"Wagh!" A short, red-haired girl in a stylishly snazzy outfit appears out of the energy burst-

-and promptly overbalances and falls into one of the pools with a splash.

Look, in her defense, sudden teleportation was not on her to-do list. Just a nice quiet jog down the route to get warmed up. A route which, she will remind you, features precisely zero teleportation pads and/or ponds. 

The water: Is chilly!

The splash echoes throughout the chambers, and there is the sound of something shuffling around in the distance.

Mumblegrumble not even the common courtesy to be warm. Hokay, she will splash over to the edge and haul herself out.

"Hello?" she calls. "Is someone there?" On the one hand she hopes yes, because maybe they will have a towel or something. On the other hand this is a little embarrassing so maybe no witnesses is better.

A small pointy, scaly head pokes around a corner.

"Chrrp?"

Her hand twitches towards one of the balls at her waist. "Hey there, little guy. Are you friendly?"

"Chrrrrrrp?"

It turns the corner, clinging near effortlessly to the wall, to reveal a grey-blue draconic-like body with a pair of very small wings, then clambers a bit closer along a wall. It keeps looking around all over the place in sudden jerking motions with a somewhat long and flexible neck.

"Oooookay don't necessarily like that." She grabs Tag's ball and releases the six-foot tall arcanine in a flash of light.

Mrr?

"Guard, Tag." She nods towards the lizardy thingy.

"Kraaa!"

Nope it's running away now, a leap and a brief glide and skittering back the way it came.

Heh heh heh.

Pat pat. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get too full of yourself now, big guy. Hey, give me a hand drying off and then let's figure out where we are, huh?"

Ah, the hairdryer routine. He knows this one!

"Pfft. Thanks, buddy."

Now, is the lizard's path the only way out of here, or does she have options?

There are three non blocked exits to this room! The one the critter used, one to where water is flowing, with a few feet of walkway on either side, and one that goes down a long dark tunnel. Four, if you count the big rectangular hole in the roof allowing a faint hint of daylight in.

Hmmmmmmmmmm let's follow the water maybe? As long as the path holds and it doesn't turn out she'll have to swim it. Too cold for that.

These tunnels are clearly pretty old and maze-like. There's a bunch of side passages. Some sections of the water channel are wide and slow, and a few have a number of things growing with them, plants and small and medium sized fish. Much of the stone down here is more cleanly worked too, a mixture of natural hollows and worked stone and masonry. There are even a few partially intact murals!

'Keep following the water flow' eventually takes them to an intersection that seems like it might be more inhabited. There's writing in an unfamiliar script, fresh white paint on the stone walls, oriented in what look like direction signs. One pointing to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead- None towards where she is coming from. Warm air wafts from the left in a steady breeze, and if she feels it, the water from that direction is much warmer than the rest, too. Unfortunately, she can't read the signs.

Weeeeeeeeeeird writing. Where actually is she. No zubat ambushes either. Usually a cave system would have to be a lot more well traveled to have flushed them all out like this. As in, she should have seen like two dozen people by now.

But! Warm air sounds like a way out! Let's leave big problems to a Nadya who can bask once more in the sun. She returns Tag and takes the left turn.

The warm air continues in a generally uphill direction! These passages seem to be in better repair, but still old. The side rooms look like they might be baths, places for laundry, and so on.

And then there's a big chamber with a small steamy waterfall coming from above! There are stairs up to a sort of balcony open to blue sky. Oh, and there's another one of the 'chrrrp' things, lounging lazily in a warm pool in a corner. This one is a bit more grey-purple than grey-blue. It looks at her but makes no other move to get up and sets its head down on the pool ledge again. 

Out on the balcony, there is a good view of hills falling away to the ocean, with a low density town dotted around and to the left is another set of stairs and a glimpse of a multi story red-painted structure, or at least the corner of one.

Oooh, pretty! She is going to go down the stairs in a townward direction. Maybe the red building is a Pokecenter, or whatever this place has.

The stairs go parallel to an odd piece of stonework, curving circular pools connected one after another in a similar way to the pools in the room she first appeared in. It almost looks like... Stairs for water pokemon? 

She meets a group coming the opposite way! Two humans and two furry and snout-faced Gnolls, wearing rough flax and reed clothes, carrying a number of baskets full of fruit, fish, and a stack of red clay bricks on a wooden platform. They pause in their chatter and call out what is probably a greeting? Sounds friendly enough, at least.

"Uh, hi? I can't understand what you're saying. Can you understand me?" Ah, she shouldn't have passed up that cute little braixen. Telepathy might come in handy right about now. Check out those clothes, though. Some kind of reenactors? Religious somethingorothers?? And another unknown pokemon species? Oh waitwaitwait she should check if her phone has signal- No. Drat. Eh. Might as well snap a pic anyway.

They can't understand her! 

After a brief exchange, they set the cargo litter down partially, and one of them takes a bundle of differently colored rocks with odd symbols on them out of a pouch. They tap a few in sequence, and- something is slightly off- And then-

:Can you understand me now? You should be able to think 'at' me.:

Oh what telepathic rocks that's so cool!

:Yes I can!:

:Oh good! Hello! Do you need anything? We're doing a delivery to the temple right now, but you seem maybe a bit lost.:

:I am rather a bit lost, I'm afraid. I appeared rather suddenly in a cave back there just a while ago and I have no idea where here is.:

:This is the town of Cod Rocks. Nowhere important, far north of Noten. But we like our old tunnels! You just - appeared? That's weird. Maybe the priestesses would know what's up with that.:

Doesn't sound like anywhere she knows.

:Priestesses? Where can I fiind them?:

:There's usually one at the temple just up there. And they walk around town sometimes too, you know, helping people.:

:Guess I'll go to the temple. Is that where you were going? Do you need help carrying the thing?:

:Yep! And it's okay, we got this. There used to be a cable car going up to the temple, but they put it into storage years ago, it only comes out for festival days now. Not enough demand.:

He says something to the others and- Hup, they're carrying the platform again.

She will scoot out of their way and then follow them up to this temple.

The stairs are wide enough that the scooting is not strictly necessary but they appreciate it!

The temple turns out to be a series of buildings made mostly of wood, in a style that's actually quite reminiscent of Ecruteak City's bell tower. Red-painted pagoda style. Surrounding and between the buildings is an elaborate series of pools, with steam wafting out of some of them. There's a torii gate, and a woman sitting on a chair near one of the pools reading a book, wearing differently styled clothes (somewhat nicer ones), almost robe-like ones that show a bit of skin, including a stole with symbols of a crescent moon on it.  A different woman is doing laundry by hand in one of the pools near the back, and a third person - a man - is doing something with what looks like a notice board of some kind. They're both wearing the same general style of clothes.

The book reader stands and approaches them, a serene expression on her face.

:Oh, lucky. That's Priestess Kalin. If anyone would know what's up with weird magic, she would.:

:Does she have one of those magic rocks?:

:Rocks? -Oh, lots of people figure out a weird trick or two, mine are the rocks. Well, not lots, but some. Priestess Kalin does dances, I think?:

The group of four and the priestess exchange some words. Priestess Kalin looks slightly surprised. And indeed, starts doing a little ritual dance with hand signs, slow and steady.

:She said that when she's done she'll want to touch your hand, and then YOU will be telepathic for about a day, is that alright?:

:Sounds like fun.: Nadya is always up for some handholding.

The four platform-carriers go to a side building and set their load down there.

Priestess Kalin continues her ritual dance. It finishes with a fast spin, and then she offers her hand to Nadya. The telepathy this imparts is slightly different in character.

She tilts her head and gestures at the bench where she was reading, previously.

Sure, she can sit. :Hello?: she thinks at the priestess.

:Hello, traveler. You have found yourself, unexpectedly, in the tunnels below? Do you remember anything about the moment of change?:

:There was this sort of bright flash, some kind of energy burst or something?:

There is a faint hint of concern in the connection - not worry, exactly, but something close.

:Did the light linger for long? Would you be able to show me the place you arrived?:

:It was gone pretty quick, but I think I remember which cave it was.:

:I'm sorry to rush to things, but I think I should go with you there. There are some things it could be that it might be time sensitive I see the place.:

:No problem. Not like I really had other plans right now.: She will get up and start leading the way back to the first cave. :I'm Nadya, by the way.:

:I'm Kalin. Welcome to Cod Rocks.:

She starts following!

:There are many mysterious things in the world, and I have made sure to study some of them. You might have come through a Dream-Passage, or as some call them, a Spirit-Passage. The Spirit World is not entirely safe, and tangled and mysterious in many ways. They say the rare Kitsunes can navigate it as second nature. To most people, who are not escorted by one, it is often described as dream-like, and some lose their memories of the place. There are also old magics in some of these deep places. The tunnels are not necessarily entirely safe, be warned. And it could be a Rift, where the natural energy of the land builds up to a destructive peak and discharges. Long ago, these caused destruction and ruin, or even curdled into harmful cursed energy, but the nine [legendaries]* or some ancient being wove new rules into the world so that such energies act in slightly more predictable and less disastrous ways.:

They pass the lounging creature again, in that great room of pools just below the shrine. It gets out of its pool and starts slowly walking towards them, staring at Kalin.

*'gods', not 'legendaries', technically, but the nature of the psychic translation tries fairly hard to find understandable idioms for unfamiliar concepts

:I don't remember going through any Spirit World. But maybe I wouldn't, I guess? But I think I was in the same, like, position before and after?:

Nadya will let Kalin take point on handling the creature. Since she's from here, maybe she knows it?

She pets it, aggressively rubbing behind one of the layers of spikes, and says something friendly-ish.

:Lilac here is harmless, she just wants me to give her a fish. Slidrakes like her have probably been here longer than people have, anyway. And the other ones are mostly scared of people, not aggressive, as long as you don't bother them too much.:

:Good to know. Never seen one of these before. I scared one off in the tunnels when I got here.:

:I think they only really live around this region, specifically in coastal caves and cliffs. They're quite good at climbing.:

The critter makes a sad noise when Kalin turns away, but onward they go.

Bye Lilac!

:Are they water-typed? I haven't seen any other pokemon* since I got here and usually you expect like at least zubats or something in a cave.:

*lit. "magical creature", as opposed to a non-magic animal, plant, or mineral.

:There are water typed ones and fire typed ones, as far as slidrakes go. Magical creatures are fairly rare. The four classic types are water, earth*, fire, and air**. Rarer types are things like grass, darkness, or lightning.:

*Kind of conflating ground and rock?

**flying?

:Fire/water dual typing? Or different forms? Wait, no, this is weirder than that. Where I'm from, we've got uhhhhhhh eighteen different types. And pokemon are everywhere.:

:Usually just one type per creature? I wouldn't know if there are exactly eighteen kinds, I'd need to go find a recent version of the traveler's almanac. Magical creatures can be found in most biomes, but not as the most common set? They've always been fairly rare, whatever makes an ordinary creature magical also makes it difficult for them to breed. According to Archives of Iskantir volume 3, anyway.:

They are down to the first junction now, where hot water from above joins the cold water stream she followed.

:Lots of pokemon have dual typing. Three out of four on my team, even. I don't know any other fire/water off the top my head, though. Oh, this is the stream, I showed up from that direction.: She points.

Upstream they go.

:If my suspicions are correct and you have fallen through a Rift, you may be what we call 'otherworlder'. It is a known phenomenon- Occasionally lost beings from worlds that are not Tirra arrive here. They say that the Sailor Otherworlder eventually re-opened the rift they arrived from and returned home. If this is the case, the magical creatures of Tirra and the magical creatures of your world may be quite different.:

:A new world, huh... Exciting!:

:I'm glad it's exciting instead of depressing! Some of the historical otherworlders were quite depressed about it.:

:I think it's better to be happy than sad. I like seeing new places and making new friends.:

:I think you would like Ragni.:

There's a sense that Ragni is something-like-a-legendary-pokemon-but-not-really.

:Ragni? Who's that?:

:Ragni is the god of the sun; He grants warmth, light, good health and good harvests to those who pray and need it. He likes people to be happy in the moment, hates ghosts and undead, and teaches that joy is found in appreciating every small moment of life.:

:Yeah, that does pretty cool. One of my pokemon is called the sun pokemon, too!:

:How does that work? Can you summon them? Does it require a ritual?:

:Nope, I've got her right here!: Nadya grabs one of the pokeballs at her belt and with a flick of the hand and a flash of red light-

-a Nadya-sized moth creature appears, hovering in midair with gentle flaps of its six orange-red wings. Each sheds glimmering sparks with every motion, and the air in the immediate surroundings begins to get noticeably warmer.

:This is Fluffy, my volcarona!: She gives the pokemon a quick hug around its fuzzy midsection, ignoring the drifting embers.

:Amazing! What lovely embers! It's nice to meet her.: (The priestess has just assumed a feminine gender, for some reason, and this comes across in telepathic context.) :I gave the telepathy to you so I can't say so directly.:

:She probably wouldn't really understand if you talked to her directly anyway. She's fire/bug, not psychic.: But Nadya can pass the message on with extra pets and cooing admiration. The volcarona shivers pleasedly, adding an extra shimmer to the shining fall. :Oh, I didn't mean to hold us up, though, you said the thing was time-sensitive. We can keep walking.:

So she keeps walking.

:A very interesting technique.: She can tell the Volcarona is friendly to her, so she doesn't express concerns about the containment-ball. :I'm not sure what else to explain right away. Do you have any questions for me?:

:What's the food here like? Seems pretty important to know if I'm gonna be staying a while.:

:A lot of what we eat here is fish and other animals from the sea. Not magic beasts, lower animals. There's also vegetables, bread, rice, and spices. One of my favorite dishes is a bean, fish, and spice curry on rice, with garlic, tomato, and onion sautee. We don't get a lot of fresh fruit up here, people export a lot of seafood and have to import other kinds.:

:Ooh, that sound soooo good. I can't wait to try some!:

:I'll make sure to get you some when we are done here, then!:

They're at another junction now, but she can pretty clearly remember which way was correct.

:Up that way. I think we're getting close.:

And soon enough, they are in the room Nadya arrived in.

Priestess Kalin goes right up to the pool she splashed in without prompting.

:This is definitely the site of a Rift! I'm going to meditate on the energies here and note down everything I can, it may help later.:

:Cool, okay. I'll, uh, be here when you're done, I guess.:

She will hang out with her Fluffy in the meantime.

She moves with focus and intent when she has a goal.

It will be about ten minutes.

And then she lets out a deep breath and writes down about half a page of notes on a little notebook brought out of a robe pocket.

:Alright, I'm done. Sorry about that.:

:No worries. You're pretty much doing me a favor, right?:

:I suppose so! Though that does raise the question of what you want your time on Tirra to be like. As an otherworlder, many will want to learn from you.:

:Learn from me? What do you mean?:

:In the past, visiting otherworlders have historically usually taught us at least one really valuable thing- Steel making, new kinds of mathematics, ocean navigation, medical knowledge, new cooking traditions, even civil engineering and some details of city planning in one case.:

:Oh. Gosh. I don't feel like I've got anything that valuable...:

:Time will tell. There's no pressure... Or there wouldn't be in an ideal world. The Lonesome Otherworlder didn't have anything to teach.:

They can go back down the tunnels now. 

Back to the surface, the realm of sunlight. Nadya is in favor.

:That's a sad name.:

:He didn't like being famous for being an otherworlder. He vanished one day. Some say he went into the forest to survive or not alone. Some say he disguised himself and took up a normal life. Some say he went home.:

:I hope he made it home.:

:As do I. This was about a century ago. We may never know- Or perhaps someone does and is keeping quiet.:

:Sounds like he'd want it that way.: Anyway let's talk about something less depressing maybe. :So if otherworlders are kind of random, there's not like any official process? People are just gonna show up and ask me stuff?:

:Perhaps. The last known Otherworlder, who entered it fifty-one years ago and perished six years ago, announced herself to the Grand Assembly of the Northern Federation and entertained bids for patronage. She lived in luxury for many years after using noble backing, novelty, and her world's knowledge to open a series of luxurious shows, inns, and casinos. She, Akemi Matsuburo, became known as the Casino Otherworlder. Before that there was the Second Mathematics Otherworlder, who wandered Noten for some years, talking with many people who would fund his travels in exchange for speaking to them about his world, and then became a wizard and discovered some things about wizard mathematics that I do not really understand.:

:Maybe I'll be the Pokemon Otherworlder! I bet everyone'd love to meet my team.:

:That sounds quite true; A great many people probably would. I personally like a very predictable life and have been called boring, and I still enjoyed it:

:I'll show you the others when we get out!:

:Back towards the temple, or towards the town proper?:

:The town, if it's not too much trouble? Figure I'll have to start getting introduced at some point.: