The first problem Twila saw was the door.
Rosie’s [Myst Lantern] cast a bright purple glare over the two girls as Twila clambered out of the open grave, one hand wrapped around the paper. Sure enough, it matched Kerr’s journal, but its edges crumbled even as she clutched it.
“Let’s go!” Rosie screamed. The Sable Tide monsters’ leathery wings beat the air, and Twila hurried, running toward the abandoned farmhouse. “The closet!”
“I’m not hiding in the closet all night!” Twila screamed back. “We need to get Vayne!”
As they rushed inside, though, it became obvious—the From Hell’s Hart crew and Vayne’s men and ship rats had fled for the closet as well, even ignoring the bedroom Twila, Rosie, and Carter had negotiated in months before and the coins that still sat on the bed. The closet’s door was stove in as well. Twila froze for a moment, though; the tuff in the back was gone. Instead, the closet turned into a tunnel.
“Stop!” Rosie said as Twila plunged into the cave. “Let me see the paper!”
Twila handed it over, then held Rosie’s light up so the younger girl could read it—and to keep the Sable Tide at bay. “What does it say?”
“It says that the key to Kerr’s vault is in that grave. That means…”
“Either Vayne has it, or the Hell’s Hart crew does.” Twila finished. She glanced down the tunnel. It felt exactly like the maze below Three Peaks—the one Kerr had hidden his treasure trove inside. How had Kerr built these? Why had Kerr built these? Twila didn’t have the answers, but she knew what Vayne was looking for: a key to open the Three Peaks treasure room.
The two girls pushed into the tunnel, past a pair of pirates who’d died fighting each other or trying to escape the fighting, or both. Rosie stared, white-faced and shaking, while Twila dragged her down the tunnel. Her stomach tightened, too. She’d been around adults while they fought seriously—she’d even fought some herself—and this looked as bad as any other fight she’d been in. Why had the Hell’s Hart crew gotten distracted? They’d attacked Hourglass, then turned and landed to hunt Twila’s crew.
So why had they switched to Vayne? Did they know about Kerr’s treasure, too?
Ahead, Twila heard steel clashing. She held up her hand. “Slow. Let them fight it out.” She and Rosie waited, breathing heavily in the still, damp air, as the two pirates ahead fought.
“Twi, we need to move,” Rosie said suddenly. She pointed behind them. The sounds of fighting hadn’t stopped ahead, but now they competed with screeching, shrieking sounds as the Sable Tide followed them down the tunnel.
‘Yeah. We have to risk it.” They probably had a minute or two, Twila figured, but losing it meant being surrounded by the Tide. She drew a pistol and turned the corner, standing at the edge of Rosie’s light.
Ahead, a single [Myst Lantern] glowed against the pitch-black cavern. Twila leveled her pistol at the man holding it as they got close, then raised it. This man wasn’t a threat. He breathed heavily, shaking, as he leaned against the cavern wall. “Bastard got…got me good.”
“Where’s Vayne?” Twila asked. As she stepped closer, she saw his wounds and flinched, stomach heaving. “Where’d he go?”
“The enemy skipper?” The pirate laughed, then coughed, then laughed again. “Captain Giroux-Michaud will take care of him. They went deeper with what was left of our crews. The damn shiprats abandoned us. They took From Hell’s Hart and headed up toward Ternport. Ha. The skipper will hunt them down there once he’s done here, and done with you.”
“They’re in there?” Rosie asked. “How many were left?”
“A handful. A hundred. Not telling you.”
“Fine. Good luck with the Tide.” Twila stepped away, down the tunnel. She ignored the man as he shouted and cursed; she could see torches and [Myst Lanterns] glowing up ahead. Rosie hurried behind her, glancing back into the tunnel as if the Sable Tide would swarm through at any moment. Maybe they would, Twila thought, but they had Rosie’s light—and her own for when Rosie’s died. They’d be fine.
Rosie’s [Myst Battery] ticked.
Twila stepped over a body—this one had fallen to one of the mystmaze’s traps—but others hadn’t. The crews had fought hard here, but the From Hell’s Hart pirates had won. It had cost them, though. She saw an abandoned [Puckle Gun], just like the ones she’d had on Hourglass. The attackers had had to attack into a narrow hallway it defended, and the air smelled like death and the acrid fumes of mystshot. “Let’s check that. Could be useful,” she said.
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As she and Rosie quickly checked the gun, though, that hope vanished. “They fired every shot and didn’t have spares,” Rosie said.
“Right. We’ll push on, then.”
Having the [Puckle Gun] might make the difference against Vayne or the other captain, but it was just dead weight without shots. Still, Twila regretted leaving it there. The ones on the Hourglass had cost her a fortune, and they might be gone for good.
The light grew less and less faint, but before Twila and Rosie could cross into the main chamber, Rosie screamed.
The Sable Tide had arrived.
The two ship rats fled down the hall, [Myst Lanterns] casting a pallid violet glow as the bats filled the tunnel behind them. They burst into a very familiar room.
Just like the treasure room below Three Peaks, Kerr’s mystmaze, this one glowed purple. Inside, however, the floor seemed bare. A few stacks of logs—each valuable, but no mound of treasure—sat in one corner, along with brass plating and bolts. Kerr must’ve used this maze as a shipyard, Twila thought.
In the center of the treasure room, two pirates fought.
Vayne’s hat and beard were in tatters as he flailed back to avoid a rapier thrust from his opponent, an evil-looking man whose tricorne lay halfway across the room. Twila’s rival leaped back onto the stack of logs, which rolled under his sudden weight, careening across the room toward the black-bearded pirate he faced.
Their swords flashed. For a few minutes, both moved faster than Twila could follow. Then, the black-bearded man kicked Vayne in the chest, knocking him over a scattered log.
The black-bearded pirate—Michaud-Giroux, Twila realized—pressed his attack, and Vayne scrambled back. He slashed out, but the From Hell’s Hart captain parried expertly and scored a cut across Vayne’s arm. He stepped back, bowing insultingly at the flamboyant airship captain.
That was all it took.
Vayne hit him without hesitation, sword pulled back in a giant swing that left his entire body open. The impact tossed Michaud-Giroux to the side, where he fell behind a pair of logs that lay haphazardly atop each other. Had Vayne used [Anton’s Pocket Watch]? Twila couldn’t be sure.
The pirate captain stabbed his opponent again, then freed his sword; the blade glistened scarlet in the purplish lights. Then he turned toward Twila and Rosie.
“I hoped I’d be seeing ye here, ship rat. The lights burn, the Tide rises, and Kerr’s treasure be within my grasp. You’ve earned yourself a handicap, coming late, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have the myst and skill to finish ye and yer friend.”
The mystwalls shimmered and fell, and Twila rushed into the treasure room far below Iswixel.
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.33 (Myst 12/12, Hit Points 1/2)]
[Head - Empty]
[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]
[Chest - Platejack Coat (lvl. 2) Plated Coat (passive) +1 Hit Point]
[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]
[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]
[Gizmo #1 - Loaded Dice (lv. 2) - Roll the Bones (active, 1 myst/roll) - gain a random myst enhancement; Skill - Trickery]
[Gizmo #2 - Empty]
[Gizmo #3 - Nola’s Embrace (lvl 2) Unknown Effect]
[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 - Condensing Battery Mk. 2 (lvl. 1) Myst Storage (passive) - 12 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill; Condense Myst (passive) - Condenses 1 myst/6 ticks]
[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 - Heatblade (lvl. 2) Heat (active, 1 myst/tick) - cause the blade’s edge to superheat; Skill - Acrobatics]
[Weapon/Pair - Empty]
[Skill #1 - Trickery 2]
[Skill #2 - Perception 2]
[Skill #3 - Empty]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Acrobatics 2]