Tunnel Rat

Later that night, Captain Tallsqueak held another meeting in the casino. Invited were Captain Whale, Captain Cuda, Captain Goldtooth, Captain Squint, Captain Annie, and Chief Engineer Sledgemonkey. Captain Tallsqueak served a selection of aged whiskey found hidden in Mako's office in the casino and aged Cheddar, Gouda, and Camembert cheeses from the Hollow.

The whiskey had been found after the Engineers did a complete search of the building turning up seventeen small stashes of coin, pipeweed, and cheap rum, along with the far more valuable alcohol hidden by Mako. All Scavengers had an instinctive need to hide a little something away. Since they did this mainly when they were drunk, a good proportion of the treasures they hid were never found again by the person hiding them.

Captain Tallsqueak was eating nothing but salted crackers, under strict orders from his doctor to drastically control his cheese intake. Curiosity alone might not have brought the Captains together. (Except for Captain Squint, who was always curious.) But the lure of raiding Mako's hidden whiskey stash drew them in.

Captain Tallsqueak waited until they'd all had time for a first glass of the amber liquid, before starting the meeting. "Thank you for coming. I felt that explanations were in order. First, do me the favor of putting on the monocles that my assistants are passing out to you. These were standard issues for all the Sharks working in this casino." It would have been near impossible to keep Boom-Boom and Narwhale away from the meeting, so Milo had drafted them to assist him tonight. It also gave him two more dangerous people on his side if any of the Captains reacted badly to his revelations.

"Now, I'll ask that you focus on the runes you should be able to see on the backs of these cards. The decks were used at all of the Poker and Blackjack tables here." Narwhale expertly dealt each Captain a hand of cards. When they saw the normally invisible runes on the back of the cards, they began to curse loudly. This went on for quite some time, many of the Captains bringing up past grievances with Mako and her crew, and remembering the large pots they lost at tables run by the Sharks in several ports. Captain Tallsqueak waited until they were only grumbling before continuing.

Whale looked at him, and asked, "How long have you known?"

"Not long at all. Only since I came here the other night for a little entertainment. I had heard of a mathematical exercise called 'Counting Cards' and it seemed like an enjoyable way to increase my funds and spend a casual evening with like-minded people. Sadly, the cheese at the buffet was horrible, but the gambling favored me. After mastering the technique and winning a modest amount, I realized that the cards were marked. You see, besides mathematics, I have made a study of ancient and contemporary runes and their uses. My eyeglasses are designed to help me in this task. Testing my ability to read the backs of the cards allowed me to increase my fortunes much faster, as you can imagine."

Captain Goldtooth looked grumpy and upset. She'd been losing money to the Sharks for years. She hated hearing about anyone else winning. Especially on a night she had lost so much. "So you started cheating!"

Captain Tallsqueak stared at her for a few seconds until the silence became uncomfortable, "No. I started playing by the same rules that the Sharks were using."

Captain Whale was chewing on her cigar. "That's all well and good for the Blackjack and Poker tables. But the shit that went down up here at the Captain's Table was another load of fish oil altogether."

"That it was. Which brings me to the next part of tonight's meeting." Boom-Boom pushed a cart loaded with heavy bags forward and Narwhale put bags of gold bars and coins in front of each Captain. "I have calculated the losses each of you incurred from the Captain's game, whether from a downturn of luck or from the machinations of the Sharks or myself. It seems only fair that I return your gold."

Captain Goldtooth smiled broadly and shook the Professor's hand, nearly dislocating his shoulder. Captain Squint looked in his bags with glee, "Fish Taco and cat treat money! What could be better."

Captain Whale still wanted answers, and Tallsqueak motioned for Narwhale to deal her a card. He placed his hand over his eyes, "Please look at your card, and I will guess what it is." Whale did so.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The Professor said, "It is the seven of spades."

"Not even close." She flipped the card over, a seven of spades. "What the fething hell?! It was a jack of hearts!"

Narwhale dealt a single card to five Captains. The Professor said, "Royal flush in spades." And it was.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The cursing was loud and long, ending with demands for an explanation. The Professor was happy to oblige them with the details. "This was much tougher to figure out. First, these cards are marked as well. Examine the shades of the grey by the rudder and the number of lines coming off the masts. You will see very slight differences that a keen eye can read. This let Mako or her dealer, Abagail, know what cards each person had. Every card is a masterpiece of magi-tech and interacts with the table, controlled by the dealer. If the card is on the table, the dealer could manipulate the cards, choosing what she wants each card to be. There are limits of course. If I know I have an eight of spades, giving that card to another player would reveal the cheat. So only cards that haven't been seen can be changed. By far, this is easiest to do as the cards are being dealt. We saw that on the last hand of the night."

Captain Whale stared at the backs of the cards, barely able to see the clues at close range. The Professor was right, these cards were really something. "How in hell did Mako get this set up? There is no way any of her crew did this. Abigail was smart, but not this smart. This is high-level Engineer type techno-magic bullshit!"

Sledgemonkey laughed hard at her comment, "You bet it is! I don't think there are more than three of us in Deeprock that can understand this table. Four if you count Senior Engineer Milo. But with the Professor's help, we know who made this thing: Edward 'Black Eddie' Damyon. He was tossed out on his ass for stealing another Engineer's secrets and selling them to a Scavenger Clan. He disappeared from his cell and was never seen again. I think we can all guess what clan that was. But this sure is a slick little bit of magi-tech the Professor is letting us take downstairs."

Captain Whale was nodding. "The landslide was a set-up, start to finish. You put pressure on her by alerting the engineers, who began cleaning out the casino. And when Mako cheated us, you cheated her." All the other Captains were mulling this over.

Captain Cuda was furious at Mako's breach of the rules of a Captain's Table, "You could have exposed her! Why keep it a secret?"

Captain Tallsqueak shook his head. "No, all that would have done is gotten me a knife across the throat. Accuse the Captain who owns the casino of cheating in her own casino? How many of you would have backed her instead of an unknown person who recently entered the city? My only way to show she was cheating was to show I could cheat as well. Too many variables. There would have been a huge brawl and someone would have been dead, probably me. You were all going to lose your money anyway. In this case, you get it back."

Captain Annie had a suspicion of her own, "You wanted her gone, didn't you? Cleaned out and tossed from the city."

Tallsqueak shrugged, then winced, his entire body still sore. "She was bad news. Cheating people in every way that she could. And the more she lost, the more dangerous she was. The city was heading in a direction that boded poorly for everyone. Fate dealt her some harsh blows and I was able to do my small part. However, I did not anticipate being locked in a cage with her."

"Well, it was a fun cage fight to watch."

"Believe me, it wasn't a fun fight to be in. But that's over, and hopefully, I don't have to ever do another. Which was one of the reasons I wanted to return your gold."

The Captains looked at each other and nodded. Captain Cuda spoke for all of them, "A very smart move. And my advice would be to give up your Captaincy. Well, until you get a real ship."

Tallsqueak shuddered, "I was on a boat once, things didn't go well." He didn't bother to elaborate.

Somewhat satisfied, the Captains departed. Cuda and Goldtooth to spend their gold, and Squint was off to stir up trouble with the gangs and keep the players occupied. Captain Annie started to depart, but Whale took her aside for a talk. They departed to discuss the future of the Scavenger Clans in Shadowport and share a bottle of rum on the Iron Orca.

The Engineers set to work with a vengeance, clearing out all of the gambling equipment, and packing it in crates to send downstairs. The Captain's Table was judged too fragile and Sledgemonkey opened his Arcane Workshop and the table was placed in one of his large storage rooms. The Professor was very interested in getting a closer look at the wonderful extra-dimensional space, which Sledgemonkey was happy to personally show off and explain to him.

When Alessandra and twenty women from the church came early the next morning they found a nearly empty building and Chef Bleusnout flipping pancakes on a grill. "Come in ladies, come in. We have much to discuss and I thought it would be better to do so with fresh puffcakes and tea."