Into the Mists

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Geyser swiped up the coins without another word and set off in search of his room. He entered the hallway that seemed to have the rooms of the inn, then hesitates and turns back to the main area. He makes his way through the crowd, accidentally knocking over a stool and stopping to pick it up. He finally stopped next to where Jon was sitting and muttered "If you need me, I'm in room 4. G'Night." And Geyser went back into the hallway, found his room and flopped on the bed, asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
 
Lucan smiled as he moved toward the door, "Well, no. There's Jon, he's another human, a brawler and trustworthy. We brought a half-orc healer called Friend, he's good company but don't listen to everything he says. We're also traveling with a water genasi named Geyser, I don't really know him but he can turn into an ape and speak to wolves; at the very least I doubt he'll stab us in the back. You may have to wait for morning to meet some of them, it's quite late and we've been walking all night trying to get home or at least to a village where we could rest. Rey and I just needed to check on your friend, Faria, she... seems to have many secrets." He opens the door and ushers them out into the night.

As they walked off toward the tavern, Lucan looked back to see light flickering in the windows of one of the larger mansions. "Strange. That's the first light in a window I've seen since the Tavern." He remarked pointing it out to Reyeara and Lexori. Making a mental note of it, he continued on toward the Inn. "So, elves have been around a long time, and we live much, much longer than most races. We've been around long enough that we have our own pantheon. I was raised worshiping Gadhelyn, god of independence and outlawry." He chuckled, "I... prefer the independence side of things. Never a prisoner, never a slave." Lucan rolled up his left sleeve to show a brand in his forearm, an arrow with a leaf shaped head. "This is his symbol. He also watches over more simple things like feasting and hunting." As they approached the inn he opened the door for the ladies, "Speaking of feasting, I could use a bite to eat. Shall we order dinner before we retire? And Lexi, did you want to stay with Rey or do you want your own room?"
 
When they left the house, Mittens pulled Lexi’s hood down over her horns to cover them. As Lucan spoke, Lexi pulled out a small notepad and began to scribble down notes of what Lucan said in draconic. “Wow, I’ve never heard of Gadhelyn before. I’m sure Master will be pretty happy when I show him this. Thanks, Lucan!” She then looked up at Lucan and laughed. “Dinner? I think breakfast would be more accurate at this point... although I wouldn’t mind something other than salted beef and stale bread.” Lexi then turned and smiled up at Rey. “I’d be pretty happy to stay with Ms. Rey, if it’s okay with her.”
 
Lucan laughed, "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Lucan looked around and pointed to Jon and Kore at a table together in the bar. "That's Jon and Friend. Why don't you two join them while I get us a bite to eat?" He approached the bartender, "Good evening. Arik, yeah? I'm Lucan. Do you have some stew or sausage and potatoes? Also some hot tea and water for the three of us." Lucan pulled a single gold coin out of a pocket in his jacket. "We'll also be needing two rooms for the day." He slid the coin across the counter before turning back around and resting against the bar to watch as Lexi interacted with the rest of the group, he still wasn't sure about her 'master', but she seemed like a good person at heart, even if she was a bit excitable.
 
As they left the house, Reyeara watched 'Mittens' with a smirk -- seemed like the weasel was more with it than its own master. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Lexi take notes in Draconic as she listened between Lexi and Lucan, but her attention was kept mostly to the street and their surroundings until she heard her name mentioned.

She shrugged when the mention of rooms came up, "I don't mind -- I doubt you'll be nosier than the dorms I grew up in." While Lucan went to the bartender, Reyeara looked around the room better this time -- since last time she'd barely gone inside before dipping out to wait for Lucan and Faria. Seemed pretty empty, just the bartender and an older woman at a table, but given the hour and the deadness of the town she wasn't ... too surprised? She gently led Lexi towards where Jon and 'Friend' were sitting to introduce them.

Gesturing towards the human, "This is Jon -- he's a fistfighter, decently skilled from what I could tell. Lucan's known him longer than me, along with 'Friend' over there," her hand shifted direction. "He's a half-orc with healing abilities, also known better by Lucan. Before we got here I was actually being introduced to them for the first time, so I don't know them too much better than you do already. The last one is named Geyser, he probably got a room already, pretty sure he's a water Genasi -- seen a few in the Gate sometimes, though still not too common, and usually they look closer to waterlogged corpses." She smirked, "Makes it real awkward when we think we found a dead corpse and they wake up just to start yelling at us. Anyway." Half turning to look back towards Lucan she whispered to Lexi, "They both seem decent, but Friend likes to push buttons, don't let him get to you too much."
 
Lexi hesitated briefly as Lucan pointed out his friends and walked away, but gave Rey a nervous smile and walked behind her as she was walked over to the group. She smiled politely to Jonathan, although she noted his lack of any actual weapon. “Nice to meet you, Jon! I’m Lexori, or Lexi if you’d prefer. Lucan and Rey broke into the house I was staying in, and I guess we’re friends now...” Lexi trailed off as she saw Jon’s friend, and stared at him for a moment before leaning over the table to get a better look. She turned back to Rey in confusion and slight disappointment. “I thought orcs were supposed to be bigger...” Lexi turned back to Kore, and gave him a smile as well, I sure of what Rey meant by button pushing. “Anyways, it’s nice to meet you as well, Jon’s friend! Do you have a name? Oh, and I would love to hear about your healing abilities. From what I’ve heard about your people, that’s not typically an ability that orcs possess, is it? Also, what’s it like to have external dentata? Does it get in the way when you eat? Most tusked animals have their faces structured differently in order to account for the tusks, but you seem to just have a normal humanoid face. Well, not normal, you are kind of...” Lexi blushes and trailed off before she distracted herself by looking around the room again before turning to Rey. “I don’t see your other friend, but he sounds really interesting as well. And kinda gross, but I don’t mind that.”
 
Blood of the Vine Inn:

Arik is still at the counter, continuing to clean glasses just like he had when the group had left. When Lucan asks if he has stew or sausage and potatoes he merely replies "Yes," and inspects the gold coin as it's handed over to him. Setting it aside along with the silver piece from before he neatly stacks six silver pieces and five copper pieces and places them right next to Lucan on the edge of the counter, along with two iron keys. He then sets down his cleaned tankard and dishrag and slowly enters the back door behind him.

The lady at the corner meanwhile seems to frown slightly at the sudden relative commotion, and begins to shuffle her papers together while keeping an eye on the bar to make sure no one was stealing from it.
 
Lucan scooped his change up and noted that the coins were far more crude as he deposited them in various pockets of his clothing. If I'm going to get mugged they're going to have to work for it. He noticed the woman keeping an eye on him and collected his keys before moving over to her table.

"You know, it's easier to catch a thief if they don't see you lookin'" He grinned and pulled out a chair, "I'm Lucan, may I sit?" He fiddled with the keys absently while waiting for a response, placing one of them into his jacket and twirling the other on his finger.
 
Blood of the Vine Inn:

The woman, probably in her mid-40s, appears to be keeping stock of her various records and papers as Lucan approaches. She raises an eyebrow at the comment and glances him up and down, then nonchalantly shrugs it off. "Maybe. Though I can't say the ones around here tend to try very hard." She sets her quill back in its inkwell and nods curtly, gesturing for him to take a seat. "Name's Sorvia. My sisters and I own the place, but I'm more of a night owl and find it easier to keep the ledgers straight when it's quiet. Though it seems it won't be staying that way for long," she notes, looking momentarily in the direction of Lexi and the others. "They're awfully lively for five o' clock in the morning."
 
He had settled in at a table with Jon keeping to the darker side of the table due the lack of variety in personage. He knew a bad situation when he saw one.

Upon seeing Rey’s approach he stands arms wide, “We isn’t it the beautifully abrasive Rey, so glad you could join us. Ale?” He spoke with his half smile on full display. Tilting his head as he heard another voice he bows holding out a hand to the curious tiefling, “A pleasure to meet you.”

When Lexi spoke about his size he chuckles. “I think I’m just the right size,” as she threw questions at him he offered her his seat and pulled a new chair for himself. “You can call me ‘Friend’ it’s what I go by back home.”

When she asked about his tusks he chuckled getting a bit closer leaning in with a more toothy grin. “They don’t get in my way at all, if anything I’d say they are an enhancement,” Reaching out her pokes her chin gently. “A strong jaw, for when ruff ones like this guy,” he thumbs at Jon, “Want to get in my face after I heal them, besides, my father was only half orc, so you can guess what that makes me my mother being human.”

Settling into a seat, he looks to Rey and Jon before looking back to Lexi, “Hopefully you won’t need to know how my magic works m’lady.”
 
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Lucan turned to look at his companions before turning back to Sorvia, "Yes, I'm sure they'll be off to bed once they've had a bite to eat. There's a lot to discuss finding ourselves in an unknown land so close to home." He takes a seat in the chair. "It seems rather obvious we're not from around here, but the small pale one with the hood, she was speaking of 'The Core' and 'domains'." Lucan removes one of the coins from his pocket and takes a closer look at it. "The Sword Coast hasn't used money this crudely crafted in centuries. Well before my time. And we only walked for a few hours so we shouldn't be far from the city, but Baldur's Gate isn't on the map, and she thought our world might be one of these 'domains'." Lucan placed the silver on the table, "Any knowledge you might have would be most welcome." He pushed the coin across the table but did not lift his hand from it, he wanted to hear what she had to say first.
 
Listening to Lexi and 'Friend', Reyeara held one hand over her mouth to hide her smirk. Those two were definitely going to be interesting to watch ... one who was very sheltered and one who was very open about things.

She nodded as Friend finished speaking, leaning on the back of an empty chair at the table. "Hopefully not, think the plan is get some food and rooms for the night, then see how things sit in the morning. Or at least later in the day, seems it's gotten late enough without us realizing, it's actually early." Reyeara adjusted her stance, "We may have wandered a bit further than we realized as well... We'll figure something out, Lexi will probably be coming with us for the time being -- supposedly she got separated from her 'Master'."

She looked around the room, seeing Lucan in conversation with the woman before turning back to the table, "What can you tell us about him? Might help us spread word -- if it gets out someone's looking for him, might bring his attention closer."
 
Jonathan raises two fingers in the air towards Lucan as he left the building, as if he tried to say: "Don't worry, I got it covered here. Go snoop around to your liking." Overseeing the inn for a moment, Jonathan's attention is grabbed by the woman who's trying to get him to buy something. "I'm more of a group drinker, I'll wait a bit, thanks."

Watching Geyser stumble things over, Jonathan is tempted to just look away as if he didn't know the man. Though when Geyser walks up to him muttering his room number, Jonathan gives the blue man a soft slap on the back as he walks away. "Go sleep your buzz off." When Kore sits down next to him, Jonathan gives him an upwards nod.

When Lucan and his entourage comes through the door, Jonathan looks up in surprise for a moment. "Seriously? More people? What the hell have you been doing outside?" Shaking his head to physically clear his mind, he looks at the new arrival and Reyeara come to his table. When she introduces him, he slightly raises his hand. "That's me." With the introduction of Lexori, Jonathan feels compelled to atleast mutter some words in compensation of her rambling. "Nice to meet you, sounds like Lucan alright."

Noting Kore thumbing at him, he shrugs and sighs. "Shouldn't wake me up with cold water, that uppercut to the chin was all on you."
 
Lexi blushed a bit beneath her hood as Kore offered her his seat. "Oh. Umm... I didn't mean to be a bother, but thank you, Friend." She giggled a bit at the odd name as she took a seat, and then smiled to the half-orc, beginning to quickly jot down notes again, giggling again and brushing his hand away as he poked her before Mittens could take a nip at him. She then looked at Jon in surprise. "He hit you after healing him? That's not very nice... although I guess that cold water isn't too great after being knocked unconscious either. I'd recommend ammonium nitrate in the future if you really needed to wake someone up, but it's typically best regarded to let people get up on their own..." Lexi paused briefly before grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, I tend to blabber a bit. Anyways, I wouldn't really call myself a lady... I'm just a wizard, and not even a fully fledged one at that."

Lexi then turned back to Rey with an excited smile. "Oh, Master? He's the best! He's probably the greatest wizard of all of Darkon, other than Azalin Rex, of course. I doubt that we'd be able to find him before he'd find me, but I suppose a physical description wouldn't hurt. He's a human, with a long white hair and a beard, but a surprisingly youthful face. Purple robe... mahogany staff with a crystal owl on the top... Pretty much how you'd expect a wizard to look to be honest." Lexi paused for a moment as Mittens squeaked in her ear, and then turned back to Rey, a worried look in her eye. "Actually... It's probably better if you don't spread the word. You know, he can already track me just fine, and it might just end up complicating things."
 
Reyeara frowned as she watched Lexori speak, her mannerisms very obviously reading as someone hiding something with her last statement. She gave one last look over Lexi before standing straighter, "If you say so, though when it comes to wizards it's a little difficult for me to decide what one might look like. There were a few in the guard, and some in the Flaming Fists, as well as my own teachers -- usually all that was consistent was the uniform. Sounds like he'd stand out though."

She adjusted her gauntlet again, still occasionally scanning the room -- old habits. "You know, if you're in danger, Lucan and I are the best people to tell. Just because we're not in our home turf doesn't mean we'd ignore you if you need help."
 
Kore grinned as Lexi blushed easily. Glancing over to Jon again as he commented. “I also feel it wasn’t nice.” With a laugh he relaxed in his seat. “That time I’m sure I deserved it, but I really wish you’d stop getting knocked out. With those ham fists and block head you think you’d be nigh unstoppable.”

“Thank you for the tip Lexori” Looking to her he gave a nod. “I will have to get my hands on some, please don’t worry about going on, I could listen to your voice for eons.” With a wink he took his drink and sipped it.

With a flick of his wrist over the candle at their table he turns it a pretty purple color. “Other than healing I can do a few small handy tricks. I am sure you are the pride of your master and can do much more he must be sick from being away from you.”
 
Lexi shifted uncomfortably in her seat when Rey saw through her lie, and looked away briefly before looking down at the table dejectedly for a moment. "I'm sorry, Ms. Rey... to be honest, I hate lying, and I feel really bad about doing it now... but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to believe. I'll explain soon, I swear." Lexi then cleared her throat and turned back to Kore to apologize, but her expression brightened for a momentas she saw him change the color of the flame. "Oh, neat! I can do that too." Lexi reached out a hand into the flame, holding it uncomfortably close for a moment before tapping it, turning the color of the flame to the same shade of green as her eyes.

Lexi then sighed briefly at the next mention of her master and then reached into her bag, pulling out a small piece of wool. She plucked a piece of the wool and placed it carefully in the green flame, and it appeared to grow magically in size and bellow green smoke. Lexi frowned slightly and looked between her new friends as she began to manipulate the wool into different shapes, the smoke changing to match the form of the wool. "I guess you guys deserve to know... I didn't just get lost. There may be people after me, but I don't know for sure. This is all I know so far." The smoke first showed the rough form of a small horned figure with a small basket knelt down near a plant. "I was out collecting supplies for spells when I heard voices in the distance. No one was ever supposed to know where we were, that's why Master typically traveled to conduct business, and I was under strict orders to come to him if I ever heard anything out of the ordinary." Lexi pulled off another piece of wool, and the smoke showed the figure leave behind her basket and run off to a tall tower in the distance. She ran inside the tower and up dozens of flights of smokey stairs before she came to a stop before a figure like the one Lexi had described before, his expression cold and calculating as the tiefling explained the situation. "He told me to enter his chambers and head into the back, where I was never allowed to go before, and then quickly returned with a bag of supplies." Lexi placed one more piece of wool into the flames, manipulating the form of the piece in her hands once again, and the scene in the smoke changed a final time to show the horned figure in a room standing in a smokey circle as the form of her Master fell to the ground and three armed men entered the room. Lexi's voice wavered a bit as she finished her story. "Then, there was a bright flash of blue light, and I was here... The men seemed to be Azalin's Kargat, his police, or secret police depending on what stories you believe, and there's all sorts of reasons why the Wizard King might have wanted Master dead. Our brand of arcana is somewhat... experimental. Master Archaeus made it his mission to distill the very essence of magic down to its base components and use it as a formula to construct new spells from the ground up. It's a revolutionary school of magic, but some see it as somewhat... heretical, I guess. Still... I have to believe that Master is okay, or I don't know what I'll do..." Lexi's voice broke and she began to cry as she looked at the scene again, finding it hard to justify ways that her Master had escaped the situation. Mittens curled around her shoulder, and Lexi hugged the weasel, seeking comfort in the familiarity.
 
Blood of the Vine Inn:

Sorvia raises an eyebrow. "The... Sword Coast? Baldur's Gate? Those are awfully strange names for places." She glances down at the silver coin Lucan appeared to be offering, but makes no slight or movement in its direction. She shrugs again. "I don't know what sort of fancy craftsmanship you were expecting but we make do with it here, it's a small valley. Last time I checked they're mostly hand-minted up in Vallaki, the larger town to the north."

She reaches over for her cup of tea and takes a sip, though it looks like it's been sitting there for a while. "You're in the domain of Barovia, currently ruled over by his excellency Strahd the III. His borders encircle the entirety of this valley, and if you try to cross that you usually die to the mists or whatever lurks inside of it. Even if you don't, I hear the mists can just snatch you up at any time and toy with you, plopping you somewhere else like some sort of plaything. It's supposedly the same with whatever else currently makes up the 'core' landmass of this world, though I doubt most people around here will ever even attempt to travel that far - making it to the next settlement over is dangerous enough."

Arik returns with tea, setting a cup in front of Lucan and refilling Sorvia's cup before moving on to Lexi and Rey's table. "Much appreciated," Sorvia says, nodding at Arik as he made his way back into the kitchen to keep working on the rest of the food. She blows on her fresh tea and takes another sip. "I've heard stories of the mists reaching into other worlds and plucking out unfortunate travelers, so I suppose that's my best guess of what happened to you folks. One way or another you've arrived here, so I guess this is your welcome."

As she says that she glances past Lucan as she notices the strange display of lights and smoke apparate out of nowhere, manipulated by Lexi. At first surprised at the open display of magic, she soon narrows her eyes and watches the shapes closely, seeming to take careful stock of what she was saying. At the end she furrows her eyebrows and turns back to Lucan with a frown. "Er... is she with you? That was... quite the story." She seems a bit more guarded now, having overheard most of Lexi's tale.

A few moments later Arik comes back with a few bowls of fresh steaming vegetable stew and a platter of sausage and roasted potatoes, walking over and placing them on the table completely oblivious to the emotion in the air. He returns to the counter and picks up where he left off, starting to wipe a wine glass as if nothing had happened.
 
“Hey hey, chin up big girl, your master being as powerful as you say, I’m sure he managed some bit of trickery to stay alive and come for you.” Leaning down close he gently taps her chin to bring her eyes back up. “My mother always said faith brings about little miracles. Believe in him.” With a nod he smiled and cleared his throat standing up from his seat as the man brought over food for the girls.

Backing slowly he saluted the table, “I’m ugh going to bed. Downing his drink Kore turns on his heel and heads for the bar to pay for a room. “Nice meeting you Lexori,” Once getting his room key he chuckled to himself. “Hey Rey, room five if your feeling lively.” Grinning he disappeared down the hall.
 
Lucan sips his tea as Sorvia's attention is drawn to Lexi's story and he watches her story as well. "She's with us now, if that's what you mean, but she didn't come here with the rest of us." He takes another sip of tea and shrugs, "It's in the job description. Member of the watch, investigator of crimes, protect and serve the populous. She's a stray as her story suggests and it's only right that we try to find her 'master' and get her home, if home is safe enough." He smiled and stood as he began to collect the food and tea, leaving the silver piece sitting in front of the woman. "I'll get out of your hair, thanks for the information. I'll also have them keep it down." He nodded and began silently busing food and drink over to the others. After a few trips he stopped in front of Sorvia once more, "For the record, this is what our currency looks like." He removed a single golden coin from a pocket and flipped it in the air, allowing it to land on the table in front of her. "Hmm, heads. Supposedly it's good luck, that." He nodded and returned to the others.

Taking a seat at the table he passed out the stew to Reyeara and Lexi, then grabbed himself a link of sausage and a potato. With a dagger from his belt he quickly sliced the sausage and potato into his own stew. He let out a sigh as he took a bite to eat then looked to Rey, "Well, it sounds as if that strange mist pulled us to this world. The owner, or one of them because she owns it with her sisters, Sorvia, says we are in a place called the Core, in a domain called Barovia which is ruled by Strahd the Third. Their money is crude and the general attitude I'm getting is uncertain of outsiders and magic. We should try to keep a low profile for now, don't want to cause too much of a stir in such a sleepy town." He smiled at Lexi, "You too little miss, can't go around tellin' your story in inns like this. It draws a lot of unwanted attention. Quite the story though. I saw it from over there, we'll take you on and get you safely around with us until your master comes to collect you. You've got my word." He nods before placing the key on the table between them, "Here's your room key, Sorvia asked that we keep it down a bit, she likes the peace and quiet."

Finally Lucan turned to Jon, "Sorry we were gone so long. You know how I am with strangers. I don't trust that el-derly woman who walked us into town, but she led us to this nice young lass who needs our help. Figure since we're trying to get back to the Gate and she's just trying to stick it out until her master comes along we can all keep each other company." He smiled as he took a bite to eat. "Thanks for keeping an eye on the others, I assume Geyser got himself a room since he wasn't here when we came in....unless you let him walk off?" Lucan chuckled, trusting Jon to handle things in his absence.

Lucan turned back to his food and continued to eat.
 
Jonathan sighs and shrugs as he wraps his arms over one another when Kore comments on his behaviour towards Lexi. "It comes with the job, roll with the punches. Though you shouldn't complain, the sheer amount of people you heal on my behalf lets you eat and laze around. If anything, you'd need a swift kick to your ass instead of an uppercut." Letting off steam through words was unusual for Jonathan, but he preferred it over punching Kore.

When Lexi finishes her story and starts to bawl, Jonathan looks awkwardly at Reyeara. He raises his eyebrows and nods towards the crying girl as if to say: "You go handle that." With Kore stepping up trying to console Lexi, Jonathan feels slightly relieved that someone made an attempt that wasn't him. Giving Kore a salute back as he leaves towards his room, his eyes fall on Lucan who joins them at the table. "Yeah yeah, it's fine. You had to do your thing, I get it. Blue man got himself a place in room 4, not sure which one K is residing in. In regards to what you just said.. It sounds absolutely batshit insane, but I can't find a better explanation myself so... alright. I'll stay on the down low, no magic from me that's for sure." He gives Lucan a small grin before leaning forward with both of his elbows on the table.
 
Listening to Lexori's story, she could tell the girl was growing more and more upset, especially as she got to the end, eventually breaking down into tears. At first Reyeara merely rubbed the side of Lexi's arms, trying to be reassuring as the food was brought over.

When Kore attempted to calm the girl, Reyeara watched his face, seeing a glimpse behind the usual charismatic persona, his words catching slightly at the mention of his mother. However her expression quickly turned into a scowl as he walked away with a proposition, "Seriously...? Really not the time for that."

As Lucan approached with a few more bowls, Reyeara took a seat, scooting next to Lexi as she listened to what he'd learned, sliding the room key closer. Taking a few bites of the stew, it was welcome after all the walking they'd done so far, "So ... looks like we did more than just wander a bit off the path. Only magic I've got are my runes, and usually I only activate them if we're in a fight. Usually at that point any attempt to keep a low profile went out the window long ago."

Reyeara patted Lexi's shoulders, sliding a bowl towards her, "Though Friend is a bit of an ass, he did say something worthwhile -- your master seemed pretty skilled, he's more than likely out there somewhere. Maybe he's hiding out, pretending to be dead so people stop looking -- even though that means cutting off contact with you. We'll try to help keep you safe as long as we can." She leaned in conspiratorially for a moment, "I know you said they're 'archaic' and we're 'spose to keep the noise down, but I could show you what the rune on my gauntlet does. Not down here, but in the room, get your mind off things, yeah? You seem awful keen on any and all magic, be something else to show your master when you get reunited."
 
Lexi briefly tensed up as she felt Rey put her hands on her arms, but felt a sense of calm and safety from the gesture. She looked up, still sniffling as Kore approached and raised her chin, and she nodded and wipes away at the tears. "Oh... okay, Friend. Your mom sounds like a wise woman... Good night."

She then looked up at Lucan as he approached and tried to put on a brave face. Come on, I've gotta, cheer up! Master wouldn't be too happy to see me like this. No time for self pity... She tried to focus on what Lucan said, confused as he said basic knowledge that a child would know as if it were new information. "You guys don't know what the Mist is? Well... I guess no one really knows what the Mist is, but everyone knows that it is... at least I think. It's everywhere, it can do pretty much anything, and generally speaking you really don't want to go into it. I didn't realize you guys were Outsiders, though, that's interesting. To give you a general idea, the Core is split up into an unknown number of different domains that pop up over time, each of which has it's own rulers, laws, and other quirks that make them quite hard to navigate. I'm afraid I don't know too much about Barovia. It used to be a lot closer to Darkon geographically speaking, but they've grown apart over time as new domains showed up. It's kinda complicated and to be honest, even I don't understand all of it."

Lexi frowned and looked down at Lucan's mention of keeping a lower profile. "Sorry... Master encouraged the use of magic in all aspects of our lives in order to test the boundaries of every spell I knew. He'd rather I knew how to use the same spell a thousand different ways than for me to know a different spell for every possible situation. The phrase he uses for it was 'Esoteric Malleability'." Lexi giggles a bit and wipes at her eyes again. "I suggested he called it flexi-magic instead and he nearly shouted my head off. Anyways, I'll try to avoid using my spells so much, and keep my story to myself, but as Ms. Rey can tell you I'm kinda a terrible liar." Lexi chuckled weakly before staring down at her stew, taking a hesitant spoonful before she realized how hungry she was and began to quickly tear into it. As Rey spoke, she put down her empty bowl and her expression began to dim, but she looked back to her with excitement at the mention of her showing off the runes. "Holy Hala, that would be amazing! Thanks so much, Ms. Rey, I'm sure he'd love to hear it!" Lexi hugged Rey tightly in excitement, eager to put her misery behind her and potentially learn something useful.
 
Reyeara listened to Lexi's explanation of the mist, her expression shifting to confusion as she kept eating, "That sounds ... interesting. Though you say 'outsider' like it's a title, I take it what happened to us isn't too unheard of?" She glanced towards Lucan, "Wonder if we might run into anyone else from our side of the 'mists' or however it works?"

Before Reyeara could take another bite of the quickly disappearing stew she felt a weak squeeze as the tiefling wrapped her arms around her. "Ah! Well then, seems I definitely know how to turn your mood around. We should finish eating though -- I think our internal schedule is a bit offset from what time it was when we left the Gate and what time it ended up being when we got here. Sleep sometimes helps fix that, if it can be managed."
 
"Yeah, it's pretty far fetched, but honestly the stories match up. I figure after a good rest we can all head out to see the Burgomaster, he's the head of this village. We'll see if he knows anything different or has any suggestions. It was also mentioned that the town of Vallaki, on the map to the west, might be a better place to finds some answers." Lucan shakes his head, "We'll find a way."

As Lexi digs into the stew, Lucan pushes the plate of meat and potatoes towards Jon, "If you're hungry." He nodded to the brawler before continuing his own meal.

Turning back to address Lexi and Rey, Lucan blinked tiredly, "I'm not so worried about the use of magic, as the attention we're drawing. I'm sure there will be plenty of time to share our stories and use our magic when there are fewer locals watching or listening. Best not to spook these people if we're going to be spending time among them." Lucan finished his stew and stood. "It was a pleasure to meet you tonight, Lexi. We'll talk more after a rest, take good care of Rey for me. She looks tough, but inside she's a real softy." He grinned at Reyeara before placing a hand on her shoulder, "Be safe Reyeara. We'll all get home, together." He smiled and patted her once before heading off up the stairs with his tea.

Up the stairs, Lucan tried the door to room four, finding it locked, he nodded, Well he's not completely witless. He then moved to his own room, locking it before removing a bundle of string and a bell from his pack. He rigged the door carefully to ring should anyone enter before moving the chair to face the door, removing his rapier, setting it across his lap, and finishing his tea. He placed the empty cup on the table before closing his eyes and beginning to meditate, focusing himself into a trance.
 
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