Finally, the one hour duration reached its end.
The cozy living room of the Goddess of Knowledge pulsed with a soft pale yellow light. In a blink, Baroness Sapphire, Amaranth, and the Lingreen twins vanished. Returning to their original locations.
Jack stayed. His spectral form floated on air. Against the backdrop of Rainsister's comfortable living room.
He raised his eyebrows behind his mask. The goddess wanted him to stay. There must have been a reason for that.
"Why am I still here?" He asked.
"Because you have already crossed paths with another Fateless." She said. "You still have the coins. You need to decide whether this character should be invited to the Gathering or not."
Jack frowned. Another fateless being? He thought back through his recent travels. It must have happened after the last meeting. So, it should be during the voyage of the Silent Mermaid. Who would that be? One of his crew members? Someone he encountered on the way?
"Who is it?" He asked. "One of my crew members? Aella? The Sixth Prince? Earl Aldenair? The captain who acquired the [Scepter of Fated King]?"
"It's not a human. Technically." Rainsister clarified.
"So, it's Glitch then." Jack nodded. Not exactly too surprised with that. The cat was too extraordinary. "It's cat with a checkered shawl, isn't it?"
"That's right."
Jack paused. The memory surfaced immediately. It was several days ago. In Whaleback Island. A talking cat who traded in fish tokens with extraordinary material. A feline creature which was the accidental amalgamation of an otherworld sorcerer's familiar and a goblin merchant. A strange character with smug, eccentric, and entirely too intelligent attitude. Especially for one who spent most of its time licking its own paws.
"So?" Jack asked. "Can that cat be trusted?"
"You have to decide it yourself." Rainsister replied. "It is not exactly the same with the other fateless beings though. The cat is a planeswalker. It operates on the fringes, moving between the folds of multiple realities."
Rainsister looked at Jack expectantly. "I can definitely say it is fair and reliable as a merchant. As for whether it can be trusted for other things... you have to find out yourself. The choice is yours, Spirit of Conviction. You are the holder of the gathering's invitation coins. You decide who can join our little monthly gathering."
Jack thought about the cat with the checkered shawl. He realized that he knew too little about that creature. He didn't like variables he couldn't understand. And a talking cat with the power of the planeswalker was a massive variable.
"Let's not invite it yet, then." Jack decided. "It's a merchant. And most merchants are usually only loyal to the coin, or in his case, the fish token. I'll need to observe it further."
Rainsister nodded. Seemingly indifferent to the choice. "Fair enough. Information is best served when the source is understood. See you next month then, Spirit of Conviction."
The world blurred. The scent of citrus and tea was replaced by the sharp scent of grease, wood, and sea.
Jack blinked. He was back in his workshop aboard the Silent Mermaid. The ghost ship seemed to breathe around him.
Rune, his fairy guide, was hovering near a stack of copper plates. She was in the form of will-of-the-wisp at the moment. Her body were pulsing with a soft, questioning purple glow. Indicating her curiosity.
"The gathering is done, Rune." Jack muttered. "Let's change form first."
He immediately activated his [Incarnation Shift] power. Transforming into his human form. A tall, broad shouldered mercenary with leather outfit immediately replaced the mysterious specter.
Rune transformed alongside him. Her wisp form swiftly turned into her original form, a mechanical fairy.
...
The next few days were a blur of blue water and sunny skies. Jack spent most of his time in the workshop though. Refining and tinkering with his steamrune projects.
"We're nearing Barrentree, Dear." Reina said one morning. Informing him in the workshop.
Jack looked up from a complicated brass gear. "About time. Let's see what the island have for us."
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They went to the deck. Last night, Jack had ordered Rune to disguise the Silent Mermaid as the Ocean Wanderer. It was now a nondescript sloop that wouldn't draw any attention. Especially the eyes of patrolling naval vessels or overambitious pirates.
When the Ocean Wanderer finally pulled into the harbor of Copperbean that early afternoon, the scenery waiting for them was bleak.
Barrentree Island rose out of the ocean like the hunched back of a starving stone giant. It was a huge stretch of land. But like its name, it was barren. There wasn't even a single green leaf in sight. The ground was a patchwork of jagged grey rock and brownish scrub bushes.
Copperbean was one of four mining towns on the island. And it looked exactly like what it was. A functional, ugly gateway for copper ores. The buildings were squat. Made of heavy stone to withstand the coastal winds. It was covered in a fine layer of reddish-brown dust.
The crew gathered on the deck.
Baroness Artheim was already dressed in her traveling gear. She looked a bit out of place in her refined manners against the grimy backdrop of the docks. Leon Drake was checking his bag. And Chloe had just finished casting illusion spell to hide Sparkle's real form. A lightning kirin cub was too eye-catching after all.
"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen!" Jack said. "Go! Explore! Get the lay of the land. Find out what nice things this place has. But keep your heads down. We're here for treasure and adventure, not for a bar fight."
The crew split up. Since someone had to watch the ship, they had drawn the lots. The unlucky ones this time were Jack and Barnaby.
Jack didn't mind. He wasn't particularly interested in the barren mining town. And Barnaby was a decent conversationalist when he wasn't trying to compose epic songs about breakfast.
They sat on the deck chairs. Watching the laborers move crates of copper ore nearby, and the few sailors from a trading schooner anchored next to them lounge on their own deck.
"Right depressing place, isn't it, Captain?" Barnaby asked. Tuning his lute. "Not a single flower in sight. I don't think I can write a love song about a rock."
"Write a song about the lungs of the men who live here." Jack suggested. Looking at the dark smoke from the town's chimneys. "It'd be more honest."
One of the sailors from the neighboring ship looked over. "You lot new? Don't see many sloops like that 'round here."
Jack looked at the man. He was covered in a layer of fine grey dust. "Just passing through. Looking for opportunities."
"Opportunities, eh?" The sailor spat a glob of brown tobacco juice into the water. "If you're looking to dig, you're late. If you're looking for the 'Big Door,' you're just gonna end up frustrated like the rest of 'em."
Jack's interest piqued. But he kept his face neutral.
"The Big Door?" Barnaby asked.
"Aye. In the center of the island." The sailor explained. "Some fools found a ruin two months back. Reckon it's full of ancient gold. Only problem is the door. It's made of some nasty metal. Nothing opens it."
Jack and Barnaby chatted more with the friendly sailor. Jack had a feeling his crew would be bringing back that exact same story.
...
By evening, the crew returned. They gathered in the main cabin of the Silent Mermaid for dinner. Don Donson had prepared a thick mutton stew for each of them. A type of food that helped cut through the dry taste of the island air.
Reina took the lead. "The rumors are consistent, Dear. About three days' trek toward the center of the island, a ruin was uncovered two months ago. It's located in a deep ravine created by a landslide. The locals call it the Rockman Tomb."
"Rockman?" Barnaby asked as he was tearing off a piece of bread.
Baroness Artheim responded. "An ancient race. Not quite human. Many considered them as a partially earth elemental race. They were masters in architecture and smith-engineering. Their ruins are rare because they built mostly underground. This one seems to be a major hub."
"We heard about the Big Door?" Jack asked. "What is that about?"
"The main problem." Leon said. His expression was excited. "It's a massive slab of Star-Iron alloy. Every adventuring party on the island has tried to crack it. Theyโve used explosives, brute force, magic. Some even tried drilling the walls. Nothing works."
Reina nodded. "True. They said the door sealed the internal chamber of the ruin with a dual-locking system. Physical locks and ancient runic wards. It seems that both needs to be solved simultaneously to open it."
"It is quite dangerous though." Chloe added. Looking up from her notebook. "The mystic scholars I've met in town say the defensive runes in that place are 'aggressive'. If ones feed them the wrong energy, they might explode. The scholars told me that several people have been vaporized."
Baroness Arheim looked at Jack. "It sounds exactly like the kind of challenge we need, Captain. If nobody can get in, it means the treasure is still there. And the dual-locking system of the chamber seems interesting. We need to check it, at least."
Jack leaned back, thinking. The dual-locking system was never a problem for him. He had several ways to solve it. And if nothing else worked, he could just turn into a ghost and phased through it.
"We're going." Jack said. The decision was instant. "We leave tomorrow morning."
"What about the ship?" Moby asked. "We can't just leave it sitting in a public dock. Do we take another lots to decide who will be left behind to guard it?"
"No. All of us will go to the ruin. I'll handle the ship." Jack said. "It's technically a ghost ship. My ghost ship. I'll just unsummon it before we leave."
The crew nodded. They were used to Jack's strange abilities by now.
The next morning...
Well, it wasn't even morning yet. Dawn hadn't broken through the horizon. The sky was still very dark.
And, at the moment, the docks were shrouded in a thick, artificial fog. It was Reina's fog of illusion.
"Is the coast clear, Love?" Jack asked.
Reina stood at the gangplank. Her eyes were glowing with a faint silver light. "The harbor guards are dreaming of warm beds and cold ale, Dear. A couple of sailors are awake, but I've made sure. They won't see us."
The crew filed off the ship. Carrying their backpacks. They truly looked like a motley band of mercenaries and explorers now.
Once the last person was on the stone pier, Jack stood at the edge of the dock. He was ready to unsummon the ship...
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