Veil Online - Book 3: An Epic LitRPG Adventure

by John Cressman

  “But to answer your previous question, even if I ran the ship ashore, there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t follow us,” “ the captain continued and then gave him a pointed look. “Especially if it’s one of the passengers they’re interested in.”

  “You don’t think we would stand a better chance on land?” Diana asked.

  The captain shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But there are more of them than there are of us, judging from the size of the ship. Because of the way Webley acquired the ship and the urgency of the voyage, we left short-handed. If I had to guess, we’re outnumbered two to one and you three are the only passengers who might have a chance of helping. Assuming you’re willing.”

  “If pirates come aboard,” Mika said, fingering the hilt of katana, “we will stand beside you.”

  “Good,” the racoon-kin nodded, her tail flicking left and right. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. There are still a few tricks I can try before they catch up to us.”

  Jace nodded and looked at the captain’s spyglass. “Can I borrow that for a second? I just want to get a better look at the ship.”

  Yehmee gave him a knowing look. “Think you might see someone you recognize?”

  He sighed. The story of him stealing the tiara from Drakkar had made the rounds in the thieves guild. Since she knew Webley, the chances were good she’d heard about it. “You already know, don’t you?”

  The captain just smiled and handed him the spyglass. Jace took it from her outstretched hand. He turned and, putting the glass up to his eye, pointed it at the pursuing ship.

  The ship was still far away and he could make out very few details but it was enough to let him know that he was right. Turning around, he handed the spyglass back to the captain. He locked eyes with her and kept his voice low. “It’s the Wyvern’s Tail. Drakkar’s ship.”

  “Aye,” she whispered back, her face a grim mask. “And we have no chance at outrunning it. I wasn’t lying. I have some tricks but even if Drakkar is new, his crew won’t be. But you never know.” Yehmee looked around at the crew manning their stations. “But let’s keep morale going as long as we can.”

  Nodding, he turned to the girls and motioned them back to the railing, away from the crew. The girls' expressions were as dark as the captain’s. He wished he had good news to tell them, but he didn’t.

  The problem with travelling over the ocean, either in a normal ship or in an elvish airship, was that if a player died, their body was basically unretrievable. Once it sank, there was nothing short of high level spells that could retrieve it. And those cost money. Lots of money.

  He might be able to afford to have one body recovered, but not all three of their bodies. That was especially true since they had split the remaining money between the three of them. And then there was the treasure map too.

  They’d split the map, the logs and his notes between the three of them. As long as one of them survived, he could recreate the map and find the treasure later. If none of them survived, the information would be lost forever.

  Jace thought he could defeat Drakkar. After all, he’d done it once. But he couldn’t defeat an entire crew of pirates. Especially if they did coordinated attacks. There would just be too many of them.

  He looked to the girls, who were waiting for him to say something. He took a deep breath and then let it out. When he spoke, he kept his voice low so none of the crew should hear him. “It’s Drakkar, the pirate I stole the tiara from. And the captain says there’s no way we can outrun him. That means, we’ll have to fight.”

  “Can’t we abandon ship?” Diana asked. “You know, take a lifeboat and head to shore?”

  Jace turned and looked towards the shore in the distance. “We’d never make it. And we’d make easy prey in a little lifeboat.”

  “We can fight them!” Mika said. She said it with enthusiasm, but it sounded forced to Jace. He gave her a smile.

  “I don’t think we’ll have a choice. But there’s too many of them,” he told them. “Especially since they’ll attack at once. It would be like the grolls, only times four or five.”

  “Can’t you duel him or something?” Diana asked. “Isn’t that how you said you defeated him in Crossroads?”

  Jace shook his head. “I doubt it. I bested him last time, or would have if he hadn’t backstabbed Charlena and then run off. There’s no way he’ll do that again. Plus, I’m not a pirate. I have no standing to challenge him.”

  “You need to make him fight you then,” Mika said.

  “He’ll never agree to it,” he replied. “And he doesn’t have to. This time, he’ll just order his men to kill us.”

  “Wait,” Diana said, looking thoughtful. “These men, they’re mostly the former captain’s men, right?”

  “Burchard’s men?” Jace asked, letting the confusion show in his voice. “I’m sure most of them are. Maybe he picked a few new ones here and there. Why?”

  Diana smiled. “I’ll bet you they know about at least one of the captain’s treasures.”

  “So?” Jace retorted. “All the more reason for them to kill us. Or kill me at least.”

  “Except…” Diana smiled. “You have the treasure. Or rather, you know where it’s at. And how much do you think one of his stashes is worth?”

  Jace was beginning to see where she was going with her line of reasoning. He thought back to the notes in the log. “Each one is probably worth a hundred or two hundred thousand gold.”

  Mika whistled.

  “So, I’ll bet you they would like to get their hands on that gold,” Diana said. “Maybe enough to force Drakkar to fight you…”

  “If I offer them the treasure?” Jace proposed.

  “Exactly.” Diana smiled.

  “But they’ll just kill us and take the logs and the maps,” Jace said. “At least, that would be their plan. But they won’t be able to loot the maps or the logs off our bodies. But they won’t know that.”

  “Right.” Diana smiled. “But if you threaten to destroy it, say by burning it with a spell, that puts you in a position of power. Theoretically, of course.”

  “Of course. That’s risky,” Jace said dryly. “But it might work. It’s certainly better than facing all of them at the same time.”

  As he thought about Diana’s idea, he suddenly had some inspiration. A way to up the stakes. But he needed some items. “Quick, give me my notes and the logs.”

  The girls retrieved the items from their inventory and handed them to Jace. Taking them, he went to Captain Yehmee. “Captain, I have a plan that might prevent a wholesale slaughter.”

  He explained what he needed and part of his plan to the racoon-kin while she nodded and finally smiled. “Webley was right. You’re a bold one, I have to give you that. But since I don’t have any better ideas, it’s worth a try.”

  “And you think his crew will force him to fight?” Jace asked.

  “The word among the other captains is,” she replied. “They don’t much like him, but he’s doing alright and no one else is man enough to challenge him. If you defeat him, they’ll accept you as captain. But they’ll expect that treasure.”

  He nodded. “So, if I pull this off, the girls and I will have to go with them. But you’ll be able to continue on unmolested.”

  “Assuming they don’t cripple my ship.” The captain smirked.

  “Won’t they only attack if you don’t surrender?” he asked her.

  She furrowed her brow at him. “You want me to surrender?”

  “Didn’t you just tell me we couldn’t outrun them?” he retorted. “And that your crew was outnumbered?”

  Yehmee nodded cautiously. “I think I see where you’re going.”

  “Surrender,” he told her. “Let them pull up alongside us and then I shout over my proposal.”

  “Blast you,” she said, but there was no real venom in her words. “Fine! But this harebrained scheme of yours better work.”

  “If it doesn’t,” he looked at her, “will we really be
in any worse trouble?”

  The racoon-kin stared at him for a long time, her expression unreadable. Finally, she sighed and her shoulders slumped. “You’re right. The result will be the same. I just don’t like to go down without a fight.”

  “Me either,” he told her. Then more quietly, mostly to himself. “Me either.”

  Chapter 7

  Captain Yehmee spent the next few hours trying to outrun and outmaneuver the approaching pirate ship. She ordered her ship to navigate over reefs and to come uncomfortably close to the shore into shallow water she thought the Wyvern’s Tail couldn’t match. Each time, the pirate enemy ship kept pace with them. They might not follow them close to the shore, but they kept a parallel course.

  “They’re calling our bluff,” Yehmee sighed. “They can keep that parallel course until we either run to ground or hit reef. It looks like we’re going with your plan.”

  Jace let out a breath. The captain had told him this would be inevitable, but now that he knew it was about to happen, he felt the virtual butterflies stirring in his virtual stomach. If this didn’t work, they were going to lose everything. All their money and equipment. They’d end up naked back in Lasthaven. And they might even find Damian waiting for them.

  He looked at the girls. Both wore worried expressions. He smiled and tried to pretend he was confident. “This’ll work.”

  Mika gave him a genuine smile, the trusting expression on her face nearly causing him to falter. She seemed to have much more confidence in him than he had in himself. At least, more confidence that he had in his plan. After all, Drakkar had already cheated once, during their first duel. He couldn’t be trusted.

  He looked over to Diana who also wore a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She was the cool voice of reason and experience. She had already pointed out the many things that could go wrong with his plan and obviously didn’t share Mika’s blind confidence. Good. The older woman would keep him from getting too cocky.

  “Do it,” he told the captain with as much confidence as he could muster into his voice. “Hoist of the white flag. Let’s get this done.”

  “Aye,” she said. “Time to see what the tides bring us.”

  Yehmee barked the order and the sailors reluctantly hoisted the white flag. Then they changed course to bring them back into deeper waters to Drakkar’s ship. It was time to see whether or not his plan would work.

  It took another half hour before the Wyvern’s Tail pulled alongside the Sea Tyrant. Drakkar’s ship had circled the smaller ship several times, allowing his crew to taunt, jeer, and threaten them before finally throwing boarding ropes over and pulling the two ships together.

  Pirates lined the deck of the Wyvern’s Tail, still jeering at the cowed sailors aboard Jace’s ship. It was clear they enjoyed toying with their prey. After several minutes of jeers, the pirates parted, and a gangplank was put between the two ships. Through the gap in the pirates, an imposing figure appeared. It was Drakkar.

  The ex-guildmaster had changed much from the last time Jace had seen him. The most noticeable difference was the scars that marred the left side of his face and the eyepatch he wore over his left eye. Besides the scarring, he was dressed in what appeared to be a very anachronistic outfit that looked like it belonged in a pirate movie.

  “Jynx Knightly,” Drakkar snarled as the man caught sight of him. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

  The pirate captain turned to his crew. “Men, this is the one that stole the tiara and your big pay day.”

  His crew erupted in angry threats and jeers, working themselves into a frenzy. Drakkar had probably been flaming their feelings of anger and resentment the entire time. It seemed like the old guildmaster may have been stroking their anger since he’d lost the tiara and now it was at a fever pitch. Jace started to wonder if his plan would actually work.

  Taking a deep breath, Jace summoned up every ounce of bravado he could and laughed. His laughter caught them all, including Drakkar, by surprise. For a long moment, his laughter was the only sound.

  “Stealing it away from you was so easy, Drakkar,” Jace Taunted, trying to sound as cocky as he could. Roleplaying was one thing but roleplaying when a mistake would cost him all of his gold and items was much harder. “Like taking candy from a baby kobold.”

  There were some jeers among the crew, but also some angry muttering and even some laughter. That was a better sign. Some of them might be bitter enough to turn on Drakkar once Jace made his offer.

  “I am going to kill you slowly, boy,” Drakkar growled, his face white with rage. The pirate captain drew his sword and motioned. “Come on men. It’s time to get our revenge!”

  Drakkar and the other pirates began to move onto the Sea Tyrant. Jace was against the opposite deck railing and took out the map he’d prepared. At the top of his lungs he yelled out. “Stop! Or I throw this overboard!”

  Drakkar hesitated, as did the rest of the pirate crew. They looked at Jace and then at each other in confusion, obviously unsure what to make of Jace’s stange threat. Confused, they looked at Drakkar. “Captain?”

  Drakkar’s good eye narrowed. “Go ahead, boy. Throw over your piece of parchment. You’re still going to die slowly. I’ve had a long time to think about how I was going to...”

  “You didn’t tell them about the treasure Drakkar?” Jace bellowed, interrupting the captain. As he hoped, the word treasure got the crew's attention and he could hear them muttering.

  “There is no treasure!” Drakkar spat. “He’s bluffing to save his hide. But it won’t work. I’ll skin you and…”

  “You forgot to tell them that I didn’t just steal the tiara, I stole the logbooks too!” Jace yelled, addressing the crew more so than Drakkar. “The ones that had the location of Burchard’s hidden treasure.”

  This time there was much louder muttering and some of the crew was casting angry glances at Drakkar instead of Jace. Drakkar seemed to realize he was losing control of the situation and opened his mouth to speak. That was exactly what Jace had been waiting for.

  “Or had you planned to keep the treasure all to yourself?” Jace said loudly. Drakkar’s face grew livid and he started toward Jace. A nod to Mika and she held up the logbooks over her head. “Those are the logbooks, right there. The only record of where Burchard hid his treasure!”

  With his second nod, Mika threw them overboard, into the sea below. There was a collective gasp from the pirate crew as she did but Jace didn’t give them time to think about it. “The logs are gone! The captain is dead! The only copy of the treasure’s location is this map!”

  Jace dangled the map further over the rail. “Keep coming and it goes into the sea. Gone forever! If you thought the tiara’s payday was big. You should have read what the late captain wrote about how large his hoard was!”

  “Captain wait!” shouted several of the crew and then more joined in. Drakkar, who was halfway across the deck to Jace, looked back over his shoulder at his crew. Jace could see the man working it out in his head. He just hoped the former guildmaster’s sense of self-preservation was stronger than his need for revenge.

  Now that Drakkar was closer, Jace could see the tell-tale green tint of poison on the captain’s blade. Many players might have missed it, but Jace had played an assassin character. He knew what to look for. After reading how the former guildmaster had used poison to turn the tide of the fight with Buchard, he wasn’t surprised.

  While the pirate captain was considering his options, Jace also took the opportunity to examine him with his HUD.

  Dainard Drakkar

  Race: Human

  Class: Rogue

  Level: 21

  Jace grimaced as he saw Drakkar’s new stats. The former guildmaster was now 10 levels higher than when Jace had faced him last. That put him in the tier 3 class, as far as weapons and armor. A higher tier, meant more damage and high Defense. Those things made him much more dangerous and Jace was suddenly unsure whether or not he might be able t
o win a fight with him.

  Unfortunately, it was too late to change the plan. Even if he were to offer Drakkar the map in order to let them go, he didn’t trust the captain to honor the deal. He’d just take the map and then kill Jace and the crew. For better or worse, Jace was locked into his course of action and he’d have to see his plan through, regardless of the outcome.

  “So,” Drakkar said, lowering his sword. “What do you want? A deal? The map for your lives?”

  His crew snickered but there seemed to be enough dissension that Jace thought his plan would work.

  “No deal,” Jace bellowed. “I don’t trust you and more than your own crew trusts you. There’s only one way you are getting this map.”

  “And what’s that?” Drakkar hissed through clenched teeth.

  “You and I fight,” Jace called out. “One on one. Winner takes all. If you win, you get the map and then you can do whatever you want to the crew of this ship. If I win, your crew gets a real captain… me. Either way, the crew gets the treasure.”

  The crew muttered among themselves as Drakkar watched them but Jace already knew he’d convinced them. Within a few moments, the crew began chanting. “Fight him! Fight him!”

  Drakkar looked around at the faces of his yelling crew and a look of resignation settled on his face. He held up his sword to get the crew's attention. “Alright! Alright! We fight. One on one! No help from our crews.” The captain’s eye flickered to the extremely large cat sitting near Jace. “Or familiars.”

  “Fair enough,” Jace said. He hadn’t really counted on Luna helping. The pirates wouldn’t know it was a familiar so they wouldn’t think it was a fair fight if he got help from a giant cat. “But as long as we’re laying out the ground rules, how about: No backstabbing women who aren’t part of the duel.”

  “That’s right,” Drakkar snickered. “How is that redheaded elf doing?”

  “Better than you’ll be in a few minutes,” Jace said. He handed the map to Mika, who made a show of dangling it over the edge of the railing.