The Steel Curtain

Koth stumbled forward, grimacing at the soft ground as he regained his balance. He had run full tilt into the portal in the caves on Mirrodin, after staring at the strange symbol for far too long. Koth straightened up, adjusted the metal in his body, grateful that he had soaked up as much as he could before leaving his home. As he looked around at the trees, they looked very strange. They looked....hell, the only word he could come up with was soft. As he shifted his feet and relaxed his mind, he immediately noticed one crucial thing: no metal. Apparently this...verse? Was that the word? Koth glanced at the note Venser had written for him. Yes, verse was the word. Apparently this verse had no metal in it. Or at least this area, he thought optomistically. Koth glanced around, looking for other signs of life, and hopefully another who wears the same kind of ring he does.

Arterion was debating whether he was dead when he fell to a familiar feeling ground. When he opened his eyes he was more than a little disappointed. The surface of this verse felt very similar to the clouds of Aerith. It was a welcomed sensation, considering the "T-Gate" wasn't on the pillowy clouds which Arterion almost always kept on or above; but similarities ended at how the ground felt. When he looked downwards, he saw not clouds but some sort of...something, he didn't quite know how to describe it. A moment later as Arterion got up to his feet he saw a person who seemed to be covered in metal, and a girl who looked like what Milah had described as humans, the wingless inhabitants of one of the other verses. He assumed they were other travellers, not natives, and spoke up after a moment. "Greetings, fellow travelers."

Lars peeked his head out from behind a nearby tree, then withdrew in the hopes that he hadn't been spotted. After the crossing of the T-Gate, he was slightly on edge. He didn't have quite so much information or guidance as the other Travelers did. He had no idea that entering that rusty old door deep in the ruins of a forgotten city would send him through some sort of rift or wormhole and careening out into some sort of a swamp. All he had was some old diaries from his Verse's Acolyte, not the previous Traveler. He didn't know quite what to expect as there was no description of any of the other Verses or their inhabitants. As a substitute for preparedness, he chose caution. But at the same time, he couldn't hide from them completely. He knew they were all there for something important. That's what the diary said: 'The Steel Curtain chooses new Travelers when the time of their crisis arrives.' The people he saw had come out in the same spot as he did, so they must have come in a similar fashion. That had to mean they were Travelers, as well.

Straightening up, allowing himself to be revealed. He pretended he hadn't yet noticed anyone. He adjusted his jacket, then looked off quickly into the forest, then back towards the T-Gate and the other Travelers. "Oh, hello! I didn't notice any of you! How long have you been there? I got here just a few moments ago, presumably the same way you all did. There was this interesting little creature at my feet looking up at me when I regained myself. It was nothing like I had ever seen! It scampered off over here, so I followed, hoping for a closer look. It, uh...It seems to have gone now." He looked around his feet and spun around fully once before giving a very sad, yet totally genuine look before turning back to the other Travelers again. He smiled and started walking towards them, holding out a hand for a handshake to anyone who would take it hen he got close enough. "My name is Dr. Lars von Wer, but my friends just call me The Doc- OOF!" He tripped on something and tumbled over, summersaulting onto his back. Sitting up, he grinned and said "What a charming place! So wonderfully dangerous."

"Aha. Well, let's just stick with Lars for now." Lars said, smiling appreciatively as he took Arterion's hand. Once he was back on his feet, he looked around to get a good look at everyone. "I can't imagine it's been too long for anyone else. Unless they wandered off, I think I was the first one here and there was no one else here when I arrived." After spinning around on the spot, he turned back to Arterion and gratefully shook his hand. "It's very nice to meet you, by the way." He looked around at the others. "As I'm sure it will be very nice to meet all of you, once I get around to it." Realizing he was still shaking Arterion's hand, he quickly dropped it, saying "I'd offer you one of my favorite sweets, but I regrettably had to leave them in my...err...in my Verse."

Well, the previous Traveler was dead, and I had taken his place. I had been wandering around for a time, though not far enough away to lose the sound of others should they arrive near the gate, though likely out of sight. I heard them talking and chattering, and got up to move toward the sounds. It was time to get started, it seemed. I wandered back toward the gate, and saw the gathering of odd creatures chatting beneath the Silent Ones, and knew they had to be travelers, even without seeing the rings on their fingers. I had already forged a bow and thirty arrows, along with a quiver, from one of the Silent of this world; though even for what they were, they were unnaturally quiet here. I shook the thought from my head, and approached the others.

"The Mother nurture you." I said to them, taking in the odd appearance of each of them. They were strangely foreign, yet some things remained. Arms, legs, heads...there was nothing too horrific about any of them, at least not what I was expecting. I caught the name of the slime creature, and nodded. "Light shine on you, Duke. I am called Sun-Lai, and the rest of you?"

As Koth surveyed the area, taking in his surroundings, he heard the others chatting. So quick to be social, odd creatures in other verses, he thought. Koth took one last glance at the trees and the ground, judging how they would feel under his feet if they were to fight. He realised that his fighting style might have to be adjusted for this verse. Great red sun, am I going to have to invent new fighting styles for each verse? Koth rolled his shoulders and dug his feet into the ground, roughly planting them. Upon finding the ground to be too soft to properly plant on, he adjusted the metal in his body to be more streamlined than robust, and trying turning more lightly on the ground. Satisfied with his choices, he took a breath and calmed himself, getting used to the smells and sounds of the new world. Finally he turned and walked back toward where the group was gathering.

"I am Koth of the Hammer tribe, Hero of the Mountain, Whose Heart is Pure. I am the traveler of the verse of Mirrodin. If this group is willing, I say we set out to find Saint Jin, wherever he may be. I assume he would be in this verse, given that this is the one we were sent to. My acolyte and good friend Venser told me that Saint Jin is crafty, and can appear to be who he is not. My best idea is to find some measure of great conflict in these lands, as Saint Jin would so clearly create, and assess the players in that conflict. Perhaps we can uncover Sant Jin's identity and destroy him, nice and simple."

Koth sighed, his impatience getting the better of him. He looked to the winged man, sizing him up. After a second he nodded.

"Not a bad idea, perhaps facing a situation we know next to nothing about headlong isn't the most wise course of action."

Koth looked around at the gathering group, noting that more were arriving rapidly.

"Exactly how many will be a part of this group? Does anyone know for sure?"

I looked over to see the girl, newly arrived from whatever Verse she hailed from. I caught her name, Marsha, and then my attention was diverted to a harsh voice. I looked over and saw a hulking feline. This...creature was quite ferocious, and the snarled language was choppy and difficult to decipher. My hand quickly went to my quiver, and i eyed the beast warily. It appeared to be seeing us as its own kind, at least from what I remembered from what my acolyte had said to me. I was not sure how to respond to the feline, but I thought a diplomatic approach would work. Hopefully. "We are scoping the area, Great One. There is little 'meat' to be had here." I said, making something up that wasn't disagreeable. I was honestly not quite sure what this 'meat' substance was.

Koth sighed, calming himself. He was becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress, and also now at being yelled at like a subordinate. Koth decided that if he didn't have anything nice to say, he shouldn't say anything at all...and smashing the natives' heads in seemed amusing, but near-sighted. Koth decided to simply cross his arms and look down, lest he act too rashly.

Lars weighed his options carefully. Saying the wrong thing could evoke an upsetting response from this...Cat-person. It was obviously a warrior and warriors have always tended to be the 'stab first and not bother with questions later' types. At least, they seemed that way from his history books. There were few warriors where he came from. Still, it was better to be cautious, he thought. More importantly, there was a young girl here now. She looked human and didn't look like a fighter by any means. Her safety immediately had top priority in his mind. While the cat-creature was focused on the others who were talking to it or just seemed to be rather large and intimidating, compared to two humans at least, Lars ducked down and carefully crept his way over to Marsha.

When he approached her, he pressed a finger to his lips to keep her from worrying out loud and alerting anyone to what he was doing. He got very close to her ear and whispered as quietly as he possibly could "I think it would be a good idea for you and I to get somewhere a little safer, in case things get a little...err...hairy." He tried not to laugh at the unintentional pun. He made a small motion with his hand, indicating almost directly behind Marsha. "There's a thicket of trees over there we could slip into undetected. We could stay hidden until we're sure it's safe. He held out a hand for her to take so that he could help her up quietly and waited for her to take it.

The creature did not like my answer. However, after the slime creature spoke, it allowed its full fury to be known. My hand instinctively went to my quiver to noc an arrow, but then Marsha seemed to calm it with her hand. I let out a subtle sigh of relief as the ferocious creature stalked away. Marsha's words seemed to have appeased it, though for how long was anyone's guess. I walked toward where her and the Sky-Rider man were standing, in time to catch the final jab taken at the man similar in form to Marsha. "Great Mother save us..." I mumbled, already worried about what would become of such a disorganized and confused group. I glanced at the girl mention of us being 'cats', and raised a patch of bark. "Did you not know we appeared as the people that inhabit the verse?" I asked, confused as to how that very important fact would have been neglected to be mentioned by the traveler before them, at least in some kind of letter left behind. I paused for a moment, thinking, and then said "What do you think this 'Ginglor' is?"

Koth watched the cat man threaten his group, ready for action. As Marsha calmed the warrior, Koth relaxed slightly. As the cat man bounded away, Koth took a few steps in the direction he ran, looking ahead. He turned to Sun-Lai. "I'm not sure. Might be a place or a person. In either case, I think it's in this direction. When everyone is ready, I say we go that way. It's the only clue we have,"

Politely taking his hand back now that he was sure Marsha could stand on her own well enough, he straightened himself up and brushed himself off. He was glad to see that they, or more accurately Marsha, had been able to avoid engaging the first native they met in combat. When Arterion asked about helping Marsha and mentioned leaving without them, he said "Yes. No. Sorry, I'm a scientist sort of doctor, not a medical doctor." He looked over at Marsha's wrist for a second. "I can tell you, though, that there's nothing wrong with her hand. She's just got some funny joints. I'd expect she was born with them. It happens more often than most people think." Catching himself from babbling on about physical abnormalities, Lars puffed himself up a bit and said "And I wouldn't exactly call it leaving. More of a tactical retreat. If you all went and got yourselves captured, who would there be left to mount a daring rescue? Or what if these people, these...Kha don't do 'capture and imprison'? What if they jump straight to 'kill and move on'? There could be a whole patrol out here, lurking in the forest. We could've been outnumbered, for all we know. At the time, it looked like something was going to go wrong very quickly and I wanted to get our young friend here..." He motioned to Marsha "...Somewhere safe."