The story begins in The Outlands.
Francis, an elf, started his adventure from a village populated by sentient cats, near Faunel.
Motivations still somewhat unclear, Francis traveled toward the scattered settlements of the Realm of the Norns to gather information that might aid in his endeavors.
Jig had been inhabiting the area for a bit on the fringes of the scattered villages. His most recent excursions led him to a village watering hole after scamming a local (having traded them some hacked-together something-or-other). Here he ran into Francis as they were both trying to pry information out of a local (and dubious) “information broker,” who sent the two of them to the local brewery on some errand in return for information.
The proprietor informed the both of them of the dubiousness of the so-called broker, and redirected them to a table of more trustworthy seer-types, one of whom said they could find a more trustworthy information broker in the gate-town of Ribcage.
The two were then promptly chased out of town when Jig’s scam victim finally figured out they’d been conned.
The two proceeded to try to find a reliable route to Ribcage, in the process acquiring a map of The Outlands (though recall, maps of the Outlands are ephemeral things, since only the relational positions of places can actually be documented, and those relations can change!)
In plotting a route, they managed to catch a ride to Ribcage via the The Concordant Express, an interplanar train.
After a very interesting (though quickly glossed over) trip, through numerous portals across varying landscapes of the Outlands, Francis and Jig finally arrive at a terminal just a short trek away from the gate-town of Ribcage, where they will soon encounter Conrad… at a sauna?