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Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven. Trouble

“Luck can't last a lifetime unless you die young.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The team gathered back in the inn later that evening. Vivace was waiting excitedly with the information she found, and kept pacing around the room as the various members arrived. When Sforzan entered the room, he handed out the different things he had bought for the others, including new armor for Vivace, seeds for Elera, and carrying a new, red covered book rather proudly in his book holder on his side with his old, faded yellow book.

“This looks big,” was Vivace’s first comment. Sforzan huffed.

“It’s your own fault,” the centaur replied. “They don’t make warrior armor for gnomes, it isn’t in high enough demand. You’ll simply have to adjust it for yourself.”

“It’s an improvement on what you had.” Elera pointed out, examining her new plants. Vivace remained unconvinced, but didn’t respond, choosing to inspect it and find some way to cut down the size. Or somehow manage to wear it despite that. Dolly, the only one having not needed any type of new equipment, simple frowned and looked out the window. Noticing this, Vivace immediately perked up.

“So,” she stated happily, putting the item off to the side. “We’ve seen Sforzan’s and Elera’s work, what about you Dolly? Do we have tickets now?”

The human glared over at the gnome, debating whether or not the joyful expression was out of the assumption that she had gotten them or the assumption that she had failed. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and sighed. “There weren’t any available tickets, no. I checked the underground channels in the town. The thing is, tickets for the ships are given out to people specifically, names on them and all. We would need to have matching badges to get on. There were a few dealers in town who were willing to make false badges, but all their tickets have been sold to other Players already. We’ll need to find another way.”

Vivace pumped her fist into the air, much to the annoyance of the human. Before any violence could begin, Vivace was plowing on with her achievement. “I found a way we can sneak onto the ships!” There was a general consensus of doubtful raised eyebrows and frowning, so she went on. “There’s a kid in town who’s always sneaking onto the ships. Dilly, he’s got a reputation for it. I tracked him down, and he showed me how he got onto them. His methods need a little adjustment for our cause, but I think they’ll work.”

She beamed around at the collected group, all of whom were still looking at her skeptically. Vivace frowned at their lack of enthusiasm over her hard won plan. “What? This is good!”

“And what, exactly, is this plan?” Sforzan asked, looking down at her from his seat. “You have yet to explain the specifics.”

Vivace huffed. She made a vague hand gesture, and started explaining her plan, brushing off the disbelieving tones of her companions. “Here it is, we sneak down to the cove, there’s this underground entrance into the sewers-”

“Sewers?” Dolly interrupted, wrinkling her nose. “You expect a plan that starts in the sewers to work out well, do you?”

“Well, they're not exactly sewers, more like tunnels for getting rid of rain water, but never mind now, in the sewers there are little tunnels, some that go straight out to the ocean. They come out underwater. If we sneak down there, then we can get up underneath the boats. No guards, and it’s to deep for them to see us through the surface.” Vivace smiled at her companions. None of whom smiled back.

“I thought gnomes didn’t mix well with water,” Elera said in a curious tone from her seat. Vivace flushed.

“We don’t, but it won’t be that long of a trip.”

“Centaurs aren’t that skilled with water either,” Sforzan pointed out, curling his four legs more snugly beneath him. “And how exactly would we get onto the ships? You seem to be leaving out a key step there. Just because a child can climb onto a boat unnoticed does not mean we can do the same. The guards would see us when we came above water.”

“Nope. I’ve got that covered,” Vivace declared. “In fact, we don’t even have to be swimming.” Dolly flicked her hair in an obvious, impatient manner, sending messages to everyone in the room that if the gnome didn’t hurry with her explanation that they’d be searching for a new team leader. Vivace glanced at her before continuing in a less mysterious tone. “Sforzan, if you can drag some wind underwater with us and make a cocoon of it around us, we can walk to the bottom of the ships. Then one of us can cut a hole into the bottom and we can climb up, and stay hidden until the journey starts.”

“You want us to cut a hole into the bottom of the ship we want to ride on?” Dolly asked incredulously. The others looked a little taken aback by the idea as well. “Did you not wonder why they’re not guarding underwater? We can’t cut a hole into the ship, that’s suicide.”

“We’ll seal it up!” Vivace protested. “As long as we have an air bubble open for a long as we’re doing it no water can come in and there’s no chance at sinking.”

“And if Sforzan’s spell runs out before we’re done?” the human pushed.

“Well…we’re right near an opening we could jump out, and it’s not like we'll be in the middle of the ocean. We’ll be fine.”

Elera started laughing as Dolly blanched. Sforzan interrupted quickly as the human began rising to go after the gnome, who had leapt off the bed as Dolly’s expression turned homicidal. “I can recast the spell as it’s going out. That’s not a problem.”

Dolly looked unconvinced, and Vivace settled next to the demon on a spot further away from her would-be assassin. The room went silent as the group thought over the ludicrous plan that Vivace was suggesting. After a minute, Elera asked thoughtfully. “What would we seal the hole with?”

There was a small silence, and finally Sforzan replied slowly. “You could always use some of your plant magic. If we were to grow a thick enough plant, something water resistant, then there’s a possibility that it would hold. Sooner or later they’ll find it, so it would get repaired eventually, but if we picked a spot that workers don’t go into often, we could make it to the continent without being found out.”

“Would that really work?” Dolly asked. “It seems a bit hopeful to me. Plus, how are we suppose to know where to get in? The bottom of the ships are filled with equipment and workers. Unless any of you have studied ship building before, we’re not likely to know what the good spots would be.”

“We have to try!” Vivace stated, looking over at the human with an annoyed expression. She turned to the demon. “Do you have any plants that could last?”

Elera counted off some figures on her fingers. “Maybe. But plants soak up water. After they’ve had so much they die. It’s possible that it’ll only hold for part of the journey. I don’t have nay underwater plants on me to use that would work better.”

The others went silent, thinking about what she has said. Vivace looked dejected, and asked slowly, “Are there any other ways?”

“The plants are still an option.” Dolly pointed out. “We just need a way to make them stronger. Instead of using living plants, what if you used them like they were already dead?”

Elera looked over, frowning. “A geomancer can only use plants that are alive.”

Dolly waved her hand dismissively. “I didn’t tell you to use dead plants. I just told you not to treat them like they were living. You know plant shaping, shape them into a door. If you were to weave them or something then even after they died they would still be a door, since the dead plants would retain the shape that they were weaved into. You can latch it onto things on the inside of the ship if you have to to get them to stay. We just need to make sure they’re strong enough.”

Vivace lit up instantly. She turned to Elera and asked excitedly, “Is that possible? Would it work?”

The demon considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “I’ve never tried it before. It might-” Vivace whooped. "-and even if it doesn’t,” Elera continued, grinning, “we’re close enough to shore to swim back and pretend it wasn’t our fault.”

Sforzan looked over at the pair sternly, obviously not sharing the sentiments. He cleared his throat to get the rest of the team’s attention. Looking at Vivace, he asked in a finalizing tone, “And these drainage tunnels are large enough for adults to go through? The entrance isn’t somewhere where we’d be caught?”

“Yes, no.” Vivace said, jumping off of the demon’s bed and making her way back over to her own now that the human wasn’t exhibiting threatening behavior. “I was checking all of that when I was finding the way to sneak on. The tunnels might get a little tight, but that’s it. We’ll all fit. All we need to know, is when the next ship is leaving.”

“Two days.” Dolly said, spreading out on her bed comfortably and closing her eyes. “It leaves dock at eight in the morning. We probably want to get there late enough to avoid being caught, but early enough not to miss it if it takes off a few minutes early.”

“We’ll get into position down in the tunnels before the morning rush, so nobody sees a strange group of Players wandering around on a morning that the ship is leaving,” Sforzan said. “Around dawn would be best. We’ll wait until seven thirty, and begin our job. Occasionally somebody can check the surface, depending on how long the trip in the tunnel takes. Most likely that would be Vivace, since she’s the least noticeable. A half an hour should be enough to make our way to the ship and cut a hole through the bottom and seal said hole up. After that, we wait until the boat is running and sneak up onto the deck. We’ll need to find a place to stay during the journey where we won’t be noticed, but that will come later.”

“Alright!” Vivace declared, as Sforzan finished his run down of the situation. “Everybody knows the plan? To bed!”

Elera and Dolly exchanged glances at Vivace’s last command, but nobody commented as the gnome turned off the lights.

The following day went without incident, each preparing for the journey on the ship and checking out the vessel from dock. Sforzan made a detailed map of the harbor, nettling Vivace for the exact details on where the tunnel opened up so they wouldn’t be lost once they reached the ocean floor. Having gathered all of their supplies the day before, there wasn’t much else to do but wait, and the morning of the operation came quickly.

They proceeded as they had planned, and found themselves waking up at the early hours of the morning. Vivace had altered the plan enough to wake them up slightly before dawn, remembering her first morning checking out the docks and when everyone started their work. They changed and ate in silence, the mood more stressed due to both sleep deprivation and the act they were about to commit. Vivace led them out of the inn, and they made their way down to the rocks that Vivace had visited the days before. Before reaching the rocks however, the teamed turned toward the town, walking in a deserted street for a few minutes before an entrance to the sewers appeared. The team climbed- or jumped, in Sforzan’s case- down into the opening and made their way grudgingly through the damp tunnel. The passage was fairly clean, the town trying to keep the harbor as decent as possible and not wanting trash to end up there through the drainage tunnels. It was a short, five minute walk before they reached an area where the tunnel opened up into a small chamber, where there was a small walkway of pavement before the ground disappeared below water. The opening was in fact wide enough for all of them, and Sforzan inspected the surface of the water for a few minutes as he tried to figure out how he was shaping the air to enclose them all into the bubble he was creating. Elera did a test dive upon the centaur’s request, with an air pocket supplied by him, swimming out into the harbor to discover exactly how long the trip would take, and came back fifteen minutes later. After working the new information into the group’s operation- since Vivace had started refusing to call it anything less impressive in fear of making their task seem ordinary- they settled down to wait, sending the gnome back out to the street every half hour to watch the progress of the ship.

After waiting a few hours, Vivace returned with news for he companions. “The other Players are loading on it now. It’s gonna be leaving soon, we should move on with our plan.”

The group nodded, getting up from their time passing tasks and moving forward. The centaur pulled out his old yellow covered book with a type of reluctance, glancing at his newer tome before flipping open the other’s cover. He muttered a spell, and the water parted, being forced out of the tunnel leading to the ocean. The liquid hung against the walls closest to the opening as it waited to be returned to its original position. As soon as the water was clear of the floor below, Sforzan jumped down and spread his spell so there was enough room behind him for the rest of the party. One by one they jumped into the passage and began moving down the tunnel toward the ocean. After a few minutes, the floor of the ocean appeared, and they stepped carefully into the liquid-y sand. The walls of water floated around them as Sforzan kept his air bubble carefully in place, reaching for the map they had made of the harbor and moving in the direction of one of the larger ship bottoms. Occasionally a small minnow would swim by, but as Vivace had leaned earlier, most of the fish were gone from the harbor. They reached the ship without incident, and as they approached the bottom Sforzan raised the roof of their air pocket with another muttered spell.

As soon as a small spot on the bottom was clear, Elera tossed some seeds onto the ocean floor and made them grow into a thick staircase. The team glanced at one another, and gingerly the gnome stepped onto the leafy stairs to make her way up to the hull. Upon reaching the top of the flight of steps, Vivace drew her sword off her back and inspected the iron body. Nodding, she took a fighting stance and silently cast a spell to usher magic into her blade, making it strong enough to cut through something so thick. She made four slashes into the body in the form of a rough square. After what felt like a minute, the slab of iron began sliding out of its position, much to the delight of the gnome. The two taller females stepped forward to carefully lower the missing piece so it wouldn’t fall to the bottom.

Vivace jumped up to the opening they had made, pulling herself up into the body of the ship with her arms. The group was watching after the gnome for her to finish her quick scout of the area so they knew where to go once they got in, and remained where they were. The ships began vibrating and letting off a loud hum before Vivace reappeared.

“Coast is clear, c’mon.” the gnome reported quickly, and Dolly pulled herself up into the hold, stretching out her hands for the iron slab as soon as she’d gotten in. Elera and Sforzan pushed it up after her, and once they had diagonally maneuvered it into the ship, Sforzan was able to carefully jump in after it. Elera was the last one to climb in, and upon her arrival in the metallic ship, she called up her plants from the ocean floor. The group stood back as she quickly bound the plants together in a thick cover for the hole they had created, Vivace standing at the entrance to the small engine room they had entered to be on the look out for any worker who might stumble their way. Once the greenery had successfully blocked all of the hole, the group looked at Sforzan. The team holding their breath, he spoke the spell to release his air pocket on the other side. The plants remained motionless, and after a long stretch of silence and no water pouring through the opening, the four broke out into collective sighs. Dolly shoved the iron slab on top of the plants, something that wouldn’t go unnoticed upon close inspection but would stop anybody from noticing a giant block of shrubbery in the engine room at a glance.

As she finished she looked over at the gnome and said quietly, “You’re lucky you know, Ace. That could have been disastrous.”

“But it wasn’t,” the gnome smiled cockily from her position, responding in just as hushed a tone. Then she asked to nobody in particular, “How long do we wait here before moving onto the top deck?”

“Long enough that none of the workers will be scrambling around to see us, but soon enough not to look unfamiliar once we do get up top.” Sforzan stated, glancing at his wrist computer for the time. “We should wait another half an hour perhaps, then make our way above ship.”

“Arg,” Vivace growled. “All we’ve been doing is waiting. I’m tired of waiting.”

“Don’t be hasty,” Dolly replied, lounging back on one of the metal grates. “Impatience is what makes good plans screw up.”

Vivace sent a glare at the human, but Dolly looked as if she, too, were tired of constantly waiting for the next step, so she let the conversation drop. Instead she busied herself at the entrance watching outside the passage and listening to the distant noise of the ship’s crew going about their tasks.

The next few hours passed in a blur. Sneaking out of the engine rooms on the bottom level and up onto the main deck of the ship without being noticed went smoothly, save a small spot where Sforzan had bumped into a large rack of basins stacked against one of the walls and causing a slight panic amongst the group as they fled before any workers could come to see the cause of the noise. When they had finally reached the upper decks, their first priority had been to find someplace where they’d be able to spend the nights without being caught. It had been a general consensus in the group that they were separate during this time, as to not draw attention to a large group without a room. Until then, they wandered the ship, spending the time however they individually pleased as long as they didn’t get caught. If any problems arose, they could communicate over their wrist computer.

-:-:-:-:-

Vivace and Elera walked along the second floor deck, checking out the other Players and design of the ship. Dolly had mentioned some game room in the lower floors of the ship, and Sforzan had gone inside to avoid being on the open deck near the water. The gnome peered over the edge, watching the water spread away from the bottom of the ship. Elera leaned over her, to look at what she was seeing. Smirking, the demon asked, “Is this your first time on a ship?”

The gnome nodded, pulling away from the edge. “The Welsth isn’t any where near the ocean. Gnomes aren’t good with swimming.”

“The Welsth?” Elera asked, pointing over in a direction for them to walk. “Is that where you’re from? You’re small town, then. You seem it.”

“Hey!” Vivace objected, wondering if the comment was an insult or not. The demon just smiled, glancing around at the machinery, ignoring her smaller companion. Growling, the gnome continued walking, glaring up at her. Instead of responding, the demon changed the subject’s direction.

“For a race that doesn’t like water, you jumped for the option fast enough.”

“Oh. Yeah, well, it was the easiest way, wasn’t it?” Vivace replied, looking slightly disconcerted at the change. “Besides, I’ve been in water before. It’s not so bad.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. A flood once, back home. I jumped in to get to the dam so I could stop the water. Broke my arm.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The demon paused for a second, then asked in a restrained voice, “So you’ve never been one to think?”

Elera let out a laugh as Vivace sputtered incredulously. Looking over the crowd she stopped, and yanked the gnome’s arm back so they were hidden behind a life boat on the side of the ship.

“What?” Vivace asked, rubbing her arm where it had been grabbed. Instead of answering the other female clicked her wrist computer and opened up a group line.

“You guys, we have a small problem,” she said into her computer, waiting for the reply to show they had picked up. Two lights blinked on in the corner of her screen, signifying the others had connected and gotten her message.

“What is it?” Dolly’s voice asked, coming from the speaker. The noise in the background was muffled, and it sounded as though she had stepped away from the gaming room to answer.

“I just saw nymph boy. We got the same ship as them.”

There was a curse from the human’s line, and Sforzan spoke up through the connection. “Were the others there as well, or are we to be on the lookout?”

“Didn’t see them,” Elera answered, motioning for Vivace to peer around the side and check. The gnome did so, shifting carefully around the corner of the life boat to look around the deck. The male nymph was standing up front, flirting with some of the woman who had gone closer to him. The rest of the deck was filled with a variety of Players, but none of the Rosaids seemed to be among them. Vivace slipped back into her spot and shook her head. Elera spoke the answer into the mike. “They’re not here.”

“Alright,” Dolly responded. “Everyone needs to be on the watch for them then. Even if there’s no reason to suspect us, they’ll still try to cause us problem if they see us. This trip only lasts about a week, we should be good until then.”

“If anyone sees any other large competitive group, make a note of it for the rest of us,” Sforzan put in. “It’d be helpful if we kept track of this. Where’s Vivace? Why hasn’t our leader picked up?”

“I’m right here!” Vivace said, stepping closer to Elera so her voice would carry.

“She’s with me.” Elera replied as well, in case the others in the group were wondering where ‘here’ was.

“Alright. Just checking that,” Sforzan said, sounding reassured.

“Making sure she hadn’t gotten us caught already?” Dolly inquired from her end in an innocent voice, earning a incomprehensible noise of objection from the person in question.

“Just wondering where she was,” The centaur replied, refusing to get caught up in an argument between the two. Before anything else could be said, he continued. “If that’s all, I’ll be going. I’ve things to do.”

With that he disconnected. The human chuckled, and gave her own farewell to the remaining group before leaving. Vivace cursed, glaring at Elera’s wrist with a vengeance. For the safety of her limbs, the demon closed their line and dropped her arm to her side, out of sight. “Come on, we shouldn’t stay up here. Check if boy-toy’s still out there and let’s go.”

The gnome straightened, and after checking the coast they left that portion of the ship to explore the rest of the boat.

-:-:-:-:-

Vivace glanced around the empty room, and made her way out onto the balcony swiftly. Shouts could be heard from down the hall, and the girl had no intentions of letting the workers see her near the scene of the crime. Or accident. It was, after all, an accident. Vivace made her way onto the balcony gingerly, checking the sides to make sure there was no one waiting on the other end. Seeing it empty, she quickly ran to the edge and pulled herself up onto the bars. Behind her she could hear people making their way down to the room she was in. Upon judging that the drop was a safe distance from her height, she leapt nimbly off the edge of the balcony and onto the floor below. As soon as she landed she sprung up and bolted backward into the shadows of the overhanging, moving along the wall to remove herself from her current position.

No entrance without a badge. That had been the problem. The captain’s dinner was being held that night, the second to last night of the voyage, and Vivace had wanted to check out the event. The others had all made a clear point of staying away from the main room, knowing that it was a sure fire way of getting caught, but Vivace had wanted to risk it anyway. She hadn’t been intending to cause anything, or even of getting in. She had just wanted to see the beginning of the evening as people entered the dining room. But once she had seen the sign, she had gotten curious as to whether or not she could get in. Even if she wasn’t going to sit down at the dinner, just to poke in and prove that she could would have been enough. So she had begun planning, and just nipped into the kitchen. That was all. She hadn’t even done anything. Not her fault the man hadn’t been watching his step. He should be on the look out for knee high guests, not carrying trays around like that without being able to see where he was going. And those chefs walked far too fast. How was somebody supposed to stay out of the way when they were barreling around the kitchen like that? Not her fault.

Vivace made her way carefully past the doors leading to the other side of the ship. Where she was now was deserted, and if anybody had seen her there they would become suspicious of why she was wandering around by herself when most of the guests were dining with the captain. Suddenly there was a loud, “Hey!” from ahead of her, and the gnome cursed silently. She looked around for an escape route to duck into, but to her surprise, when she failed to find one, no one came after her. She waited for a moment in silence, listening for the approaching footsteps or sailor uniform to come flashing into sight. Instead, she heard a muffled grunt and thud from a distance to her front.

Vivace looked at the walkway curiously. There was a small path that lead inside the boat twenty feet ahead of her, and she made her way over to it cautiously. The doors leading to the inside of the boat were opened, and she made her way inside, looking around for the noise she heard. There was a door standing a small way into the hallway, and moving closer she heard voices from the inside. Vivace pressed her ear against the side of the barrier, listening to what was being said on the other side.

“…they’ll notice?”

“Not likely, the crew’s too busy tonight to pick up one missing personal.”

Vivace leaned in closer, listening to what sounded like two men talking about the crewmember they had just…what? Knocked out to hide their stowaway status? Killed because they were caught doing something bad? Whatever they had done, one of the men had sounded human while the other seemed more ogre. A smart ogre, if that was the case. She didn’t notice a single incomprehensible word out of the two he’d spoken. The human sounding male began speaking again.

“Throw him in the closest, we have too much to do tonight.”

“Right.” There was a clicking sound, followed by a low thump that signified the body being relocated to another location.

“Encha and Brume should be in position by now,” a third voice added quietly to the mix. What was this man? Human? Oily voice, it was hard to tell.

“Right. Then let’s move, it should be starting soon.”

Vivace sprung back from the door quietly as she heard footsteps coming toward her. Glancing around the corridor once more, she quickly dodged back out of the door she had come in through, and bolted behind the corner. She peered around the edge as three men walked out, sending wary looks down the pathway before making their way in the opposite direction Vivace was hiding in. Definitely an ogre, and definitely a human, but she was still having trouble seeing what the last man was. He had a basic human structure, but his frame seemed a little more loose hanging, spindly even. Vivace was willing to bet he was of another race, but couldn’t quite put her finger down on it. As soon as the men had disappeared around the curve on the other side of the walkway, she stole back into the hallway they had abandoned and made her way to the room. Listening carefully, she decided that there was nobody present behind the door any longer and entered cautiously.

The room was a small office area, empty of everything but a desk, filing cabinet and coat rack. The paint on the walls was peeling, and it was obvious the room wasn’t used for anything any longer. The gnome made her way over to the closet that stood in the corner of the room, and opened the door to see what they had done to the person that had been unfortunate enough to walk in on them. The sailor was bound and gagged, lying unconscious in a heap. The chest was moving in slow, ragged breathing signifying that the man was still alive, much to the gnome’s unconscious relief. Suddenly the door behind her squeaked open.

Vivace froze, her mind rapidly jumping to the question of which of the men were standing behind her and how she had been so foolish to be caught. Therefore, she was surprised when it was a female voice that asked her sternly, “Hey, what are you doing? Nobody is suppose to be- oh my gods, Tim!”

The woman had spotted the body in the closet behind Vivace as the gnome turned to look at the crew member. The woman’s eyes flickered from the body of her fellow worker to the gnome standing guiltily in front of it filling with rage. “What did you do?!”

“It wasn’t me,” Vivace replied automatically, already knowing argument was futile. Who was going to believe her in this situation? Still, she had to try. Vivace faced the woman fully, making an erratic hand gesture at the door. “There were these men, I overheard them talking- they’re the ones who did this, not me!”

The woman took a step back, pulling out a communicator from her pocket. “Save your stories, you’re going into the holding room.”

Vivace bit her lip momentarily, but the knowledge of what she had to do was already painstakingly obvious. She had to contact her team, tell them something was going on and put a stop to it. That plan didn’t include being locked up by some stubborn crewmen. She really didn’t have a choice. But she could always blame it on the original culprits, right? Right.

A few minutes later, Vivace was dragging the woman’s tied and gagged body into the closet with her companion. There had been some spare rope with the first man that she had used to restrain the woman. As soon as the gnome had shoved the door shut on the two humans, she wiped her brow and dialed her team on her wrist watch.

“Hey, guys,” she said. Vivace leaned back, sliding down the closest door and onto the hard floor. “Something’s up.”

It took a moment for the others to respond, but one by one the lights on the bottom of her screen lit up. Dolly was the first one to speak, as soon as her light came on.

“You tried to sneak into the diner, didn’t you?”

Vivace frowned, but answered anyway. “Yeah. Didn’t work.” There was a collective noise from the other three, be them sighs or curses. Vivace continued before they could chew her out for something that wasn’t her fault. “But that’s not the point. When I was running from the crewmen looking for me, I saw something suspicious. Something’s going on. There were these three men, they were talking about being ‘in position’ and not having much time to do something. They knocked out one of the crew and locked them in a closet.”

There was silence on the other end, where the other group members digested the information.

“Did they say what they didn't have time to do, specifically?” Sforzan asked. “How did you heard this?”

“They didn’t say what. I heard them knock out the shipman, and went to check it out. I overheard them through the door.”

“Through the door? Did they notice you?” the centaur asked, a slightly concerned tone entering his voice. “Most people will notice someone listening at the door. You should check that you’re safe now, are they around?”

“They left already, and no, they didn’t notice me,” Vivace responded. “A worker did though. It’s fine,” Vivace hurried to add as she heard a sound coming from her speaker that may have been a start of a reprimand. “I knocked her out and locked her in the closet with the other guy.”

There was no mistake that time, the two team members who had previously spoken both tried speaking at once, and their words jumbled together. After a moment when they had settled, and amused sounding Elera spoke up. “What kind of guys were they?”

The gnome tilted her head back in thought. “A human, ogre, and some other guy, I’m not quite sure. That guy mentioned two more people, called them Encha and Brume. They were the ones that were in position.”

“Tonight’s the night of the captain’s diner,” the demon pointed out. “This might be a hold up.”

“And why, exactly, do you sound so calm about that?” Sforzan questioned icily. “I believe that would be bad news.”

“Not for us,” she replied. “None of us are at the diner, despite our best efforts,” she added with a hint of a smirk in her voice. “They won’t bother going around the ship to get the few stragglers, they’ll only be looking to rob the ones in the dining room.”

“Let’s meet up.” Dolly broke in. “There could be more to this. There are a lot of Players on this ship, it seems foolish to try and hold up something brimming with fighters. Too much of a hassle for people who’ll try to resist. Something feels wrong.”

There was silence at her words, when the sense in what she said came to surface. Before that, had Vivace actually thought about what she’d seen, she would have laid it off as a hold up as well. Now, however, not so much. Dolly was speaking again, dragging the others back to the conversation. “The back deck of the ship, can everybody get there? We won’t be seen.”

The team agreed, and everyone left the communication line to make their way to the area. Vivace was closest, having just passed through that route while trying to flee her past mishap. Before leaving her position she opened the closet and dug around in the pockets of the two workers, looking for their badges. When she had successfully gotten their IDs she made her way out of the room. She reached the back of the ship quickly, with Dolly appearing next having come from someplace below deck that was close by. Elera and Sforzan appeared together after another minute, having met up on the way to the destination. The sky was clouded over, bathing the deck in shadow. As soon as all of the members had arrived, Dolly began speaking again.

“Does anyone know why someone might hold up a bunch of Players? There isn’t enough money in it, and it seems like too much trouble to bother with. This isn’t a luxury liner.”

“Maybe they’re looking for items,” Sforzan said quietly. “There are many Players with rare objects, it wouldn’t be questionable.”

“I think Doll’s right about it not being a robbery,” Elera said, shaking her head. “Something does feel wrong. I didn’t notice it before.”

“They’re trying to get rid of competition?” Vivace asked, thinking of a reason she might corner a large mass of Players on a boat.

“That’s more likely then trying to rob them,” Dolly said, but shook her head. “But I just can’t see how a small group of Players think they can take out a ship load. It’s senseless.”

“Poison, in the food,” Sforzan said, glancing back at the kitchens. The situation seemed to be getting more urgent, the questions raising more stress than what they had been assuming earlier.

“No way,” Vivace objected. “I was in the kitchen earlier. Believe me, no one who doesn’t belong there is in there.”

“Does it matter?” Elera asked quietly. “I think we’re asking the wrong questions. Whatever they’re doing, it’s going to happen soon, it might even be starting. Do we really want to help? Even if we did good, once the captain notices we’re stowaways there won’t be any mercy.”

The group was quite for a moment, and Sforzan cleared his throat, looking off to the side. “If this was just a robbery, I might consider standing on the side. But if this is getting rid of competition or something more serious, than there could be deaths. I can’t stand on the sidelines in good conscience knowing people may be dying.”

“I’m not a fan of getting involved,” Dolly said, leaning back on the railings. “I don’t need the attention, but I’m not quite comfortable with sailing on a ship full of corpses either.”

Vivace nodded. “We should help. It’s the honorable thing to do. Plus, what’s a better way of showing up those nymphs then saving their asses? Let’s do it.”

Elera shrugged. “Alright. Then we might want to go. The diner’s almost half way over. If they’re going for effect they’ll do whatever they’re planning when the Captain’s making his speech.”

The group nodded in agreement, and made their way silently toward the staircase to the next story of the ship.

“How’re we getting in?” Vivace asked as they came closer to the upper deck.

“We should split up.” Dolly said, looking over the edge of the stair way to the floor of the ship. Upon seeing it empty, she motioned the others to follow. “A few of us should try going into the dining room, one of us goes to the kitchen. Last one keep lookout. That way if anything starts we aren’t all caught in it.”

“Being most noticeable I’ll keep lookout,” Sforzan said to the group. “Vivace, you go to the kitchens, Elera and Dolly will be least suspicious in the dining room.”

“Oh, wait.” Vivace muttered, reaching into her pockets. She brought out the two IDs she’d stolen earlier. “Here. I’m not sure if they’ll help, since we don’t have the uniforms or anything, but they might be useful.”

Elera reached over and lifted the cards from her hand. “We might be able to change the readings on them, making them passenger worthy. Say we were late to the diner.”

“Let’s try it.” Dolly said, taking the objects from Elera in turn. She looked them over, and brought out her own Player badge. “You guys go ahead and get where you’re suppose to be. Me and El will get to the diner once we’ve worked these out. If it takes too long, we’ll wing it.”

The other two continued on their way, leaving the two taller females to their task. When they reached the door that lead inside to the hallway leading to the kitchens, they split up, Vivace moving inside while the light echo of hooves passed into the distance headed toward a safe lookout spot. The gnome stole down the hallway, making no noise as she headed to her recently abandoned area. When she got to the doorway, she listened carefully and heard the sound of the cooks moving about the kitchen. She edged the door open, and seeing the immediate coast clear, went inside. It was calmer then it had been previously, the main meals served and the staff going back and forth from the dining room to the adjoined kitchen. Vivace pressed herself close to the wall, keeping out of the sight of any of the cooks, who were busy over the ovens and tables. She slid along the side of the room, and checked the area out. The doors that lead to the main banquet hall were on the other side of the room, and a worker would occasionally come into the kitchen with dirty plates or to get food from the waiting trays. She looked around for any less obvious way into the other room and saw a vent in the corner. Vivace immediately began making her way toward it, knowing she would be able to get through it unnoticed easier then the door. If she could get the cover off without making noise.

Vivace shifted herself behind a small counter that was next to the objective, and looked at the sides of the grate. It was screwed on, and Vivace looked around for a screwdriver or other form of tools she could use to get it off. There was nothing. Quietly, she drew her weapon from her back and reached over to the grate, pushing her blade in-between the head of the screw and the grate side, maneuvering her sword and pushing her magic into the blade so the part was sliced off nicely from it’s other half. Glancing around the kitchen to see if she’d been noticed, she repeated the step three more times, adding the magic necessary to make the cut clean. As the nail heads fell off, the grate covering the vent began to slip forward, and Vivace caught it before sliding gingerly into the vent herself and replacing the cover so it was leaning in the proper position.

The inside of the vent was plain metal, separated every now and then by some juts extending from the walls. Vivace felt a rush of excitement. In retrospect, maybe the doorway would have been easier, but it wouldn’t have had the same sense of purpose that she felt now. She placed her sword back into her sheath, and made her way down the cramped passage as quietly as she could. She turned down the first connecting vent that seemed like it would lead to the dining room, and carefully maneuvered past the grates she passed that showed her the inside of the rooms. When she reached the room where everybody was sitting and eating, filled with bright lights and hanging chandeliers, she knew she had found the right place. She glanced down at her wrist computer, and typed in a question to the team quietly, typing to prevent being over heard.

‘Is everyone in position?’

There was a moment before the different replies were made. Sforzan’s message came first, who also replied in text. ‘Yes, I haven’t seen anything yet.’

After a minute or two, another short message appeared from Elera. ‘Guy gave us a hard time, we’re in.’

Vivace peered out of the vent, and sure enough two people were walking into the room from the entrance and being led to a table. She noticed that they were dressed better then they had been when she first saw them, and realized they had probably tried to look the part they were playing. Nobody bothered to look at them, and they were seated at a table in one of the corners.

‘So now what? We wait?’ the gnome typed, already bored with the idea. The response was a simple ‘yes’ from Elera. Vivace mentally cursed the centaur for handing out the positions. Why couldn’t she had been told to go in there? They were being fed. She was stuck in a vent. She slumped back, and watched as the diner continued, wondering if she could sneak out and grab something without being noticed. They didn’t have to wait long before the captain got up and made a sound for attention.

Vivace’s connection blinked, and Dolly had written quickly. ‘Captain’s speaking. Be watching, Ace.’

Vivace didn’t bother to reply, instead focusing on the fat man who had stood up and the crowd, trying to spot the men she had seen earlier.

“Ladies, gentlemen, I want to thank you for joining me tonight. The journey is almost over, tomorrow night being our last night at sea and the trip being completed the following morning…” Vivace stopped listening after that point, not caring what the man had to say. She had noticed a noise come from down the vent, and wondered if she should check it out or remain where she was. A moment later she decided she didn’t have to, the kitchen door opened silently and a man slipped inside the dining room without anybody noticing save her. He looked oddly like the human that she had briefly seen the back of earlier, and she typed a quick message to the group.

‘A guy just entered from the kitchen. I think it’s one of them.’

“…and now for a toast,” Vivace saw the two females in the corner move, just slightly to see the man in whom she was referring. He didn’t notice, intent on watching the Captain. “…for a journey well sailed, and a drink for the great sea in whom we travel upon.”

The was a general clinking of glasses, and an applause. Vivace didn’t see the point, the man hadn’t said anything spectacular. But nobody else either noticed or cared, for even the man under watch had begun to clap loudly with the rest. As the noise died away, he remained clapping. The room’s attention turned toward the man, and Vivace snorted quietly. Show off. Continuing to clap? That was overused. She didn’t understand why people were bothering to look at him. Make him come up with an original entrance before giving him your attention.

The man began speaking. “Well said, Captain.” (Well said what? Vivace wondered again. He didn’t say anything well!) All of a sudden Vivace wrist communicator blinked again, it was Sforzan. ‘There’s some movement down on the deck. Someone’s going below, looks suspicious.’ Vivace read the message, wondering if the three men had split up. As she was contemplating the new development, the man continued to speak. “But Captain, I believe we need to have a talk about those plans. You see, I don’t believe we’ll be arriving at dock in two days. I don’t believe you’ll be arriving at dock at all.”

There was a general murmur of aggression from the seated Players, and the sliding of weapons could be heard throughout the room. The man simply smiled, far too confident in his plans to be bothered by the threat of a hall full of fighters. Looking at the crowd, he lifted his hand and revealed a small black device. He pushed a bottom, and the giant chandeliers above them shattered as iron pillars shot downwards through them into the floor. There was a cry as glass fell upon the guests and the floor shook as the iron bars broke the floorboards. All at once bright lines of icy blue light erupted out of the iron, finding their ways into the others pillars and forming a multilayered net around the room, like a security system’s rays protecting priceless treasure. The only difference was that instead of protecting, the lines were keeping the guests sealed inside. A few bolts of magic flew from certain Players attempting to break the wards, but the magic simply collided with the bars and broke into small cloud of shining dust, causing the seals no damage. Any physical attack that was thrown at it simple threw the attacker back away from the barrier.

‘What’s going on? What was that crash?’ Vivace’s communicator blinked, showing Sforzan’s message. As she looked down at the wrist computer she noticed the other two lights representing the demon and human had gone out. The gnome wanted to ignore his question and find a way to help her teammates, but responded back anyway.

‘Something bad,’ then, deciding he would probably want a better answer then that, ‘The guy’s got the dining room in lockdown.’ To avoid any future questions, she put the audio receiver on, so he could hear everything that the man was saying, but kept the speaker silent, in case he tried to respond.

“We don’t want any of you causing problems, would we?” the man asked in an annoying, patronizing voice. He slipped the device back into his pocket and redirected his attention to the captain, who was standing shock still in the center of the room at his demolished table, a spike having punctured straight through it. “Captain, Captain. You look surprised. You shouldn’t, really. Why, the empire should have suspected that someone would be watching the voyages, waiting for the ship that would be carrying the payment for Kuromer’s emperor. Aknia borrowed a lot of money, now they’re desperately trying to pay it back, by giving away some of their oldest relics.” He made an outward gesture with his hands and shrugged. “The idea that transporting it on a ship full of Royal Guard competitors would scare off any attempts at theft is, as you know see, laughable.”

Vivace looked over in the corner where her other two team members were. Dolly and Elera were standing, watching the man and looking around the room discreetly for any signs of his partners. There didn’t seem to be any signs saying they had tried to attack the barrier, and Vivace went back to concentrating on that, seeing if she could find a way to disable it. That was when she saw a row of spaced air ducts in the roof of the hall, where one would every now and then come close to a top of a iron spike. She glanced around her vent, but couldn’t see any place that it curved upward. Getting an idea, she typed a message to the centaur who was out of the room. She would have liked to check in with the other team members, but she was sure it was the barrier that was blocking their signal.

“Now Captain,” the human spoke again. “Why don’t you tell us where the payment is, so we can leave peacefully? My team is currently searching your ship, we’ll find it eventually. Why not make it easier for us, and give us the location now.”

“Peacefully?” the captain all but cried. “You already told us you had no plans of letting us see dock, or did you forget that? You’ll not get anything from me.”

The man shook his head, clearly feigning disappointment. “Is that right Captain? I did already tell you that, didn’t I. Well, it looks like we won’t be needing you. Goodbye, my dear foolish man.”

Just as the man had lifted his hand and brought up a gun that was aimed carefully at the captains chest, Sforzan sent Vivace her response. It wasn’t, however, typed. The air vents up in the ceiling exploded downward, and pockets of wind wove in around the tall iron spikes. When Vivace saw this, she kicked out the vent she had been hiding in, the noise covered by the occurrence above the crowd. The guests looked upward, watching as the wind began dragging pieces of the ships ceiling out from their positions and disconnecting the rods from the bases that gave them their power. The man had also pulled back, momentarily forgetting his objective of shooting the captain while he watched in confusion. The gnome made her way swiftly around the blue barrier, coming up behind the man with her blade drawn. It wasn’t until one of the Players who had glanced back at the man gave a stifled sound that the human jerked his head in the direction of the approaching threat.

Vivace didn’t bother pausing, instead taking the opportunity to bring her blade up and swing it downward with a burst of magic, sending a deep crimson flash at the man, momentarily blinding him. As he stumbled, she charged forward, and slashing at the back of his knees as he recovered his vision forced him to fall. The iron bars groaned, and the blue lights extending from them began flickering.

In the corner, Dolly grabbed Elera’s hand and dragged her through the barrier during part of the flicker where the majority of the lights weren’t present. They separated and made their way over to the gnome swiftly. The man had lifted his gun and had it pointed at the gnome’s face, but hearing a click behind him, turned his face slightly to see the barrel of a smaller handgun pointed at his own skull, held by an attractive if angry human female.

“Why don’t you get that piece of crap out of my teammate’s face?” Dolly asked icily, cocking her gun to prove a point. The man seemed to debate the option for a moment and lowered his weapon. As he lowered it, however, he hit a portion of his wrist where his communicator was. The doors behind them burst open, and Vivace and Elera spun around to see the two other men Vivace had noted earlier standing ready with their weapons. The ogre held a large ax, while the other seemed empty handed, but held himself in a fighting position nonetheless.

“Why don’t the three of you ladies step back and let us get back to work?” The man replied, “And tell whatever other team member you have to stop messing with my barrier. We need it active, you see.”

Dolly didn’t seem ready to comply, and glared down at the man while the other two took fighting positions facing the people who had just entered the room. The hall was silent as the other Players watched the scene unfolding at the front of them, each waiting for their own opportunity to escape from the barrier and add in some of their own anger to the fight. Seeing that there wasn’t going to be any cooperation, the opposing team members stepped forward and brandished their weapons. Elera was the first to attack, pulling out her set of daggers that she had been bought recently, going after the smaller man. The opponent pulled out a vial of liquid, throwing it at the demon swiftly and jumping back. Elera dodge the bottle, following the alchemist as he drew out more potions. Behind her there was a small explosion from when the glass had come into contact with the floor.

Vivace used the opportunity to attack the ogre, who brought his ax up and swung it at her in a large arc. Vivace ducked beneath the blow, thrusting her own blade forward at the large man’s stomach. With a step back he avoided the attack, and aimed his weapon toward her small frame again, only to have her dodge lithely to the side and attack at his lower leg. An explosion behind her sent her tumbling forward, but she turned it into a roll and sprang to her feet, turning to glare at the section of floor behind her.

Elera dodged around another bottle of explosive liquid, hearing it crash somewhere behind her. She swerved her blade forward in an attempt to catch the man in the ribcage, but he continued moving back and away from her. Cursing, she noticed a potted plant sitting on one of the low rising walls behind him. Smirking grimly she moved forward again, slashing her daggers at the alchemist. As he seemed to be getting bored, he pulled out another vial, just to have a vine of leaves wrap tightly around his wrist. More plant tendrils followed, sprouting from the soil of the potted plant and twining around the man’s limbs. Elera moved forward and slashed the phial out of his hold.

The gnome ducked under another swing from the ogre, leaping into the opening he made in front of his lower stomach and driving her sword into him with a quick slash. He grunted, and moved backward, positioning his grip on his large ax. Dolly watched the fight with one eye, keeping her concentration on the man in front of her. The easiest thing to do would be shoot him and take care of the problem, but with an entire room watching she didn’t think it was the wisest of options. Indeed, he seemed to know this, and was watching her more then the fight, waiting for an opportunity where she would drop her guard. Suddenly his wrist communicator beeped, and he looked down at it with interest.

Dolly followed his eyes. “Go ahead and pick it up. Put it on speaker,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “Tell your other little team mates what happened and have them give up quietly.”

The man glanced up at her, and sighed. “You truly do seem like a reasonable type. There’s a lot of money on this ship, relics that could be quite powerful. Why not stop this and be on our side? I’m sure we could cut some sort of deal.” Dolly moved the gun closer, glaring. Seeing the futility in talking with her, he answered his communicator. “Yes, Encha?”

“Mirick, we have a problem,” a female voice buzzed through the computer, sounding panicky.

“Yes, we do. How ever did you notice?” he asked calmly, earning a confused “what?” from the other end. Shaking his head and glancing at the blonde pointing a gun at him he went on. “Never mind. First, what seems to be the trouble?”

“We were checking some of the engine rooms trying to find that treasure. We-” there was a pause, and the splashing of water could be heard in the background, as well as another voice. “Shut up, Brume, I’m getting them now. Get to the deck and get to the boat. Mirick, there’s a hole in the ship.”

There was a moment of silence before the man questioned slowly, “A, hole in the ship?”

“We found a piece of iron that seemed out of place, we thought it was a trap door,” The female voice replied. Dolly felt a growing sense of dread, as well as the other two females who were listening to the conversation in the background. Even the churning of air had stopped, Sforzan picking up the conversation through Vivace’s wrist computer. The voice went on, sounding slightly hysterical again. “There were plants tied up under it, we thought for some sort of protection so we cut them out…we thought the water had just been a trick at first but…Mirick, someone cut a hole in the bottom of the ship. We’re sinking.”