Zero was laying on the deck of the Fortune’s Favor, at the bottom of the stairs to the helm. Willow and Sola were both crouched over him, their faces furrowed with concern. Keizeron was standing close behind them, but giving them the space they needed.

  “Interesting.” Zero said dryly as he pushed himself to sit up. Aka was still at the helm, which explained why it was Willow who was currently hovering over him. .

  “What’s interesting?” Sola asked as he helped Zero sit back up.

  “I am much older than I originally thought.” Zero replied absently. He made a move to brush the dust off his arm, only to realize he wasn’t covered anymore. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling he had gotten from the recovered memory. That he had been left behind.

  “What makes you say that?” Keizeron took a step forward now that it seemed the automaton was awake and alert once again.

  “I remembered something. Something very bad happened to me a long time ago,” Zero said, staring at the deck and avoiding his crew mates gazes.

  ((“Can everyone make me a quick perception check? Zero you’re at disadvantage right now.”

  “Okay cool, not like I needed the help or anything,” Blair sighed as they pulled out their dice. Caine had warned them that this would be a pretty long session, and it was time for the first rolls of the night. Slowly around the table they each made their checks, comparing their bonuses to the number on the dice. A silence settled around them as they realized no one rolled over a ten.

  “Winter?”

  “That’s a nine.”

  “Oh dear, babe?”

  “Uh, with my negative modifier to perception that is a one.”

  “Good, good, Lucky? You’re perceptive right?”

  “I rolled a nat one. It ends up being a seven, but I think I failed this one captain.”

  “Yeah, I think so too. Blair? Ren?”

  “Uh, can Keizeron roll?”

  “That bad huh?” Caine winced.

  “Wait!” Ren shouted suddenly, pointing at his die. “I rolled a d12!”

  Everyone held their breath as he rolled again and added his proficiency. “That’s a nineteen!”

  “Oh thank the goddess,” Caine laughed easily. “Mea, it seems your friend Zero is being well tended to, so you take a moment to look up over the railing and notice something. A unity ship is rapidly approaching the Fortune’s Favor from the south. What are you doing about it?”))

  “Uh, Captain?” Mea said hesitantly from where she was standing near the upper deck’s railing. “We’re like, not on good terms with the coalition right?”

  “No,” Keizeron looked up to her. “They’ve put a bounty on me, which I found rather rude even though I did the thing they are accusing me of.”

  “Oh good, then this is definitely a bad thing,” Mea deadpanned, pointing to southern sky where a unity ship was flying rapidly towards them.

  The rest of the crew looked up in alarm as Keizeron drew his sword. “A very bad thing,” Their captain agreed.

  “What should we do?” Aka called nervously from where they were at the helm. They looked vaguely annoyed, like it was their fault they hadn’t seen the approaching enemy ship sooner. However with how they had all been concerned with Zero, Keizeron couldn’t blame his crew for being too distracted to notice the threat.

  ((“And I repeat, what are you guys going to do about this?” Caine asked, folding their hands and looking at their friends. While in fiction Keizeron was the captain, the rest of them had to agree on what the crew did. It made things more fair, since Caine couldn’t just tell the players what to do. Though they didn’t have a ton of listeners yet Caine had already seen a few comments accusing them of rail roading on a few of the posts and tweets Blair and Zenith had made. Which was especially confusing since they had only posted a few episodes so far. They hadn’t even done anything yet!

  “I say we fight,” Ren told the table simply. “We can take them.”

  “I agree we should fight, but I don’t know if we can win this right now. The fact of the situation is that with how close they are I don’t think running is an option anymore,” Winter pointed out. She was looking at the hastily drawn map Caine had made of the forest they were sailing over. The model ship representing the fortunes favor was pretty basic, but it did it’s job. The model of the unity ship was sitting just next to Caine, as it wasn’t close enough to be on the map. But it would be soon.

  “I’m not sure about that. Wait no, I was gonna say we could use the cannons to slow them down, but I don’t think Zero wants to use them while he’s glitching. Idk, I kinda think we should still try running.” Blair sighed, running their hands through their bright blue hair.

  “Wait, no cannons for our first real ship battle?” Lucky asked nervously, fidgeting with her mini figure. They hadn’t put themselves on the board yet, it was just the ship. “Maybe we should run.”

  The table looked at Zenith expectantly. Would the first mate suggest they try to fight, or would he protect the boat?

  “We need to train someone else on cannons so this doesn’t happen again,” Zee said. “We should fight them. Fuck the coalition.”

  Ren and Lucky cheered at that, while Winter just laughed. Fight it was.))

  Keizeron’s eyes darkened as he glared at the approaching ship. “Prepare to be boarded,” He informed the crew as he made his way to the helm.

  The rest of them exchanged panicked glances before scrambling to action. Sola helped Zero to his feet, and the automaton followed after his captain. “I’m sorry,” Zero started. “They got this close because you all were focused on what I had done-”

  “Stop that,” Keizeron interrupted it almost immediately. “Since the wanted posters were put up this was inevitable. We even left a trail by leaving behind those bounty hunters at the spring in Eldence. You need to concentrate on the task at hand, I need your help to protect your crew mates."

  Zero gave him a sharp salute and turned around to go back to the lower deck. Keizeron stood next to Aka, looking down at the steering wheel. The navigator was looking grim, and relinquished control to Keiz.

  “Well, I had wanted to test this spell before I had to use it in action, but it looks like we don’t have time for that.” Keizeron reached out, placing his hand on the enchanting stone in the center of the wheel. Threads of purple magic spider webbed across the helm, tying it up and locking it into position.

  “What is this?” Aka asked, looking curious despite the urgency of the situation they were in.

  “It’s an auto pilot. It should last about ten minutes, but I can’t say for certain how long it'll stay up without being able to test it properly. We’re not going to be able to spare someone to stay on the helm if we’re going to fight. A unity ship of that size usually has around twenty crew members, if not more.”

  “So we’re really going to fight them?” Aka looked down, as if the feeling finally became real to them. While the coalition was not a faction they'd given much thought to, they didn't exactly hate them either. It was the force that kept their home country safe. And now Aka was going to have to fight them? They had known they made the coalition their enemy when they stole the rod, but now the consequences of their actions were catching up to them and it made their stomach churn. “I don’t know if I could kill someone.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Then don’t,” Keizeron replied simply. Aka looked up in surprise. “Fight back however you see fit, but just be aware that I will do whatever it takes to defend this ship and defend this crew.”

  Satisfied the steering spell would hold he drew his sword and faced the oncoming ship.

  ((“Swoon.” Said Lucky, leaning towards Caine at the head of the table and putting her hand on her forehead. “Captain Keizeron is so cool.”

  “He is not, he's actually an enormous nerd but none of you ever want to talk to him about his hobbies.”))

  The only advantage they seemed to have was that the other boat was approaching them from directly behind them. This meant they wouldn’t be able to fire a cannon at them without losing their momentum and giving the Fortune’s Favor a chance to pull ahead. However they had a distinct disadvantage as well. The other captain was a fire mage, who was very upset with Keizeron at the moment.

  Sola called out a warning as he noticed a figure step onto the bow of the other ship, clearly tracing a large rune in the air. After a moment the spell ignited, sparks flying as a fireball was volleyed towards the Fortune’s Favor. It collided with the hull with an enormous crash, setting part of the upper deck and the helm ablaze. It looked like the auto pilot spell held against the attack, but it would do them no good if the wheel was burned down. While Zero moved away from the flames, Mea stepped forward, casting a simple spell to quell as much of the fire as she could.

  “Of course the one time we want it to be snowing,” Mea muttered under her breath as she tried to clear as much of the helm as she could. Now that she had mastered temperature control thanks to Nydra’s gift, snow would be just as useful as rain in increasing her powers.

  Now with a clear, well, clearer path to the helm, Mea made her way to the upper deck to try to extinguish the rest of the flames. Smoke was starting to billow out, and if the crew spent to long in it they’d be in no condition to fight. She raised her arm to renew the water spell and put out the fire on the railing when it suddenly flared up with an unnatural intensity. Mea let out a yelp as a woman stepped through the flames, her sword raised menacingly.

  Keizeron quickly put himself between Mea and the furious looking Aster. “Of course it had to be you,” He hissed, raising his sword to counter her.

  “Keizeron!” Aster shouted, seemingly incapable of saying anything else in her rage.

  ((“Alright, lets roll initi-”

  “Wait!” Caine looked up in alarm as Ren interrupted them, his arm waving furiously to get their attention.

  “What?” They balked, they were kinda in the middle of something. Had they forgotten to do something before they started? Did the team need a break before they got into combat?

  “Is she hot? I never actually saw Aster when we were at the temple since Mea stayed back at the ship. So is she cute?” Ren said, batting his eyelashes at the DM.

  “I, what? Did you just interrupt the podcast to ask if the woman trying to kill you is cute?”

  “Yes. You didn’t really describe her last time and I gotta know. Having someone step through the flames and immediately stare down Mea is like, so attractive.”

  “Oh yes of course. She’s a bit shorter than you, curvy, and very on fire right now. She’s simply radiant,” Caine said sarcastically.

  Ren waved his hand dismissively. “Hmm, no that’s not doing it for me. Can I roll instead?” He asked.

  “Roll? Roll what?” Their DM sighed, rubbing his temple. Oh the sacrifices he made to keep the players happy.

  “You know, just to like check if Annie Mea finds her attractive. I have to know if I’m going to be distracted in this fight.”

  “I did mention she is currently trying to kill you right?”

  “Yeah yeah, but you should know us well enough by now to know that’s not exactly a disqualifier. Dangerous is kinda hot let’s be honest. Also Lucky called the monster manual the ‘husband catalog’ the other day-”

  “That was in private!”

  “I’m just saying, you have not given me a good reason to not find this person attractive.” Ren shrugged and rolled his die. “That is an 18”

  “Hey I gotta ask, did you just make a tinder roll?” Blair asked, sending the table into a fit of laughter.

  “That sounds like the worst sushi roll,” Lucky shook her head in mock disgust.

  “Yeah alright, that was funny enough that I’ll allow a tinder roll. Yes Ren, the woman currently trying to throw hands with your captain and burn down your ship is super cute to you. Now can we roll initiative?”))

  Once Zero was a safe enough distance from the flames he turned to watch the scene unfold. Even on the lower deck he was still feeling the heat, though he wasn’t particularly worried about melting. He couldn't melt right? Oh no, maybe he should be worried about melting. Then Mea barreled into him, clearly not looking where she was going as she also got out of the way of Keizeron and Aster’s duel. The aquan woman was staring at the helm, an odd grin on her face as she clung to Zero for balance.

  Before he could ask what she found so amusing about the situation the whole boat was rocked violently as the Perseverance crashed into the stern of the ship. Zero barely kept it’s balance as he heard a loud scraping noise followed by the distinct crunch of the hull being punctured. Solovar wood ships wouldn’t go down if they started to break, since they weren’t adding water weight. But a ship could only take so much damage before the magic started to give out and it fell apart.

  Unfortunately they didn’t have time to worry much about the damage to the hull, as the officers on the unity ship were now close enough to hop the gap between them. Smoke was billowing out behind them casting dark shadows over the icy landscape far below. The first of the Unity officers, an elf man with short brown hair jumped onto their deck. Judging from his coat he was higher ranking, and several of the other officers followed his lead. The other crew wasn't immediately attacking the pirate crew, but it was clear they were waiting for orders to do so.

  Sola looked up at his captain, and upon noting that Keizeron was holding his own against the fire elemental he gave a short nod and turned to face the interlopers. Keiz could hold his own, his crew mates would need him here. With a flourish Sola summoned his sword and shield, but he didn’t move forward yet. He wasn’t going to attack if they weren’t, though he doubted this could be resolved peacefully.

  There were now seven unity officers on their deck, including the elf man, and Sola could see three more staying on their own ship. One of them remained at the helm, keeping their ship in line with the Fortune's Favor. The other two seemed to be working on something, and kept glancing up at the rival ship. Sola had the sinking suspicion it would be a problem for them, but he had no time to focus on it.

  Sola glanced back at his crew, trying to asses where they were. Zero and Mea had come down from the upper deck to avoid Aster’s fury, but while Zero was getting himself ready for battle the aquan woman was still staring at the top deck as if she was mesmerized. Willow was in the center of the deck, as close to the mast as she could be with her staff clutched tightly in her hands and an expression on her face that Sola couldn’t quite place. Worry, but also a grim fury he had never seen from her before. Maybe these weren’t exactly the coalition officers who took her sister, but they were the first ones who had directly opposed them since they had started sailing almost a month ago. And right behind her was Aka, using the taller woman as a sort of cover. The navigator looked nervous, and while they had their gun out they had it lowered with their hand off the trigger. No one wanted this to come to blows.

  After a tense moment the elf man stepped forward, raising his hands in what was obviously an attempt to disarm the rival crew. “We don’t have to fight, none of you are wanted by the queen aside from your captain. Just lay down your weapons and give us the rod and you can walk free from this,” he said, trying to keep a professional air despite the fact that about twenty feet away his captain was doing her best to burn up their ship. However he stopped as soon as Sola narrowed his eyes and raised his sword in response to him walking forward.

  “Has that ever worked before?” Zero asked, activating his gauntlets.

  The unity officer sighed. “No.” Without lowering his hand the elf quickly drew a rune, sending a blast of green magical energy into Zero’s chest.

  The automaton staggered, but managed to keep his footing. He stared down at his chest, his eyes glowing bright yellow with surprise. His poncho now had a smoldering scorch mark in the center of it that Zero quickly tried to pat out.

  Aka reacted first, leaning around Willow to take a shot at the elf. It went wide, the shot blazing past his ear and almost striking one of the two remaining officers on the other ship that weren't on the helm. Aka swore loudly, clicking their gun to get ready for a second shot.

  In response to the gun fire the officers scattered, trying to get out of the way as well as overwhelm the smaller pirate crew. It would have been a more effective maneuver if there had been more of them, since there wasn’t enough to completely surround them. A ship of their size should have had twice as many crew members, where were they? Despite the fact that the ships were right next to each other, the Perseverance hadn’t taken a single cannon shot at them. Were the three officers on the deck the only other people they had?

  Aka took a second shot, this time the bullet glanced off the elf’s arm, cutting through an exposed spot in his leather armor. He glared at them and started to prep another spell, only to drop it when Sola closed the distance between them. The first mate swung his sword at the same appendage Aka injured, forcing him to give up the attack or lose his arm. He took a step back, giving one of his officers a chance to counter Sola’s blade with her own.

  While they clashed Willow traced a new rune she had been practicing, and a faint green glow shimmered around Sola as she enhanced his armor. Sola’s eyes widened for a second, but he took the buff in stride. With the back swing he brought the hilt of his sword down on the top of the officer’s head, sending her crashing backwards.

  Seeing Willow distracted with her spell casting, one of the officer’s charged her, slashing across her chest with his sword. Her armor took the worst of the damage, but it managed to bite into her shoulder right where the metal ended and her coat began. Willow let out a pained yelp, stepping backwards and grabbing the injury. She looked up, knowing she wouldn’t have time to heal it without exposing herself to further danger, when a furious Zero slugged the offending officer across the jaw.

  The man dropped immediately, but Zero doubted he would be out for the rest of the fight. He looked up at the rest of the unity crew. It seemed like only two of them could cast spells, the rest had various weapons drawn. Though they didn’t look like pushovers, even Zero could see that most of them looked nervous and upset that they had to be here. The crew of the Fortune’s Favor might have been out numbered, but they were not out matched.

  Zero glanced around the deck to see if any of his other crew mates needed his help, and was confused to see Mea wasn’t paying any attention to the officers who were slowly approaching her. Instead she was still looking up at the upper deck where Keizeron was dueling with Aster.

  With a small mischievous smile Mea drew a tiny circle with her right hand, directing her spell towards the opposing captain. Above her on the upper deck Keizeron flinched in surprise as a blue arcane circle opened over Aster’s head and dumped a gallon of water on her. The flame in her hair went out with a loud hiss, and she spluttered in confusion as she wiped the water from her eyes.

  ((“Ok, that did nothing to help the ‘surrounded by unity officers’ situation, but oh my god was that funny. Mea gets inspiration.”))

  “Thank you!” Keizeron called, taking advantage of the temporary distraction. After trading a few blows with Aster he quickly realized that she hadn’t really improved since they left school a year ago. Or at the very least, she had not improved more than he had. If anything, her rage was making her sloppier, and he was having no trouble keeping the situation under control. She had managed to get a few hits of her own in, but now that her fiery aura was no longer creating pressure he had the advantage.

  With a furious snarl she swung blindly at him, but he easily parried it. With a flick a rune on his sword activated and it began to glow with an arcane purple energy. Keizeron lifted his blade and brought it down swiftly, cutting through her blade. Aster’s sword snapped cleanly in half, and without protection his sword continued forward slicing her from her shoulder to her ribs.

  Aster didn’t seem to notice or care, and simply letting the broken half fall to the ground before grabbing Keizeron by his shirt and yanking him closer. “You tricked me you bitch!” She hissed at him, and her hand sparked to life.

  Even dampened her spell burned through his jacket and pain bloomed across his chest. The white sharp pain that came with burns, as if he had fallen face first into a camp fire. Keizeron let out a shout of agony, before grabbing her wrist and twisting it off his shirt.

  ((Ouff. Keizeron is gonna take thirty points of fire damage for that one,” Caine huffed as they rolled a number of d6s that was far higher than anyone else at the table thought it should be.

  “Thirty points!” Lucky exclaimed. “That’s insane! You said her magic was damped by the water!”

  “It was. And then she cast burning hands point blank on your captain.” Caine shrugged. “Don’t even worry about it, im sure it’s going to be fineeee.”

  Caine grinned despite themselves, watching the rest of the party wonder the same thing. In this fight with four sides, who was going to fall first?))