B2 Chapter 16: Reaching the City (Patreon)

The town turned out to be a small coastal city surrounded by cliffs. It was night by the time we'd reached it and it shone like a beacon from thousands of glittering lights.

I felt relieved. After three days of hard sailing, I wasn't sure if we were ever going to see it.

Roland had said as much several times during the voyage. In fact, that was pretty much all he said. Anytime I’d tried to engage him in conversation, he'd usually grunt and then walk away. He disliked being on the ship and yearned for solid ground more than I did.

I'd known nothing about sailing a ship when I took command and Roland was the same. Luckily, there were enough survivors between the Black Corsairs and the Golden Serpent company to form a crew.

The man who'd raised his hand to ask about looting the ship was a Black Corsair named Pete. He became my first mate and saw to the day to day running of the ship. In truth, he was the captain in all but name and only reported to me when there was discontent between sailors. It was a mutually beneficial relationship where he ran the ship while I kept the peace.

Pete approached me now while wringing his hands. He was about to ask me about his fate and the fate of the crew now that we were almost at port. But I wanted to ask Roland about his plans in the city first, and I was determined to get more than one word out of him.

"You know your forest isn't there," I said.

Roland, who was staring at the city, nodded. "I know. The Hammer tells me that I'll have to complete many more challenges before I can see it again."

That gave me a start. "The god was talking directly to you?"

"Yes, once a pact has been made. He can speak to me at any time. But he rarely does."

This was the most I'd heard Roland say in days, but there was a certain melancholy to his voice. As much as I was sympathetic, I was also relieved that I had never made a formal pact with Samara. The thought of her being able to enter my mind whenever she wanted was unsettling and made me glad that I'd refused such bargains.

"You could join me and the others?" I offered.

Roland shook his head. "The Hammer says I must do this alone or with the help of subordinates only."

Pete cleared his throat. I turned around, irritated. "Just a minute."

There was a loud splash and when I looked back, Roland was gone.

Pete frowned. "Did he fall?"

"No," I sighed. "He wants to go it alone and decided to swim the rest of the way."

On the surface, it seemed silly, but perhaps I should do the same. I was a wanted man in these parts, and the fact that I was innocent didn’t seem to matter.

"What is it, Pete?"

"Er, it's the men, sir. What happens when we get to Port?"

"You'll be free to go."

He blinked in confusion. "But what about this ship? Are you really going to give it back to the Serpents?"

I nodded. "It's still theirs. I only borrowed it. You say that both pirate companies have offices in the city? So report to your bosses and just explain what happened. Both sides lost men. I doubt they'll punish you for not fighting to the death. As for the loot, make sure the Black Corsairs take seventy percent with them to make up for the loss of their ship."

"And if someone complains?"

I smiled coldly. "Use my name."

"And what will you be doing, sir?"

The question took me by surprise. Most of the sailors were understandably timid around me after seeing what I could do to them, but Pete had grown bolder from being in my company so much. I decided to be honest with him.

"Tell the Serpent's that I'll be taking the ship for myself in the morning. It'll look like I've locked myself in the captain's quarters, but I'll be long gone by the time they realize it."

He grinned. "Going for a swim yourself, sir?"

"Something like that."

Pete walked away, and I accessed my inventory. My adventuring clothes were instantly swapped to a spare set of captain's clothes I'd found. It made me look less like a tower climber and more like a pirate. One concession had to be made, though. My shadow woven cloak of Umbral Frenzy came back comfortably draped around my shoulders.

You couldn't pay me to get into that water, not now that I knew what was in it. Instead, I clung to the shadows and hid on the deck until the sailors had secured the ship to a dock and lowered a walkway. Then they stood, uncertain of what to do, until one of them said that they'd look for Pete. Slipping past them unnoticed was child's play.

There was, however, a problem on the dock that might’ve given me away. A bespectacled man with a ledger in one hand and a lantern was marching towards the ship. I assumed he wanted a fee for docking here. That wasn't an issue since I'd left Pete with money to cover it. No, it was his lantern that would foil my plan to sneak away if he got much closer.

Concentrating, I cast Heart of Darkness and launched a small ball of shadow. It flew under the dock, then up and around to hit the lantern from behind. The man cursed as he was suddenly left in the dark. To him, it just looked like his flame had gone out. He started messing with the lantern to try to bring it back.

With him distracted, he remained oblivious to my passing presence. Once I'd gotten far enough past him, my shadow dissipated, and he continued on to the ship, none the wiser.

It was hard to know how recognizable I was to the average person here, but just past the docks, there was a large notice board that contained wanted posters. I didn't recognize any of the other names or faces, but there was my face prominently displayed with the highest bounty.

Angry shouting suddenly erupted from the ship. It seemed my ruse with the sailors hadn't lasted for as long as I'd hoped.

I hurried down the nearest street to put as much distance between us as possible.

There were others out walking this time of night, so I put my cloak away, and walked with the confidence of a pirate who was happy to see land again.

None of the bystanders paid me any mind. While I was on wanted posters, I didn't have a remarkable face, which made me easy to overlook. So all I had to do was keep out of trouble and find my friends. That shouldn't be hard. I mean, how many talking crows could there be here?

That reminded me to try the party chat feature again. I'd tried it on the island and at sea with no luck at all. I sent a party chat invite to Hugo.

*ERROR!*

[Invite not received. User is already in a party.]

I got the same result trying everyone else that I knew. It was frustrating, but it was good to have confirmation that they were still alive. It just meant that I'd have to look for them the hard way.

Rounding the next street corner almost had me bump into two city guards. They had their backs to me and were smoking. They weren't sailors, judging by their clothes. They could have been tower climbers, but the quality of their leather armor and swords screamed guard to me.

I backed off and decided to cut through an alleyway to steer clear of them.

Unfortunately, the alley had been claimed by an unshaven man, clutching a half-drunk bottle of liquor like it was a life raft. He leaned against the wall and stared at the ground, oblivious to my presence.

I shook my head. The System really put homeless NPC's into this too? Is it trying to create an intergalactic test or is it making a movie? Regardless, someone who lived on the street would see a lot of people go by and he might have seen my friends.

"Hey, mind if I ask you something?" I asked him.

The man didn't respond.

"I'm just wondering if you've seen someone." After a pause, I added, "I can pay."

The man didn't answer, likely too deep in a drunken stupor to even acknowledge my presence. I shrugged and was about to move on when he seized my wrist.

“This isn't a tower,” he said. “It's hell. Whoever you're looking for is either dead or will be soon enough.”

I lowered the knife that had appeared in my hand the second he'd touched me. God, I'd nearly slit his throat. After being in so many fights so quickly, I was getting paranoid and twitchy. It was all the more reason to reconnect with Hugo and the others to get a sense of normalcy.

"I don't know what the tower did to you, but considering what I've gone through, I won't argue with your definition of hell," I said.

He looked up at me then with misery in his eyes and my heart stopped. I recognized him.

The unwashed homeless man who reeked of stale alcohol was Sebastian Calder, a one time party member of mine that I’d met near the start of the tower climb. Someone who I thought was dead.