Eila closed the door to the bathroom behind her and clenched her trembling hands tight. She stifled a little gasp. The pirate watching her, who she’d learned was named Kestrel, was just outside the door.

She steadied her nerves with a forceful breath, then walked normally to the far stall at the end of the bathroom. Closing the door shut behind her, she summoned her [Binder] and flipped to the [Item Card] section.

Arrayed before her were the handful of cards she’d managed to sneak away from her forging. She shut her eyes, replaying the harrowing past few hours.

Through her veiled conversation with Mashi, Eila had revealed her plan: Find an opportunity to sneak away one of the item requirements for a [Blueprint] and get it to the others.

Mashi, picking up on it, had figured out how to get it to the other hostages: Sneak it in the bathroom.

They’d both spoken loudly enough for the other forgers to hear, and it seemed like they’d understood. Forgemaster Gerund in particular had caught Eila’s eye at one point and almost imperceptively nodded.

The problem then was how to let the other hostages know. After Eila had successfully forged the first two cards for Kestrel, she’d looked at the third [Blueprint] he’d handed her and said she needed her assistant for this one.

Thankfully, it was another Order card, [Enforce: Burst]. Very expensive, and Kestrel’s greed had won through. He allowed her to quickly grab her ‘assistant,’ which was Rivingtol.

Mashi had arranged a distraction. She’d loudly dropped her molten base, splattering it on the floor. While Kestrel had looked over, Eila quickly hissed the plan to Rivingtol, who nodded smoothly.

When the card was finished, Rivingtol was sent back to tell those he deemed up to the task.

Sneaking away the item requirements was tricky. That meant the [Blueprint] was going to fail, so she couldn’t do it too often, not to mention only certain materials would be applicable in a combat setting.

To offset the inevitable failures, Eila forged like she’d never had before. She entered a state she’d only heard the Forgemasters wax poetic about, a state they dubbed “Oneness.”

Every part of her was awake. She would be calibrating the settings of the [Refined Inker] and turn without knowing why to her furnace right as the base was finished melting. She would grab the base, set it down by the [Blueprint] mold, and head to the attuner and start preparing for the focus only to go back to the base and pour it in, the perfect amount of cooling having been done. She knew from an outsider's perspective her movements probably looked baffling—but to her, it was beautiful.

These tiny seconds of efficiency compounded to create a perfect storm, one that had her forging Adept [Blueprints] like they were Novices. She could tell that Kestrel was pleased, which was good. It made him relaxed, especially with the drinking he’d been doing.

She made sure to stagger her failures. Sometimes, even if a card had a good item that should be smuggled away, she completed it and called for the next [Blueprint].

Once she’d gathered enough, she asked to use the bathroom. By that point, Kestrel was more than happy to assent, though he’d still accompanied her.

Eila carefully lifted the lid of the toilet tank. There, floating in the water, was a good array of cards from the other forgers who’d understood. Not all of them had, or had the courage to go through with it, but it was enough. There luckily was an equal split of men and women in the forgers, so both gendered bathrooms would have cards in them.

She added her items to the pile: 1x. [Red Raptor Claw], 1x. [Ice Wolf Fang], 1x. [Ivory Knight Tusk], 1x. [Firebear Tooth], and 1x. [Bloodshark Scale].

They were all bases, as the furnace provided an enclosure to summon her [Binder] in without being seen, and bases had the most standard use in a fight. She saw that the other forgers had had the same thought.

But she’d managed to sneak one more. It was risky of her, dangerous, but the opportunity presented itself when Kestrel had stalked away to get another drink. With trembling hands, she’d summoned her [Binder] and stowed an [Air Source]. Boll had chewed Kestrel out for leaving her alone, and he didn’t leave again, but she’d done it.

She kept that last one for herself, just in case.

Finally, she made sure to set everything back to normal, actually used the bathroom to keep up appearances, and exited the room. Kestrel turned to her, and her heart thumped rapidly when he inspected inside.

“Back to it,” he grunted after a terrifying moment, leading her back to the lounge.

—🃁—

Tristan tore through the eighth floor; his heart soared with the elation of having his deck back, while his mind raged at the death of Sir Barrihald.

He’d covered his exposed top with a [Cloudsworn Vest], which came from the female pirate’s [Binder]. He also swapped out the rest of his damaged equipment with fresh ones from the pirates, though he left Sir Barrihald’s cards alone.

As it turned out, cards acquired from another player had its own [Absorbed Cards] tab, which could be filtered to show specific people. This way, when he returned Sir Barrihald’s cards to Rivingtol, he wouldn’t have to go digging through his [Binder] to find them.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

After I clear this ship of this infestation.

Tristan burst into a long room filled with beds. The employee sleeping quarters. There were two pirates in here, who’d turned to him with looks of alarm.

A grin stretched his face. A mad grin, he knew, but he didn’t care. Finally, after so long of fighting without his cards, now he could show these pirates what a true cardbearer looked like.

He pulled [Predator’s Mark] and cast it at the pirate on the left, hitting him in the torso; the card immediately refreshed in his deck, and he grabbed it with his other hand and threw it at the pirate on the right, hitting her on the head. Both casts happened in an instant, before the pirates could even summon their own cards.

Now, they did. But it was already too late. Tristan pulled and casted [Shadow Step] in the air between them; in a blink of shadow he formed in the air and quick-casted [Monstrous Descent], shoving the card straight out the deck with the palm of his hand down to the ground.

The card fell like a meteor and exploded in a cascading wave of Dark energy that struck the two pirates, sending them flying back. The man’s torso flashed red, while the woman’s bandana shattered; then, [Predator’s Mark] popped, creating a burst of dark spikes. The woman dropped dead, her exposed head impaled. The man’s torso shattered, leaving his chest bare.

He shouted and pulled a card—then froze as Tristan’s [Nightmare Cleave] shot forth, a meter-long curved blade of Dark energy that sliced right through the man’s chest, cutting him in two.

The pirate blinked, cast the card in his hand—another [Whirling Gust]--ineffetually at the ground, then toppled.

You have defeated [Adept | Low] cardbearers Jurn Ellios and Yarna Ellios.

You have acquired 8x. [Adept Perkshards].

Tristan dropped to the ground in a crouch and stood, blinking away the message. He’d gotten three Perkshards for assisting in the death of the pirate Haron, so it seemed they gave four each if he did it himself. He also made a mental note to only target their heads; the helmet slot had much less Armor than the easier-to-hit torso, but with his accuracy it shouldn’t matter.

He walked over, absorbed both their [Binders], and quickly flipped through, seeing if there were any upgrades he could make. Unfortunately there weren’t, but two things caught his eye.

He pulled out a [Short Distance Communicator] and a [Lockdown Access Key]. He converted them both, and they formed in each hand. The shortcomm was the same as the employees on the Serenity had used. Likely taken from their bodies. The settings on it were tied to each floor of the ship, with the flight room and the crystal room having their own setting.

The [Lockdown Access Key] was the same disc as the one he had right now. A metallic disc with an opal set in the middle instead of the diamond of the [Topaz Access Key]. It pulsed with Order energy. He flipped it around and saw the Serenity’s logo on the back.

They must have also taken it from an employee, he thought, then frowned. But that doesn’t make sense. They boarded the airship with their deck enabled already.

Footsteps on the other side of the room drew him out of his thoughts. He put the [Lockdown Access Key] away but kept the shortcomm clipped to his belt.

The door flung open, revealing two more pirates.

Tristan grinned.

—🃁—

Eila poured the base of the [Eagle Eyes Blueprint], while watching out of the corner of her eye on the bathroom door. A woman had just walked in. She had no idea if that woman was privy to the situation; she told Rivingtol to be discreet in who he alerted, as the last thing they needed was a scared passenger running and telling the pirates out of desperation.

Eila moved over to the inking station, ostensibly checking on the status of the [Great Eagle Blood] as it refined. Really, she was positioning herself so she could better see how the other forgers were doing. Mashi was hard at work attuning a set of [Harpy Souls], while across the way Forgemaster Gerund was inking in an image.

Despite his silly flyer, it was clear the bushy-browed man was a true master of the craft. He had easily forged twice the amount of cards as the others alone and seemed to hardly be breaking a sweat. Thankfully, the man had the presence of mind to remove his forgepin, as it would be strange for a Master forger to fail these Adept [Blueprints].

Gerund looked up and caught her eye. He nodded to her, then stood up.

“I need to use the bathroom,” he said to his pirate, a surly-looking man with shockingly crooked teeth.

The man grunted but could hardly complain after all the cards Gerund forged. The pirate led the forger to the men’s bathroom.

Eila breathed out. She was starting to crash hard; she hadn’t slept at all and had barely gotten any sleep the night before they boarded the ship. She’d been up all night arguing with her mother while her father just impassively looked on.

She rubbed her eyes. She needed to go drop some more cards off. She had three more bases that would be good in a fight.

But now there was a new problem: how will they decide the right moment when to strike back? As the night progressed, the pirates were steadily getting drunker. However, they definitely had heal cards in their deck to sober them up. They needed a right opportunity, an opening, a—

A shrill scream pierced the air. Eila spun and saw Boll grabbing a woman by the arm, dragging her out of the hostages.

“What did you say?” the drunken man shouted. “I heard you say something. What are you plotting?”

The woman suddenly slapped him in the face; his helmet didn’t even blink red as it was too low damage, but the pirate stumbled back, stunned.

The woman summoned her [Binder] and pulled out an [Item Card]. With a shriek, she jumped on Boll, a [Red Raptor Claw] now in her hands, and stabbed at him furiously, crying about how they’d killed her husband.

Chaos broke out. Dozens of hostages leapt to their feet, summoning their [Binders]. More than Eila had anticipated.

They pulled out their items, converting them, and rushed at Boll, a resounding yell rising into the air. They swarmed the pirate, his cry of alarm smothered by their bodies. Pirates eating over by the buffet shouted and started [Air Dashing] over, as did the ones guarding the forgers.

No, he’s mine, Eila thought with a sudden rush of viciousness. She summoned her [Binder] and pulled out a [Metalborn Spike] and the [Air Source] she stole. She converted the spike but kept the source as a card in her hand.

She ran in and joined the battle for the Serenity.