- a moment ago he was in Menador. In the summer. He wasn't wearing his coat. He - casts Endure Elements first - it's too cold for Endure Elements, he scrambles for the coat in his bag and manages to get it on without having to stop and cast a Light. It's got a balaclava, kept by from when they were briefly standard issue. It's got gloves. It buttons up. He busies himself with these features. Then a Light.

It is now possible that he will not get frostbite.

Even with more opportunity to look around, there's not any particularly obvious landmarks aside from the beam.

With the sun out of the sky he does not have a great guess of the directions around him, though it's possible that as long as he's been magically transported somewhere frigid that this is the south end of the globe, which in principle should be having winter while the Worldwound itself is having a relatively mild summer? At any rate he should be moving and the beacon seems a fine place to aim.

As he approaches, the beacon's base resolves more in his vision. Whatever it is, it's glowing red.

That isn't what wardstones look like. Maybe this is a strangely placed wizard tower.

His eyelashes are beginning to develop a layer of frost.

Also, some kind of horseless carriage with more red lights is heading towards him. Someone in it is shouting very loudly, but not in any language Blai knows.

"I only speak Chelish, Common Taldane, and Infernal!" he calls back, changing languages at each comma and putting his hands up.

The carriage continues heading towards him, but it doesn't seem to be aiming for a high-speed collision. Someone tries yelling more things which might be in a different language but are no less incomprehensible.

Hands UP but he does not actually stop walking because that would make him colder. "I can prepare Comprehend Languages in the morning!" And Share Language but that's less common so less recognizable as a verbal component.

Eventually the vehicle pulls up near him. The driver, looking somewhat frustrated, opens the door to reveal an empty seat and motions towards Blai.

- okay, sure?? "Thank you," he says, only deviating from "hands up" as much as necessary to get into the seat.

The driver looks somewhat skeptically at Blai's light source, which has no obvious off switch, and reaches for it.

What if Blai communicates VISIBLE ALARM WITH HIS FACE

Defensive-sounding speech!

The driver picks up a small item. Click, it glows red. Click, it stops glowing. He gestures towards Blai and gives him an expectant look.

(There's enough light to see by even without the Light spell.)

They want him to dismiss the Light? Okay?? How was physically touching the holy symbol supposed to help with that at all - he drops it.

The driver smiles and says words in a positive tone and makes a gesture of closing his fist and extending the thumb upwards.

Then he opens his door and makes eye contact with Blai while re-closing the door.

...Blai can try closing the door on his side. If he were making an autonomous carriage thing that traversed the vast ice at tremendous speed while glowing red he'd probably make it so it could close its own doors but what does he know.

He'll attempt the same maneuver with his seatbelt.

That Blai does not understand at all but he is cooperating!

Great. Now the carriage starts moving again.

They approach a group of buildings which are not really the right shape to be a wizard tower, though some of them are on stilts. The snow is flattened around portions of them. The driver brings the carriage into a building (not one on stilts, it doesn't fly), leaves the carriage, and motions for Blai to follow.

He takes a couple tries to get out of his seatbelt and to open the door but can do these things.

He's in a room with other carriages, now. It's not windy anymore.

The driver leads him towards a staircase.

This part makes sense. Well, the exact nature of the staircase is slightly odd but not in a way where it's out of place from the odd setting already.

They head up a long spiral of stairs and through some pairs of very sturdy doors and then they're suddenly in a brightly lit and comfortably warm hallway.

...that's a lot of lights.

He's not instantly warmed through but he will at least pull his balaclava down.

The driver looks somewhat confused by his face.

Also, he's hanging up his outdoor clothes, and wants to prod at Blai's for some reason, though he doesn't seem to be insisting Blai remove them.

Blai will take off his coat at this time too, the Endure's catching up all right to the now perfectly reasonable temperature, and doesn't object to the guy examining them.

Are any of the clothes wet?

There is a little melting frost on them.

He'd like Blai to take his gloves off, then.

Sure. When the guy is done looking at them they go in these pockets here.

He is mostly interested in looking at Blai's hands, actually.

...okay. Here they are.

Confused smile!

Eventually they reach a room with chairs, empty tables, a table with a stack of small plates and a large plate of cookies as well as some things in colorful packaging, and various unrecognizable devices. There are what might be large windows on one wall, but they're all covered.

Someone else is sitting at a table, with a sort of metal book-thing that they have open in what seems like the wrong direction and which is glowing with a bluish light. He looks tired and confused.

Blai will........ sit down, he guesses?

If Blai would like to ignore the cookies and other items that is his prerogative.

The person with the metal book rotates it so Blai can see the inside. On the lower half, there's bits of raised metal with letters, but not in any script Blai knows. On the upper half, there's a glowing colorful thing, displaying a map with color-coded regions and a lot of flags.

The cookies aren't his! The colorful packages aren't his and don't make any sense!

He dutifully examines the letters and the map. Shakes his head with nonrecognition.

Metal book guy frowns and touches his face briefly before talking to the driver more and then closing the book, which he tucks under his arm.

Could Blai follow him to another room?

Oh okay sure?

He would like Blai to sit in a big chair and then a third person, who also looks tired and frustrated, would like to look at Blai closely and point devices at him and have him breathe into a device and put a device on his finger and such.

That's all kind of disquieting but he will breathe? He's always breathing?

The devices don't hurt, though they do produce lights and noises.

Now the third person also looks confused.

That makes, uh, four of them.

Would Blai like a small round white thing? It goes with this picture, if that helps.

............he will let them put a small round white thing in his hand but he has absolutely no idea what to do with it?

It's for putting in his mouth and then swallowing with water, like this cup of water here. (The cup is made of some lightweight and thin translucent material and comes from a big stack of cups in a dispenser on the wall. The water comes from another device.)

He doesn't have Detect Poison today. He does not really want their water or their swallowable white thing.

The person who offered the thing and the water does not look upset. He briefly raises his shoulders and takes them back if Blai attempts to hand them back over.

Oh good, he didn't really want to have to figure out how much he didn't want their water. He will pull his mug off his belt and create some water into it, see, he's fine.

The person's mouth falls open and he drops the cup of water on the floor in astonishment.

......Blai taps his holy symbol helpfully?

The person is now yelling. He's not obviously yelling at Blai, nor is he obviously angry with Blai, but he is yelling. He does not seem to treat the symbol as an important aspect of the situation.

Why is he yelling if he's not upset about the Iomedae thing though??

He gets up, starts pacing, wipes up the water on the floor, and eventually stops whatever rant this is. He opens the door and yells something less rant-like and more directed.

Shortly afterwards, metal book guy is back.

......hi metal book guy?

Metal book guy gives a friendly wave and gestures for Blai to head back with him to the large room that had the cookies.

He points to himself and says "Chris Clement".

Blai points to himself too. (He took off his coat but he's still got the chainmail.) "Select Blai Artigas."

Chris makes an expansive gesture at the room around them. "Scott-Amundsen Station."

He re-opens the metal book, pokes at it, and brings up the same map. He points to a spot at the bottom. "Scott-Amundsen Station."

Blai peers at the map and dutifully repeats, "Scottamundsenstation."

Chris gets out a pencil and draws a rough airplane shape on a corner of paper napkin, then tears it off and holds it up near the screen near some other spot, and moves it towards the bottom center of the map. "Chris flies to Scott-Amundsen Station."

Now it is Blai's turn with the pencil and the rest of the paper napkin.

Is that a - bird? He's got a giant bird? Sure, that might as well happen.

Is there a way to convey through facial expression alone that he can answer this question but he knows full well that the answer sucks? He'll do his best and then he will crudely draw the snake monster. And himself facing it with his mace, though he's basically a stick figure with a holy symbol and a slightly misshapen stick.

Everyone here is kind of yelling with their faces compared to what he may be used to, but he can perhaps also yell with his face.

Now Chris is yelling with his face that, yeah, the answer does suck.

He goes to get an empty cup, keeping an eye on Blai the whole time. He gestures expectantly at Blai and the cup.

...sure. "Create Water."

Chris is not nearly as shocked as the other person was, but he still looks pretty befuddled, though he's also trying to act appreciative.

He sticks a bit of paper in the water and sniffs it and dips his finger in but doesn't drink any.

That's his prerogative, they have their own water thing. Blai sips from his own mug.

Chris shows Blai a flag on the metal book and also draws it on another napkin. (He doesn't have any hatching scheme for indicating colors, he just draws a box and draws stars in it without any shading and fills in some of the stripes with a vague squiggle.) The flag has some relation to Chris and Scott-Amundsen Station.

Would Blai like to draw anything else on a napkin?

.......Cheliax is between flags right now. So not really.

Statement not really directed at Blai. Book poking.

It is now showing a few pictures – a fancy looking bed, a pot of food, and what might be a weird toilet.

"Select Blai Artigas?" Chris asks, gesturing at the book.

He does not especially need any of the - oh, he'll tap the pot, he can use his Create Food if they'll get him some dishes.

Chris grabs a small plate and a thing in a colorful package and unwraps it and puts it on the plate. It looks like some kind of oat biscuit, maybe.

He says something to himself with a contemplative expression, grabs another thing in the same packaging, unwraps it to reveal a matching biscuit, takes a bite, and sets the bitten biscuit on the plate next to the untouched one.

He then holds the plate out to Blai.

No, that's not what he meant. ...will they let him rummage in the cupboards for pots and plates.

He can grab plates and cups and bowls but he is not permitted to rummage in cupboards.

Plates it is. He spreads them out on the table, leaves some clear space for some bread bowls and such because without a few big pots he cannot get a whole casting's worth on just these plates, and makes sure no one looks imminently about to interrupt before he starts the casting.

Chris does not look imminently about to interrupt, though he is watching intently.

It'll be ten minutes!

Then there's food!

Chris gives the fruit a very longing look but does not move to take any.

No? What if Blai hands him an apple? And picks up a different apple to bite into?

Chris looks very torn and somewhat miserable. He sniffs the apple.

It smells like an apple.

Blai eats through his apple efficiently and then rummages in his bag for his rock salt.

Chris will eventually set down the apple, though he doesn't look happy about it.

He pokes at the book a lot more rapidly, not really trying to show Blai anything.

Can he have the core of Blai's apple, once Blai is done with it?

Oh he actually made it without a core? It does have a stem. He can have the stem.

Now Chris looks more confused and less longing. He pokes the book-thing more.

Someone else comes in and stares at Blai and the food. She says something brief to Blai involving his name, then talks to Chris, who holds out the apple Blai gave him and the stem on a plate.

Does she want an orange? He pauses in scraping salt onto the roll with a hardboiled egg inside it that he's just cut open to offer her one.

…sure. She has a clear bag, would Blai like to put the orange in the clear bag to go with the apple Chris is putting in there?

That's... not really what it's for, but it's not like he can eat all this himself. Sure.

She leaves.

Chris continues watching Blai and not eating the conjured food. He does get up to get a cup of some hot brown liquid from a device.

Perhaps they are as suspicious of created food as he is of device water. He has the roll and a mini chicken pie and a bowl of beans and greens and cheese and then he's full.

Chris will show the pictures of the bed and the toilet again, if either of these are of interest. He also offers the napkins and pencil again.

Yes he'd like to know where the toilet is, seems useful.

Chris will lead Blai to a room behind a door with a symbol representing a humanoid with broad shoulders who isn't wearing anything drapey. (It's next to a door with a symbol of a humanoid with narrow shoulders wearing a tunic.) Within the room are toilets in little stalls with doors that don't go all the way to the floor or ceiling. The stalls have simple mechanical latches.

The toilets have water in the bowls and have handles behind them. Chris, with a mildly displeased expression, pulls a handle, and the water in the bowl is replaced.

This is weird, but it is not hard to grasp. Blai nods.

The room also has more water dispensing devices, and something with a pink liquid. Chris demonstrates using those to wash his hands. The pink liquid is presumably a soap. It certainly forms suds like one.

What a weird soap, but okay!

If Blai shows no interest in using the facilities, they can head back to where he left his food.

Cool. Do they have other things they want to do now or nah?

Chris does not seem to particularly want anything from Blai right now other than knowing what he's doing.

Okay. Chess set time.

This provokes another confused expression and more interaction with the book-thing.

That's their prerogative. He plays against himself and nibbles on grapes.

After some time, someone else enters the room with a folded chess board tucked under his arm.

A promising sign? Or they're suspicious of the Prestidigitated one because it's poisonous unfamiliar and want to swap it out.

He takes a seat at the table and waves. "Select Blai Artigas."

He points at himself. "Leo Kirby."

He unfolds the board, gets out the pieces, and holds out a black pawn and a white pawn towards Blai.

Blai... taps the white pawn? What's wrong with the Prestidigitated set though never mind.

Then Leo will set up the board for Blai to play white.

Chris says something to Leo in a light tone.

Leo laughs and replies in a similar tone, then returns his attention to the board.

Tomorrow: Comprehend Languages.

But now: chess!

Chess!

Blai is content to play chess and nibble on the Created food till he's tired, which will be in about eight more hours, but of course he can be interrupted by whatever his hosts care to introduce.

Is he up for creating water in another room full of weird devices, actually?

...sure? How much do they want, can they communicate this by gesture?

If he is offering large quantities they can get a large container, which they would like mostly full.

Sure. Five gallons at a time.

Everyone continues to be very impressed by this.

It can't be Rahadoum, Rahadoum has an Inner Sea climate and, like, knows what clerics are... He will figure it out in the morning.

There is a period in which a bunch of people show up at the room with all the tables and get meals, but it is not accompanied by any discernible shift in outdoor light levels, what with the covered windows and all.

Some time after that it may feel dawn-like to Blai.

He has occasionally wondered what happens to clerics who go even farther north. Fortunately it seems to involve getting spells.

He doesn't have, like, a bedroom, yet, so he will try to find an out of the way corner in which to kneel and pray.

Chris is still staring at him but does not interrupt.

Well, if he both stares and doesn't interrupt for the whole hour he'll get to see a whole lot of Blai kneeling there, symbol in hand, not doing much.

Then he gets up and offers Chris his hand.

Sure, Chris will take his hand.

"Share Language."

Chris returns to looking astonished.

"What are you?"