“So, none of you remember anything about last night?”

I take a sip of my rum, “Nope, nothing. We are guessing they tried to steal the silver.”

“Damn, that’s insane… So you three killed 10 people?”

“I’ll be honest Billy I can’t really remember. I haven't had the best morning. Anyways, I wanna hear about you and Sarah! Is she a nice girl?”

Billy turns a dark shade of red as he takes a sip of beer, “Oh Utah, she is amazing. She is so sweet and caring. If it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure how I’d be handling… ‘everything’.”

Damn, this kid is barely holding it together. I guess there wasn’t anyone on board that was anywhere near his age, other than Duncan. It’d be odd if they weren’t close. I guess being distracted with a nice girl right now is better than being passed out in a muddy stable every night.

“Well good, I’m glad. So…” I give him a devious smirk, “Have you learned anything?”

He scratches at his temple looking rather uncomfortable, “Well, the first thing we did was eat dinner. I can’t really remember what I had, but Utah, the conversation was so easy. I feel like we really connected. We talked about our lives, and how we both come from difficult situations. So, I think that’s why it’s so easy to talk to her.”

That, or the fact that most prostitutes don’t make it very far if they can’t make conversation. But, there’s no way I’m telling him that right now.

He smiles sheepishly before continuing, “ Then she takes me by the hand and led me upstairs. Then she taught me… well she said I was a quick learner.”

“That’s my boy, I’m glad it’s going well. So what do you have planned for tonight?”

“Uhm, she said she was going to teach me how to get a woman in the mood to actually have sex.”

“Wait, you didn’t do it last night?”

Billy bursts out laughing, “Utah, I don’t think either of us could have handled that last night.”

“What does that mean?”

“Take it however you want.” Billy gives me a confident smile, and finishes his drink, “I gotta go Utah, but thanks for everything. I really don’t know how to thank you.”

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“Don’t mention it Billy, I’m glad I could help.”

After he leaves, I can’t help but think about what he said. I really hope I didn’t just set him up to get hurt. Well, he does have an entire crew to help support him. He should be fine… hell, just seeing that confident look on his face was enough to make it worth it for me.

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I message Liber through the system, and he tells me he’s rented a small workshop on the edge of town. I make my way there, keeping my head down of course, and I start to notice some things about the locals. First off, I’m pretty sure everyone is dirt-fucking-poor. Almost everyone’s clothes seem to be patched heavily, like more patching than clothing. Then, almost all of them are limping or missing a limb. It really drives home just how bad the Spanish War of Succession hit in the West Indies. I guess it was Queen Anne’s war over here, but it all branched from that war.

Which, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be starting another world wide war in just a few short months. I just hope I’ll be able to deal with whatever England and Spain might send my way. Well, if Liber can deliver on his promises I shouldn’t have too much to worry about. Jesus this workshop is way out here.

I look around for a while longer before I find it. It’s not much more than an enclosed shack with a chimney poking out the top. The dark smoke it’s belching tells me Liber is hard at work. When I walk around to the side facing the beach, I smell a oddly sweet smell. It’s an unnatural sweet. I find the door, and beside it are dark amber bottles. Some of them are opened and others aren’t. Beside that is a large, shallow barrel filled with mashed… leaves? I can tell the sweet smell is mostly coming from the barrel, but I cannot recall what it is. I can’t tell what kind of leaves they are either.

Wait… how the hell can I smell? My nose is entirely too messed up to be able to smell. Wait, am I tasting this? I pick up a glass, dipping it into the ‘vat’ of crushed leaves. I still can’t tell what it is. I’ll just ask Liber I guess.

I open the door and hold up the glass, “Hey Liber, what’s in the glass?”

Liber turns around in a quick, jerking-like manner, “Oh Utah! You found it! I’m glad you’re here. You will never guess…” He stops mid-sentence, which is surprising by how fast he was talking. His eyes get huge, and panic spreads across his face, “Utah, GET OUT! NOW! DON’T SPILL THE GLASS!”

I almost drop it when he starts screaming, but I hold it together long enough to get it out of the door. As I wait for him to come out and tell me what the hell is in the glass, I have the strong urge to drink from the glass. No, no, no, that’s a horrible idea… did I hit my head last night?

Liber bursts through the door in a needlessly dramatic fashion, “Utah, do you realize you could’ve blown us all up?” He grabs the glass out of my hand and downs it. Then proceeds to cough and sputter, and turns his head to look me, “Gah my tonic here is almost as nasty as your face, but holy shit Utah, you could have blown us sky high. Well, more than likely we would just erupt in a ball of flames that would slowly eat away at the town, but I’m rambling now. Can’t you smell the ether Utah? Wait, I bet you can’t smell anything huh? Well that vat is full of crushed coca leaves and ether. I have no idea how strong it is, but I’ve gotten a lot of work done since we last talked!”

He takes a huge breath, and starts breathing heavily to catch his breath. Wow, he just said all that in one breath, but considering he had bags under his redshot eyes, it doesn’t surprise me.

“Liber, when was the last time you slept?”

“Uhm, I guess the night before we talked? How long ago was that? I’ve been busy the entire time.”

“Dude, that’s been like, fifty-something hours ago… what have you been doing?”

“Finishing those shields man, what else?”

I raise my eyebrows as I point to the vat of go-go juice.

“Ah well, I promise once you’ve seen my progress, you’ll want some for yourself. Utah, you’ll never guess what I did… I hit 100 in blacksmithing. I got to upgrade the skill. I’m a master blacksmith now and I got a perk as well. It makes me insanely strong while blacksmithing, but it goes away if I try to do anything else.”

“Oh? How much does it raise your strength?”

“Oh, I think it triples it. Nothing too fancy.”

“Huh? Liber what was your strength right now?”

“Uhm, 6.5 I think. It almost hits 20 when it activates. It also does something to my endurance and perception, but I’ll have to look that back up.”

He just doesn’t know how fucking strong that is… well, he could possibly be on the verge of a psychotic break with how long he’s been up.

“Liber, how ‘bout you show me your blacksmithing buddy. I wanna see your progress.”