Startup 96: Investment

Shishe held Dierdre close, pressed against her breast, as she climbed. The ascent felt smooth and deliberate, each step by the Vendenopterix calculated to avoid jostling the small fairy. Given that Dierdre could barely lift her arms, it was necessary. It was also painfully undignified.

Many emotions stewed within Dierdre, warring for dominance. The near universal indignation of all small folk at being carried like a child. The courtier’s urge to make suggestions that would help Shishe climb slightly more effectively, despite Dierdre’s lack of experience in the subject. The noble’s mortification at having been in battle willingly, and even allowing herself to be injured. The knight’s humility upon failure. The friend’s thankfulness at being saved.

So many emotions, and they were all real. That was the most alien thing of all. She was fey. She played her role, and she did it well. She wasn’t supposed to overcomplicate her mind by breaking character.

She regretted it. She was proud of it. She felt two ways about the same thing, in the very same moment! Madness! She wasn’t even in a form that was supposed to be insane!

She barely registered the blood and guts strewn across the peak of the stony archway when Shishe arrived, so wrapped up in her own feelings. She did giggle a bit at the sheer terror in Conchobar’s eyes when Shishe coughed, only a few feet behind the group. He was in no danger, but he could have been.

“Worry not, Conchobar, for it is your champion returning.” Dierdre said, “A foe would not have announced themselves so.”

“We will need to move quickly.” Shishe said, looking around for a spot to put down Dierdre. “I think I can still salvage this, but I’ll need to go back down to the ship as soon as possible. I’ll send Mariana back if I can find her, and if not I’ll fly back myself once the Hippocampus is docked and I give the crew leave.”

She eventually plopped Dierdre into Conchobar’s arms, which was undignified but also amusing. Dierdre chose to find more humor than irritation in the way Conchobar attempted to find a polite way to hold her body without touching anything forbidden.

Shishe transformed into Captain Laurent, her liquid form resolving into the captain’s dragon scale coat. She saluted the team quickly and turned to leave.

“Before you do that,” Syl said, “Could you tie off a rope onto Harkalm? It will be quite a bit easier to pull him up than dangle Mariana, if that’s an option.”

Shishe sighed, and returned to her natural form.

“You had best hope that those men down there don’t have any questions I can’t answer.” She said. “I’m going to need to be very, very persuasive, and the little fairy needs to rest.”

••••••••••

Sandara strolled into the cavern behind Laharra, and stopped to stare. The inner sanctum was a cave. A big, round cave with a small wellspring trickling into a pool of water. Admittedly the pool was glowing pink, but it was just a big dimly lit room. Sandara looked at Laharra skeptically.

“This is it?” She asked, “I wasn’t expecting it to be so pokey.”

“You can leave now if it isn’t fancy enough for ye.” Laharra said sharply. “I’ve been here for half my life and she’s never asked us to change the decor. Mostly we just scrub the lichen away from time to time.”

It was just an observation. No need to get defensive.

“So… I’m guessing the pearls are in there?” Sandara said. “Seems like the right shade, anyway. How do I know which one is mine?”

“I don’t rightly know.” Laharra answered with a shrug. “Sift through them. If you don’t find any that seem special to you, just pick one. Some people seem to find one that feels special to them, others just grab one at random.”

Sandara shrugged and hopped into the pool. It was deeper than she had first thought; she had to swim. When she tried to touch the bottom with her feet, the floor of pearls parted as easily as water. When she submerged her head, she could almost hear singing from the pearls.

She reached down and ran her fingers through the precious little crystals. They tingled pleasantly against her skin, and the words grew clearer in her ears.

It was a confused cacophony, and most of the words she heard were not in languages she understood. Sandara wasn’t sure if that was a deliberate message or just a coincidence, but anything she didn’t understand probably wasn’t intended for her. Besmara wasn’t daft. Sandara sifted through them, realizing as she did that her lungs weren’t burning for air.

Convenient.

Each of the pearls had a different sort of song, and she perked up whenever she heard a few bars in Common. Of course, most of those weren’t familiar, or even pleasant.

“It had been strange, even in a dream,

To see those dead men rise.”

“A curse upon you! Sorrow fall thick and fast!

Your days have been numbered, each hour your last!

May the land, sea or sky turn to swallow you whole!

And fore'er ne'er forget what you stole”

Finally she heard a few familiar bars, and she swore they were in her own voice. A song she hadn’t sung since that day off the shores of Rahadoum.

“Yo, ho, thieves and beggars.

Never shall we die.”

She plucked it from the pile, and swam to the surface. It was rightly hers, she was certain. At least the core of it was. Underneath the song, she heard something else. A child shouting, almost inaudible, but she knew what it was saying.

“I’ll make a wager with you! Assuming you aren’t too chickenshit!”

That’s how pearls are made, right? A bit of grit gets wrapped in clam stuff until it turns into a pearl? Maybe a wish from some fool girl is just a bit of grit.

She held the pearl up to the light, and immediately felt silly. It was glowing, and it was just a perfect sphere. More light wasn’t likely to reveal anything else.

“Empty yer pockets.” Laharra said severely.

Sandara complied, embarrassed to have nothing to reveal. She’d been so surprised to find her own pearl that it hadn’t even occurred to her to pocket a few extras. Obviously the ones in her pockets and sleeves would have been decoys, but she could have probably managed to hide one under her tongue if she’d tried.

It would have at least made the process of getting frisked by the elderly high priestess more interesting. She didn’t have anything to hide, but of course she’d have said that even if she did, so she just had to endure the whole tedious process before heading back out to Emrys.

••••••••••

Naomi expected it to be much harder to find Silk. She’d run away into the rain, seemingly in a panic, but once she pumped Hekla for information it became almost painfully obvious where she’d go.

“Silk wasn’t always here with Rawna.” Hekla explained. “She used to stay in a cave near the wall. It was little, and dark, so no one bothered her. She showed me it once.”

The two of them, three counting Milo, walked across Queen Bes in awkward silence. Naomi wasn’t entirely sure why she was bothering. She didn’t like Silk. The woman was a snake in the grass. She had absolutely no idea what she’d even do with the half-drow. Offer her a job on the Enterprise? Did she deserve that? Did Naomi even want to bring her before Emrys?

Well at least she won’t be alone. That’s important. I could probably just leave these two together and they’d figure something out.

Naomi heard yelling shortly after Hekla said they were getting close. By the time they arrived, Silk was backing away from a trio of Kobolds, one brandishing a spear and two more moving to flank her. Naomi couldn’t speak draconic, but Milo was able to translate the gist of it.

He says she isn’t welcome unless she’s part of Aashaq’s horde. I don’t think he’s offering a job, either.

Technically the High Council of the Shackles took no stance on slavery. Some islands supported it, some restricted it, and Bag Island banned it outright. Queen Bes’s legal code was written on one piece of paper in a popular tavern, consisting of several sweeping generalities, and the current sheriff wouldn’t have cared about a half-drow even if she hadn’t been stranded in the highlands one day prior.

Silk had come looking for a bolt hole, and was several steps along the path to being a dragon’s property already.

“Hey,” Naomi said, drawing her gun. “Leave her alone. She’ll be leaving now.”

Hekla stood next to Naomi, glowering and brandishing her sap. The kobolds took one look at the two of them and scurried back into the cave without another word.

Silk glowered at Naomi. It seemed that the flush of terror left her, it took away any appreciation she might have for her rescuer with it.

“Hekla, what are you doing here?” Silk asked. “Go home. You don’t need to be dragged into the mud with me.”

“But…” Hekla said, “but you needed me.”

“It would have been fine.” Silk said, wiping away at her eyes. “I’d have slipped away later. Get some food, get my bearings. I’d have been fine. You need to get back before Rawna notices you left. You’re not going to get a better situation than that.”

Naomi’s face darkened slowly as she listened.

“Do you really believe that?” She asked, “After what just happened, you think she’d be better off with that woman?”

“She takes care of us as long as we stay in line.” Silk said, “I… I guess I stepped out of line. She still keeps us safe.”

Naomi sighed. She didn’t know enough to argue.

“How much do you have saved up?” She asked. “Will you at least be able to book passage off the island, pay your way until you can get another job?”

Silk blinked several times.

“Shit, you’re right.” Silk said. “Damn it, she’s going to send collectors after me. I need to get out of here or those kobolds will be the least of my problems.”

“Collectors?” Naomi asked, “What do you mean collectors?”

“For my debts.” Silk said, frantic, “There’s no way she’ll get enough selling off my stuff to cover how much I owe her!”

“For what? Do you have a gambling problem or something?”

“No, you dolt.” Silk said, “For my clothes. Food. Jewelry. Healing from the clerics. That’s not cheap.”

The anger flared again in Naomi’s chest. She started fishing in her belt pouch.

“I’d like to hire you for a job.” She said coldly. “We are going to book you passage to Quent. When you get there, you’re going to tell a priestess named Linu at the House of Stolen Kisses all about what’s going on at Queen Bes’s local shrine to Callistria. After that, I don’t care what you do. Deal?”

“Deal.” Silk said, snatching three gold from Naomi’s hand. She marveled at the coins.

Disgusting. Have some dignity, girl.

Weren’t you just this poor?

Yes, but I never scrambled like this.

Right…

A cruel smile tugged at Naomi’s lips. She might as well warn the poor girl now.

“Oh.” Naomi said, “You should know that Linu is Cog’s lover. You’ll want to be careful about how you talk about tonight.”

Silk’s skin could not become paler, but from the look on her face Naomi suspected it was trying to. Hekla tapped Naomi on the shoulder.

“Is there enough for me to go too?”

Naomi’s smile softened, and she nodded.

••••••••••

I didn’t get up to anything particularly interesting while I waited for Sandara to be done. I checked my menus, which by this point was about the same level as fiddling with my phone. Specifically, it was pretty similar to scrolling social media in that it caused me to get royally stressed out about things I couldn’t immediately do anything about.

Syl has definitely been fighting, and it’s bad enough that Conchobar couldn’t heal everything.

Dierdre is down five strength? And it’s permanent? She only had six strength to start with!

Holy shit why is Shishe even injured? She wasn’t supposed to be fighting!

Thrall Form has been exhausted? Since when does Sosima actually use Vishgurv’s powers? As far as I knew she’s been fighting with a hand behind her back since Bonewrack. How bad did things get?

Why does Rowe have one level of Mad Scientist?

I tried, with limited success, to focus on that last one. I was too far away to get a play by play of whatever was going on with my away team, but I could read an updated character sheet and try to figure out what the hell was going on with Rowe.

As far as I could tell, Rowe had apparently spent the last few days on a process called retraining. She didn’t go up a level; she converted one of her existing Goblin Tinker NPC levels to Mad Scientist, a Player Character class focused on hybridizing technology and magic. This first level alone gave her several new abilities at the cost of a few skill points, but I couldn’t really focus well enough to break them down. Given the timing, my best guess is that she’d dealt with Conchobar’s rejection by throwing herself into her work.

After I get back to the Enterprise and everything else is cleared up, I need to check on her. Have a chat. Just because she’s getting a power up doesn’t necessarily mean she’s in a good headspace. How do I even know if Rowe is upset? She shrugs off people trying to literally kidnap her and chain her to a stove!

“Oi! Emrys!” Sandara called through the darkness. “You still here?”

A small spark of pink light from her pearl expanded into a grey silhouette as she entered the edge of my darkvision, slowly resolving into Sandara as she approached me.

“You’re welcome to stay or go as you like.” Laharra said, pushing the door open and walking outside. “The supply ship comes by every few days, or you can make your own way back. The storm and the beasts will leave you alone now.”

She turned to leave, and I froze up. I’d decided to come here in the first place mostly to get that damn penalty mission off of my quest log.

“Are you the high priestess of Besmara, or are you just the person who goes to council meetings?” I asked. “If you aren’t, can you point me towards them?”

She snorted.

“Yes, I’m the high priestess.” She said. “What of it?”

“I… kind of irritated Gozreh.” I said. “I was informed that I could be absolved by the high priest of any ocean god.”

Laharra let out a long, low breath.

“Alright, what did you do?” She said. “Don’t lie, either. If you want forgiveness, it’ll be coming from Besmara, not me.”

“Someone on my ship killed a Xocothian.” I explained. “It was attacking us, and she shot it dead.”

Laharra stared at me in silence, and eventually I realized she wanted more information.

“I’d been tossing dead demons overboard.” I admitted. “I don’t think Gozreh liked that.”

“Where did the demons come from?” Laharra asked conversationally. “Sounds like there’s more to that story.”

“I… uh… was summoning them.” I said lamely. “So I could rob them.”

Laharra snorted at that.

“Oh, that old trick.” She said, “A bit reckless, boy. A trick like that’ll definitely piss off someone eventually. If not Gozreh, then the demons.”

“I figured that demons were pretty much a bunch of assholes that hated each other.” I said, “I’m kind of hard up at the moment, so I was trying to make a quick buck.”

“How’s that working out for ye?” Laharra asked. “You manage to make that quick buck?”

“It’s alright.” I said, “I figured out how to make golems out of their weapons.”

Laharra let out a low whistle at that.

“Not bad, Captain M’Dair.” She said. “So, what happened to the one who killed the snake?”

“Technically sort of dead.” I said, “She mutinied later, and my master of arms killed her.”

“Technically sort of.” Laharra said. “Why are you prettying it up?”

“She’s a Thrune.” Sandara explained, rolling her eyes. “She’s not really dead. Just the one who did the mutiny.”

“Ah.” Laharra said. “Going for a joyride on a pirate ship, I suppose. Did you manage to get her in bed? I hear those Thrune girls are exciting.”

“No.” I said, “I’ll admit it occurred to me, but it never really happened.”

“He can hardly keep me satisfied as is.” Sandara said sagely. “I had some fun with ‘Miss Lanteri’ before he did.”

I shot her an annoyed look, but I wasn’t about to go into a deep dive of my love life in front of an octogenarian religious leader. Sandara winked at me, and Laharra laughed.

“Anyway. Back to the task at hand.” I said, “About that absolution.”

Laharra shrugged.

“I’d suggest you stop summoning demons and tossing them in the drink.” Laharra said, “And try to kill Miss Thrune at least one more time. If you promise to do that, then I’ll give you my blessing.”

“Uh…” I said, thinking of the big vat in my hold. “I’ve figured out a more ecologically friendly way of getting rid of the corpses. Do I need to stop summoning demons if I’m not fucking up the environment doing it?”

“It’s still a bad idea, mate.” Laharra said, “At least cycle through different types of outsider if you can. Someone will notice eventually.”

Well that’s a tomorrow Emrys problem. I’ll stop or at least dial it back once I’ve got Dovnu off my back. Eh, I can probably be a little more varied. Probably.

“So is that a condition or just good advice?” I asked.

“I’m not yer mum.” Laharra said. “As far as I’m concerned, yer forgiven. So do you need Atonement, or just a handshake?”

Atonement was a spell meant to formally accept an apology on behalf of a god, or to allow someone to rapidly change their own moral compass if they earnestly wanted to. As it turned out, I didn’t need anything that extreme. I checked my menu, clicked complete quest, then smiled at her.

“That’s enough.” I said, “Thank you.”

The Rage of the Waves

You have slain a Xocothian, a child of the Wind and Waves. In doing so you have cemented Gozreh’s ire. You must be absolved by the high priest of a deity with the Oceans domain, or any further infraction against Gozreh will be met with instant retribution.

Reward: Peace with the gods, 2 exp, Sandara Advancement

The aura of the pearl Sandara had clutched in her hand pulsed and spread. It was as if the small ball of pink light and sky blue conjuration magic in her hand bloomed into a massive flower facing me. Faint, almost invisible filaments of magic flowed out of me and towards Sandara. The “flower” snapped shut, and the pink glow flared brighter.

Not a flower. A net. The pearl just ate Sandara’s buff. That can happen?

Pearl of the Intrepid Child has been upgraded.

Pearl of the Laughing Healer has been created.

Thanks.

That last word was different. It felt like how Autopilot’s thoughts felt, but somehow a lot heavier. Sandara snapped her fingers in front of my eyes.

“Hey, Emrys.” She said. “You ok? Yer mouth’s hanging open.”

“I’m fine.” I said, shaking my head. “Um… Laharra, one last question?”

“No, I won’t give you a ride back to Queen Bes.” She said, “The folk always treat it like some kind of event. It’s annoying.”

“Unfortunate, but not what I was going for.” I said. “What happens to these pearls? Long term? I know they don’t let just anyone use them.”

“He tried to steal one a few days back.” Sandara said, “Didn’t work.”

“Oh, that’s easy. He should have had you do it, girl.” Laharra said. “They drift about, only letting Besmarans use them, and eventually they come back. We toss the ones that wash up on shore into the well, and they dissolve. A shame, they’re always much stronger by the time they come home, but when Besmara bothers to give a command to us down here, we listen.”

I let out a bark of laughter and looked at Sandara’s new pearl.

“That cheeky bitch!” I said. “It’s not a reward or a gift or whatever! It’s a loan! With interest! It’s fucking venture capital!”

“Wait, does that mean she might take it back?” Sandara said.

“No! That’s the beauty of it!” I said. “You’ll be dead before she collects!”

“Then why does it matter?” Sandara asked.

“Easy. I can trust her now.” I said. “You kept saying she doesn’t really care about the voyage. Now I know her angle.”

Distribute pearls that can, apparently, absorb magic. They also do something actually useful, so everyone keeps them on hand at all times, and then they come back and get reabsorbed or whatever. I don’t know if she’s making a profit or if this is just self sustaining, either way it’s brilliant.

You have unveiled a secret of Besmara.

Walk Among Gods triggered.

Besmara’s Blessing: Whispering Wind- You may speak telepathically to anyone within an area of high winds created by you.

“Nice.” I said. “Now then, Sandara. Let’s get going. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want to leave everyone twiddling their thumbs for two days.”