<strong>Kafka: Zaine, Bellona</strong><br/><br/>They made their way down the mountainside they had appeared on and into the woods. Soon enough they came upon the road leading up to the castle. Going that way, the road led through a gatehouse on the two disguised travelers' side of the chasm that served as a moat, and beyond that the road rose to the stone bridge that spanned the chasm, and ended at the gate of the castle proper on the far side of the chasm. The gatehouse was relatively small and short, its gate, a heavy-looking portcullis, was down at the moment closing the road, while a pair of sentry archers were visible at the parapets above within speaking height.<br/><br/>On the other side, the road led into the woods and soon wound out of sight among the trees.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Shadow Plane: Tristeria, Aikaterine, Astaroth, Ms. S</strong><br/><br/>The shadow plane was monotonic in black, white, and shades between. Features became blurred with distance until all melted into gray. The sky was cloudly and the orb of light hanging in the sky was regularly obscured, casting all in even greater shadow than they already were. The new arrivals stood at the mouth of a river. In front of them the river stretched into the distance until it disappeared into the haze; behind them it flowed into the seemingly unending expanse of the sea. To their right the land rose at the foot of a mountain that reared up as high as the eye could follow until it faded into the clouds; to their left across the river was a thin belt of trees that gave way to a featureless grassy plain.<br/><br/>A short distance directly in front of them someone turned around! The person had been standing perfectly still, back facing them, until now and in the lack of colours had appeared to be part of the landscape at first. She a suit of lamellar armour fashioned in the likeness of a dress with a long blade sheathed at her side, and spoke in a voice that was recognizable as a woman's despite the flat monotone her words were delivered in. "The toll is an onyx piece to tread up river or up mountain. Or turn back into the sea of water or the sea of grass if you shall not pay."<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Urban World: Alaxos</strong><br/><br/>Alaxos was in a shady alley, which helped him to be unnoticed, at least for the moment. Several people passed by the junction; Alaxos could sense some of their most superficial thoughts and get a good sense of who they were, and besides he could also see how they dressed. There was an off-duty guardsman with an ornate curved scimitar and a buckler at his side. There was a fat merchant with a turban sporting an exotic feather and brilliant red ruby centre and above his forehead. There was a scholar's apprentice fetching tomes from the library, her steps youthful and quick as she ran.