Dungeons Just Want to Have Fun

“You guys are going to find us a boat.”

The two courls looked at each other, and then back at Kelsey.

“You already have a boat,” Kusec said warily.

“We need a bigger boat, one that can carry more people,” Kelsey explained. “One of those raiding ships would do nicely.”

The courls ears both flattened. “You can’t steal from the Empire,” Kusec growled. “Stealing slaves from private owners is a crime, but stealing a ship—”

“Relax,” Kelsey said. “That’s just to give you an idea of the size. We won’t be taking your Empire’s precious military hardware.”

Her expression hardened. “Unless you can’t find us a ship to buy, anyway. Well, rent, I guess. We need a crew to sail it, and that tends to go better if the captain owns the ship.”

Kusec narrowed his eyes. “Where would you get a crew for a raiding ship?”

Kelsey shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said impatiently, “Which is just one more reason to make stealing from your Empire plan C, at best. So go out and find me a boat.”

“We’ll be seen if we go out asking questions,” Kusec objected. “We’re still deserters, remember?”

Kelsey waved her hands dismissively. “Just keep the cloaks up and avoid the military’s dock. You’ll be fine.”

“What are you going to be doing?” the other courl, Erryan asked.

“None of your business,” Kelsey said flatly. She gave each of them a handful of copper coins. “For food and drink. Come back at sunset, or when you’ve found a boat. Get going.”

The two courls tried to protest some more, but their winces of pain made it clear that Kelsey’s last words had been an order. They took their leave, muttering to themselves.

“What are we doing?” Aris said when they were gone. “We’re still waiting to hear back from Karim, and we won’t be meeting Malik or that official until after dark.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Kelsey said. “And I think it's time we visited the dungeon.”

“What do you mean, we can’t?”

The courl guardsman showed Kelsey his teeth. Anton wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a friendly smile. It didn’t look friendly.

“You’re not locals,” the guard said. “You’re not slaves from any of the farms, you’re not farm owners or workers. You’re foreigners.”

“Well sure, but you let us into your city without any fuss.”

The guard shook his head. “Foreigners are allowed into Rused, to trade. There’s only two reasons for foreigners to get out onto the rest of the island. One is to try out the dungeon, which isn’t allowed. And the other, well, some fools like to try their luck out there as bandits, preying on the farmers and such. Needless to say, that isn’t allowed either.”

“Wow, that’s so racist,” Kesley said, shaking her head. “We just wanted to take a walk through the picturesque countryside.”

“Too bad.”

Kelsey frowned. “I don’t suppose we can alter your attitude with a little silver, can we? We’d be back by sundown.”

“Maybe if you weren’t coming back,” the guard said. “We get off shift in two hours, so it’ll be a different bunch on the gate when you come back.”

“So? I’ve got enough silver for them as well.”

“Or,” the guard said, “They can take your silver, arrest you and report us for letting you out in the first place. Then they’d get our silver as a reward.”

“How mercenary.” Kelsey made a face. “Are all of the guards like that?”

“Enough that I don’t want to take a chance on who comes after me. You’ll need to take your walk inside the city.”

“So what do we do now?” Aris asked.

“I guess…” Kelsey started to answer, before losing herself in thought. “I guess we tour the inside of the walls, see if there are any blind spots.”

“To climb over?” Anton asked. “I don’t think there will be anything we can use in daylight.”

“Maybe not,” Kelsey agreed. “We might have to head out after dark. I don’t like the delay though.”

“We could probably get some kind of a pass to let us out?” Anton suggested. “At the administrative compound.”

“Bad idea,” Kesley said. “We don’t want anyone knowing we were out there. If we bribe some guards to let us out, we can count on them to keep it quiet, but issuing a pass gets us all sorts of attention that we don’t want.”

They started walking along the inside of the wall. This wouldn’t have been possible in Kirido. There, buildings had been built right up against it, saving on the construction costs of one wall. Here, there seemed to be a rule against that. There was a road that ran all around the city, and no buildings, except for the gatehouses, approached too closely.

“Nice discipline,” Kelsey said, reluctantly approving. “Makes it hard for us, though.”

“We can probably get over the wall without getting stopped,” Anton said. “I saw a few places that are pretty far from a guard post. But… not so far that they won’t notice us. Maybe if there’s no moon. The thing is, a lot of guards will have Nightvision.”

“Getting spotted by the guards isn’t exactly conducive towards a leisurely midnight stroll to the dungeon,” Kelsey agreed. “We need to coordinate our bribery.”

“With who? Aris asked.

“With ourselves. We need to be able to reassure the guard that let us out, that the guards that will let us in are equally corrupt. That means knowing the guard schedules, and knowing the guards.”

“But we don’t know any of that,” Anton objected.

“I know,” Kelsey sighed. “So, again, we’re going to have to consult with an expert.”

The two courls were waiting for them when they got back.

“That was quick,” Kelsey said.

“Not that many big ships in the harbour,” Kusec said. “And most reputable captains took one look at us and shooed us off.”

“These cloaks make us look shifty,” Erryan put in.

“Only because you’ve got something to hide,” Kelsey said. “But you did find a disreputable captain?”

“We found one,” Kusec agreed. “Didn’t speak to him, but we asked around. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, no one will give him cargo. But he’s rich, and he owns the ship, so he just sits in port waiting for someone crazy enough to hire him.”

“If he’s rich, can’t he just buy his own cargo and sell it?” Kelsey asked.

“Don’t you need to have a merchant class to make that work?” Anton asked. “He’s probably got a ship-sailing class.”

“Anyone can buy and sell, Anton,” Kelsey said. “There’s a trick to buying low and selling high, but it’s a skill, not a trait.”

“Reckon he’s short on crew, for a ship that size,” Kusec said, answering his mistress’s earlier question. “The merchants hate him as well, so they might not be willing to sell him bulk cargo.”

“Wow. Crazy, lacking a crew and the merchants all hate him for some reason. You really found a prime candidate here.”

Kusec shrugged. “You want someone who won’t ask questions carrying a bunch of escaped slaves, you don’t have a lot of options.”

“I suppose not. You know where we can find him?”

They all looked down at the boat tied up on the docks. It was much smaller than what they had been promised.

“This is the tender that takes supplies out,” Kusec said to Kelsey’s raised eyebrow. “Anything else that approaches is likely to have shit thrown at it.”

“Charming,” Kelsey said. She looked at the crew of two courls. “And they’ll take us to the ship?”

Kusec shrugged. “They’ll need paying.”

Sailing out into the harbour, the crew were soon able to point out their destination. It was a big ship. Anton estimated that it was about twenty-five yards long and held three or four decks. The three masts rose up from the deck like withered trees, devoid of sails. There wasn’t any movement to be seen from it as they approached, but Anton felt they were being watched.

It was just Kelsey, Anton and Aris on this trip, the courls had been left to go back to the inn. The tender was small enough that it was cramped with just the five of them. The sail took up a lot of room.

“Ahoy the ship!” the male crewmember called out. There was no reply.

“He’s in a mood again,” the female crewmember said. “Do you want to try again later?” She had been introduced as Soraya and had light brown fur, with a dappled pattern that made it look like sand.

“Nah,” Kelsey said. “Let’s see him at his worst. Can you get on board?”

“We can,” the Soraya said. “We left a rope.” She pointed to the stern, where a thick rope dangled in the water.

“That’s fine,” Kelsey decided. “Anton can climb that, and pull the rest of us up.”

The two crewmembers looked at each other. “Captain won’t like that,” the male said. He was called Rashid, and his fur was a mix of grey and greyish-blue. He was distinguished from any other courl Anton had met by the long strings of beads he had wrapped around his neck and arms.

“That’s fine,” Kelsey said. “Since I’m paying you for this trip, at least while we’re on this boat, I’m the captain.”

There was a pause, as the two looked warily at her. Sensing the tension, Anton thought to size them up.

I really should have done this earlier, he thought to himself.

Soraya Sandwhisper, Navigator, Overall Level 21, Deckhand/Sailor/Navigator

Rashid Stormcaller, Weatherwitch, Overall Level 18, Deckhand/Sailor/Weatherwitch

Anton wasn’t familiar with the classes, but they didn’t sound like combat-oriented paths. The moment passed, though, and the two sailors relaxed.

“Fair enough, but don’t blame me if you get a bucket of shit thrown at you,” Rashid said.”

“Bring us alongside, then,” Kelsey said grandly. She pulled out a bundle of rope from under her seat and handed it to Anton.

Spiderclimb made short work of the walls of the ship. It was the first time Anton had been able to test his new trait by climbing more than a few yards off the ground. Clambering onto the main deck, he looked around warily but didn’t see any sign of a captain. He lowered the rope.

Aris was stronger than she used to be, but she wasn’t used to climbing a rope. It was quicker for him to pull her up. He was fairly sure Kelsey was perfectly capable of pulling herself up, but she seemed to want him to do it, so he obliged. The crew were just as good climbers as he was. They tied the tender up to the ship and swarmed up the dangling rope but they’d offered him no help getting the others up.

“Permission to come on board?” Kelsey asked as she clambered over the railing.

“Yeah, sure, whatever, welcome aboard,” Soraya said unenthusiastically.

“Great! So where’s this captain, then?” Kelsey asked.

Soraya shrugged. “This way,” she said and led them under the raised half-deck.

“Captain! Got some customers for you!” she called, banging on the first door they came to. She paused to listen and then banged on the door again. There was the sound of a muffled voice.

Just as she was about to bang again, the door was flung open, and the courl behind it was revealed. Resolving to get better at doing this, Anton immediately used Delver’s Discernment.

Farid al-Nazari, Ship’s Captain, Overall Level 26, Midshipman/Bosun/Ship’s Captain

“Customers! Clients, you mean! Honoured clients! You never said we had clients on board!”

The courl that came out of the cabin might have been dignified, or even imposing at one point. His brilliant green eyes and jet-black fur made for a striking image. But the way he was slumped against the door frame, the way his richly coloured silk tunic was now… richly discoloured, painted a different picture.

As green as his eyes were, they looked dull when they looked around him blearily. Slowly and not at all surely, they focussed on Anton. It took a moment, but a frown started to form on the captain's face.

“Bah! Who let monkeys on board the ship!”

“Oh great,” Kelsey said. “He’s crazy, racist and he’s drunk.”