07.02: Sufficiently Advanced

[Joshua]

Continues from 07.01d: The Seventh Winter (Dinner Table).

The sensation is not unlike a quick hop, or taking a short step forward. One moment you're in the dining room at Castle Amber at night, and the next you're unceremoniously dropped head-first onto the ground. Oberon recovers first, drawing his blade before realizing you're not under attack. "I thought the upside-down aspect was a metaphor. Stupid Dworkin..."

Around you is a wide field, on the outskirts of a large walled city, on a small hill, during the day. While you can't see completely over the wall, you can make out a castle rising from the center in a giant fortified area, clearly a major seat of power and prestige. There are roads leading into and out of the city, one that runs right past the small hill you landed on. Thankfully, the hill mostly shielded the possibility of anyone on the road from seeing your arrival.

Oberon puts his sword away. "That's good, now, assuming neither of you wants to hellride, I'll lead. Ready to go?"

[misfit]

Upon landing Nuall rolls to his feet, sword already in his hand. He looks around and a sour expression crosses his face. "The cards work. That is home alright. The sooner we are away, the happier I'll be. Lead the way my friend."

[coldcandor]

While not exactly graceful to watch, Solten lands and rolls into a crouch quite efficiently. He glances around from that guarded position before standing up, relaxing a bit, and saying "Well damn, it worked! Though I've gone headlong into adventure before, I didn't expect it to be so... literal." He smiles his slightly crooked smile. "Finally the night is getting truly interesting. Lead on!"

[Joshua]

(Rather than let this drag on, I'm going to do one largish post, as this is basically a walk. Feel free to say that you wanted to stop halfway through this.)

Oberon starts walking along the road at a brisk pace. "First, let's focus on time, and ignore the rest of where we're going. I'm going to aim for twenty to one, that'll give us a week for tonight. Long enough to explore, but short enough that people will come looking for us." The path doesn't seem to change all that much as he talks about it, but then the geography shifts subtly. New plants that come over the horizon have blue fruit, and a light mix of brambles seems to grow up around you over the course of the first three or four miles, definitely a very different geography than Nuall's homeworld. "Once I get to that timeframe, I'll worry about the next part. You can do this by hellriding, but with a little practice you can keep control enough to make sure that you avoid dangers."

"Next, let's try advancing time a little. I'm going for phones first, then we'll find a place with magic." The road slowly becomes more of a path, or a trail. The woods looking less and less wild and more like a park over the next hour or two. "Doing this by Amber would have taken almost a full day." The trail starts to pass by old farming implements and a few stone walls. "I'm thinking... graveyard would be a good way to go from past to future..." Only a few minutes after he says that, headstones start to appear alongside the trail, mixed in with the forrest.

Finally, the path opens up into a shaded area of an old graveyard. Headstones declare this section was "populated" between 1860 and 1865, whatever that means. He doesn't stop, continuing for another ten minutes, the graveyard shifting very slightly, looking older and older as the dates on the headstones don't change.

He stops walking finally... "I think we're here." Before looking over and seeing a large black dog looking at the three of you. "And no one saw us arrive."

[Sadie]

The large black dog tilts her head with a look of curiosity... and what almost seems like amusement at the "no one saw us" comment.

[misfit]

"And what would our arrival have looked liked? Would we just appear out of thin air?"

Nuall looks around. "And we are indeed 'here'...wherever 'here' would be. And now that we are 'here' what shall we do about it?"

[Joshua]

"From what I've seen, we sort of 'come around the bend,' instead of appearing. Arriving from peripheral vision." He shrugs. "I think those of us with Pattern can see it a bit clearer than others." He shrugs. "Well, there's good news. I tried to arrive somewhere we can borrow a little free money." He looks around briefly, "It's usually best to use local money when you can."

[misfit]

"Very interesting."

Nuall looks around. "...and where were you planning to borrow this money? I do hope that we are not taking up grave robbing. "

Nuall grins and winks. "Or perhaps you were planning to ask our canine friend here?"

[Sadie]

The canine friend barks almost seeming in response to Nuall's jest. She then hops away, looks back, barks again, hops away one more time and starts off in the direction of her hops occasionally looking back and barking if you don't follow, which it seems she wants you to do.

[coldcandor]

"Well that was certainly an interesting journey. A whole different experience when being guided than... discovering." Solten says in response to Nuall's comments. He watches for a moment, thoughtfully, as the dog barks and hops away. "I think there is more to this dog than meets the eye... Perhaps we should find out what she's so excited to show us?"

((OOC note: My character has perfectly good in character reasons to both make that statement and state the gender. Per Wyvern's suggestion, I'm noting it here so people can pick up on it in character if appropriate.))