“I told you she was going to be more trouble than she was worth,” Auntie Charlie said, grabbing for her pistol.

Twila looked into the cave. There had to be a hint at where Coatless had gone. She peered into the darkness. Was there a glimmer of light on the far side?

“Turn off the lantern. Think there’s a way through over there,” she ordered. As the purple light faded to black, a faint, dim light leaked through a small gap. “That’s our path. Turn it back on.”

“We’re not killing her, right?” Rosie asked. She fidgeted with the pistol strapped to her chest, fingers tracing the barrel and trigger guard.

“No. Let’s go.” The purple light highlighted Twila’s path, and she raced through the cave, her crew behind her. Her pistols clanked together as she ran, arms out to balance on the rocky surface.

Then, at the far side, she paused. The light pouring in from the narrow tunnel wasn’t purple, and it wasn’t sunlight. The flickering light from a fire backlit the tunnel. Further inside, a shadow moved away from them, but the person making it was already around the corner.

“You’re quick, Twila,” Charlie said as she caught up and put her hand on her knee, panting. “I don’t think we’ll catch her, though. Let’s slow down and make sure we don’t get hurt.”

“She’s right there, though!” Rosie blurted, and Charlie put a finger over her lips.

“Yes, but fires don’t just start in tuff caves or travertine ones. Someone’s here, and if they’re using fire instead of mystlight, they’ve been here a while. If we just run in there and grab the selkie, do you think–”

“Coatless. She’s Coatless until she tells us a better name,” Twila murmured.

“Okay. They'll see us if we just run in there and grab Coatless. They’re here for the same reason we are, so they won’t take kindly to us stumbling upon them.”

“So what do we do?” Rojir asked. “The treasure’s probably past whoever’s down there, no matter what.”

“Follow me,” Auntie Charlie said. She slipped her pistol back into its holster and crept forward down the tunnel. “And turn the light off. It’s a dead giveaway.”

With the light off, the flickering fire ahead cast dark shadows into the stone hallway. Charlie slowly half-crawled to the tunnel’s entrance, then waved Twila forward. “There’s a ship.”

“Like Hourglass?” Twila asked. As she crept closer, though, she realized that the ship was nothing like her beloved little sloop.

For one thing, its massive hull was marred by shattered planks along the side. A pair of heavy cannons–maybe 18-pounders–sat in carriages inside of it. Two masts hung below the deck, though both had been snapped off just above the myst condensers. And a black cloth hung limply from one railing–a black cloth with a hint of a white head on it.

The ship wasn’t going anywhere, but the ship’s boat was another story. It hovered nearby, roped to a stalagmite. A swivel gun hung off its bow, with a single man lying on the boat’s seats.

Worse, though, were the sailors that sat around the cavern. Pirates, Twila was sure. The fires flickered in the cave’s long, narrow bottom, and around each sat two or three sailors with pistols, muskets, and blades near. They passed bottles back and forth, taking long drinks before passing them on, and a few played a dice-cup game.

A half-dozen ship rats worked carefully near the ship’s masts, tinkering with what Twila recognized as myst condensers. She idly wondered which model a ship like that would be using–surely something stronger than a custom Type 4 Coil/Type 31 Sphere like Hourglass.

“Look there!” Rosie whispered urgently, pointing.

A handful of pirates had muskets and pistols trained on something coming from the darkness. One fired, and others started shouting at her while she reloaded. Another gestured with his gun, waving someone forward. The figure stepped out into the flickering firelight.

Rosie gasped. “It’s Coatless!”

“Stay where you are, Rosie,” Twila said. She’d been ready to hunt down Coatless and drag her to safety a minute ago, but now? With a dozen pirates and ship rats? They’d need to be careful.

She ducked until the fallen stone covered her completely, then sidled closer to the pirates at the camp’s entrance. As she did, voices started to become clearer.

“Take her to the ship. The [Sky Captain] will be happy to see her. He’ll put her to work after a greeting with the cat!” A massive, shirtless figure shouted. The others laughed.

“Yeah! To work, you earless bitch! There’s too much to do to fix the Endeavor!”

Coatless’s head flicked back and forth, searching for something, even as the huge pirate dragged her off by her shirt. She barely seemed to register the violence–her expression looked blank and preoccupied to Twila. Like she was thinking about anything but meeting with the [Sky Captain].

Twila waved the rest of the crew to follow as the pirates below settled back down. A pair of them shot pistols into the darkness on the far side of the cave, but most went back to drinking and dicing.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Twice, Twila froze as a pirate seemed to look right at her, but after a moment, each went back to staring at the fire or playing their games. It took time–time Twila wasn’t sure they could spend–but the crew grouped up behind a rock near the airship’s shattered hull.

“We need a plan,” Twila muttered. “Gotta get her back.”

“What about the ship rats?” Rosie asked. “Maybe they’d help us out.”

“Good idea. Wait here,” Auntie Charlie said.

Before she could sneak off, though, a shout from the ship’s deck echoed through the cavern. “Gentlemen, ladies, a moment of yer time,” the voice drawled.

“That means shut up and listen to Vayne, you pack of cockroaches!” The hulking man who’d dragged Coatless away shouted.

“Thank ye, Harris,” the voice said. It grew louder. “Three days we’ve been here, drinking our minds to stupor! Three days since the Endeavor broke her back in this very cave, on the way to Kerr’s treasure trove! And in that time, I’ve heard your rumblings! I’ve listened to your misgivings! And why not?! Who among you hasn’t doubted your [Sky Captain] these three days past?!”

A roar of shouts echoed from the cavern floor. Twila risked a peek from their hiding place–even the ship rats had stopped trying to salvage the myst condenser and were listening.

“The Endeavor is lost, that much be clear! Our worthless rats can’t fix the condenser, nor brace her spine! The treasure is in sight, yet impossible to take! And our man in Three Peaks has disappeared, no doubt into his cups with his share of the gold! Aye, our lot be bleak indeed!”

Twila edged around the rock until she could see the speaker. His scraggly black and gray beard went down to the third button on his greatcoat, and two pairs of pistols hung from his harness. But Twila only had eyes for his hat.

A feather-adorned bicorn, its bulk somehow fit the [Sky Captain]. Its crimson was sun-faded, and holes dotted its brim. His [Myst Lens] hung from it off to the side, as did a pair of other goggles. Twila imagined herself in such a hat as the man went on. A hat like that would make her the most fearsome skipper in the skies!

“But gentlemen, ladies, and rats, our fortunes are shifting!”

The pirates roared and yelled again as the speaker dragged Coatless forward by her bound wrists. “This selkie just wandered into our camp, trying to get her coat back!”

The crowd laughed evilly as the captain held a silvery fur coat aloft. “Tell ‘em what you told me, seal, and maybe I’ll give you this pretty coat!”

Coatless cleared her throat and mumbled something. The captain slapped her. “Louder, so all can hear the change in the winds!”

“There’s a way down to my camp, the one you destroyed. I met some children and an older woman on the way up,” Coatless said.

“If there be people below, there be a ship, and if there be a ship, we can leave Three Peaks richer for the treasure, even with the Endeavor lost! Our fortunes are restored, ladies and gentlemen!” He continued as the assembled pirates screamed, shouted, and waved weapons in the air. “Follow the tunnels back and take that airship! Kill anyone aboard it, and make it fast!”

“You heard the captain,” the big man–Harris–said. He drew his sword and pointed it toward where Coatless had emerged from. “Take the ship!”

Most of the pirates swarmed down toward the tunnel, brandishing their weapons. Their screams and shouts echoed in the cave as Twila turned toward her little crew, terror in her eyes.

“What do we do?” Rosie asked before Twila could say the words herself.

[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]