<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/0/09/1392559621072.png)</div><br/>Alisandra found the locked closet, but she had no way to open the padlock without magic.  With magic, the process would be so much simpler, whether to melt the lock, to animate it and make it open itself...her mentor would simply pass his hand through a door and draw forth whatever he wanted.  Of course, all that was useless to her without access to her abilities.<br/><br/>She took stock of the known variables.  Other people were talking, she saw a faerie light flickering about, but there were no sounds of combat.  Someone even said how completely confused she was.  The logical conclusion was that other people had likewise just arrived...even though she had no idea what was going on.  Perhaps that knowledge would present itself as time went on.<br/><br/>It wouldn't surprise her at all if this was some sort of test.  Really, that was the only thing that made sense to her at the moment.  Perhaps she'd gotten overly reliant on her magic and her mentor wanted to teach her to avoid such a focused way of thinking?  If so, he was hardly one to judge her...but then, he often did anyway.<br/><br/>Taking a deep breath and hoping she wasn't being a complete fool, she stepped out of her alcove and glanced around.  "Everyone, my name is Alisandra."  She folded her hands behind her back, hoping to stop the shaking.  Her words came in Common, not exactly well practiced by her standard but likely more easily understood than the Elven that came so fluently.<br/><br/>"From the sounds of things, it seems as though we've all ended up here for some unknown reason.  I suggest cooperation so that we can leave more easily."  She gestured back to the alcove in which she awoke.  "I found some sort of locked..."  She tried to think of the right Common word, but it just wouldn't come.  "Locked box, and won't be able to get it open by myself.  Perhaps one of you is more capable than I in that regard?"<br/><br/>Based on how well she knew her mentor, this was probably the first step in whatever the test would be.  Taking stock of resources was the first step in undergoing any sort of task.