DMing a campaign in WaterDeep vs actually being in the city is a jarring experience. It's a lot more crowded when you can see every person that exists instead of just being told 'it's a bustling city of many.' The first thing on Zach's list was to go to a hospital or something of its equivalence. Echo tagged along to make sure they kept up their promise, but quickly became their guide as Zach did not know where they were going.

Even with the change of clothes and surrounded by creatures of all kinds, Zach couldn't help but feel sorely out of place. It was as if everyone that passed them, glanced in their general direction knew they didn't belong, knew they were running. Echo didn't know, but everyone else did. Logically, that couldn't be possible, but it didn't stop them from trying to avoid eye contact, make themselves less conspicuous.

The two made it to a magic healer's office, stepping through the door with a soft ring of a bell. In the end they decided on spells and a quick fix since Zach wasn't planning on staying for long. Echo stepped up to an empty receptionist desk and rapped on the wooden furnish with their knuckles, their cheerful smile turning more excited. "Fen!! I've got someone who could use your skills!"

There's a brief moment of silence before a tall, built individual appeared before the both of them. He had a gold prosthetic arm and was somehow taller than Echo, who stood at 6 feet, had loose curly hair pulled into a ponytail, and bright green eyes. The newcomer smiled at Echo and knocked his head against theirs, causing their excitement to spill into their actions, leg tapping happily. Zach missed that, the excitement you got just from being in someone else's presence.

Fen chuckles before catching sight of Zach, tilting his head. "Hey there! Friend of Echo's?"

"Something like that," they mumble, Echo perking up.

"Right! So sorry Zach. Fen! I was hoping you could quickly heal Zach. They were in a nasty attack last night when I found them."

"Oh? What happened?" Fen led the two to a smaller room off of the front room that had two bedspreads and an assortment of storage. He pulls up a stool and takes a seat, offering one to Echo and Zach. The two take a seat on another stool and Zach on a bedspread, cracking their knuckles.

"Was being followed by this guy and was suddenly attacked. He overpowered me. I was choked and thrown into a tree. Probably have a few cuts and scrapes from trees and underbrush too." They pull down their tunic to show a bandaged chest and bruised neck. "Echo did well with me, but preferred I get seen by someone more knowledgeable instead of just drinking a potion."

Fen hummed, leaning on his knees. "I see, could you take off the bandages so I can see the full damage?"

Zach nods, slowly and carefully unwrapping the bandages, wincing a few times but mostly getting them off without issue. Their front was thoroughly bruised, but already seemed to be healing some. Maybe a cracked rib, but nothing serious. Their back was another story, heavy bruising and dark blue marks across their spine. There was no bone exposure, but the flesh around the arch of their back was inflamed and swollen.

"Let me know if any of this hurts, alright?" Fen watched as Zach nodded before feeling on their back. His prosthetic was icy in contrast to the warmth of his flesh. It caused them to shudder. He felt along their shoulders and sides, gently pressing against the bruised flesh. The injured didn't react until he pressed against their spine, a fiery pain shooting through their body.

"God! Shit, fuck!!" They spat, tensing up and shaking. Fen pulled away, allowing Zach to calm before speaking.

"Alright. It's looking like you have possible bruised or cracked ribs and a heavily injured spine. Likely fractured, but not enough to stop you from walking. I can heal you up, easily, you just might need to rest for an hour or two. That okay with you?"

Zach shrugged, turning back around. "Not much of a choice, is there? Just- just stop the pain. Please."

Fen nodded, his hands glowing a blue as he spoke a cantation. He reached forward and washed his hands over Zach's body slowly and thoroughly. The feeling was tingly and icy, pain melding with an overall numbness. They exhaled as he pulled away, the feeling of another person lingering on their skin. Watching Fen turn to Echo to say something, both their voices become background noise as Zach lay back on the bed.

Their mind was jumbled, weary, yet also alert and clear. It made for a general unpleasantness they couldn't escape. They wondered where they would go next after this, if their assailant from two nights before was still out there or if Echo dealt with them. They wondered about the friends they left behind years ago, what they may be up to now. There is a lot to wonder about when you don't necessarily fit in anywhere.

Slowly, their thoughts turned to dreams as they faded into a light slumber. The next time they wake, they're being gently shaken by Fen. Groggy but quick to cognition, they sit up, tilting their head. "Hm?"

"You should be fully healed by now. Echo said you wanted to leave quickly?" They nod in response, stretching upwards. Their joints cracked and popped, them exhaling as they basked in the lack of injury and pain. Zach grabbed their bag and stood, looking to Fen.

"Thank you, Fen. And also send my thanks to Echo as well." They smile as he nods in response, looking at their watch. They set a random dimension number in, taking a breath before locking it in. A small rift in the world tears, opening to a different world. There were large shiny skyscrapers that stretched for miles, the sky a cloudy blue. Fen hummed, looking out.

"Dimensioner? Echo really knows where to find them.."

Zach gave a cheeky smile. "That they do." They step through in the new world, their head clouding over as their vision darkened. When they woke, they were in the heart of the city, people milling around their stationary body. Now they've gotta find their shit.

Unlike all previously assumed ways of dimension travel, doppelgangers and the like, Zach instead took over the body of any alternate in the dimension they step into. If there isn't a version of them, they stay in their body, but most times there is. They turn back and begin to look for the point of view they were looking at previously.

This dimension didn't seem much different from the one they originate from, it having breathable air and a boisterous city life. If not for the body swapping they'd feel right at home! Well, that and the target on their back. When rounding a corner, someone grabbed them and began running.

"Hey!! Let me go!! Help help!!" They cried, trying to struggle against their captor. No one on the streets seemed to pay their screams for help any mind, forcing them to begin to beat on their assailant.

The two enter a vacant building, Zach's attacks ineffective. They're thrown to the ground, their captor turning his back to guard the entrance. Zach bares their teeth and readies to attack before an electric shock goes through their neck. They jolt and fall onto themselves, unconscious.

• • •

Waking up, they're sore and upside down, tied and strung up with thick wires. Their neck burned from being shocked, head heavy from blood rush. There were two guards beside them and assumedly more behind them. They heard the click of heels to their left, craning their neck to see who they were up against. A short thing with tight cornrows wearing a blue pantsuit click clacked her way over to Zach, trailing her nail under their chin. They bite at her hand, the woman's eyebrows raising with a chuckle.

"A fighter, are you? Oh, playing with you will be a lot of fun."

"You and your pricks can all go to hell, yeah? I dunno what you're playing at, but whoever you think I am, I ain't. So ya should just let me down and I'll go my merry way." They fume and grit their teeth, vision a little blurry as they spoke with a slight drawl.

"Oh, but you are who we're looking for! You don't remember, do you? Why you've been running for so long?" She smiles as Zach's face contorts to confusion and anger, swaying in their containment.

"If I had to take a guess, it's cause you all have been on my ass. Sound right? Well, I haven't done nothing wrong so, like said, you should let me go."

The woman gives a look of non amusement, sighing. "You're being arrested, Zach. Or well, you were going to be arrested, but I've thought of a much better place for-"

"Arrested? On what charges??"

"Body snatching, living the lives of others, travelling dimensions without a sanctioned device. You're a wanted criminal, Zach, by the Dimensional Intelligence for Major Events-DIME."

Zach furrowed their brows, looking up at their feet. Their thoughts swam, jumbled by the throbbing of their temples. A wanted criminal? Dimensional Intelligence? They didn't mean to take over the bodies of their doppels, it's just a thing that happens. They don't even know why it happens. Wait.

"Wait wait, you said I would have been arrested. If that's not happening, what- what's going to happen to me?"

The woman tilts her head, energy chipper again. "Well, no one has evaded DIME as well as you have so I thought it better to recruit you than imprison you." She clasps her hands together, watching Zach process the information. "You would be trained to collect and neutralize individuals that interfere with the dimensions they're in by any means necessary."

She circles Zach as they think it over, breathing deep. A government-ish agency for dimensional travel. Now they've seen everything. "And if I refuse or leave?"

"You won't."

"Oh, ha, cause I'd go so willingly after thi-" They're cut off by a searing pain at the base of their neck, causing them to scream out in pain. The woman steps back and they're dropped from the wires, landing on the ground in a heap. Zach breathes hard, dizzy and pained, lunging at the woman in a daze.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" They shout, swinging at her weakly. She steps back before raising her foot and kicking them back, Zach falling on their ass. They touched at their neck, wincing at the charred flesh.

"Do? No, I didn't do anything. I did, however, take something. Call it a contract. You will work under me for however long I decide and when you've exhausted your skills, you'll get the memories of your personal life back!" She smiled, placing her hands behind her back.

Zach sat on the floor speechless. She took them. A good chunk of their past, lost to the realms of her.. They don't even know! Magic?? Device?? What the fuck did she do?! Anger bubbles in them as the feeling of vertigo subsides, getting up to attack her with more solid attacks.

"I'll fucking kill you!!" They shout, running to her smiling figure before being hit over the head with a heavy object. Dark spots cloud their vision as the floor rushed towards them. They're stopped from hitting the ground by the guard that hit them, being thrown over its shoulder.

The woman hummed, opening a dimensional portal and stepping through it. This is going to be her magnum opus.

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Fen's Medical