Chapter 132
A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships
Barnacle-eyes
Chance of Mutiny: 07%.
1 level until fleet evolution.
Wind-full sails were pulled tight at their grommets. With Pinky-chew and her many bags of breath, the fleet sped up the sea. We sailed so fast, salt seemed to crumble from the spray of seawater and gather like snow along the corners of wood and wood. A goblin or ten would sometimes fall over when we clashed with a wave. We sailed to Lavenfauvish!
Port side, a sapling bound bucket, secured with rope, splashed into the sea. Seawater filled the bucket.
“Heave!’ I said.
“Please thank you!”
My goblins heaved and heave-ho’d the rope. The bucket was hauled aboard and water splashed over its rim and slapped the deck. I hoisted the bucket to my chest like it was a prized bulb of garlic.
“To the deckhouse!” I said.
Gabby was forever there.
Careful not to let all the water slosh out of the bucket, I waddled as fast as I could. My boots scuffed the planks and spilled water smacked the deck beside me. Elephant-ears and Odd-idle pulled the deckhouse door open for me.
After slamming the bucket onto the table, I hopped up with it and dunked my sea map within. I squished it in the water like I was fitting a whole big canvas in a barrel to wash it. I stomped down to force it in. Then I removed it and spread the wet map onto the rest of the table.
Between Float-some barge and some distance north where the map had no paint or picture, a green-blue stain spread from the dark waters illustrated at Float-some barge. It filled a huge foot of the map, spreading both north and east. Between where the stain stopped and Lavenfauvish, there were still a few spots without paint or picture.
[Congratulations! You have again reached New Waters!]
[You have reached Admiral level 1000!]
[Your fleet has reached level 1000!]
[You have reached Silver rank!]
[By Peg-tooth! Your galleon is able to evolve into a Hand-O’War and travel at double speed.]
[By Peg-tooth! 2 Ketches on your fleet are able to evolve into Galleons and travel at double speed.]
[By Peg-tooth! 5 sloops on your fleet are able to evolve into Ketches and travel at double speed.]
[By Peg-tooth! 1 Lugger on your fleet is able to evolve into a sloop and travel at double speed.]
[Evolve fleet. Y/N?]
“Wow, wow, wow! Bigger and better!”
Yes, I thought.
[Fleet cannot evolve.]
[Not enough jolly boats.]
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[Build 10 jolly boats.]
[Promote 10 Captains.]
[Not enough wood resources.]
[Collect wood resources.]
[Not enough quest paths.]
[Promote 1 goblin with a Fable Stone.]
[Fable Stone has been added to your inventory.]
“Churn the capstans!” I said.
“Please thank you!”
Goblins on tiptoe waved hammered flower flags to communicate with the rest of the fleet. Pinky-chew’s breath-bags were tied closed, and the sails relaxed and sagged. Gangways were lowered onto every other ship so that any goblin could walk from one ship all the way to the last one. All the goblins crossed over onto my galleon.
“Promotions!” I said.
The goblins rushed closer. I climbed the rough twine fibers of the shroud at my main mast until I could see all my beautiful snots.
“This is the day that our fleet evolves into a silver rank fleet!”
Bubble-round goblin eyes went wide. Hundreds of gasps revealed yellow teeth. Murmurs sounded like a softly crashing surf. Whispers sounded like a burgeoning gale.
“By Slime-tooth!” said Wabble-trouble.
“That Slime-tooth luck really rubbed off on her!” said Skin-tags.
“We must be in Slime-tooth’s favor! sputtered Whistle-spit.
I cleared my throat and swallowed my spit. “To evolve our fleet, I’ve got to promote some snots! Ten new Captains! Pinky-chew and Spickle-spack, report for duty!”
My commodores clomped through the crowd. Goblins parted to give way to their big black boots. They climbed the shroud with their hands and feet.
“I entrust each of you to promote ten Captains,” I said. “They’ll be assigned to jolly boats. Each of you must pick five goblins. Each one gets a new pair of boots, a sack of silver coins, and an empty old loot chest.”
Without questions, my commodores turned to the goblins.
“Listen up, snotties!” said Spickle-spack. “We’ll be giving out the promotions.”
While they tended to the trickle-down, I put my cracked monoscope to my eye, held onto a rope rung of the shroud, and searched the crowd. There was one special goblin I needed to promote.
“Let’s see…Mop-top…Toot-tooter…Green-gums…Belly-picker…Crusty-lashes…”
I blinked. There she was. “Remember-not!”
Remember-not jumped in place. She bolted through the crowd. She popped up here and there, and sometimes further away, and sometimes not quite heading in the right direction; but she eventually arrived more out of the breath than she ought to have gotten.
“To the forecastle!” I said, descending.
“The forecastle? For a promotion?”
Where else would such a special promotion take place? It was somewhere quiet and private and where the hoard piled! Gabby trailed us to the forecastle.
“You’ll have to hand off your flower hammering and dress making to another snot. I’m promoting you.”
Remember-not sniffled, and her eyes glossed with water. “I p-p-promise I’ll make you proud, Admiral!”
I held up a fierce turquoise stone. “This is your promotion.”
Awed, Remember-not slowly touched the stone. On contact, her eyes rolled back. For a moment she silently mouthed words which I couldn’t make out. Her eyes rolled back a moment later and she slumped down. Being on the floor, I crouched to slump with her. Gabby plopped down.
“I saw them!” said Remember-not. “No Slime-tooth, but I saw them.”
“Oh, I gotta know, please thank you.”
“There was Frog-Marcher and Ply-Water and Night-wise!”
Gabby gasped. “I heard Frog-marcher was the most ruthless freebooter goblin there ever was! Heard he marched hundreds of goblins across the plank.”
“You saw Ply-water?” I said.
“I picked Night-wise. I’m a Stargazer!”
“What does that mean?”
“And I got an inventory!” She withdrew a banged up telescope and an empty black velvet map. “I have to look at the stars and map constellations! You know how you have to expand your sea map? Well, I have to do the same but up there. Apparently certain stars can only be seen under certain conditions. Not sure what that means, but I’m gonna be doing a lot of gazing.”
“Oh, do you have to do the Peg-tooth constellation?”
“I have to start with Night-wise. After I map a whole constellation, whichever fleet I’m on gets big buffs like speed or storm resistance or clearer skies. Night-wise was my favorite!”
“And let’s get you a nice fat sack of gold! Gabby, will you help me?”
“I’m on it. Please thank you!”
Remember-not took the sack of gold that supplemented her promotion. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she shudder-sobbed like she was in deep pain. I jiggled my skeleton key in the door of the forecastle to be sure it was locked. I tried the handle to make sure it was locked. I walked away, returned, and tried the handle once more to make sure it was locked. Gabby tried too. It was our routine.
Up on deck, goblins were celebrating around Spickle-spack and Pinky-chew. The 10 new Captains were each selecting a team of snots to work under them.
All right! Here goes!
I opened a bottle of dreamon ale and poured a long libation at my feet.