Chapter Text
If only Wynter could have located the crystals before the items returned to him on their own, the gem dragonborn would have never met them.
Them being five strangers who find themselves in a different place from whence they fell asleep.
Koran – an eladrin druid – hasn't had a good sleep in a while, but eventually stirs awake. He stares at the ceiling in confusion, faintly hearing talking he decides is none of his business, so she stays in hiding for now.
Differently from her, Žaluto – a tiefling bard – kicks down his door as soon as he realises, with panic, that something is wrong.
Catching Drabirb's attention – an aarakocra sorcerer –, it gets out of its room to see what the commotion is about, quickly resulting in the two going back and forth to understand where they are and who the other is.
It's Merla – a fairy warlock – who interrupts. Surely this teen wearing roller skates inside can't help their puzzling situation, and, in fact, she just says Hello as if nothing is wrong.
Growing impatient, Žaluto repeats his questions to make some sense out of this, but Merla only repeats them without answering.
And stares at him.
“What is your name, still?” Merla asks, receiving a No in response.
“Nice to meet you, No. That wasn't hard”
The reaction isn't positive, so she corrects herself, “Nice to meet you, Not no. That wasn't ha-”
Meanwhile, Dyad – a gemfolk rogue and thief – eavesdrops on the interaction to get intel since, just like him, they seem to have little idea of how he got here.
Eventually, the strangers hear a noise coming from downstairs, which Drabirb goes to check, followed by Merla simply because said birb is bright.
Watching Žaluto decide not to bother and go back to fix his door, Dyad begins to follow the fairy and the aarakocra, missing Koran finally coming out to decipher the commotion.
Once there, they meet Drogan, who introduces himself as their teacher, as if they were even students. It doesn't take long, though, for several kobolds to start attacking them, with Žaluto later joining in attempting to take them down.
Drogan gets wounded during the fight, earning a “F to him” from Merla. Žaluto's efforts to heal the teacher from the poison go in vain.
The fight continues regardless. Merla throws a boomerang at them and one's head just pops off. She looks at another kobold being crushed by the others and decides that, actually, a boomerang probably doesn't work.
So she casts an eldritch blast, then uses mass suggestion, resulting in twelve kobolds beginning to attack the rest of their own small army.
Koran utilizes his longbow, still hiding herself from the group, after which she becomes aware of someone observing them.
Koran notices Dyad
Dyad hears some slight movement and turns to check, he stares at Koran's figure to see if she had any weird intentions, a hand hovering over his weapons, just in case.
Who are you
"Well this seems to be getting a little redundant." He keeps away from the stairs and stands up to get closer to him. "You can call me Dyad. These other guys have no clue how they got here and neither do I. What about you?"
Koran answered a little hesitant "I also don't know how I got here, I just woke up in a strange room with weird new people yelling at each other"
Dyad sighed, both at that and the yelling from downstairs. "We happen to be in the same predicament."
Once the kobolds were too busy fighting each other, Merla turned to look at a tall person putting an end to the battle. It’s Wynter – a gem dragonborn and blood hunter – entering the scene.
Merla cheers for the end of the fight, stopping to chime in behind them when Wynter confirms Drogan's ill condition, “Do you know how he got poisoned?”
Everyone had questions, like Who's Drogan? and Are we in a death class?? Merla provides.
According to Wynter, the five of them have replaced the same number of Drogan's students, but, despite the information, he has a list in hand. One that matches their names with each of them.
Koran notices Wynter saying her name "did that guy just say our names"
Dyad turns suddenly, eyes narrowing at the information. "I don't like where this is going." he got closer to the stairs again, wondering whether or not making his presence clear was a smart idea. Still, they knew his name already.
Koran noticing Dyad's uneasiness feeling the same way "do you think we should investigate more on this or do we just go away?"
Something told him to simply run, but something else told him he could not. "I don't think it's wise to ignore this. I need to know why they know us. Why they're saying we actually belong here."
"you're right, maybe we should make our presence known"
"Alright then," he secures a knife where he could've taken it easily. "If something goes wrong, do you know how to fight?"
"of course I do, what about you"
"oh," he chuckles, flipping the dagger in his hand before putting it back in his belt. "I've known for a pretty long while."
Koran rolls his eyes "show-off"
"Getting pretty comfortable, are we?" he retorts, before giving one last glance downstairs and starting to walk down them, taking in the room's look slowly. He beckoned for Koran to come with one hand. "I didn't catch your name, by the way."
"My name is Koran"
Žaluto feels overwhelmed by it all, by the way he's been ripped away from his home somehow, and especially by how someone who claims he doesn't know him has access to his identity. It scares him.
This intense distrust and fear has a need to be released, leaving these same emotions to lead Žaluto to channel his emotions through punching Wynter.
The moment dies quickly, though. Wynter adjusts her mask and calmly and firmly tells them he just wants to help. That doesn't seem to be enough for Žaluto, but it is for now.
Drogan needs healing from the strong poison. He needs herbs, for one, and so Wynter gives the task of retrieving them to both Merla and Žaluto.
Merla decides Wynter is Dream from the Mask music video while she asks for specifics on their short quest, which Žaluto begrudgingly accepts.
Merla wonders if they can steal animals from the stables where they encounter a dog. They both stare at it and it tags along.
Žaluto complains about the state the five of them are stuck in and why should they do what Wynter says? Can they trust him? This could be their chance to leave.
“Bestie, but the herbs” the fairy reminds him, casting minor illusion to make a horse chill, letting it join too after a pat and kiss on the head.
Merla gets on Horse_beloved and goes near Žaluto.
Žaluto just finishes killing the lil bitches and heals the dog before exiting the barn
"Hey Tiny are you done”
Merla stares at Žaluto from horse_beloved
"Looks like you calmed the horse. How about we head to the village already before the old man dies I guess"
"Can we also take the dog"
"Sure. Cmon pup"
*heads to the village*
On the way to the village: so Tiny I guess you also don't belong here-
"Do you?" Merla deflects the question
"I mean yeah"
"Why are YOu here then bestie"
"I clearly don't know. I'm sure as hell not some student”
"How are you so sure you're not tho?? I mean your name was there"
"Because I was not here yesterday."
"But ur here now"
"Yeah clearly either old man or mask face brought us here”
"I mean aren't we, helping them right now though?"
"For now."
"Well that's fair i guess"
"My guess, we need to help them with some bs so we get sent home"
"What's ur home like bestie" merla pets horse_beloved in the meantime
"Missing. What about you." *deflecting*
"Pog, i have no idea"
"What the fuck does pog mean."
"It means pog?"
"..... I've never heard of that word before"
"That's on u buddy"
*rolls eyes* "whatever."
Back to Koran and Dyad, they make their presence known to Wynter, wanting to hear an explanation for themselves.
"Students? If that's so, what's that all about? Last I remember, I was searching for …” Dyad stops himself from revealing anything about his condition, “Something. I was no student."
Wynter beckons them closer, asking them if they've seen any gem.
Dyad gives a confused look at Koran and then follows.
"I mean, I'm a gemfolk, but I suppose that's not what you're looking for, are you?" he says with a suspicious tone still.
They must have missed them then, so Wynter suggests checking on their person as he explains what they are.
Koran does, finding a blue topaz in his pocket, "I've never seen this gem in my life"
Dyad searches in his garments, finding a small leather pocket attached to his weapons belt. He picks it up and empties its content, finding a glowing diamond he had never had before. "So what you're saying is, these gems hold power?"
Drabirb finds itself in their same situation, a mysterious gem now in hand. Dyad gives the aarakocra a look. He kind of reminded him of someone, but he shook the thought off.
Dyad, Drabirb and Koran can feel the crystals' powers around them and Wynter snatches their crystals away before they get too mesmerised
"Wait. How do we know they're in safe hands with you?"
Wynter casts a spell on the crystals and returns them to you all
"There, it’s safer like this"
"what did you do to those gems"
I put a spell on them to contain their power. Plus *does the magic wosh* you get to have these now
Wynter gives you all one ring
"So, we have to protect these or something?"
"More like they are here to protect you"
what do we need to do with these
"Keep them on you so if you are close to dying I can save you"
wait a second, dying?
what do you think we're going to do
"Yes. Dying. This place is not very friendly to strangers. Plus, you want to go back to your world, right?"
Koran could not shake the thought of dying from her head, a little hesitant replied "of course I do, but why are we here in the first place"
"I don't know. Probably because those stones wanted to come back home and I didn't get to find them on time to stop this from happening"
Dyad's confusion couldn't stop growing. "Could we get anymore insight onto them? Are they the same or does their power differ? What exactly do they do?"
They teleport you to me when your life is in danger. They all do that same thing. I promise I'm not going to curse you.
"huh." the only thing that seemed to change from his previous life was that he now had a failsafe. "And why are you so inclined to save us?"
"I don't want you here”
"That's ... fair, I guess. So what do we have to do to get out?"
"Well....I don't know yet. I didn't really ever deal with accidental time and space travel so I'll need some time to figure it out. In the meantime I suggest you to look around to kill time? There's not much to do but better than nothing"
"Alright then." Dyad accepted it, thinking the stranger could be harmless for the time being. "Is there anything we should be wary of while we look around?"
"Well, most of you seem reasonable enough to not start unnecessary fights....most of you....Just don't get into trouble you can't handle. You all seem capable enough, but there are things here far far worse than a bunch of kobolds"
"No need to worry about those." he shook his head. "I've seen much worse anyway" he added under his breath. "I ... guess we should thank you for now." He said, before looking around the room to see if there had been anything else relevant.
Drabirb asks wynter what's their name
"Wynter. Pleasure to meet you, I guess"
"Nice to meet you as well" drabirb says smiling
"you're really a peculiar creature"
"Thanks" drabirb's smile gets wider "love your hair by the way"
"oh... thank you..."
you see stacks of weapons and some traps, some potions and books
"Take anything you need, Drogan saved those for his students....which reminds me that for some reason no one knows you are not them"
"Oh, now we're talking my language." he inspects the stacks, taking in some of the weapons and traps, some of which reminded him of the days of his childhood where he used to try and build some.
"yeah this is too much for me, I'll go into the room I came from, I need to clear my thoughts"
"That's alright, tell me if you need anything, I'll be waiting here for those herbs"
"okay"
Koran goes to the room
Dyad waves to Koran mindlessly, not noticing whether or not he had seen him
Drabirb waves at her
Drabirb looks at the stuff and says "I think I have already all I need in my inventory"
"There might be some instruments in there too, you can go check, I assume you are a Bard?"
Wynter says pointing at your instruments poking out of your backpack
"I sure am" drabirb says proudly
Dyad makes space for Drabirb to search something for themselves. He knew he shouldn't have approached people so easily, but his face mask was up, so big deal to his conscience. "Do you see anything you need?" plus whatever creature it was, they looked comforting.
Drabirb looks between the books looking at them carefully "not yet but these books are very interesting" turns to dyad with a chirp "what about you?"
He shrugs. "I already had some stuff, but having some extra weapons never hurts." he offered, attaching another dagger to his belt. He liked wielding those because they reminded him of .. well. "What are those books about?"
The duo get to know each other as they continue the task, after which Drabirb is tasked to carry the old dying man back to his room, ending up sitting next to his bed to look after him as they wait for the herbs.
"Hey is that the village bestie" says merla turning around towards Žaluto
"I guess so. Only place within miles. Better get these herbs and give them to mask face."
Merla gets off horse_beloved and leaves it at the edge of the village
You two see about five buildings in total
A shop, an Inn, mayor's place and two underground huts
Žaluto heads to the only one that looks like it'll sell herbs
There's only one shop
Merla picks up the dog and follows žaluto
Žaluto heads into the shop and to the counter
Žaluto sees a Druid with a white wolf in the shop
There are boxes filled with various stuff everywhere around them
"Uhh hi... I'm here to get these." *hands over the list*
He looks at the list and frowns
"Well I have two out of those three"
He hands you over the little bag with a tongue and some liquid in a bottle in it
"For those berries you'll need to go to the Inn, I sold them my last batch”
"Thank you sir. How much will that be?"
"Two gold, please”
Žaluto places two gold on the counter and takes the items and list. "Good day sir" before leaving
They settle in for the rest of the day, not all of them aware a demon named Bad will wake up in a parallel state from theirs soon.
In the same village, an air genasi storm sorcerer proudly announces himself as Alasdair Nefasi-Haizea, happily painting his new house (giving up after a few brushes).
A human bard, with Banshee as his thief name, lights a small bonfire in the snowy forest, pulling up his scarf above his nose to get warmer.
While, far away, an aasimar warlock and wizard named Law manifests emojis next to his head to pass the time, not expecting any big change in his life.