Days later, Captain Blackthorne followed Avin at a distance, down the streets of Fortune. She had swapped out her nautical garb for the current fashion in the large city and, given the dimensional traveler had never met her, she was able to discretely trail him.
Outside of one of the low ranked traveler clubs, she saw him harassing a traveler who, eventually, lost patience, seemed to tell him off, and walked away into the club.
Seems like he’s not as intimidating to the fresh meat, she thought.
Avin attempted to gain entry and was turned away by the doorman. Ranting and raving as he departed, he continued along the street. Looking around, he slipped into an alley.
This is my chance, Emilia thought, hurrying after him. The smell of garbage hit her as she stepped into the narrow walkway. A small creature that looked like a reptilian version of a raccoon barred its teeth at her, then ran off.
No sign of Avin, she thought, slowing down and walking deeper into the backstreet. All big cities have the same alleys. This would make a perfect spot for an ambush.
“And who might have sent you, my sweet young thing?” Avin asked as he stepped out of a doorway the pirate captain had walked past.
***
The day before, Stephen looked across the dining table at the ‘Iron Wraith’. “You’ll have to wear something else, no one dresses like a pirate in Stredath,” he said. He stabbed a sausage on the plate in front of him that the golem servants had delivered - toast, eggs over easy, bacon, ham, and sausage.
“Yeah, yeah,” Emilia said, waving him off. “I know how to blend in.” She sipped her coffee, made a sour face, then said to one of the golems, “Bring me something drinkable. Black tea.”
Adam placed a vial of green liquid on the table. “This is our first prototype of the new delivery mechanism,” the living statue said. “It’s more potent than the gas Maggard used. If you can get him to consume this, at lease a half ounce or so, he should lose access to his dimensional traveler powers. For at least a couple of hours. Give him more every two hours once you have him contained.
“And what if,” Emilia asked with a predatory smile, “I got it into his bloodstream more directly?” She looked at a thin knife she’d drawn and made it dance along her fingers.
“If you slashed him with a coated blade, that should take effect almost immediately,” Adam acknowledged. “Don’t underestimate the capabilities of travelers. Avin might be down and out, but he’s still a dangerous opponent.”
A drone hovered nearby, which was one of the newest devices HAL had deployed in his network. “Very dangerous,” added the A.I.
***
“Please don’t hurt me, sir,” Emilia said, terror on her face as she cringed backwards. “They made me follow you, I don’t want no trouble.”
Avin sneered as he advanced on the woman. He had drawn a pistol that had a steampunk aesthetic. “Crawford has started a fashion of firearms in Stredath which is tiresome, but I believe you’ll find your death from this little beauty to be more agonizing than expected.” He grabbed a hold of her shoulder with his free hand, and jabbed the pistol into her rib cage. “Wounds from it create a fast acting infection. You’ll experience new heights of agony as you rot away over 15 seconds.”
Emilia frightened expression dropped, and she gave Avin a predatory grin. “I really thought it’d be harder to get close to you,” she said. She held up his hand holding the pistol, aiming it away from herself. A red slash marked the back of the traveler's hand. She mimed a kiss at him.
“You bitch!” said Avin. “You cut me? The carrioncaster will be a mercy compared to what I’m going to do.” Avin’s triumphant expression fell as he looked at the ‘Iron Wraith’ in horror. “What have you done to me?”
***
“So, once I’ve grabbed him, what do you want me to do with him?” asked Emilia, picking up a small piece of leftover sausage from Stephen's plate and popping it into her mouth. She washed it down with the tea the golem had brought her.
“We own an estate outside of Fortune,” said Rurth. “You could take him there.”
“What’s Fortune?” asked the captain.
“What’s Fortune!?!” exploded Rurth. “It’s the city you’re going to! Stephen, how is she going to manage this if she doesn’t even know the name of the city.”
“Easy, sweetcheeks,” said the ‘Iron Wraith’. “I thought it was called Stredath.”
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“Stredath is the dimension,” said Rurth, exasperated.
“She’ll do fine,” said Blargh. “Yeah, I’ll do fine,” agreed the captain.
***
Walking along the street, Avin’s unconscious body wrapped up and slung over her shoulder, Emilia sensed three thugs closing on her and a menacing man walking towards her from the direction she’d been walking. The menacing man, Blargh, asked, “Can you handle them?” as he took the large bundle from her.
“I’ll do fine,” she said, turning and moving towards the goons as Blargh disappeared into the crowd.
“Why are you scurvy dogs following me?” she demanded as she approached the henchmen. The three of them craned their necks, trying to spot where Avin’s body had been taken.
Cuffing one of them, the ‘Iron Wraith’ said, “I’m talking to you, worm!”
***
One of the golems collected Stephen's dirty breakfast plate and departed for the kitchen.
“So,” asked Blargh, sipping from a bottle of Steam Whistle pilsner he’d developed a taste for on Earth. “Once I’ve gotten Avin’s body, if Emilia runs into trouble, why doesn’t Stephen just bring us back to the pocket dimension?”
“Avin’s a dimensional traveler,” said Stephen. “I can’t capture him and I can’t bring an uncaptured sentient creature with me when I travel. We’ll have to deal with him in whatever dimension we grab him in, which it’s looking like that’ll be Stredath. You’ll have to take him to the estate Rurth has set up.”
“We’ll have some golems, which are becoming more of a regular sight around Fortune, on hand to help Emilia deal with any witnesses,” said Stephen.
“What do you mean by ‘deal’ with them?” asked Rurth.
“We don’t need The Griffin Club causing us problems again,” said Stephen. “We can’t let anyone go who sees this happen.” Blargh and the pirate captain nodded.
“But they’ll be able to use magical means to figure out what happened,” objected Rurth. “We don’t have any way to prevent that.”
“You’re right, of course,” said Stephen. “But we have to delay them finding out as long as possible. If you can knock out any witnesses for a few hours, that’s fine too,” he said to the ‘Iron Wraith’ who nodded indifferently.
“So, when you get Avin to the estate, drug him with another dose of the poison,” Stephen said to Blargh. “Emilia will pack it with the body.”
***
Dumping Avin’s body on the table in Adam’s makeshift workshop at the estate, Blargh began searching through the tarp the traveler had been wrapped in, looking for the poison.
“The poison’s not here,” he said to Adam. “What if he wakes up and uses his dimensional travel ability to leave?”
“That’s no problem…” said HAL, from one of the clay golem cyborgs that was prepared to assist Adam.
Blargh took out a club and struck Avin on the head. A nasty head wound began to bleed on the dimensional traveler.
“... we can anesthetize him and keep him unconscious,” finished HAL. The former innkeeper, the living statue, and the golem looked at one another. Blargh shrugged.
“We’ve never enmeshed a traveler before,” said Adam, as he prepared the cybernetic equipment to be implanted. “Let’s get to work.”
***
Concurrently, while studying the small tree, Stephen considered all the conversations he’d had with Orlenis about Sylvoria. He thought about everything he’d learned about her, about nature from Shomos, and about biology during his undergraduate studies.
Following the graceful bend of the branch as it connected to the trunk, he truly noticed the bark for the first time and had an epiphany.
Two new cards appeared in his mind.
image [https://i.imgur.com/W3bwRkw.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/iM56j1K.png]
***
At the same time, Shomos led the group of cyborg clay golems on a camping trip in Algonquin Park. The creatures recorded data as they passed through the lands of Earth, while Shomos studied the flora, fauna, and geography.
She felt refreshed as she communed with the new lands, and experienced pleasure as she saw them recovering from the deprivations of the, now reduced, human population.
***
Later that day, in the estate outside Stredath, Adam, Blargh, and HAL watched carefully as Avin’s eyes opened, and the dimensional traveler blinked repeatedly and looked around.
Blargh pulled out his gun, pointed it at Avin’s head and asked, “Is it safe or should I shoot him?”
“I’ve been talking for the last 15 minutes about him being enmeshed and successfully joining the hivemind,” said HAL, with faint irritation.
Avin picked up the thread of conversation and continued talking on HAL’s behalf. “We’ve learned everything he knew, and he’s fully under our control. Based on our predictions, a group from The Griffin Club should be here to ‘rescue’ him right… about… now.” The group looked at the door, but nothing happened.
“Humph,” said Blargh. “He’s not so great at fortune-telling.”
“It isn’t fortune-telling,” said HAL. “It’s statistical forecasting, based on extensive information and modelling of the world around us.”
“Stephen will be pleased that he’s under our control, and we can hopefully get some answers from him,” said Adam.
The door burst open as three dimensional travelers entered the room. “Don’t move,” ordered the tall blonde man Stephen and Emilia had encountered in Clodor. HAL's clay golem drone moved its head slightly towards Blargh.
“We’re here to rescue you, Avin,” said K’rezzik.
“Leave me alone!” shouted the drone Avin, and vanished.