In the late hours of the night, Milo's workshop at the Giantrock City Badger served as an impromptu meeting location for the assembling crew. They had chosen neutral ground over the Flopping Fish both to avoid revealing too much to potential crew members who might back out, and to avoid potentially being discovered by the Fish Wizard while they planned. None of the adventurers who had been invited had any trouble reaching the balcony from the exterior of the building, so the rest of the building remained locked down and empty for the night.

One of Milo's work tables had been cleared of clutter and debris and moved to the middle of the open floor. Curtains were drawn closed on all the windows, and the only light came from small candles placed on the table and around the perimeter of the room. Eight adventurers were gathered there, some leaning on the table while others lingered in the corners of the room.

Autumn introduced herself as the mastermind behind the plot and muscle of the crew, and then made her way around the table to introduce her companions, "Iris is our in-and-out expert, she's good at quick escapes and grabbing items, and she's tussled with our target once before. Titus is our healer and back-up muscle, he’ll keep you alive and take his best shot at the thing trying to kill you. And that's Victoria, the ghost."

"I'm not a ghost," Victoria said flatly, then looked to the mage she had recruited, "that's Kieren, he's a ritualist I've worked with once before, he can get us into the pocket dimension."

Autumn motioned towards Cameron.

"I'm Cameron Cole, explosives expert."

Iris nudged Milo with an elbow. He looked surprised, and then stammered through an introduction, "uh, I'm Milo. I'm good with machines, and I can write. If we need anything written, for some reason."

"And I'm Jacquie Panton," a finely dressed man with shaggy black hair and an obnoxious amount of jewelry stepped dramatically out of the shadows, "thief extraordinaire and leader of the infamous Panton Gang." He looked over the members of the party he had once tried to rob in the forest and smiled, "pleased to finally make your acquaintance properly."

"Who invited the douchebag?" Victoria asked.

"I did," Titus answered, shrugging under Victoria's judgmental glare, "Autumn said to recruit help for the job, who better than a thief?"

"I've never heard of the Panton Gang before," Cameron said, "what exactly do you guys do?"

"We liberate valuables," Jacquie said, "you haven't heard of us because we've never been caught."

"Right," Cameron said sarcastically.

"Let's be up front about this," Autumn took control of the conversation, "we're going to be robbing a titan. At least, we're pretty sure he's a titan, either that he's just stupid enough to pick a fight with a titan, but that's not the point. Whatever he is, we think he's probably strong. The job is dangerous, full of unknowns, and doesn't have a lot guarantees. You all should have gotten one version or another of this speech already, but now's your last chance. You're either in or you’re out."

"The healer said I can keep anything I can carry out of the pocket dimension," Jacquie said, "as long as that's still true, I'm in."

"Sure," Autumn waved dismissively, "is anyone backing out?"

Looks were exchanged around the room, but no one spoke up.

"Good," Autumn said, "then let's get started."

"Actually," Cameron held up a hand, "we're waiting on one more person."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Is that my cue?" Eli asked, stepped into the room from the dark balcony.

Autumn gave Cameron an affronted gasp, "you snitched?"

"Of course I snitched," Cameron looked offended that she had assumed he wouldn't, "lucky for you, he wants in."

"You do?" Autumn turned to Eli with a shocked expression.

"Yep," Eli crossed the room and leaned against the table beside Cameron, "you are absolutely getting a lecture for this later, by the way. But Cameron told me why we're doing this in the first place, and I'm in."

"Is this some kind of trick?" Iris asked with a suspicious tone.

Eli looked around at the strangers in the room, wary of what he said aloud for them to hear, "like I said, I know why we're doing this, and I like the idea. Let's get on with it."

Though uncertainty still crossed her face, Autumn nodded, and then motioned to the mage, "Kieren, take it away."

The mage stepped up the table and began drawing out a ritual diagram in the center. Victoria had brought him along to inspect the Fish Wizard's hatch alongside herself and Iris, which proved to be the right decision as he had gathered the most valuable information the crew had so far. When he finished drawing the diagram, he slapped a palm on the table and pumped mana into it, causing the diagram to glow and the ritual to activate. A partially translucent, three dimensional projection shimmered into view above the table, depicting the ruins of an elaborate castle atop a huge coral reef.

"What you're seeing here is the interior of the dimensional space. I was able to map it without entering thanks to a ritual typically used for terrain surveys modified with a little bit of dimensional magic. We can't see inside the castle, unfortunately, but I may be able to see more once we get the gate open."

"The gate?" Cameron asked.

"Not a literal gate," Kieren explained, "a magical gate. The portal is located just below a hatch in the floor, we believe this is one of two ways to enter the dimensional space, the other being a staff which acquiring is out of the question. Between this hatch and the portal is an invisible magical gate. It's a tough one, but I can crack it. Once that's done you'll be free to enter the dimensional space through the portal."

"What are those weird, colorful rocks around the castle?" Milo asked.

"That's coral," Autumn explained, "it grows in oceans. You can't see it in this projection, but this whole castle is underwater. The whole pocket dimension is."

"You expect us to break into an underwater castle?" Cameron asked.

"Yep," Autumn replied, nodding towards Iris.

Iris turned her bottomless bag sideways on the table, reached in and slid out a small wooden crate built with dividers to hold bottles. Inside were six glass bottles containing a sparkling blue liquid.

"Water breathing potions," Autumn continued, "they last for one hour."

"How did you afford those?" Eli asked in horror.

"And there's only six," Cameron observed.

"Don't ask," Autumn said curtly to Eli before turning to Cameron, "Victoria won't need one in her ghost form, and Kieren's not going in with us. That left one for each of us before Eli made his dramatic entrance."

"He can have mine," Jacquie said, holding a medallion on one of the various necklaces he wore, "Medallion of the Depths, I lifted it off one of those pirates on the docks. Very angry fellow, let me tell you."

"Great," Autumn said, "I was going to give him yours anyway, I'm glad you have a backup plan."

Jacquie looked appalled at the betrayal.

"Iris," Autumn said, "tell us about our target."

Iris withdrew a sheet of paper from her bag and handed it out to be passed around the table. It contained a drawing of a large, mostly round fish, beside which was a stick figure wearing a wizard hat for scale.

"Meet Gerald the fish," Iris said, "we're not really sure how he became a fish, but we know he wasn't always. We also know he's a notorious criminal and coward. He's being held somewhere in this pocket dimension, and it's our job to get him out."

"You didn't tell me this was a jailbreak," Cameron said, looking at Autumn unhappily.

"It's not," Autumn said firmly, "it's a change of custody. Our client wants to see this fish face proper justice for his crimes, and we're making that happen. Iris, go on."

"He has powerful aura senses and is a lot stronger than he looks, other than that we don't know much about him."

"Can he turn back into a person?" Jacquie asked.

"Not sure," Autumn answered, "the sh-- our client implied he was turned into a fish against his will, but we can't confirm that. So, probably not, but maybe."

"Do we know where he's at in the castle?" Milo asked.

"We don't even know if he's in the castle," Autumn admitted, "we just know he's somewhere in the pocket dimension."

"I can figure that out pretty fast once we're inside," Victoria said, "I remember his aura, I'll find him."

"This could be a simple in-and-out mission," Autumn said, "if we get lucky. If we don't, and the target is somewhere deep in the castle, then that's where the plans we're about to lay out will come in."

"And if we specifically get unlucky?" Jacquie asked curiously.

"Then everything goes tits up, and we figure it out as we go."