Like this one?

WHAT WAS THAT. 

(Savil is still in her quarters, getting dressed. This doesn't preclude being in contact with the Web but it does mean she wasn't entirely paying attention.) 

:Van did you feel that: 

Vanyel is in the Web-room, putting in some final touches to make sure the weather will stay perfect all day. 

:- oh, you felt it too? I - have no idea, honestly - wasn't an attack or a Gate - I'm trying to pin down the source -: 

After a few more seconds he's fairly sure it came from right around there, in a random patch of orchard near the bank of the river, technically within the guarded festival perimeter being set up but not actually in use or occupied right now. Or at least it wasn't twenty minutes ago when he did his last pass over the area.

Being in the Web-room lets him easily reach out with his Gifts. Is there a mind there? 

Yes, though it's weirdly - harder than an unshielded mind while not being as hard as a fully shielded one, to get a look at? The person there is a man in chainmail with a backpack on his back and a mace at his hip looking around in bewilderment while he takes tentative steps downstream.

Vanyel also has his Farsight on the location as soon as he's able to sense that there's a mind there at all. 

- Well that's deeply alarming!!!! 

Vanyel bounces the image to Savil immediately. :Raise an alarm: he sends tersely, before focusing fully on the scene.

It's - honestly bizarre that the man isn't fully shielded? Enough that Vanyel hesitates for a moment, suspicious of some kind of trick, and then focuses with his mage-sight first to try to sense any artifacts (especially anything that might be reminiscent of a Leareth-made talisman) before boosting his Thoughtsensing to push through the not-shields. 

The armor's magic and the mace is magic. Nothing else on him is.

Thoughts:

What the SHIT was that monster. Was it a regular monster or was it an outsider of some kind intended to disrupt the Constitutional Convention. If there's some major power interfering with the convention probably the archmages will notice but if it's just him there's no way they will. This looks like the material plane but WHAT IF it is actually a locally stable bit of Maelstrom. It's cold and he has an Endure Elements but he has it because he was planning to walk in the summer wearing his mail because it doesn't slow him down any less if he puts it in his bag! What if he has forgotten how Endure Elements works since yesterday and one prepped with summer in mind won't work in the cold - why is he such a dumbass, he has NOT forgotten how it works since yesterday - Guidance, spent instantly on figuring out where he is, and it doesn't work at all - the place looks inhabited and he doesn't have a Share Language or even a Comprehend Language today, because he's a dumbass and was ready for bandits and goblins and not for the specific kind of monster that Plane Shifts you to the Maelstrom. He's never even HEARD of plane shift snakes. What if they're actually all over the place in Menador and there is a spell he was supposed to know about that deals with them at second circle no problem and he slept through it that one time he fell asleep in class, if he missed something that important when he fell asleep in class it was completely within Vicar Rey's rights to torture him about it though it would have been more generous to let him make up the work afterward so he'd know about the Menadorian Plane Shift Dire Snake Thing. Why can't he focus. Should he cast his Endure Elements? What if he needs it to swap out for healing, he's not THAT cold since he does have the mail and all its padding. What if the people he is now approaching mug him for all his stuff and then he doesn't have the Acts of Iomedae! He's only read it all the way through once! He will forget something important and do something evil by accident and fall and freeze to death probably! If he casts the Endure Elements will this let him stop worrying about freezing to death, no, absolutely not, he's not worried about freezing today, he's worried about doing it after accidentally doing an evil act and not having spells any more, which is the wrong thing to worry about, he should be worrying about the possible evil acts he could do instead, only the ones he could do by accident aren't going to be really obvious like murdering somebody, it's going to be some confusing point about something weird, he was GOING to meet with a catechism teacher in Westcrown and that's certainly not happening now unless an archmage shows up. Which they probably won't but what if they did and then they were mad at him for being eaten by a Menadorian Plane Shift Dire Snake Thing. Archmages probably NEVER get eaten by those. Archmages kill the tarrasque and close the entire Worldwound and if they have to bother about Blai specifically for any reason they will think he's pathetic and he will make Iomedae look bad and then he will wake up without spells again when She gets ticked off about that and THEN he'll freeze to death. Oh gods he has to figure out how to try to talk to the people. Is he doing anything threatening looking? Hands well away from the weapon and not in casting position - Guidance - okay NOW not in casting position, but what if they think it's threatening that he's going around armed at all, or like, just that he showed up uninvited, which was really very rude of him, why did he do something so rude, if he only hadn't fallen asleep in class that one time he would have known ALL about the Menadorian Plane Shift Dire Snake Thing. He hopes one of them has a Comprehend Languages even though he hates being the one getting Comprehended because you have to just keep thinking of things to say continuously on very little feedback. Probably none of them have it because they like him expected to be among their own people who already speak whatever they speak in this part of the Material and/or Maelstrom. Maybe he will get lucky and there will be a wizard with a slot free though, or they're already doing some kind of diplomatic something - no actually that would be TERRIBLE if he has landed in the middle of a diplomatic something, he does not in any way know how to not make that worse -

(This all goes by very fast and none of it keeps the man from walking calmly and politely toward the nearest visible group of people with his hands away from his weapon and not in "casting position").

(Despite the speed, Vanyel picks up on a little more of that than he might have otherwise, since it's - well, his mind certainly does that sometimes.) 

Oh no this poor man, is Vanyel's first instinctive thought, quickly pushed aside. His second almost-as-instinctive thought is that he cannot IMAGINE that this person is working for Leareth. And not just because none of his thoughts are about how he's on a secret mission for a mysterious powerful mage in the north. 

- catch onto that thought, remind himself that he really shouldn't be that sure. Maybe Leareth can use compulsions to make someone think they have no idea what's going on. ...Though he can't say this is Leareth's style, especially not when Leareth could surely have waited a few candlemarks and sent someone in with the ice festival crowds. Admittedly not with enchanted weapons or armor, so maybe those are important? They're certainly INCREDIBLY SUSPICIOUS - from what he can sense at a distance, the style isn't exactly reminiscent of Leareth's work, but is instead totally unfamiliar -  

- what could the goal possibly be – even apart from uncharacteristic-for-Leareth lack of any subtlety, that's what he can't figure out - 

(Vanyel is mostly too distracted to focus on the content of the man's thoughts, which in any case he picked up less of than the the general confusion and anxiety, but what he can pick up on doesn't make any sense EITHER...) 

Focus. 

He reaches for Savil's mind again. :He doesn't know where he is or how he got here - he's focused on avoiding a fight - can we get someone out to intercept him before one of the Guards overreacts, I don't think this goes better if we're the ones to start a fight...: 

:On it: 

Kilchas and Sandra are in their rooms and neither is in any shape to respond to an emergency, but the other four Herald-Mages – Nani and Tamara, and Katri and Nubia – are already up and active, working with the rest of the Heralds on site-security duty. Katri is the only one positioned nearby enough to have a chance of intercepting the stranger in the next minute or two. It would be nice if the first person to confront this incredibly suspicious man were Adept-potential, but she's both not sure yet that it warrants an emergency Gate, and also aware that if the man is hostile, a mage Gating in would be making themselves particularly vulnerable... 

Katri is a Mindspeaker and Empath, which might be useful. 

:Go: she sends. :Try not to escalate, we don't know what's going on, but - be on your guard: 

And to Vanyel, :Stay put, I think. Relay to Katri if you notice anything she should know. - I'll make sure Dara's up to date, she can brief Randi -: 

Katri was really looking forward to a party and this is a sudden and jarring mood shift, but she's on Companion-back and can reach the spot Vanyel is bouncing to her within another thirty seconds, before the mysterious man actually reaches the nearest huddle of Guards. 

Blai will see a young woman - who doesn't look particularly Chelish - dressed entirely in white, riding a horse which is also completely white and has oddly large and forward-facing blue eyes. The young woman isn't obviously armed, though she certainly could be carrying weapons under her voluminous white cloak. Like him, she's holding her hands out, relaxed (or as close to it as she can manage) and visibly empty. 

"Do you speak Valdemaran?" she tries, might as well start with that first.  

Time to do the "do you speak any of these languages" dance. "I don't know what you just said to me. I speak Chelish, and also Common Taldane, and also Infernal." He changes languages at each comma and kind of expects anyone who recognizes Infernal to be judgmental that he speaks it but he can't just leave it out.

Katri does not recognize any of those languages! 

...She's inclined to agree with Vanyel's initial impression that this man did not intend to come here on any kind of mission and definitely doesn't want a fight. (Her Empathy is wide open even though what she can pick up, so far, isn't exactly comfortable to be bathed in.) 

:Sorry, I don't think I speak your language: she sends. (She's not reading his mind; it seems a lot ruder to do it face to face, somehow, and she's also not nearly as strong a Thoughtsenser as Vanyel.) :Can you understand me like this? Er, you're in Valdemar right now.: 

Vanyel, safely ensconced in the Web-room, is absolutely still reading the man's mind. It seems likely to be informative. 

Whoa, did she just Telepathic bond him? ...did she just Still, Silent Telepathic Bond him? That's fifth circle even without the metamagic, though if you happen to have that prepared and no slots for anything cheaper that makes sense if it's very urgent to find out who he is and what he's doing here and they didn't want to just gesture him to someplace he could sit and wait for dawn in. IS HIS HOLY SYMBOL CLEARLY VISIBLE oh good it is. Is he going to have to figure out how to compensate her for a fifth or perhaps seventh circle spell. He doesn't have any money on him because the money was all Evil. Hopefully he can sell spells? He has nothing else to sell and what if there's a local norm of Good clerics not charging for any of their spells, then what - if the archmage shows up and finds that Blai has been indentured over this or something and Blai needs to beg a fifth or possibly seventh circle spell's cost off him he's going to be SO irritated -

:I can understand you. I don't know where Valdemar is. I was in Cheliax, which is a country in the continent of Avistan.:

Should he specify the planet. He's not sure he's on his planet, but if he is, it might seem rude to specify? Like it would signify that this wizardess was too alien to be recognizably Golarionite even though she's obviously a human and that is... probably at least mostly a horse... and the spell is... well he's never had a Telepathic Bond on him before so maybe it doesn't feel like anything but wow it really doesn't feel like anything. Unless it's that itch in his ear. Which he is not going to scratch because he's still doing the hands-in-nonthreatening-position thing. What if a bug has climbed into his ear to lay eggs there. It's probably too cold here for bugs. But not for DIRE bugs. But those probably wouldn't fit in his ear. Only probably though. He should specify the planet actually, he doesn't want to be rude but he thinks he's probably just imagining that it might be rude and actually it would be fine in a situation this weird featuring Menadorian Plane Shift Dire Snake Things.

:Which is on the planet Golarion: he adds.

This is somehow still getting more and more baffling! In a fascinating way - the man seems to be thinking about the existence of a very advanced mage-technique to imitate Mindspeech, except that the way he's thinking about it hints that he doesn't know Mindspeech exists, what - something feels off about how the man is thinking about magic, Vanyel kind of suspects he's missing something important, but the thoughts are going by very fast and he's not managing to pin it down. 

(- "because the money was all evil", what does that even mean, Vanyel's first wild guess is money earned through, what, taking unethical mercenary contracts, but that somehow doesn't ring true with the rest -) 

- should he specify the planet???? 

...Aaaand he specified, and Vanyel has certainly never heard of anywhere that calls the world 'Golarion'. Or of a country called Cheliax or a continent called Avistan. He wishes he could ask Leareth if this isn't Leareth's doing, then Leareth should definitely not be given any hints whatsoever about it, and in any case they haven't spoken in - almost two months, actually, it hadn't really sunk in how long it's been... 

Vanyel doesn't relay anything to Katri yet because he has no idea where he would start. 

Um. 

:I don't know of anyone calling our world Golarion: Katri sends. :But, er, I also don't know of there being other worlds with humans and mages. ...We sensed magic when you, um, arrived here, but it wasn't a Gate. Do you know what it was?: She's not at all sure this is the most important first question to be asking but she's not managing to think of a better one. 

:There was a monster with a mirrorlike apparently portal-esque apparatus instead of a face. The rest of it looked like a giant snake. I am not familiar with the monster species.: Because he slept through that class probably and absolutely deserved the entire business with all the broken joints et cetera for it probably except for how, remember, he made that up, and might have actually slept through something else equally embarrassing to not know, maybe the portalsnakes are a new project of Manohar's or something, may Hell be denied a soldier. Should he be praying more. He isn't sure if it's expensive but it can't be VERY expensive or they'd have mentioned that in the letter next to the note about Communes, which they did think to mention without even first knowing whether he was high enough circle for that. Iomedae, here I am, I will continue to do my best for You in the complete absence of additional feedback but thought You might like a look at the place, please forgive me if I am distracting You from important things. What if it was in fact in the letter next to the Communes and he just forgot! What if She dropped something that actually mattered over that! No it can't POSSIBLY be that expensive. EVERY religion encourages prayer and some of them would have a policy of telling people to shut up and leave their gods alone if it were that bad. It is at most a little tiny bit expensive. It was NOT in the letter stop being dumb. What if he re-read the letter though. It's in his bag. His ear has stopped itching but he's still going to slowly lower the not-on-the-side-with-his-mace hand to see if the wizardess is okay with that so he can go back to casting Guidance a lot maybe soon.

Katri is not particularly going off body language to gauge the man's intentions, and doesn't react to him lowering his hand. She's mostly picking up that the poor man is incredibly anxious and - seems to be constantly expecting that he's about to get in trouble for breaking some kind of rule by accident? That's definitely the flavor there, and not fear of, you know, getting caught doing something definitely nefarious on purpose. 

:- We're not going to hurt you: she sends after a moment, because maybe that will help. :I'm not familiar with that monster species either.: It sounds like it could be something out of the Pelagirs? Maybe? 

Savil reaches out to Vanyel with a Mindtouch. :Dara wants a report. Do you have anything.: 

:Um. He - seems to think he might be from another world? Which would - actually explain a lot, if it wasn't impossible, everything else I've picked up from him is incredibly weird. He thinks he got here after he ran into a monster with a - something like a Gate for a face? ...He just started praying to the god he follows, in a - really strange way - I'm pretty sure it's not the Star-Eyed but I almost wonder if it's a different god or goddess who has a pact with his people, whoever they are.: 

Also his thoughts are constantly going in anxiety-spirals to an extent that's frankly exhausting to try to follow. Was he ever that bad??? 

:You absolutely were that bad.: 

Mental nudge. :Any advice for what we should do about him?: 

Vanyel has no idea! This is so incredibly out of context, and deeply suspicious but not in a way that points at how to be usefully paranoid. 

:Um. I think we should invite him inside somewhere warm - and not too close to the main palace, preferably - and ask some more questions. And - wait, one moment -: 

He reaches for Katri again. :Can you sense any compulsions on him.: Vanyel can't, but mage-sight at a distance is a lot blurrier, even with the aid of the Web, and compulsions are very low-power. 

Not that she's noticed so far but she wasn't looking for that specifically! She'll have a closer peek with mage-sight. 

His Ant Haul hasn't worn off yet; he cast it when he set out to get through a few hours of walking at a full league per hour even with the armor and the bag. The mace is magic, the armor is magic. That's it.

Katri has absolutely no idea what that is but she's pretty sure it's not a compulsion, and relays this to Vanyel.