Once I had walked past the door, I could see who the man was talking to. I nearly stumbled in shock at the sight of a genuine cat girl. Her features were closer to a cat than a human, but the humanoid body shape was undeniable. Clearly, humans were not alone here. Or maybe they were too lonely, I thought for a moment before a wall of rocks walked into the room. Clearly, that thought was wrong.
“What do we do with him now that he’s up?” The man asked the other two with a light frown.
“I say we get someone who can cast Tongues as he is clearly not understanding a word we say.” The rock man spoke with the gravelliest voice imaginable. His posture appeared to be relaxed even as he crossed his arms.
“I say we try to get what information we can from him before, as the mage would probably sell anything we find to the highest bidder.” The cat girl replied with a hiss of disgust at the end. She was standing with her hands on her hips, with her left foot tapping in what appeared to be a nervous tick.
I stood there awkwardly, shuffling from foot to foot as they were clearly trying to come to a consensus on what to do with me. I took the moment they were talking to have a look at what I was wearing. My pants were rough brown cotton, while my shirt appeared to be linen. I was a bit surprised at the cotton as it takes both a lot of water and industry to process. I took note of what the others were wearing as well, while I was at it. The rock man had nothing as he was made of rocks. The cat girl had a silk dress with lace frills. The man had leather pants, leather armour and a greatsword strapped to his back.
After I had finished my fashion inspection, they seemed to have come to a decision.
“Come with us.” He commanded as he gestured for me to follow him again. I hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if it would be a good idea to follow this man who I didn’t know somewhere else. The man saw my hesitance and sighed.
“Either you come with us, or we will have to kill you.” He stated plainly with a hand on the greatsword. I still couldn’t understand a word that had been spoken yet, but I got the gist and followed him onto the street.
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I felt like I had stepped out into an explosion of sound and colour once I was out the door. There were people hawking ware from stalls with things like swords, bows, guns, amour and food. I stopped and looked around for a bit to find the object that didn’t fit. Yep, those looked like shotguns alright. They seemed to be quite expensive, looking at how few people were going to the stall.
I was pulled along as I had stopped to marvel at the markets that were laid out across the street. There were so many different species of people walking around. There were animal people like the cat girl, what looked to be dragonkin, Giant caterpillars walking half upright and elementals like the rock man to name a few. After a couple minutes of walking and wondering about how many different species there were around here, we made our way to the building we needed. It looked a bit like a stereotypical wizard’s tower, extending 4-5 floors above the rest of the buildings around it. It had a sign hung up in front of it with one of the shotguns layered across a wand on top of a fireball. I figured it was probably the Mage’s Guild at the time, but as soon as we had entered it, I realised I was wrong. The floors were marble with granite walls and some odd type of wood for the doors. The floors were immaculate as we walked to the receptionist waiting nearby.
“Hello. How can I help you today?” The woman politely asked while looking at the rock man.
“Just bringing in what appears to be a Lost.” He rumbled back while gesturing to me. I gave a little wave as she turned to face me. A brief look of confusion passed over her face before she gave a small smile back.
“If nothing else, that seems to have convinced me.” She said as she gave the rock man a small talisman. “Go on through to Tim, and he can help you with the language barrier.”
“Not Tim the Enchanter, right?” The rock man asked with a grimace.
“Yes, Tim the Enchanter. He is the only person free for the rest of the day who can help.” She responded with a radiant smile and a hint of schadenfreude. I still couldn’t understand a word of it, but I had a bad feeling about what was to come. "Do tell him I said hi. He never comes out of that lab of his."
The rock man made a sound like rocks grinding together that after a second I realised was a sigh. The rock man gestured the same way as the human had to follow him. We followed him until we reached the door to Tim’s room. The door was made of dark wood and was covered in blast marks. The rock man hesitated for a moment before he knocked on the door. After standing there waiting awkwardly for a minute the door was opened by an aged man in a tattered, sooty robe with black, frizzy hair.
“For what do you disturb Tim the Enchanter.” The old man uttered with a dangerous undertone.
“We have a Lost and need a translation.” The rock man voiced quickly as he handed over the talisman to the old man.
“Ooh. Now I see why you were sent to me.” The old man chuckled “I have been cooking up a translation enchantment for a couple of years now. Come in, and we’ll see how it goes.”
As the rest of them funnelled into the room I took a second to reflect on how I got here. I sighed as I realised I didn’t have anywhere else to go but to follow them into the room. I followed because there wasn't any other choice.