Two hours later, they looked every part the desperate boat fleeing a predator. Darren fumbled around the deck, making a mess of things. Samantha was hidden in the cabin while Wilson sat on his perch in the crow's nest.

  Samantha had had a bucket on her, so it was now strapped to the deck with a fish, Rupert, swimming about in it. Darren cast Twist of Fate on it every minute to keep the skill with a full stack always primed.

  The pirate ship was clearly visible to starboard—no more than a kilometre away now—slicing through the growing waves on an intercept course. Before retreating to her hiding spot, Samantha had removed a spyglass from her inventory and identified the ship as a sloop with six guns. More than enough to turn Piece of Ship into kindling.

  A rough count indicated a fairly low 10-15 crew on board. Most of them would be lower-level Classless, like Darren and Wilson, but there would be at least one officer who had a class and was higher level. Debatable whether at Samantha’s level, though Darren thought it unlikely in this part of the world. It was still a low-level zone, and while NPCs weren’t restricted to where they could travel like players were, they still tended to stick to similar zones.

  After all, those who pushed for higher levels were usually addicted to power, and it was hard to level off low-level noobs like himself.

  That said, pirates could find it profoundly profitable pillaging peons.

  Darren had kept Twist of Fate primed and ready for use. He was increasingly grateful the game didn’t utilise mana, instead relying on cooldowns to control ability use.

  Summoned Swivel Gun was also ready to go, but Darren was keeping it reserved until it was too late for the pirates to do anything.

  Well, too late assuming they didn’t have a wind control power themselves. Or any number of other skills that could upset the apple cart.

  Darren ran a hand through his sweat and seawater-soaked hair. Though there was Buckley’s chance that the plan would actually work.

  Despite the danger, Darren couldn’t help but grin, the game exploiter in him relishing the chance to do something more than build boats and sleep in crude shelters.

  The pirate ship drew ever closer, as did the storm. The wind had picked up and reduced the ocean to a churning cauldron. A very, very large churning cauldron.

  The sky was tinted green, and the sun was now hidden behind the storm front. Even if they survived the pirates, it was still going to be a rough night.

  Unless… unless they somehow managed to commandeer the pirate ship. And that was the plan.

  “You ready, Wilson?” Darren shouted.

  “Nope!”

  “Good. Samantha, ready on my signal?” He glanced in through the open cabin door. Samantha crouched inside, expression steely. She gave him a curt nod.

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  “Now we wait.”

  Piece of Ship continued to lose speed, Darren playing the part of a panicked sailor. He no longer needed to feign the stress. Sweat slicked his palms, and he wiped them absently on his thin, grimy shirt. His heart pounded as adrenaline left him jittery. Yet he couldn’t wipe the rictus grin from his face.

  He continued to cast Twist of Fate on Rupert the fish until finally, the pirates caught up with them, now 50 metres to starboard. The sloop was half the size again of their little catamaran. Still small, but far more deadly with the six cannons and 13 crew—that Darren could see.

  Darren knew the moment they hit 45 metres away. The range of Inspect was 150ft. He was suddenly inundated with notifications of Inspect alerts as the pirates all inspected him.

  He likewise started inspecting the pirates one by one. He breathed out a silent prayer as he saw only one pirate with a class, a level 14 Officer, the same base class as Samantha. The rest were Classless between levels three and six.

  By the time he was done, they were only 30 metres away, each vessel surging through the waves as the first drops of rain began to fall.

  Nearly in range of Wilson’s levitate.

  A threefold roar of cannon fire thundered across the void between them. Darren instinctually ducked, but the three shots all splashed harmlessly into the ocean around them.

  “Useless bilge-suckers,” Samantha said. “They fired a full broadside in these conditions?”

  Darren straightened, quite okay with the error on their part. “We’ve got about sixty seconds until the next volley.” He swung them around, now aiming them straight at the pirates while he set his swivel gun to single shot and summoned it on the bow of the Piece of Ship.

  “Go when ready, Wilson!” he yelled.

  A moment later, a knife shot away from Wilson in the crow's nest, quickly disappearing from Darren’s vision as it crossed the stormy ocean towards the sloop. If the fight looked like it was going to hell, Wilson would bring out his grenades, but for now, they wanted to minimally cripple the ship. Take out a few sails so it couldn’t manoeuvre.

  “Ready, Samantha?” he asked.

  “Aye.”

  <<<<>>>>

  Samantha Vane casts Master-at-Arms

  Crew of Piece of Ship all receive +1 to Strength and Constitution and 12% to weapon damage. Applies to summoned weapons.

  <<<<>>>>

  Darren fired a shot from Summoned Swivel Gun; he couldn’t aim without getting hands on, so the cannonball blasted forward, shooting over the pirate sloop as it crashed down from a wave.

  He’d need to be by his gun for the next stage. Which was now.

  “You’re up, Samantha!”

  He clambered forward as Samantha left the cabin and took the rudder. He cast Twist of Fate on a fish as he passed the bucket. He hesitated, then, on a whim, grabbed the bucket, seeing if he could stash it and the fish in his inventory. It disappeared, fish and all. “Huh, interesting.”

  Samantha cackled behind him. “They’ve seen me and have inspected me now.”

  Darren peered through the growing rain as he resumed his path forward. He could just make out the crew on the sloop, their distant yells now tinged with panic. They’d seen her level. The reaction confirmed they had no one higher.

  A scream sounded from the ship ahead, and he heard someone yell, “Man overboard!”

  Darren assumed she’d successfully cast Siren’s Call on the helmsman. The ship, which had been coming about, faltered.

  He reached the swivel gun and adjusted the angle, and took another shot.

  Boom!

  The cannonball blasted over the bow of the sloop.

  Darren made a slight adjustment and triggered the gun’s charged shot. Then he cast Twist of Fate on it, activating the Self-Cast effect. His level 1 swivel gun was about to receive a five-second charged shot. Meaning the next shot was going to deal a crackin’ 378 damage with Samantha’s Master-at-Arms buff active.

  Even at level one, and an anti-personnel gun, it would do a fair whack of damage to the oncoming ship.

  If he could hit.

  The timer hit zero, and the gun fired.

  Boom!