sounds of drunken conversations filled the air. Or rather, drunken arguments, depending on where you are sitting. One such place you can here bickering is tucked in the right corner of the hall, where a young blond and a tough looking guard are having a rather heated discussion.
"The vampaneze are no different than you and I, they just follow a different set of rules and customs." The blond, called Kurda Smahlt, remarked coolly. He worked hard to keep his voice down and himself calm and collected. The rough guard with auburn hair, called Wester, who was sitting in front of him, obviously made no such effort.
"They slaughter mindlessly! Tradition or not, we should wipe all those bastards out." Wester growled. The anger could be felt coming off him in waves.
"We will be doing nothing but 'slaughtering mindlessly' if we go to war with them. They are our brothers, they used call this mountain home too." Kurda retorted.
"Brothers," Wester snorted, "The vampaneze are not our brothers. I have never and will never consider those purple savages brothers. They are no better than pond scum, which is why we need a war to wipe them out now to ensure the safety of the vampire race in the future." Wester snarled, almost yelling at this point. A small crowd had started to gather, eagerly listening to the commotion taking place in the back of the hall.
"If we go to war to bring an end to the vampaneze, then we will bring an end to ourselves." Kurda shot back icily.
"You say that as though you are sure. The vampaneze are at weak at this time. They don't suspect an attack, and we outnumber them by hundreds, or even thousands. If we go to war, now is the time to do it." Wester shouted triumphantly, and his cry was met with some shouts of agreement in the gathered crowd.
"Piss off." Was all that Kurda could manage without losing it before pushing through the group and storming off. 'You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on the deep-seated need to believe.' Kurda thought bitterly, as he made his way deeper into the mountain, to one of the many places you could get a mug of ale or two, or ten. This particular spot was quite popular, as it wasn't that far from the biggest hall of sport. Kurda could see that some brawls had broken out around the bar as the vampires got rowdier and drunker, and a sea of the wild undead were swarming around the bar. After much pushing and shoving and three narrowly avoided fights, Kurda was able to snag a mug of ale and find a place to sit where he thought he wouldn't be bothered too much. He quickly downed his first mug, and ordered a second. He wasn't exactly a fan of the taste of ale, and he rarely ever drank, but he needed something to calm his nerves and cool him off. Peaking over the rim of his second mug he could see a semi-wasted Mika Ver Leth staring at him through breaks in the crowd. He wasn't exactly glaring at him, but Kurda didn't think it was a very nice look either. But then again, he'd never seen Mika give anyone a nice look. He looked like he wanted to come over and talk to Kurda, but thankfully, he was distracted by his rowdy young assistant, Arra, making one too many snarky comments to an older and larger vampire and almost getting punched in the face. And with that, Kurda silently thanked the gods over his last gulp of ale. He was really not in the mood for talking.
The activities of the night had started to wind down, and more and more started to retire to their rooms, including Kurda. To get to his cell, he'd have to cross through the largest gaming hall of the mountain which would indeed be difficult. He managed to get through mostly undetected by skirting around the edge of the large room. He had to admit, he was rather proud that he had only stumbled several times and was only slightly wobbly on his feet. He had never had a great tolerance for alcohol…
He moved a little more slowly and cautiously through the halls leading to his chamber, not wanting to take a wrong turn or get turned around. He may have been a great cartographer when sober, but in his even slightly altered state, not so much. He didn't worry about being approached by a drunk in this part of the mountain. He lived in a rather isolated part of the mountain, and not many people occupied these parts. Although it may have been farther from many of the main halls, he enjoyed the aloneness of it. It was very peaceful here, and not many people were around to disrupt Kurda when he needed to think, like he did now. The debate that he had with Wester earlier was still upsetting him, and he needed some quiet time to think it over. Kurda couldn't wait to settle into his coffin and…
As he rounded on of the last corners to his room, he spotted a figure teetering dangerously at the end of the corridor. Kurda paused. There really shouldn't have been anyone out an about in these caverns, as the people that lived here were mostly old, asleep (he could tell from the snores), and generally did not partake in the wild festivities offered during this part of council. The man started to come closer, leaning heavily on the wall, staggering wildly still, and almost falling several times. As the man neared Kurda, he recognized him as one of his wilder friends, Gavner Purl. Kurda rolled his eyes. He didn't want to deal with Gavner's drunken antics now he just wanted to sleep. And seeing as Gavner intended to talk to him, he soon realized that this would be a harder task than originally thought.
"Hey Kurda, whatcha up to?" Gavner slurred, while leaning into Kurda almost to the point of discomfort.
"Nothing, Gavner. Now If you let me through I would like to go to my room, please." Kurda replied, sounding rather annoyed.
"Why should I let you go to your room when I could have you come to mine instead?" Gavner said in a tone that made it at least seem like he was trying to act a little less drunk than he already was. This was a task that was proven difficult after he just about fell flat on his face and almost took Kurda with him.
"Gavner, I'm not in the mood for shenanigans at the moment, so if you could step aside, that would be wonderful." Kurda said with a little more force behind his voice this time.
"Aw, come one baby." Kurda made quite the expression after hearing Gavner's use of the word 'baby.' "Why ya gotta treat me like that. Why you gotta be so cold to old Gavvy. I'll warm you up right quick, baby." And with that Gavner reached forward to place a hand under Kurda's sharp chin, but Kurda was having none of it. He slapped Gavner's hand away, and tried to push past him, but to no avail, because although drunk, the larger man was still stronger.
"Nuh uh, where do ya think you're going, sweet cheeks?" Gavner slurred tauntingly, holding back the slender youth.
"To my room, Gavner. You're pissed off your ass and I'm really not in the mood tonight. So get out of my way." Kurda practically shouted, and once again tried to push past his assed companion, only to be met with more resistance.
"Why wouldya wanna go to your room when you can come to mine. We can make maps to heart all night long, mon minet." While Kurda was temporarily stunned by Gavner's inappropriate remark, Gavner slipped a hand around Kurda's waist and behind him, and gave his bottom a cheeky squeeze. Kurda swung his fist at the side of Gavner's head, and connected right below the temple. Hard. Gavner lost his balance and toppled over, and Kurda stepped over him and made a hurried beeline to his room. He had the door shut and locked before Gavner even realized he was on the ground.
Gavner tried fruitlessly to coax Kurda out of his room for the next hour, not realizing that the young blond was already soundly asleep in his coffin. Eventually, the rugged brunet gave up and stumbled back to his chamber, where he promptly passed out next to his coffin.
Gavner awoke the next morning with a throbbing head and churning stomach, blissfully unaware of last nights debauchery. After spewing a considerable amount of what he thought was whiskey, he lumbered to the Hall of Perta Vin Grahl, worrying that if he moved too quickly he might hurl. He was dreading the thought of taking a dip in the freezing waterfalls, but at the same time, he hoped that it would help clear his pounding headache.
Just a quick rinse was enough to set his teeth chattering, but he couldn't say that it didn't help. He quickly toweled off and cursed himself for forgetting to bring a change of clean clothes, as he only had the pair that he wore last night, which smelled like sweat and booze. They would have to do.
As he made his way out of the hall, smelling just as rank as he did before the shower, he spotted a still sort of drunk looking Vanez Blane walking towards him.
"Aye Gavner, that's quite the bruise you got on your left cheek there." Vanez snickered as he continued towards the showers. Gavner reached up and gently brushed his cheekbone, causing a small bolt of pain to shoot through it. He must have gotten into a fight last night, which wasn't unusual for Gavner this time of year.
Gavner made his way to the hall of Khledon Lurt for some breakfast, and sat alone to the side of the hall. About halfway through his first bowl of bat broth, Gavner spotted a really pissed off looking Kurda glaring at him from across the hall. He wasn't quite sure what had him all worked up, but he decided it was best left alone. It wasn't easy to get Kurda riled up, and it didn't happen often, but when it did, oh boy. It could take awhile for him to get over it. As Kurda continued to stare well into the second bowl, Gavner started to get uncomfortable. He couldn't remember anything from last night, but a steadily forming hunch old him that it probably wasn't good, and it probably involved Kurda. Gavner decided that the best course of action as of now would be to wave him over, so he could address what was obviously upsetting Kurda so much about him.
All Gavner had to do was put a hand in the air and Kurda was out of his seat, stalking over to him, all while maintaining a scalding glare. Kurda stood at the side of the table opposite of him and stared, adding to an already uncomfortable tension in Gavner's chest.
"What?" Kurda said in a very bitter sort of tone that made Gavner cringe.
"Well, I called you over to see why you are so obviously upset with me." Gavner said. His tone of voice was bordering on timid, which was quite unlike Gavner.
"Oh, you don't remember what happened last night?" Kurda shot back, sounding very miffed.
"Uh, no?" Gavner returned with an edge of worry starting to creep into his voice.
"Oh, well, you were standing outside my room waiting for me." Kurda explained angrily, hoping Gavner would remember and apologize for what he'd done.
"And?" Gavner said meekly. Try as he might he could not recall last nights events.
"You tried to get me to come back to your cell with you." Kurda growled. It took a second for Gavner to put the pieces together and figure out why that was such a bad thing. And when he did, it hit him like a ton of bricks. Or perhaps, Kurda's fist. Gavner's face burned bright red as he tried to stammer out an apology to Kurda.
"I'm sorry, I was drunk, you look kinda feminine, I mean, I was really drunk." Gavner faulted and stumbled over his words.
"Save it. I don't want to hear anymore now." Kurda said, still looking rather riled, before turning hastily on his heel and storming out of the hall for the second time in twenty four hours.
Gavner sat alone, still looking very much embarrassed. Kurda had, thankfully, kept his voice down, but he was still sure that most of the surrounding tables heard, just from the snickers and stares he was getting. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Mika Ver Leth smirking at him, in what appeared to be an almost triumphant manner. Gavner stood suddenly, almost losing his balance, and hurriedly walked out of the hall of Khledon Lurt. He made record time getting to his chamber, and quickly shut himself off from the humiliating looks that he was sure waited outside. He turned and leaned his back to the door and thought, "How will I ever live this down?"