Huh! I wonder what that gets me.

  “Hey, Et cetera. What can I do with chat two?”

  The skvader’s voice came from the darkness. “It’s a global chat. What else do you need to know? You can chat with all other players on this server.”

  “That might be useful. But is there anything else it offers?”

  “You might be able to change the puzzle difficulty settings, but until we experience it, that’s only a guess of what that means.”

  “Thanks. What is your take on Maelstrom being nice?”

  “As you’ve pointed out, you respawn every time. So maybe she is just really trying to escape.”

  “So, here I go throwing caution to the wind.”

  “In fairness, you’ve had to trust lots of new people in this game.”

  “Most of them haven’t killed me yet.”

  “You trusted the Lord Mayor and his brother after they killed you.”

  “Yeah, but they’re NPCs. I think they’re programmed to like us.”

  “Within reason.”

  Alastair climbed up and up again until he was on the main deck. The ship continued to move through the water, but sailors climbed in the rigging and the sun had broken over the horizon. He looked out and saw the Sheljourn Isles. Maelstrom was standing at the rail.

  “I found two cats. What do I need to do next?”

  “Next we go see the witch doctor.” She led him back down the ladder and forward this time. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed sailors cleaning cannons and doing various things. “In about 30 minutes, the ship prepares for anchoring, which is quite the sight. The doctor’s name is Gratien. He is conducting a bloodletting from one of the sailors in the officer’s mess and will ask you to get him a set of bandages and then to hold a jar for the leeches. After that, he’ll dismiss the sailor and ask if you want to observe the magical transformation of blood from the leeches to a stone, and then give you the option of doing the same. Sorry for the long explanation, but I don’t want to go through this more than once since we have a timeline to keep. Once you’ve successfully transferred the blood from a leech to a stone, he’ll give you a spell scroll which you will use to raise the puzzle interface table.”

  Alastair heard a whimper through the door but opened it anyway. He looked like the same model as the witch doctor in the city and had Artesian 5 above his head. As Mal had said, a sailor lay on a table with several leeches attached to his thighs.

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  “You, get me bandages,” said the Artesian. He pointed toward a chest off to one side. Alastair moved in, scootched around, and opened the chest. Several bandages were wrapped up, so Alastair grabbed one and laid it beside the doctor. “Get me that jar and hold it steady.”

  Alastair took the clay jar, removed the lid, and held it for the man. The sailor squirmed as the doctor began pulling leeches off his thigh and placing them into the jar. After pulling five of the plump wiggling leeches off, the doctor wiped away the remaining blood and then wrapped the bandage around the sailor’s thigh.

  “You’re all done. See me again this evening to continue.” The sailor stood and pulled up his britches, and then nodded and left the room. The doctor turned to Alastair, “You’re a passable assistant. Do you want to help me crystalize these?”

  “Might as well,” said Alastair.

  The Doctor pulled out a leech, held it between his fingers, and entered a trance. After a moment, the leech sparkled a bit then solidified and compressed into a small red stone. “Well, go ahead.”

  “I don’t know how to start.”

  “Take out a leech and hold it between your fingers. They’re wriggly, but don’t hold them too tight or you might pop it. That causes a serious mess. Then, enter a trance, and you should be able to figure out what to do.”

  Alastair did so. The interface flashed and was replaced by a five-by-five grid. There were several tiny depictions of leeches on the grid, and several of the grids were grayed out. Alastair combined two leeches, which became a blood drop. He combined another two leeches to make another blood drop. Combining the blood produced something that looked like a small stone and unlocked some of the grayed-out sections. Alastair continued combining the items until he had produced what looked like the stone that the Doctor had made.

  Puzzle complete. +1 to merge puzzles.

  Complete puzzle again? Yes/No?

  No.

  He exited and had a small little red stone in his hand.

  “Well done. You’re a natural. Help me through these and I’ll reward you.”

  Alastair emerged from the cabin with a spell scroll. He found Mal back up on the deck. There was a chiming of bells and then a whistle. The sounds of feet pounded along the deck and hands climbed up the masts to work the sheets.

  Mal looked at him as he approached. “You got the spell scroll, huh, and not overly bloody. Alright, that whistle is for the anchoring party, which means it’s the perfect time to get those boots. This one is easier than the last. There is a gear locker in the officer’s cabin, which is just back next to where the Doctor was working in the Officer’s mess on the port side. Do you know port from starboard?”

  Alastair shook his head no.

  “Left side going forward. The correct gear locker is the second from the port side.”

  Alastair felt hesitant to steal from pirates, or privateers, or whatever, especially when some of the crew from the day before had mentioned turning on his pain receptors and eating him…but the need for the rough travel boots was pretty strong. So he went down the ladder, again, and worked forward. There was now no one on this deck, so perhaps Mal knew what she was talking about. Alastair peeked into the door she mentioned, which looked tidy and utilitarian outside of two hammocks on either side and four footlockers lined along the forward bulkhead.

  Alastair walked to the second from the left locker and was drawn into the interface when he touched the lock. A classic sudoku appeared before him. Of middling difficulty, it still took him about five minutes to place the final number.

  Puzzle complete. +1 to Sudoku.

  Complete puzzle again? Yes/No?

  As he selected no, the locker popped open and he took a look around the locker. There was what looked like a spare uniform and a pair of boots. He picked up the boots, put them in his inventory, shut the locker, and locked it, then went back to Mal on the upper deck.