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Adarin - realizes he's one of the most shut in members of the household. It makes sense, really. He's their shield, if bandits or other nasty people show up it is up to him to keep them safe, like it is up to Jony to make the garden and Kesaven expands the house and keeps it in repair. Besides, where would he even go? All of his favorite people are right here. He'd be lonely if he went on the trips to the market.
So when there is a yelp from downstairs that sounds like it's from Tima, he's in the house and not outside chopping firewood, or at the market. He is upstairs, and he hears it, and he sprints downstairs and prepares to shield and -
And then he is eaten by a giant snake with a mirror for a face.
in_tatters
in_tatters
He briefly entertains the idea of finding a bucket of water and dumping it on her, but dismisses it. He raises his voice, and shakes her a bit more.
"Miss? Miss, excuse me, sorry, but I am hopelessly lost!"
"Miss? Miss, excuse me, sorry, but I am hopelessly lost!"
in_tatters
Right, okay, he's just going to leave her alone, then. Whatever. It's fine. She wants to sleep like the dead, she can sleep like the dead.
(He's worried about her, anyway, is there something wrong with her? Something to do with the snake?)
He sighs, then leaves to go explore some more.
The palace has:
1) Four stories, each of which has a pointless circular room, and a tower.
2) A greenhouse wing with more funky plants in it.
3) A big front hall with lots of stairs, which will get him to all of the floors.
4) A large dining room, but only a very small kitchen, without any food in it at all.
5) A huge library.
6) Guest rooms, unoccupied.
7) An underground side exit that leads under the river to a flight of safely railing'd switchback stairs carved neatly into the cliffside, leading to a path to the valley town.
8) Lots of pretty decorative things.
9) A reasonable number of bathrooms.
10) No people besides the sleeping girl.
1) Four stories, each of which has a pointless circular room, and a tower.
2) A greenhouse wing with more funky plants in it.
3) A big front hall with lots of stairs, which will get him to all of the floors.
4) A large dining room, but only a very small kitchen, without any food in it at all.
5) A huge library.
6) Guest rooms, unoccupied.
7) An underground side exit that leads under the river to a flight of safely railing'd switchback stairs carved neatly into the cliffside, leading to a path to the valley town.
8) Lots of pretty decorative things.
9) A reasonable number of bathrooms.
10) No people besides the sleeping girl.
in_tatters
Okay, the no food thing is a problem. Not an immediate problem, but a problem that will likely become relevant later.
It is odd that there's such a big palace with no servants, or people, or food. The kitchen isn't built to feed as many guests as the dining room can hold. The pointless circular rooms are pointless. The only resident sleeps like the dead. The material composition of the palace is pretty but not very practical. What sort of place is this?
He's going to check the library. Maybe it'll have some indication of where he is, or why this place is so strange.
It is odd that there's such a big palace with no servants, or people, or food. The kitchen isn't built to feed as many guests as the dining room can hold. The pointless circular rooms are pointless. The only resident sleeps like the dead. The material composition of the palace is pretty but not very practical. What sort of place is this?
He's going to check the library. Maybe it'll have some indication of where he is, or why this place is so strange.
Pretty wide selection. Histories of countries he's never heard of. Novels. Cookbooks. Cryptography and architecture and gardening and 101 Fun Flying Tricks. Atlases of continents that don't look right. There's a large section devoted to what appear to be handwritten personal notes.
in_tatters
He'll leave the handwritten personal notes alone, for now. Everything else is up for grabs, though.
101 Fun Flying Tricks? Flying is a thing that happens? How does that work, what kind of mage is that? He'll read that book, to figure out what mechanism allows for flight.
101 Fun Flying Tricks? Flying is a thing that happens? How does that work, what kind of mage is that? He'll read that book, to figure out what mechanism allows for flight.
So you're a new sorcerer! After you've notified your local government and given them something to contact you with so they can have you on call in the event of sorcery-needing eventualities, you'll want to have fun with flying. It's mostly instinct, but instinct won't show you these thrilling stunts! (Note: Tricks 50-101 require momentum beyond that required for basic flying, or help from a more advanced sorcerer.)
There's a Sorcerers' Directory of the Continent, and 10 Great Sorcerer Profiles, and Dozens Of Things To Do With Sorcery On A Rainy Day Besides Make It Stop Raining.
in_tatters
Well he's actually kind of curious about that last one. What can one do with sorcery on a rainy day? Besides, assumingly, flying tricks.
Play with lightning! Sculpt clouds. Make the rain fall upwards ("try this in isolated areas first"). Prevent rain from falling on you personally. Make tiny indoor dioramas of the landscape complete with weather. Fuck around with the wind. Dramatic timing with thunderclaps. Dissolving nearby drops into thick mist.
in_tatters
So - is sorcerer a term for someone with weather magic? Odd. Okay. That - doesn't actually explain anything. But it's kind of neat, he supposes. It seems like the woman sleeping has weather magic. Maybe she did something big and is sleeping it off - he knows artificers do that.
With that mystery mostly solved (he'll go read up more on it later, probably, but right now he had bigger problems) he needs to go solve the food situation. He doesn't have any of the local currency. He could probably pry an opal out of something and sell it, but that seems like a fantastically bad idea, even with the lack of guards or people here besides lady-weather-mage.
He comes upon the idea of checking if anything in the garden's edible. There's a book for that, right?
With that mystery mostly solved (he'll go read up more on it later, probably, but right now he had bigger problems) he needs to go solve the food situation. He doesn't have any of the local currency. He could probably pry an opal out of something and sell it, but that seems like a fantastically bad idea, even with the lack of guards or people here besides lady-weather-mage.
He comes upon the idea of checking if anything in the garden's edible. There's a book for that, right?
in_tatters
... Well that's unhelpful.
Guess he'll have to try the town, then.
He checks on the sleeping woman before he goes. Still asleep despite all efforts to wake her?
Guess he'll have to try the town, then.
He checks on the sleeping woman before he goes. Still asleep despite all efforts to wake her?
in_tatters
Well, that's unlikely to last forever. He goes and writes a note explaining his situation, apologizes for technically invading her home, and explains where he's gone.
Then he goes off to town to maybe see where the heck he is, how he can get home, and if he can't do either how to not die from starvation.
Then he goes off to town to maybe see where the heck he is, how he can get home, and if he can't do either how to not die from starvation.
kindestgarden
On his way down the stairs he meets a woman who is climbing up the stairs. She substantially resembles the sleeper, actually, though she's a good twenty years older.
"...Hello?"
"...Hello?"
in_tatters
Adarin looks at her in surprise.
"... Hello!" he replies, in the same language (How is he doing that?) "Um. Sorry, ma'am, I'm - I think there was some kind of magical accident, I'm very lost, could you tell me where I am?"
"... Hello!" he replies, in the same language (How is he doing that?) "Um. Sorry, ma'am, I'm - I think there was some kind of magical accident, I'm very lost, could you tell me where I am?"
kindestgarden
"A magical -? I'm sorry. The local sorceress is - indisposed - but there's another a few days' downriver if you take a barge or just want to walk. How lost are you exactly, do you know what country you're in...?"
in_tatters
"I do not know what country I'm in. I arrived up," he waves towards the palace, "there, maybe an hour or two ago, at the most."
in_tatters
"... This is going to sound crazy? There was um. A giant snake, with a mirror for a head. It ate me, and then I was in her palace. Uh, I don't recognize those places, do you know how I could get to Casasha? Or Antaurb?"