[tshiggins]

(...continued)

A flabbergasted Athelstane Greer said he’d make some inquiries about airship crews willing to take enough money to get them to close proximity of a Boreal Gateway.

At that point, A.J. decided he’d like to consult with Sir Isaac Newton, to find out what the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes knew about air elementals, and asked Athelstane to open the portal back to 1712 London. Steven decided he wanted to come along, as well, but the rest of the group chose to either remain at the orchard or travel back Avallon.

So, A.J. and Steven had Athelstane send a note ahead while they prepared for the trip through, and the rest of the group departed (except for the characters whose players didn’t make it, as well as Fergus, who had a bad hangover, and Amanda, who had gotten in trouble with some people running a crooked poker game). A bit later, Greer opened up the portal and said Newton had agreed to meet with them.

A.J. and Steven went through and, with minimal delay, soon found themselves in Sir Isaac’s office. He greeted them with his usual reserved cordiality, and listened with increasing interest to their idea.

Newton found the entire exercise quite fascinating, albeit far too dangerous to actually contemplate doing himself. He did note that some of the (understandably spotty) research the Invisible College had on the subject indicated that use of the elemental’s “true name,” or the name it thought of when it thought about itself, gave an advantage in attempts to bind such creatures.

In response to inquiries from A.J. and Steven, Newton said he understood the true names of elementals resembled some interaction of the element they represented, with the larger world around it. So, for instance, the name of a salamander (as an elemental of fire), resembled the sound of a roaring conflagration as it consumed some combustible material or other.

As such, the true name of an air elemental almost certainly sounded like the howl of a gale, or something like that, Newton said. It was almost certainly unpronounceable, but then, it didn’t really need to be as the mage “merely” needed to keep it in mind and weave it into his efforts to overcome the will of the entity he or she needed to bind.

At that point, the conversation turned to the nature of the minds of elementals, and things got a bit speculative. Newton noted most names of elementals (or other creatures) were usually gained from higher entities (“gods” – although he flinched at the use of that term) as a reward for services rendered.

A.J. asked if it might be possible to use mind-reading magics to try to figure out the name, before the attempt to bind. Struck by the cleverness of the notion, Newton guessed that it might be worth a try and probably wouldn’t make the binding attempt that much more dangerous.

He also said he’d like to read about any results of such an experiment and, should it prove successful enough to provide insight into the cognitive nature of elementals, it could form the basis of a doctoral thesis recognized as valid by the Invisible College, its daughter lodges and probably even most of its allied organizations.

Quite the feather on one’s cap, Newton said.

Back in Avallon, the group decided to productively use the time A.J. spent back in London. Aurelia and Beatrice went shopping, Claudia and Henrietta stayed in the hotel to hash out some automation designs for the airship, and Millie took Apophis to visit Lawrence, the son of the owner of the airship firm.

Aurelia paid a visit to a fletcher and discussed the possibility of the creation and/or purchase of a variety of lethal trick arrows, and learned it might be possible to have the bow charge the spells on the arrows with energy the bearer provided to it. Meanwhile, Beatrice rattled through the streets on her mana-velocipede and visited carriage-makers and cartwrights.

Beatrice wanted to find someone willing to make her a pair of leather pants with pockets, as well as a side-car big enough to hold Grunt, comfortably.

As Aurelia left the fletcher’s she thought she glimpsed someone following her and, more curious than anything, decided pay more attention to her surroundings. To her consternation, she soon realized that, not only did she have one shadow, he seemed to be part of a professional team of four who kept her bracketed.

Aurelia doubled back to the fletcher’s place, where the proprietor greeted her return with some surprise. Aurelia quickly asked if the shop had roof access, somewhere in the back and, now somewhat alarmed, the fletcher said he did and showed Aurelia the way.

The former high school art history teacher quickly scrambled up the ladder, popped open the trapdoor, quietly crawled out on to the roof between steep gables, and closed it carefully behind her. After a quick reconnoiter, Aurelia spotted all four men following.

A quick look around revealed that, while not too awfully large and bound by busy streets on all sides, she could cross the block via the rooftops and drop down out of sight of the watchers. She promptly did so, lost herself in the crowd, and made an indirect path toward the part of the market she knew Beatrice planned to visit.

As she drew near to the row of clothiers, Aurelia started to look around for anybody who might be following Beatrice and, relieved, she spotted no one. Aurelia quickly joined her violently talented colleague, who had grown increasingly frustrated as all the tailors kept insisting that “women wear skirts,” and quickly filled in Beatrice.

Beatrice brought Grunt to alert, and after a quick discussion, the two women decided to take an indirect route back to the hotel instead of jumping one of the shadowers. This they did and, as they drew near, Aurelia spotted at least one watcher with a clear view of the hotel’s main entrance.

She brought the man to Beatrice’s attention, who pointed the target out to Grunt. The foo dog marked the presence of the observer, but he neither growled at the man nor did the ruff of his neck rise.

Relieved that the watchers didn’t seem to be supernatural beings, or shape-changers or possessed by spirits or anything, the ladies decided to break cover and make for the lodging house separately, so they could advise Claudia and Henrietta of developments.

As they moved quickly across the street, Aurelia saw the watchers note her presence, but pay little attention to Beatrice, before the two disappeared inside.

Spotting no obvious interlopers in the lobby, Beatrice and Aurelia trotted up the stairs, knocked on Henrietta’s door, received no response, and then went down to Claudia’s where they found both firmly embedded in a moderately sizeable snowdrift of paper and drawings, many of which they’d taped to the walls of the room.

Alerted to the presence of the watchers, Henrietta and Claudia joined the speculation game and, after a bit of discussion, the four realized that while Aurelia had taken part in the recent sale of interdimensional commodities, Beatrice had not. To test this hypothesis, Henrietta – who had also helped find buyers for the goods they sought to liquidate – asked to take Grunt for a walk.

Aurelia, Beatrice and Claudia watched from the windows as Henrietta and the huge foo dog emerged on to the street, and Aurelia saw the watcher take keen interest in the archaeologist’s activities. Henrietta soon returned to the room without mishap, and the group decided to test if Claudia might draw the same interest..

Claudia decided to walk to a nearby café located not far away, down a quiet little side-street, and asked Beatrice and Grunt to come along, while Aurelia and Henrietta – both considerably more stealthy than either of the other two – decided to see if they could lurk along behind and watch who watched, and possibly snatch and grab one who let himself get separated.

With that, Claudia and Beatrice headed out of the hotel, with Grunt at the heel, as Aurelia and Henrietta watched the street from upstairs windows. Sure enough, they saw several of the watchers peel off and start to follow the trio.

Henrietta and Aurelia waited a minute, or so, and then exited the hotel and trailed along, noting that the watchers all seem to have decided to follow the Claudia and Beatrice. Moving to catch up, Aurelia was alarmed to note that a couple of her original stalkers had joined in.

Up ahead, Claudia and Beatrice took a table at the street café and a water greeted them. It was mid-afternoon, so the place didn’t have very many other customers and, as they engaged in the usual sort of chit-chat about drinks and menu options, two of the followers sat down at a table next to them.

Again, Grunt didn’t raise any fuss about the two men, so Beatrice and Claudia tried to ignore them and simply spoke about the menu options (lots of fish and a fair amount of pork, not too much beef, cider and a variety of fruit tarts). The waiter took their drink orders, returned with the goblets fairly quickly and departed with their food orders.

Aurelia and Henrietta had arrived by then and had taken up posts down the street, within view of the sidewalk café. They’d also spotted two watchers down the street, doing the same thing they were, plus the two at the table, and they suspected the side-streets had flankers, as well.

Fortunately, while quiet, the street did have some pedestrian traffic in the afternoon, and the occasional cart or carriage rattled by, as well.

(continued...)