Into the Mists

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Lexi quickly ran a hand through her messy hair and glanced down at her relatively clean but well worn robes before shrugging hesitantly. "I mean, I wasn't really planning on company... but hey, you didn't trust me either at first, so I guess they could be nice?" The weasel draped on her shoulder pulled the robe over her head and squeaked and Lexi paused for a moment. I'll be fine, don't worry so much. Besides, Faria's here, right? I'm sure she could handle anything. The weasel snorted slightly but went quiet, although it's eyes looked intently down the stairway. After a moment of hesitation, Lexi walked past Faria down the stairs, and called out in the direction of the triggered Alarm. "Uh, hello? I thought that people usually knocked, but maybe they don't do that here? Anyways, I don't bite... although my weasel might." Lexi paused and looked at the weasel on her shoulder. No biting, okay? Well, unless they deserve to be bit I guess, then maybe a little biting.
 
Lucan was quite confused, with another point a message was sent, "They're bloody idiots, not criminals. She's protecting a child. Might as well come on in." Lucan sighed, removing the toothpick from his cheek and chewing on it a bit, the taste of copper and blood filling his mouth. He collected his sword and put it away, "Just watching out for me and mine, little miss." Lucan called back. "My friend's going to join us through the front door. I assume that's going to make a racket again?" He stuck his arms out in front of his and walked forward proceeding toward the stairs. "Didn't expect to find an uhan here." With the two in his view, he attempted some thieves' cant looking for any sort of recognition. He failed to hide the surprise, "A tiefling as well. So... not related?"
 
Pressed against the wall, Reyeara's attention was pulled away briefly by a sound further down the street, but it seemed to change direction after all the noise from the alarm.

As she focused back on listening inside, she heard a ... surprisingly young voice? Followed soon after by another whisper of Lucan in her ear. "...if you say so."

She put her rapier away, but still keeping a hand near her small dagger just in case not everyone was so friendly. Just before opening the door she took a deep breath -- some habits were too hard to break. "Reyeara of Baldur's Gate Guard, entering. Please don't act agressively else it will be responded to with self defense." Gently she pushed the door open, wincing as another round of the blaring Alarm went off.

Entering the decrepit home she glanced over the walls, the rune on her gauntlet glowing faintly, trying to scout out her surroundings and saw the strange scribbles of Draconic. "...broccoli? Frogs and crickets...?" she muttered as she entered, glancing up towards where she assumed the voices were coming from. "Hello, mere human here, can I light a candle or something so I can see who I'm talking to?"
 
Lexi began to respond before the man was in sight. “Uh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Can’t be too careful, especially considering the fact that there were some zombies around here when I first moved in. Anyways, yeah, the front door is Alarmed as well...” As he came in to view, Lexi looked up at the man before her in awe for a moment before smiling widely to him. “You’re... you’re an elf, aren’t you? Wow, I’ve never met one of your kind before! Gosh, I have soooo many questions-“

She was cut off by the loud beeping of a second alarm triggering, and covered her ears for a moment before looking back in the entryway as a human woman came in to view. She smiled apologetically and rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry... I don’t usually bother with lights... I don’t really need em. One second.” Lexi cleared her throat before waving a hand over to some unlit candles set up on a table. “Flames rise and grant me sight!” The candles lit one by one, and Lexi smiled. “There, that’s better, right? Anyways, I’m Lexori, but you can call me Lexi. This is Mittens. And you guys are..?”
 
Lucan sighed, raising one hand to squeeze the bridge of his nose and the other to cradle the elbow of his first. "I am Inspector Lucan of Baldur's Gate. That's my second, Reyeara of the City Watch." The copper toothpick nervously flicked across his lips as he pointed to Faria with the hand which was clutching his nose, "Watch, this is how you make a friend. And put that damn bow away or shoot me already." He pulled his hand away from his face and smiled at Lexi, "Sorry, you've never met an elf before?" Lucan seemed quite confused as he eyed Faria suspiciously, but recovered swiftly, "I've never... met someone who's not met an elf. We're generally wide spread and well traveled, I guess sun elves can be a bit reclusive, but what we lack in social graces, the moon elves more than make up for. Never met an elf at all though?" He locked eyes with Faria for a moment then looked back to Lexi.
 
Lexi smiled excitedly to Lucan. “It’s very nice to meet you, Inspector Lucan.” She turned to Rey as well and gave her a warm smile. “You as well, Reyeara. That’s a very pretty name, by the way.” Lexi then frowned and thought to herself for a few moments before shrugging and turning back to Lucan. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of Baldur’s Gate before... although it sounds like you guys might be farther out of town than I am.” Lexi laughed nervously and looked away, slightly embarrassed. “To be honest, there’s a lot of things I haven’t met before. I guess you could say I’m a bit... sheltered.”
 
Reyeara crossed her arms as she watched the candles light up, listening to the conversation as she stepped a little closer to the stairs, frowning towards Faria's crossbow.

"Hello Lexi, and ... Mittens. Interesting way to meet, hopefully didn't startle you too much. Felt a little uneasy about this place, and our natures make things like that difficult to ignore." She adjusted her gauntlet, the rune flickering for a moment, "Speaking of difficult to ignore, do you know who wrote on the walls? It read like someone was testing things..."
 
Faria heard the Elf's whisper in her ear, and watched as they interacted with Lexi. She didn't move put away the crossbow sitting across her lap. 'Well they didn't attack her or react negatively on sight of her, and seem to notice what kind of Caliban she is,' thought Faria as she continues to observe their interaction. As the subject of Elves were brought up she made a mental note of the two types of elf mentioned and knew she hadn't really seen anyone else of those types. Lucan looked her direction pointedly twice on the subject and she made a decision then. She stands up grabbing her crossbow in one of her free hands and holding it out to the side. 'That would be my cue to leave. Those sort of questions are dangerous around here. I might have to avoid town for a bit as well. I still need to check up on the others as well. These people don't seem hostile to Lexi just incredibly curious.'

"These people came in with a few Calibans, and they are guards of some town far away. I figured since it's been a week and your master hasn't shown up to get you, that you could join up with these people. I was going to talk to you about it alone and then introduce you tomorrow," says Faria before she shrugs. "I think the best chance of your Master finding you is somewhere like Vallaki or Krezk where there are people who might have seen him looking for you or might recognize him or his description. Good luck."

With that Faria turned around at the top of the stairs heading slowly into the shadowed area upstairs, and down the hallway.
 
Lucan rolled his eyes, this elf was impossible. Fierce independence and autonomy, he could understand, probably worships Gadhelyn as well. Lucan made a mental note to ask her the next time he saw her - if he ever saw her again. As she left Lucan approached Lexi with an outstretched hand, "You can just call me Lucan." He smiled, "Baldur's Gate is only a few hours from here. We haven't been travelling that long, and if you're looking for someone, the Gate might be the best place to start looking. We're headed back in the morning if you'd like to join us, we'll likely make it back by lunch. Though I have to be honest I haven't seen Vallaki or Krezk on a map so I'm a bit confused as to where we even are." He shrugged it off. "What the hell is a Caliban anyway?" Lucan had misgivings about the idea of someone so 'sheltered' who apparently had a 'master', but he figured no slave would be eager to return to their bonds and decided not to bring it up right now. He looked over to Rey, "We could always take on another, right? I know I enjoy the company." He turned back to Lexi, "We can always spend the walk chatting about elves."
 
Lexi looked over to the armored human woman, and her eyes widened in excitement as she noticed the arcane rune flash on Rey's gauntlet. "Woah, are those runes? I've about them before but Master always said that they were a 'disgrace to competent arcanists all over the Core'." Lexi paused briefly, realizing that her Master's sage advice could be misconstrued as an insult and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything by that it's just that runes are so primitive and static in application..." Lexi frowned slightly, realizing that her explanation wasn't helping. "Uh... anyways, those are my notes out there. You can read Draconic? That's super cool! I've been working on a spell or two in my spare time waiting for Master to return."

Lexi turned back and looked up the stairs towards Faria as she spoke. "You're leaving again so soon? Are you sure you don't want anything to eat or drink or anything?" Lexi frowned and glanced back to the pair of newcomers, thinking back to Kylem's words. I suppose it wouldn't be THAT much harder for Master to find me if I traveled a little bit... She turned back to Lucan as he spoke and smiled brightly to him and put her small hand in his, shaking it up and down energetically. "Well, then it's very nice to meet you, Lucan! I'm afraid you might need to work on your geography a bit... I've never heard of a 'Baldur's Gate' before... One second." Lexi quickly released Lucan's hand and scurried upstairs passing Faria and grabbing a crumpled map from the floor before returning, moving to Lucan's side and holding up the map. "This is Barovia, the domain you're in right now. Oh, and Caliban is just Faria's fancy word for non-humans I think. How did you guys get here? Were you traveling unguided or something between domains? That's kinda risky, don't you think? Anyways, I'd love to join you and your friends, although I can't promise I'll be sticking around too long. Master will come get me pretty soon, but I'm sure he'll find me even if I travel a bit."
 
Reyeara tilted her arm to glance at the rune as Lexi began to speak, "What? I was taught these by an arcanist -- I agree they're a bit static, but considering what all they can do I don't know if they'd be considered primitive." She crossed her arms again, one finger tracing the rune, "I was taught Draconic as part of learning the runes -- kind of had to given usually magic goes back to Draconic script." Taking a deep breath, Reyeara spoke, her voice shifting to a guttural growl and harsh sounds, "Not sure my teachers would be keen to hear their runes are considered 'disgraceful'."

She leaned against the wall as Lexi went to grab a map, looking around the house until she returned, "What do you mean by 'Core'? That slang around here for something? We must have traveled further than expected if no one recognizes the Gate..."
 
Lucan gives Rey a concerned look after looking over the map. "It's not that I don't recognize the cities... I don't recognize any of this. The lakes, the river, the mountain... The gods damned castle." He let out another sigh, "This is why I hate magic. Somebody goes foolin' around with the wrong thing and boom you're suddenly in a place you don't recognize dealing with people who don't have a lick of sense." He pauses and looks up at Lexi, "You ever heard of locking your doors? The spell was fancy and all, but if I had been pretty much any of the people we catch... I could have gutted you before you finished gettin' out of bed." Lucan fell into some very informal speech patterns, reserved for when he was particularly annoyed or dealing with the type of people who 'didn' want no stupid fancy talk.' He shook his head and rubbed his face. "Sorry. I just... you should be more careful, little miss. Now, where in Faerun is the Core?" He glanced to Rey apologetically, he hadn't intended to step all over her incredibly valid question. Then the placed a hand on Lexi's shoulder, "Who runs this place, Lexori? We need to speak to someone in charge."
 
Lexi frowned and quickly waved her hands at Rey's defense of her runes. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean any offense by it, it's just... it takes a lot of time and energy to learn a single rune which is only able to cast a particular spell... and from what I've heard a rune tends to be less potent than it's spell counterpart. They're excellent when wielded by armed combatants considering that it takes only a motion or a phrase to activate them compared to the components of natural spell casting." Lexi then smiled apologetically to her. "I'm sure your teachers were very talented. In fact..." Lexi glanced around conspiratorially before lowering her voice. "I think that Master might've been a bit jealous no one ever taught him."

Lexi frowned and inched away from Lucan as he grew frustrated and began to speak of his hatred of magic, but smiled hesitantly to him when he apologized. "Uh, no, it's alright, Lucan, sir. I know magic can be confusing and frustrating for those who don't understand it. As for the doors... I don't exactly officially live here, and haven't been able to find a key... I know I should be more careful, but I'm not alone. I have Mittens!" She smiled and the weasel on her shoulder squeaked it's agreement. She then frowned and pondered how to answer Lucan and Rey's question. "Well, a much better question is where in The Core is Faerun, if it even is in it. The Core is everything, collectively all of the domains of the world. I've never heard of Baldur's Gate or Faerun before, but new domains get discovered from time to time." Lexi then smiled sheepishly at the two. "I'm afraid I'm not really from around here either. I've been here about a week at this point. I'm pretty sure that Kolyan, the burgomaster of this town, would be the one in charge. I've met his son, Ismark. He was super nice. I guess I could introduce you, but..." Lexi paused briefly before removing the hood from her head, exposing her horns. "Faria seems to think that my horns might be a problem around here, so I've kind of been trying to stay out of sight."
 
Lucan scratched the back of his head before pointing at Lexi and messaging, "Understanding something and liking that same thing are very different." He sighed and grinned, expecting the wizard to be quite excitable. He cleared his throat and continued out loud, not wanting to cut Rey out of the conversation, "Magic tends to make people lazy and complacent. In reality even the most studied wizards or capable sorcerers can cast spells with unexpected or unintended results." He removed the toothpick from his mouth and placed it in his pouch, "Many elves are naturally gifted when it comes to the arcane arts, some more than others. I happen to be such an elf, but I prefer to rely on my more martial talents."

Satisfied with his explaination, and hoping the little tidbit about elves might sate her curiosity, Lucan focused on the more important subject at hand, "It is quite late, and we should get our friends back at the Blood of the Vine Inn. Might we go see this Burgomaster tomorrow in the morning? Maybe he can direct us back to our world or tell us more about this 'Core'."
 
Lexi blinked before smiling widely to Lucan. “Oh, neat! I knew some elves had innate magic abilities, but I’ve never heard of one with the ability to send Messages before. That’s awesome!” She then watched as he removed the toothpick and nodded in understanding. “Oh, I see. The cantrip requires the caster to utilize a conductive metal in order to transfer the words to the intended recepient, typically copper. You use that toothpick in order to do so. That’s really smart, Lucan!” She smiled excitedly up at the elf before giving him a bit of a cocky grin. “Well, if I can say so myself, it sounds like you’ve met some pretty crappy wizards in your time. Master always taught that I should use magic not to be lazy, but to be able to study its various applications in the world and improve my knowledge of its workings. That’s what separates those with talent and ability from anyone who just picks up a spellbook.”

Lexi then frowned slightly as Lucan talked of returning back to the inn. “Well... I’m already awake, and I doubt I’ll be able to get to bed soon after that racket... I wouldn’t mind coming back with you guys, if that’s okay? I only need a minute or two to collect my things...” Lexi gave Lucan a hopeful look, feeling a strange sense of comfort from being around the authoritative figure.
 
Lucan looks to Rey and raises and eyebrow then shrugs as he turns back to Lexi, "Yeah, that sounds good. You grab your things and we'll head back." He was oddly comforted by encountering such a friendly person after walking into what appeared to be a ghost town behind the strangest elf he'd ever met. It was more like what he'd expected when they realized they were lost. He smiles and nods. "Lexi, what... do you know about your friend? The one who left just a moment ago, Faria." Lucan asked hesitantly as he leaned in, his ears twitched slightly accentuating his curiosity.
 
Lexi smiled for a moment, then blinked in surprise at both the question, and her lack of an answer for it. "Faria? Oh, well she's really... she's super... she's Faria." Lexi smiled embarrassedly to Lucan. "Sorry... I'm not really the best at reading people... books are really more of my thing. In fact, I think that you and Rey are probably still in the single digits of the number of people I've met." Lexi paused for a moment, putting a hand to her chin as she tried to think of what she knew about Faria. "She's complicated, that's for sure. Heck, when she found me out in the woods I think she was ready to put a crossbow bolt in me."

Lexi chuckled weakly at the memory before smiling reassuringly to Lucan. "Still, she's helped me out a lot since I got here. I don't think she's very good with people either, that or she doesn't allow herself to be too attached. Oh, and she's a pretty capable fighter. I haven't seen her use her crossbow yet, but she helped me clear out a few undead creepy crawlies with her rapier from this place when I moved in." Lexi pauses again, remembering a few strange details from that night that Mittens had later brought to her attention. She lowered her voice considerably. "Oh... and I'm not entirely sure that she's a human. She could see in pitch black just as well as I could. It's not really my business though, so I never really asked."
 
Lucan watched the tiefling with a critical eye, he smiled and nodded as she spoke, but listened to his inflection and hesitation as much as her words. "Well, I guess I don't have any more questions since it's clear you don't know her much better than Rey or I do." He sighed, "Why don't you go pack your things, we can discuss elves some more on the way to the inn." He put an odd emphasis on the word elves, but he continued to smile as he waved a hand up the stairs.
 
Lexi smiled excitedly to Lucan and nodded. "Sounds great! I'd love to hear some more about where you came from. I haven't heard of any of those types of elves before, but I'd love to hear more. I'll be back right back!" Lexi quickly ran back upstairs, noting the absence of Faria, but not particularly surprised by it at this point. She turned to Mittens for a moment with a hesitant smile. Well, you said I needed to make some friends, right? I don't think I'll find much better than them around here. Mittens nodded his head, but turned to stare behind Lexi, watching her back as she began to get ready to go.
 
Reyeara smiled as she watched Lexi run off so excitedley before turning to Lucan, "Is it just me or do you feel like we just adopted a very excitable magic-using, infernal-blooded puppy? Not entirely how I imagined the night going."

She messed with her gauntlet again, "We do have the letter with some sort of invitation on it from someone who thought themselves important enough not to need a name ... Eitherway, if we're not in known territory anymore, we need to decide where to go from there. We're guards yeah, but guards for the Gate. What should we do beyond that -- if we can't get back...? Or at least, not for awhile?"
 
Lucan chuckled, "Please, I've seen puppies who are less excitable. Imagine how excited she'll be when she meets Geyser and Ko - Friend." Lucan stopped himself short of saying the orc's name and shook his head. He got more serious as the subject turned, "Honestly, I don't know. In all my years, this is a situation that I've never been in. I think we take the girl and the others to this Burgomaster, the one who signed the note. We'll speak with him about the letter and how to get home. Once we're all safely back in the Gate, we'll help Lexi find this 'master' of hers with the full resources of the watch. Then, if she's in danger at least we'll also have the resources to protect her." Lucan paused for a moment, obvious concern on his face "Gods Rey, she's hardly met anyone, never knowingly met an elf." Lucan gave a convicted shake of his head, "No matter where we are, we still have a responsibility to protect people, being on a different world or in a different plane, or just off the Sword Coast, doesn't make a difference."
 
Reyeara gave a short laugh, "She was so excited by you, imagine her meeting the others -- or Dragonborn? Gnomes, Dwarves and Halflings -- all the other races we've dealt with in the Gate?"

She sighed, "I know we still protect people -- I'm not doubting or denying that. Just ... and you'll probably laugh, trying to consider the longterm." Reyeara smiled towards Lucan, "At least I can honestly say you take me to the strangest places, and meet the strangest people."
 
"I've always found that the long term kind of works itself out if you just keep on taking care of your problems one by one." Lucan shrugged, "Lets get some answers, then we can make a plan, yeah?" Lucan looked toward the second floor then back to Rey, "Yeah, strange people indeed. You'll get used to it, kid. Criminals make this lass look simple."
 
"Anything makes her look simple -- though if anything, I'm worried the kind of influence the rest of the group will have." She looked towards the second floor as well, "That sheltered, then meeting a group that rigged a tavern brawl for some extra gold?"

Reyeara shook her head, "One step at a time then. Bring her with us, head back to the Inn, try to get a room for the night, and start fresh in the morning?"
 
Lexi pulled a ragged looking sack out from under her bed and began to fill it with books that she pulled from her overly cushioned bed, quickly glancing at the covers to determine which books were worth taking. Well... A History of Barovia Village... might not have space for that one. Tusk Love is a keeper for sure, I still haven’t figured out those orc creatures yet... Lexi continues stuffing books in her bag before pausing as she reached a thick black tone with a blank cover. She looked around the room before grabbing a cover from a pillow and wrapping the book up in it, and stuffing it in the bottom of her bag. She slung that pack over her shoulder and grabbed another finer looking pouch and tying it to the robe belt around her waist. Alright... looks like I’m good to go! She moved to the door before pausing, staring around the room that had been her home for the past week. Well... it’s been fun, house! Sorry for setting you on fire so often.

Lexi turned and head down the stairs, smiling at her new friends excitedly. “Sorry for the wait, let’s go! I can’t wait to meet the rest of you guys. Are they elves and humans too?”
 
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