As we reached the splintered and creaking wooded gates of the stone walled town the sun reflected off of the golden bell which was ringing out the morning within its high grey stone tower, with a chime that resounded throughout the town. As we pushed the gates open slowly we heard the sounds of cheering and the voices of many people from behind the gates. As we opened the gates a little wider we saw that the whole town was gathered in front of the gates cheering and talking happily between themselves. When the gates were opened enough to get through Andrew B walked through them with a smug grin and an arrogant air about him, obviously thinking that this celebration had been held to honour our victorious return after defending the people's village.
I roll my eyes at him and I hear Sky sigh in impatience as we slowly walk in to see that the citizens' attention was focused solely upon a large wooden stage from which a music band was playing their songs to the cheering crowds. The lead singer was a girl with long pink hair and held a red electric guitar and was going at her guitar with everything she had. The guitarist to her right was a little more reserved in her playing of her acoustic guitar and sported light brown hair which was tied back into a long pony tail. On the lead's left was a violinist who's hands were moving in a blur and short black hair going mad through the air. Behind them all sat the drummer who had long flowing snow white hair and was wielding her drum sticks with amazing speed and precision producing a speedy beat at which the band could keep smoothly in time with.
The amplified sound of their skilfully played instruments echoed through the many streets that led from the large paved town entrance, the music itself resembled 1980s European rock from the Electric guitar and drums and with a slight eastern feel to it from the combination of violin and acoustic accompanied by lyrics of determination rising from dark times. This was the first player band I had seen within Aincrad and from the short section we had listened into it was some of the best music I had heard since the start of this game. Wondering why a band would be playing this early in the morning I looked around the square where i quickly noticed a number of decorations hanging from buildings and brightly coloured bunting strung from house to house. I also saw a large brass clock hanging above the stage with its hands showing that it was 6:23 AM, 1st January 2024. New Year's celebrations.
As the music picked up in pace and the electric guitar went into a solo I slowed down and stopped to listen for a while momentarily forgetting our purpose within the town. However quickly after stopping to listen I feel a very strong grip on my shoulder dragging me away from the crowd, I quickly see that it's a very irritated looking Sky who doesn't seem the least bit interested in the concert and very much annoyed that I was. Knowing it was a bad idea to annoy her any more and any attempt to release her grip would be pointless I didn't try to stop her. Andrew and Oliver followed suit, however neither of them looked too interested in the concert especially after it had taken advantage of Andrew B in such a way that hurt his pride deeply.
As we walked from the busy town entrance through the wide, dry cobble paved streets, lined by peach stone buildings we came across many decorations hanging from houses all in bright colours and people milling about the town in merry moods and a good number of them looking very drunk as they moved around looking form hand holds before they fell over after every 5 steps. We were heading to the Prancing Pony inn, a medium sized, popular inn of a good standard which was located in the central area of the town and therefore saw good business pass through its doors on a regular basis and played a major role in the town due to its large and long established bar which boasted the best ale in the whole floor.
It took a few minutes to reach the large road, connected to the town centre, of which the Prancing Pony belonged to. The door was an old thick wooden door reinforced by metal strips and had a large keyhole but no handle, above the door hung a wooden depiction of a prancing pony with the inn's name painted in bright red upon it, the norm for any bar or inn to have. The light brown curtains behind the single paned square windows were closed but a soft yellow glow of candle light was visible alongside the many voices which could be heard from within.
Sky, who had been moving at a very fast pace way out in front of the three of us, pushed open the door which rang a small golden bell which could only just be heard over the talk. As we walked in the people sitting at tables looked up momentarily but then went back to their tankards, conversations and card games without a second glance or thought about us. The four of us, still in our armour, walked up to the bar and waited for the bartender, a stubborn but wise elderly man. When he came over to us after serving another customer I asked him about Andrew and Aurora.
"Have two rapier wielders come back through here, one carrying the other?" I ask anxiously with my fists clenched on the polished bar top, hoping that they had got here safely.
"Yer, I've seen them. Their in room 3 upstairs. But the girl looked in a pretty bad shape, I just hope she's ok." The bartender replied slowly and with concern as he pointed towards the staircase to the side of the bar. As he said this Sky breathed a sigh of relief and we all stopped fearing the worst, however we were all still worried about Aurora not knowing how bad her injuries were and how they would effect her. We rushed up the stairs causing a racket of our heavy boots smashing against the wooden stairs and then across the narrow wooden landing which had 3 doors on either side of the hallway, each with a brass number and a round brass door knob above a small keyhole. We went straight to the door with the number 3 upon it and pushed open the unlocked door into the medium sized room with a large double bed, a cupboard, a desk and a window which faced out towards the sun on the left side of the room.
Inside the room Aurora lay on her side facing the window under the covers of the bed, only moving around slightly every so often, her heavier pieces of sturdy metal armour had been placed on the table next to her sheathed rapier. Next to Andrew sat on a strong wooden chair, still in all of his gear and sword at his belt, holding Aurora's hand tightly as he looked out of the window out over the town and to the brightening horizon. As we pushed open the door Andrew looked up towards us with a look of relief on his face.
Sky rushed over next to the bed to see that Aurora was still alive and doing well, once she was content with what she saw she turned her attention to Andrew and asked slowly. "How is she?"
"Better than she was half an hour ago, I can tell you that much. But seriously as far as I can tell she's okay, but we'll know properly when she wakes up. but for now let her sleep." He said with some thought and a quick glance at the sleeping Aurora.
"What I want to know is why she didn't use the full heal crystal I gave her? Would have made things so much easier." Oliver asked curiously but with a slight edge of impatience and annoyance.
"I don't know, probably wanted to save it for later, or the fact that she was pretty much unconscious during most of it might have made that idea slip from her mind." Andrew came to her defence quickly with an irritated look at Oliver.
"The fact that it was harder doesn't make much difference now that we are all here now though, does it? Except that we sort of owe the Blood Knights for saving our arses." Andrew B intervened quickly before any more was said by Andrew or Oliver. "Also, did you get anything from that Troll that you two killed." He continued, quickly changing the subject.
"Yes, I got a sword drop from it. Haven't looked what it is yet though."Andrew answered slowly as he opened up his inventory and withdrew his weapon drop.