Warp Token Update

2k words

***

“You do realise if the captain sees you with a weapon, we’re both doomed, right?”

“Will be doomed-dead without my knives,” she countered. “A Skaven without a knife is like a… like a… Skaven without a knife! Yes-Yes! Only matter of time before I get paws back on weeping blades…”

“I thought you said you agreed to be disarmed.”

“Temporarily!”

“You never cease to amaze me, Skyseeker,” Roderick sighed, rubbing his temples with his gauntlets. “You don’t need your knives or your weapons. If the captain wanted you dead, he’d have already ordered it by now.”

“You want Skaven to scurry around… without weapons?” she asked, grinding her teeth in irritation. “Stupid! Not like Portstaggmire man-things, trusting militia to protect tail.”

“I just want you to give my countrymen a chance,” Roderick replied. “just as they have taken a chance on you. This is Von Kessel’s ship, you should follow his rules.”

“Why you care about what Kessel-man says anyway?” Skyseeker asked. “Called you names, chittered implications. Got feeling you not like him.”

“It doesn’t matter if I like him or not,” he explained. “He believes me and Wilfred’s efforts will help the Empire, and that kind of faith is hard to find these days. We should respect his wishes. You, should respect them.”

“But you heard Fredwil! Every man-thing on wolfboat is out to get me, need to be prepared for sneaky-attack…”

“I’m not out to get you,” he pointed out. “neither is Wilfred. So long as you give no one a reason to fear you, these sailors will treat you right.”

“But if sailors see knifeless rat, that is best chance to attack me!”

“And if they see you with a knife, they’ll come to the same conclusion. You’re preparing for the moment everyone will come after you, but by stealing a weapon, you’re making yourself a threat in the process. See what I’m saying?”

By the way her eyes stared passed him, the only movement on her expression coming from her twitching nose, he already knew her answer.

“Look,” he added, placing a hand on her arm. She was used to his presence by now that she no longer bristled at his tough. “I know it’s hard for you to do this, you’ve been hardwired to be suspicious of everything since the day you were born, but have faith in my countrymen. Have faith in me.”

She paused to consider his words, eventually taking his hand into her paw, giving it a squeeze.

“*Sigh*… Fine! Just for you-you, Rick-rod.”

She extended her other arm, the one with the knife, and turned her palm over, the blade twirling end over end as it sank down to the sea, splashing into the murky depths after a moment. “There, knifeless.”

“You could have just put the knife back,” he pointed out. “but that works.”

Still holding hands, they turned to watch as Portomaggoire sank into the haze, the forests beyond its walls, and the mountains beyond them, sweeping away into the horizon. A kind of elation swelled up inside him at having finally acquired a mode of transport, but it was tempered by his apprehension of what lay ahead.

It was general knowledge that the further south one went down the continent, the less influence the Empire had, and the harder the grip of Chaos became. That was to say nothing of what would happen if he and Skyseeker reached the relic together, as they’d agreed, and which one of them would try to claim it for themselves.

Roderick glanced up at her, seeing that her features were void of anything reminiscent of worry or suspicion, the Skaven simply enjoying the sensation of the winds’ caress. He envied her ability to disregard the threat of looming danger, though it must have crossed her mind at some point. Could he convince her that the Empire’s need was greater than her clan’s own? Would he have to resort to force if he couldn’t? He didn’t want to bring her to harm, but they were both envoys of two civilisations that had long been enemies since either of them were born, their alliance would have no foundation once their end goal was within reach.

He looked back at the city, wondering if Skyseeker’s claim about everyone out to get her wasn’t wholly unfounded.

-xXx-

“It will be a four day trip,” Wilfred said, Roderick following him back into the officer quarters, Skyseeker shutting the door behind them. Not wanting to draw the eye of the man-thing’s or their captain, they had retreated back inside not long after the city was just a small lump of grey matter on the horizon. “Perhaps three,” the wizard added. “if the winds favour us.”

“Can’t man-thing just MAKE winds favourable?” Skyseeker asked. “Wave staff around, speak the magic words: wiggle piggle, whim bam-bam?”

“I can no more alter the course of nature than you can, miss Seeker,” he explained, raising a callused hand. “The winds have their own will, and magicians more powerful than I have tried to exert their control over them in times past. All of them met shall we say… untimely ends. No, we must respect the winds. Let them carry us where they will.”

“How boring!” Skyseeker whined, dragging her paws down her muzzle. “Just give stupid wind a little nudge! Won’t strike boat down for that… will it?”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Roderick here,” Wilfred said with an amused titter. “He used to think all the world’s problems could be whisked away by a magician’s power, but as a Wizard of Life, my abilities don’t warrant destruction or domination, only preservation.”

“Should have made friends with Wizard of War,” Skyseeker muttered to Roderick. “Warp-lightning storms and scorching flames have much more utility than preservation.”

She’d meant her words as a jab at the older human, but Wilfred took the insult in his stride, quietly smiling down at her. She was so used to Roderick reacting to her comments, and the lack of one from the wizard was disturbing in its absence.

“Would either of you care to play a game?” Wilfred asked, changing the subject. “While I had the hindsight to bring some cards and dice from Marienburg, the seamen don’t make for compelling opponents, considering they work all round the clock.”

“Card games? Seriously?” Roderick asked. “Is there nothing else to do on this ship?”

“If you’re afraid I’ll embarrass you in front of your new friend, you needn’t fret,” Wilfred replied with a grin. “I will go easy on you, just this once.”

“You’re just going to use your foresight and win every game,” Roderick said.

“You got better plan-plan, Rick-rod?” Skyseeker asked, turning to Wilfred. “Let’s play! Have four days to burn.”

“That’s the spirit,” the wizard replied. “bring your chair and desk out here, I’ll get the dice.”

Roderick moved over to her – or rather, their cabin – pulling the table out through the door, Skyseeker scurrying passed to drag the chair out after. Wilfred had a stool and chair in his own cabin, and after the three of them sat around the table, Wilfred produced a small carboard box, leaning his staff against the wall as he began to lift through its contents. The staff’s gemstone caught her eye, the way it sparkled reminding her of chiselled warpstone. She was quick to burry any thoughts of stealing it. Robbing a Seer, even if it was a man-thing equivalent, was never a good idea.

Wilfred began to lay out several little cubes, Skyseeker blinking as he placed five of them before her. “What’s this?” she asked, holding one of them up to the sunlight bleeding in behind her.

“These are dice,” Wilfred explained, placing five more in front of Roderick, then another five before himself. “And the game we’ll be playing is called Liar’s Dice. It’s all about gambling, balancing how much information you deal and receive with your opponents, and of course, lying.”

“Like it already-ready,” she snickered. “Man-things have no chance. Uh, how do we play?”

“It’s simple. Everyone rolls their five dice, making sure you keep them concealed at all times. Whichever combination values are on the face-up side make up your hand, can’t be changed once rolled. The values are one through six, which are represented by those little dots, see?”

She nodded. “So six is best face?”

“Not exactly. At the start, each player makes a bet, where we can claim however many of a certain dice are in our hands. Not just your hand, mind,” he added. “You must take into account every dice of every player.”

“But I can’t see your paws!” Skyseeker grumbled. “Show me your dice, Rick-rod.”

“That’s where the deception part comes into play,” Roderick explained. “I could claim I have two threes, but if I only have one in my hand, I have to rely on you or Wilfred having the other three.”

“If you think someone’s bet is a falsity,” Wilfred added. “the next player can choose to challenge them and call, and everyone reveals their dice. If the number of dice meet or exceed the bet, whoever challenged loses a dice. If it’s the other way around, and the dice don’t meet the bet, the one who was challenged loses a dice. You’re eliminated if you lose all your dice.”

“That not sound so bad,” Skyseeker noted. “should make losing more punishable. First one out leaps overboard!”

“Gold is a common stake,” Wilfred replied. “but I’ve no need for monetary possessions, and I doubt either of you are carrying much wealth either.”

“But, if you have no money, how does Fredwil buy things?”

“Nature provides,” the wizard replied, waving a mystical hand at nothing in particular.

“That’s a fancy way of saying he mooches off others,” Roderick added, the wizard frowning at him in response. “Say, you took a couple of rations out of that pantry before, didn’t you lass? We could use those.”

“They’re mine!” she hissed, clutching her cloak in her paws, just in case he got any funny ideas.

“You just said we’ve got no chance of beating you,” Roderick replied. “unless you’ve changed your mind already…”

If she wasn’t so brilliantly intelligent, she might have suspected Roderick was trying to trick her into gambling away her prizes. No matter, she would win them back easily enough, Skyseeker laying out her newfound treats on the desk.

“One thing I forget to mention,” Wilfred said. “each bet must be subsequently higher than the last. If I bet four ones, you can’t bet three ones, but you can bet five ones, or six ones. The next lowest bet after that would be two one’s, and so on.”

“Understanding,” she mumbled, clutching her paws over her dice. “Who goes first? Me-me?”

“Sure. We’ll go clockwise, so Roderick will go next, then me. Whenver you’re ready, miss Seeker.”

“Let’s look-see,” she muttered, lowering her voice as she appraised her dice. “Hmm. Not have any twos, but maybe Rick-rod does? One two!”

“Just keep in mind we’ll remember you’ve now got a two,” Roderick warned. “One four.”

“One six,” Wilfred chimed. “back to you, miss Seeker.”

“Rick-rod definitely has two’s,” she mumbled, still whispering to herself. “Can see it in his stupid, pretty blue eyes. Three two’s! Hehe…”

“You do realise I can hear you this whole time, right?” Roderick asked, grinning like he’d just caught her out on something. “I call.”

Her heart skipped a beat, the man-things revealing their dice. Roderick had no two’s at all, while Wilfred only had one. As Roderick turned to look at her dice, his smile faltered, Skyseeker laughing as his expression flipped upside down.

“What the… you do have two’s. Three of them, actually.”

“Haha!” she exclaimed, pumping her fists. “Stupid man-thing believed rat’s mumbles! Get duped!”

Grumbling, Roderick placed one of his dice aside, sliding one of her treats into her waiting paws. She swallowed it down within two seconds, just in case one of them managed to win it off her.

“Well done, miss Seeker,” Wilfred said. “Now’s it’s slightly harder for Roderick, with his hand being smaller than ours.”

“I’m not out of this just yet,” Roderick replied, a determined look on his face. “I go first now, right? One five…”