Twila stared at the armed man. He’d covered one eye with an eyepatch, and the boat cloak covering his body left little idea of his size. She gulped. The mystlock mechanism was only inches from her face. If he fired at the barkeep, she’d probably get some of the backlash.

“Ah, kids,” the barman said, eyes shifting from the gun to Twila, “it’s time to get back to your ship. Mister, ah, Smith here is right. You’ve had enough.

On his blind side, Rosie slipped off her barstool. She grabbed her half-finished mug of watery ale, burped, and stepped toward the door. Then she spun and launched her tankard into the air–right over a table full of dockworkers!

The fiddle player stopped as the three men and one woman stood up, covered in watered-down ale. Almost as one, they glared at Rosie, who shrugged and pointed to the man in the boat cloak. “He did it!”

A stocky slab of a dockworker pounded a fist into his hand, strode forward, and tripped over a chair. He sprawled into another table, which spilled a handful of townsfolk’s drinks!

Someone grabbed the pirate’s shoulder, pulling him back from the bar counter. His gun went off, an acrid smell mixed with the pipe smoke, and a bottle of something exploded behind the barman.

The fiddler started playing again, this time much faster, as the bar descended into chaos. Tankards and mugs flew, a window shattered, and more mystshot pistols fired into the air.

Twila blinked, then crawled over the counter. She watched Rosie run for the door, ducking through a fistfight and narrowly avoiding a flying bottle. Then she slid down next to the barkeep.

“Tell me–” she stopped as someone collided with the bar. “Tell me what you know about the caves.”

“This won't stop for a while. What do you want to know?” Someone was sword-fighting on the far side of the tavern. The fiddle sped up again.

“What are they?”

“Oh, you’re wanting the legend of the mystmaze? Well, you paid for it.” the barman grabbed a bottle of something and heaved it over the counter. Someone grunted, and a body hit the floor. “It goes back nigh twenty years, to the Silent Skipper and [Pirate King] Kerr!”

Twila’s heart raced. The journal had mentioned that Skipper Anton had sailed with Kerr! “Tell me now,” she said. “My friend saved you from the pirate there.”

“She also got my bar trashed!” He stopped with a look at Twila’s big, eager eyes. “Okay, so [Pirate King] Kerr, in his bloody raiding across the Ludy Principalities, he’s gotten a ship full of treasure and a crew he doesn’t trust. So he takes a few men–just a few—and flies far, far down below North Peak, to the selkie caves. He comes out later without the treasure and without–”

Something flew over the counter and clonked the barkeep on the head. He grabbed a pistol from under the counter. “Damn you for breathing, you lot. I’ll–”

Twila rewound time with a twist of [Anton’s Pocket Watch] and pushed the barkeep out of the way as something flew over the counter. “Go on.”

“He comes out later without the treasure and without his crew. So, everyone thinks the treasure’s in there. Three Peaks gets together some money and hires a crew to check it out. But the crew never comes back. Town blamed it on the selkies and drove them off, but rumor has it something’s in the caves down there. Something that gets men stuck–good and lost–and kills them.”

The swordfight moved to the center of the room. By the sound of it, at least four people were involved. Curses filled the air. Curses, tankards, and mystshots.

“If you think the stories are true, that is,” the barkeep finished. “Now, ship rat, get out of my tavern, or you’re paying for damages.”

Twila nodded and clambered over the counter. She stood on it, taking in the sea of mindless violence before her. Men and women swung swords and fists, mystshots slammed into the ceiling and bottles, and a couple in the corner was watching and kissing. Kissing intensely.

Yuck, thought Twila. She pulled her eyes away from the disgusting sight with tremendous effort and saw something on the floor.

The pirate’s sword–the serrated cutlass–lay on the floor. The pirate himself was in a fistfight with another man. He wouldn’t be looking for the blade anytime soon, so Twila lept from the counter and ran toward it.

Someone’s foot lashed out and caught Twila in the shoulder, and she flew across the room.

She landed further away from the sword and crawled toward it. A pair of big men started punching each other, the sound of meat slamming into meat filling the air above her. Something wet rained down on her; she touched her hair and felt sticky, stinky beer, not blood.

Her hand closed on the sword. She kicked off of the ground. Dodging a sword swing, she ran for the door and slid across the threshold.

Rosie stood there, shifting nervously from one foot to another. “Is everyone okay in there?” She asked.

Twila shrugged. “Probably not, but that’s not our fault. Got some good information. We’re going back to Hourglass. And shore leaves are canceled.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Jamis and Becca won’t like that,” Rosie said. “So, you stayed in there to talk to the barkeep?”

“Yeah, but what he said is a surprise!”

The two girls jogged away from the Tarred Siren and back to the Hourglass. As the ship’s sides came into view, Twila started sprinting, still shaky on her feet from her drinks. She wobbled onto the gangplank and started to tip a bit.

Auntie Charlie grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her aboard. She sniffed the girl’s clothes. “You’ve been drinking, skipper. Probably too much. Is that whiskey?”

“No time. Get Carter and Rojir up here. They need to go get Becca, Jamis, and Marianna. I’ll explain when they get here.” Twila yawned. “I think I know where Kerr’s treasure is! Tell you all when the crew’s together.”

While the losing cannon team went to find the winning one, Auntie Charlie looked at the sword. “Where did you get that? Hand it over.”

Twila reversed the sword, passing it hilt-first to her quartermaster. “Nicked it from a pirate in the tavern. Rosie started a bar fight. He dropped it. Now it’s mine.”

“I see.” Charlie dropped the sword into a fighting stance, one hand in its sling, the other on the hilt. “And you’re an expert swordswoman now?”

“You stick the pointy end in them or cut them with the sharp side.”

“Not wrong, but far from being correct.” Charlie poured myst into the sword, and the vicious serrations whirled around the cutlass’s edge. “You’ll have sword lessons every evening on the main deck until you know how to use this.”

Twila glared at Auntie Charlie as she accepted the sword back. It wasn’t fair. She was the skipper, and Charlie was giving her orders like Twila was her daughter!

She held her glare against Charlie’s stare for a few seconds, then looked away. “Fine.”

Twila, Rosie, and Auntie Charlie busied themselves by making Hourglass ready for departure. They checked each cannon, making sure the cartridges were prepared. The engines got a quick inspection, though a complete overhaul would have to wait. Twila was flying to clean the gunk off of Old Bitch the myst condenser when she felt herself getting pulled up.

“Everyone’s here, Twi,” Rosie said. “Auntie’s got them assembled.”

The two girls hurried topside. As soon as they were within shouting distance, Twila started explaining. “Crew, I know where [Pirate King] Kerr’s treasure is!”

Surprisingly, the crew didn’t believe her. “No, you don’t,” Carter said. “If you could learn it from one barkeep in one random town, someone would have found it by now.”

Twila scowled. “It’s in a cave at the bottom of North Peak. Stuck in something called a mystmaze. That’s why no one’s got it. But there was another pirate in the tavern. They must know, too!”

“Nah, it’s too easy,” Carter argued.

“Okay. Leave Hourglass here. Carter, you’re cleaning the windows. And the rest of Old Bitch.”

“Point taken,” Carter said. He glared and crossed his arms. “Let’s go get ‘[Pirate King] Kerr’s treasure,’ everyone!”

Twila held up her sword as she walked to the ship’s wheel. “Untie Hourglass. We’re taking a short drop.”

[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.25 (Myst 1/10, Hit Points 1/1)]

[Head - Empty]

[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]

[Chest - Ship Rat’s Harness (lvl. 0)]

[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]

[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]

[Gizmo #1 - Multitool (lv. 2) - Tool Transform (active, 1 myst/switch) - Change between many common tools; Skill - Tinkering]

[Gizmo #2 - Anton’s Pocket Watch (lvl. 4)] Redo (active, 5 myst/5 seconds) - redo the last five seconds of time, with knowledge of what’s happening (1 minute to reset); Skill - Piloting]

[Gizmo #3 - Empty]

[Gizmo (Belt) - Mystwork Lantern (lvl. 2): Mystlight (active, 25% failure chance, 1 myst/attempt) - start the light; Adjustable Light Aura (sustained, .5-2 myst/tick) - light a variable area; Skill - Perception]

[Myst Battery - Basic Myst Battery (lvl. 1) Small Storage (passive) - 10 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill]

[Weapon/Pair - Anton’s Paired Pistols (lvl. 2) Smoothbore Myst-Shot (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - fire a ray of heated myst; Rapid Shots (active, 2 myst/shot) - fire twice/tick; Skill - Marksman]

[Weapon #2 - Chain-Cutlass (lvl. 2) Rattleblade (active, 1 myst/tick) - spin the serrated blades on the cutlass’s edge; Skill - Intimidation]

[Weapon/Pair - Empty]

[Skill #1 - Tinkering 2]

[Skill #2 - Perception 2]

[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]

[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]

[Skill #5 - Intimidation 2]