Weeks later, Stephen and Adam, surrounded by golem assistants, worked on a blow dart system equipped with the dimensional traveler poison which Adam had been producing. They were inspired by the dimensional traveler from The Griffin Club who had poisoned Stephen.

Debating the construction of the blowgun in depth, testing the range and accuracy, and adjusting the construction materials, Stephen suddenly sat upright and said, “I’ve just captured it.”

”That should be useful,” said Adam, as he continued to work.

“I’m going to travel to Mecond, and examine it,” he informed Adam, and started walking to the misty edge of the pocket dimension. He found the position leading to Mecond and stepped into the mist.

Arriving in the small house they’d rented in Ravenshire, he immediately began powering his depleted dimensional travel card. Then he took out a mirror, cast ‘identify’, and examined the new card.

image [https://i.imgur.com/hfq65VG.png]

He unleashed the card, and examined the blowgun and dart that he’d captured. In every respect, it was identical to what they’d been working on in the workshop. Releasing it, he then unleashed his dimension travel card and returned to the pocket dimension.

Walking back to Adam’s workshop, he announced, “The card included a poison filled dart. It should be useful. We don’t want to ever lose this card, though, we need to keep control of Maggard’s dimensional traveler technology.”

“HAL and I have had some theories,” said Adam, “about new Maggard technologies. We don’t know enough to develop them yet, but if we capture Maggard, like we’ve done to Avin, we might be able to build on his knowledge.”

“And do what?” asked Stephen.

“Let you ‘adjust’ the rules in duels, perhaps,” suggested the statue. “For opponents to ante an additional card, steal cards from other travelers or their library artifacts. It’s hard to say. Maggard has been very cautious and secretive. He hasn’t rushed to explore the implications of what he’s developed.”

***

That same day, Shomos sat cross-legged in front of the small, marsupial, squirrel-like creature she’d been attempting to tame. It sat passively regarding her back.

“How long is this going to take?” asked Rurth, pacing around the small hut they’d constructed. The creature gave him a look that seemed like annoyance to Shomos.

“It’ll take longer if you keep interrupting us,” said Shomos. “As I’ve previously told you.”

“We should make some furniture, maybe?” said the master wizard. “I should have brought some books. Casting invisibility when we go out doesn’t take much time.”

Avin sat in a corner, ignoring the others.

“Don’t you need to be learning about things to capture them?” said Rurth.

“Avin captured things, places, and people by having control over them for an extended period of time,” said HAL, in Avin’s voice through the dimensional traveler's mouth. “It’s different from how Stephen does it. Avin never captured Adam, despite having control over the statue for an extended period, and Avin quickly captured the Thieves’ Guild in Hopedale. Digging through his memories and analyzing them, I think how focused he was on the things he controlled had some effect on it. He was pretty indifferent to the statue, but was actively trying to take control of parts of Mecond.”

“Does he have control of that rat creature Shomos is playing with?” asked Rurth.

“It’s not a rat, and I’m not playing with it,” objected the druidess.

“Probably not,” admitted HAL/Avin. “This might help us understand better how Avin’s ability works and what its limits are. Once Shomos has tamed it, we can either put it under Avin’s control or capture another of its species.”

“You two could always leave,” Shomos suggested, not for the first time.

“I wish,” said Rurth, sitting down on the ground of the rough shelter. “Stephen wants us here.”

***

Days later, Stephen finished chiseling the new living statue he and Adam had been working on.

“You know, Yamin, your creator, really was a genius,” Stephen said.

“Absolutely,” agreed Adam.

“I’ve learned so much just replicating her techniques,” he said. “It’s amazing how she was able to get cognition out of stone.”

“Well, as you know from your enchanting work, it isn’t ordinary stone,” said Adam.

“No,” agreed Stephen. “We should name it. Yaminite maybe?” He patted the body he was working on.

“It’s a shame there’s no way to copy your experiences over to it,” said the former physics student. “Being able to replicate you would be quite a win.”

“Stone, or even yaminite, doesn’t have the flexibility your flesh does, or the hardware that HAL runs on,” mused Adam.

“You know what Shomos will say, right?” said the traveler. “That these are your children. Congratulations, Adam, you’re a father.”

“And you’re a mother,” said the statue.

“Humph,” said Stephen. “We’ve managed to integrate cybernetics into the stone golems. It was much trickier than with the clay golems, but digging tiny tunnels into their stone and putting wires through them seemed to manage it. We could try the same with you.”

“Perhaps we should attempt it on the new statues, before we drill into me,” said Adam.

“That’s quite the paternal feeling, offering up your children as experimental subjects,” said Stephen with a chuckle.

***

Meanwhile, in Gravewrought, Rurth asked, “You know the best thing about bringing HAL along on a trip?”

Shomos answered, imitating Rurth's voice, “He does the cooking.” Avin worked with the hut’s meager facilities to prepare a meal for the three of them.

“Yeah,” said Rurth. “Have I said that to you before?” Shomos stared at the wizard, who eventually muttered, “I guess I have.” Sniffing the air, the wizard asked, “Do you smell that?”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I did,” said Shomos. “I don’t know what the source of it is. Maybe it’s a type of plant we don’t know about that’s flowering and giving off a scent.”

“I get quite a bit of practice and experience cooking with the clay golems,” said HAL through Avin. “The various champions Stephen has collected have a wide range of tastes. There are so many new sights, sounds, and smells in a new dimension. I wish I had more drones here to catalog them better. Would you both agree that’s a musty smell?”

“Definitely musty. What have you two thought about Stephen recently?” asked Rurth. “He seemed to handle the… event on Earth better than when he was tortured by Maggard. But I’ve been wondering recently if he isn’t handling it at all. He seems different.”

“He’s broken, and he’s trying to put himself back together,” said Shomos. “Didn’t Stephen say something about a musty smell on Clodor?”

“That was Maggard’s airborne poison. My loyalty to Stephen remains absolute,” said the A.I. drone. “I think that the events…”

The hut they were in suddenly exploded in a blast of necrotic energy. A burning, purple energy rolled over the group, decaying the crude walls they’d erected. Avin, Shomos, and Rurth’s skin boiled, with wounds appearing over their bodies as their clothing and belongings rotted in the beam. Rurth fell to the ground.

Maggard smashed through the doorway and threw a globe to the ground, which exploded in a cloud of green, pungent, musty mist. Maggard himself was wearing a mask over his mouth and nose. As the rough hut fell to pieces, they saw a skeletal dragon had breathed on the hut, destroying it and injuring them. Five werewolves, three flesh golems, and seven vampires advanced on the now exposed trio.

Avin vanished. Shomos glanced at Rurth’s unmoving body, then triggered a mist that began to pour from her hands. Immediately when the mist began to appear, Maggard threw a pair of daggers, one of which stabbed her in the chest, the other pierced her throat. The mist suddenly cut off as she fell over, clutching at her throat, and gurgling as she tried to breathe.

“Turn her into a vampire,” instructed Maggard to his followers.

***

Days later, Stephen appeared in Clodor to meet Emilia, the druids, and cyborg golems inventorying that dimension. Immediately, he saw Avin standing with them.

“Wasn’t Avin suppose to be in Gravewrought?” the man from Earth asked the group.

“He’s got news for you,” the ‘Iron Wraith’ said. “More urgent than our updates.”

“Maggard attacked us,” the Avin drone told him. “I think Rurth was dead when I left. Shomos was still fighting.”

“Why didn’t you come tell me?” Stephen asked.

“This drone can’t travel to your pocket dimension,” Avin said. “You can’t capture him, since he’s a traveler, and you can’t bring him to your pocket dimension, because he’s sentient.”

“Yes, of course,” said Stephen. “I beg your pardon, HAL, I knew all that. It would be nice if we could figure out a better way to exchange messages across dimensions, but we can leave that for later. You’re sure it was Maggard?”

“It was,” the Avin drone said. “I have his contact information in my pocket dimension.”

“And was there any indication that he knew who you were?” Stephen asked.

HAL replied through Avin, “He raised Shomos and Rurth as undead when he captured you, so there’s a good chance he’ll recognize them. Or their bodies.”

“And he may or may not realize you’re a dimensional traveler?” asked Stephen.

“He’ll see Avin’s contact information if he goes to his pocket dimension,” said HAL. “So I suspect he knows.”

“And where is Maggard now?” asked Stephen.

“He’s left Gravewrought and is in his pocket dimension,” said HAL.

“Well then, let’s round up a group and get Rurth and Shomos back,” said Stephen.

***

The next day, Stephen appeared with a number of followers back on the plain where he’d previously left from Gravewrought. A group had been left to ambush him, and he saw a skeletal dragon, many werewolves, and Frankensteins. They'd timed their arrival for the day, so there weren’t any vampires present.

Almost immediately, as they arrived, Maggard’s creatures turned aggressive.

“Attack,” ordered Captain Blackthorne as she charged the werewolves. A dozen cyborg golems followed her into battle. Stephen’s ghouls charged at the skeletal dragon, who breathed its necrotic breath weapon at them, stripping away their flesh and destroying them.

Avin began releasing a stream of magical attacks at the skeletal dragon, and while none of them had much effect individually, the quantity began wearing it down. Blargh fired his gun at the Frankensteins, who continued their steady march forward, unbothered.

Knowing that Rurth had been killed, Stephen released his card, then immediately began directing power to it. He released the deceased ghoul cards and their mangled remains disappeared.

The druids pooled their power, and a thunderstorm appeared and began striking the enemies with bolts of lightening. The Frankensteins reached Blargh and ripped the disreputable innkeeper apart. The clay golems and werewolves tore at one another, while Emilia dodged their attacks, stabbed with her rapier and, at one point, fired a flintlock pistol in one of the canine creature’s face.

Stephen unleashed Rurth, who appeared and quickly took in the frantic battle. The man from Earth released Blargh and began directing power to the innkeeper’s card.

“Hit the dragon with a fireball,” ordered Stephen. The master wizard began casting. Identifying the source of the lightning, the dragon directed its breath weapon at the druids, decimating them. As the druids fell, Rurth finished his casting and fire erupted around the skeletal dragon. It turned, targeted Rurth and prepared to breath necrotic energy. Its charred bones burning, it collapsed before it could unleash its breath weapon, releasing a ball of fiery, necrotic energy around itself.

Stephen released the druids, then unleashed Blargh. The innkeeper looked at the battle, then rushed to help Captain Blackthorne. Stephen began directing energy into each druid’s card in turn, releasing them as they finished charging.

***

Surveying the remains of the decisive conflict, Stephen gave orders for those assembled to begin searching for Shomos and inventorying the new dimension they found themselves in. Avin led him to the decimated forest hut and described the time he’d spent in it with Shomos and Rurth to Stephen and the master wizard.

“Yes, I probably should have taken some books,” agreed Rurth when he heard about his past version’s boredom.

“I’m not sure if I should release Shomos, since she isn’t here,” said Stephen. “Or wait and hope we get some useful information from her when we find her.”

“When you were in Maggard’s clutches, you didn’t want to be abandoned,” said Rurth carefully.

“She might have learned something that we’ll lose if you release her,” said HAL’s Avin drone.

“Let’s see if we can find her first,” decided Stephen. “And Avin should get started capturing what he can here. It’s useful having another traveler.”

“If we enmeshed another traveler,” suggested HAL, “that would give us one more to deploy.”

“True enough,” agreed Stephen. “And when I figure out how to travel back in time, everything will be undone.” Rurth looked at the former physics student with a blank look on his face.

***

A week later, sitting around the table back at the Wizards' Guild, Stephen and the champions caught one another up.

“So, we found Shomos that night, but she’d been infected with vampirism,” explained Stephen. “We debated about the value of whatever she’d learned versus her having to recover from that, if it’s possible, and decided I should release her.”

“So you left me in Maggard’s clutches, after I’d been captured?” the druidess asked.

“Well,” said Stephen. “We didn’t even know for sure that you’d been captured. That’s one of the things we were trying to find out.”

“Would you have wanted Falco and Feyrith to leave you to be tortured by Maggard, instead of them coming to rescue you when they did?” she asked.

“That was a different situation,” Stephen said. “And you don’t have any memories of your time on Gravewrought. So, for you, it’s as if it never happened. Honestly, any information about us that you might have revealed is probably the worst part of the situation.”

“Is that right?” she asked. “That’s the worst part?” An awkward silence fell over the group.

Changing the subject, Stephen said, “HAL had a good idea that he’ll keep at least one member of his hivemind near the location I’ll appear in each dimension. I can travel to each dimension, and bring another of his drones with me, they can quickly update one another, then I can leave and travel to the next dimension. It should only take me 30 or 45 minutes each day to make the rounds, then we can more quickly exchange information and updates with one another. Once it's set up, Avin could do it in my place, when he’s back from Gravewrought.”

The others nodded and discussed their current situation. Shomos watched Stephen carefully.