TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 10

[avalonmods]

{ QUICK NAV } Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary ⚔️️ Top-Levels Only ⚔️️ SUMMARY: New arrivals drop into the lake and have to climb up a cliff to the Rent a Ride, where they are given their device and some headphones and can retrieve their personal materials. They travel to Camelot, which is a multiple day journey, so they stop at the Red Springs along the way and stay at an inn there. A ⦿ Soaking in Your Arrival KERPLUNK, SPLASH! Regardless of what you were in the middle of, you and your familiar have been magically pulled into the world of Avalon just above the Bay's waters. After a brief plunge into the Bay, the rush of water filling your ears and soaking up into every creak and crevice of your body, you may need to cough to clear your airways when you rise above the surface. It's still chilly, but not enough that you can't manage on your own. The Lady of the Lake is swimming around under the water, helping to rescue any wayward travelers who look like they're struggling in the water. This month's helpers are giant pillow jellies, a species of jellyfish that is capable of ballooning itself at the surface to create bouncy pads for characters to hop across to the shore, should they choose or not be able to swim. They come in a variety of bioluminescent colors, but do not seem to be very talkative even to animal magic users. Those who try may find themselves being ignored, even if they hear the jellies talking amongst themselves about this and that. If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. The shores themselves are littered with new arrivals complaining their way up a staircase carved into the walls of the White Cliffs. There is no railing, so be careful, but if you do fall, be prepared for a mysterious sand hand to reach out of the side of the cliffs to catch you. The hand will pat you atop the head twice before retreating back into the wall. This is the Cliff Beast; despite the name, he is quite friendly. (Though.. given how hot and muggy the weather is this first week, maybe you might want to ask him to toss you right back into the lake where the waters are still cool.) *Reminder: Your character's familiar may or may not be with your character in their initial plunge. If the familiar isn't partial to water, it may meet your character on the beach or sit atop their head while they swim. Or if they are, they might splash about and swim alongside your character. Familiars have different personalities and body specs and we leave those up to the players. B ⦿ The Caravan to Camelot Once everyone is wrangled up to the top of the White Cliffs, the handsome owner of the Rent-a-Ride, Archimedes, will distribute smart phones and a pair of ear buds and tell them to "Check the Shit Box." The "Shit Box" refers to wardrobe more formally known as the Wardrobe of Finding, a hammerspace-like wardrobe that opens to each person's items and pets when the person touches the handle. It was recently enchanted by Merlin to prevent people from having to fish their waterlogged possessions and pets out of the water with them. From there, Archimedes directs everyone to settle in groups into modernized carriages pulled by horses and gives them a basic explanation of why and how they've been brought to Avalon: The rest of the universe is frozen in time and your character has been brought here by a familiar that was able to bond with them. They'll have to learn magic to help save their own world from destruction, but first they've got to get them to Camelot. It is here that you have the first opportunity to decide who they will be in their new home. You'll have about an hour to wander around here, meet and greet, and pet the horses before it's time to go. These carriages use fae technology that combats weight, so your character will be able to get in regardless of whether they're light as a feather or weigh two tons. The carts have air conditioning when it's hot, heating when it's cold, and a mystical shield to protect from bugs. There is also a mini-bar that pops out of the console with whole coconuts filled with tropical drinks and topped with tiny umbrellas. Strawberry daiquiris, pina coladas, margaritas, mai tais, and more... all frosty and in the spirit of keeping you cool during the sunny month of August. (Naturally, virgin editions are available for the underaged.) Characters can use their smartphones to connect to Camelot's internet service, avalononline (AOL), to chat with other characters, watch dumb videos, learn about the world, contact Camelot Support (they'll answer any questions they can for you, from how to use a smart phone to where to find quests and resources to learn more about your magic). Be careful if you decide to use your phones while in the caravan-- if you don't use those earbuds and start forcing everyone to listen to your nonsense, Archimedes may make you walk. C ⦿ The Red Spring The journey from the White Cliffs to the City of Camelot is a long one, and the first evening you arrive you'll end up spending at the Red Spring, a booming resort town. Because of the volume of new arrivals and vacationers, inn rooms are assigned two-to-a-room. The rooms have two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and a few free movies. If you don't want to relax in the room, try taking a dip in the spring for another chance to meet your fellow travelers. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly when drunk. It is known to relieve stress, improve energy levels, and mildly accelerate healing. It may be a little chilly when you get out though, so make sure you don't slip rushing back indoors when you get out! The springs are also home to a large training grounds just outside town limits, where there are teachers who will teach basic magic safety and help you discover what kind of magic you have together with other new arrivals. Try target practice, obstacle courses, meditation circles, and other ways to try to figure out just what you can do... if you didn't already have an accidental discovery on the ride there. SUMMARY: The first attempt at using the mounts to travel en-masse up to fae territory is filled with problems: mandrake sprouts caused by recent murders drumming up requests to dig them up, two titanic creatures face off in the lake and catch characters in a maelstrom, and a mysterious underwater town with a strange curse being good neighbors with a last minute save... at a slight risk: becoming a merperson, naga, or cecaelian for a little while. With communications with Elphame in Celliwig disrupted by specters and Arthur temporarily decommissioned, the Hall of Mirrors is temporarily off limits for cleansing rituals. Celliwig has encouraged people to return to Camelot for the time being, which is just as well with all the newcomers flooding in. Last month's new arrivals through the old guard got an introduction to the new aquatic mounts and there are now plenty of people versed in how to handle and work with the magical alpacapies, mossatees, and deinosuchus. As scout parties head out further, there are a few problems that they've run into that need a helping hand from Camelot's otherworldly population. A ⦿ A Mandraconian Task Just as volunteers are asked to bring supplies for the journey to fae territory, a series of grisly murders involving strung up corpses appears around town (see this month's quest, "Not-So-Good Morning" for more details), and the dripping blood and fluids of these corpses seeps into the ground to give birth to strange, leafy plants that sprout leaves in all directions at once. They're small, and the locals seem weary of them, but ultimately they're breaking up pathways and making them into trip hazards... the locals recognize these plants as mandrake root, which is known in different cultures for... very different things. The mandrake root is a cursed plant that screams in a way that curdles blood enough to kill small creatures if they're too close and make a grown person go deaf. The reason anyone would pull them up however... well, their magical properties are astounding. It is said that Joan of Arc carried one in her possession to give her the power to take control of her own fate. Some religions claim that it has the ability to restore a person's fertility, and before clever manufacturers started using the name for tomatoes, Islamic tradition called the "apples of the jinn" and cause strong bouts of lust. Needless to say, a good many people are cautious about pulling them up, but more than willing to offer a fair sum of money to a newcomer who can get them out of the ground. The cause of their sprouting may be tragic, but there's no way that you're going to make it through town center with trip supplies without getting pulled aside and asked to help harvest the mandrake roots for a pretty penny... or maybe you're interested yourself. Either way, it may behoove you to practice a little magic with a friend to try to get them up. B ⦿ Clash of the Titans Finally everyone has gotten going and a mixture of brave Camelot citizens, Celliwigians, and otherworlders have headed back to Albion's White Cliffs to take off with their mounts (and partners... you're going to have to ride with someone, there aren't enough mounts for everyone to get their own!) and things are going well. It's about two days into the waters of Lake Avalon that things start to send a chill down your spine. Back on land, even for the first two days there, the weather had been hot and sunny, a beautiful summery start to August, but as the party starts to approach the southern banks of Dinas Emrys, they see a gargantuan beast run at bewildering speeds off the land and straight across the surface of the lake. The creature appears to be some kind of centipede formed of black clouds and lightning that illuminates its exoskeleton from inside of its body in deep purple and blue hues. Each of its legs kicks up a titanic wave headed straight for the party of explorers as it charges towards its target, what appears to be a tsunami wave containing a dark, shadowy figure emerging at least twenty stories above the water. The only part of it that isn't black are the blank, soulless eyes. As the lightning bug monster charges what some may recognize as an umibozu, it crashes into the tsunami wave and all three fall asunder... which is bad news for the traveling party, as the waters are now extremely choppy and lighting up with charges of the centipede's lightning. The result? As the two monsters dive down below the water, a maelstrom forms in their path and starts sucking everyone down! C ⦿ Fresh Waters Anyone who manages to escape the maelstrom will find that their mounts aren't moving forward this time around and are heading back where they came from, even with lost supplies. You may find yourself having to switch mounts with others nearby or talking to a strange beachball on the back of the alpacapie that's carrying your ass back to the White Cliffs... Or if you weren't so lucky, you may find yourself waking up on a slightly different shore. An underwater shore. An underwater town, in fact. After the initial panic of realizing that you're not drowning when you wake up settles in, you'll realize that you seem to be able to breathe underwater just fine. In fact, the real panic is probably about to start when you realize that like the fine people of this town that saved you, you've been temporarily gifted gills and a bottom lower half of either a merperson, a naga, or a cecaelia. Your caretaker, a nurse of the local town, offers the explanation that the only way to save everyone from drowning was to pull them into their territory, which is cursed to turn them all into sea monsters. Not to worry though, as long as you leave before the sun sets on the third day, you'll turn back to normal just fine. ...Though, they're not really sure when that was or if they battle is over, so you should probably find your friends and any possessions you had with you and start heading toward the surface. Not too much time to explore this strange, underwater town... especially since you don't have much practice not having legs to get you up to the surface. Don't worry, if you don't make it out in time, the Lady of the Lake will come fetch you... though perhaps not in time, so you may need to spend some time back in Camelot seeking out someone to break a curse. SUMMARY:After the recent event, people need to recover and heal. So Camelot's castle opens its doors for an open house, a swap meet and poetry battle auction, and a healing circle ritual. Arthur is injured and recovering, and news has spread on social media about it. There are lots of well-wishers and gifts being sent to the castle... enough that there's just too much for Arthur to do anything with it. He needs time to recover and rest and not be bothered, and as such declares that all those who need it shall share in the wealth and generosity of those wishing him well. The abundance (Especially from guilty Celliwigians who didn't realize what was happening right under their own noses) results in a few things happening... A ⦿ Open House Camelot's castle halls open up to all those who would like to come. Invitations are sent and a feast is prepared. A huge table with all manner of foods from different cultures is prepared. The only thing they ask is that you stay out of the wing of the castle that Arthur is resting in, as he is not available right now. Try new foods made from recipes from all around the different worlds or invite yourself to use the castle's royal public baths, remodeled from more ancient styles to include cool things like old architecture mixing with jacuzzi jets and waterfall shower rooms. There's even a water slide. It's more a water park than anything... Explore the library (except for the forbidden section, which has a very powerful magical barrier preventing entry-- even trying to tamper with it could result in your character glowing colors by their mood as punishment for messing with the magic). Those are dangerous texts in there! There's even a live show with a magician! Which sounds lame, but he's more or less showing off his skills in tricks, knife skills, and has a mean comedy routine to go with it. He's even willing to teach lucky volunteers how to escape death-defying stunts... hopefully. You may want to bring a buddy for backup. Or perhaps you're more interested in heading out to explore the rose gardens or finding a place to stay for the evening... don't worry, if you've had too much to drink or simply tired yourself out, you're welcome to stay in one of the guest rooms during this open house celebration. B ⦿ Swap Meet Not interested in exploring the castle? Well perhaps you'll enjoy the open-market bazaar that seems to have set up in the courtyard. All kinds of oddities are being exchanged in the castle courtyard and you may just find something rare.. or maybe it's a piece of crap. It's hard to tell, and the chances of getting swindled are just as high as the chances of getting an antique masterpiece. There is an auction for those willing to pay more for authenticity, but auctions in Camelot go a little bit differently... to win art, you must first prove yourself worthy of art-- all bid submissions must be performed in stanza. Haikus, rap, short poems-- all are valid, as long as they follow the rules of your chosen form of poetry and express why your bid deserves the win. The last person to falter wins their right to pay their bid, with at least 10,000G upped with each poetic rebuttal. C ⦿ Healing Circle After Party It's good to take care of yourself with a little fun, but if you're still stressed, hurt, traumatized, mildly upset, hung over, or just want to feel better about yourself, consider joining in some of the local witches and wizards in a meditative healing ritual. Step one: Gather herbs from the castle gardens. They've got all kinds, but you're looking for things like yarrow, apple blossoms, cinnamon, and lemon balm. Once you've gathered your herbs, join in the silent meditation circle with an available partner. Anyone is fine, but once you've entered the circle with someone, it's very important that you do not make any noise. Silence is important, and as you burn each of your herbs with your partner, you'll find that the smoke forms a barrier that surrounds the two of you. Put your hands together, and focus on the source of your pain. You will share your emotions with the person you're performing the spell with. They will feel everything you feel in that moment, and be able to share the burden without having to speak of or share what caused this pain. With the pain lightened, you will find that the smoke lights up and dissipates up at the top. Whether or not you choose to share with your newfound partner... well, that's up to you, but they sure are going to know how you're feeling right now, and that definitely wasn't warned about when you were asked to join the healing circle. MOD NOTES: • All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, but this post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads, but should not top-level comment on this post. • If your application is accepted, you may accept TDM threads as game canon as long as both players consent. Characters may begin threading as soon as their journal is accepted to the communities. •If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt. • The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM, but contain seasonal tweaks for flavor. All other prompts will change monthly. • Questions about this TDM's content? Comment here! If you have a question about the game at-large, please head over to the FAQ.

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Griffin O'Callahan-Akmenos | D&D OC

[icastsword]

SOAKING IN YOUR ARRIVAL
Griffin can swim, but it’s not his favorite activity. So as soon as he realizes the jellyfish floating serenely through the water around him are both extremely bouncy and also amenable to being bounced upon, he reaches the water’s edge with little problem.

Once he makes it to the shore, he turns back to stare out over the water, fidgeting with his soaking wet sleeves. The adrenaline rush of bouncing from jelly to jelly is subsiding and being replaced by quickly rising panic:

“I’m going to be late for my date!”

He’s distracted from this earth-shattering realization by a pair of glasses falling from the sky. They bounce off his head and land at his feet. As he stoops to retrieve them, a large raven swoops in and perches on one of his horns, which he doesn’t appear to notice.

After briefly inspecting the frames for damage and finding none, he puts his glasses on and looks around. He sees other people dotting the lake shore who appear to be in a similar predicament, but hesitates to approach any of them. This could be the Feywyld, where no one would really think twice about being approached for directions by a big burly tiefling, but it also looks an awful lot like the Earthly Realm, whose denizens are far more likely to scream about devils and run off in a panic when they see his horns and his eyes.

Maybe if he just keeps to himself and heads for that cliffside staircase, everything will be fine...

THE CARAVAN TO CAMELOT
Finding Daisy in the wardrobe had been a relief. The way she had burst out of the cabinet in a panic and scrambled mightily to climb up and cling to his torso had probably been alarming to witness, but there wasn’t much he could do about that.

Now they’re both seated uncomfortably in the caravan. He’s trying to take up as little room as possible, which is difficult for a guy of his size in any situation, and compounded by the way the seats aren’t really made for people with tails. It’s also further complicated by the size of the spider in his company. Daisy is still firmly attached to his torso, all eight of her legs wrapped snuggly around him in her patented spider hug. She uses her pedipalps to gently pat his face from time to time. He has his arms wrapped around her sternum and is using her abdomen as a makeshift lap desk to angle his new smartphone for use. It doesn’t take him long to find the network, or to figure out what to post once he does.

Has anybody here heard of Jericho Investigations? My name is Griffin and I’m trying to find my coworkers.

THE RED SPRING
The caravan ride had gone mostly okay; if anyone had done any screaming about demons and devils, they hadn’t done it within earshot of Griffin, which was nice. The more time passes the more preoccupied he becomes about potentially standing up Ærin. He’s still not convinced they accepted his invitation to dinner enthusiastically, despite Jericho’s assurance that Ærin clearly wants to “climb him like a tree.” Will they be willing to accept another invitation if he no-shows this time, or has he just been royally screwed by whatever force pulled him here?

He’s the first to arrive in the room he’s told will be shared, so he claims the bed farthest from the door and spends about ten minutes patiently coaxing Daisy down off his person. She finally settles on the floor next to the bed and watches him closely as he arranges his few possessions on the floor beside her. When he finally sits on the edge of the bed, she scuttles closer and rests one of her clawed front appendages on the top of his foot as if to keep him in place.

When the door opens and Griffin’s new roommate steps inside, he looks up with a friendly smile and an alarming question:

“Hi! I’m Griffin. Um, I know this is a weird question to ask right off the bat, but how do you feel about spiders?"

TEXT: UN: HAMMERTIME

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Jericho Investigations?

Never heard of it friend. Sorry.

I guess another wave of newbies is arriving

[icastsword]

Well, shoot. Thanks anyway.

"Another"? Does this happen a lot?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Once or twice a month I think

Have you gotten Archimedes' spiel yet?

[icastsword]

Oh huh. That's kind of a lot, isn't it?

I caught most of it? I was a little distracted. Why?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Just getting a feel of where you are in your orientation.

Ill save you some time

Welcome to Avalon! Congrats youre stuck here!

[icastsword]

[There is a long delay before he replies]




OK cool, so who do I talk to about getting UNstuck here? Someone's gotta be working on that, right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Technically we all are?

Theres kinda a calamity right now. All universes are frozen in time except this one.

I know it sounds dodgy but Ive seen the maelstrom so its definitely real

[icastsword]

Okay yeah I do remember hearing something about frozen universes.

What's the maelstrom, exactly? It sounds like it needs to be shut down or calmed down or IDK whatever you do to a maelstrom to get it to stop stromming? If it goes away can I go home?

The Red Spring

[patchricide]

Truthfully, if Allura had realized the new arrivals were showing up, she might have postponed her training trip. But by the time she realized, there wasn't much time to change it. It's fine. It's just for a few days, right?

When she enters the room and sees the other person, the question almost doesn't register. It's someone fairly inhuman — and she finds herself trying to figure out if this could be a fellow alien.

But then, after a delay, her response comes: "Spiders. Right. ... are those the water creatures, with the legs that you can eat?"

Re: The Red Spring

[icastsword]

"Uhhhhh...." The woman's question catches him more off guard than her appearance. It hadn't occurred to him to ask whether this room was co-ed. He actually has to look down at Daisy while he processes. She's heard the woman's question and has bristled slightly, clearly wary. He looks back up almost as quickly as he looked down.

"No. Definitely no. I don't know anyone who eats spiders. And I don't think spiders like water?" He looks back down at Daisy. The look Daisy gives him in return is a big fat negative. He looks back up at the woman and clarifies: "Spiders don't like water."

[patchricide]

For the record, Griffin, she was thinking of crabs. It's all right, it's not like this is Jeopardy.

But she looks surprised when he addresses the big arachnid in the room. "Wait, hold on. Is that a spider? I don't think I've ever seen a creature like that one before!" A pause, and then she admits, "Not at that size, at least..."

[icastsword]

He freezes for a moment when it becomes apparent that she's seen Daisy - he had thought Daisy was hidden behind the bed, but clearly not. However, since her reaction to the dog-sized tarantula only seems to be curiosity, he relaxes quickly.

"Uh, yeah. This is Daisy. She's harmless, but there are a lot of people out there who are scared of spiders, so she's also kind of a lot of people's nightmare fuel because most spiders aren't as big as she is."

[patchricide]

It was a good attempt. After all, she hadn't noticed Daisy at first despite her size, not until Griffin actually addressed the creature. But there's really only so much that these beds can hide, especially to a spider of Daisy's size. No offense to her, of course.

Allura hunches down to get a better look at this supposed nightmare creature. And she looks confused. "Really? They're scared of her? But she looks quite fuzzy from here — I thought humans adored fuzzy creatures."

[icastsword]

He's not sure whether or not it's strange that this elfy-looking woman has apparently never heard of or seen a spider before, but he's more focused on the way she's just fearlessly crouched down to get a better look at Daisy. He just grins happily because she's asking questions he can pretty confidently answer, and because she seems genuinely curious about his best girl.

"I think it's the way spiders move that turn most people off. Also I guess eight legs is too many legs? I don't really get it, either." He looks from his new roommate to Daisy. "Do you want to say hi, Daisy?"

Daisy appears to consider this suggestion for several moments; he's not the only one who's been feeling out of his depth here. There have been a lot of strange people and strange encounters since she'd scrambled forth from the cramped wardrobe where she'd found herself this morning. So far most have ignored her in favor of talking to Griffin. But this woman seems very calm and pretty chill, so it probably can't hurt to say hi. So she eases out from behind the bed, deliberately stepping on one of Griffin's feet with each of the legs facing him as she moves, until she runs out of legs and keeps the last one where it lands on his right foot. Once fully exposed, she extends her pedipalps politely.

"Oh, but the hair on her legs is kind of prickly - it's only soft on her body, so be careful if you want to pet her."

[patchricide]

"She has... too many? How many legs are spiders supposed to have, then?"

The meaning of that turn of phrase has sailed right over Allura's head. Not just because Earthlings have come up with some truly odd expressions — but because she's encountered more than a few space creatures with more legs than this. And this barely registers as a giant, not when she's seen creatures the size of planets.

With a polite smile, she responds to the greeting with her own, "It's very nice to meet you, Miss Daisy." And then, she starts to reach for one of those pedipalps, before she decides it's best to confirm: "It's fine to shake her legs, right? Rather than pet them?"

[icastsword]

"Oh, well, she has the right number of legs for a spider, but people who like fuzzy animals usually prefer dogs and cats, and dogs and cats only have four legs each. Any more limbs than that is where people seem to have problems."

He watches Daisy reach out to make friends with a happy little smile. The woman's next question puzzles him a bit. "Shake? Why would you...oh, like a handshake?"

SOAKING IN YOUR ARRIVAL

[heartlessswordsman]

Zelgadis usually heads out here around this time of the month, just in case someone he knows from home drops in. He misses Lina on this trip, but that's fine, there are plenty of other weirdos dropping in that probably need some help. He understands being a loner, so seeing one guy trying to hang back and keep to himself catches his eye more than anything. Sorry Griff, your plan to go unnoticed is a miserable failure.

He approaches Griffin as nonthreateningly as possible. He knows how disorienting it is to drop into this place, and he doesn't want to spook the guy any more than he probably already is.

"Normally people tend to have some questions. Are you doing okay?"

[icastsword]

"Oh!" Griffin had seen the guy approach but is still somehow weirdly surprised when he talks to him. He actually starts a bit and looks around like he expects that maybe Zelgadis is talking to someone else. But there's no one else around - it's just him. The raven that had perched, unnoticed, on one of his horns takes off when he starts swinging his head around, and he's distracted briefly watching it fly off to wherever it is it's going; probably somewhere with a more stable perch. Where did it come from, anyway?

But back to Zelgadis:

"Um. Yes? No? I don't actually know." Then he gets a better look at Zel's beautiful stony face, and he realizes that hey, there's at least one (1) other guy here who is clearly not human. This is a huge relief that is probably immediately apparent on his face. "This isn't the Earthly Realm, is it? I haven't heard anyone screaming about devils and fiends yet but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, you know?"

[heartlessswordsman]

Woo yeah, don't tell Zel that his face is beautiful. He wouldn't know how to take that sort of compliment at all. Honestly, he'd probably think that Griffin is making fun of him because he's a dipshit that way.

Anyway, he does notice that this guy seems relieved, but his question is a bit confusing.

"Ah... this place is called Avalon, people from all sorts of different worlds are brought here. Most of them seem to be normal humans, but it's not too unusual to find other kinds of people here."

Like, y'know, himself. And Griffin. Weirdos.

[icastsword]

Wow Zel, you're a good-looking guy, but there is only one person in all the realms who Griffin would describe as beautiful, and you're not them. But you are appreciated!

"Avalon?" That name sounds strangely familiar for some reason. His head tilts to one side as he considers, trying to remember where he's heard the name before...Oh yeah! "Like the Halls of Avalon?" But that couldn't be right, could it? He looks around again and determines that he's definitely outside. The Halls of Avalon had absolutely been inside. At least, all the parts of them that he'd seen, anyway. "...Actually probably not. Um. Okay. I guess this isn't worst-case scenario, then? Maybe..." He's not actually too sure.

"Shoot. Sorry. I'm a little...out of my depth?" Does that phrase make sense in this situation? Sure, we'll go with that. "My name's Griffin."

When in doubt, introduce yourself. Or something. At least being polite feels like something like solid ground. Metaphorical solid ground.

[heartlessswordsman]

It's Jericho isn't it

Zel has no idea what this guy is talking about, but that's fine. He doesn't understand most of the people who come through here.

"Don't sweat it, I definitely know how that feels. My name is Zelgadis. Welcome to Avalon, I guess."

Here, he'll even be polite and offer his hand to shake.

[icastsword]

Dammit, how did you guess

Oh, we're shaking hands? Heck yeah, let's shake hands like a pair of civilized and polite boys. Griffin reaches out to accept that handshake. His grip is firm, but not firm like a frat boy who's trying to assert dominance. It's just a regular, non-hand-crushing handshake because he's a nice boy who doesn't subscribe to the kind of machismo that disguises fragile masculinity by making everything into a contest of strength.

You can tell a lot about a man by their handshake, you know?

"Thanks, I think. Um, but thanks - for real - for saying hi. It's good to meet you."

[heartlessswordsman]

I know things!!!!

Zelgadis returns Griffin's regular, non-hand-crushing handshake with a similar one of his own, because he's not a dick. Well, he can be, but only when a situation calls for it. This one doesn't.

"Nice to meet you, too, and think nothing of it. I know how disorienting arriving here can be. Sometimes just having someone to talk to can be a bit reassuring."

[icastsword]

"Wow, you can say that again!" Griffin is actually feeling pretty reassured. Not that that's particularly difficult, but still, an effort was made, and that effort is appreciated. Zelgadis is clearly a bro.

"So what do I do now? I'm dressed for a date, not for...whatever is going on here. I don't even have any of my gear." His favorite silk shirt and coordinating silk waistcoat are probably not ruined by the swim, so he doesn't want to definitely ruin them by trekking through uncharted wilderness.