Lost in Realm
2
Displacer beasts were extremely rare. Being an evil creature, it was near impossible to tame one unless it was captured as a newborn. Yes, to make the imprint happen. And to have that, one must be presented when the mother is giving birth. Since it was unusual to even see one in the wild, to find a female who was about to give birth was a bloody miracle. This was why Nhilva was curious how this one ended up in a menagerie trader's cage, mistaken as a kitten, and near death.
No, she had never owned a Displacer Beast before. But in the other life, one of the players in her group used to have one as companion. Also, her family had a cat. So, she had some basic knowledge of how to tend the being's injuries.
"What happened to you?" The Drow unwrapped the soft fabric around the animal and placed him on her lap once she found a quiet spot away from the road's bustle to sit. She began to inspect the bandage the trader had roughly put on and sighed. "Two of your legs are cut off, tentacles severed, and I am not even talking about your tails. How did you even manage to survive? What are these, burn marks?! And here I thought animal abuse only existed in my world. Do they even know what kind of magnificent beast you are?"
Her gentle touch brushed over his bruises, making him meow. He opened his eyes to a slit and glanced over at the female Drow for the first time. Her face was mostly obscured by the hood. Hard as he tried, all he could see was her pointed chin, parts of her nose, and glittering red eyes. Curious, Drow weren't known to have the tendency to rescue animals. Even if he was unique, he wouldn't expect one to be interested in a near dead beast. Was she one of those who adored meat from the rare ones? His body was a kitten. There wasn't much flesh attached to the bones.
"Oops, I should not ... too rough?" He heard her mumble again. Her speech was a little strange. Not just her usual Drow lilt, there were some words that didn't make any sense to him. He was fairly certain no one in Faerun, even Underdark, talked like that.
"Some of those look like magical wounds. They cannot be healed by normal potion or spells," Nhilva continued to talk in quiet tones to the wee cat. "I've seen wounds like these in Manzoberranzan before, of course. They were used on Drows, for punishment or revenge, mostly. But I presume magical wounds are magical wounds, it worked the same on everything."
She wasn't lying to herself. Her memory of the original host got those when she peered into them. Drow elves spent every living moment plotting other houses' demise. Fights happened in the shadows on a daily basis. It was their preferred past-time. Coming up with spells that hindered opponents were most common than anyone thought. Her magic ability at the moment was almost non-existent, but it did not mean she forgot how to brew potions. She just needed the right components.
And they cost money.
She was skint broke. After buying this poor kitty, there were only one or two coins left on her. Though she did not regret spending them, she did worry how and where she was going from here on to acquire enough components to brew anything. She would need to seriously start planning her next step.
She arrived in the city of Luskan a few days ago. Also known as the City of Sails, it was one of the major cities along the Sword Coast. It was also considered the farthest reach of civilisation. From the memory fragments, Nhilva knew her original host had heard of this city. It was no wonder, for aside from human, the largest population of this place were Drow. Hells, even the current ruler here was a Drow. Of course, Underdark had no affiliation with this particular Drow. No, people did not exactly know the details of the mystery ruler. Her house in Menzoberranzan wasn't that higher up to know the details about him, either. It was her lore knowledge in the other world that gave her such forbidden gossip. Because of that, she decided to make Luskan the first city to go to as soon as she was recovered enough to travel.
"Now, I just need some coins to make some basic potion for your wounds," she sighed. "Luckily, I do not have to pay for my lodging at the moment, nor does my lodging ban any pets. You can rest in my room with me in the meantime."
She carefully wrapped the kitten up once more, got up to her feet and returned to the main road. She walked a few kilometres before she reached the North Gate of Luskan. Entering through the gate, she crossed two bridges. After walking along a river bank locals called the North Bank for a while, she approached a two storey inn. At the door, a dark wooden board with ornate drawings hung overhead. On it, in the drow and common languages was written in beautiful calligraphy, "One-Eyed Jax."