“Twila, I got something in town,” Becca said.

Fog swirled around the Hourglass, which had settled on a narrow spit of sand near jagged rocks–right where the cave was supposed to be. Sand anchors dropped into the beach gave the airship a firm berth even if the engines still needed to run to keep her afloat. Their loud hum filled the hold, where the crew assembled again.

The [Skywright Tinker] held up an odd little device. It whistled slightly as she opened a valve, then stopped when she thumbed the gauge fully open. Gears clicked for a moment and then stopped. “This is a [Pocket Condenser]. It’s a lot slower than the Hourglass’s condenser, and I mean a lot. But if you’re going to be off-ship for a while, it’ll help keep your myst up. I only had enough to trade for four of them, though.”

“Skipper, I’d stick with four for the away team, so you can take advantage of these [Pocket Condensers] and have some crew with the ship,” Charlie said. She grabbed one of them. “I’m going. You’re going. Who else do you want?”

Twila looked up briefly. “Rosie and Carter,” she said.

Rosie nodded, but Carter shook his head. “I’m staying here. I’m not convinced there’s any treasure in there, and I’d rather not deal with a cold, clammy cave.”

Auntie Charlie opened her mouth to say something, but Twila held up her hand. “Okay. Rojir, then. Bring your sword.”

Once Twila, Rojir, and Rosie had strapped their [Pocket Condensers] to their harnesses, the away party climbed down a long rope ladder and touched down on the soft, sandy beach below. “Why couldn’t we just get lowered down,” Rojir complained.

“It’d be faster for one person, but for four, it’s easier to climb the ladder. The Hourglass only has two winches, and both people would have to get past the condenser,” Auntie Charlie explained.

“Old Bitch is too big to get past without swinging, anyways,” Twila answered.

The fog swirled around the four members of the away party, blurring out anything past a few dozen feet. As she took in her surroundings, Twila imagined that each rocky hoodoo was a dagger aimed at the heart of any airship unlucky enough to get caught in them. The fear of being wrecked this low, with night possibly falling, would be sufficient to dissuade most people from landing near the caves.

“Alright, Skipper Tighe, I’d say we want to make sure the rest of the beach is safe, then search for the cave’s entrance,” Auntie Charlie said.

“Got it. Take Rosie and check north. Rojir and I have the south. Anything moves, figure out what it is first. Don’t shoot us in the fog.”

Rosie nodded. “See you soon, Twi,” she said, and she and Auntie Charlie vanished into the mist.

Rojir drew his [Reciprocating Saber]. “Alright, to the south, then?” He strode off, with Twila jogging in the older boy’s wake.

“Rojir, were you always in Shimmertower?” Twila asked. She had a hand on one of [Anton’s Paired Pistols], more to be doing something with her fingers than to ward off anything in the fog.

“Yeah, since I was six. My parents…they didn’t make it on the streets. Dad went down-cliff toward some village, and Mum died. So I was alone for a bit until I met Jamis and Marianna. Together we made ends–”

“Stop!” Twila drew her gun, pointing it into the mist. “Come out, or I’ll…I’ll shoot!” Her heart raced. The pistol in her hand shot her mind back to a dusky evening in Shimmertower. To…killing…someone. She breathed, and she blinked, until her breathing steadied and her heart slowed.

“Come out! Last warning!” She shouted again.

Whatever she’d seen, it wasn’t coming out. Rojir stared into the mist, sword in hand. “I don’t think there’s anything out there, skipper.”

“No, I saw it move! We’re following it.”

The tall boy nodded slowly, and the two of them pushed into the fog. The gray pressed around them, soaking them through their harnesses and shirts. “Skipper, light that lantern. It might help push the fog back a bit.”

The [Mystwork Lantern] ticked, and a friendly purple glow soon fought bravely against the oppressive gray wall surrounding Rojir and Twila. The two ship rats stepped forward, peering into the soup.

Suddenly, Twila screamed and fired her pistol! A purple beam ripped through the fog with a tick, disappearing. Twila fumbled with a new cartridge, running forward. “Drop your weapons! I’ll shoot again!”

A dark figure loomed in front of her, impossibly tall. As she got closer and finished reloading, her pistol went up for another shot–and then back down in disbelief.

She’d hit her target, but her target was nothing more than a jagged stone pillar.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I told you, skipper, there’s nothing on this beach but Auntie, Rosie, and us,” Rojir said surprisingly gently. He’d rested his sword on his shoulder.

“No, I saw something! It moved this way!” Twila half-shouted. It had been so clear! The intruder had dashed through the fog and disappeared this way! She couldn’t just be seeing things!

Could she?

Slowly, cheeks flushing with embarrassment, she nodded. “Okay, we’ll pretend I didn’t see anything. Just be careful.” She started walking off.

“Wait! There’s something here, on the rock.” Rojir pointed. Sure enough, something had been painted on the rock, just above the high tide line. Red and black, stylized paintings of fish, whales, and incredibly giant squids–krakens, even–covered the rock’s base. The line-work and colors had faded with time, but here and there, someone had touched up the worst of the wear and tear.

“Is this selkie art?” Twila asked.

Rojir shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve never met an artist, much less a selkie one.”

“It has to be. It’s really pretty. Too many fish and stuff to be land crawler art,” she said.

“Land crawler?”

“Yeah,” Twila nodded seriously. “Auntie Charlie called the city people that. It fits, so I use it now. We’re better than them, anyways.”

“Ah.” Rojir’s expression confused Twila. So did his silence.

But they had more beaches to explore, so she pointed off toward the south. “Might be something over there.” The two wandered through the thick fog, weapons in hand.

Rocks loomed over them, but Twila held off on shooting them this time. The fog grew less and less oppressive as they walked across the sandy beach and into a maze of stone fangs. Before long, Twila stared down into the mouth of an enormous cavern. Half-filled with briny sea water, it looked to her like a giant’s mouth getting ready to swallow.

“This is the cave the mystmaze is in,” Twila said. “There’s no way it’s not.”

“If the mystmaze is real, then yeah,” Rojir agreed.

“Should we go inside?”

“No, skipper. Let’s go find Auntie and Rosie. It’ll be better if we go in together.”

“Look! More paintings!” Twila shouted. She pointed to the cave’s edges. Sure enough, the same red, black, and white paintings covered its top and sides. But something else had been painted in one of the gaps–a skull with the word ‘Danger’ scrawled below. And bat wings.

As they walked back, trying to retrace their footsteps across the beach, Twila looked behind her. She did a double take, drawing her pistol again and squinting. Had she seen someone else running through the fog?

No, Rojir was right. The beach was empty, except for the two groups of sailors. Twila continued on, and though her eyes flicked from side to side and she kept looking over her shoulder, she didn’t see anything else in the mist–much less anything worth shooting at.

“Over here! We found something!” Rosie’s voice rang out from the beach’s north end.

Sure enough, as the team closed in, Twila could see why Rosie had called them over. Small nets, a handful of badly-damaged tents made of some sort of leather with red and black fish painted on them, and a few wooden tripods and racks littered the beachfront.

Something had been living here, on the beach, and if they were selkies, the barkeep at the Tarred Siren was wrong. Partially-finished meals had only just started to rot.

Someone had lived here recently!

[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.33 (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 - [Pocket Condenser (lvl. 1) - Condense Myst (passive) - Condenses 1 myst/5 ticks; Skill - None]

[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]