As I set out the next day to continue on, I figured I would start with the Coastal Cavern and work my way further south from there. A use of Apparition, aided greatly by the Blasting Rod of a Wand I'd received from the treasure vault yesterday brought me just fifty meters or so off-target, a better result than I normally got with Apparition by a factor of six. Was this the difference between casting wanded magic with a wand and casting wandless? If so, I could see exactly why Wizards used them.
Walking the rest of the way, I soon entered the Coastal Cavern, finding it stuffed full of rusted machinery and vast carved architecture. It was like I was walking through the ancient ruins of some subterranean civilization. I followed the map to the first of three Merlin trials in the cavern, finding a carved plinth with a cube that was covered in symbols on top of it. I was forced to cast Flipendo at the Cube knocking it around until the symbols on the cube faced the same way as the symbols on the plinth. Once more, blue light shot into me and I found my Flipendo enhanced to the point where it would do actual damage instead of just knocking enemies back.
Next up found me looking out over a pit at a series of rune-scribed weights that were chained to a circular piece of ironwork that was suspended over a number of runes. The ironwork was attached via pulleys and gears to a crank near where I was standing. I had to use the crank to turn the ironwork to match the rune of each weight to the appropriate floor rune in the pit below, then I had to use the cutting charm to sever the chain and let the weights drop down into the floor runes. Once that was finished, though, and the blue light suffused me, I found my severing charm enhanced to be sharper and capable of cutting stronger materials than previously.
Last was another series of glowing blue orbs on pillars in the middle of a room that looked to have been made out of normal brick rather than the sort of cyclopean stone or industrial gearing as the rest of the rooms in the Coastal Cavern. These I destroyed with a series of Confringo Curses, finding my blasting curse enhanced as the blue light suffused my body, capable of blasting with more fire and even catching the target alight with magical flame.
I moved on to the treasure vaults, the first requiring me to destroy a caved-in pile of rubble with Confringo to reach the chest and the second requiring me to use Wingardium Leviosa to levitate a rune-scribed block onto a rune-scribed platform to open the doorway into the chest room. The first chest gave me a blue, brown, and gray outfit of boiled leather and silk that not only would greatly enhance the power of my defensive spellwork but would also provide a built-in shield against hostile magic, not just Potterverse magic either. The second provided a steel mask chased in gold that not only greatly enhanced the power of my defensive spellwork, but also was enchanted to enhance the power of all spells geared toward telekinetic ability such as Accio or Expeliarmus, but was not limited to just Potterverse ones either.
With that done, I emerged from the Coastal Cavern and decided to hit up four more Merlin Trials and one last treasure vault before making a beeline for my Tower. I'd already spent enough time in this world and I did have a deadline for my adventures here. These last four were rather easy, with me levitating rune-lined spheres into runic cradles to enhance my Wingardiam Leviosa to be capable of working on living things, me using Accio to summon a rune-scribed block onto a rune-scribed platform which allowed me to use the summoning charm on living things, me using Depulso to send a rune-scribed boulder careening into a runic depression that enhanced my Banishing Charm to be capable of banishing heavier or sturdier objects, and me using disillusionment to sneak up on a few butterflies to capture them for placement on runic pillars which enhanced my disillusionment to avoid the telltale shimmer that would usually give the caster away.
The last of the Treasure Vaults was on the Clagmar Coast and required me to levitate a rune-scribed block onto a rune-scribed platform to retract the portcullis that was guarding the way into the vault, which itself was a small crevasse between two cliff faces on a beach. The portcullis retracted in a burst of golden motes of light and I entered the crevasse, squeezing my way inside to get at the treasure. Inside was a small cavern that was partially submerged in water and lit by a shaft of light from above. A stone shelf in the rear of the cavern had the treasure chest sitting on it, but it wasn't alone.
I found that the chest was guarded, though not by any Inferi as the last guarded chest was. No, this chest was guarded by a giant Dugbog that turned to face me as I entered. It was a massive beast, the size of a small car, with sawgrass and mushrooms growing out of its back. It turned about to look at me and croaked out a warning, ready to pounce on me if it had to. I was prepared for a fight when I noticed the babies. Two, smaller, puppy-like Dugbogs who barely had a layer of moss and lichen covering their backs were peeking out from behind the larger Dugbog.
"Oh, you're not aggressive, you're just a mom with her babies, huh?" I questioned softly.
A low, warning, growl was my only response. Clearly, the mom was still raring for a fight to protect her den. Looking over toward the raised, rocky, shelf in the back of the den where the treasure chest was, I saw what looked to be a nest of silt and grasses jutting up against it with a third Dugbog Pup snoozing away in it. Its rear left leg was twitching in its sleep like it was dreaming about running.
"You know what? The treasure isn't worth it. Sorry to disturb you guys." I sighed.
Shaking my head at the cuteness, I began backing away from the Momma Dugbog who was still on guard, heading out of the den. I emerged out of the crevasse between the cliff faces and back out into the light of day, ready to head for my Tower now. The Potterverse Detour had taken longer than I'd meant for it to and in the process, I'd somehow gotten roped into the ongoing civil conflict with Voldemort. It was about two days past time for me to leave.
Taking a deep breath, I fell into that meditative state I had to go into to sense my connection with my Tower. It was close, about a mile or so southeast of here. Actually, I got the feeling that if I climbed these cliff faces that were framing the Dugbog Den, I'd be able to get a good look at it off in the distance.
So that's what I did, opening my eyes I began to climb. The cliffs that overlooked this stretch of beach on the Clagmar Coast had no shortage of handholds, craggy as the cliff faces were, and it wasn't a difficult climb, just a time-consuming one, as I had to climb what seemed like three-hundred-sixty feet of cliff face to make it to the top. As I pulled myself up onto the top of the cliffs, I realized that I probably could have just apparated up here or used the broom I had stashed in my bag of holding.
Those thoughts would be driven from my mind by the view. The North Sea stretched out from the cliffs. I was standing on top of what was apparently a large promontory jutting out for a few dozen yards into the North Sea, beyond which was a stretch of rocky beach that gradually faded into the roiling gray waves of the North Sea. About a mile out into the ocean was my tower, standing on a tiny spit of land off in the middle of the waves. It was a breathtaking sight, to be sure.
Unfortunately, the view was ruined by the crack of displaced air from behind me, signaling someone had arrived by Apparition. I turned and beheld a witch with long, black, curly, hair in dark robes. Her skin was pale like a corpse and her maddened, crazy, eyes were set in a high-cheekboned face that might have once been beautiful but had since been ruined by years of dark magic and madness.
"Found you! Took a while, but I found you!" Grinned the Woman, wolfishly.
"Let me guess, Bellatrix Lestrange?" I queried.
"You know my name, you know that I'm going to take you apart like a Christmas Goose, how fun!" Cackeled the Woman.
I didn't return her banter, instead, I summoned up the force and shoved, pushing Bellatrix Lestrange off the clifftop with the biggest force push I could muster. She went flying off the top of the promontory and I immediately reached into my bag of holding, pulled out my broom, and kicked off the ground. I didn't think I could beat Bellatrix Lestrange, but if I could just get to my tower, then I'd be able to lean on the defenses to help me out.
Unfortunately, Bellatrix didn't have the decency to splat against the beach below the promontory. Instead, she apparated back onto the clifftop as I raised up into the air. With a snarl on her face, Bellatrix Lestrange fired off an Avada Kedavra at me that I janked to the side away from, trusting the broom to keep me in the air more than I trusted any innate flying ability on my part. The curse missed me by inches and a second killing curse was fired at me to follow up. This time, I reached inside me for blue and red mana and unraveled the killing curse with a counterspell that backlashed onto Bellatrix, smashing her to the ground with the sizzle of power.
That gave me just enough time to begin flying for my Tower. A shout of frustration accompanied a burning lash of Fiendfyre that took the form of a striking cobra biting out at me. I was able to summon up enough water with Hydromancy to stymie the sentient, burning hot flame long enough to get further toward my tower, even as a plume of fog from the meeting of fire and water blanketed the area.
I was half a mile away from my tower when Bellatrix came flying out of the fog plume on a broom of her own, cackling madly as she poured on speed to catch up with me from my head start. With a snarl, she fired a sickly, pale yellow, curse at me that I dove down toward the ocean to avoid being hit by. I fired off a wandless severing charm at her in response only for Bellatrix to easily avoid the invisible blade by mere inches, laughing the whole time like this wasn't life or death stakes, but instead some kind of game for her.
We traded spells a few more times, but of the two of us, Bellatrix was the only one who managed to land a hit. Cutting into my left Achilles tendon with a casting of Sectumsempra. I only avoided having my left foot amputated at the ankle because I janked to the side at the last second. My return attack, a volley from Bombarda Trio, resulted in a trio of gigantic explosions that Bellatrix simply weaved between.
However, the time it took her to do that allowed me to land on my Island and drink a healing potion to fix my foot. As I ran for the door of my tower, I began calling out for the spirits of the tower to get the active tower defenses online.
"Bartholomew, we've got a bogey inbound!" I shouted out just as I ran for the door of my tower.
As I did that, Bellatrix began her descent down to the island my tower was on, cackling madly and still fresh as a daisy even though she'd already forced me to use a healing potion to avoid being hobbled. Fortunately, Bartholomew must have heard me because no sooner had she begun her descent than a beam of mystically coherent light lanced out from my tower at her.
One moment, Bellatrix Lestrange was flying aloft and about fifteen seconds from landing on my island, the next, she was falling into the North Sea, having been shot out of the sky by my Tower Defenses. With a strangled cry, Bellatrix Lestrange fell into the icy waters of the North Sea and was swept away by the waves. I breathed out a sigh of relief at that.
"Shall I activate the Tower's shielding magics, Sir?" Questioned Bartholomew as his ghostly form appeared out of the aether.
"No. There's no way that Bellatrix Lestrange doesn't survive being swept out into the North Sea, but we're not going to be staying long enough to find out either way. I've been in this Universe for four days and already I've been attacked twice by two different members of the Local Dark Lord's Inner Circle. It's time to head back to Earth Six-One-Six. Tony's little party is tomorrow, after all." I answered.
"Very good, Sir. I shall make preparations for dimensional travel immediately." Nodded Bartholomew.
And with that, I headed inside to begin preparing to use the spark inside me to once again Planeswalk back to Earth Six-One-Six. Kneeling down, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and ignited my internal spark. Thankfully, this time, when I opened them again, I found myself in a city. Unfortunately, it wasn't just any city or even an American City.
With a sigh, I looked out over the neon lights and crime-ridden streets of Madripoor. Not even close to where I wanted to be. It wasn't even in the same hemisphere. Nearby, a newsstand was selling copies of today's paper. I looked over and checked the date to find that Tony's party was in two days. That at least was going in my favor. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like a whole lot else was since the headline on the paper was that travel to the Hightown, and thus the airport, had been restricted thanks to a recent terrorist attack.
"Fantastic." I muttered.
Welp, there was nothing for it but to keep moving forward. Hopefully, I could finagle a way out of here in time to make Tony's party. I would be cutting it close, but maybe I could find someone who could get a message to Logan who in turn could get a message to Tony to come pick me up with an Avengers Quinjet or something. I knew that Logan had spent time here as Patch, after all. It wasn't a great plan, but it was the one I had.
Nodding to myself, I set off for the Princess Bar in Lowtown to try and put that plan into action. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Jan manages to find his tower and escape an attack by Bellatrix Lestrange only to wind up Planeswalking himself to the exact opposite side of the world from where he needs to be, landing in the middle of Crime City in the process. Some of the CYOA Drawbacks can really suck at times, it seems.
At any rate, now that we're back on Earth Six-One-Six, we can begin pushing the plot forward with the Avengers. Jan joining the Avengers is still something he doesn't know if he really wants to do, but given his propensity for getting involved in shenanigans whenever he tries to go off on his own to do his own thing, he probably should look into getting on some kind of team, if only for the safety net that having teammates provides.
First, though, he needs to get back to the States. His attempt to do so will be detailed next chapter.
Stay tuned. . .