TDM #1: WELCOME VISITORS

[calderamods]

TDM #1

It happens in an instant. A heavy weight in your gut, a trembling of your limbs, the world spins and you barely have time to register that you're falling before you lose consciousness. And when you awaken, it's not where you were last. Dark, unadorned oak walls surround you in a tiny room, the only furniture the bed you are currently resting upon, and the bedside table with a folded piece of parchment resting atop it that simply reads:

“The Tavernkeeper is awaiting your arrival downstairs.”

As you exit you find others like yourself emerging from the surrounding rooms. You are indeed in a tavern, but there is no hustle and bustle one might think to hear in such a place. The only person down on the main floor is a humanoid figure wiping down the bar, who smiles when they see you. They're familiar, but not, and you can't quite place their face. For some reason, however, their presence is comforting and warm.

“Welcome, Visitor. I'm sure you have a lot of questions.”

And you most certainly do.

SIT, STAY A WHILE

The Tavernkeeper offers more than just answers. This is a tavern after all, and what is a tavern without drinks?

"I know just what you need." They say, giving you little time to reply before some manner of drink (alcoholic or not) is set before you.

DRINK MENU

PEOPLE SKILLS: A deceptively simple looking cocktail that when imbibed makes one feel very social. Time to make friends and influence people!

A SPOT OF COURAGE: a tasty concoction so nice on the tongue it loosens it up. You suddenly want to reveal something about yourself!

SKY HIGH: a fizzy blue drink billowing with white smoke and served with a lemon slice as a garnish. It has been known to make the drinker giggly and sometimes even float a few feet off the ground.

CRYING FROG: a swirling bright green drink that makes you want to cry - or is it something else about this place that just makes you want to tear up…

SHARING IS CARING: a large, delicious frozen concoction that comes with two straws. You can't finish it alone! (No, like, you quite literally can't finish it alone.)

52 PICKUP: It's just whiskey. But for some reason it really puts you in the mood for cards, or a game of mahjong, maybe a couple rounds of checkers

QUICKSAND: The thickest chocolate milkshake you've ever had. The flavour is rich and delicious, but it moves like concrete. Sucking it up the straw takes effort. Makes the drinker mellow and lethargic. It's all good, man. Don't worry, be happy.

BEER: Beer? I thought you said bear! (animal transformation)

SEX ON THE BEACH: literally just sex on the beach, but also an aphrodisiac. Have fun! (The rooms upstairs are still open, for the record…)

CHOOSE YOUR DESTINY

As the effects of your drink wear off, the Tavernkeeper speaks once more:

”It is time, my friends, for you to find your new homes.”

You are compelled to walk through the only door leading out of the tavern, finding yourself not outside, but in a deep black, seemingly endless room with five portals arranged in a circle. As the last of you leave and the door closes behind you, gone when you look back again and replaced with nothing but that black void, three of the portals illuminate:

The first portal is surrounded by an almost blinding light, prismatic rainbows shining brightly in the dewy air outside of the tavern. A soft breeze may gently caress you, pulling you toward it. The portal seems to lead to a city in the clouds, airships and winged beings of all sorts soaring through the skies. Of the little bits of visible land, much of it boasts giant waterfalls that look like clouds melting into the land below. The portal calls to those who crave independence and freedom; and especially to anyone that wishes to find the strong bond of a family not forged in blood.

The second portal is encircled by a fairy ring of spotted white capped mushrooms, the faint scent of damp stone and rich earth wafting from within the faint green glow. Peering inside, one can see a sprawling harbor city of gray hewn stone, a melting pot of humanoid beings going about their day, and beyond, rolling green farmland and cottages clustered in small villages. This portal is destined for those who crave stability and solid ground beneath their feet. A simple life, an adventurous one, and everything in between can be found within.

The last portal is adorned with shells and seaweed, the glow of blue around it catching on droplets cascading down the circular opening. Beyond it you see a city housed inside a massive bubble deep under the ocean, spiraling towers encrusted with coral, and a variety of different creatures mingling about the streets. Outside of that bubble, merfolk swim, a massive squid engulfs the view from the portal as it smoothly glides through the water, and schools of fish disperse as it passes. A sanctuary in the sea that calls to those with a hunger for knowledge and a desire to aid those in need. Or perhaps it is the mystery that beckons you - the lure of the unknown in the depths that bids you explore it.

A NEW NORMAL

Upon following the pull of the breeze through the first portal, you are thrust into the beauty of a lively city that goes by the name of Heaven's Bow. Much of this main city feels exactly as you would expect on a city below, but there are clouds surrounding every direction you look. The walls of buildings are made with light-colored limestone, and buildings are generally built up to heights made even more grandiose by their position in the sky.

The Skyfall Docks are the first thing you notice, boasting hundreds of airships sailing in and out across the clouds with shouts that accompany a typical port city. Just outside is a fantastic market with goods not only from the other regions of Caldera, but from what some shopkeepers claim are other worlds--items sold or left behind by Visitors. Almost anything can be found in the markets if one is willing to look hard enough. Transport to other locations throughout the sky and even to the land or sea can be found here.

If the docks are too lively for you, you may instead find yourself roaming the underbelly of Heaven's Bow and finding brothels and gambling parlors filled with the promise of pleasure and fortune. The guild house for the Sylphs can be found here as well, giving out quests and training to prospective adventurers and guards alike--though none of them seem concerned with the illicit activities that surround them. Perhaps the freedom the Sylphs boast of extends to what others may deem an undesirable activity.

But most curious of all, you find a shimmering opal gemstone in your hand. When placed anywhere on the body, it will transform into a piece of jewelry with the gemstone set in the center.

---

If it was the second portal that called to you, you will find yourself in the busy city of Grey Ward, with its cobblestone streets and sturdy grey stone buildings. You are in the heart of the city, the Glass Market, so named for the colorful stained glass windows of the surrounding buildings. The scent of cooking food and the sound of barkers fills the air; watchful guards keep an eye out for pickpockets and thieves, and citizens go about their day. From here, one can investigate the rest of the city: the Sundown Docks, where both sea and sky faring skips transport people and goods. The Soot Spire, home of inventors and engineers. The Hearthstill, the main residential area. The Downs, a smaller residential area for those with less means.

Outside the city walls, one can explore acres of farmlands to the east and west, or follow Terra’s Pass to the less settled areas, but take care. Past the Skyward Range, out in the smaller burrows and villages, the influence of the city guard diminishes quickly, and you’ll have to keep your wits about you. Bandits along the road are always a risk, and the wildlife are less controlled by regimented hunting.

In your hand is a gemstone, a brilliantly green emerald that, when placed anywhere on the body, will transform into a piece of jewelry with the gemstone set in the center.

---

If the last portal beckoned you through it, you find yourself within that bubble covered city beneath the sea, the city of Salt Spire. Your ears pop with the change in pressure, and the smell of the salty sea fills your nostrils. All around you buildings made of dark stone encrusted with coral and seagrass tower high above your head, the backdrop outside the dome a deep blue, seemingly endless sea filled with fish and merfolk and all other manner of creature swimming through the water. You stand in the heart of it all, surrounded by people with gils on their necks and scales upon their vibrantly colored skin, all of whom seem intrigued by your arrival. You have many options of where to visit in the city under the sea, but where oh where will you go first?

The Salt Spire Library is right before you, an impossibly large building housing thousands upon thousands of books of all genres. Fiction, non-fiction, romance and mystery and all between. You may even find books from your world and others! Oddly enough though, no Calderan history books are to be found, and if you ask for them, the librarians and locals all choose to ignore your questions.

If scholarly pursuits aren't to your interest currently, perhaps a trip to Bluetide Market would be more your style? The marketplace is host to every manner of shop one might ever need: artisans of all varieties, apothecaries and healers in the Shimmer Quarter, the most in fashion undersea clothing shops, food stalls, and all between can be found in Bluetide. There are also the Tideshore and Fogbottom docks on either end of the city. The former allows transport to the surface via large, magical bubbles for those that cannot hold their breath or make the swim themselves yet. The latter allows people to venture further into the sea. Those without their underwater abilities are offered rebreathers for travel that last for four hours before needing to be replaced.

In your hand is a gemstone, a shining sapphire that, when placed anywhere on the body, will transform into a piece of jewelry with the gemstone set in the center.

---

Visitors in all starter cities are offered a standard home with basic necessities provided (your choice in design, etc.) that can house 1-4 people if they so choose. Home upgrades can be purchased via rewards.

THE QUESTBOARD

Settled in? Good. It's time to make your way to the Questboard located in every city in numerous, easy to access locations. That is, if you want to make any kind of impact on the world or just get some Bones for anything you might wish to purchase. Visitors are given a very small stipend in which to survive every month, but all it does is keep you fed and housed. These quests will assure you greater wealth, and they're the main reason you're here: each finished quest helps the Calderans fix their shattering world.

Quests can be accepted at the questboard via magically signed parchment upon the board. Just sign your name to accept and the paper will be whisked away... somewhere. You're not actually sure. Probably nothing to concern yourself with.

Once quests are completed, earned Bones will be dropped off at the character's residence by Bonita, the mysterious artisan who has supposedly handcrafted every Bone circulating in Caldera. Please do not speak to her, she startles easily.

OOC

Welcome to Caldera's first TDM! All characters awaken in a strange tavern with nothing save the clothes on their backs, all of their powers stripped, and a piece of parchment directing them downstairs to the Tavernkeeper. There is a thread of all questions answered by the Tavernkeeper here, and if you have more, feel free to ask there for what would be offered ICly. For OOC questions, please direct them here.

All locations are available to be explored! Please mind that it is an active work in progress and will hopefully be finalized by June 8th.

We are looking at an opening date of July 1st with reserves opening on June 28th and and applications on opening day.

The TDM is game canon and all completed quests can be carried over once accepted into the game.

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Comments

palamedes sextus | the locked tomb | undine probably

[megatheorem]

arrival/tavern

Beg pardon, excuse me—hi. Palamedes. Can I ask, which drink do you have there?

[Hi. It's Palamedes. He approaches just about anyone who doesn't look like they'll bite his head off (and maybe some who do, just for data's sake), a drink of his own in hand, probably unsampled? It's hard to tell, but it looks like a full glass of whatever it is.

He considers, glancing away with a pursed-lips pause before he seems to immediately change his mind, ahem:]

Actually, don't tell me. They've got tricks, haven't they? I'm interested in the predictability of what these drinks do to a mind based on visual cues. What do you say?

[Help him... do drink experiments...? Yes, that is the question.]

portals

[Honestly, the dull press of empty void is far more familiar to Palamedes than a cozy little tavern. He perks up considerably after noticing the door into the tavern has disappeared behind him, turning back to investigate the portals with more pep in his step. This place has already taken his necromancy from him, and while half of his mind turns restlessly about that, that still leaves the rest to love a little mystery.

So. Investigating. He knows better than to just reach out and touch the portals - without his abilities, that is, because with them in hand he'd have already put his hands all over the dang place - but he still raises a curious index finger to trace just above the edge of each portal, pointedly not actually touching it.

The sky portal and the sea portal draw his attention more than the one in the middle, which he takes a step back from with a sort of polite refusal, like the portal is watching. To whoever's come into the portal room with him, brightly:]

God, no—absolutely not for me. What are you thinking? I'd love to pick a few brains before being on my way. It only seems appropriate, if we're really to consider these our new homes.

[And in a bit, as he wanders over to the shelled and seaweeded portal again:] Quite the marvel of engineering, isn't it? All the way down there.

[...and a big ol' squid swims past:]

What the profound fuck is that thing?

quests (pearl, mermaid)

[There's a moment when Palamedes first hears "bones" that he assumes something very different about the currency (and honestly a lot more exciting). The truth is less interesting, but quests... well, he's intrigued. That's very quaint, isn't it? He's never done a proper quest before, outdoors and without a grade attached—

He's enamored with the Salt Spire in general, so throwing his hat into that particular ring, he can be found:

I. Trying to bust open oysters, which is going—poorly. He's a stick with glasses and he no longer has any of the special powers that made his weak little stick body mostly functional, which is to say: he cannot open even the littlest oyster with his hands. He tries.

He drops the first one. He drops the next one someone tosses to him too, in the sense that it just kind of hits him in the fingers and falls. Stooping to pick it up, he says:]

I think the shells are doing this on purpose to spite me.

[Or II. Loitering around the shore, gathering what information he can about Ariella and her beloved. Every ounce of his being is committed to getting these lovebirds their happy ending, but like, in a calm and collected way. He's being very normal about it, other than the moments he briefly stares out at the water yearningly.

He gestures someone over to engage in this critically important debate.]

In matters of the heart, there has never been a less impartial judge than me. What I'd like to know is why the other woman hasn't considered a life at sea.

[Seems unbalanced!!]

misc/wildcard

[hey hey hey. pal likes to go everywhere and touch everything, so if you want to do a different quest, hmu and we'll make it happen!]

portals

[thesunreturns]

[It's probably a good thing that Pal is currently missing his necromancy, as an immortal fae would pick up as Deeply Weird -- fae bodies don't even naturally decay when they are killed. In the mean time, Simon just looks like a 20-something adult with pointed ears and improbably bright red hair and gold eyes and the player just realized that someone from Pal's canon shares that color combination when typing this out.]

A squid? Are you from a particularly land-locked part of the world?

[It is a very large squid, admittedly.]

[megatheorem]

[Good or deeply tragic, because Palamedes would love to get into the nitty gritty of Deeply Weird under the right circumstances-- but, later, maybe. It's true that the familiarity of that particular visual combination gives him a moment's pause when he fully looks at his new conversation partner, and there's something a touch mournful in his expression, until he pulls it back down to muted wonder about the big-ass sea creature.

Just look at it. Wowza.]

Which one? [He gestures at the sheer amount of Sea beyond the portal,] I've only ever seen this much liquid water in one place one time, and only from a considerable distance. So: yes, very much so. I'd wager you aren't.

[thesunreturns]

Which squid?

I have spent the last year living under the ocean, and the last two hundred living by the sea.

[Just dropping that into the conversation like it's not a thing.]

[megatheorem]

No; which world. Put a pin in that, though— You're over two hundred years old?

[Watch as he immediately loses interest in the squid, idly flexing his fingers at his side for reasons that are entirely ethical and can't be acted upon anyway. This is nothing but anti-necromancer discrimination, ugh...]

How?

[thesunreturns]

I'm a fae. Daoine sidhe. Which I can't exactly conceal at the moment, so I am fortunate that anyone who would take issue with me telling you that is not here.

[And, look, they are staring at a magical portal; only people with a grudge and an interest in twisting rules to harm people are going to care that Simon just told a human about Faerie. Because if this one didn't know about the supernatural, he sure does now, and he might not even be from Simon's Earth.]

pearls

[mehanizovati]

[what a shock the nerds are drawn to the salt spire. then again the sea itself is something viktor finds himself drawn to, nostalgic- baffling too, to smell what sea air is when it doesn't come with a heavy, chemical undertone.

the sea life is so dainty too. charming, one might say. certainly less... bulbous and glowing.

the strange young man fumbling with clams is far more what he's used too from back home. scrawny, sickly looking in certain lights. viktor rests against his cane, both hands atop it. it's a wooden thing, nothing like what he's used to. he thinks jayce would say he looks like a mage of old if only he had a proper cloak and hat.]

Oh, I would certainly say so. The entire evolutionary process of forming a shell has been waiting for you and this very moment. All to thwart you.

[so dry. he remembers himself enough to offer a quirk of his lips to indicate humor and not mockery. maybe he shouldn't lower his social guard but recent events have exhausted him on placid niceties.]

[megatheorem]

[Oh, he has a captive audience for his fumbling, and his audience has jokes. Luckily Palamedes is used to the bone-dry (ha), tragically humorless attitude of half the Sixth and, frankly, half the Empire, so that little lip quirk is about as loud as a real laugh, comparatively.

He will laugh, instead, and shake out his hand after getting bonked with a shell.]

Well, if you agree... [confirmed. stamped. real.] Should I be flattered or file a complaint?

[Watch in awe as he continues to fumble ineffectually at this oyster. It won't open.]

[mehanizovati]

[good humor is promising. viktor watches, tilting his head a moment after as if seriously considering this very important decision on pal's honor.]

Eh, flattery comes with less paperwork.

[this is quite the show, truly a man who didn't live a space bunker all his life with little understanding of shellfish. after a moment viktor takes a few steps forward, glancing over the oysters and their war against pal's valiant attempts.]

Is this meant to be your lunch? You would have more luck steaming them.

[megatheorem]

That's a salient point. I'm flattered, then, but only to be polite.

[Because he is... Struggling (tm). Maybe he can wiggle a thumb nail into the seam, he'll try that--]

No, there was— [He does a little shoulder wiggle, since his hands are busy, vaguely indicating the direction of The Questboard.]

Someone needs pearls for their anniversary, and I've been told I'm sentimental. Putting two and two together and here we are.

[mehanizovati]

I'm sure they'll appreciate that after the systematic dissections.

[well, now he's vaguely invested in whatever is happening here. better than aimless wandering, not quite as good as mulling the library here, about the same as grilling the natives. maybe a little better, this oyster enthusiast is amusing.]

Ah. Well, steaming may still be the better option. You do not waste the food and they will open without harming yourself.

arrival/tavern

[lonelynotforsaken]

Oh. Um...

[He's about to answer with regard to the name of the drink, but gets cut off. The large, bedraggled-looking man has sequestered himself in a corner, hoping to avoid notice while he watches the rest of the room. A milkshake is an indulgence he hasn't had in a very long time. Or what feels like a long time when time has just stopped working.

But then he'd wanted to get up to use the toilet and... couldn't. Martin is coming to realize that he can't leave this drink until it's finished, and he's had about as much as he can manage. It seems like it keeps refilling itself, and he's starting to get a little desperate.]

I mean, are you sure I can't just tell you? It- [How does he pitch this without looking like a complete weirdo?] You-you should try it! It's really... tasty?

[Probably not like that.]

[megatheorem]

[For a moment Palamedes looks a little disappointed, noooo don't tell him, don't spoil it-- but he perks up again at the... prospect of sharing?

Alright, baby steps. He really should be writing something down.]

Is that why you haven't finished it?

[Respectfully sir, that's a full glass. Palamedes gestures at the nearest vacant seat.]

May I? I'd love to hear more about the nuances of how tasty it is.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[Martin manages not to bless the kind stranger in his relief that he'll escape this milkshake hell. Or nosey and scientific stranger. All qualities are acceptable if this man will just drink the damn milkshake.]

Yeah! Yes. Please. Sitting, I mean. The milkshake's, uh... it's just a lot, you know?

[His motions are stiff, tense as he is with the desire to get up and move along with his natural anxiety being in a crowded space like this. It's so much louder than he's used to. Martin adjusts his glasses, which look to be cracked at one edge, then his gray hoodie, stained down the chest with what might well be an alarming amount of (possibly) blood for most people.]

I'm Martin, by the way. Guessing you just woke up, too?

[His accent is English, something from the north that's tempered by many years in the London area. He says all this while non-too-subtly pushing the drink toward his new companion.]

[megatheorem]

[Palamedes nods as he takes his seat, as if milkshakes being a lot are just a fact of life he's totally accepted. They are, absolutely—an obscene amount of texture for a drink, in his opinion, but for the sake of his research he will try this one. Why not.

He glances at the bloodstain and says nothing at all, as if that, too, is just how things are sometimes.]

Somehow, yes. I'm Palamedes. It's a shame about your glasses. [Earnest... His own accent is hard to place, maybe a touch New Zealander but a couple of degrees removed. He reaches for the milkshake.

....Boy, does he not like milkshakes. Alright. Here goes a whole sip, deeply concentrating.]

—God, that can't be good for the body.

arrival;

[shotgunenthusiast]

Oh, hello.

[ It's a novel experience for someone who is dressed as a waitress to be waited on. She did initially try to walk behind the bar to serve people but has since been regulated to sitting in her own chair. Rose put her hands up in an "oh, you, okay, guess you win" type gesture.

She smiles - the corners of her mouth twist into a confused smile as she listens to the man speak. There is a dull light that enters and exits her eyes but it's all well and good. Rose knows what this is: Alan's writing a story. They're just pieces in it. Like always. A comfortable feeling in knowing that even if nothing makes sense that makes sense. ]

Well, nice to meet you, Palamedes. I'm Rose. [ She lightly pats the front of her chest. ] Most boys ask to buy a drink, but since these drinks are free and I guess what we need says the 'tender, you're just hoppin' right to the wishing and hoping as you watch a girl drink.

So, I don't mind. At least you ask. Makes you less creepy than just watching.

[megatheorem]

[Oh, that is—absolutely a lot of assumptions all in a row, and admittedly of the understandable sort... Palamedes doesn't fluster, at least, shaking his head lightly with a brief chuckle.]

I assure you, Rose, my intentions are purely scientific. Maybe social. I don't actually drink on a regular basis, so I may need someone to peel me off the floor if I misjudge my limits.

[Not that he's, like, asking or anything. But fair warning. After a beat he glances politely to the side rather than indulge his habit of Maintaining Serious Eye Contact, just in case that is creepy. Ahem.]

Do you believe that the drinks are "what we need," whatever that means?

[shotgunenthusiast]

I'm fully assured! [ She cants her head to the side with a wide, friendly smile in return for his response. ] Don't worry. I could carry you. I may not look it, but I'm pretty good at carrying bodies.

[ Her head bobs side-to-side at the words "pretty good" which she says in a sing-song manner. ]

People get a little tipsy around the diner I work at - or, I guess, worked at? - and I'd have to help carry them to somewhere safe. You know how it is. [ Rose pauses to think on the question about what she believes. Well, she believes if she's spirited off to some place and that place has someone who says the drinks are what she needs that they probably are. ]

Well, of course, I mean, it'd be pretty silly of the person writing this scenario if the individual giving out the drinks weren't what we needed. Though I guess we could say that it'd be for the drama if they weren't, but that'd be a lot of drama to generate. [ She makes a waving gesture to the other patrons. ] It'd become just bad business and bad storytelling at that point, don't you think?

[megatheorem]

[He huffs out a little laugh and a hum, like, he's pretty sure anyone with the means to lift a person could carry him - he's all but hollow-boned, thin as he is. Double-fully-assured, then; if he passes out from mystery drinks, it'll be fine.]

I think there's definitely a psychological element to telling a bunch of strangers in a strange land that they're serving whatever we need, here. There has to be a certain amount of buy-in from us, don't you think? If I were more cynical, I wouldn't be having it.

[Not that he's actually taken a sip of his drink yet, but he's getting there. He holds it up to look at it, squinting critically.]

That said, I'm also fairly certain that there's a supplemental chemical element. That's what I'm trying to figure out: if the chemical element can be ascertained without a full set of lab equipment. At least in terms of how quickly someone like me will be on the floor, that is.

[A beat.] Sorry, looping back around: what do you mean, "writing this scenario"?

Little Mermaid~

[conradachenleck]

[This whole quest didn't really make sense to him. How is he supposed to influence someone's love life? But he is a romantic at heart, so he signed up for this and here he is. The mermaid's choice seems obvious to him, so maybe it won't be too hard to urge her to choose her love?

But Conrad is busy stewing in self doubt when he notices someone else looking out over the waves. He takes a moment to do a double-take when the stranger seems to call him over, but he obliges, albeit reluctantly... and a slightly puzzled expression comes over his face.

Did he make a rhyme on purpose?]

Oh, you're talking about the- Right. That's a good point. Uhm. Maybe she gets seasick?

[megatheorem]

[He did not make a rhyme on purpose, but maybe he will next time, and it'll be much sillier. Right now he's very seriously considering the relationship of these two strangers - and not trying to think about how much business any of them have in getting involved, as it were. It was a request, so...

He looks at his new companion, eyebrows raised. Seasick, huh.]

There are corrective measures for that. [Well, for people who still have access to their innate abilities, buuuut--] Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking sides—yet. I'd just hate to push either of them into irrevocable decisions without considering every possible angle.

What do you think?

[conradachenleck]

[Conrad has to shrug a little. He just came up with an excuse off the cuff. Can elves get seasick? Who knows? His eyes wander back over the water as he tries to come up with a better reason, but his gaze snaps back into focus as he's asked for his opinion.]

I guess- Ah. [Really, he's looking a little taken off guard that someone would wonder what he thinks. He runs a hand along the back of his neck and sucks his lone fang under his lip as he takes a moment to gather his thoughts.]

Well, nobody should be trapped in an arranged marriage. So it's rather obvious to me that the best option is for this mermaid and elf to live a life on land.

[A pause.]

And, anyway... I can't say I'd even want to hang around my family if they didn't want me to be with the one I was actually in love with and preferred I be stuck in a loveless relationship for whatever reason.

[megatheorem]

[Palamedes cants his head to one side, weighing these new opinions. If he notices the other man seems a little awkward about sharing, he doesn't point it out.]

Salient point. Actual marriage has always been less of a concern in my family than reproductive progress, so I couldn't say I know what working under that kind of pressure is like.

[Not that he didn't still cause a few minor scandals himself, trying to marry the wrong person, but that was different.]

Extrapolating from the details we were given, it doesn't sound like she wants to break all ties with her family, either... Perhaps we're going about this all wrong. Convincing the family to drop the betrothal could be the better play.

[Sigh!] I'm just spitballing, at this point.

Portals

[inherlight]

[Palamedes wasn't the only one standing within the portal chamber. Though standing a few paces behind the man, he might not have seen the drow peering over his shoulder at the underwater gateway he was examining. She too felt a slight pull of a thread, gently tugging her closer. But there was hesitation in her eyes. Peering into the deep blues of the sea, there was a haunting familiar sense of a home she had turned her back on, the Underdark.

Koh didn't have much time to dwell on her thoughts as a rather large squid glided past the portal, giving the gentleman in front of her a little jump scare. A ghost of a smile crept onto her lips as she walked up to stand just beside him, her eyes fixed staring out into the ocean.]

Well, I'm not an expert on the matter but I have read about krakens. And if I have to put an image to the description... that would be it.

[megatheorem]

[Palamedes leans closer to the portal, craning his neck to try and watch the squid going past. Enclosed spaces like a city underwater, that he can handle; that's rather comforting, as places to enter portals to go, but a big animal? A big creature of any kind, that isn't crafted by a human hand and mostly made out of bone?

Weird! Wild! He's trying to get as close to the portal as he can without shoving his head through, hand braced on the side, glancing to the side when he hears her response. Oh!]

Have you? I've heard the term, but not with much context; and nothing that compares to seeing something that large in person.

["Kraken" is a word in a footnote in an ancient library, years and years removed from Palamedes trying to fathom what an ocean really looks like.]

How long do you suppose it is? Meters, obviously, but how many?