Kage Tenjin
First Post
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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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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