Here is a sea of grass and rolling hills, stretching far as the eye can see. Far to the east and west, past the fields of green and autumn-orange, mountain ranges rise up and past the clouds: cliffs to the heavens, climbing without end.
It's a nicely furnished cabin, plenty of space with wardrobes and drawers, and personal washing facilities that are slightly confusing and might be magic(?). There's a quick safety and conduct briefing. With the captain, there's also maybe ten to fifteen crew members, some of them are geared up like they might be the ship's own security. Drakes and Gnolls, not humans.
Plumbing can be explained. And the details of their voyage, and what to do in an emergercy, and where to get food and whom to bother for what... He and his escort should not attempt to start or join a fight if something or someone attacks them, unless specifically asked to do something.
"We don't expect to run into trouble we can't handle ourselves, so it would be simpler to not add new elements to the field, even if there are some cases where it might be useful," says a security-looking Drake.
Then they'll get on their way.
Though there's hardly any wind, the boat is already moving once the sails unfurl. After they're out of the harbor and into open waters, it only goes faster. The patterns on the sails glow ever so faintly in the dark, and the crew calls Skill after Skill in practiced order, spurring the ship on. By the time Homgrasse is a dot in the distance, the waters overboard are a blur. But the bow of the vessel cuts through the sea like it's not even there, and the sea spray and crash of waves barely seem to touch them. The deckhands work at the rigging, but their bearing never changes, and the wind is at their back every day.
There's not much to do, but people are happy to play chess, and the captain's anti-seasickness Skill is good enough that reading and writing won't be a problem. The most interesting thing to happen is that four days in, a large scaly bird tries to dive for a crew member on deck, but it's shot down before anyone else has a chance to react.
Blai was terrified of boats as a child but this is fine actually! He will play a lot of chess.
The sea voyage is the longest leg of the journey by far, but on the 24th, the coast of Izril comes into sight. The ship follows it west, past towns and cities, but doesn't stop. On the 27th, they catch the first glimpse of their destination.
"There it is," says the captain. "The City of Waves."
The sight gives a hint as to why Liscor, with its multi-storey solid stone walls that allegedly have never fallen, doesn't count as a capital-letters Walled City.
The walls of Zeres rise two hundred feet from the sea, passing entire vessels in their shadow; only the masts of the very largest ships reach the top, and even then the guard towers rise even farther, stationed every few hundred feet and shaped in the image of different reptilian heads. The walls rise to an arch at the entrance to the harbor, and a sharp eye will catch that the walls are thicker, doubled up around it. An even sharper eye might see the seams and grooves, and guess that they're meant to close, stone sliding over stone by some hidden mechanism to physically seal off the entire harbor.
The ship slows on its approach, but sails straight through the arch with a signal from the guard tower, past other ships coming in and out.
The inside is an open, circular harbor, even larger than you'd already expect from the outside. The full extent of the walls, which run from sea onto ground and enclose the entire city, might contain more water than land. There's enough space for multiple fleets, with jetties that partition off sectors for dedicated usage, some with their own walls and gates. There are navy vessels on patrol. The entire waterfront, miles and miles long, bustles with activity.
The crew sets up their signal flags and waits for docking directions.
Wow. Blai's not sure what spells you'd need for that, but probably it wasn't even spells. Someone was just very very Skilled.
The Zeresians actually have it on pretty good authority that Skills were probably not significantly involved! If Blai cares to Detect Magic, the whole wall, every mile of it from top to bottom, glows with a strong aura.
The ship is directed west into one of the smaller walled docks with heraldry hanging from the parapets. A patrol vessel intercepts and escorts them.
"I think we got drawn for inspection," the captain says. "The harbor's on edge today, don't know why. If you're smuggling stolen goods, now's the time to speak up," he jokes.
"No, they'll just have you declare on truth magic."
The Drake who steps on board once they're docked is in proper armor and bears a spear. He glances over the party.
"Your documents indicate you have a passenger 'Select Blai Artigas'. Is he here?"
"We're taking you in for questioning in connection to instances of aiding and abetting escape from lawful custody, harboring a fugitive, and person trafficking."
"...as I have been kidnapped in the past, I would prefer to have my escort nearby, but of course I am willing to answer your questions."
The Drake glances over the rest of the people onboard.
"Which ones are those? They can wait in the lobby of the Watchhouse."
Blai points them out. "Thank you."
Good thing he didn't unpack his bag of holding, he guesses.
Nod. To the captain, "That's all we need. You may go."
And he and another Drake will take them through a maze of corridors to a different building. The second Drake shows the escort to where they can wait, and the first brings Blai into an plain room with a table and two chairs.
He produces a file and takes a few seconds to flip through it.
"Select. You have been in Chandrar for... four months, correct? Prior to that, you resided in Liscor for a month. Where were you before that?"
"I'm from another world. The plane is called the Material Plane, the specific part of it where I lived Golarion."
"I first appeared in this world near the city of Liscor and settled there. I only left it due to the kidnapping I mentioned. I mean to return there."