At first Alynna thought this would be simple and easy money. The high ranked elven sorceress was just visiting Gravel Crossing from the first time, taking a deserved time off from her duties in her native Leanlion, and after the usual round of questions about her race and her city she received from the cityfolk she learned about the mysterious palace and the Adventurers' Guild request.
Normally she wouldn't even bother to know more about it, but the right ingredients to spark her interest were there. Exploring a mysterious place, getting to know a local sorcerer instead of the nice but uninteresting townsfolk and getting paid for it? The reward looked higher than what she expected for such a simple mission too, which was just the cherry on top.
The trip took less than a day with Alynna going through the shortest path, easily dispatching a couple of bandits with her magic. Reaching the entrance of the manor she smiled, it was so big and so unguarded it looked like some abandoned place instead of the abode of a "potential threat".
Taking a look around she could see there was activity in one of the rooms however, so she figured out if the place looked like this it probably was another bandit that decided to occupy a part of the manor. Still confident Alynna casted a weak stealth spell and easily got rid of the door lock to make her way through, once again taking the shortest path towards the active room until suddenly someone appeared in front of her.
========
"Wh..what happened?" Alynna looked around believing she was teleported at first, because she went from being in one of the hallways to an enormous room, that is until she heard a voice high above her and then what she thought was one of the rooms walls moved so quickly it put her body on high alert.
"A shrinking spell? Why?" Alynna said dumbfounded as she looked up at the resident of the manor. She was indeed a sorceress, and of the hermit kind judging by her pale skin, long hair and kinda disheveled appearance that contrasted with a pair of stunning green eyes frowning down at her reduced figure and that instantly transmitted great experience, wisdom and worryingly, displeasure.
Looking back in front of her Alynna noticed she still was in the hallway, and comparing herself to the leather boots of the squatted figure she guessed she was a bit above her ankle height. She cursed herself for her earlier wrong guess but didn't panic at all, just waiting to see what this witch would do before countering the admittedly interesting choice of curse, confident enough in her own skills to do so.
"An elf?" The witch looked surprised herself for a moment and then, her rough yet dexterous hands turned into fists. Her eyes looked away from Alynna and she stood up, starting to pace around the hallway and starting some sort of rant monologue.
"How do they DARE sending elves to tresspass my manor? This is completely unacceptable! If they had any decency they should just approach and tell me what is their problem... Once this is settled I will need to make sure those fools know I wish to be left alone at all times! I don't want to keep wasting my time in that foolish city and in their foolish fears! It's not as if I can just..."
As the witch droned on and on creating small earthquakes with her steps, Alynna took the chance to chant what was needed to free herself for the curse but.. nothing was happening. She tried again and again and for the first time in a long while started to doubt herself. What kind of spell was this? The way she countered the curses was infallible, tricking the magic source that invaded her body into depleting itself in seconds instead of whatever time limit the curse had, unless. It couldn't be, could it? not for this kind of spell.
"Who are you? reveal your intentions!" Alynna decided to confront the witch directly to try and know a bit more what she was dealing with, still disconcerted about her magic not working but now considering a more confrontational approach would do. After all, the shrinking spells she knew about were both temporary and only reduced your physical strength, not the elven sorceress' main weapon.
"It's just unbelievable, I am far away from their stupid city for a reason! how could they insist on labelling me a threat?..." The witch completely ignored the elf, lost in her thoughts, probably not even hearing the sharp voice.
"Alright I had enough" the elf became frustrated and chanted what she believed was a good enough dissuasive spell for the situation
"Tult- nar!"
"What the?" the spell broke quickly as a mix of surprise and fear quickly invaded the shrunken elf. The spell worked as intended and produced some fire but.. it was such a pitiful flame, inferior to what any beginning sorcerer Leanlion would muster. The plan quickly got back to getting rid of this curse and quick, somehow this curse took one of Leanlion's finest mages and reduced her to a virtually powerless creature!
"Huh? Oh for the mana of... Congelo!"
Unfortunately the powerful witch did notice her pitiful attempt at magic, and with another spell completely cut out her movement. She now looked like one of the dolls the kids in the city played with, her body so restrained that she had to focus entirely just on being able to keep breathing.
"Right, need to settle this and get rid of the trespasser then" Alynna wanted to cry, beg, plead with the witch that this was only a research mission and once she went back to Gravel Crossing they would leave her alone, but she couldn't do anything but watch the giant witch squatting again, grabbing carefully with two of her fingers and carrying him with surprising care back to the study where she was writing that letter.
What happens next?