'What to do now?' Tarvek asked himself, faced with two powerful mages 'What to do?'
He'd sheathed his weapons, the battle passing by as one of the female human mages, possibly archmages, moved ahead to continue blasting away at the retreating undead. If both had done so…well, the blonde with silver haired female mage, the mage-lord as be understood it, was gazing at him as she'd hovered with a flight spell, but now descending. Eyes on him and on the deployed dimensional anchor, and perhaps the damaged walls and buildings where now vanished time dragons had wrecked before that vanishing trick. Had that been pushing them out of time due to the anchor's deployment?
Out of the dimension as they'd been dimensional adjacent or something else?
That of course didn't solve this, more complex problem compared to slaughtering undead…
'Orcs enemies of humans here, but maintaining a truce. Maintaining an illusion against a…strong mage?' he mused in mere mirco-seconds, then deciding in the seconds as the human woman landed to cheers of warriors, eyes on her…and him 'Pointless. Would destroy trust. Stay in armour? A risk to get out…'
Then decided upon honesty, albeit limited honesty as at least if he was truthful in what information he gave then what he refused to give might be more acceptable as the woman "Hail and well-met Sir Knight, though I know not your sigils, paladin, nor one of your towering height and armour design from my guards"
'Honesty then, within bound. If not accepted…flee' he decided, reached up, as there was a crowd, and it was less likely to have him murdered as an outsider orc should so many know he existed. Trust, but verify as the Lord advised on such matters. His armoured hand came to his chest, to where his Compass lay beneath, activating to 'store' the armour within the extra-dimensional space while casting a light show to disguise such an action. It wasn't as easy as simply stepping out of it, then storage, but it was better to make a show of it before this crowd as his armoured would likely appear to shimmer and faded, while interspersed with golden sparkles of light.
Thankfully his garb was what he had worn as his true self upon leaving the Waystation: light mithril infused armour with a tabard over it, with bear fur cloak along with black boots and gloves. Decent protection still when matched with protective wards on the rings on his fingers…he could only hope, with his Compass adopting the form of an amulet to his Lord. A circular amulet showing crossed staff and bastard sword over an open book, a white moon on dark black circled in silver surrounding it. Tarvek judged it enough to resist arrow fire, and things like magic missile, and hopefully sufficient to give to get his power armour back summoned onto him as his booted feet dropped to the cobblestone street, catching himself with one step forward, then another, giving a quick, but polite, bow.
"My apologies Lady Mage" he said, loudly as several gasps were coming at his appearance, though not anger, but more confusion that was mirrored in the female mage's face as out of the corner of his eye he saw Mayuko crawling down the wall nearby, rifle slung over her shoulders "I and my companions are but travellers, visitors to your city that were attacked by those giant beasts, while only seeking to aid the defence. One is willing to discuss matters more, but not so before such crowds"
"An…orc, red?" came a surprised sounding statement, or question, from her "But you…the Light…"
She trailed off, pausing, posture shifting, smiling politely, one hand holding her staff, the other held up for calm perhaps or in greeting, thunder rumbling in the distance as the other mage-lord caused flashes of lighting "Of course Sir Knight, we thank you for your aid. Yes, I have questions, but you are correct, the city's defence must be seen too, and you are a guest here. If it is acceptable, my guard captain shall escort you to my Tower to discuss such things when the danger has passed. Till then, please, be my guest"
"I thank you Lady Mage" Tarvek answered with another bow, motioning at Mayuko as she looked hesitated, her illusion disguise gone and clad now in her hazard suit "I and my companions shall follow your guard, and wait as you suggest"
Then motioned at Mayuko, voice carrying to her as he tried to show no sign of aggression as a plate clad human came towards him. Likely to guide him to the obvious tower the Mage-Lord ruled the city from "Get…Jan, then come here"
The crowds were…negative towards him Tarvek saw, mildly surprised as those not being hustled towards clearing away the remains of the undead were focused on him. Him, Janet and Mayuko when the younger female returned with an annoyed and worried looking Janet as she took off her helmet, seeing he was out of his power armour. In truth Tarvek was simply glad to get away from that crowd now his presence was made aware of, making secret murder via Mage-Lord hopefully harder based on what he understood of the native culture's views on guest rights. Not when the guards escorting were less friendly looking in opinion than the adventurers, merchants, and militia that had observed him – professional soldiers uneasy at a tradition foe perhaps?
'Or perhaps just properly on guard' he reminded himself, hand guiding Janet to his left, nodding at her with a look that hinted they should talk when they arrived, Mayuko on the right 'We have only our brief studies on the culture, and biased sources at that, for now to rely upon'
"When we get there" he murmured to his two companions, standing tall, watching the three human guards and the streets, as well as the flashes of light and magic over the walls. There wasn't much conversation with the knights, though they weren't impolite either; merely guiding them to the tower in relative silence, speaking only to politely them to walk to a certain location, or under an arch. Even entering the tower itself was do in that professional, cold, manner, though Tarvek had to place his hand upon Mayuko's shoulder to keep her from getting distracted as they entered inside. There were only two servants, two females, a human and a gnome, as it was night and Tarvek suspected the other staff had been asleep or were now armed for the fight. Or simply sent to safety elsewhere and had not yet returned.
Tarvek just took a seat after being taken to a room on the second floor up, not taking any food or drink as he surveyed the walls and window slit with an eye for traps or warding runes. Oh there seemed to be protections, but the decently sized room wasn't any problem for him as it taken taller-than-human heights into account as he glanced at the tables, couches, paintings, and several bookcases spaced about in a pleasant design. Somewhat alien in taste to his, but not outright unpleasant, and certainly not the chaotic manner than he disliked as he glanced at Mayuko "Sit down, relax but stay on guard"
"Aren't they, like, opposites boss?" she huffed, but doing as he asked, sitting beside, Janet doing the same on the other side, also studying the room "Like…cover blown an' that? And…fucking dragons!"
"Time-travelling dragons" he answered with a sigh "So one shall explain, within limits, the nature of existence and our presence here"
"So let…Tav…do the talking May" Janet said letting out a sigh, running a hand through her hair, placing her helmet on the side table "He understands it better than either of us anyway"
"Oh, course boss is gonna do it" Mayuko replied cheerfully, resting back "I have no idea what's going on after all! Other than…isekai dragon shit!"
"Language" he corrected her, tapping his fingers off her head in a scolding manner. She pouted, but nodded, as he really didn't want to offend a Mage-Lord of a city as they waited patiently for her to arrive. Which, to his surprise, was much soon that he'd expected all things considered. The mage returned with her hood down, wearing a robe of white and blue, the other mage not yet having returned…
'Ah, dealing with the problem then?' he guessed, standing and giving another polite bow. Earning another frown from the Mage-Lord as she came towards him, a frown with a smile "You are very…courtly. Tav, is it not? I am Jaina Proudmoore, ruler of this land as I'm sure you've learned during your stay here"
"That is the name that one is using, yes" he answered carefully "Though not a true name, as for Jan and May here either. One shan't lie to you, but neither can we give over all information as we have been attacked by those with chron…time manipulation abilities. But, with bar some restrictions upon information owing to oaths and allegiances binding us…we shall be truthful"
She sighed, waving at us to sit again, and doing so herself "You are not of the Horde then I have to assume? You are not, ah…"
"No, we are not, nor myself an orc of the same world or realm as those of this Horde" Tarvek stated immediately "As one truthfully stated before: we are but travellers wandering through this plane, and meant, and mean, no harm save when forced to defend ourselves"
"In disguise" she asked, though her tone was friendly "Though I can imagine why…though why not the Horde, other than…"
"Because they are prim…less developed than the folk of this city" Tarvek finished before describing the orcs of this realm as backward barbarian fuckwits worse even than his ancestors who'd served Dark Lord as was his growing opinion of them was after reading history and talking to 'Horde' merchants "Nor are Jan and May as likely to blend in with such a folk as my own ability to blend in with human realms"
"Tav is probably correct in that" Janet said, backing him up, though looking mildly embarrassed "Lady Proudmoore"
The Mage-Lord nodded, slowly looking at them curiously "That…is understandable, though I must ask why you are on Azeroth, where you have entered it, and why that a dragonflight have fought over your presence?"
She sighed "And the nature of the spell you cast that seemingly banished such as two dragons from the city"
'Hmm, where to start' Tarvek wondered, but decided on as best a technical description that he could give with his limited knowledge base and unwillingness to give away confidential details…
