Pushing his glasses up his nose, Khalaban murmured, "Well, I can manage without casting if I must...I have a few ways of not being struck. But just to be clear...are people going to have an issue with me? I may not be a giant, but I've seen a few who think I'm their kin."
Torrel, without skipping a beat replies to Penkus, "Depending on where you end up, Mheral should be fine, even in hostile territory you should be given the ability to at least leave if you explain the situation, the locals are used to this and typically allow at least the option to leave peacefully.
He then looks to Xanthous, still speaking, but directed at the party rather than Xanthous. "You'll be together as a group, the runes on the floor are to activate a group teleport, barring anyone carrying the nullifier. Most likely you'll end up in 'Overworld', but there's small probabilities that you may end up in one of the other four planes. All planes have teleporters between them in certain locals that share traits between them, where those are, I'm not allowed to say."
Torrel checks his pocketwatch and while looking down at it, "All ruling parties are only of their own plane, unless they've managed to place force enough into another plane to actually rule there. So you can see different rulers in each plane and see new areas under rule or not ruled based on each plane."
"The sub-planes are much too many and too complicated to go into, they can pop up in many places, with many different factors, the residents often attempt to create them, some succeed, some fail. Most sub-planes were not created by us, but there are a few, still, much too complicated to go into, just be prepared for anything in the sub-planes."
He looks back to Khalaban, "It takes quite a bit for the magic in an area to be completely depleted, but understand, that if it is, yes, you'll need to survive by other means. Often times if magic is depleted you'll find that there was a mage war, multiple mages in the area doing things of their own accord casting, or a spell of epic proportions being cast. However, if a spell is cast and you enter a new zone that is depleted, the residual magic that was taken for the spell will allow it to continue even in the 'dead zone'."
"Hmm. Worrisome, but interesting. If we take on allies while in the competition, what becomes of them at the end? Could we be viewed by some as their "ticket out" of their world?"
"There are those in this-- that realm who would wish to leave, yes. And there are those who would love to help just for the sake of adventure."
"Excellent. I'm glad not everyone will be out to kill us."
Torrel looks at you all again, and then to his pocketwatch. "Well, it's about that time, good luck everyone. I'll be watching over you, but I can't do much. I wish you all luck, and until we meet again."
Torrel smiles and bows, as he does the room begins to glow and the next thing you know the world around you has completely changed. You find yourselves on an incline surrounded by trees and fairly dense brush. There's no one else in sight but yourselves.
"Hmm. Perhaps we should get a bird's eye view?" Penkus says, checking his pocketwatch against the sun's (if any) placement in the sky.
I take a deep breath of the new world's air.
"I really didn't expect the transition to be so sudden."
Hearing Penkus's comment "on it".
As a 1-1/2 foot long tan dragon, I fly up above the trees.
Dan pulls a potato-sized rock out of his pocket, and begins poking it—after about a minute, it begins to expand, until a horse-sized stone housecat stands before him, complete with a saddle and two marching drums. "Anything up there?" he shouts at the sky.
I walk the perimeter of our new location, looking around.
"I'm not familiar with this land at all. I think it's best to wait for the small dragon creature to come back down and tell us the lay of the land." after saying this, I sit down and wait, pulling a carrot out of my bag. I then begin shaving it with a knife, eating the peel shavings.
"Yeah, I'll wait here. I don't wanna get lost. If we need to go somewhere I can fly all of us if need be. I don't like marching long distances."
"So, I'm hoping we all remembered to pack a decent meal or two." Khalaban looked around. "Or three."
I land on top of a tree and try to carefully look for any discernible land marks.
I then will fly back down, untransform and explain to them the territory as I saw it.
"Well, the wooded area here doesn't seem to have any tracks. We didn't end up by a road or town or even a village. I could summon my airship to carry us aloft in search of a settlement. Unless you lot are keen on something else..."
Nodding slowly at the news, Khalaban shrugged. "Sounds like the big tree is our first destination, then."
I drop on one knee, "Arete give me strength to smite the evils in this land, I will carry your light within my actions" bowing my head and holding silence for 90 seconds before standing up and asking. "Which direction would that be then little dragon?"
I squint my eyes as he says 'little'.
I point down the hill, "That way... Sir".
"Wait, I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves to each other. My Name is Mheral Ayazral, though Mheral is fine since we'll be traveling together."
"Oh, I am Penkus Ebonleaf. Likewise, you can call me Penkus." the gnome says, tipping his hat.
"Khalaban," the old man rumbled. "Khal will do in a pinch, if you wish to shorten it."
"I am Xanthous Spudnik Kallente Yan deQuello Seqentious the Fifth. If we are doing short names, Xanthous will be fine. What specialties do you guys have?" I look at everyone while saying this.
"Well, I make illusions to entertain. They work pretty well when people try to threaten me, too. I can also create real things, though I mostly just do that to keep the rain off me when I travel. I can get more imaginitive with it. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve, but nothing as potent."
"specalties?", I scratch my chin with a claw, then rather sheepishly "I know how to pick locks pretty well..."
"Unarmed combat," Khalaban added thoughtfully, "And some magic. Oh, and I can sing a little."
"And I'm Dan'drik, once-Chieftain of the Redmaw," adds the man in armor. "Howling Dan, Ninth Singing Sword of the Battleglens, Second-Circle Shaman of the Storm Stones, Maestro of Rock. Concerts by surprise, birthdays by request, royalty only by exception."
He shrugs. "I do loud things, with steel and stone. And this is my majestic lion, the Tom-Tom Tomcat."
"people here sure have a lot of fancy titles... Xanthous was it? you're the fifth of all that?"
Chuckling, Khalaban shrugged. "Titles are one those heirlooms you can collect and pass down to your children."
"I'd prefer to give them knowledge and trinkets than titles they can earn for themselves."
"I suppose... but shouldn't we be getting along down the mountain toward that tree?"
"Yeah, we can talk while we walk. One of you sneaky types might wanna check it out when we get closer. A tree as big as you describe might house a village up top."
"I am the fifth of a line of righteous paladins." I say, beginning to walk.
You make your way through the dense wood in the direction of the large tree.
Moving surprisingly gently, despite the huge boots he wore and the even bigger man inside them, Khalaban scanned the trees with squinted eyes from behind the spectacles.
as we move along I look mostly at the trees and foliage making a note of any irregularities I notice compared to more 'terrestrial' versions.
Penkus moves with the group, his head scarcely clearing the top of the tallest ground foliage at times.
"Where do you people hail from? I say while walking through the underbrush of the forest.
"I hail from Kold'dari, It's a Fairly large Federation of kingdoms far to the east... at least it was east of where I was last before being taken here."
"I was born on the road, one branch of my family runs a huge caravan of traders and entertainers. Since then, I've spent my life in as many new places as possible."
Dan saddled and rode his cat down the road, after instructing it to stay relatively quiet.
Penkus whispers, "Shh, i saw some moving shadows up ahead"
Khalaban grunted. "We got some kinda giant beastie over there," the big human said with a gesture, "And wolves if we keep going this way. Unless we have a cause, I can't see a reason to fight either, and we should be able to skirt both if we go that way." He pointed in the direction that lead away from both.
I turn to listen to Khalaban, I halt at the mention of wolves. Whispering back "Avoiding combat sounds much more wise, we do not have knowledge of this terrain." I begin walking in the new direction that Khalaban pointed out. I pull my warhammer from my hip and loosen the drawstring of a pouch on my belt. I hope I don't have to use any of these.
I squint and look over in the direction of the wolves but starting walking in khalaban's chosen direction. "Hopefully we don't lose track of the tree."
"Yeah, can't complain about not being eaten by wolves. Nasty things. And you said you saw something else? Yikes. Though, slaying a giant beast might make a good story."
You all turn to travel in the direction decided by Khalaban. The travel is fairly uneventful.
Khalaban also continued to walk, keeping on eye on the tree to avoid getting lost.