Their ship rammed the dock neighboring their destination. Everyone clutched to the hull as the ship teetered violently. Fish leaped off as they settled. Mlion cursed at him. Everyone else slowly got out one leg at a time. They tied off the ship and followed Mlion down the dock. On their right, the huge bustling ship dominated their sight.
No one else was going near it. The crowds along the wharf kept far away from the colorful vessel. The guards watched but gave them space. Cutlery wondered why they weren't blowing up the heretical ship. Weren't they enemies of the city?
Then she remembered, the story she had heard, only those in the Tower knew. Everyone else thought this was just some small religion. Nobody in the city knew anything beyond that. So only her little gang, which approached the ship, knew the crew was a real danger.
A hooded trio near one of the gangplanks intercepted their approach. The front figure had a slender pale chin poking out of their hood. Too much hood-wearing probably made their skin chalky.
"Who are you?" The figure said in a feminine tone.
"I am looking to give you more able hands for your huge ship. You see these sailors are going through me to look for employment, one too many drinks in my tavern and they missed their old vessel. They love coin, are very strong, and can use the ropes like they were a flat cobblestone road." Mlion said.
The figure looked them up and down.
"I will ask our quartermaster." They said. They scuttled back up the ramp. A few minutes went by. The ship did seem to be loading slowly. It was likely hard to get help in a city whose government thought you were heretics. Their ship looked like a religious vessel as well, not a rich one. Sailors weren't much for anything but coin and the Pink House.
The trio of hooded figures appeared over the rail of the ship. One pointed at them and a fourth figure appeared. This figure was fat and short. Their head leering over the rail. A bald head slicked with sweat stared them down. They nodded and left.
"That was fast," Mlion murmured. The trio of figures came down to them.
"Five silver to you now. You all will be paid in housing, travel, food, and a silver a day on top of that." The feminine hood said.
"One gold to me now and they get paid three silver a day," Mlion said. Fish snorted at Mlion haggling. All part of the act, Cutlery thought. The two leaders continued to argue numbers till Mlion let it settle near their first offer. They shook. And Mlion waved them off.
The hood looked them up and down again.
"If you can do half of what he said, I'll be happy. Grab those boxes near the road and move them into the lift nets. Ride the nets in if you want to work inside the ship." The hood said. "You can call me Spark." Spark finished. Following her pointing figure they saw a mound of crates.
A net lay limp on the dock nearby. Four of its ropes trailed up to a long crane. Gill got to it. The rest of them followed. Maybe this quest was gonna suck more ass than it was worth. This wasn't a fun part of the story.
-
Cutlery waited, worked, and watched. Mlion wished them luck from the road again and slipped into a nearby building. They probably had someone, or a whole group, watching them. They finished loading the crates before Cutlery realized. She had been daunted by the huge piles of boxes. But one of them alone could lift a hundred-pound crate. Together it only took a few seconds to put the largest boxes into the net. They ended up spending most of their time waiting for the net to come back.
"Maybe we should ride the net in so we can scout the ship," Asim suggested.
"Can't believe I actually just worked for an hour instead of that." Fish grumbled.
The net came back and they quickly hopped in with some crates and rode it into the ship. It lifted them up high over the deck. The wheel at the back was large and ornate. The bow had a space under it filled with rope and kegs. The anchor chain was made of giant body-sized links attached to a huge capstan for lifting it.
The ship had a sparse crew. Despite how many supplies they had, hardly a dozen people were running about to work. Noncrew passengers were everywhere though. Namely the cloaked figures. To bad. Hopefully, the little horse statue thing was lightly guarded.
The net swung them over a square void. The crane stopped and swung them with some bumping down into the dim shaft. Four decks went by before the net spread onto a hardwood floor. The other decks had been coated in hammocks, canons, ammo, and spell slits. The nicer rooms must be near the end of the ships, where they could put more windows or something.
Here on the second lowest deck, there were only crates and soured seawater just below their floor. A few weary-looking souls came to unload the crates but saw them and went back to moving the others. In under a minute, they shoved everything off the net. Gill built them a little cute crate fort they all slipped into. The creaking of the empty net rising again sounded over their whispers.
"Make friends with these sorry souls so we have some allies. Find the fancy rooms, and notice if any of the crates are unique in any way," Asim commanded.
They nodded and exited their fort. Asim moved towards the bow out of sight. Fish and Gill moved towards an older-looking sailor and helped him steady a high crate. Fish started chatting him up quickly.
Cutlery stood. Waited. Looked around, and got glances at her chest. Great. She walked towards the stern. Each depraved-looking sailor soaked in a month of not bathing made her think. Were these people heretics? How many of them were just in need of coin and got caught up in easy no questions hire? She figured maybe a dozen or fewer people were really bad guys. She was gonna find those bad guys right now.
-
Cutlery strolled out of the endless wood cubes up a deck. Much more light fell into this deck. Shuttered gun ports and thin spell slits allowed a degree of ventilation as well. She walked towards the stern. From what Cutlery understood, the captain always had a big fancy room at the back of the ship.
Some sailors were near one of the canons strapping it down. Cutlery walked by and then stopped. Her street rat voice came out.
"Ey boys, 'ere can a gal find the big lockie storage?" She asked. The sailor pointed up a deck and went back to work. Easy. As she thought, if it wasn't a cultist, they wouldn't care. The voice might have been unnecessary.
She went up one more deck to the same view. Another pair of sailors told her to go up to another deck. Finally, on this deck, there was a dining table and the sounds of a kitchen, the canons still lined the perimeter. Were mages so rare that a million canons were necessary?
She found was about to ask a kitchen attendant when she found a mercenary. They were sharpening a sword by a set of double doors. A chain ran and a lock held the doors shut. The doors were reinforced as well. Bingo. The mercenary glanced at her.
"What chew want gourl?" They said. The mercenary bore an accent. Cutlery smiled and walked over.
"I need in." Cutlery said. The sharpening stopped as they looked up at her.
"Who is chew?" They asked.
"I'm Cutie. Who are you?" Cutlery asked. The mercenary smiled.
"Well Cutie, I'm Blade," Blade said. Blade stood a head taller than her as he rose. "What do chew need?" Blade asked again.
"I'm looking for that horse small thing that's kinda heavy, palm-sized or so." Cutlery said.
"Oh, that thing? I don't know about it. Who wants it." Blade asked.
"I do." Cutlery said. Blade looked at her.
"Why?" Blade asked after a pause.
"Are you dense? For using! I'm a sliver you bitch." Cutlery said. She changed tactics, he cared about his job sadly. Blade squinted and looked her up and down.
"Yea and I am Zenith himself," Blade said with a smirk. He went to place a hand on her shoulder. She caught it. Then she twisted up his arm and yanked it back with her whole body. He yelped as it dislocated. He reached for his sword. Cutlery smashed a foot against his hand. His palm smashed into his hilt. He looked up at her with a little fear. She unraveled from him and leaned in.
"Let me in Butt. I'm fucking slivered and you're wasting my divine time. I'm gonna turn you into the robe heads up above for heresy against the Eternal." Cutlery said. He nodded and unlocked the door.
"Don't make me wait again," Cutlery said, she kicked him in the side and went in. He looked at her and then closed the doors behind her. He had just needed a little motive.
Inside she found epic loot. Most things in here were locked in place one way or another. She milled and found a metal chest. Bingo. She pulled out a small lockpick set they had given her. Time to get to work.
