A recently promoted Kalryi Terivesi who was absolutely not expecting to deal with weird magical things in her first week on the job, seriously, ran as fast as she could over to the courtyard. She slowed down when she got there, realizing that she was absolutely not prepared to meet a foreign archmage. She frowned, summoned a few guards who she had drilled the basics of Not Messing Things Up into, fixed her hair and clothes as best she could in a few minutes, and walked through the arch, looking much more confident than she felt. 

She bowed slightly towards the obvious foreigner. She didn’t look human - an odd looking crossbreed of some sort, maybe? Still, no need to be rude.

”Greetings,” she says in Lydrian. If that got no response, she will try Arut and Otyrn.

Lilian was not having a good day. This morning, while going to the bakery, she felt a prick in her shoulder, and her Amulet of Protection form Poison sent her an alarm. Knocking out the surprised attackers with her telepathy was not difficult, but of course one of them was significantly better trained than the rest of them, and also happened to be wearing just to right protective equipment to be resistant to mind magic. Her curse was like that sometimes. It did not matter how well prepared she was. If it needed her to be in a certain place at a certain time, circumstances would conspire to make it so.

When she regained consciousness, she found herself bound in a summoning circle. Based on her extensive previous experience with getting kidnapped and almost sacrificed, they were using Varidian magic with a tinge of Azurian. An odd choice, that. It might be an unimportant detail, but then again it might turn out to be an early hint at an unusual alliance between villains. Her curse liked to give hints like that sometimes, so she filed the information away for later. For now there was nothing to do but to wait until the inevitable arrival of some adventurers who would kill the cultists and save her. Lilian wondered if they would be people she already knew, or someone new. Maybe they would be lead by the plucky human with the suspicious birthmark she met yesterday. He looked and sounded like the sort of guy who would end up a hero. Trying to break herself out before others arrived would almost certainly result in failure because of her curse, so there was nothing to do but wait. She decided to talk to the cultists around her to pass the time, but unfortunately she did not manage to get them to monologue and reveal their plan. How frustrating.

The cultists eventually started the sacrificial ritual in earnest. A portal began forming in the middle of the circle just a few metres away from her, and Lilian was starting to get worried. But then a hulking barbarian kicked in the door and immediately started killing the cultists left and right. A wizard entered behind him, and engaged the leader of the cultists in a magical duel. The wizard and the cultist talked as if they knew each other, and they even used similar types of spells. Lilian made a mental note to pay good attention, because both of these would probably become recurring characters in her life until their plotline was done.

Then something unexpected happened. Lilian did not quite catch what caused it, but both the cultists and the heroes looked at the portal in a mixture of shock and horror. She saw the portal flare up in front of her and engulf her. She felt a burning sensation, similar to getting caught in a teleportation spell trap, and she screamed in shock and pain. Then, the pain was suddenly gone and she found herself standing in the middle of a garden.

In summer. When it was winter just a few moments ago. But Lilian had had weirder things happen to her before. She took a look around, trying to take in as much information of her new surroundings as possible, in case any of it would provide a valuable clue later.

After a short time, she was approached by a woman who gave a polite bow. Lilian mirrored the bow, but then the woman began *talking to her in a language she did not recognize*. And then, when she responded in common, the woman did not respond in common but instead seemed to switch to another language. That was strange even by Lilian's standards. *Everyone* knows how to speak common. Where in the world did she end up?

Fortunately, by sheer coincidence (as if that could ever be the reason for anything, with her curse being what it is), Lilian had found just the right magic item for this situation a month ago when she fell into a hole and ended up discovering a long-lost tomb by accident. She reached into her bag of holding, and pulled out the Amulet of Clear Speech. It must be ancient, because nobody nowadays had any reason to produce an item like that anymore.

She put on the amulet and tried again: "Hello. Can you understand me now?"

Kalryi blinked, surprised for a moment, although she supposed that was a very sensible item to carry if you were going to portal random places. The bow was very badly done, but she had some experience dealing with foreigners, so she ignored it.

“Ah, yes, I can. Can I ask where you come from, and why you’re here? If you wished to enter the palace, we generally expect that visitors will use the, ah, doors. Was it a mistake?”

She easily hid her expressions under a polite smile, but was a bit confused to see the other in leather armor. Were they a soldier? Or- juit, if they were an assassin of some kind this was going to be so messy.

Through her telepathy, Lilian notices that the people around her are just as confused as she is. The woman in front of her seems to be a guard or a soldier of some sort. Fortunately, Lilian mostly senses nervousness and confusion, and not killing intent from her.

She puts on her most disarming smile and tries to take refuge in audacity.

"I got involved in a teleportation accident. You know how it is. You just mind your own business one day, and then poof you end up halfway around the world. Or further away maybe? How is it that you do not speak common? Everyone does. I am from the country Oruk."

When she notices that this term is not recognized, she adds "The planet Hyd?"

The blank looks are getting worrying.

"In the year 29.822, Mardok Standard Time? Please tell me I did not time travel."

“I- I am not familiar with the country, although we may know it by a different name. I don’t believe the planet has a particular name, for us, either. I am not familiar with your system of timekeeping. You may be from very far away indeed. It was a magical accident? Do you have a way to get home?

”Clearly Common is not as common as you may think,” she adds dryly. “And if you are to stay in the palace, I must request that you disarm yourself.”

Lilian is utterly shocked by this, but does not show it. She has long learned to roll with the punches. Nobody here knows her or her background. She is apparently on palace grounds, and nobles are notoriously fickle. Lilian decides to use Fake Backstory number 4B. Eccentric mage of noble blood. She is so glad she took the time to categorize these things a few years ago. She would never have believed back then how often this would prove useful.

She deliberately starts paying less attention to her surroundings than she normally does, and lets her gaze get captured by random animals. She has seen enough doddering and eccentric wizards in her life that she can give a decent impression of one.

"Fascinating. My name is Lilian Spellweaver. My family is among the foremost scholars of the arcane in Oruk. I am not yet aware of a way to return, but I am confident I will be able to figure it out."

She gives a bright smile.

"What a great opportunity. I apologize for appearing here uninvited. I meant no harm. II would like to take you up on the offer to stay in the palace."

Lilian mentally adjusts how rare mages must be in this society, for her to be invited into the palace just like this. It could be a trap of course, but her telepathy is not picking up any deception. So this is either genuine, or she is currently talking to an immensely powerful individual who can detect her telepathy, counter it, and generate a plausible set of fake emotions all while talking to her. Lilian is paranoid, but not this paranoid. She assigns it only a 20% probability. This would be absurdly high under ordinary circumstances, since the base rate of absurdly powerful telepaths compared to regular guardswomen is extremely low. But Lilian is Marked by Tonos the god of stories, and so probabilities get twisted into a pretzel when she gets involved.

"I'm afraid I do not know the customs of local royalty." she adds, stressing the word 'local', and subtly implying that she does interact with Orukian royalty.

"I do apologize in advance if I should give offense by accident. If it is customary for visitors to disarm in this country, then I will do so."

She then takes all of the obvious weapons from her person and hands them over: A rapier. A crossbow. A wand.

She then pulls out four of the seven knives she has hidden on her person, and adds "Please be careful with these. They have delicate enchantments and are important for my research." The first part of this is technically true. Hopefully the woman in front of her will believe her and just ascribe it to her being eccentric.

If Lilian is at all paying attention to Kalryi’s emotions, she can sense a lot of focus, some confusion that spikes when handed the wand, and a lot of relief that the other is cooperative. 

“Of course,” she replies, stepping back and letting a guard handle the weapons. “You appear to be very far away indeed - I know of no place that you name, nor your linage. We are of course delighted to have you stay with us while you find your way home. If it takes too long, then we always have opportunities for employment for talented magi.”

Laying it on a bit thick? Maybe. But she doesn’t seem to be particularly troublesome, and another mage is always useful. Some sort of enchantment-based power, maybe? An accidental portal does indicate that, and the knives and amulet, if not purchased (which is its own problem) do as well. Extremely versatile, but likely more a force multiplier than a combat power itself - all the more valuable to recruit, really. 

She turns around, indicates to Lilian to follow, and heads towards the guest chambers, stopping to quietly explain the situation to one of Mother’s servants. Better to wait before letting Grandmother know - that could get messy fast, and she wants to reap the political capital if possible.

Lilian is relieved that this is going smoothly. She is sensing relief, which is a good sign that this person is not hostile. That brief moment of confusion when she handed over the wand was interesting. Maybe wands are not a typical magic item around here?

Time to learn more. Lilian follows, and asks:

"May I have your name? And what can you tell me about this place? And the local schools of magic? And so many other things! I have a lot of questions. You see, I am something of a historian and would just be absolutely delighted to learn as much as possible about this strange new world."

She taps and activates a recording crystal in her pocket, then pulls out a notebook and a pen for good measure, and to help sell the image of herself she is trying to portray.

“Ah, yes, of course!” the other replies. “I’m Kalryi Terivesi, Head Administator for my grandmother, Riduicai Mitevari. You are in the country of Lydriu. Er, we don’t have any official schools for magic - most young mages are tutored by a parent or other relative.”

The pen and notebook doesn’t get a second glance.

”It may be best to answer these questions in a more comfortable environment. Either of our rooms should serve fine - I don’t know about you, but I shouldn’t like to spend all day on my feet!” The last statement had the practiced tone of a joke made often, with telepathy detecting a bit of dry humor with it. 

“I could arrange for servants to bring some books, if needed. Normally I’m loathe to loan mine to people, but this is a bit of a special case.”

"I would appreciate any books you can spare! Would you mind if I make copies?"

“I-“ she blinked, confusion turning to slightly less confusion. “I… suppose that that is fine, if you are careful with my own? I can have ink and paper brought to you, then. Do you often do scribework, at your home?”

Lilian replies without thinking: "Oh no, I will just need a stack of paper. I have a Pen of Copying."

After a few seconds she realizes: "You don't know what that is, do you? It's a magic item that creates accurate copies of text. Tell me, do you normally copy books by hand?"

It occurs to Lilian that she may have just accidentally given away a very valuable secret. If she really is as far from home as she thinks she is, then the contents of her bag of holding must be worth a fortune. Not to mention her own knowledge. She has met a lot of great spellcasters of all types over the years. She isn't an expert herself, but she has a very broad understanding of many types of magic.

It would help considerably if she knew where, or when, she is.

"By the way, do you have maps? Those could prove pretty quickly whether or not I'm still on planet Hyd."

Kalryi freezes for a moment, before carefully schooling her face back into an expression of polite interest. Her emotions are roughly shock/interest/“I was correct”/stress/“this will have to be handled carefully”/PROFIT. “Ah, yes, scribes copy books… by hand, you called it? 

At the request for a map, her emotions are brought more under control. “I don’t have one on me, but I can call for one easily. Dalueil?”

A man, presumably Dalueil, nods and leaves to go get a map.

Lilian does not fail to notice the fake expression. Her telepathy helps, of course. This woman is trying to hide the fact that the Pen of Copying could be very valuable.

Politics. Yay.

Then realization dawns for Lilian: She does not know how to replicate a Pen of Copying. She just bought it from a vendor. That means she just revealed that she is carrying a valuable magic item on her person that is apparently completely unique. Given the nature of her curse, it is inevitable that this will attract attention.

Kalryi, not knowing any of these thoughts, simply waits for her servant to go fetch a map. He returns, waiting to unfold it until they’ve arrived at Lilian’s rooms. While the accuracy is probably dubious (large parts of certain area are shaded out), and a decent number of the symbols used are unfamiliar, the general continental shape is different. There are two or three visible, the map is bad enough that it’s unclear what’s a continent and what’s a somewhat large island. 

The colors and calligraphy are indeed very beautiful, though, if that matters! The map is maybe three feet by six feet. The top left corner is singed slightly, and a few places have (pinholes, maybe?) in them. Borders seem to be around rivers and mountains, with a few notable exceptions - there’s an area with an oddly precise perfect triangle in the middle-left of the map, labeled with unrecognizable but very empathetic seeming letters. If the translation spell works on writing, it reads “Tinerti - DO NOT ENTER - DANGEROUS - Rugehn Valurile- DEFENSIVE BORDER MAGIC.” Most of the other names and labels seem average enough, if unrecognizable. Most last-name patterns seem to be repeated, as if it’s a few prefixes and suffixes being shuffled around to create the names.

The translation amulet does work on writing, with some limitations if it's a dead language.

If this is the quality of maps available to rich people, then these people still have a long way to go. Do they not have scrying spells to map out distant locations?

"Where are we on this map? And what's this?" she points at the triangle. "It must be very dangerous, for people to put warnings directly on a map".

Lilian is about eighty percent sure that she will end up there somehow within a month.

Outwardly, she is feigning the excited curiosity of a researcher. On the inside, she is lamenting her life.

“We’re-“ she points to a place a few inches to the right of the triangle. “It’s… Tinerti’s mostly an issue because many trade routes previously went through it, and must now go through the mountains or across the Bicuvr River, and Rugehn has proven uncooperative. Entering the triangle gives you bad luck- starts as tripping more and donkeys slipping their leads, and escalates to just being struck by lightning.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry too much, though! I’m sure the diplomats will come to a solution, and there’s a plan to make a ferry system for the Bicuvr.”

Telepathy indicates that diplomacy likely working is a lie, although Kalyri’s feelings are more “annoyance” than “fear.”

A servant comes by with an herbal tea of some sort, and offers a cup to both of them. Kayri takes hers, and sips at it slowly.

Lilian takes her tea as well, and drinks it in the needlessly elaborate manner that she has seen nobles drink tea in some of the fancier places she has visited in her homeworld. None of the gestures will mean anything to Kalyri, but they should help sell her image.

"Luck magic is fascinating. Is this mortal-made? Or was it created by a god? Are there any long-term effects for people who enter and then leave again?"

Lilian is hiding how incredibly nervous this makes her. On her home world, only one civilization ever managed to invent magic that can alter luck. The mages involved did not properly specify what counts as a good or a bad outcome, and so it went very poorly. Even worse, it turned out that luck is infectious. The entire area is a quarantine zone now, and anyone who tries to leave is killed, to prevent them from infecting others with the "luck" they contracted in the zone.

After this event, the god Akash made it impossible for mortals to repeat this. So how is it possible that the Tinerti can do this? Do the gods she knows even influence this world?

Kalryi blinks a little at the odd tea mannerisms, but shrugs it off, seeming to mentally label it as “weird foreign stuff.” 

“A god? - No, it’s… mage-made? I’m not certain that “mortal” is translating quite right. You don’t keep the bad luck if you leave quick. If you lose a limb, or your life, that’s certainly a long-term effect.”

"But it stops at just you losing a limb, right? It doesn't, for example, make you infectiously insane so that you end up telling weird stories to all your friends and family. Who become fascinated and decide to check out the place as well. Then when they are there, they get affected by the bad luck as well. And then they go and recruit more people. Until eventually a whole country has been subverted to whatever cause the.probability manipulating effect is serving. We have something like that where I am from. It's pretty bad. We had to put half the continent under a quarantine and kill everyone who comes out of that area immediately, because listening to them will get you infected as well."

“What the- what- no! What the fuck- no. That. No.”

"Glad to hear it! It's just an effect that gets people killed for staying in there too long then?"

Lilian wonders how this kind of magic would affect her personally. Tonos' mark is effectively a form of probability manipulation as well. If she were to take a walk in there, the magic field of Tinerti would probably play tug of war with Tonos. Who is not even known to exist here? So it's anyone's guess who would win. She hopes she will never have to find out.

Kalryi, not being a mindreader (to her eternal disappointment), has no clue about this train of thought! She simply nods.

“…Basically, yes. Not… whatever you just described. Er. You wanted paper, right?”