What the Stranger Knows.

[JNAProductions]

"A pleasure to meet you," Leaf tells the drone. "Do we have any idea what the unknown cars are? Or are they total mysteries?"

[agignac]

The tickets are made from paper-thin sheets of brass, and are stamped with a boarding time (approx 20 hours from now).

To Leaf's question, the modron says, "Well, of course, every train has the engine in front and the caboose behind! The jail car is usually near the end, but not always. As for the other cars. Well! It depends on where else the train has been and where it is going! Passenger cars, to be sure, but the type of car depends on the passenger! Sometimes there is a dining car, sometimes a temple, once there was a car full of fire! But I no longer work for the Express, so I do not know for sure. There might even be more cars than that! You will see.

"I will take you to the Outlands, where we will catch the train. We will go tomorrow evening. So make sure you are prepared! Do you have any other questions for me?"

[Lioslaith]

"So we are to get on a train that we know almost nothing about, break a literal stranger out of a prison car, and then make it off this train whose stops we have no inkling about? Sounds interesting."

[Archemist]

"I've heard the train can think for itself and decide where its track goes - so if we go to the locomotive maybe we can just ask it nicely to drop us off back here."

[Lioslaith]

"Well that certainly isn't disconcerting at all." Fenris says with a smirk.

[The Hellbug]

"A literal stranger being taken as a prisoner to Mechanus, a realm of absolute law," Ennius emphasizes and further speculates, "whatever they've done, it certainly displeased somebody, and legitimately, at least in some sense of the word. And I don't think nice is in their lexicon."

The scholar takes one of the tickets for himself. "Our names or the Stranger's names?" he asks, turning the ticket over and looking for a place for a signature.

[agignac]

The modron tilts its head (well, its whole body) so far that it looks like its falling over. "Do you require writing your own names? You can write anything you want with the pen. Unless you prefer a different pen for other words?"

Looking at the group, it says, "If there are no more questions, then I will return tomorrow when the sun is exactly 42 degrees above the western horizon to take you to the Outlands." It waits a moment, then presses a button on its body. You hear a loud click, and then the modron vanishes.

[The Hellbug]

"No, no, no," Ennius says, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair in mild frustration, "how do I make this more clear? Do we need to put a name on the tickets?"

______________

Once the modron is gone, the warlock turns to his companions. "An unknown vessel, an unknown route, and an unknown prisoner," he summarizes, "well, we know something about the route--there's where we're getting on and a stop somewhere in Mechanus--but that's still a lot of unknowns. At least with the tickets we won't be trespassing so we won't be under pressure thin that way." He's goes silent for a moment, waving the ticket thoughtfully. When Ennius speaks again, it's just a stream of ideas, mostly unconnected. "If we're on the train, we'll each need a destination. The tickets don't seem to indicate any. Maybe we can use that to our advantage. Then there's the other unknown passengers, maybe they could be helpful? And, as Siobhan said, there's the train itself, apparently. Unfortunately, since we know so little about it, I can't guarantee anything but I'd imagine I'll have no trouble moving around on it once we've boarded. I have a couple of tricks for avoiding detection by, well, in this case, lawful authority." He looks up, checking if any part of his disconnected rambling has sparked anything in any of his fellow adventurers.

[agignac]

"No, no, no," Ennius says, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair in mild frustration, "how do I make this more clear? Do we need to put a name on the tickets?"

Glitch shakes his head/body, nearly rotating with the effort. "Nope, no names needed. Five tickets, bought and paid for. One way, going to Mechanus. I'll meet you there, bring you home. Hopefully with the names we need! Not your names. The Stranger's names. Not his name neither, but the names he knows. You know?" He looks tongue-tied for a moment.

[Lioslaith]

”Do you happen to know the approximate travel times from destination to destination? This might let us know how long we have while in transit.

[agignac]

”Do you happen to know the approximate travel times from destination to destination? This might let us know how long we have while in transit.

Glitch makes a strange grinding sound as some gears in its insides work furiously. "Time. Yes, that is a good question, and no easy answer. The engine will decide which way is safest and which way is quickest and which was is most scenic, and then make some calculations and plan a route. That leg of the journey has never been less than five hours, and once or twice took more than twenty. There are many dimensions to consider, of course."

[Lioslaith]

”So at best we will have 5 hours once we are underway. Do you happen to know if we will be confined to whatever place we will be seated or are we free to roam around?”

[Auranghzeb]

Tedras was pensive. This whole business was complicated, yet it was exciting. A train was like a vertical tower, that was the way to think about it, one way in, many exits.

Extraction was an important part of this.

Tedras took a ticket and placed it in the side pocket of the overcoat. Then looked around at the others.

Let's make some plans, we need a route to get out from a moving train that will be traversing who know what dimension. I'm not concerned about the going in, not even the security. As long as we are inside we can either avoid them or fight them. But how are we going out of the train when we have accomplished our task? That's the tricky part.

[Lioslaith]

”If anyone is particularly good at bluffing we could try and convince the guards we are ‘the next shift’ or whatever fits. Or we could simply kill them and take their places.”

[Archemist]

Siobhan looks up and back and forth as the two tallfolk discuss the details. She gets lost in thought again for a little bit as the mechanical creature disappears.

"I think I'll leave Clancy here - he's not train-trained, as it were."

And a little later: "My preference is always to do things quietly. If we just get the names, and don't hurt anyone or free The Stranger, we can get off the train as if nothing happened and we don't have the truenames in our pocket. It sounds like we'll have plenty of time.

"Some of you know already, but I'm mostly good at finding people and making them talk in non-violent ways. I have spells that that can make people tell the truth or stay motionless for a while. So we may be able to do it under the guards' noses, or with some clever distractions.

"Worst case, though, I can contact the dead if we are too late in getting to The Stranger."

[The Hellbug]

”So at best we will have 5 hours once we are underway. Do you happen to know if we will be confined to whatever place we will be seated or are we free to roam around?”

Fenris's continued questions shake one out of Ennius as well. "And how does one get these tickets?" he adds, "would it be possible to find out who else has one? Maybe we could predict what other kinds of people the passengers will be."

[agignac]

Fenris's continued questions shake one out of Ennius as well. "And how does one get these tickets?" he adds, "would it be possible to find out who else has one? Maybe we could predict what other kinds of people the passengers will be."

Glitch says, "You can roam around, of course, you are not tied to the train! But do not try to teleport around, as that will not work, not at all. Other passengers buy tickets at...a ticket booth? I have never sold tickets. Many types of peoples, from many planes, all ride the Concordant Express! Even animals!" It looks at Clancy. "Non-sapient creatures do not require a ticket."

[agignac]

The day passes as you get ready for the job. Mid afternoon, Glitch reappears as promised. "Are you ready? Hold hands, please!" It takes Tedras and Siobhan's hands, and waits for the others to make a circle. Once you're all ready, one of its mechanical wings comes forward to press a button on its body, and suddenly the world vanishes.

For a moment, you're suspended in pearly grey fog, alone, with no points of reference. Before you can begin to panic, however, you find yourself still holding your coworker's hands, standing in a ring on a grassy plain.

The sky overhead a bright no-colour, with no sun or other source of the brightness. Underfoot is a soft, dark orange grass. A few unfamiliar flowers and bushes dot the plane. A few miles away, a colossal spire of rock rises into the sky, its peak lost in clouds.

Suddenly a distant horn blares, and you see a column of smoke on the horizon. "Good! Here it comes, right on time!" Glitch proclaims.

A locomotive hurtles across the sky towards you, laying down magical tracks before it. As it draws near, you can see clockwork limbs disassembling the tracks behind the train and passing them forward, so the locomotive can lay down new tracks in front of itself.

As the train descends to grown level, its horn blares once more. It swerves away from you, coming to a gradual stop until its caboose is a short distance away, pointing in your direction.

"Got your tickets?" asks Glitch. "Excellent! Now go. Show your tickets to the modron in the caboose and it will punch them. This is where I leave you. I will see you at the station in Mechanus. Farewell, friends!" And he pushes the button and vanishes again.

As you approach the caboose, you can see that it doubles as a train station. Inside is a booth containing a duodrone attendant with a built-in ticket puncher. "Step up, step up! Insert your ticket to be punched!"

Spoiler: the train

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Spoiler: duodrone

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[Auranghzeb]

Spoiler: Cool art

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That's some really cool art on the train!

Before punching tickets and going inside the train, Tedras shuffles the deck of wonder and draws one card blindly.

Luck, be whatever...

Drawing the Chancelor.

Oh, Luck smiles at us today, Augury is just perfect for the task ahead.

Spoiler: The chancellor:

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Chancellor. Within 8 hours of drawing this card, you can cast Augury once as an action, requiring no material components. Use your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as the spellcasting ability (your choice).

Tedras puts away the deck and moves inside the train throwing a smile to the others.

I'll make myself acquainted with the other travelers, find out what I can. See you inside.

Once inside, Tedras puts charm to good use and with a silver tongue tries to blend in with the passengers.

[The Hellbug]

The Outlands, Ennius had expected. Even if he hasn't ever been there, there are plenty of texts describing their patchwork appearance. The train, though, he'd be lying if told you that he wasn't impressed by its arrival. He too hands his ticket to the duodrone. "Yes, we should set a time for meeting, though. How about 30 minutes from now?" Ennius tells Tedras as they take off. For the ticket-taker, though, he has a question: "how will we find our seats?"

[agignac]

The duodron, its voice metallic and emotionless, says, "There are many seats. Most of them have a flat surface and four legs. If you struggle to identify appropriate places to sit, ask an attendant and they will assist you."

Machinery whirs and clicks as the train shudders and creeps forward, gradually picking up speed. Another horn blast signals that the Concordant Express is once again on the move. From the caboose window you can see the train is lifting above the ground, speeding along through the air on its perpetually moving track.

Tedras moves carefully out of the caboose and across the coupler, looking down at the mechanical track and the Outland ground already far below. He opens the door to the next car, expecting to see passengers of some sort or other. Instead, he finds a most curious car. On the left wall there is a podium, behind which is a chalkboard covered with mathematical equations. Next to the podium stands a boxy modron wearing a wizard's cap. On the right hand wall, ten spherical modrons are lined up and unmoving. Another door, straight ahead, shows the way out and towards the next train car.

The boxy modron taps the podium with a brass wand to get Tedras' attention. "Well met!" it says in Common. "I am the Math Wizard, Captain of Calculus, Admiral of Abaci, Unifier of Units! Welcome to my Sanctum Numerum, where any problem can be solved. I beseech thee, traveler, what numerical enigmas plague thee?"

[Lioslaith]

Fenris boards the train, all the while staying silent and watching the movement of the modron's. After his ticket is punched he takes his seat only to watch Tedras move into the other train car. After a few heartbeats he gets up and follows suit, quietly.

[Auranghzeb]

Any problem can be solved Tedras repeats mentally, letting the words roll.


Thank you, your most excellent professor, My name is Sardet, I'm a traveling merchant of information and there's a question that plagues my mind and makes me wonder whether it is nobler to try and solve it myself or ask for your help. It is a problem of subtraction, apparently simple arithmetic, yeah, but here's the rub. How does one solve an operation that requires the numeral from which one subtracts looks the same as before the subtraction?


Tedras words it in kind of a nonsensical way. Then smiles and tries again.

Spoiler: Deception

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(1d20+10)[19]

Lets take, for the sake of argument, a train traveling through space an time -all travels are- and from which a passenger must be subtracted before a determined amount of time has elapsed, how much time would have to pass before anyone notice the subtraction? How would you even formulate the problem into an equation that could be solved by someone as plain as myself?

Tedra's big smile grows even wider.

Spoiler: Investigation? Persuation? Let's roll persuation:

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(1d20+10)[14]

[The Hellbug]

"Thank you?" It seems that the party's contact isn't the only train operator who's as relentlessly factual as they are relentlessly unhelpful in answering questions. Willfully believing that it must be the way of Mechanus and not an act of intentional patronization, Ennius follows his companions into the second car.

And is shocked once again, not by awe this time but by the sheer strangeness of the car. Math Wizard? The warlock is of half a mind to just head straight down the train all the way to the engine to see if this is just how things are on board the Concordant Express, but Tedras's query is intriguing. Ennius, too, awaits the response of mathematically-inclined modron.

[agignac]

The boxy Math Wizard smiles with its oddly wide mouth. "Aha! You are a philosopher, looking to answer difficult questions with the comforting logic of mathematics! A wise man, to understand your lowly understanding and search for solace under the tutelage of one such as myself! Of course, your question has many variables. Is the passenger being observed before, during, or after the subtraction? How many dimensions is the train travelling through? And of course, is it a true subtraction, or a substitution? Can you answer any of these variable? Without more information my equation will be vague at best, misleading at worst."

[Archemist]

Siobhan decides to bring Clancy along after all. He's just a normal dog but she figures any interdimensional train that adapts to fire elementals and such can handle a dog passenger for a few hours.

She gives her ticket to be punched and moves forwards in the train past the professor modron and his class, making apologies for disrupting their learning.

"Thirty minutes, sure," she responds to Tedras when he suggests poking around for a bit individually. She looks to see what is in yet one more car forwards, hoping to find an open seat, perhaps.

[Auranghzeb]

Tedras knows enough to realize that it will be difficult to outsmart this Math Wizard, but the enigma formulation can help the party making some decisions, and tries as hard as possible to continue the formulation:

The train is traveling of course across all 4 dimensions, from point a to c. However, it is unknown if the travel across dimensions happens linearly.
The point about the passenger being observed is a clever one, wouldn't have thought it myself, professor, truly a mind as bright as yours could tell us if in interdimensional travel there are blind spots that prevent constant observation. That would help us with the second variable and would be crucial to understand whether substitution is even possible

Tedra's mind was racing, pearls of transpiration appeared from the effort. This was to much for a simple uneducated mind, but the others didn't jump to help!

Come on!

Tedras thought

you guys are smarter!

[Infernally Clay]

Rafe Haugen Dhampir Hexblade Warlock 9 AC: 19 | HP: 75/75 | Initiative: +2 STR: -1 | DEX: +2 | CON: +3 | INT: +1 | WIS: +4 | CHA: +8 Spell Slots: 5th: 2/2 Hexblade Curse: 1/1 Accursed Spectre: 1/1 Ghostly Gaze: 1/1 Active Effects: None Concentrating: None Conditions: None

Out of nowhere, a tall and almost sinister looking man rests his arm upon Tedras' shoulder, his smile towards the math wizard bearing teeth as sharp as razorblades.

"Come now," his says, his words making the room itself feel... heavier, "A train travelling through multiple dimensions would need to observe its passengers at all times... wouldn't want any of them to fall out and get eaten up by the abyss."

He licks his lips, which have a drop of red liquid sitting upon them before he scoops it up with his tongue, and turns to the man beside him, "It has been some time, Sardet. Have you caught the academic bug while I was away? Perhaps you could ask the good professor to explain how trains such as this adapt to the multitude of gravitational and geothermal fluctuations between dimensions. This train must be a mathematical marvel to achieve such things."

Rafe then removes his arm and moves towards the ten modrons hovering nearby. "What purpose do these fulfil, I wonder?"

[Auranghzeb]

Tedras hated when Rafe did that... lurking on people and startling them like that.

Besides, Tedras wondered how Rafe had those pecs with so little Strength.

Must be charisma muscles

Anyhow, Tedras was relieved that someone else interferred in a conversation that was clearly getting out of hands.

Oh, hey, it's you. Efar, the definely not creepy brooding scientist of dark matter.

[agignac]

Siobhan leaves the math wizard to the "brainier" types, and goes across the traincar to the exit door. Another step across the coupler to the next train car. Clancy seems unsettled by the ground passing underneath so far below, but he's well-trained and trusts Siobhan to take care of him in these strange places. The math door whooshes shut behind them.

Then Siobhan opens the door to the next car....and freezes.

The train car is filled with clear water, and for a moment, the druid expects it to sluice over her. However, it isn't displaced when the door open. The car's interiors space is a large aquarium, complete with a coral reef and algae-coated ruins. Tiny, colourful fish dart through the ruins, and circle an alabaster statue carved in the likeness of an angel clutching a decanter. The nearby fish scatter at the sight of Siobhan and Clancy.

Meanwhile, in the math car, the Admiral of Abaci says, "Well, interdimensional travel is mostly theoretical, unlike interplanar travel. Except for the fourth dimension, of course! But as you'll soon notice, travelling between planes can cause unpleasant side effects, certainly the same would be true of any other inter-travel. For example..." the modron begins a lecture on Rafe's question, most of it completely unintelligible.