Prelude: Nonohara's arrival (Ehlana, Humble Athena)

[Ehlana]

Hime frowns at the blueness. "That's not very useful." She tells the air. "Let's try another door...there's magic beyond this one and I don't want to walk into a spell that might turn me into a newt for the rest of my life. You'd enjoy keeping me in a cage and giving me rotten veggies to eat too much." She turns the frown on her twin, waiting for him to get out of the way.

[Humble Athena]

Nushi steps aside quickly, giving Hime plenty of room to go where she will. "What an unjust accusation! I take very good care of my pets." He insists. It suddenly occurs to him that unless he finds his way home, his pets will probably starve to death. The thought agitates him, but he doesn't speak about it, not wanting to hear whatever cruel barb Hime would hurl at him.

He turns and strides up to the next door in the hall, and raps on it quickly.

[Ehlana]

Hime doesn't wait for an answer to Nushi's door, she selects the portal opposite the one that leads onto blueness and pulls it open after a brief examination to ensure it doesn't have any obvious danger signs on it.

"That's why you'd -enjoy- it so much." She informs her brother. "I swear, if turtles could get fat, yours would be." She elects not to mention the occasional tidbit -she's- slipped in their cage when her brother isn't around. They just get so enthusiastic...or at least as enthusiastic as turtles can get, when they get a really fresh piece of greenery.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

The next door across the hall is some twenty feet away, giving a dark green glow from its seams and keyhole. When she opens this one it is similar with the undepthed glow of splotchy dark greens, again with no result from detect magic.

A sound echoes down the hall from beyond where they can see, faded enough to be unidentifible. Whether this is from distance or some other aspect of this unusual place is unclear.

[Ehlana]

Hime's head jerks up at the sound. "Let's go see what that is." She states assertively, shutting the door and turning away from it. "Maybe it's someone who can explain a little bit about this place, or better yet, get us home. I'd rather ask some questions then go wandering through random magical doorways." Her mouth twists as she says the last word, as if she'd bitten into an unripe persimmon. "Ancestors know I have just a million and one reasons to go back there..." She mutters, half under her breath as she limps down the hall.

[Humble Athena]

Nushi nods, and hurries down the hall until he is a pace in front of his sister, keeping to the side so that she can see whatever there is to see, but ready to defend her if the source of the sound is something hostile.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

The hall continues on and on, always curving one way or another (even up or down) to keep the visual distance at less than a hundred feet. Nearly thirty minutes pass with the only scenery being the unevenly spaced doors on either side, with a variety of color leaking from the edges. Then, as if crossing a barrier of some sort, the noise goes from nothing to the low roar of a tavern as you come around the corner and find youself at the threshold of a room that looks like an inn.

The central chamber of the Inn resembles nothing so much as an ancient tavern, with plank floors underfoot and venerable wooden beams overhead. This “common room” is a large, rectangular chamber dominated by a pair of flagstone fireplaces, one at each end. Great tables and heavy oak chairs fill the space in between, and patrons gather around these tables in groups of twos and threes to chat and although the actual number of people oddly indistinguishable the place seems around 3/4 full. A balcony with more tables, accessible via a spiral staircase in one corner, forms a partial second floor for the chamber. There are no windows, either on the ground floor or along the balcony. Corridors lead off from both floors of the common room into other parts of the Inn.
There are two additional areas, one by each fireplace, that opens up into another chamber that each have a half-dozen or so doors with signs or banners.

Near the center of the room is a massive bar, the center of which could be its own large room, and a big mustached human bartender behind the counter talking to a few people.

NOTE You are not inside the Inn area yet, you are at the threshold just before it.

[Ehlana]

Hime pauses in the doorway, eyes popping slightly as she notices some of the inn's more exotic guests. "That....is a lot of spirits." She mutters, half to herself. After a moment, she raises her voice, announcing firmly to her brother. "But plenty of them look just like humans...so we won't stand out. I say we go straight to a man who's used to weird questions and find out what's what." Her eyes fix on the bartender.

No -way- are all these spirits under Fox's command. He's powerful, but he's not -that- powerful. If they're not his allies they're probably unaligned...and can be dealt and bargained with like normal spirits.

Confidently, because sheer confidence can get you a long way, Hime makes her slow way across the room to the bar. There, she waits for the man behind it to be disengaged with any customers and calls to him politely. There are only broken remnants of anger in her eyes now. She's far too interested and occupied to concentrate on any real rage. "Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me where this place is?"

If a spirit tavern is anything like a mortal one, he's heard that question before from sozzled patrons. I'll be just one more.

[Humble Athena]

Nushi remains close behind Hime, though from the furtive looks he casts around, it is hard to tell if he means to protect her or be shielded by her. At her declarative, he nods and throws in half a bow to compliment his choice of response. "As the Oracle deems wisest." he agrees.

As Hime asks the tender to divulge just where they have managed to end up, he begins to scan the occupants of the room, eyes open for signs of danger, or females of approachable airs. After all, there must be something redeemable about a spirit realm such as this.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

As you cross the threshold into the room you have an odd sensation, then notice that you can read the signs and banners that are mostly advertising various services and shops.

As you approach the heafty human bartender, he looks up. As expected, without skipping a beat, he answers, "First time here then, and not on purpose? This is the Crossroads Inn, sort of a place between places. Most use it as a waypoint between worlds."

He waves to a few barstools, "Have a seat, what can I get ya to drink? The first one's on the house."

Working on the drinks, he continues to speak, "So how'd you get here? Your own power or anothers?"

[Ehlana]

After a brief hesitation, Hime seats herself on one of the stools, arranging the skirts of her kimono to completely cover the crippled leg and foot. "I would like some sake, if you have any." She specifies cautiously, feeling that there's no knowing what sorts of things spirits may drink. Asking for the bartender to make the choice for her could have unpleasant consequences.

A waypoint between the different spirit worlds? Well...could be worse, we aren't in any of the hells at least. And it's a waypoint, there should be a way back to the mortal world.

"As to how we go here... I believe it was an accident, on the part of another." She pauses, shooting Nushi a glance that promises slow death if he should either contradict her or go into further details on that particular point. "If you could tell us how to get back to the mortal world, we'd appreciate it."

Would we? Would I?

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

"Mortal world?" he chuckles, "Which one?"

Reaching under the counter he pulls out two cups and places them in front of Hime, one a wooden box masu and the other ceramic ochoko cup. He turns to the wall of bottles, taps, and various other containers behind him as he inquires as to her drink preference, "Would you like it chilled or heated? And which cup to you prefer?"

He continues, "As for mortal worlds there are many, almost innumerable. Most who arrive here by their own power already know that, but some that arrive by some other means don't. And it's more than just mortals that gather here; gods, demons, spirit, elementals...and more mix freely with the 'mortals' here."

Pausing, he studies Hime before speaking again, "I can't place your particular plane, so you will either need to tell me its common name or find someone that can. Once I know that I can check if there is a door back."

[Ehlana]

"Warm, please, in the ochoko cup." Hime answers while her mind works furiously.

Many mortal worlds? That...should not be. But this man is a spirit and why should he lie about this? He could simply say he did not know how to send me home. It would be a needless, stupid lie. But the -name- of our world? It is just the world... And what are all these things...gods and demons and elementals...those are just spirits...

Hime doesn't like to be scrutinized as the bartender seems to be doing, but seeing as he keeps his eyes away from any objectionable areas, including her crippled foot, she decides not to make an issue of it. "I expect that telling you that we call the place we come from "the world" won't be very useful in getting us home."

[Humble Athena]

Nushi watches this exchange, as stunned as his sister, but he has another concern as well. "I am a little confused. Is there a .. a sun here? A moon? Stars?" He asks in such a casual tone that only Hime could guess how serious the answer might be.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

He takes the masu back, placing it under the counter, before turning around and taking a small bottle of saki out of a pan of steaming water you hadn't noticed before. He pours fills the porcelain cup to the rim as he chuckles.
"No, the world doesn't help. If you aren't versed in planar matters even if you did know the name, it isn't always the common one. You may need to search about to find someone that has been to a similar place, or a library with information. I'm sorry to say that some people who have gotten lost here have been lost for centuries, and other for only a few days." he pauses, "Respective to the time of their world that is."

He turns his head toward Nushi, "Not here, this Inn is between places. Most other worlds have their own suns and moons though. What would you like to drink?"