After fixing the Retribution and rounding up most of the hidden pirates, my small group set sail again. Everyone was in good spirits after our little battle, even Barcos. Mostly because there was enough booze on the island to make even him happy.

The first island we stopped at had no merchants willing to brave the trip, even with our insurance that we would be protecting them.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to me that they refused. I would have refused in their place as well. It wasn’t like they knew who we were, for all they knew we could be leading them into a trap.

Knowing this was the case, our next three stops didn’t go any better. It wasn’t until we made it to the fourth island that a man approached us as we drowned our repeated failures in the local bar.

“Are you, Captain Paul, of the Retribution?” the unassuming man asked.

I surveyed the bar but nobody else seemed to be paying attention. So it seemed this man came alone. That was odd. Not odd that he approached us, we had been approached by pirates masquerading as merchants on more than one occasion so far. But Khikall and Em’ah were always able to sniff them out beforehand.

“I might be, who’s asking?”

The man gave a stiff nod and produced a sealed envelope from his storage ring. “If you have time, my boss would like to discuss a possible business arrangement with you.”

I didn’t take the offered envelope, I stared at the man, making him nervous. “And who is this boss of yours?”

The man swallowed, “that would be Director Tolish, Captain.”

Khikall spit when he heard the name and I even heard an amused snort from Barcos, which was impressive considering he hadn’t stopped guzzling a bottle the entire time this man was standing here.

Seeing as I wasn’t going to take the envelope from his hand, the man set it on the table, bowed one last time, and briskly walked back out of the bar.

“So, who is this Director?” I asked, using the edge of my cup to pull the envelope toward me.

“He is the Director of all of the Guild forces within the Isles,” Khikall replied with venom.

“He isn’t such a bad man,” Em’ah replied, “there are certainly worse people the Guild could have sent to our Islands.

“Bah, of course, you would side with them. Considering the Avuilian Protectorate was the first county to “benefit” from their unfair practices,” Khikall replied, slamming his cup down and spilling some of his drink.

Em’ah just rolled her eyes, which for an Ilixian meant, she could manipulate them to do whatever she wanted. It was unsettling to watch her eyes spin like a wheel from a slot machine before they came to a stop, she gave me a coy wink. I shuddered, taking a big gulp of my drink to cover my revulsion.

Barcos let out a loud burp as he set his empty bottle down. “Em’ah’s right, besides, I think you enjoyed being a pirate more than you ever did running supplies.”

Khikall grumbled but didn’t acknowledge the truth.

“So you think it's safe to accept this invitation?”

Barcos shrugged, “safe probably shouldn’t be used here but I doubt the man will outright attack you. He obviously wants something and is willing to deal with you without resorting to violence.”

“Em’ah, could you do some digging and see what comes up?”

She gave an exaggerated sigh before standing up, “and here I thought I would get a day of rest. Give me a few days and I’ll meet you three back at the ship.”

With that, she turned and left the bar. I took the knife from my empty plate and used it to slice the seal on the envelope open. I ignored the look Barcos gave me for being overly paranoid but I didn’t trust the Guild. It turned out the letter was just a simple letter.

Greetings, Mr. Paul Fuller, or should I say Captain Fuller, congratulations by the way.

I am Director Tolish of the Merchant House of the Guild. I am aware of your recent run-in with a Lord Vik’t. I can assure you I don’t share the man’s goals. But I don’t expect you to believe me. But that is fine. I have removed any Guild agents that were in the Isles searching for you as an offer of peace. The lovely Em’ah should be able to corroborate this.

As for why I reached out to you, I believe we could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. I will also eliminate the threat that Lord Vik’t poses to your friends, although, I hear they are doing quite well against his forces so it may not even be necessary.

If you would like to meet and discuss this opportunity, please come to Mohisa Island at your earliest opportunity.

Regards, Director Tolish.

I didn’t know what to make of this invitation. Was this infighting amongst the Guild? It seemed that way. But he also called his allegiance a house, so perhaps the Guild wasn’t as cohesive as I first thought. It actually made more sense that they were made up of smaller groups, seeing as they spanned entire worlds.

“Where is Mohisa?” I asked while debating on whether I wanted to go or not.

I heard Khikall grumble, “It’s only a few days away, actually closer to the island we liberated than this one.

I would ask why we didn’t stop there, but I already knew the answer to that, Khikall hated the Guild as much as I did. But where his hate was justified it seemed like mine might be a bit misplaced.

***

Em’ah returned after her quick investigation and verified everything that the letter contained. That made my decision easy and we set sail for Mohisa.

I was expecting some massive island, covered in over-the-top displays of wealth and power. Instead, we arrived at a rather small island with a port that covered the entire thing. There were mostly Guild airships coming and going but I could see a number of other ships docked. It was a plain as day trading hub and while there wasn’t a Bazaar here, there was a massive market.

Everything looked clean and well maintained but nothing was ostentatious. The streets were wide and straight to make transferring massive amounts of goods from one side of the island to the other a quick process. Not everybody could afford thousands of storage rings or either didn’t want the expense.

We docked and after handing our invitation to the dockmaster, we were quickly greeted with a carriage that took us to the central office as the man called it.

If anything, the central office was even busier than the dock. It was a three-story building with two wings off a central tower. It wasn’t built to be the jewel of some empire, its brick siding and decorations very modest. Two flags hung over the main entrance, one was the Guild's and the other one I didn’t recognize but could assume meant it stood for the Merchant House.

We were ushered inside by an attendant and almost immediately seen by this Director fellow. None of that bullshit waiting to make him seem more important than he was.

I had expected another haughty overbearing noble type like Lord Vik’t so I was surprised to see a tall smiling beastman with twin horns that curled back from his forehead and along his skull coming to an end behind his ears.

Other than the horns, the man had no other features singling him out as a beastman.

I accepted the offered hand from the smiling man without much thought, my mind still trying to figure out what was happening here. It wasn’t magic, I had prepared by wearing my ring. Was this man just genuinely friendly?

“Good to finally meet you. You prefer to be called Paul, yes? Or would you prefer Captain Paul?”

“…Uh, Paul is fine,” I managed to stammer out, earning a chuckle from my shadows, Khikall, Barcos, and Em’ah.

“You can call me Tolish, I see you brought your crew. Welcome, welcome. Em’ah, it has been too long,” the man said, kissing her hand and making the Ilixian woman blush. I really would love to hear the story behind that but perhaps another time.

“Ahem,” I said clearing my throat.

“Apologies, Paul, I sometimes get distracted by beautiful women,” he replied with a wink before walking back behind his desk and motioning for us to take seats. “I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I understand your dealings with the Guild haven’t been exactly cordial so far.”

That was a bit of an understatement unless open war was a normal occurrence for the Guild. Then again, considering the size of the organization, it probably was.

“The actions of this Lord Vik’t aren’t representative of the Guild as a whole. As you can imagine, an organization of our size has many differing opinions within. We try to have an open mind but some factions see things a certain way and are unwilling to compromise. Or they see themselves as better than others.”

“And how are you different?” my anger stirring after he brought up Lord Vik’t’s name.

“I am part of the merchant house, one of many within the guild. Although we are currently the largest. It gives us a bit of leverage against certain forces and we try to remain as neutral as we can. Which is why I invited you here today. I have heard about your fascinating new enchantments.”

So he wanted my runic plans and knowledge. Same shit different package and I decided to call him out on it. “How is that any different than what Lord Vik’t wants?”

“…I think you misunderstand, Paul. Lord Vik’t wanted to capture you and your process for his own greed. I simply want to sell your items.”

I paused at that and had to think. What was his angle? Surely working with me would earn the ire of more than Lord Vik’t and whatever faction he worked for. I had to know. “Why?”

Director Tolish leaned back in his chair and steepled his hands below his chin. “A simple yet weighty question. Let me give you a bit of information first. The Guild is a fractious lot, where certain technologies are held by powerful houses. They use their monopolies to control the market and drive up prices. While I’m not against the high prices as it benefits my house, this practice tends to stagnate development. Take airships for example. The Shipbuilders alliance within the Guild controls all of the plans for every conceivable way to make a ship fly. Except yours and any possible homegrown alternatives that may have cropped up on your planet. How they haven’t learned about your ship yet is beyond me, or maybe they have and are already moving in the shadows to deal with you. I can’t be sure.”

I shifted uncomfortably at this news. “But what about the new ships the Avuilian are developing?” That got a tsk of disapproval from Barcos but I ignored him, I didn’t owe the Avuilian Protectorate any allegiance.

Tolish chuckled. “There is no reason to be concerned about that. The Shipbuilders are behind their ‘improvements’ the design is not something revolutionary. It just isn’t used because the cost and mana requirements are hard to justify.”

“Ok, so even if I did agree to sell to you, what's to stop someone like the Shipbuilders from coming after me? It seems like a no-brainer if I was in their position, take out the competition.”

Tolish nodded, “you would be correct. If you aren’t part of the Guild, there would be nothing to stop the Shipbuilders from taking your design or the Dwarves from skinning you alive to find out where you stole their weapon designs from.”

“You aren’t making a good case if you want me to sell to you. But then again you said if I wasn’t part of the Guild. You want me to join the Guild don’t you?”

The man smiled broadly. “Good, I was hoping you would catch that. Yes, if you joined the Guild, you would earn certain protections. Your technology would be safe from theft by the other factions, I could step in and remove this Lord Vik’t as an issue, and while you wouldn’t be safe from hired assassins, you would be safe from outright attack by the other houses. Something you would not be able to weather on your own, even with your impressive tech. Trust me, Lord Vik’t is a minnow in a sea full of killers.”

I didn’t know what to say about this offer. It sounded too good to be true. “What do you get out of this?”

“You give me exclusive rights to sell your technology for ten years. I make a fortune, you get safety for your people, it’s a win-win.”

“I need time to think about this,” I replied.

“That’s to be expected. But don’t take too much time. I have already had to kill more than a dozen Guild agents that were looking for you and your ship. They won’t stop until they have what they want and I expect their next steps will not be very pleasant. While I can hold off a few spies, I cannot stop a determined assault force without a very good reason.”

As we all stood, I shook the man’s hand one last time before I left the office to think on his proposal. Sure it sounded good but what strings came attached to joining the Guild. I knew I couldn’t keep rune crafting a secret forever. I knew the Stygian Order was already experimenting with their own style and some of my employees had picked up things from watching me.

The smart thing to do would be to jump at this chance and ruthlessly squash anyone from experimenting with rune craft. But did I want to do that? Earth needed a way to even the odds and rune crafting gave it a unique advantage. Sure it wasn’t as powerful as enchantments but it seemed to be more versatile. Combining the two together would be ideal but I suspected finding someone to train you to enchant would be a difficult prospect considering the Guild’s heavy-handed ways. Even then it would be of little value because you would only learn that subset of enchanting.

From what little experience I had with enchanted items I could tell it was a rigid art form. Full of esoteric rules and design constraints to get the desired results. Otherwise, there would be no monopolies, someone would simply copy the design and recreate it on their own. Rune crafting had its own issue in that department, being more intent-based. A dozen people could use the same runes in the same pattern and come up with twelve different outcomes if they all had a different understanding of the runes involved. This could be fixed by giving them a set of runes and telling them you wanted a certain effect as the outcome. The design and order might change but the end result would be much closer.

I only realized this fact after looking over the items left behind by the Stygian Order and trying to reproduce them. The results were anything but similar, it was fascinating and disturbing at the same time. But this is what made rune crafting so versatile. Hell, given enough time I could create a set of wholly unique runes. All it required was a belief that the random squiggles had meaning. The System would do the rest.

I decided to put these thoughts aside while we found a willing merchant and headed back to the unnamed island full of freed prisoners.