"I've been trying to talk Frank down from going all BBEG on these NPC's.  Anyway, like I've said we've been doing some training to become adventurers, because it turns out that getting a job is not the road to riches.  Even for me.  Have you guys been doing any of that sweet sweet adventuring?  Where we landed we had a mage test us for magic, but no dice.  Maybe you can't be magic if you come from our world.  Unless you guys got some?"

“Yeah actually, half of us do. Not me though, I’ve got, like, the Kung Fu Panda starter package” he grumbled “Big fat guy gets kung fu powers but sucks at kung fu” he threw up his hands. “You think this Western European ass fantasy castle has any warrior monks? Any wise sensei? Nope. I tried to punch a Warg, like a full on horse sized Warg, it was like punching a furry rhino, didn’t do a damn thing.” he vented, clearly somewhat exasperated.

“Ive been learning and studying about Saint Cuthbert and how he went around laying down the law with his mace, but my powers say Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it’s like I’m mixing genres over here”

A memory from way back in his past shot through Jonny's brain, triggered by Frank's assessment of what they'd been doing all along - B2: Keep on the Borderlands. Of course, Jonny had only just returned to D&D after years away from the game, but he had played enough in his youth to recognise the name of the seminal module, one he had played countless times back then. This was that??

"Whoa. Have to say, I did wonder - the Keep, usual stuff inside, a network of caves a way off...but I didn't remember what the keep was like inside, the commons area for pitching tents wasn't anything I expected, so I shrugged it off. But now that you mention it, it all fits together. Damn.

Sounds like you've been doing better than we have. A goddess? What was she like? I mean, Bee Man was just like some hermit who..."

Another pulse across the brain, and suddenly Mr Cool was nerding out.

"The hermit! There's a hermit in B2, isn't there? Man, that must be Bee Man! Holy shit!"

Laughing and shaking his head Jonny decided to take a seat, before the waves of revelation knocked him flat.

"As his name suggests, Bee Man looks after bees and other stuff in the woods. He fed us some nutritious honey concoction until we could get on our feet, gave us a number of pointers and once we were ready gave us each a pouch of coin and directed us here. Our clothes were almost falling off us by then, so we found what work we could right away so we didn't die of starvation or exposure - and you're right, Simon, there's no path to riches there: for the first few months working in the tavern all I got was my meals and a roof over my head, but beggars can't be choosers and all that. Vik disappeared at some point around then, but he'd been pretty quiet ever since we got here, so maybe it was just too much for him to take in.

We haven't heard about any merchant looking to buy stuff from Earth, but we haven't been looking and as I said, by the time we got here we just looked like bums from some far-off land...which is technically true, I guess. We didn't look that different to the locals, certainly not like people from another dimension. We also had no idea who brought us here, and goddesses seem to be thin on the ground around these parts. Our Common has come along but if you can speak like natives then you're ahead of where we are - we did get some teaching, but we weren't exactly flush with cash to get the full package, if you get what I mean? But that shouldn't be a problem now: if you guys...Simon...can coach us up as we go, we'll learn a lot faster, and for free.

We did go adventuring, to the caves...of Chaos? Mouse, the hobbit, helped us get set up, and a few of the locals volunteered to come along - Dubricus, a young wizard who was also teaching us Common; Jess, the barmaid who happened to be a thief; and Brother Martin, priest of St Cuthbert, without whose healing skills we'd probably all be dead by now. We took out a bunch of goblins, a few hobgoblins and a worg, mainly thanks to timely spells, Ken's fists and some nice spear work. We got just enough out of it to make it worthwhile, but man, we were so bad at fighting, so hopefully we've learned enough to help us going forward.

Now, Frank - Simon said you were focused on 'something else', what was that? Richard and James have some magic ability, somehow, and Fists of Fury here has some power in his hands like he said. I...I've picked up some telekinetic power, though I struggle to make it work when anyone's around, to this point, so I guess I really need to practice. It looks like we all have something...special...about us now. I'm also the face of our little band, the spokesman, and for better or worse I've been calling the shots - we're all still alive at least, so that must count for something. I guess I also fill the role of the Rogue - one of the guys has me down as a Bard, but I'm not so sure."

Jonny smiled a little ruefully and shrugged, their story to this point nearly complete.

"Anyways, there was a festival here just the other week, people came from all around. Ken entering the boxing competition, thinking that betting on himself could win us some badly-needed coin...but he managed to accidentally activate his Flaming Fists during the fight and really hurt the guy he was fighting. That brought us some attention we could have done without, no fault of Ken's, and on top of that - after our trip to the Caves - the remaining goblins are apparently getting closer to the Keep and looking for revenge. So, things are getting a little hot around here and Mouse told us we have over-stayed our welcome and need to move on, and with his help we were planning on taking the caravan out of here to wherever it happens to be going. Somewhere else in the...Yeomanry, right? Do you guys have an idea where to go beyond that"

"Sorry, what?" Frank asked. "My social-media-addled brain only allows me to take in small bites of information at a time, could you summarize?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Thu 18 Apr.

"That was the summary. I'm sure Simon can straighten you out with any queries, or we can figure it out as we go."

Jonny's smile never changed.

"Wait, you all got something magical?"  For a moment Simon looked oddly satisfied, like he'd just heard something that reinforced his worldview, or that made the world a better place than he thought it was.  He nodded to himself, a small smile on his face, and then moved on.  "We should definitely share skills, and figure out how to best use them to get what we need.  Organize ourselves into a party.  Before even that, we should figure out where we're going.  Frank?  Some place with potential for some low levels to make something of themselves?"

"But okay, next steps... my goal is to get home. I've got the store, I've got family, I've got friends... all stereotypes to the contrary, I've got a life and I've got a lot of irons I've left in a lot of fires. I'm a grown-ass adult and escapism is fun but I don't want to give up indoor plumbing and human rights to play in Gygaxian Narnia."

"No shade on those of you who were losers with nothing to lose in the real world." He tried, with his tone, to make it clear that he was kidding. "Maybe you want to play adventurer, or just settle down on a pig farm and raise a strong peasant family, but either way my suggestion would be to head back East, maybe to Keoland. Yeomanry is kind of a bumpkin backwater, but back East you'll find more job opportunities, adventure hooks, and wizards who might have some insight into what's happened to us and how we might be able to get back to the land of toothbrushes, podcasts, and antibiotics."

This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Thu 18 Apr.

James nods at Jonny's and Simon's words.

"Something magical, or a skill or ability of some sort, yes. Didn't you?"

Jonny would be surprised if Simon and Frank hadn't picked up something. But then Frank spoke of his goals, and how he wanted/needed to get back home - you would have had to look really, really hard to notice any change in Jonny's demeanor, but his friends knew him as basically a loser with nothing to lose in the real world, so what did he think about that? Jonny wasn't saying, and he didn't flinch of acknowledge the statement other than to say...

"It's as good a plan as any. Let's get the caravan out of here and go from there."

Ken also did not react strongly to the desires to head home, but he did see the value in getting on the road while they still good. He had said his goodbyes to Abercrombie and had his few possessions with him as he prepared to set off.

“Need to pick your brain at some point Frank, on who might teach unarmed fighting in the setting. If you have the time.”

James' spear practise while Richard healed shows as he twirls it one-handed when returning with his go bag.

"You mean like Monks?" Frank asked Ken. "Monks are fraught. They weren't a great fit in 1st edition DnD, so they were basically written out during the shift to 2nd edition until the Scarlet Brotherhood book came out. I don't remember what the rationale was for their disappearance and reappearance, but they either vanish back to fictional China or just lose their monk-skills. Assassins, too."

"As far as I've been able to discern the Greyhawk Wars haven't happened yet, so we're *probably* in first ed?"

Simon muttered to Frank, not trying not to be overheard so much as just talking directly to him, "So this Keoland, is it like the big city?  We came from Magical North Korea, and this is what, like rural Kansas, and Keoland is more of a first world problem?  Maybe we should stay in less developed countries, to keep our heads down and so prices are lower.  If we have to pay a fee or something to enter a city, or they're organized enough to charge taxes, we're going to run out of money pretty quick.  We do need to get our skills up to snuff before we go adventuring, and that means we need a place to live and food to eat."  He shrugged, "I don't know.  Developed nations will be where the wizards are, I know.  I did ok before with a job, but I misread the social stigma, and wore out my welcome.  Hopefully it won't be that way everywhere."

Then he turned to the others, "So my role in the group. I'm good with learning languages, and I'm good with people."  He frowned at Jonny, "I used to be the pretty one."

"Like I said I can speak Common like a native, and I'll do my best to teach the rest of you, although maybe you should focus on your fighting and magic instead.  I'd be fine translating until you pick the language up on your own more naturally, and if we could adventure and earn gold, that would solve a lot of problems for us.  I'm learning the sword, and I can use a spear and my crossbow.  I've done a little unarmed training, Krav Maga, but I know enough to know I'm pretty bad.  I don't have any magic as far as I know, so I'm going to train with weapons, and when we can afford it, armor."

Ken chuckled darkly as Frank seemed to infer that Monks were inherently problematic. "Yeah, that checks out....figures I'd get the power that workss with the class they took away."

But the rest of the conversation seemed to lose him along the way. "So...you sound like the expert. What's the Scarlet Brotherhood? And what are the Greyhawk Wars?" he asked as he arranged his few possessions for the road.

He also listened to Simon and seemed to appreciate his language learning ability if the nodding of his head was any indication.

"Nah, man Keoland is pretty much "generic fantasy kingdom." It's where we're going to find a bunch of low-level dungeons to plunder."

"Scarlet Brotherhood is a secret society of monks that rules an ethnostate of the same name. I don't know if I'd call them evil, but they are basically like the monk CIA. So yeah I guess that makes them evil. Greyhawk Wars are something they capitalize on pretty big, but they didn't start them - that was an evil demigod, and they're basically the equivalent of a fantasy World War. All the nations of the Flanaess - that's this half of the continent - throw down and a lot try to take advantage to gobble up their neighbors."

"I was wondering what it would be like to try and find out information in a world like this where there's no Google, but thankfully whoever brought us here was smart enough to bring our own walking encyclopedia!"

Jonny grinned at Frank and shook his head, rather surprised at the latter's game knowledge - Young Jonny had been a lot like that, but...that was a long time ago. He moved on quickly.

"Monks I remember, the Greyhawk Wars were obviously after my time. But that does beg the question...where in the time scale are we? Have we been brought here to do something about the Wars, whether its help one side or foil another, or put a stop to them altogether? I don't know, maybe someone just brought us here for kicks, I'm just throwing out thoughts."

He turned his attention back to Simon.

"Languages? Excellent. And you can never have enough people...people. Other than the language issues, everything in this world with regards to interacting with people, is exactly the same as back home, at least in my experience. And don't worry about...what was the Monopoly term?...'Winning second prize in a beauty contest'...there'll be plenty to go around. I mean, have you seen these guys?"

He tilted his head to indicate his friends, but he was grinning good-naturedly. And anyway, none of the monsters they had encountered to this point had been swayed by a pretty face; everyone was fair game when the chips were down.

At the mention of languages James' interest pushes him to ask, "What languages, from this world, do you know?"

Letting Simon field James's question, Frank addressed Jonny. "We ended up in the Hold of the Sea Princes. Post-war it's controlled by the Scarlet Brotherhood. That hasn't happened yet. But if we were summoned here for... a purpose... I imagine that whoever did it will contact us when they're ready to tell us about it. Or when we're ready to hear it."

"In terms of practical action... my advice would be to start packing. We're going to be spending a lot of time on the road. If you get work with the caravan they'll feed you, but maybe get a nice backpack, a tent, bedroll. Flint, tinderbox, utensils. You know. Road stuff. Horse if you're a baller."

"It's just Common for now, and I haven't spent much time reading it so that's still pretty rough, but I'm working on it.  I figured that with my linguistics training that I would solve it instantly."  Simon shook his head ruefully, "Common has nothing to do with any language I've ever studied.  I can't identify root words, or any phonology.  Linguistics is useless.  I'm guessing that Common was created ex nihilo, by divine fiat or... I don't know. Maybe it's purely a mash of all the other languages.  There seems to be no structure, no rules."  He sighed, clearly frustrated.  "So it was brute force rote learning, and a lot of being made fun of, but I was pretty determined."  Not being able to speak to or understand the woman who saved our lives was such a problem.  It's a wonder she trusted us at all, with how ham-fisted we were at everything."

"My priorities are pointed in other directions now, but eventually I'd like to spend time learning as many of these languages as I can.  Is there one in particular I should consider?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Fri 19 Apr.

"Yeah Common in most settings is a trade-tongue or a pidgin," Frank said. "I don't think it's that linguistics is useless... I think it's probably just that none of the Earth languages we speak have any influence on the languages here. You have no useful data for your framework... but I would guess that if you encountered Common's root languages you'd know it.

"As to your question... think of it in these terms. You go back to Medieval Europe. You're surrounded by German, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Flemmish, Dutch, Sweedish, and Greek speakers. What language should you consider? Depends on where you go, right? But everywhere we go, everybody already speaks Common. Except the monsters, in some cases."

GM EDIT: Removed something Frank doesn't know.

FRANK EDIT: SORRY
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Fri 19 Apr.

In reply to Simon Roderick (msg # 41):
"Any really. If you can learn the basics* of a new language, probably faster then me, then maybe you can teach me to the same point, possibly passively," answers James. "I'm really fast at the next part**,  putting the structure and vocabulary together and maybe you could learn from me there."

======
OOC: *Broken
**Accented for free from the Language Talent

Ken chuckled. “Makes we wonder what that Worg…Warg? What that big ass dog said before James ran him through.” He shook his head. “Would have made a bitchin’ cloak or something.”

He seemed to be thinking quite a bit about what Frank had said about Monks and the Scarlet Brotherhood before he focused once more on the present.

He looked around “Where are we going anyway?”
This message was last edited by the player at 15:29, Fri 19 Apr.

"Keoland seems to be the winner.  All the adventuring you can eat for one low price."  Simon struggled into his pack, grimacing as he settled the weight back onto his shoulders.  "I'm so tired of walking, and even wagons.  I miss the lexus."

"I miss proper toilets," says James.

He pauses then adds, "Uggh! I meant that I miss not having them available. Not that I miss them when they are."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Fri 19 Apr.

Richard was a man of unassuming looks and bearing with a similarly forgettable build; especially compared to the likes of Jonny. Of course none of this was helped by his clothing which was less than well-made and despite his recent windfall, he'd not replaced them. If anything he'd learned to appreciate the effort that went into making even his poor-quality of clothes. At Jonny's introduction of him being live bait Richard tipped his imaginary hat to the pair of strangers, giving them a slight smile. He distinctly did not rub at his leg. Nope, none of that. Instead, he took up a seat and listened to the others batter and exchanged information. Richard had thought they were in some module or another but to have it confirmed and with so much detail was unexpected.

"We get your meaning James."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Sun 21 Apr.