Illaria was a woman on a mission heading towards the docks. Mavec and Naya were simply tag alongs following in her wake. The number of Red Banner Army stationed here was alarming. Having departed before she could send a message through official channels, Illaria was cut off from whatever was happening here. Perhaps she should have asked Mavec to message Cal Clatterback before they had set out; he had made a trip to the academy to secure Alvec's enchanting equipment. In retrospect, it was a good idea wasted. They arrived at a riverside dock with a large boat anchored there. It was a mixed vessel, with a flat enough bottom to glide the rivers but designed to hug the coastline as well. It likely wouldn’t stand up to deep-sea combat, but there weren’t a lot of deep-sea operations in the Empire's Blue Banner army anyway. Crowley and the pirate menace made sea trade difficult.

She marched on up to the officer guarding the boat. “Illaria reporting for duty, I’m with the Coffin Flotilla. What's going on here?”

“Where's the Goblin? Thought you and Brie left together,” the man asked.

“I think you mean Bait,” Naya replied.

“Wait, it wasn’t Brie? Like the Cheese? Huh, I guess I owe De-zel four copper. What a strange name.”

“He’s off trying to find a “garbage barge” He’ll be along soon, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, this town only has a tavern named the Garbage Barge. It's not an actual garbage barge, and I’m sure he’s actually looking for that. Bless his goblin heart,” the man said, placing his hand over his chest.

“We were hoping we might be getting a space on your transports and perhaps some intel on what's going on,” Illaria said.

“Yeah, this is a fuck ton more Red Banner Army soldiers than I’ve ever seen,” Mavec said as he politely stepped to the side and lit a cigarette.

“It's Crowley. We’ve got reliable intel that he’s on the move. Pirate activity has increased, and I’ve heard whispers, I can’t confirm, that he might be working with infernals.”

“Aye, he is,” Illaria confirmed.

“Yeah, bastard got away from us,” Naya pouted.

“Wait, what? Do you guys have confirmation that he’s working with Infernals? How?”

“Fucker disguised himself and competed in the Festival of Blades under the name of San Verado. Stole a sword from us, but that seems minor compared to the whole piracy thing.” Mavec replied.

“When he stole the blade, he had several low-ranking devils with him, and he used their ability to teleport. Some boon they are providing him, no doubt,” Illaria stated.

“Fuck, we need to get you back to headquarters. I can only imagine the brass is going to want to hear this. You guys wanted in this fight, right? How many of you are there?”

“We’ve got three companions not with us presently. I imagine fitting Echo here will be the hardest part.”

“He tame?” The man asked.

“Yeah, see the charm! He’s an officially recognized animal companion by the church of Kushang in Sha-Laial,” she said, pointing to the bright yellow metal tag attached to his collar.

“Ah, good, good. I’d hate to have to file paperwork about this later. Why, Ja-Riel, did you let a wolf the size of a horse onto the boat? Did you want to kill the two men it ate? No, thank you,” the man joked as he looked at the wolf more. “Alright, ya know what. I’m just going to do it. Young miss, may I pet your wolf? I might be going into battle with fucking devils and pirates. No telling if I live through it, so I might as well go out having pet a god damned dire wolf.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I would be delighted if you would,” Naya said as she gave the command hand signal for Echo to sit. He did, and the man walked up to him and gently caressed his head and neck.

“Awesome,” he said before stepping back and composing himself.

“When do we depart?” Illaria asked.

“We’ve got a few hours... plus a little extra time. I’ll have to kick off a group of reds. That said, It will take a while to argue with them that you get priority... but hey, you and Bait are fucking Coffin Flotilla. I drop that and the fact that you’re traveling with a fucking dire wolf, and I think whichever Reds we kick off will likely be happy to give up their spots. Be back here before sundown.”

“That went well; glad to know we’ll be on our way in a few hours,” Mavec said, nodding. “Wish it were a bit faster, but hey, the logistics of managing this many meat heads must be similar to herding cats.”

“Only thing worse might be herding adventurers,” Naya joked.

“We’ll be going on our way now,” Illaria said, motioning for Naya and Mavec to follow as they headed towards the town center. Finding Alvec and Sarbie was easy; they had also headed for the town center after their small celebration. Illaria told them what little they had learned from the Blue Banner and how they had gotten permission to travel with it. Bait, however, was nowhere to be found. “Anyone got any clever ideas to go find him?” Illaria asked.

“Oh, I’ve got like eight, but this one sounds the most fun,” Mavec said as he cast some magic and cupped his hands over his mouth in a cone. “Cheese sucks!” he shouted, his words amplified several times over by magic. Most of the Red Banner milling about, as well as the average towns folk, looked particularly confused.

“Sir, please don’t do that again,” one of the Red Banner army men said as they approached.

“Sorry, sorry. Shouldn’t need to. There should be an angry goblin stomping this way right now. We lost track of him, and it seemed the easiest way to get him back.”

“I’m just going to take your word for it,” the man said. Moments later, Bait emerged from the crowd, shouting a string of curses at Mavec.

“Traitor! Cheese do nothing wrong! Cheese great! Clocks stupid, Rabbits stupid, not cheese!”

“Hey, Bait, relax; I don’t actually think cheese sucks, I just needed to get your attention, and I figured you’d come running if someone talked smack about cheese loud enough.”

“Bait, not sure he believe you.”

“Gouda is my favorite cheese,” Mavec replied without missing a beat.

“Bait good, what need?”

“We’ve secured passage on a boat. We leave before sundown. It will be a crowded boat, so I thought we’d review some basic etiquette. If you need to defecate, it's off the front of the boat. I don’t want you going anywhere else, understood?” Illaria asked.

“Wait, how does this even work?” Naya asked.

“It isn’t the most pleasant, and seeing as this is a military vessel, not used to accommodating civilians, they won’t have any extra privacy measures in place... At the very front of the ship, there’s essentially an open-air outhouse. A small board you sit on and well... Do your business,” Illaria explained.

“Just right in front of everyone? Gross. Everyone use the bathroom before we get on the boat,” Naya said, looking at Sarbie more than anyone else. Sarbie nodded back at her.

“If the river is swift, and it should be, we’re looking at another twelve or so hours before we arrive at Ac-Aziza. What I’m saying is that it should be early morn before we arrive.”

“Bait want to pee off the poop deck dough.”

“Sorry, Bait, unless you be wanting to have the commanding officer beat you with a stick for insubordination, I’d advise against it.”

“What if I shoot him?”

“How do you imagine that plays out?” Illaria asked.

“Other people happy to be allowed to de-caffinate wherever they please, Bait hailed as hero!”

“Or, perhaps people get mad that you killed their friend and decide to kill you. Do you think you can shoot an entire boat full of Red Banner Army men? Remember how strong they were in Sha-Laial,” the goblin paused for a moment.

“Alvec, you help?”

“Haha, not a prayer,” Alvec replied.

“Den no, Bait no able to shoot whole ship. Bait hope Alvec funnel them through small gaps with walls. Den Bait might be able.”

After convincing Bait to use the bathroom only as intended, the group headed for the boat and quickly found themselves crammed at the rear of the ship. Everyone leaned up against Echo, who was large enough that he couldn’t slip the netting above deck, and the party got some much-needed rest, as uncomfortable as it was to be packed like sardines on this boat. Alvec took extra precautions, placing cork on the tips of his horns so that he couldn’t accidentally stab someone.