[center][color=007fff][b][u]Azura[/u][/b][/color]
Level 1
Day 3
Location: 26th Floor of Tetris Castle, the Reception Hall
[b]Experience: [color=black]||||||||||[/color] (0/10)[/b][/center]

One by one other guests arrived to the banquet.  Azura cast them discreet glances in the hopes of attaining a shadow of an idea of who she might be working with, but never did she allow her eyes much of an opportunity to get her caught staring.  These people served as foreign dignitaries as much as they did potential heroes, and any kind of impropriety on her part would not stand.  In fact, worry began to gnaw at her that she'd been too forward already in seating herself and beginning to pick at her food.  She managed to keep her composure in the ensuing minutes while the other newcomers trickled in and gave attention to the feast, noticing that fewer came than she might have thought.  [i]A small team,[/i] she realized.  [i]Is my first endeavor to be some sort of critical operation?[/i]  The answer, she knew, would arrive in mere moments, so she resolved to continue her wait.

When heroes' host judged it to be the time to start, he began to tinker at something before him, and using some magic with which Azura was unfamiliar, conjured a two-dimensional image on a large, mysterious black panel above and behind him.  The image moved, displaying its contents just like a window that linked to a far-away place, and after some surprise Azura decided that it must be some sort of enchanted portal.  On second thought, something similar to a scrying mirror or an oversized, flattened crystal ball seemed more reasonable.  Either way, it now portrayed a group of people, their clothing another novelty to the songstress.  Yet, for all their serious bearing and impressive garb, they set to bickering almost like children.  Azura blinked in confusion.  [i]Surely the issue we've been called to attend is a serious matter?  These people lack any sort of gravitas...[/i]  Their disorder swelled into a full-on riot, even if just for a moment, forcing her to look away in embarrassment.  Then there came a loud, sharp noise through the mirror that stunned the other group into silence, allowing Vault Boy to speak.  Clasping her hands, Azura rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward to listen.

Some sort of projection magic, rather like the spirit summoning of Hoshidan diviners but in the form of terrain rather than animals, appeared over the table.  It assembled a landscape bound in winter, full of pines and dotted by mountains.  Azura watched it like a hawk while the explanation proceeded.  [i]So, there is some sort of rogue element in this region, Skyrim.  I don't follow completely, but our host seems to be saying that there are forces not of that world attacking it, or helping factions in it to attack one another.[/i]  What Vault Boy said about dragons worried her the most by far.  In the world she hailed from, dragons were powerful beings often worshipped and feared as gods, beyond the comprehension of most mortals—terrifying forces of nature.  Their machinations created and sustained continents and civilizations, pitted them against one another or fostered peace, and ultimately demanded heroes to challenge them when dragonkind's degenerative madness eventually took hold.  From what she heard, it sounded like dragons were common in this world.  [i]I hope that means they aren't as comparable to gods as the dragons in mine.[/i]

One last problem concerned her: the declaration that their destination would be a cold one.  As was plain to see, Azura was not dressed for it, even more modestly garbed now than usual.  The people on the other side of the mirror fell to arguing, and Vault Boy turned back to those in the reception hall to ask if anyone had questions.  Tentatively, Azura raised her hand.  [color=007fff]”Er, yes.  Where could I find...better winter clothing?”[/color]