Ourania opens the doors and notice's something is different. She noticed that the door released a magic seal. Did that always happen? Wait, where are the guards? No time to dwell on it now. As they walk through the corridor with the doors closing behind them, they notice some new things. For instance, the carpet is now a dark blue instead of red. The photos of everyone are gone and are most likely moved somewhere else. Even the windows changed. Instead of the large arched windows, they are now square and paneled. Feeling uneasy, they continue to move forward noticing more and more changes. As they head to the lower levels a few people mill about looking at them curiously before continuing on their way. When they reach the lowest level is when things really set in. A lot has changed. The layout, people they've never seen before, even some new races.
“Saxen, I have a theory on what’s going on, but I need to confirm it.”
“Sure thing, I will follow your lead.”
She looks around for something familiar when her eyes land on a familiar looking person, but different at the same time. They walk up to the counter drawing some more curious gazes. They don’t blame them as they are dressed differently than the current norm. They stop in front of a young elf woman who looks like she is in her mid-20s and sports long scarlet red hair tied in a low ponytail with two long side bangs that frame her face, deep purple eyes and lightly tanned skin. She is wearing an elven style dress.
“Excuse me, miss.”
“Hello, my name is Iona. Can I help you?” She asks politely.
“Yes. My friend and I got lost on the way to the city. Can you tell me what this place is?”
“Of course. Right now you are in one of the many branches of the adventuring guild World’s Compass. This particular branch is located on the outskirts of the city known as Springhaven.”
“Springhaven? Isn’t this city called Fairwater?”
“Fairwater? This city hasn’t been called that in a long time.”
Slight panic begins to set in for the both of them.
“Sorry, I seem to have forgotten what year it was. Can you tell me?”
“No problem. It’s the year 1750. It’s also the 28th day of the month Maius.”
Her and Saxen both pale at the date. The woman looks at them in concern.
“Are you two okay? You look sick.”
Ourania smiles and laughs a bit awkwardly. “We’re fine. Just a bit tired from the trip here. Sorry to ask of this, but do you know someone named Allister Dawnwhisper?”
“Yes, he is my grandfather. Why do you ask?” She looks at them with slight suspicion.
“Um, my parents were good friends with him and they told me to come here if we ever wanted to visit. Is he around?”
“No. He retired working here some years ago. He now lives in Springhaven in a small manor on the far side of the residential area. It’s just past the marketplace.”
“Thank you for the information, Iona. It was very helpful.”
“Anytime. Any more questions?”
“No thank-you. We have all we need. Have a good day!”
She waves back as she leaves and Saxen nods to Iona before following Ourania outside. Outside there is a dirt road that leads to the city. From here it’s about an hour’s walk. As they go on their way, they discuss what they have learned.
“This is worse than we thought. Way worse.”
“Tell me about it. Supposedly we’ve been gone 500yrs.”
“Surprised you can do that math.”
“Hey! I know I am bad at math, but not that bad.”
“Relax. I’m just kidding…mostly. All seriousness, though. How is that possible? It was only minutes since the server shut down.”
“How should I know?”
“Wait…maybe….” Her sentence trails off.
“What is it? Don’t leave me hangin’ here.”
“I forgot about it till now. I didn’t notice it before but apparently when we first entered the room, the doors shut behind us, and when it did, a seal was placed on it. I didn’t notice the seal until we re-opened the door.”
“That’s….not possible. Especially in the guild.”
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“No, it’s not. And that’s the strange thing. There isn’t a lot of magic out there that I can’t sense. Let’s go see Allister. Maybe he will have some insight.”
“Roger that. I wonder how the old coot is anyway. How old is he now? Like 615?”
“Roughly. He never gave us an exact date. He always changed it.”
“Probably because we kept messing with him, calling him an old man and all.”
She lets out a short laugh. “No doubt.”
They reach the town within two hours they reach the town and see a cart at the entrance. Two knights in light blue armor are checking the cargo. They are cleared to go after showing them a pass that shows they are merchants.
“Uh, do we need passes? In our time, god that sounds weird to say. In our time we didn’t.”
“I don’t know. Let’s hope we don’t.”
They soon get to the front after quite a few others had passed. They were waiting for almost 20 minutes. One of the knights holds his hands up to stop the two.
“Hold. Identification and reason of visit please.”
“Um, my name is Ourania and that’s Saxen, we’re adventurers visiting a friend.”
The knight looks at them a moment before moving on to his next question.
“Bring anything with you today?”
The travelers looked at each other for a moment before shaking their head ‘no’. The knight looks them over for a bit and finds their clothing choice odd. He shrugs as he sees no weapons or potential dangers from them.
He waves them through. “Go on in.”
They internally sigh and walk into the city.
“Kinda reminds you of an airport process, right?”
“I agree.”
As soon as they entered the town they pause.
“Holy sh-”
“Saxen!”
“Sorry, but damn. Look at this place!”
The two look around. What used to be dirt paths and roughly 20 wooden buildings are now stone walkways and streets as well as stone-carved buildings that increased in size. The only thing that is normal are the bustling towns’ people going to and fro. Following the directions that were given to them, they continue on their way takings in all the new sights. They occasionally stop to looks at a few stalls and sightsee a bit. Soon enough the reach the residential suburbs. The houses are average looking buildings with a mix of stone and wood.
“How will we know which is his?” Saxen asks.
“Well, from what Iona told us, he lives in a Manor past the market place on the far side of this area. And we passed the marketplace.”
“Right, but what if there is more than one manor?”
“I am sure that we will know when we see it.”
“How do you know?”
She smiles and says, “Woman’s intuition."
“Of course. I shouldn't even have asked.”
They continue walking unto they reached the far side. In front of them stands 3 separate cobblestone paths to 3 separate manors. One to the left, right, and middle. All paths are gated by black iron grates. On each grate fence is a crest representing the person or people who live there. Saxen looks at Ourania.
“Well?”
“We go left.” She says with full confidence.
“How are you sure?”
“Really? Can’t you see it?”
“See what?”
“Look, on the left grate. See anything?”
“Uh, no.”
“Look closer at the symbol. It’s well hidden but our guild symbol is in it.”
Saxen steps closer to the grate fence. “Oh! Now I see it.”
She sighs. “I thought you were smarter than this?”
“How many times are you going to insult my intelligence!?” He shouts agitated.
She scoffs. “What intelligence.”
“I’ll get you one day for that.”
“You can try. Now let’s go.”
Saxen grumbles but otherwise follows. The reached the front door of the 2 story, dark green Manor in minutes. Ourania takes the initiative and knocks calling out his name.
“Allister! Allister! You there?”
There is no answer.
“Maybe he isn’t home?” she questions.
“Oh no, he is.”
“How do you know?”
“A gut feeling."
"Right." She replies while drawing out the 'i'.
Watch.” Saxen takes a deep breath and shouts. “Hey, Alice! It’s us! Open up!”
A loud thump, bangs and a few swears are from inside. Suddenly the door swings open and a fist swiftly lands on Saxen’s face. Ourania easily dodges to the side avoiding the first. Her body instinctively remembered this scene one too many times.
“How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that you damn brat!!!”
Saxen falls backward on his back groaning in pain and holding his stomach. Short of breath and coughing, he still speaks. “See….I told…you.”
Standing before them is a tall golden eyed elven man with handsome features and tanned skin standing at 6’2. He has shoulder length red hair with bangs that frame his face nicely. Some of the hair in the back is put up in a small high ponytail while the rest is let loose down his back. He wears simple black pants with green leather boots and a brown tunic under dark green sleeveless chest plate armor that resembles thin layered leaves. He also wears gauntlets in the same style.
“Tch, if you can still talk I didn’t hit you hard enough.”
He takes a step towards Saxen. Deciding to break this up, Ourania steps into his line of sights.
“Allister! It’s been so long!”
She brings him in for a hug as he hugs back with confusion. Saxen slowly rises as he recovers.
“Ourania? Is that really you?”
She breaks the hug. “Of course it is. Who else would it be?”
“But….you were gone for 500 years. How?”
“That’s what we came to discuss. Shall we go inside?”
“Yes, yes. Right, come on in.”
He steps aside to let the two enter. He follows shutting the door behind him and walks to the living room. It has a table in the center with two couches on either side. Hardwood flooring and some paintings and plants littered about. He has small crystals that light up the place nicely. He motions for them to sit. They do and he hits across from them.
“Now, tell me what happened.”
“Well, where to start?” Ourania answers.