Countless Doorways, Countless Problems (Updated 2/5)

[Kage Tenjin]

We open on a train.

The train isn't a train in the conventional sense. Then again, conventional trains can't cross planar boundaries. The Jormungander Express is a series of cabins on the back of a giant snake, winding thru the planes. It's difficult to determine the plane it's currently wandering thru, but craggy, icy mountains dominate the view outside the cabin, and inside the cabin, the view is dominated by the huddled masses, yearning to travel cheap. The furnishings consist of a series of loose chairs and throw pillows, with a few wooden pylons that people are leaning on for support as the cabin sways back and forth.

The men manning the train have been looking nervously out the window for the last hour, ever since the train crossed the border into this plane. Just as one of the passengers walks up to the man in the red uniform, to ask him what's wrong, the train shakes as the thin wooden wall of the car smashes inward, letting in a rush of ice cold air as a rock lands in the center of the cabin. The attendant clears his throat as he takes a step backward, loudly announcing " Ladies and Gentleman, we are now traveling thru Jotunheim, and if would all please read the disclaimer on your ticket." The cabin as a whole digs their tickets out and flips them over to read the small disclaimer on the back:
"The Jormungander Express is not responsible for lost articles of clothing, personal items, life, limb or soul lost while aboard. If you are reading this message:
Thank you for making your final trip with the Jormungander Express."
This bout of anger is subsumed as the creature that threw the rock climbed into the cabin of the train. Ten feet high, with icicle-blue skin as craggy as the landscape he inhabits, the ice troll entered the cabin as the screaming began.

The troll lumbers into the cabin, which has developed an imbalance as suddenly almost everyone is on the other side of the train from the hole and the troll. Remaining facing the troll is a man in a long, heavy, dark cloak with short-cropped dark hair. He places his hands in front of him with his thumbs touching and utters a sharp, clipped word. From his hands jumps a burst of flame that lands squarely in the creature's face. This has the expected effect of pissing the creature off, making the troll lean down into the man’s face and growls, giving him a nose full of icy carrion. The imminent prospect of death by sharp teeth is suddenly cut short by the impact of a large pig into the creature’s side. Distracted by the sudden serving of pork, the troll reaches down and attempts to grab the snack, missing the grab, stunned by a crossbow bolt that strikes him in the chest, fired by a man in a white traveling cloak with a holy symbol hanging around his chest.

Our heroes appear to be doing well against the troll when the world shifted. The cabin began to lean over to the side, giving the passengers a good view of what kind of stream it is that this snake swims in. It’s like looking into a kaleidoscope, made of a hundred different worlds. And all the passengers are about to be dumped into it. Unless that yellow painted box on the ground is really an emergency exit. A man with a thin face and a pair of black eyeglasses steps over the exit and tries to pull it open. As he attempts to lift, the exit doesn’t budge, and he notices that the thing is bolted shut. “Damnit!” He pulls a crowbar out that was hanging at his side and tries to pry the entrance open before he’s thrown out of the cabin. He throws his weight on to the crowbar, slowly pulling the trapdoor open, just at the floor reaches a 20º tilt and passengers start to slide out of the train into the kaleidoscope below. The exit appears to open onto a city street, dark, quiet, and currently not occupied by a troll. “Over here! Through this hatch,” the man with the eyeglasses leaps down first and readies to catch the next people thru.

The icy troll growls and sink one of his claws into the ceiling of the car as it tilts to the side. “So much for the snack, at least we have the money.” The troll laughs and swings his way out of the car, leaping to the next car and out of view. The cloaked man slams his sword into the wooden floor of the car, then leaps towards the open exit, catching it and pulling himself to his feet to help the other passengers thru, grabbing the arm of a small boy and helping him into the portal as well as the man in the white cloak with the crossbow before looking around, and seeing that he was the last one who could be saved, swung himself into the small portal just as the car reached a 60º angle.
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[Kage Tenjin]

The street is cobblestone, old an well-worn, as it the city around it. Well, probably a little closer to decrepit, but at lest it’s not a train car about to crash into a stream of planar energies. The few survivors look around at them selves and take stock of how few of their number made it thru the escape hatch, only six people out of a car full of passengers. As they take appraisal of each other, let us now describe them in some depth: The man in the dark cloak with the sword has a muscular face and build, with a chain shirt underneath his cloak that he covers with a black tunic. The man in the white traveler’s cloak with the symbol of a holy-man hanging around his neck wears a set of leather armor with the symbol of his lord etched into the leather topped by a angular face with close-cropped blonde hair. The man with the glasses is wearing strange armor and a crew cut with a beard and mustache of brown hair. The boy is about 10 or twelve years old, with blonde hair framing his face. Also thru the portal jumped another man and his servant. The man is of average height, with a slight point to his ears and a glow behind his eyes. He is dressed in nice-looking travelers clothing, and has his black hair pulled back in ponytail.

“I need a drink and a place to sleep. Unless this city is barren, there’s bound to be an inn around here somewhere. Come Randy, and the rest of you.” The man and his servant lead the group through the city, looking for an inn, well wary of the people who are following them from the shadows. They pick up their pace, and those of the company who have weapons brandish them, which seems to increase the distance that their observers are keeping. They soon locate an inn and stowing their weapons head inside. As they enter the tavern, they look around the room and marvel at the quietness, as it seems everyone is intently focused on the process of getting drunk, and nobody notices them enter the room, except for the bartender.

“One room, barkeep, and have food brought up to us.” The black-cloaked man says walking towards the stairs in the back of the common room.

“Right away, sirs,” The barkeep motions to some of the serving girls to help the guests, and shortly our company is sitting in a room lined with beds, eating a thin gruel and washing it down with cheap beer.

“I think it’s probably about time we introduced ourselves to each other, “ opens the black mage, whose cloak is lying on the bed next to him. “My name is Faust, and you all are?”

“Father Donovan, humble and willing servant of lord Lowtax,” the man in the white cloak responds, “Y’all wouldn’t happen to know and comprehend the glory of the Lord Lowtax, would you?” A ring of blank looks and shaking heads indicates not.

Pushing his glasses further up his nose and rubbing his beard, the man with the thin face introduces himself as Gordon with a clipped set of words.

“I’m Michael, “ The young boy says in-between gulps of the stew.

“I’m Randy, and this is my employer…” The boy stops as his employer clips him on the side of the head, derailing his train of thought.

“You can call me Jack.”