Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Five Knots spent the remainder of the day repairing The Sixth Knot.

Orin removed the shattered rail and cut away wood damaged by the grappling line. Belda climbed beneath the stern in a safety harness to replace two fittings. Min opened the steering assembly, cleaned metal fragments from its housing, and realigned the control runes one at a time.

Tessa helped wherever another pair of hands mattered. Kesh climbed the ruined signal tower and found that one communication plate still held a weak charge.

The message he sent to Ironcloud could carry only a few lines. Their ship was damaged but secure. The delivery had been completed. They had been attacked by an unidentified vessel and forced off course.

He sent a second message to the protected lodging where Rod’s party and Renn were staying.

The reply reached them after dark.

Rod did not know who had attacked them, but he supplied every faction mark, shell company, and vessel name Renn had identified in the archive investigation. Helmar controlled ships without placing the Ruskell crest on their hulls. Rod warned them to look at ownership plates, cargo seals, and crew tokens rather than painted colors.

Belda read the reply twice.

”Our work with Renn was finished.” She said. ”We delivered him. We left.”

”Helmar may not care.” Tessa replied.

Orin hammered a replacement brace into position. ”He damaged our ship.”

The statement carried more outrage than the attack itself.

By noon the next day, The Sixth Knot could fly safely. Its new rear rail did not match the rest of the ship, and the replaced stern vane responded a fraction slower than before. Five Knots planned to correct both in Ironcloud.

They lifted from the ledge and resumed the longer route home.

A Ruskell ship crossed their path before sunset.

It flew no family colors. A faded ore-company mark covered its main sail, and its broad cargo hull rode low despite traveling away from any active mine. Five Knots might have ignored it if Kesh had not recognized the company name from Rod’s message.

Black Anvil Transport belonged to one of Helmar’s intermediaries.

Belda studied the vessel through a distance lens. ”Crew tokens are red iron circles. That is on Renn’s list.”

”Everyone aboard could still be hired freight crew.” Min said.

”For a dead company?” Kesh asked. ”Black Anvil Transport was allegedly closed down several years ago.”

The ship altered course when it saw The Sixth Knot.

It did not approach. It turned north and increased speed.

Tessa placed both hands on the controls. ”We can continue to Ironcloud.”

No one answered immediately.

They had proof that the vessel belonged to Helmar’s faction. They did not have proof that it participated in the attack. Hunting every ship connected to the Ruskells would turn them into exactly the criminals Helmar wanted others to see.

Then Orin looked at the mismatched stern rail.

”We need parts.” He said.

Five Knots overtook the larger vessel in less than an hour.

They did not fire. Tessa brought The Sixth Knot alongside while Belda announced that they intended to board and inspect the ship. The other crew answered with crossbow bolts.

That ended the negotiation.

Kesh shot the sailor holding the alarm horn. Min disrupted the rear lift vane with a focused spell. Tessa crossed above the cargo ship, turned, and matched its speed from the other side before its crew could move their weapons.

Belda and Orin boarded first.

The fight spread across the rear deck. These were not frightened freight workers protecting a questionable employer. They wore concealed armor, moved in trained pairs, and tried to kill the boarders without offering surrender. Belda drove one back from the steering platform while Orin held the boarding point.

Tessa brought The Sixth Knot close enough for Min and Kesh to cross.

The enemy captain retreated below deck.

Five Knots followed expecting guards, cargo, and records.

They found cells.

Two rows of narrow compartments occupied the hidden center of the hold. Iron restraints hung from the walls. Ventilation tubes carried air into spaces too small for ordinary passengers. Numbered collars filled a locked chest near the forward bulkhead.

The cells were empty.

They had not always been.

Min opened a record box and found delivery tallies that listed people as units of cargo. Destinations had been replaced with company codes, but dates and payments remained.

”Slavers.” He said.

The captain attacked from behind the next door.

Whatever restraint Five Knots had brought aboard ended there. The remaining crew fought to preserve a trade that would hang them in Ironcloud. They refused every demand to drop their weapons. When the last hostile sailor fell, no one suggested trying to save the ship for its owners.

They searched quickly.

The hidden cells changed how they searched. Before finding them, Five Knots wanted proof connecting the vessel to Helmar. Afterward, they wanted the names of buyers, routes, and anyone still waiting for a sentient cargo shipment.

The records were coded, but slavers needed enough consistency to collect payment. Kesh found repeated destination symbols beside quantities and physical descriptions. Min located a second ledger concealed in the captain’s cabin. Its entries used initials, dates, and prices rather than company codes.

”Take both.” Tessa said.

A noise came from beneath the forward deck.

Belda opened a floor hatch and found a wounded crewman holding a knife against his own throat. He had been struck during the boarding and dragged himself out of sight.

”Drop it.” She said.

”You will hang us.”

”Drop the knife and you live long enough to answer questions.”

The man glanced toward the empty cells. His fear hardened into decision. He lunged instead of surrendering.

Belda killed him before he reached her.

No one else remained aboard.

The discovery ended any possibility that frightened conscripts had been forced to serve among the crew. Every survivor had chosen violence rather than allow the ship and its records to reach Ironcloud.

Orin began stripping the compatible steering assembly. ”If Helmar sent the first ship because we helped Renn, what is this one doing so close to the same route?”

”Moving between depots.” Kesh said. ”Or watching for us.”

The captain’s route slate answered part of the question. The vessel had orders to reach a mountain station two days north, wait for a coded signal, and continue east. It had not been assigned to attack The Sixth Knot. Its presence was coincidence.

Five Knots had turned that coincidence into a second loss for Helmar.

Kesh gathered manifests, coded correspondence, and ownership papers. Min took rune plates, spare control crystals, and two compact tool sets. Orin removed a steering assembly compatible with The Sixth Knot. Belda selected sealed trade bars and unmarked goods that could be sold without identifying where they came from.

They left stamped cargo, numbered weapons, personal property, and anything bearing a traceable crest.

The documents mentioned Helmar’s intermediaries but contained no direct order signed by Helmar. They were enough to help Renn understand his uncle’s network. They were not enough to prove who commanded it.

”If we bring this ship into Ironcloud, we have to explain how we took it.” Kesh said.

”And Helmar calls us pirates who planted the cells.” Belda replied.

Tessa looked at the dead crew. ”If we leave it here, someone finds it.”

They set the cargo ship on a slow course toward an uninhabited ravine.

Min damaged the lift controls beyond repair. Orin removed the ownership plate. Five Knots returned to The Sixth Knot with everything they intended to keep and watched from a distance.

The slaver vessel crossed the edge of the ravine, lost lift, and descended between the cliffs. Its hull struck stone and broke apart. A second impact carried the remains beyond sight.

The mountains swallowed the evidence.

They remained until smoke stopped rising above the ravine. Min then cleaned the blood from borrowed tools and checked every captured rune plate for tracking marks. Dorran had warned them that expensive airship equipment was often registered to a hull. The pieces they kept either carried no serial marks or could be rebuilt into new assemblies before use.

Kesh sealed the slaver ledgers inside an oilskin packet. Those documents were more dangerous than the equipment. If given to Ironcloud openly, officials would ask where they came from. If hidden, the people named within could continue operating.

”Dorran will know how to pass them without pointing at us.” Tessa said.

”Or Renn might use them against Helmar.” Belda replied.

”Both, if we can manage it.”

They rehearsed the truthful portion of their return report. The Sixth Knot completed its delivery, was attacked on the return route, and made emergency repairs at an abandoned signal station. No lie was required until someone asked where the replacement steering parts came from.

Orin suggested saying they found them.

Belda reminded him they had, in fact, found them.

No one expected Ironcloud investigators to appreciate the distinction.

Five Knots also agreed that none of the captured goods would be sold until Dorran examined them. A profitable mistake could identify them more clearly than a witness. Their first responsibility was keeping The Sixth Knot flying; revenge had already provided enough complications.

Orin installed one captured brace only after Min removed its maker’s plate. The rest remained wrapped beneath ordinary repair stock. The Sixth Knot would carry scars from the battle until they could rebuild the stern properly.

Tessa disliked the temporary rail every time she looked at it. The ship had been theirs for only a short time, and Helmar’s people had already carved damage into it. Repairing the hull would be satisfying. Ensuring the attacker gained nothing would be better.

Dorran later confirmed that the captured steering assembly came from a ship modified for low-altitude mountain routes. It was better than the standard component The Sixth Knot carried. Helmar’s attempt to destroy their vessel had inadvertently supplied an upgrade, though none of Five Knots found that sufficient compensation.

The new part would earn its place only after it carried them safely through future routes.

Until then, Orin trusted his own repairs more.

As they approached the stronghold, Tessa requested a private maintenance berth rather than their ordinary dock. The answer redirected them toward one of Dorran’s enclosed workshops. That kept the captured equipment away from customs clerks and placed their first account in front of the dwarf who had invested in their success.

The Sixth Knot entered Ironcloud looking battered but entirely under its own control. Dock crews noticed. By the time the doors closed behind it, rumors had already begun traveling through the air harbor.

Five Knots resumed its return to Ironcloud.

They had not set out to avenge Helmar’s attack. They had taken a hostile ship, killed its crew, stripped its useful equipment, and destroyed what remained.