[ Jay takes a long, hard look at the portal, squares his shoulders—an absurd gesture on his slight frame—and takes a deep breath. Beyond may well lie home … and Lev, and Rook's grave. Those are things worth seeing.

But beyond may also lie Mir's worse parts. He hopes whoever's foolish enough to come with him has a strong stomach.

He turns to his prospective travel companion and gives a crooked grin. ]

Are you ready, darling? Let me show you the world of Spirit and Flesh—

i. the cellar door is an open throat

[ Jay and his travel companion exit in a house inhabited mostly by dust. They're in a private library, so crowded with books that they're stacked almost everywhere there is space; the bookshelves overflow. The chairs are piled high. The desk is barely visible, though some room has been left for a small alchemy kit—just a gas burner and a couple of triangular flasks and a stirrer.

Jay sneezes, once, twice, and then looks around and swears. ]

Oh good Lord. Of all the places—

[ He turns to his travel companion and sighs. ]

Sorry, dearest. This is, ah. My mentor's old house. And—

[ A crash of crockery from downstairs interrupts him and he swears again. Hellewege's house is bad enough. Hellewege's house full of burglars is a nightmare. ]

And apparently we're not alone. How joyous.

ii. and the druids turn to stone

[ Jay closes his eyes this time. He opens them when gentle breeze brushes past his face and finds himself nose to nose with what looks like a pointy shoe held upside-down. ]

Oh, bugger.

[ He and the poor soul foolish enough to follow him through the portal are in a clearing in a birch grove. Tall grass brushes their ankles. Somewhere nearby, a frog croaks its disgust with the world.

All around them are—well, it's hard to tell precisely what they are. They look like humanoid shapes, minus the head, the neck growing out of the ground. Or they would look like that, if their surfaces weren't disturbingly organic, like the surfaces of certain mushrooms, and if they weren't covered with gently swaying fronds and tubules. Tentacles, one might even say. The things are in nauseating shades of green and purple and khaki.

Jay makes a gagging noise. ]

If you want to leave, darling, I would understand perfectly.

iii. wildcard!

Have something else in mind? Want to combine worlds? You can plot with me on plurk (tintamarre) and we can figure something out!