Great. Does she have six wild speculations about what could have happened last night which would have looked like that? (Or not six. He's not picky about it being six.)

"Hmm. So far as you know, you are entirely human? Have you ever successfully been the target of an Enlarge Person, Reduce Person, or similar spell that is ineffective on tieflings, aasimar, or similar?"

"As far as I know I am entirely human. I don't recall having been Enlarged or Reduced before."

She nods. "It is not difficult to come up with possible explanations for how a powerful spellcaster could have achieved this outcome. However, it is difficult to understand why they would have chosen to target you with a conjuration spell. For example, a" (sigh) "Nondetection spell could unreliably prevent your guards from detecting an invisible intruder through magical means, or a Mind Blank spell could achieve the same effect more reliably. This could then be combined with Greater Invisibility and Gaseous Form or similar effects to enable them to gain easy access to your tent, although casting a spell on you while in such a state would typically require the use of metamagic, or else require the caster to dismiss and recast the spell. Some conjurers are also capable of teleporting without actually using a spell or an imitation thereof, and I have heard scattered rumors of work underway in Almas to develop a Dimension Door variation at third circle, such that the spell's aura would last for a much shorter period of time.

But, presuming that this was not a highly convoluted experiment from someone with no ethical standards, there are relatively few conjuration spells that directly target an individual and can be resisted with willpower which would be logical for a hostile spellcaster to cast on you. The most obvious are Plane Shift, which could potentially transport you to the Abyss if used offensively, or Trap the Soul, which could trap your soul, but there are few conjuration spells of similar use at lower circles, and I would typically expect a spellcaster with the magical skill to cast Trap the Soul to succeed at trapping your soul. Conversely, there are spells of other schools available at a lower circle that could plausibly be effective, such as Dominate Person.

The hypothesis I find more probable is that you were targeted by a spell that can act over an extended range without requiring the caster to see you. However, I am familiar with relatively few conjuration spells which target a single creature that this would apply to. Our understanding of the Wish spell is sadly quite limited, but it would not leave a conjuration aura even if used to transport you to another location. The reason I inquired as to your ancestry is that calling spells are considered to be conjuration and function at interplanar distances. However, it is not possible to use them on humans. It was long thought to be similarly impossible to use them on outsiders native to the material plane, but the elven wizard Nahame's research, thought to be inspired by summoning spells capable of summoning tieflings, demonstrated that it was possible to summon native outsiders provided that one is not within the material plane, albeit much more difficult. Regrettably, he never shared his technique, but it is possible it has been rediscovered.

It is also possible that the individual reporting the results of the Detect Magic had been impersonated or otherwise suborned. Have you confirmed that they have retained their paladin abilities?"

"No, that's a wise thing to check." Can that guy still tell the difference between Daeran and Blai with his eyes closed?

Yes.

Assuming he remembers the events of last night then it's probably not that, then.

"In that case, my next recommendation would be to experiment with Enlarge Person or another spell that similarly cannot be used on outsiders, in case you have extraplanar heritage of which you are not aware. Regrettably, I do not have any such spells prepared today, but it seems likely that a cleric with the Strength domain can be located."

"What would be the actionable implications if this worked as expected or failed to do so?"

"If it worked as expected, it would suggest that the spell that targeted you was not a calling spell, as such spells should be incapable of targeting humans in any remotely normal circumstance. With that hypothesis rendered highly unlikely, it would therefore be much more likely that there was some sort of complicated setup involving teleportation, with associated implications for how much you are likely to wish to prioritize securing your quarters against teleportation. Conversely, if it did not work, it would be much more likely that you were targeted by a calling spell. If you were able to successfully accept the call, speak to the person attempting to call you, and return, it could be of enormous value for magical scholars, who have been unable to rederive Nahame's technique!"

"I think someone inclined to permit return would also extend the invitation more openly to begin with. Are there anti-teleportation measures available at the circles we've got to work with?"

"The most straightforward methods are all higher-circle, but it is possible to make such attempts moderately more difficult. For example, it is impossible to teleport directly from the Material Plane to the inside of a Rope Trick, which can be cast at second circle, nor to the inside of the rarer variation Mirror Hideaway. Significant levels of magical energy can also make teleportation difficult or impossible, though many ways to produce such effects would likely be lethal. In terms of more mundane solutions, one can also scatter flour or a similar substance around the ground, so as to make it easier to catch invisible teleporting creatures that are not additionally airborne or incorporeal" (Blai's guards have been doing this as an extra measure of security against invisible people sneaking in through his tent's entrance, though the extension to the tent as a whole doesn't seem to have occurred to them) "or fill the space with objects of sufficient size to make teleporting into the area very difficult."

"Hm. Do the objects have to be solid? Strips of fabric hanging from the tent ceiling would not be obstructive to anyone walking through but might suffice to make it difficult to land without intersecting one..."

"I would expect that to be adequate if they were spaced sufficiently close together. —Do note that in some cases the spell will still function if there are objects present, and simply deposit the caster some distance from their intended destination. This is often sufficient to prevent an ambush by teleportation but might be unsuitable for countering a sufficiently powerful spellcaster."

"Do you have alternative or supplementary advice for that case?"

"Some forms of incorporeal travel require a tiny hole in order to pass through a solid barrier, such that a caster redirected to the outside of your quarters could be made to have difficulty entering even if they are incorporeal, although a sufficiently solid barrier can pose a risk of suffocation."

"I do still need to breathe, yes."

"In that case my recommendation is to place strips of fabric within the tent to make teleportation more difficult, have an arcane caster cast a Rope Trick within it, and stay within the Rope Trick at night while accompanied by seven living insects or similar creatures. An Alarm spell could also be used to assist with detecting teleporting creatures, although I am not familiar enough with its capabilities to know whether the fact that it is an abjuration spell will be sufficient to enable it to bypass a Mind Blank. A sufficiently powerful spellcaster could still bypass these defenses, but a moderately powerful spellcaster would still likely have difficulty." Pause. "Of course, it would still be possible to target you while you are traveling."

"Yes, but there are generally more eyes on me and opportunities to react when I'm in company. All right. Thank you, Nenio." Collecting bugs that can be kept alive indefinitely in some kind of container, and hanging fabric strips, are not very normal things to have people doing but they are at least straightforward and cheap, and he will set people to them.

His people are perfectly willing to do this! Absolutely no one attempts to persuade him that actually it's an important feature of Mendevian society to spend the night in a room full of empty air!

And then they can investigate the location that the cryptic masked strangers keep converging on, right? Nenio will be so disappointed if they have to cancel the trip just because someone tried to land a conjuration spell on select boy!

Yes, once everything's been appropriately delegated they can go on their sidequest.

Hooray!

Their group is ambushed by a small pack of gargoyles on the way, although the gargoyles abandon the attack fairly quickly when they realize the party is tough enough to give them trouble (though not before Nenio brings one of them down with a Phantasmal Killer).

Closer to the suspected convergence point of the mysterious masked strangers, they encounter a pack of ghouls and ghasts. From the remnants of their armor, it looks like these ones were crusaders from the Second Crusade, and some of them are managing, despite their ghoulishness, to actually put their bows to good use and go after the party from a distance. The ghouls are tougher than the gargoyles; Nenio's illusions and Ember's sleep ?cantrip? are useless against them, though Ember does eventually, with reluctance, manage to tag a couple of them with Scorching Ray spells. Still, once the party is able to get in close enough, they're able to bring the ghouls down. They're rewarded for their trouble by the fact that a couple of the ghasts were apparently powerful enough to own magic items of their own prior to being turned, a variant on a Cloak of Resistance and an intelligence headband.

It's really funny how every time they go on one of Nenio's wild adventures they end up finding great loot.