"Bastard!" A man yelled and flipped a table. The solid pine table flipped end over end as if it only weighed a dozen pounds. It bounced off of the magically reinforced spruce boards that made up the ceiling. There was a sound of splintering wood and one of the legs came off. The entire mess slammed back down into an adventurer that was sitting peacefully at another table ten feet away. There was a cry of surprise and then one of pain as the table landed on him and he was forced through the bottom of his chair into the floor. Cards, drinks, and food were either still airborne or stuck to something that had been mostly clean a moment prior.

"It's not my fault you're a sore loser!" One of the other men, who had been sitting around the most recent pine projectile, screamed back. Fists started flying.

"It looks fun." Isaac commented.

"I would prefer it if you did not, at least until your body is fully healed. Your terrifyingly low constitution scares me." Lenna replied calmly.

"You could always cover my back." Isaac offered with a shrug.

Lenna shook her head. "If we got involved, we would end up stopping it early." She told him and nodded towards the receptionist's counter for him to continue towards it. "Look at the level that they are fighting at. Not one of them is over level twelve. Not to mention, most of them don't know how to fist fight."

Lenna wasn't wrong. They were tackling each other, throwing chairs, winding up haymakers, and using playground wrestling moves. There was one man who weaved and ducked through the chaos, while he drank his mead, that looked competent but he was specifically trying to stay out of the way. It was good for lower level adventurers to blow off steam in a 'controlled' environment instead of out in the streets, no one liked it when the chaos was outside.

Isaac and Lenna approached an older woman who was working the counter. She looked to be in her fifties with a decent amount of gray coming through her light brown hair. "Adventurers." The receptionist greeted the duo with a nod. "Turning in a bounty?" She guessed.

Isaac shook his head. "No. We didn't escort anyone here." He explained and leaned on her counter which elicited raised eyebrows from the woman. "We are heading up the mountain, either tonight or tomorrow, and were wondering if there were any caravans leaving soon."

The receptionist eyed Isaac up and down before she turned to Lenna and did the same. Lenna was the one that actually got a look of surprise from the woman, not Isaac. "That is some nice armor." She commented. She also seemed to notice Lenna's double platinum tags. She looked back at Isaac. "Are you the same rank as your partner?"

Isaac nodded. "Yes. We are both on the final stretch to twenty." He told her. "Why?"

"There have been reports of missing travelers recently. Some have been saying bandits but a party of electrum rank adventurers went missing on their way to the capital. If you were any weaker, I would recommend you bring reinforcements, just in case, but I suppose you'll be fine." She explained.

"How many and how often?" Isaac wondered.

"One to five people every week or so." The receptionist informed him. "I've heard the word 'vampire' get tossed about but we haven't seen one of those since before I was born."

"At the very least, it is probably eating them." Lenna commented. "How long has this been going on?"

"Around a month." The receptionist replied with a frown. "We've lost a few good kids but most of those missing have been travelers that think they don't need an escort."

Isaac nodded. "If we run into whatever it is, we'll let you know. Are there any caravans leaving soon that we can join? It sounds like they could use some protection."

"Yes." The receptionist replied to both Isaac's question and closing statement. "There was a caravan that was planning on leaving this morning, but when they heard about the disappearances, they stopped to find someone to escort them. By the time they had someone, it was already noon so they decided to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Where are they? If they already have a full team protecting them, we'll just ride along and help out if they really need us." Isaac asked.

"They are staying downtown." The receptionist answered. She gave them directions on where to go as the bar fight finally started dying down. It was an inn close to the stables on the east end of the city, the side they would be leaving from in the morning, so Isaac and Lenna went to see them.

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The duo introduced themselves and told the caravan leader that they were going to be riding along and in exchange, if the caravan came across anything that was too much for their escort to handle, they would take care of it. The caravan leader didn't complain, not that Isaac or Lenna had given him very much time to, and with that, the duo left to enjoy the new city for the evening.

"It's a nice city." Isaac commented.

"Yes." Lenna agreed. "I like the atmosphere. It is a lot less… drab than Safeharbor."

Isaac nodded. "The comforting blanket of darkness only falls here every night though." Isaac reminded her. "Sure, that is part of why the atmosphere can be lighter and brighter here, but it still makes me slightly uneasy."

Lenna nodded in agreement. "Me too." She confided in him. "The surface scares me."

"For reasons other than the obvious?" Isaac wondered.

"Which ones are the obvious ones?" Lenna asked in return.

"I feel exposed, everywhere I go." Isaac began. "I am sure you feel the same. Then, there is the fact that without your helmet you are practically blind. Add in the unfamiliar terrain, beasts, and monsters that exist up here and then multiply it by all the people that you do not know and, well, a constant state of mild unease is only natural."

Lenna nodded. "That sums it up, yes." She agreed. "Our injuries are not helping me feel any better either."

"Let's go find the wizard tower." Isaac offered. "We should probably let them know before I start meditating. We should use the hours that we are stuck here productively."

Lenna nodded in agreement again. "The only question is: where."

The duo spent the next hour walking through the city built in concentric rings. Eventually, through a series of mildly helpful strangers, the duo found themselves in front of a remarkably plain stone box the size of a three story house. It was perfectly square and had no windows. It only had stone walls, a stone slab of a door, and a single message carved into the door that read: 'Court Mage of Alten'.

"Well, we found it." Isaac commented and started looking around for a bell or something to let the person inside know that they were there.

Lenna walked up to the door and slammed her fist on it three times in a row. "If they didn't hear that-" She started but stopped as soon as the door clicked.

Both of them watched as the door was slowly pulled back into the building six whole inches before it slid off to the side. In the doorway there was an elvish man with autumn red hair, sunlight yellow skin, and grass green eyes. "Hello, is there something that I can help you with?" He asked the duo. "This is the Court Mage's domain, in case you were not aware."

"Oh, we are aware." Isaac replied simply. "I am Lord Isaac Wexler, the Lord of all that is Dark." He introduced himself and then gestured to his wife.

"I am Lady Lenna V'Nova, the Lady of Hellfire." She introduced herself.

The Court Mage looked between them both. "I see. The rumored demigod and the fallen sister gone rogue. It is not everyday that I have such interesting visitors, please, come in." The Court Mage said and waved them inside.

As the duo entered, they watched as a teakettle picked itself up off of a counter, opened its lid and accepted water from a floating pitcher. The entire process of making fresh tea was going on in the background as they continued. The inside of the tower looked like a library everywhere except for a massive staircase that descended into the ground and then out of sight.

The Court Mage directed them towards a small round table with five chairs around it. "Please, have a seat, our tea will be ready shortly." He told the duo and two of the chairs that were next to each other slid out on their own. As he approached a chair opposite them, that chair too slid itself out. The man seemed to have gone overboard with all of the automated magical effects.

Isaac and Lenna took their seats without very much hesitation. They both knew that being inside of a wizard's tower was a very unsafe place to be. They were also aware that everyone was expecting them to go see the king and queen and many people knew that they were in Alten at the moment. If anything happened to them, especially with the recent string of disappearances, half of the powerful people in the kingdom would be in Alten by the end of the week.

"We stopped by because it seemed appropriate to inform you before I started meditating. Court Mages seem to freak out whenever I do it and some of the other mages in the area will probably come looking around." Isaac informed him without any preamble.

"So I have heard." The Court Mage replied. "It seems that you nearly gave a former student of mine a brain aneurysm."

"Oh?" Isaac asked. "And who might that have been?"

"Alejandro, in Sapphirestone." The Court Mage replied. "I am Archmagus Nacen Au'Sprin. I specialize in," He smirked. "doing nothing."

Isaac glanced around and then chuckled. "I can tell." He joked back. "All of these automated processes make it feel like the tower reacts to your every whim, but really, you just set certain things to happen based upon specific sentences spoken and other such cues."

"Indeed." Nacen confirmed with a casual singular nod. "I hope it has at least proven entertaining. Few of those that actually come to see me seem very impressed anymore."

"Even the most wonderful waterfalls can seem mundane to those that can see them from their balcony." Isaac commented. "But yes, it is very interesting. I am sure that many people would love a living space that does things on its own, but I am also sure that it is both expensive and extremely tedious to both install and keep functional."

Nacen nodded. "Indeed, you have hit the proverbial nail on the head once again." He complimented Isaac. It was around that time that the tea arrived and three steaming hot cups of tea were set before the duo and their host. Lenna started taking off her helmet as they continued talking. "Now, about your meditation. If you agree to do it in my presence, I will handle any and all questions and curious individuals that may result from it. You will also be welcome to stay as long as you need to."

"Why?" Isaac wondered.

"I have met five demigods throughout my time on Primatia, and you do not feel like one. I am positive that if I feel you meditate, I will be able to either confirm or deny the rumors for my Duke and Duchess." Nacen explained. "As for the rest, covering for nobles and high ranking guests is one of the many things explicitly written in my contract. However, offering a quiet place to meditate for an undetermined amount of time is not."

Isaac nodded. "I understand." He replied and smelled the fresh tea. It was simple common green tea but it was made so perfectly that he couldn't help but want to drink it all before he started meditating. "I agree." He told Nacen and then took a tiny sip from his still steaming hot tea. It cooled slightly right as it touched his lips, just barely down far enough to keep from burning him, and he was able to take another sip immediately after. "The magics in this place are truly subtly amazing." Isaac complimented the Court Mage. "It is not the obvious ones that impress me but the small adjustments. The heat of the tea lowering as soon as I went to drink it, the number of chairs that pulled themselves out, the perfect amount of tea and water for three people, the cleaning spell that removed any dirt that we tracked in, it is all quite amazingly done."

Nacen smiled with obvious pride in his work. "Thank you." He told Isaac. "It is a dream of mine to build a world that moves without me even having to lift a finger."

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