Right after the elder said a greeting and the High Human male, or female turned to face him, a rolling cloud quickly covered the valley blocking out the moonlight. He looked up to the sky and became fearful.

The High Human seeing the expression and realizing that this was either a vivid dream or injury-related hallucination decided to play it safe, and not assume what they saw was real. After all, they had two firearms on their person right now, and this could complicate matters if they used them illegally.

Off in the distance was a loud inhuman screech. Both the elder and the High Human turned to face the direction of the sound.  

The Elder then ordered his people inside the Keep.

The elder knew that the High Human most likely did not speak common yet, and had a spell prepared for this. He quickly and in a friendly manner offered a hand in greeting, the high human complied and shook his hand. While they shook the elder released the prepared spell. This caused the High Human to pass out, the elder caught them and held them until they regained awareness.

“Are you well, High Human?” the Elder asked in common.

“High Human?” they responded confused and slightly groggy from being exposed to two very powerful spells in less than five minutes.

“Fear not human, we mean you no harm,” the elder said in the common tongue, “we are in desperate need of a hero, as a great beast from the pit is hunting our people nightly for food. Please we will offer you any riches you desire if you can help us defeat this monster.”

“Umm, yeah, clearly I’m injured and hallucinating badly if you can just call the paramedics, I’ll store my firearms in the locked weapons safe I have in the house.” They said. Hoping that they were speaking clearer than they were hearing. Now would be a bad time to do anything rash. Hopefully, after a few minutes of clear air, the hallucination would fade.

“Oh, dear me, no you are not hallucinating,” the elder said, “I used a hero summoning to bring forth a powerful beast or hero from the mysterious world of High Humans. What you are seeing is true, and please whatever weapons you have brought them, for surely, they are needed as our people’s lives are in great danger, also how should I call you, and are you a man or a woman?”

This caused them to blink and wonder because this hallucination was too realistic for even the best LSD, which they had experimented with in Europe after they left the Marines. In fact, none of the tales tells for hallucinations where there, the air felt normal, their insides didn’t have any heightened awareness, they could think clearly, and their back still hurt.

“Rudina, Transgender Woman” she replied to the question, “although I’m a rather bad example of a Trans-woman.” She said.

The elder didn’t understand what a ‘transwoman’ was but he adjusted his vocabulary to reflect that she was a woman. She was definitely a woman with heroic proportions, which was to be expected of High Humans.

He led her to the Keeps' main gate, where the guards on the wall where clearly casting spells and firing arrows at someone or something. The elder led her up a stair on the side of the wall and showed her what was on the other side.