The Portal

Immediately after confirming your choices at the end of the customization process, you appear in a small room. You appear naked, in the body that you have selected using the customization process. The room contains a bed (which you are currently lying in), a mirror, a chest, and a note, nailed to the wall. The chest contains all of the items you 'bought' with the process, while your leftover money is in a bag on the table, along with a note. (Those who forgot to 'buy' clothing find cheap-looking poor-fitting Peasant's Outfits, and 1sp less then they would otherwise have.)

The note reads:

Welcome to my tower, bold adventurer! You, along with many others, have decided to help save both of our worlds, and for that, I thank you. My thanks extends to providing you with the teleportation spell, the customization of your physical form, and the provision of a low-interest loan to cover the balance of what you now owe me, being 10000 Gold Pieces, at a fixed interest rate of 10% annually. This is a necessity, to cover the cost of the spell: if too many of you cannot repay, I will eventually find myself too poor to afford the material components needed to cast the spell! As this would surely doom both worlds, you should make repayment a priority, although not so much as to go underequpped. In any event, you should take your purchases and leave this room as soon as possible: I'm using these rooms for new arrivals, and if you linger, I may have to hold people in Limbo for a while! Come downstairs first, where my guides will tell you what you need to know, and possibly direct you to places where you can buy any items you may have forgotten to select.
Signed,
Xiophanes Nadrexian Manadu, Archmage

Barbarians who elected not to know how to read will find the message unreadable, determining that written Common is a runic language that does not exist on Earth. However, they (and only they) will hear a different message, spoken by a mouth appearing within the words.

"Gather your things and leave as soon as you can, so this room can be used by others. Ask someone else what this note says."

I follow the messege to the messege to the letter. I dawn all my cloths and armor and strap on all my weapons and itmes not leaveing one of my things behind. Shortly after I leave the room and go down stairs to talk to this archmage or whatever lacky he left behind to greet me.

Maiu sits up and streches looks around and sees the letter she picks it up and reads it. she then stands up looks for her clothers and put them on along with her armor. she gathers all of her belongs and places them in her bag and on her back. once ready she opens the door and heads down the stair to see the guides.

I stand up and stretch, looking down. I thought I made this a little bigger... Donning my armor and gathering all of my possessions, I head downstairs. There I find someone to read me the note, mildly irritated that they can and I can't. Rolling my eyes at the payment part (and noticing that I'm not as far away from home as I thought), I decide on whether I'm going to pay this guy or not. After noticing that someone is explaining things I listen patiently.

Leonard arrives in his new world snoring softly, having fallen asleep during the journey between worlds. A bit of a draft runs through the room and wakes him up. He looks around and picks up the note.

Reading carefully, and with a laugh at the thought of loan repayment while saving the world, Leonard barks out to himself, "Hah. I see Altruism is a valued concept on this world too..."

Taking a look around, and at himself, Leonard notices that little has changed from his day to day. He is still slightly overweight on a strong frame and is still quite hairy -- which he takes specific notice of since he was wearing slightly more clothing the last time he checked.

Seeing the peasant's clothing on the table, Leonard's modesty rushes him to put it on. Then he slowly works out the catches and straps to keep his new suit of armour sturdily attached to his body. Putting everything else in the new backpack on the table, he grabs up his new halberd and heads out the door, ready to see what this "generous" archmage suggests as a plan of attack.

Michael groans and rolls to one side on the bed, blinking groggily.

No, not Michael anymore. Astor. Interesting. He thinks to himself, swinging his legs off the bed and getting to his feet. He walks over to the mirror and peers closely at his reflection.

Huh, like the ears. Interesting touch. Probably should have paid a bit more attention to what I picked out for myself. Still, I've lost a bit of weight, so that's a plus...

Astor turns his back on the mirror and grabs the practical if somewhat drab clothes out of the chest. He dresses himself quickly, then gathers together the rest of his gear.

"Oooh, nice." He mutters to himself as he picks up the finely crafted lute. He strums a few chords on it, and smiles at the sound.

"Ah, things are looking up. Not quite sure how much use I'll find these, however." He straps on his weapons, pulling the rapier from its scabbard and giving it an experimental swing. He nods to himself, adjusting his grip as he stabs at the shadows in the room.

More to this body that just ears then, by the looks of things. Certainly seems to know how to use a sword a bit. Useful. He sheathes the blade, and finally turns his attention to the note.

"Ooops, probably shouldn't have hung around in here so long." Astor moves quickly to the door and down the stairs to explore the rest of the building.

Johnny, Dwarven Lord of Folly Beach - Fighter 1

Johnny, looks at the note, chuckles than starts to figure out how to wear the armor. He picks up his trident and feels the heft in it. Than he grabs all of his stuff and heads downstairs.

Picking up the scrap of paper,the new Dorin Ogresplitter , looks it over and realizes that the expression its all greek to me has now a new meaning for him. Startled at first at the mouth appearing on the wall he smiles, stretches out his new form...Damn! Nice to feel things working smoothly for once.. gatheres his equipment and heads out the door.

Berethani blinks rapidly several times. Shouldn't my ceiling be white? he thinks. And where's the light fixture? For that matter, why is this blanket so scratchy?

With a start, Berethani realizes where he is and what he's done. The feeling that there's no going back now, hits him in the stomach. What have I done? I'm not ready for this! What will my family think? How will I communicate with them? Can I communicate with them?

For several minutes, Berethani sits upright in the bed, his thoughts meandering from despair to fear and finally to excitement.

"Um, hello?" Berethani says hoarsely. Clearing his throat, he tries again, "Is there anyone out there?" Hmm. My voice sounds a bit... firmer. Puzzlingly, the only response is the ruffling of feathers, as from a good-sized bird.

My familiar! Berethani surprises himself with a feeling of childlike glee. He holds out his arm, and a glossy black raven hops onto it. Jeez, that hurts! Better put on some clothes.

Berethani levers himself off the bed, dresses, and walks over to the note. Ah, that explains the lack of response. Everyone must be downstairs already. Re-reading the part about the 10,000 gold piece loan, Berethani smiles wryly to himself. I guess this world is not so different that mine -- I was in debt there and I'm already in debt here. Oh well! I probably won't last a year here anyway.

"Well, mister raven -- hmm, you need a name. Sorry about that -- I'll try to think of one. Anyway, I guess we should get going."

I am talking to a raven, Berethani thinks with amusement.

With that, he methodically collects his equipment and, holding his longspear like a walking stick, opens the door and looks out into the hallway.

Listen (+1) and Spot (+1) checks into the hallway. If it's dark, Berethani lights a torch.

Leaving your room, you notice that the halls are rather crowded, and are not noticeably darker then the rooms... you notice strange symbols set into the walls at intervals that glow enough to light the hallway; clearly a work of magic! You see many beings exiting rooms at random intervals: obviously, these are others doing much the same thing you are.

Morgan:
The stairs leading down are at the far end of the hall, and reaching them, you notice that you're almost at the top of a very large flight of stairs. It takes you about half an hour to walk down all that way, and although most of that was simple crowding, you do note that this building is quite large.

Maiu:
Walking along, you look at the symbols, abruptly realizing that not only do the symbols provide light, but that they literally mean 'Light'. You are unaware of where this knowledge has come from, and puzzle it over at you walk downstairs, eventually deciding that the Archmage's process has granted you additional knowledge in some areas.

Tyreus:
You exit into the corridor and notice the staircase is directly beside you. It's packed full, so you ask someone about the note as you wait, and receive your answer in the time it takes to get downstairs.

Kerrz:
There aren't as many people in the section you are in. Some of the doors have been boarded up, and have dire-looking symbols on them... you get the sense that those aren't rooms that you are intended to enter, nor rooms which people will be appearing in... you suppose that the Archmage was running out of rooms when you appeared. The stairs down are in somewhat poor repair, especially compared with the rest of the structure (which you notice belatedly as you travel downwards).

Jarval:
Your room was at the back end of a hall, behind which is an imposing iron door which practically radiates "Do not enter". The other direction is filled with people exiting rooms, leading to a staircase at the far end. There is practically a line to use the stairs, owing to the amount of people there, and in the time it takes you to get there, you notice multiple people leave some rooms. The stairs are similarly crowded, and it takes you about 10 minutes to reach the bottom.

Ranger Rick:
The hallway is extra crowded in your area. You have to wait a while to make any progress, but once you make it to the stairs at the end of the hall, you discover that you aren't too far from the bottom, and you get there quickly enough.

Joshua Randall:
The hallway is actually quite full, it's just that nobody cared to respond. Everyone is moving down towards the stairs, and you don't have much choice but to follow along. (to do otherwise would be exceedingly difficult!) As you go, you identify that the symbols on the wall actually mean light... which you think is important to the magic that illumiates them, and the halls. You aren't sure how it is that you know this... you guess that it has to do with whatever spell it was that the Archmage used.

Everyone:
The bottom floor is even more packed then the rest, as everyone was going this way. A mage of some sort is hovering overhead on a small flying carpet, directing traffic with shouts and illusory arrows. He sends you through a large set of arched doors into a huge auditorium, which is already partially full. Another mage is standing on a platform at the far end of the room. Once the room is full, the doors are closed, and the mage speaks.

"Welcome, everyone. I am Rymus Delarti, one of the Archmage's associates, here to fill you in on the present situation."

He casts a spell (Maiu identifies it as Silent Image, but everyone realises that it's a simple illusion) that causes a large map to appear in midair. Arrows appear periodically, pointing out various features.

"You are currently on the island of Azari, which was created by the Archmage himself to serve as a secluded base of operations. (an arrow points out an island roughly in the middle of the map, with a vast ocean surrounding it) To the west is the continent of Setna, which is now mainly poplated by Goblins, Orcs, and other savage races. (an arrow indicates a large continent west of Azari) Notable exceptions include the Humans living in Lindor, which is the last remnant of the once-great Human empire that once populated Setna... (an arrow indicates a point on Setna which is approximately due west of Azari) and also the Dwarves in Storm Keep (an arrow indicates a point deep in the mountains in the far southern half of Setna). Both are currently at war with alliances of savage races... but while the Dwarves have an amazing, nigh-impenetrable fortress deep in the mountains, the Humans just lost their last great fortress, the famed Black Tower of Lariat. It once guarded this, the pass that protected Lindor from the Orc hordes (an arrow indicates a narrow point in a mountain range that runs the length of Setna), but it fell last week to a massive assault. Fortunately, the attack resulted in the deaths of a large part of the enemy forces. Unfortunately, they are regrouping, and there is nothing at all to stop them from forcing the rest of the Humans into the sea."

The map changes, revealing a city from above. You note that there is a lot more ruins then there is city, with the inhabited parts mostly behind a large wall by the sea.

"This is the city of Lindor. It used to be much larger, but it was attacked early on in the wars, before the construction of the Black Tower, and most of it was looted and burned. It's outer walls are riddled with holes, and none of the gates still stand, and behind them is mostly ruins up to the new city, behind the new wall. This new wall is quite strong, but it won't withstand the kind of assaults the Orcs have been mounting... yet. In any event, this is the city you must protect. If it falls, both of our worlds fall. Any questions?"