“Welcome to South America,” Roboson said.
Soon Kim, a translucent spectral presence hovering around a foot above the ground, glanced around. “What is this place?”
“She needs medical attention!” Celling called. Several of the medics rushed up to help Merrowitz.
Soon Kim knelt down to touch his transparent hand to Merrowitz's head. “Lay on hands!” he shouted.
Blue light sizzled down his arm and sprung across his fingers. Nothing happened.
Momentarily stunned by the sudden collapse of her opponent, Miko raised her sword again.
Soon Kim noticed this. “Stand down, Miko,” he said.
She barely noticed. “These are evildoers that must be stopped.”
“Come on, Miko, they obviously mean no harm.”
“They were beyond your Gate!” she shouted. “They are the Snarl!”
“If this were the Snarl, it would not wait to attack.”
“They are scared of me!” Miko screamed. “They fear me, because the Twelve Gods walk with me every step of the way!”
“Are you actually totally stupid, child?” Soon Kim hissed back. “The Twelve Gods ejected you from the Sapphire Guard for your actions!”
“They are testing my faith and I will succeed!” Miko returned.
“You dare disobey the judgement of the gods? I am Soon Kim, founder and first leader of the Sapphire Guard, and I am ordering you to STAND DOWN!”
Miko stared for a few minutes, then ran back through the rift.
Soon Kim turned back to the various officers. “I’m sorry for that little display,” he said. “What’s going on here?”
KJP walked up to Soon. “Hey, are you a ghost?” He swished his hand through Soon’s head. “I wonder if it goes through. I guess he is a - OW!” This last bit because Soon Kim had punched him in the nose.
“We were fighting a fellow that had a mind-manipulating device of some kind,” Celling said. “We managed to destroy it, creating this rift. What exactly did you expect to find here?”
“This Gate was supposed to contain a creature of chaos and hatred more powerful than the gods themselves.” Soon said. “I saw it contained. Instead, when it was smashed, it seems to have opened a portal into some other place.”
“And who are you?” asked Robinson. “Are you actually a ghost?”
“I am Soon Kim, paladin of the Sapphire Guard, and yes, I have returned from the dead to assist my people,” Soon answered. “The country on my side of this rift is called Azure City and has been overrun by the forces of evil. How about yours?”
“We are the Republic of the South,” says Roboson. “And apparently the gateway is trans-universal, because we don’t know of any place known as Azure City in our world. You can look at these maps if you want. We’re currently having some dire issues with discontent and rebellion. Normally, we would not be concerned, except that their current plan involves the total annihilation of two continents.”
“Disturbing,” he said. “So you have chosen a democratic form of government?”
“In reality, we got more of an aristocracy,” Celling admitted.
“Fair enough,” he said. “So did I. Detect Evil!”
He swept his gaze over the other people, then anticlimactically blinked. “Funny. That should have worked.”
“What should have?” asked Roboson
“That was a spell to determine if your intentions were pure. It didn’t return a reading on any of you at all.”
“Huh,” says Celling. “That probably warrants some thought. In the meantime, we have even worse problems. There’s a group of people in our universe that can see into the future to a slight degree-”
“In ours as well.”
“Yeah, well, they predict that in three days, a deadly plague will be unleashed upon this continent. And even worse, it will wipe out only people of one origin, thus heightening already-present racial tensions.”
“... seriously.”
“Absolutely. Plus, our central government has been taken over by a power-hungry good-for-nothing manipulative bastard called Tyro Padelheb.”
“You guys actually sound like you're in trouble.”
“Yeah,” agreed Celling. “So what's up on your end?”
“Our city just got overrun by an army of hobgoblins.”
“Hobgoblins?” asked KJP. “Those little cute things that dance around in the woods and mess up your laundry and stuff?”
“I have no idea how it’s like in your plane, but there’s nothing little or cute about our hobgoblins,” said Soon. “They are led by an evil lich named Xykon, who seeks to capture one of the Gates and use it for his nefarious purposes.”
“And the gates are…” Roboson asked.
“I helped build them; I should know.” Soon explained. “They act as a containment system for the Snarl, an ancient being of pure chaos more powerful than the gods themselves. Five exist, formed around natural weaknesses in the Snarl’s prison. Two have already been destroyed through Xykon’s actions, but gaining control of even one would allow him to threaten to not only kill every being on our plane, but consume their souls as well.”
“That bad?”
“It’s said that when the Snarl was first created, it annihilated an entire pantheon of gods - and a whole planet - within minutes.”
Obviously both worlds have serious issues. What direction would you like the negotiations to go?
A: Offer to help them retake their city, possibly in exchange for help later on.
B: Ask if they would be willing to help with the rebels, usurper, or plague.
C: Exchange information generally but don't ask for or offer help