A floating directional arrow appeared in Sam’s vision, and was pointing to a ceiling vent. He really wanted to take a moment to analyze exactly how his evolved luck was working, but he ignored the urge, and pointed to the rear of the building, and said, “Hey, above the rafters, there’s a vent we can escape out of.”
Jen and Tamako were both still looking at the dead woman, when Lady Domino’s mouth started moving like she was trying to speak, but she didn’t have any air from her lungs to make a sound. Jen started to moving towards the woman, intent on trying to heal her, and said, “Look! She’s still alive!”
Tamako stomped down, thoroughly crushing Lady Domino’s skull into paste, and said, “Not anymore.” Tamako noticed Jen seething in frustration, and she’d guessed Jen was probably going to try and heal the woman, and quickly explained to Jen, "I had to finish her, she looked like she was trying to cast some sort of death spell on us."
Slim replied, “Nicely done.” Then he nudged Lady Domino’s body with his paw, and looted her body.
Jen was frustrated with Slim, but she understood why Tamako did what she did. Now, she needed to get control of herself if they were going to get out of there without killing a bunch of other people. With her AI’s help, she pushed her anger into a separate multi-focus to deal with later, and said, “Just a second, before you go out the vent. I’m bringing the bird over to see if anyone is watching from that side.” A moment later, Jen breathed a sigh of relief as she announced, “It’s clear. Follow my lead when we get out.”
Captain Crane Claw and Captain Wager were standing next to the back exit gate discussing logistical issues, when Crane paused in his conversation with Captain Wager, as he noticed the three deck droppers heading towards them. Captain Wager turned his head in the same direction as Crane was now looking. Wager waved at the deck droppers, and called to them, “I’m glad to see that Lady Domino was able to revive you from that goblin sleeping potion!”
Jenasta (Jen) replied, “Yea, she apologized that it took her longer than expected to cure us, but it all worked out.”
Captain Crane Claw was irritated at Lady Domino, as he thought, “By The Seven Decks! She was supposed to let me know when she met with them. But Noooo, just goes off and leaves me out of the negotiations again. She is so damn inconsiderate sometimes!” Captain Crane Claw tried to call Lady Domino on his sound wave as Wager chatted with the three, but couldn’t get through. Crane was getting more upset by the second as he assumed Lady Domino was intentionally ignoring him, but he didn’t realize that Jen had noticed him trying to activate his soundwave device, and she’d use her psych skill to jam his signal. He then asked, “Did you see what direction Lady Domino went?”
Jen replied, “Sorry, no. She just said it was super busy and she had a lot to take care of.”
Captain Crane Claw said, “O.K. Thanks. Does she know you all are leaving? We don’t have all the loot separated out yet.”
Jen replied, “Yea, but we received a time-sensitive gambling quest, and she offered to keep our share of the loot in Domino Hill for us when we return. And… on that, we’ve got to get going. See you soon.”
Captain Wager called after them, “Thanks for everything! Good luck with your gambling quest!”
Captain Crane Claw was pissed at Lady Domino, and thought to himself, “Screw her! She’s probably out there tracking down the goblin chiefs and snatching up the best loot. Well, when she’d done, she can go back by herself, or just wait until we’re all ready to leave on my time schedule.” He then pulled a whiskey bottle out of his ring, took a long drink, and said to Captain Wager, “Station a few guards, but call everyone else into the mess hall, for drinks on me. We’ll take care of the rest of this shit tomorrow!”
===
After setting a guard schedule and calling everyone else in to celebrate, Captain Wager was heading to the mess hall, when he noticed Lady Domino’s personal guards still posted next to the green building, and said, “What are you two doing there?”
The taller guard replied, “Lady Domino is inside with the deck droppers.”
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Captain Wager shook his head, knowing how Lady Domino often forgot about the guards, and said, “Lady Domino finished with the deck droppers over an hour ago. Captain Crane and I spoke with them ourselves when they left. He’s ordered everyone to the mess hall for drinks.”
The shorter guard having been forgotten on guard duty several times by Lady Domino, replied, “Are you sure, Sir? Lady Domino would be furious with us.”
Captain Wager chuckled quietly, understanding the guards were afraid to go into the building and interrupt Lady Domino if she were in there, and said, “Let me handle this.” He then walked into the green building. A few seconds later, he came back out and said, “I just checked. No one is in there. Go enjoy yourselves.”
The tall guard replied, “But we didn’t see her leave!”
Captain Wager shrugged, and said, “That’s nothing new with Lady Domino. Look… if she even remembers, you can tell her Captain Crane Claw and I gave you permission to stand down.”
The guards were hesitant, but as the sound of music started up in the mess hall, they followed Captain Wager.
===
A few days later, when Captain Crane Claw and the defenders returned to Domino Hill, he expected to find Lady Domino ready to read him the riot act about taking too much time, but instead he found the city under a curfew. As soon as they made it through the gates, he was met by the Spy Chief, Bluff Face, and the City administrator, Pai Gow Poker.
Captain Crane Claw asked the Spy Chief and the City Administrator, “What’s going on? Why are the curfew flags raised? Where’s Lady Domino?”
Bluff Face replied, “We’ve been having some terrorist attacks after Lady Domino’s resolving of the caravan betrayal. We’re good though. Just last night we found the instigators and terminated them, but I’m going to leave the curfew in place for several more days.”
Pai Gow thought to herself, “If you consider massacring a bunch of out of control gamblers, ‘resolving’ a problem.” She then blinked in surprise as she realized that Captain Crane didn’t know where Lady Domino was, and said, “Wait. Isn’t Lady Domino with you?”
“No. I thought she was already back here.”
Bluff Face replied, “She’s definitely not here. As least not that we know of. Could she have gone somewhere else?”
Captain Crane thought about it, and replied, “I thought she might have pursued the goblin elite for more loot, but she should've been back by now.”
Pai Gow said, “Wouldn’t she have taken you with her, or at least told you where she was going?”
Captain Crane shrugged uncomfortably, and said, “She may have been mad at me for throwing a party after the wall victory.”
Bluff Face winced at the thought of how angry Lady Domino would be when she returned, and replied trying to change the subject, “The volunteers that returned earlier said there was a TON of loot. That’s good news”
Pai Gow agreed, and said, “Yes, and I’ve run some numbers on the City’s share of taxes on the estimated loot, and we should come out way ahead!”
====
The more Captain Crane Claw thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense that Lady Domino wasn’t already back in the city. Even if she went after the goblin elite, she should’ve caught up with them on the road back. Captain Crane Claw really didn’t want to deal with the possible answer, but forced himself to open the shop interface. After a few seconds he found the following entry with Lady Domino’s real name:
Private Bounty:
Wanted Dead or Alive: Marie Antoinette
Reward: 1,000 gold
Status: Completed
Captain Crane Claw looked into his storage ring where he held her mind stone and spare body. She hadn’t updated her mindstone for probably six months, but he knew she’d still somehow blame him for everything. He was also certain that helping her start over from level one would be a nightmare of complaining. “But I need her mana calming potions to deal with the crappy mana on the Second Deck.” He closed his eyes, wishing, “If only Master Robin Hood were still around to deal with her.”
Feeling depressed, Captain Crane browsed through items for sale in the shop. He’d given up on finding something to deal with mana sickness in the shop years ago, but he didn’t really want to go back to the palace right away and deal with Dom. After spending several hours pessimistically browsing for just about anything that might cure mana sickness, he saw something he’d never seen before, and said to himself, “Where in the Seven Decks did this come from! What luck! Calm down, calm down. It probably won’t work, but, if it does…”
Captain Crane expanded the selection to read the full description of the item:
Mana purifying rod:
Availability: 3 remaining
Price: 30 gold each
Origination: First Deck
“Shit! There’s no way this could work if it’s from the First Deck.” However, at the price of only 30 gold each, he still bought them all.
That night, he didn’t take one of his few remaining mana calming potions, but slept with his new mana purification rods against his body. After sleeping through the night, without waking up to his own projectile vomiting, he actually cried tears of joy. His mana regeneration slowed down significantly, and he still felt a little nausea, but nothing he couldn’t easily handle. He was finally free of Dom. A few days later, he carefully placed Dom's mindstone on the forehead of her spare body and activated it. He smiled knowing that he would be long gone before she fully recovered, and couldn't wait to hear the sound of Master Hood calling his real name again - Friar Tuck.