C+5.

  Your rage has increased by 1.

  Alastair felt strange walking into the Privateer’s camp. Mal was alongside him, strolling like she owned the place. Galoots was also there, although she dragged herself along since her energy was low. Mal had almost considered it worthless for Galoots to come to the Bay. There was no way that Galoots could both hike from the monastery to the bay and up the mountain to the keep and then do anything useful other than be fodder. Alastair had suggested that maybe Galoots could get the rough travel boots from the ship today and then, assuming they didn’t solve the keep today, she could join them tomorrow. So both Alastair and Mal donated a couple of low-power batteries and Galoots found a well of strength within her to make the trek, although she complained about the lack of beer almost from the start.

  Mal had shown them a back way from the Monastery to the path that led to the Tower, meaning they had been able to bypass the Farms completely. Along the way, she explained how the rough travel boots made travel along these paths almost negligible, whereas without the boots travel on this path would burn energy at twice the rate of traveling on a paved road. “The boots halve travel costs on terrain, but not on roads, so we should get to the bay with only minimum energy expenditure, except for you Gal. You’ll be at or around twenty energy, depending on how much was in your reserve when we started.”

  “But I’ll gain energy each hour, also, right? So I’ll gain an amount for each duration.”

  “Usually, except when you’re truly offroad, you pay a penalty for the terrain. I don’t want to explain this right now.” {But I will, for your sake, dear reader. Any point on their map has a difficulty rating of zero to three. A zero rating compares to a paved road while rating one might be an incline or uneven path. Rating two is uneven terrain or rough incline, and three may seem like going straight up. Without the assistance of a certain type of boot or other boost, the effort required for rating two and three prevents the standard energy gain of one energy per hour. Hopefully, that clears it up a bit.}

  Alastair asked, “How is it that this energy expenditure only matters so late in the game?”

  “You probably, up to the point you went to the Bay, didn’t stress the energy system enough to need to understand it. I’ve been pushing the boundaries since the beginning.”

  “What else burns energy?”

  “Puzzles, including combat. If there are other things, I haven’t noticed them,” said Galoots.

  “What about petting cats?”

  “Not that I’ve noticed.”

  “What’s the maximum hypothetical amount someone could do in the game with the energy allotment?”

  “Without boosts? I don’t know about hypothetical since I’ve had the rough travel boots since close to the beginning,” said Maelstrom, “but I’ve regularly made it from the Bay to the Lighthouse and back without using a battery.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “My point,” said Alastair, “is that this game place shouldn’t be resetting at midnight, should it?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Galoots simultaneously as Mal said “No.”

  “So this entire server is just messed up.”

  “Oh, it is at that. I’m sure there are things we don’t even realize are messed up compared to other servers,” said Galoots. “You consider, well, I do at least, how an alpha test is supposed to run, and this isn’t it. Starting with the lack of ability to log out, let alone the inability to control difficulty settings, and the addition of rage, which isn’t even a factor I had learned about until I was in the game, and I was following closely. It’s truly fortunate, I think, that they didn’t mandatorily enforce pain receptors because I think they might have just had all the players on the server hesitant to do anything.”

  Alastair said, “As it is, we must get out of here soon and then lodge a joint complaint against Solar Cel. Flor and I didn’t sign up for this test intentionally, and we all face some consequences we’d rather not.”

  “True. Hey, Mal, could I set my base location to the ship? Not that I think I have the willpower to do so, but it might be useful if I could.”

  “I don’t know. Ask the ship’s doctor when you’re on there. That might be useful, anyway, to distract him if he’s in the officer’s cabin while you’re getting the boots. Nova, can you go to that tent and tell the Captain that you and I will join on their venture? I’d like to have a word with Galoots before we go.”

  Alastair went to the indicated tent where several Privateers gathered. One sailor lounged outside the entrance. He gave Alastair a dirty glare as he approached. “I’m here to go with the Captain for the siege on the keep,” Alastair said. The sailor continued to glare at him but didn’t try to stop him as he entered through the flaps.

  A large, low table was spread out on the ground, and several Privateers lounged on pillows talking in low voices. They looked up at him as he walked in.

  One of the men, closely inspecting what looked like a pistol, said, “What do you want?”

  “I’m here to join the siege. Maelstrom will be along in a moment.”

  A different man said, “She’s joining us again, huh? It’s been a while. And you are?”

  “Alastair. Scribe three.”

  “Well, Alastair, Scribe three. You acknowledge the risk, that we won’t be bothered if you fall behind, and that if you endanger the operation, any of these men have permission to dispatch you with my warmest wishes?”

  Alastair nodded, then said, “Yes.”

  “Welcome aboard, then. I’m Lieutenant Vedast. That there is Captain Ségolène and the man with the gun is the Sergeant. Follow the cues from the Sergeant, and you may do alright. We’ll leave in ten minutes.”

  Alastair sat on an open pillow and looked at the documents on the table. Most obviously was a chart with topological marks of the island. Alastair had not before had a good look at the island’s layout. There were markings on the chart, which Alastair considered might be their route from the Bay to the Keep. It looked to go almost straight up the mountain, which gave him pause. He had never been a fan of hard hiking, but if it got him out of this game, he’d suffer through it.

  The tent flaps moved and Mal walked in. “Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, men.”

  They nodded in familiarity to her but weren’t overly welcoming otherwise. Perhaps Mal had gone about treating everyone on the island with disdain, and therefore everyone might hold some grudge against her.

  Captain Ségolène stood up. “Alright, Vedast. Let’s rescue some kids and put the Necromancer in her place.”

  Lieutenant Vedast stood as well, as did the others. “Sergeant, final check.”

  He answered, “We’re ready. I can’t speak for the tag-a-longs, but we’re ready.”

  Vedast looked at Mal and Alastair. “It’s too late for you if you aren’t. Let’s go.”

  The Sergeant took the lead out of the tent, walking around it and down toward the bay, then across and over through a break in the trees, then started up the mountain.