Curiosity did what, now?

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold's research cave is coming along nicely, after her previous adventure - the floor carefully flattened (by teleporting stone out) and softened (by teleporting sand in); the permanent portals to Deva and the cavern's exit, currently closed to anyone who doesn't know the passwords, but marked off, with spaces set aside for several more portals; her experimenting supplies tucked away behind further portals in her workspace; a small cache set up for her new translation necklace and any other magical items she might happen to find in her travels.

And, now, another portal, leading to another new world. She double-checks that she has her traveling gear - translation necklace, teleporting ring, twine - completes the spell, and peers through.

Comments

[last_one_out]

"...I... think this might be a different-worlds thing," he says. "Magic doesn't really—do that, at home. It wouldn't make sense to think of something like the—the ring as dangerous." (He is visibly uncomfortable discussing the ring, in a way that suggests someone trying unsuccessfully to relax a strong expectation of privacy around an extremely personal subject.)

[lurkingkobold]

River nods. "Well, we'll manage. Do you know if they're expecting to be able to get you back home soon?"

[last_one_out]

"It didn't sound like it."

[lurkingkobold]

"All right. Do you have any idea where you'll want to go, if they can't?"

[last_one_out]

"I don't - I don't know where there is to go," he says. "I don't think there's anywhere I could go that would be much like home. So... I don't know. I'll figure something out, I guess."

[lurkingkobold]

River nods, sympathetic. "They'll do the best they can." She takes a moment to re-focus on being welcoming. "Is there anything we can do to make things more comfortable for you, in the meantime?"

[last_one_out]

"I'm not sure... um, where's the place you said I might be sleeping?"

[lurkingkobold]

"Shell's old workshop, by the pond - we used to keep otters, and she was in charge of their food. I think they've been using it for storage, recently; it shouldn't take long to get it set up for you." She looks to the mage who spoke earlier, who shakes his head. "We should wait for Petal and Rain first, though."

[last_one_out]

"Hm. Okay."

[lurkingkobold]

"...so, tell me about your world? Or I can tell you about ours, if you have questions."

[last_one_out]

"Well, it's hard to tell exactly what's different between my world and yours," he says thoughtfully, "because I've never been to the sunlit lands myself. The part of the world where I live doesn't get direct sunlight at all, and things are very different there, but our sunlit lands might be very much like yours and I wouldn't know. It sounds like you have more monsters here than in the sunlit lands I know of, but much less than in Aluvanna."

[lurkingkobold]

"That sounds a bit like the underdark, except that the underdark doesn't get any light at all. And not many people live there, or at least not many civilized ones - dwarves do, sometimes, but not elves or humans."

[last_one_out]

"Aluvanna gets enough light for plants to grow, although they're very different from the ones here."

[lurkingkobold]

River nods. "And the wildlife, too, I'd imagine."

[last_one_out]

"Yeah. We have a lot of monsters, and we have goats and cats, which I think came from the sunlit lands originally."

[lurkingkobold]

"We have both of those here - do you have big cats, or just the little ones?"

While she's talking, Rain comes in and starts clearing a space on the table for the map he's carrying.

[last_one_out]

"Oh, we have cats in all kinds of sizes," says Elarron. "Small, medium, large, and terrifying."

[lurkingkobold]

River giggles. "I wonder if you have any bigger than Sky. He's our giant tiger - well, Lizard's - but he's a sweetheart."

She peers at Rain's map. "That's probably not going to help if you've never been above ground before, is it."

[last_one_out]

"How large an area does this map cover?"

[lurkingkobold]

"Most of the continent," explains River. "Here, this is where we are, and then this is Silver Leaf Citadel, the nearest city - about two days' ride, on fast mounts, or four or five with a wagon. The unmarked areas are, let me see if I can remember... the big one is the goblins' kingdom... this one is that desert that's too hot to try to cross... these are cursed... I think this one has some kind of monster problem? And then if you go too far north it gets too hot and if you go too far south it gets too cold, so nobody lives there and they haven't bothered mapping it. Does any of it look familiar at all?"

[last_one_out]

He shakes his head. "I've seen maps of my whole planet, inside and out. This isn't any part of it."

[lurkingkobold]

River nods, "well, it was worth a try." She notices the face Rain is making and winces slightly, then returns her attention to Elarron. "Will you be okay if I go with Rain to put this back? We won't be long."

[last_one_out]

He shrugs. "Sure, no problem."

[lurkingkobold]

River nods again, gathers up the map, gives Elarron a quick bow, and herds Rain back outside.


After a moment, one of the mages speaks up. "So... how does magic work, on your world? That translation necklace would be ridiculously hard to make, for us."

[last_one_out]

"I'm no mage myself, and I have no idea how little conveniences like this are made," he says, gesturing at the necklace. "I know a little more about war magic, because there are a lot of soldiers and combat casters in my family. It's—from what I've seen and heard here, our magic and yours works nothing alike. Magic weapons in my world are made in specific shapes from specific materials because they don't work otherwise, and if you know enough about how they're made, you can look at one and tell exactly what it's for, how powerful it is, and whether it can be used by anybody or needs a combat caster to work it."