by Zack Finley
Argon linked in the expedition leadership to provide a briefing on this operation. She reminded me to get my head back in the game. Pondering mass destruction could wait.
She learned the pirate captain expected to fill his holds within two days. He was dissatisfied with the quality of some of the loot. He still expected to cover expenses and even make a tidy profit despite that.
“The pirate captain is the expedition leader. He paid a salvage fee to the merchant in Pirate City with the Kavil franchise. The captain could have paid no fee up front, but then he could only sell the plundered goods to the merchant with the franchise. Another merchant has the Ylee franchise, but the captain felt the pickings would be better in Kavil. He doesn’t know what the merchants did to get the franchises. He knows that anyone who doesn’t respect their claims will be hunted down. He is vague on who will do the hunting. He is sure of the outcome. When Ylee was first offered for plunder, a few independent captains decided not to pay. Several days later the captains’ heads were impaled in front of the city gates. Their crew and their ships are still missing,” Argon sent.
“I think we should take this ship and sail it into Pirate City. We may want to keep the pirate captain alive and in a shielded room as an information source. We can disguise Capt. Malek as the pirate captain. He can meet with merchants interested in purchasing the ship’s plunder. The ship normally moors in the harbor until the cargo is sold. It doesn’t pull into a dock slip until then. The crew normally stays on the ship until after the cargo is offloaded. They don’t trust pirate captains to pay them if they don’t remain on board. Steve and I can slip ashore and reconnoiter,” Argon sent.
Taking down this pirate would be easy. I doubted we would need any help from the Malan. I knew that my desire to take the fight to the pirates had infected my whole leadership. But Pirate City was much bigger than I imagined. We needed better intel. We needed more people. Taking risks was something I truly understood. Taking unnecessary risks was something all warriors had to guard against.
We could sabotage a city the size of Klee with only a handful of people. If I could figure out the incendiary spell used on the Kavil docks, I could probably destroy it. The death toll would be horrendous. But, we couldn’t capture it. Sabotage or an abortive attack could make any future action more difficult. It might also provoke retaliatory strikes.
It was a lot easier being a petty officer. Being a general meant I had to make the tough choices, not only about when to attack but when not to attack. We didn’t know who we would encounter. If Pirate City were the home of the dark sect, we would lose. A hard pill to swallow, especially with how easy some of our victories had been.
“Argon and I will capture this pirate ship and her crew. After we do that bring in the Malan and we can discuss the next steps,” I sent to the leadership. I could feel Argon’s disappointment, but there was no disapproval.
Argon thought we should take the pirate ship first and then let the unsuspecting raider squads bring their plunder to us. The four raider squads planned to return to the pirate ship with their plunder before dark. Unusually the pirate ship had no slaves to help with the cargo. The pirate captain had planned to capture slaves to help, but the raiders hadn’t found any. Everyone they found was well armed, and none surrendered. After several raiders were badly wounded in early skirmishes, the raiders no longer chased into the ruins after groups of scavengers.
Argon and I stunned the small group of pirates left on board the pirate ship. This included the captain and first mate. Cleon led Malan’s four longboats into the harbor. They put the stunned pirates into two longboats, and they sped back to dump them on the Malan.
Cleon sent Gera and two of the boat crews to ambush the raiders as they returned to the pirate ship.
I thought it would be helpful for our leadership to see the destruction in Kavil. The erasure of the dock district had to be seen to be understood. We also needed to discuss our next steps. We gathered on the deck of the pirate ship. I gave them time to satisfy their curiosity.
Argon, Cleon, Capt. Malek and I sat on the deck and waited. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. When our partners eventually joined us aboard ship, there was a grim edge to their countenance. Each knew this would have been the fate of Klee, Augun, and Losan had we not intervened. Seeing the ruin in person helped clear the mind of clutter.
“My plan for this expedition was to take out Pirate City. That was before I understood the scope of the problem. It is not something we can accomplish with a small force. Pirate City is nearly as populated as the city of Klee. I even suspect the dark sect has a base in Pirate City. Our Duchy does not currently have the strength to attack a target this large and complicated. We need to learn a lot more about Pirate City’s defenses, offensive power, and vulnerabilities,” I said, looking around at my team. I saw nods on some and questioning looks on others.
“I am particularly concerned about this annihilation spell. It is probably only greed that has kept them from using it in Klee, Augun, and Losan. The dark sect only did this,” I said, pointing to the ruin of the docks, “after they emptied the warehouses and pillaged the countryside.”
“Once they give up their efforts to infiltrate our countries from within, I fear they may unleash this type of devastation on our main cities,” said Inoa.
“Do you recognize the spell that caused this,” I asked.
“No, I have never seen anything this monstrous. The fire mage responsible is more powerful than I can imagine,” said Inoa. “It looks as if the stone itself caught fire and burned. It spread like a forest fire for a time then died out. It looks like the mage cast the same spell several times to cover the entire wharf district. The damage is complete in the area of origin but diminishes the farther you get from that point. There are areas of overlap, but the mage cast this spell at least six times.”
The magical devastation wasn’t lessened by Inoa’s analysis, but knowing it wasn’t caused by a single spell cast reduced some of the terror the wreckage inspired.
“Perhaps we should recruit help from Augun, Klee, and Losan to attack Pirate City. They have their guards and some mage support the could make a difference,” suggested Alba. “Pirate City is even more of a threat to them than to us.”
“As much as we could use the help,” Inoa said, “I worry that creating a task force large enough to attack Pirate City would alert the dark sect. Without surprise, any attack is doomed.”
“What if we used the dark sect’s own tactics on it?” Tobron asked. “Inciting different groups to attack each other. Assassination. Stealing treasure. Kidnapping. Eliminating the guard.”
Tobron looked offended by the outrage he saw on some faces. “People, these are pirates. If we attack them directly, we will have to execute most of them. They also attacked us first and are still trying to reduce the three remaining kingdoms to this.” Tobron said pointing to the wasteland in front of us.
“Any other suggestions?” I asked.
“No matter what we choose,” Cleon said, “we need more information about Pirate City. We need to learn what we can and then use whatever leverage we find. They have already made two tries to destroy Klee, and we’ve been lucky to thwart them. The dark sect must be stopped, even if we must adopt some of their tactics.”
There was some unease in the ranks, but no one had anything better to suggest. Cleon and Tobron were right, Pirate City required us to change our tactics. This was time for asymmetrical warfare.
Cleon, Argon, and I needed to get into Pirate City. We needed a base of operations, and we needed a lot of intel. Inoa provided the addresses for the Kavil pirate captain’s properties. The locations were empty and might serve as a secure base. Certainly as a start. We’d hold the pirate ship in Kavil to keep our options open.
Capt. Malek left his first mate in charge of the pirate ship. Cleon stayed with his guard, to wrap up operations in Kavil. Argon and I headed onboard the Malan to Pirate City.
It was after dark when
we neared Pirate City. Capt. Malek dropped us off north of the city. Argon and I both dressed like upper-class pirates, finding plenty of clothing in the pirate captain’s cabin to choose from. Since most high-class females in Pirate City were courtesans, Argon dressed in male clothing.
We posted the teleport location where Capt. Malek dropped us off. No one was there when we arrived, but there were plenty of signs it was a popular location. I worried we’d be forced to approach Pirate City through the underbrush, but there was a well-used path leading from our landing site.
We were mindful it could be watched. I set my mind-reading app to its maximum sensitivity. Argon cloaked us both with her invisibility and muffle spell.
After tripping over another tree root, I really wished we had night vision equipment. Argon reminded me to get in tune with the trees. I knew she avoided nearly all such obstacles, but I didn’t have the technique. I found it was better for me to just shut off the plant mental vibes. I had enough trouble with people. Plant mental energy was too different. Argon assured me I could become a plant whisperer with a few years of training and practice. Given all the other things I needed to learn, plant communication didn’t even make my to-do list.
As the path neared the outskirts of Pirate City, we had a lot of people on our mind-reading app. Their surface thoughts were unexpectedly normal. I noticed the same types of surface thoughts in the cities of Klee and Losan. Apparently, even pirates worry about getting home late to their mates, picking up a last-minute item at the market, and meeting friends at the tavern. The jumble of thoughts left me surprised. A deeper scan revealed that many in range had committed heinous crimes, but here on their home turf they acted “normal.”
Argon was using our sonar-like app to count mages. We were both surprised by how many we spotted. I had the impression from the pirate ship captains that mages were rare in Pirate City. That didn’t match our observation. It also complicated everything.
The Pirate City guards were plentiful. Their surface thoughts reminded me of the Losan King’s Guard before King Arvich cleaned house. They expected bribes from Pirate City residents. Their main job was to keep the peace amongst the lower class. They dealt harshly with drunken brawls and anything that interfered with the smooth flow of commerce. Pirate City had no prisons. The guard meted out swift justice.
The guard also understood their place in Pirate City hierarchy. They were wary of well-dressed residents. Hassling the wrong people in Pirate City was a surefire way for a member of the guard to disappear.
Argon and I continued into the heart of Pirate City, observing and looking for landmarks. We had vague directions to our destination and no map, as usual. Pirate City had a lot more people on the streets at night than any other city we’d seen. The market catered to this reality, with a lot more stalls open at night for business than anywhere else Argon and I had visited.
Our clothing tagged us as upper class, so no one bothered us, even though we did a lot of looking and no buying. Argon, in her male disguise, was careful not to speak. We wanted to reach the pirate captain’s lodgings before dawn, but no one around us knew where the street was. A few had a vague idea where one of the cross streets were. We kept walking int the general direction we got from the pirate captain. After crossing only a few more streets, we arrived at our destination.
Getting in was a challenge. Most of Pirate City was wooden construction. The modest house had a few wards and a sturdy lock on the front door. With Argon monitoring to ensure no one was watching, I banished the metal lock. We were inside.
The rooms were musty, having been closed up for weeks. Argon made sure the shutters were tightly closed before we risked a light and set a ‘port location. Argon left and brought back some energy bars, water, sleeping bags, and public night clothes. I set a block of stone in the doorway to block intruders.
As best we could determine we had attracted no attention. It was only about an hour to dawn. We needed to rest before exploring more. Cleon sent an update. They had captured all the pirates in Kavil, and our animage trap in the outpost caught someone. Inoa expected to learn something about the animage as soon as he got over being stunned.
The smell of chee woke me up. The room was still dark. I could tell it was after dawn from the trickles of light leaking in through the shades. Argon was in the kitchen, she’d found the makings for chee but not much else. She’d also raided the pirate captain’s closet for clean clothes for today’s outing.
“He had a set of keys in his dresser,” Argon said, handing me the cup as I joined her in the kitchen. “I tried one, and it worked on the back door, so we will come in and out of there. I hope the other keys work on his other buildings, that would make securing them easier.”
“I guess we’ll have to have brunch at the market?” I asked.
“Unless you prefer energy bars,” Argon teased. “The market is a good place to start anyway.”
As Argon chatted, I was sketching out a map based on last nights’ discoveries. I doubted it was to scale, but I hoped to expand it to provide some insight into Pirate City. We were still on the north side of the harbor. We’d learned from questioning that while most of the pirate officers lived on the north side, the rest of the pirates lived on the south side. A ferry operated in several locations to connect the two sides. Most of the warehouses were on the south side.
We had learned little about Pirate City so far of consequence. No groups were fighting. There were a lot of guards intent on making life difficult for troublemakers. The presence of so many mages was of concern. I didn’t think there were more mages in Pirate City than in Klee but the pirates we questioned thought there were even fewer. Pirate City mages kept a very low profile for whatever reason.
“Besides brunch, do you have any insight on what else we should do today?” I asked.
“I think we should cover as much of the north side of the city as we can. We may want to buy or rent a pair of basas from a livery stable. We need a variety of ‘port locations. If we don’t have any better insight by tomorrow, we can move to our pirate captain’s south side warehouse. I’m going to remain in male clothing. I do not have the impression people in this society respect females,” said Argon.
We eased out the back door, locking it behind us. There were plenty of people going about their lives around us. No one showed interested in us.
It was a surprisingly quick return trip to the market. We ordered breakfast at an outdoor table and dialed in on people around us. Looking for some issue to exploit. So far, the obvious one was between the upper and lower classes. We did not spot a mage teleport location at the market. Argon documented several secluded ‘port sites near our base, in case we were worried it was compromised.
Breakfast was better than an energy bar, but not by much. It certainly did not encourage lingering or seconds. As usual, Argon wanted to visit the booksellers. I paid nearly full price for her purchases, much to her disgust. I suspected a large part of their stock came from Kavil and Ylee. The proprietors were just interested in sales. They didn’t know where the books came from. As best I could tell, they didn’t care.
We found the livery stable at the edge of the market. I purchased two basas with appropriate tack. The stable didn’t rent basas but would be willing to buy them back, for a restocking charge. I made a big show of checking out the animals before choosing two. This was cover for Argon who spent the time interviewing the basas. The two we chose were eager to get away from the stable.
Argon introduced me to my basas, while I was adjusting his harness and saddle to suit him. Argon’s basas was also a male. The stable kept all females for breeding. I was having enough trouble monitoring all the unshielded people around us, I shut out the basas. Argon promised to let me know when I needed to tune into him.
While the surface thoughts of those crowding into the market were similar to being in the Klee market, there was an ugly undercurrent to them. There were plenty of guards, most without anything to do. A few were questioning se
veral pirates who had just returned from a looting expedition to Ylee. When the pirates showed their coin, the guards left them alone. From what I could read from the pirates, Ylee and Kavil sounded about the same.
The basas added substantially to our range. We learned the top tier families were located in a walled section of north Pirate City. There were two main entrances to the walled inner city, both heavily guarded. One seemed restricted to high-level guests and residents. The other was for deliveries and servants.
From our vantage point, the mansions were all heavily warded. There were about twenty mansions inside the walls, but our mind-reading apps couldn’t penetrate them. We did monitor several servants and delivery people, but once they went into the buildings, their reading cut off.
The Pirate City guard headquarters was located near the walled compound. The Pirate City palace was located near the guard HQ. It was very ornate, and I thought it was ugly. Argon echoed my view. Our understanding was the palace served as the seat of Pirate City government. It was originally the home of the Pirate City founder, but he and most of his family died years before. The founder’s remaining family members now had one of the stone mansions in the walled compound.
It wasn’t clear to either Argon nor me what function the palace now served if any. It had a lot of people in it. This seemed to be the place pirate captains came to bid for looting Ylee or Kavil. It was also where pirates went to sell their loot. Slave pens and a slave auction took up about one-third of the space.
The slavers were lamenting the lack of fresh slaves. They had reduced inventories in anticipation of a large influx of slaves that failed to materialize. This had created a sudden shortage causing a surge in slave prices. Pirate City locals were making a substantial profit selling their slaves back to the auction house for several times more than they paid originally.
This matched what we learned from our pirate captain, he’d sold his slaves for enough to finance the trip to Kavil. The two merchants with exclusive rights to Kavil and Ylee maintained offices in the palace.