Lost in Realm
5
There was a reason why she called the kitten Bishop.
Before becoming Nhilva, she was a sickly child in another world. Between bouts of surgery and recovery, her only distractions were books and games. The related tabletop games were a pastime when she was bedridden. There was this character Bishop in these games. She liked the character. And for some reason this Displacer Beast cub reminded her of him a lot. In game, the character ended up in the Wall of Faithless at the Fugue Plane. It wasn't a very good ending to her liking. Since she was now in this strange place, she thought it was a small way of giving the unfortunate rogue a good ending by christening a wee cat the same name.
Hopefully the real Bishop wouldn't feel offended.
X X X X
The young Displacer Beast, however, was very surprised.
How did she know? Did this Drow, for some mysterious reason, see through his fur and could tell the soul resided inside his body? But she was but a young girl. From what he knew of her so far, she had very little magic to do such a thing. Besides, even he could not figure out what happened. He was among the other souls in that Wall one minute, inside this incredibly young and incredibly ill beast next. He was but a rogue, yet there was no way someone would cast such a powerful spell on him to achieve this. And quite frankly, he didn't think he deserved this.
So it must be a completely random occurrence, then.
His logic told him it was, yet he couldn't help but feel something beyond his, or maybe her comprehension was happening.
Not to mention flashes of memories that did not make any sense at all.
The innkeeper's warm voice echoed over the Drow female after hearing the name of the wee kitty. "Bisop? What an interesting name for a kitten. Did you just get it today?"
"Aye."
"He looks hurt. Is that why you visited Dimitri earlier?" asked Serena.
"Aye. They are magical wounds," explained Nhilva with a grimace. "Unfortunately, neither can he."
"What? Dimitri? Golly, if he can't, no one can in the whole Sword Coast."
"I mean he knows how, but can't," the Drow sighed. "Lack of ingredients, apparently."
"And coins, I bet."A twinkle of knowing appeared in Serena's eyes.
"Yep." Nhilva pouted a little and made another grimace.
"Guess you best get cracking, then. There are plenty of jobs around. City Watch, Arcane Brotherhood, Mage Guild, Merchant Guild, or Misc."
"Misc?"
"Didn't you see the board when you got here the first day?" Serena cocked her head to the direction of the bar.
Oh, that.
Being the murky mix of the city, Luskan had all kinds of activities going on. Therefore there were all kinds of jobs available for all walks of lives. From assassinating some Archmage to smuggle a Dragon Egg, as long as you got coins, someone will do it for you. Nhilva had been in the city for a while. Her coin had been running dangerously low. Suppose now would be a good time to actually do something. But what could she do? The one skill she had taken pride in was taken away from her. She did not have many options.
Serena watched her sink into deep, contemplative thought. The innkeeper did not mind. She merely gave her a knock on the table and walked away. After all, the tavern was busy. Another ship just docked. More patrons were coming soon.
The Drow sat in her seat for a while, finished her wine and got up, walking to the billboard with Bishop in her arms.
There were several papers pinned on the stained wooden board. Some of them looked as old as the wood. Some looked like someone just posted them minutes ago. She took a quick browse, murmuring the descriptions of various papers she saw. Then she spotted a piece of paper with a ring of wine stain on it.
"Drinking while making a job offer?" She chuckled to herself, half spoken to the Displacer Beast. "Maybe once I have done this, I will ask for some vintage, as well?"
The kitten in her arms meowed.
She took the paper off. "Need to meet him at the dock. Let's go."