Three to Disembark (2/2)

“Yes. And it will help me find my way home, now.”

The cannons burst their ire again, roaring into the night. Something else blew apart in the distance. Stone, perhaps.

“I am sorry,” Jean said, leaning out and looking up the stairs. “I must go. Camouflage.”

She was good. Threadbare was looking straight at her and that was the only thing that let him catch the faintest hint of movement as she fled.

“Renny?” he asked.

“I'm here,” the fox said behind him.

“We're going to go after Anne and Karey now. You can drop your illusion on me and hide yourself. I'll use my own skills to stay hidden. Oh, and... Wind's Whisper Glub. We're going to leave the boat away from the cannons and meet up in cover.”

Your Wind's Whisper skill is now level 28!

“Camouflage,” Threadbare whispered, and then he was pattering up the stairs.

Glub: Party whisper is up, my dudes. Slipping out of the rigging and past old Stormy... now.

Threadbare: Is his attention on the skies?

Glub: Yeah. There's like harpies and lyries and I think I saw a violiny, too. But it's pretty dark when the cannon isn't firing, so he's doing okay. Pretty sure he's got lots of levels on these critters.

Threadbare: They're people. It's sort of like the gribbits and raccants back home.

Glub: Oh. Damn. Wonder what the pirates did to set them off?

Threadbare: I'm not sure, but we may learn it if we move carefully.

The deck was bare, save for the crumpled corpses of perhaps a dozen birdfolk, and Stormanorm, who was slumping against the mast and chugging potions as fast as he could draw them. Not for the first time Threadbare envied traditional organic people for their digestive advantages.

He held up a paw behind him, hoping Renny was perceptive. And when the cannons thundered, he ran across deck, trusting the little fox golem to be right behind him.

It didn't hurt that it was night. And while Rabbitfolk had good hearing, their eyesight was little better than a human's. Or perhaps Stormanorm was just tired of fighting. Whatever the case, Threadbare made it to the railing and jumped over without hesitation.

The ground was soft, and he was tough enough that he took no damage; he specifically checked for red numbers above him, and the air remained bare.

And about a second later he got a faceful of invisible fox fur, as Renny landed on him.

Threadbare: I've got you, Renny. Take my paw, let's go.

“Sup?” Glub croaked, as they got into the treeline behind the ship. Small trees, as it went, with moonlight shining between the branches.

“I'm not sure,” said Threadbare. “I know that Harey Karey went after Anne, and she took half the remaining crew with her. So this is likely her mutiny. She's probably going to try to kill Anne here.”

“Cannons have stopped firing,” said Renny.

“You're right,” whispered Threadbare. He listened, looked to the skies. There were no shapes moving against the stars, no beats of feathery wings. “I wonder if it's over?”

“Could be a lull in the action,” Glub said. “Those flappies might be tired of losing people to just one guy. Or sick of getting cannonballs dropped on their town.”

“Flappies?” Renny asked. “That sounds insulting.”

“What? Nah. Flappies is like the bigger category that harpies and lyries and stuff belong to. Different types have voices that sound like different string instruments, you see. Didn't they cover this in the Rumpus Room?”

“I took dungeoneering instead of the overland classes,” Renny said, shrugging. “I guess these monsters don't turn up in dungeons as much.”

“Man I told Garon it was nuts to split the electives like that.”

“There's just so much information in each! It would have taken me three months more to graduate if I'd taken both!” Renny protested.

“It's all right,” Threadbare reached out and patted his friends. “We have a lot of knowledge and skill between us. So let's go and see what Anne and Karey are doing.”

“Mutiny, right?” Glub said, glancing sidelong at the now-silent ship. “I mean... should we get involved? If we let things happen, either way it's less pirates to deal with.”

Threadbare nodded. “I've been thinking about this ever since Karey brought it up to me. And I think that we could adapt to however things work out, but we will have more options if we are there when it happens. So I don't have a plan yet, but it feels like we need to at least see how this ends.”

“So you don't wanna lose agency. But that means we gotta risk dipping into the town that the pirates just spent the last twenty minutes shelling.”

“I'm afraid so,” Threadbare said.

“All good my dude. Just getting an idea for what we're getting into. Let me do the Explorer thing and follow me.”