I'm from London. [Watson hesitates but he might as well.] And an earlier time period to most of those here. It was 1891 when I left.

Well, it appears that the letter was correct -- by being here and interacting with the citizens of this town, we are slowly restoring colour and life to its inhabitants. However, by bringing us here our captors seem to have instigated a war with their neighbours and we are now recruited to save this world and every other world from Ragnarok.