When he arrived, Mal said, “You’ll want to avoid equipping those until we get ashore, but better yet is to wait until we leave the bay area completely. When you wake up here tomorrow, it’s less of an issue to keep them on since a new pair will have replicated in the locker.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “We wait. The ship should anchor in about ten minutes. You can go help but there isn’t anything useful as a reward. A boat meets the ship in about fifteen minutes, and we can be ashore in about thirty or so. Since the bay puzzle can’t be beaten until closer to low tide, we’ll have about two and a half hours to fill. There unfortunately aren’t any tasks to do to earn coins.”

  “I’ve been frustrated at the lack of advanced scribe equipment. It’s like the class is only half thought out.”

  “You probably need to find a specialty armorer,” said Mal.

  “Is there not one here? How did you upgrade your equipment?”

  “Traveling vendor. Doesn’t arrive until after we’re likely gone for the day, though.”

  Alastair asked, “Is there not a dungeon like the carillon?”

  “It’s significantly less challenging. It only goes down three levels.”

  “Let’s do that. We’ll get something like loot, right? And then at least we’re not truly idle.”

  “That sounds tiring. But I won’t hold you up from it.”

  Alastair turned and watched the anchor being let out. At this point, Alastair considered that there was something wrong with Maelstrom. She seemed less energetic and vicious than she had been when they saw her last.

  There was a bunch of activity on deck as the anchor set. Alastair realized that he hadn’t met anyone specific on the ship yet. Outside of the doctor, who wasn’t even assigned a name outside that Mal had told he had one, he wasn’t sure any of the NPCs had one.

  He turned to Mal, “Do I need a positive disposition to join the raid tomorrow?”

  “The Captain will take you as long as your disposition with him isn’t negative. At least, as long as you’re neutral, he’ll take you. I haven’t worked on getting the negative disposition with any of the NPCs yet.”

  “What happened in the raid?”

  She pointed at the mountain which climbed up from the bay before them. “It’s a four-hour climb up that cliff face. It’s draining, and you’d arrive with no energy if you went without the boots.”

  “And then?”

  “The ‘gala’ is just a wine and dine of the Mayor and a chance for the Keep Lords to get drunk. The privateers sneak into the dungeon and free the kids and set explosives to destroy the keep. The guards foiled the raid when I joined them. I assume that if we win, there is a chance to find and engage the keep puzzle and then join the privateers returning to the bay. Or magically disappear out of the game.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Is it so challenging?”

  “The privateers’ party is eight, all of which are well trained in combat. The Keep is about as big as the farms, but full of trapped halls and rooms and hundreds of guards. I’m sure the Lords also engage in combat if you encounter them. So, imagine fighting everyone at the farms with a crew of eight or sneaking through the city without being seen by an NPC but every street has a trap or two threatening to kill you. And then there are the horrors of the dungeon…I couldn’t tell you, since we didn’t get that far last time.”

  “Are we going to be able to do this with just the two of us?”

  “Probably not. Maybe with Galoots, if Galoots also was fully equipped. Did you ask her?”

  “I will.”

  Alastair - Galoots: Good morning. You won’t believe this. I’m at the Bay with Maelstrom. She is being somewhat kind and wants us to assault the Keep tomorrow. So that we can get out of this game. But we’ll need your help.

  “I’ve asked,” said Alastair to Maelstrom.

  “The boat should be here in a moment. Let’s head down to the boat deck to watch the arrival.”

  The boat was just coming alongside. Alastair watched as a sailor threw a couple of lines, which the boat crew accepted, then watched as Jacob’s ladder was lowered. Once it seemed secure, Sailor 3 looked about and noticed Alastair and Mal. “You going ashore?”

  Mal nodded yes and the sailor indicated that she could climb. Mal scurried down the ladder without issue and Alastair wondered if he could do so nearly as skillfully.

  The Sailor 3 asked Alastair the same question, he nodded, and the sailor gave the same indication. Alastair swung his legs over and started to work his way down. It was simultaneously more and less stable, and challenging, than he expected. After a moment he was in the boat. A few other sailors joined them, then the sailors on the deck pulled up the ladder and lines and the boat crew called out “Boat away.”

  The bay was calm so the boat ride was easier. This whole experience in the bay had been easier than in the city. It was easier in just about every place he had been since the city.

  Alastair saw a notification. He checked and saw a response from Galoots.

  Galoots - Alastair: I’m relieved you’re alive. I expected to hear from you last night. But I’m also reluctant to believe that there isn’t some ulterior motive. Tell me your plan for today and I’ll see if I can break free from the Monastery to join you.

  Soon the boat ran up on the shore and the sailors began to jump out into knee-length water. Alastair did the same, but Mal waited until the boat was higher before she joined him.

  “Let me give you the tour. This is the boat launch, marked by the stakes here and here. It’ll go back to the ship every couple of hours. The tents are the galley, the mess, and the barracks. Privies are in the trees. On the other side of those trees is the skull.”

  “The skull?”

  “Not a real skull. But if you look down on it from above, once the tide goes out, you can make out what looks like a skull. That’s where the puzzle is. On the other side of that is the entrance to the dungeon. The monsters there are snails on the first floor, crabs on the second, and cephalopods on the third. If you feel up for the challenge, the boss is a 5/5 sahagin. I’d recommend against it since I need you to come out of there alive.”

  “It’s that tough?”

  “No. But I don’t want to chance it. Getting out of this game is my new priority.”

  “What changed?” he asked.

  Mal didn’t respond but walked toward the cave with him. When they were at the entrance, she said, “I’m tired. I think my rage makes me tired. I think we should be out of this simulation already. I feel it, though.”

  “I don’t know what to say. That sucks?”

  “Yeah. It does. That’s why I need to get out of here. Before this gets worse. It’s a struggle already. Each day seems to get worse.”

  Alastair felt something like compassion. He resolved himself, nodded, and said, “Let’s get out of this game.” {By the end of the day, Alastair had met all eight cats at the Bay, which included Murks and Glooms, Shadows, Lurid, Inky, Bleak, Stygian, and Null. All cats except for Null are Bombay type. Null is a DemonCat}