Deacon starred daggers at his two cohorts. It wasn’t until he reached into his bag that he had an idea. Didn’t he pick up a legendary artifact that would be perfect for just such an occasion. He had the money to help these people but that would still leave them with a burnt out husk of a house and a pile of rubble that used to be a barn. Money wasn’t going to keep the rain from falling. His right hand pulled out a palm sized golden hammer. He read the slate description that came with the item.

New Item: Felix’s Legendary Hammer of Repair- this hammer was covered in runic symbols by the great engineer Felix Jinkbon. It can be used to completely restore whatever non-living material it strikes to a previously pristine condition. It can be used five times a day. The hammer takes twenty four hours to recharge a single use.

“Hot damn!” yelled Deacon.

“No don’t! We… you could get a king’s ransom for that hammer—” cried Hani but it was too late.

Deacon stepped over to the barn and tapped it with the hammer. Wooden boards, metal framing, and small pieces of hardware all flew around in a localized tornado of repairs. Within a few minutes the barn looked good as new. Deacon then ran over to the farmhouse and repeated the action. The house and all the furniture inside were repaired in short order. Pleased with himself, Deacon dumped the hammer back into his bag before turning to Hani.

“Sorry bro, I’m keeping this thing. Enjoy, your new old digs folks. I’ll be taking these people away from here. We’re kind of in a rush,” Deacon relayed to the Deep Dweller family.

“Thank you for fixing our home. We’ll take care of the bodies. You just get out there and stop these bad men,” said the farmer.

Deacon huddled up the team and quickly explained to Sophie, Ralph, and Jeremiah what’s occurred over the last day. Sophie was happy to hear that they disposed of two more versions of Efimeo. Ralph became very agitated at the news that Amanda had run off again.

“How could you let her go?” questioned Ralph.

“She wasn’t going to sit still while I gave her the third degree. Something inside tells me she’s right. The pirates, the Goblins, and now the Deep Dwellers putting out a bounty on me. Something is up and it stinks like Ruby,” answered Deacon.

This seemed to mollify Ralph for the time being. Sophie explained that the ship they were supposed to use to get back to dock area was attacked resulting in them fleeing here. Typhus had left her and the captain with instructions on where to meet up after retrieving Deacon and the rest.

“Where is Typhus? Tantus this anti-water dome is great. How long can you keep it up?” asked Deacon.

“It’s an enchantment on the staff. I’m not powering it at all. It’s a very good staff,” answered Tantus.

“Typhus said he needed to speak to some people in town and he’d meet us at the Monument to the Fallen after you took care of that thing with the Tuskaxe twins,” explained Sophie.

“Ok let’s go. Oh shit! We forgot about Alfred,” Deacon said as a squelching came from the corn field.

Alfred emerged from the stalks of corn. His legs were coated to the knees mud. He stumbled into the area they were all huddled in under Tantus’s dome. Ralph pulled his blade in preparation for another fight. The cobalt blue metal started to glow with Holy light as it coursed up and down the length of the sword.

“Stand down. That’s Alfred,” Deacon pointed out.

The metal man just stood there and waived his right hand. Tantus rolled up on Ralph and started peppering him with questions about his new sword as the group all began to walk back in the direction Alfred had come from. The automaton’s arm dropped back to his side, and he slowly started to turn around.

“I’ve got ya bud. No worries,” said Deacon as he hoisted the bucket of bolts onto his back.

An hour later the group of Adventurer’s could see the ocean again. They expected to have to duck patrols coming from the Shattered Sky but there was no one on the road. No merchants or travelers. There didn’t even appear to be any local traffic. The rain had slowed but not stopped. Out in the water they could see several ships forming a blockade closer to the city.

“How are we supposed to get through all that?” asked Tantus.

“I guess we’ll just sink the ships. If they attack the city it was going to happen anyway,” replied Deacon.

“No you can’t. Those are all Sharkfin vessels. Their hulls are full of slaves that do the rowing for them. If you sink the ships, you’ll kill all the slaves inside,” added Jeremiah who started move around nervously.

“Who was that black cat guy I tackled back at the farmhouse?” asked Deacon, as he moved closer to Jeremiah.

“He’s Captain Figaro’s first mate. His number one tracker and taskmaster as well. It’s his job to keep the slaves in line as well as give orders to the other sailors. He’s been a jerk for as long as I can remember. I was his favorite punching bag,” Jeremiah answered sheepishly.

“It’s alright kid. We won’t let anything happen to you now. What else can you tell me about the pirates? Anything at all might be helpful. I’d rather not have to board every single ship but… you said every ship has a deck full of slaves?” asked Deacon as a thought popped into his head.

“Yes, but I don’t see a way to get you to them without swimming. That’ll just leave you exhausted and vulnerable. I can breathe water and I have an ability that lets me skim the waves. If that helps,” Jeremiah added with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Where did you say that boat you had went down?” Deacon asked Sophie who pointed in a direction further down the beach.

“I have a plan,” Deacon said before he stopped and waited for someone to groan.

Without Typhus around there were no sounds of dissent. The group returned to where the chartered vessel was sunk to find the its captain had returned to collect his personal effects. It was him and two crew members. They all drew blades as Deacon and his team arrived.

“It’s the captain of the fishing vessel. Captain, these are the people we were meant to collect,” Sophie called out.

“Well isn’t that lucky,” quipped Deacon.

“Ms. Sophie? Is that you. I was uncertain as to whether those damn Sharkfins had captured you. I’m pleased to see that wasn’t the case. We’ll just be collecting some more things and we can all go back to the city together,” said the captain as he turned back to the bits and bobbles floating around his feet.

“No you don’t understand we still need to get back to the docks,” countered Sophie.

“Now if in we had a ship, which we currently do not, there is a blockade of Sharkfin privateers preventing anyone from approaching the city. How do you suppose one would get there? Our best bet is to speak to the army at the entrance to the city. They’ve got the whole town on lockdown looking for your friend there. Said we couldn’t leave if we entered and the keys to my place were still on my boat. They didn’t seem to care about the ships in the harbor. Something that struck me as odd at the time and vexing now. Hey where do you think you’re—” gasped the captain as Deacon tapped the remains of the ship with a little golden hammer.

The fishing vessel put itself back together good as new and just bobbed up in down at whim of the tide. Deacon smugly walked back to stand behind Sophie who just had her arms crossed under her bosom waiting for the captain.

“By Vatten’s soggy drawers! Tis a miracle. How did ye… Oh I don’t care me ships back to working condition. Even better than when I erm, bought her. But we still can’t bust a blockade in this fishing ship,” said the captain as he climbed the rope ladder and started running back and forth inspecting things.

“Permission to come aboard and explain how I intend to murder all of those slaving bastards?” asked Deacon.

“Granted,” replied the captain.

A few hours later and the fishing vessel had dropped anchor outside of effective cannon ball range of the nearest pirate ship. Jeremiah and Deacon were climbing down the rope ladder to the waves below. Sophie, Tantus, Ralph, and Alfred were hiding below decks as the captain and his crew went through the motions of a standard fishing boat. They pulled pantomimed pulling ropes and casting nets.

“Are you sure this will work? How do you intended to get up to the deck from the water?” asked Jeremiah as he slid back and forth on the surface of the ocean.

“Pretty much the same way I get in anywhere. I’m going to ghost in. Relax. The first boat won’t be looking at the water. They’ll keep looking at the fishing boat. If they need to maintain their relative distance to ensure the blockade is complete, they won’t come after our friends. I just need you to point out the deck they keep the slaves on, and I’ll do the rest. We repeat the process until we reach the last ship and then we take all the ships. Easy as pie,” reiterated Deacon as he stepped onto the surface of the water and stood there.

Shock was evident on Jeremiah’s face as Deacon strode forward on top of the water. He couldn’t even stand on the ocean. He needed to keep gliding back and forth with the waves. Deacon was just casually walking across the water like he was on his way to dinner. It was at this point that Jeremiah thought this plan might actually work.

Deacon took in the sights of the fishing ship above him and a pirate ship in the distance. He wondered to himself how he got here. On their way here he opened and used the distance swimming skill book he bought at the guild shop.

New Skill Learned: Distance Swimming-this skill trains the swimmer the proper form and function to maximize the amount of time one can swim. Higher levels of this skill will grant reductions in stamina usage while swimming.

Admittedly Deacon was a little disappointed in the skill. While it did teach him the proper way to swim the best it could do was reduce stamina usage at higher levels. He didn’t have a stamina bar so that was a benefit he would never see. He waited a few seconds after using the skill book, but Rule Breaker didn’t activate. That told him there was no problem that Rule Breaker thought needed solving. Now that he was out here on the waves of the ocean, he understood the benefits of at least knowing the proper way to swim.

“We should get going if we are going to do this. If they see me in the water they won’t bat an eye, but you, you definitely don’t belong out here. Let’s go,” said Jeremiah as he started to make his way toward the Sharkfin boat.

“Unintentionally racist comment from the Sea Elf but you’re not from my world so I’ll let this one slide,” muttered Deacon as he strode out into open waters.