"I couldn't see any of you, I was facing the apparatus, but yes, if any of you can describe what you experienced..."

Kreldoran clears off a bit of table and pulls out a notebook.

Randy gives Ulmwin a long appraising look, then gives as detailed a description as he can of what he saw.  

Ulmwin scratches through his hair, at the very least appearing to be rather perplexed.

"A light octopus?" he asks, just... Looking at his arms for a few moments as if to make sure he hadn't turned into an eldritch beast or anything like that. 

"Well, I think I got all my bits and none extra... Not gonna undress to triple-check. But I didn't see anything like that, no. Wasn't the teleport thing instant? All I saw was device activating, brief flash, and we're here," he shrugs again, looking about the room, clearly able to tell that... Wasn't really a satisfactory answer. Brows furrowed yet again as he's thinking, before seeming to have a sudden revelation.

"Hold on a second. Wasn't there this whole debacle about me being 'late' last time we teleported as well? Far as I know twas the same there,  I just walked through, but they raised a whole ruckus about it... Didn't really think too much about it still back then, but maybe I'm just... Like..." he starts, trailing off, as if trying to find what word would best fit what he was thinking of. The word he eventually gives could raise more questions than answers for at least some.

"...Allergic?"

"It became bit long instant transport."

Dornikal gingerly waves his hands around the gnome to see if there is something invisible there.

Dornikal does some reluctant reiki, but doesn't encounter anything.

Arcana check to see how much Ulmwin actually knows about how teleportation works (with the planes):

Arcana: 18 

Ulmwin has a grasp of the basics, teleporting gets you from one place to another via transit of other planes where distance is less of a thing. As far as what specifically happened here, he doesn't have a good explanation.

Dornikal suggests to Kreldoran,

"Any way ye can transport him and someone else again? See if happens every time?"

"Yeah, exactly!" the gnome starts, academic side showing as he almost seems excited. 

"I mean, everyone presumes that teleportation is instant, or at least nigh instant. I'm not a real expert, but as I understand most teleportation works by briefly using another plane to transport from one spot to another in the same plane... Like folding a piece of parchment, is how I got told one time, and the space between the paper is... Ethereal? Astral? I'm not really sure."

"Anyway, my only guess right now is that maybe there's some kind of condition where this... Transition, doesn't happen as smoothly as it should? I admit never hearing about something like that, but then again, how many people actually end up teleporting even once in their lifetimes? For all we know a whole bunch of people have something similar, but they'll never even come close to a portal! Or it could be some kind of internal magic defense..." he continues, seeming more unsure about the latter suggestion.

"...Running theory in each case is that maybe teleport isn't as truly instantaneous as we think it might be, but fast enough no one can tell the difference... Or rather that no one can tell about the time spent between... Unless you somehow stretch it out as seems to have happened..."

"So, erm... Sorry about that?"

"The folding paper analogy is a bit simplistic, but not inaccurate. You said it was instantaneous from your perspective, Ulmwin?", Kreldoran asks, not looking up from where he's scribbling with one quill, and an unattended quill is scribbling on another sheet of parchment.

"But to the rest of us, time seemed to have stopped... could it be that it is not Ulmwin that is different, but the rest of us, somehow? I suppose we should see how the three downstairs took the transport."

"Randerwaith, how does this square with any of your research into portals and planar travel?

He calls his owl into being and after a bit of silent communication, she flits out of existence again.

Arcana:3

(Randy apparently knows something on this subject)

"I think that Ulmwin is the locus of the effect, even if he's not aware of it.  We became aware because of our close proximity to him during transit."  He looks at  Ulmwin. " What magic items do you have on you right now?  It's possible that it could be an effect from one of them. Or perhaps some residual energy from your last trip."

((The All Mother would be disappointed if he didn't at least have some thoughts on the subject. :D ))

This is all very confusing to Dornikal who is doing his best to keep a look of utter bewilderment off his face.

((Performance check? 🤣🤣))

Performance: 8

Dornikal simply beams bewilderment, his mouth opening and closing slowly like a fish as he tries, and fails, to get a grasp on this whole portal thing.

Ulmwin gives a worried side glance at Dornikal, mouth slowly opening and closing like a dying fish, before turning his attention back to Randy.

"Ah! Good suggestion, perhaps..? Let's see," he starts, taking inventory, albeit frowning slightly.

"I'm not sure I have anything that could really be an cause... I still have some of those magical cubes from long ago (unless I actually used them before and just never removed them from inventory, in which case i don't), the ring that holds featherfall, this rapier... Oh, and this," he finishes, briefly holding up and shaking... A baby rattle? What is THAT doing in his backpack?

"I've got the bat cloak and pipes now too of course, but I only got those recently..."

Coljin takes a closer look at the rattle thing.  Has he seen Ulmwin with it before?

Ulmwin for his own part seems just as confused. He had to dig it out from the very bottom of his pack. It's covered in a thin layer of dust.