“Well. I didn't expect that,” Chase said.

“What?” Cagna asked.

“It's simpler than we thought,” Chase said, sweeping her cards back into their case. “Come on.”

And with that she walked straight up to the front door of the unassuming house and knocked.

There was no answer.

She knocked again, then sat on the stoop with her back to the door and waited.

Snap.

Snap-click.

Clunk.

THUD.

Across the way, she saw the curtains twitch, and waved a cautioning hand. “It's all right! He can't do anything to me.”

“You're betting your life on that,” Pwner said from behind her.

“Yeah well, I'm a Gambler. It comes with the territory.” She turned, smiled at him as she saw the various undone locks and latches on the now-open door.

He stood there in his Plague Doctor's mask and cowl, leaning against the doorframe.

But his shoulders were sagging. She couldn't see his face, but his body language screamed exhaustion. He was tired, she could tell.

“Well.” He said after an awkward moment. “You come to help, or to gloat?”

“What?” Chase blinked.

“You don't know? Shazz. No. No, you don't.” He took the mask off, and his eyes were reddened, lined with veins. “Come in. Please.”

Chase stood, then looked over her shoulder. “My friends will kill me if I go in alone.”

“Frackin... fine. They can come too. Bring a goddamn parade, I don't care. Doesn't matter now.”

“Give me a minute.” Chase walked back to the house across the street, opened the door, and said “I think it's fine. Come on.”

“You're sure about this?” Cagna asked, her eyes glued to the crack in the curtain, and her arms around the long musket that Sir Barriano had loaned her.

“There's not much he can do against us, as long as we don't get dumb. Still, we shouldn't bring everyone in.”

Cagna nodded. “Give me a minute, I'll go tell Yubai that he can come out of the tunnel.”

“I mislike this,” Sir Barriano said from the kitchen.

“Duly noted,” Chase said. “You don't have to go if you don't want to.”

“If you say it's fine, then it's fine,” Bastien rumbled, moving up to stand behind her. “You took us this far.”

“Thank you.” Chase said, giving his leg a pat. “All right. Let's go. If we wait too long he'll think we're up to shenanigans.”

The four of them trooped across the street. Pwner watched them come with his bloodshot eyes. But he'd tucked the bomb away, and Chase counted that a win.

Wordlessly he turned, and led them inside. Up the small staircase to the cluttered workshop that Chase remembered. Then across the way to where a small figure was tied to a chair.

A small, furry figure that hissed and tried to spit through her gag as soon as she saw Pwner.

“Is that... is that Carmina?” Chase gasped.

The catgirl had shrunk.

And sorrow crept up from her stomach as she realized what happened.

“I told her to run. I frackin' told her to run!” Pwner slammed his fist into the desk so hard that a red '12' rolled up from him.

“I'm sorry,” Chase said. “I'm so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” he roared, and Cagna and Sir Barriano stepped back and drew blades. “I tried to kill you! Why are you sorry? Makes no sense. Makes no... goddamn sense...” his voice softened on the last few words, and he turned away, but not before Chase saw his eyes brim with tears.

“I can't fix her,” Chase said simply. “I would if I could. I'm sorry. No one deserves this.”

Carmina was rocking back and forth on the chair now, and a chain fell out of the mass that wrapped her and held her still.

“Are those going to hold her?” Cagna asked.

“Not for long. Carmy got mad agility and dexterity, even when she been nerfed,” Pwner said, after he got ahold of himself. He shook his head and continued. “So you got no way to fix her?”

“No. Can you take her gag off?” Chase asked.

He pressed his lips together, so tightly that his mouth paled. But he did so.

The second the gag was out, she bit at his hands and hissed. “Murderer! You killed the lady! You horrible human!”

“Hey,” Chase said.

Carmina howled, and rocked the chair, trying to bring its legs down on Pwner's feet. He stepped back, lips quivering.

“I'll kill you! I'll make tightropes out of your guts! I'll eat your heart and use your skull as a toilet! Raaaaaaaggggghhhh!”

“Hey!” Chase said, pushing between Pwner and Carmina. “Hey. Listen. Listen for a second.”

The catgirl's maddened, tiny eyes fixed on Chase. “What?”

“Do you hate us, or just him?”

“Him! He killed the mistress! He killed her!”

“So we're fine, then?”

“Sure, whatever, now move so I can get him! No toe left unflattened! Grrrrrr!”

Chase nodded, then beckoned to Pwner and the others. “Let's talk.”

They followed her back out onto the stoop. Pwner sat with his head in his hands.

And Chase followed her instincts, and stayed silent.

“So it's permanent then?” Pwner asked, the words heavy as lead.

“No. But the fix is tough. Speranza has to let her go.”

Pwner laughed. “Might as well be permanent, then. That slitch ain't gonna do me no solids.”

“How will you know unless you ask her?” Chase said. “A clever man like you probably has some... methods of persuasion available to him.”

Cagna shot her a look.

“You're assuming she ain't gone, gone.” Pwner said, but there was a note of hope in his voice.

“She isn't. We found Thomasi. He confirmed that she has enough tokens for at least one or two more respawns.”

“He know where she might come back to?” Pwner asked, eyes fixed on her and yes that was hope, there.

“No, sorry. But she talked of being a courtier in a kingdom up north. I imagine a clever man could head up that way and find some leads.”

“I'm shazz at legwork. Never been a good detective. But with your help—”

“No.”

That threw him. “What?”

“You stabbed us in the back. And you killed Thomasi. And you don't care about collateral.” Chase leaned in. “Unless it affects you personally, anyway. And you're a wanted murderer, and that goes against Cagna's code. I'd rather have her working with me than you.”

He flinched at that. “I got levels and resources your dog girl can't even dream of!”

“And none of them matter if they're going to be turned against us at the worst possible time,” Chase was scowling now. “We gave you a chance and you blew it.”

“You would have done the same!” Pwner jumped to his feet. “Anyone would!”

“I never have and I never will,” Chase said, crossing her arms. “And I could have taken Speranza alive, if you hadn't blown everything to hell. The lot of us together could have taken down a half-strength Camerlengo, and captured Speranza. Then we could have made her undo the conversion. But now? You're screwed, and that's all on you.”

He put his hand in his cloak and Cagna was there, blade out as he loomed over Chase. His face was a twisting mask... fury, grief, confusion, and things she couldn't identify.

“So what the hell do you want then?” he finally choked out.

“I want you to cede your claim on this city,” Sir Barriano said. “Acknowledge me as the rightful Ruler.”

“And then we want you to go. Just go and do whatever. Away from here.” Chase said. “We have enough to deal with without you here.”

“You're going up against a dragon, and the best thing you can do is to send me away?” Pwner snorted. “You gonna burn, you know that?”

“Maybe. But we won't get blown up or die to plagues or poison when you decide to turn on us again.” Chase said, glaring at him.

“Why should I?” he asked, glaring back.

A clunk and clatter from inside the house. He scowled, and started back in.

Chase stopped him. “Because we can look after her while you search for Speranza.”

“What?”

“You can't. You have to sleep sometime. She'll wiggle free no matter how good your bindings get. Even if you drug her, she might build up enough of a constitution to shrug it off at a bad moment. If you imprison her somewhere you'd need someone to take care of her, and you risk the Inquisition grabbing her and using her against you. So leave her with us instead.”

“How... what the hell you gonna do for her?”

“We'll keep her as safe as we can. We'll tell her we're looking for Speranza too, which is the truth actually. We'll keep an eye out for her and try to bargain to get Carmina changed back if we find the Siren.”

“With us doing this you've got double the chance of finding Speranza. More if I get my connections involved,” Cagna said. Her eyes hadn't left Pwner the whole time they'd been here.

The player looked down. Chase saw his lips move, but couldn't catch any sound.

“What choice I got?” he asked. Then he smiled, ruefully. “Hell. I only wanted this city as a gift to her. She wanted to try being a queen. Wouldn't have lasted, but it woulda been fun for a while.”

“You love her,” Chase said, reaching out to pat him for the first time. He flinched, but let her tap her hand against his leg. “I respect that.”

“Don't know why I love her,” he said, and he seemed to be talking to himself more than answering her. “She's juss ones and zeroes in the end. Juss code. Stupid. Stupid to the bone.”

“Amor tutti eguaglia,” Sir Barriano said. “Love makes all equal.”

Pwner looked at him, considered him for a long moment. Then he nodded. “I concede. Rule this city well, old man.”

Sir Barriano sighed in relief. Then he stood up straight, and declared “Claim Domain!”

Silence.

Silence, broken by shouts in the distance.

But not shouts of fear or despair or panic.

Shouts of joy.

Within moments bells were tolling.

Gnome had a new lord, now.

“Thank you,” Chase said. “Now I'd better get in there before Carmina gets loose.”

Pwner was gone by the time she got back.

Which was good, because she had a very angry Carmina in tow. But the catgirl-turned-minion wasn't angry at her and that made all the difference in the world.

The catgirl spent all her time on the walk back telling Cagna the location and secrets of each and every one of his hideouts in the southern lands, and the dog beastkin's grin grew wider and wider as she scrawled them down in her notebook. Chase shook her head.

He'd brought it on himself, really. But if they ever did manage to get Carmina un-slaved, then Chase didn't know if what the catgirl and her lover had could ever be replaced.

“I'll give you a chance to try,” she decided.

Vitale was waiting there when she returned, a few new scratches on his chassis. Across the hall, Dijornos sat with Yubai and Greta, the three of them laughing and making wide gestures, reliving the fight they'd had in the dungeon.

Chase wished them the joy of it. Dungeons weren't her thing. Much less now that she knew what they truly were.

Thomasi shrugged at her from across the way, then did a double-take as Carmina walked in behind them. But he recovered from his surprise to offer a small bow and a handshake to Sir... to Lord Barriano, as the new Ruler of Gnome made his entrance.

Cagna cut straight to business. “You have the cor— the egg?”

“I do,” Vitale said, standing tall. He loomed over Chase before digging out a green crystal. “I require your assurance. Your vow that you will not harm this thing, no matter what you tell the dragon.”

“I will not harm this thing,” she swore.

He gave it to her without hesitation. “You either mean it, or you're a skillful enough liar that I cannot see the difference. In which case you will be effective enough to fool him. Gods speed you on your way, Oracle of Hoon.”

Chase opened her mouth to thank him—

WHAM!

The room shook.

She staggered, regained her balance, and glanced around furiously.

“I don't know what that was but Madeline and Renny just lost most of their hit points!” The Muscle Wizaard called out.

“We're out of time. You're with me. Come on!” Chase grabbed Thomasi's hand and pulled.

Thomasi paled, as she dragged him. “We need a plan, we need to find a place to parley with him where he can't just kill us, we need—”

“We don't have time! We'll improvise! Trust me, it'll work fine!” Chase called back to him.

She didn't get any charisma boosts from that, but nobody protested.

“We'll stay here,” Sir Barriano said, laying his hand on Vitale's shoulder. “Making ready to salvage the situation should it go wrong.”

“Yeah, and we're coming with you. To salvage the situation if it goes wrong,” Greta said, as she hustled after her sister, trailed by Dijornos, Cagna, and Bastien.

It was the dead of night now, the time between midnight and morning, and the moon illuminated all in pale light.

“Cagna, can you whisper a message? Let Renny know we need a place to talk to the dragon. Some place he can't just kill us.”

“You realize we're dealing with a dragon here?” Bastien pointed out. “There aren't many places in this city he can't kill us.”

“Yeah, but he won't want to harm the egg,” Greta said.

“But if there's a way for him to kill us without harming the egg, he'll take it. That's what we need to stop,” Chase said, staring at the crystal. It was warm to the touch, and drew her eyes. With a quick shake, she pulled her gaze away and tucked it in her apron.

“Good luck stopping him, he's really big!” Carmina pointed out.

There was a pause.

Everyone turned to look at the catgirl.

Cagna coughed. “Why is she here again?”

“Well we didn't tell her to stay behind...” Chase demurred.

“I won't!” Carmina yelled. “My lady might be there! With the dragon, I mean.”

“That's uh, not very likely,” Bastien pointed out.

“I won't know until I look, now will I?” Carmina said hotly.

Chase closed her eyes. Speranza's charm did a number on its targets, shrinking them to about half their previous attributes. Carmina hadn't been a genius to begin with. This hurt to watch.

“I mean, he's really big, she might be hiding under the dragon, and he wouldn't even know!”

“I'm pretty sure he'd know,” Greta said.

“He is pretty big, isn't he?” Chase pointed out. The beginnings of an idea were stirring in her mind. “Maybe we can use that. Thomasi, you know Gnome pretty well?”

“Decently enough.”

“Here's what I'm looking for...”

CHASE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Chase Berrymore

Age: 15 Years

Jobs:

Halven level 12, Cook level 5, Archer level 9, Gambler Level 10, Grifter level 15, Medium level 10, Oracle level 18, Painter level 2, Teacher level 6

Attributes / Pools / Defenses

Strength: 75 Constitution: 44 / Hit Points: 119 / Armor: 10

Intelligence: 74 Wisdom: 138 / Sanity: 212 / Mental Fortitude: 60

Dexterity: 147 Agility: 70 / Stamina: 217 / Endurance: 0

Charisma: 247 Willpower: 61 / Moxie: 308 (354) / Cool: 73

Perception: 145 Luck: 300 / Fortune: 445 / Fate: 53

Generic Skills

Archery – Level 1

Brawling – Level 8

Climb – Level 15

Dagger – Level 2

Dodge – Level 13

Fishing – Level 14

Ride – Level 10

Stealth – Level 19

Swim – Level 7

Throwing – Level 31

Halven Skills

Fate’s Friend – Level N/A

Small in a Good Way – Level N/A

Cook Skills

Cooking - Level 20

Dishwasher – Level N/A

Freshen - Level 12

Archer Skills

Aim – Level 9

Demoralizing Shot – Level 6

Far Shot – Level 1

Missile Mastery – Level N/A

Quickdraw – Level N/A

Rapid Fire – Level N/A

Razor Arrow – Level 8

Ricochet Shot – Level 21

Gambler Skills

Ace in the Hole – Level 2

Ante Up – Level 8

Assess Challenge – Level N/A

Cardsharp – Level 9

Deadly Dice – Level 1

Double Down – Level 1

Gambler’s Fortune – Level N/A

Hold’em – Level N/A

Slot Machine – Level N/A

Suit Sorcery – Level 1

Grifter Skills

Bluster – Level 1

Feign Death – Level 7

Fools Gold – Level 4

Forgery – Level 11

Master of Disguise – Level 15

Mega-Moxie – Level N/A (+15% Moxie)

Old Buddy – Level 7

Pickpocket – Level 21

Silent Activation – Level 36

Silver Tongue – Level 34

Size Up – Level 9

Unflappable – Level N/A

Medium Skills

Bad Fortune – Level 17

Crystal Ball – Level 10

Draw Fortune – Level N/A

Focus Vision – Level 5

Fortuna – Level N/A

Good Fortune – Level 18

Object Reading – Level 1

Palmistry – Level N/A

Séance – Level N/A

Stack Deck – Level N/A

Oracle Skills

Absorb Condition – Level N/A

Afflict Self – Level 1

Diagnose – Level N/A

Divine Pawn – Level N/A

Foresight – Level 46

Grant Vision Level 7

Influence Fate – Level 14

Lesser Healing – Level 51

Omens and Portents – Level N/A

Random Buff – Level 9

Short Vision – Level 17

Transfer Condition – Level 15

Painter Skills

Fast Dry – Level N/A

Painting – Level 5

Teacher Skills

Lecture – Level 24

Red Ink – Level 3

Smarty Pants – Level N/A

Unlocked Jobs

Farmer, Herbalist

Gear

Enrico’s Last Hand

Light Leather Armor