Stepping into the Floating City felt a lot like Tortuga on steroids. Tortuga was an open port known for fencing Pirated goods, the Floating City was nothing but Pirates. Their entire culture was piracy and blockade running, even the shops near the wharf front all specialized in either food or tools to help in robbing other ships.
There are already rooms booked for them at one of the hotels near the waterfront, and their Pilot is escorting them through the maze of the Floating City, so Cain simply enjoys the views and attempts to understand what this strange feeling that the city gives off is.
It's very familiar but so foreign to the ocean environment that he is having trouble placing it. Or more like it's a blend of two things that never belonged together but somehow just fit.
The route led them through a section of the underground city so they could more easily move up a few levels, and that's when it became clear to Cain. It's not one feeling but two. One is the sense of open ocean and water magic that he usually feels from the Captains and other powerful Wave Riders, the other is the Spider Goddess' favor.
Despite moving to the open ocean, their goddess is still watching over them at all times, keeping their city safe. The presence is much stronger here than it was in Muzz, which was abandoned, and Cain could almost hear her voice in his head with the intensity of the sensation of being watched over.
Cain spotted a food stall just past the exit back to open air that was selling Takoyaki, so he moved up ahead of the Pilot, nodding towards his destination. The vendor was happy to plate up five orders for the group while the others caught up to Cain's rapid movement, having prepared in advance for the influx of visitors that were expected today.
"Hey, how did you do that?" The pilot whispered when they caught up, then continued when he saw that Cain thought he was an idiot and didn't understand what he meant.
"The arches that mark the entrances to the underground are protected by the Spider Goddess, you can't pass through unless you're a Dark Elf. That's why I'm here, to let you all through the doorways." He hurried to explain.
While Cain was in the body of a Wave Rider, such a simple thing wouldn't fool a living Goddess, but Cain recalled that she had once offered him a blessing, but never explained what it was about.
"It's all good. I asked her and she said it was fine." Cain shrugged, while both the Guide and the street vendor almost choked on their tongues.
Nobody speaks to the Goddess, the Wave Riders fear her more than they revere her, so the only ones that would go looking for her are the desperate and the priestesses. For someone to just casually contact her to get through a warded door was nearly unthinkable.
"They can't tell that you're messing with them," Nila whispered, just loud enough for the others to hear.
"If you tell them it ruins the fun. But rest assured, she wouldn't let me cause trouble for her chosen people. Even if you're a bit saltier than the regular variety." Cain joked, then noticed that the Pilot actually offered a silent prayer.
'Poor fellow must be really frustrated if he's actually begging her for mercy already.' Nila thought, watching his antics.
With their snacks in hand, the Pilot led them to the front doors of a rather nondescript hotel. If Cain didn't read the writing on the door, he would have thought it was just an ordinary apartment building just like a hundred others that they had walked by. Part of the problem was that everything in the city was so colorful that it was almost impossible to stand out from the crowd. Even if the proprietor had painted it neon pink, it wouldn't have been particularly noticeable.
"Here you are. Hotel Rose, your accommodations for your stay. There will be an escort here in the morning to bring you to the meeting of Captains and anywhere else you need to go today. Normally I would say stay in for your safety, but today I will say, just do whatever you want as long as it doesn't bother anyone." The Pilot informed them before turning and walking away.
"I think we were too mean to him. He looked pretty stressed." Cain told Nila, who was still watching him go.
"He's just a kid, he needed the learning experience before someone was actually hard on him. I think you hurt his pride by walking through the archway and ordering food in Dark Elven though. If I had done it, he might have taken it as a kindness." Nila pointed out.
There are a lot of subtle rules and rankings within the Wave Rider society that Cain doesn't really understand, so it wouldn't surprise him at all if he had accidentally hurt someone's feelings or stepped out of line. Nila could cover some of the situations for him, but her knowledge was more general, provided by the System when she was summoned, so she could play the part of a Wave Rider. The interpersonal relations between actual living people relied on her having met them previously to this, or she could only guess at their spot in the hierarchy.
"We can ask the guide tomorrow, they might tell us more about the way things are supposed to be done in the city. I'm sure you're going to ask for the Wave Rider's help with the mission that the Dragon Riders gave to you, so it will save time if we don't offend them first." Mythryll suggested.
"You have a point, the more Captains we can get on our side the better. We're likely all on the same page anyhow, dealing with the blockades and random attacks, so it shouldn't be too hard unless someone's feelings get hurt." Cain agreed.
"And if that does happen?" Nila asked.
"Giant tentacle monster and start spanking them like misbehaving children until they agree with me." Cain joked and even Mythryll could feel the dark shadow that passed over the room, giving off a vibe of discontent.
"Alright, maybe not so much spanking. But maybe a strongly worded complaint and an attempt to reason with them before we go off and do our own thing. I don't think it will come to that though, we've already got friends among the Captains, so we should get some support to work with them."
Cain's speech seemed to have settled the angry spirit in the room and Mythryll sighed. "You have no idea how strange it is to have the Spider Goddess' presence so strong around me. It's like I can hear her trying to convert me to one of her followers."
That was one of the many reasons that forest elves stayed away from their Dark Kin, the Spider Goddess was very enthusiastic about her recruitment efforts and would promise them many wonderful things if they would join her faction.
Cain never did find out how she was related to the Laughing God, though he had heard that she arrived at some point later than the old Gods and the Ancients. Asking about the back story of the Dark Elves goddess wasn't easy though. It was taboo among the other elves, most species didn't know much about her, and the Dark Elves themselves weren't willing to share.
Cain noticed a dusty statue of her on the top shelf of the bookcase in the corner of their room and gave it a quick polish before setting it back in its place overlooking the room, but turned slightly away from the bed.
"Is that some superstition from your old life?" Mythryll asked, not sure what Cain was doing.
"Nope, just saying hello, and turning her so she isn't looking directly at the bed. I'm not sure who did that, but it's a bit kinky for my tastes."
Mythryll was tired of Cain teasing her with half answers, so she turned to Nila for the rest, only to see that the Spider statue's eyes were glowing and it had turned to look at them. Mythryll hoped that maybe she could put it in a box until she checked out or something because that statue was just as creepy as the shadow that spread over the room earlier.
"Let's go down for dinner. If the food in the hotel isn't great we can wander the district. I saw quite a few restaurants in the area." One of the Nila clones suggested, pulling Mythryll out of the room with a glance at the statue. She had noticed her beloved looking at it, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it as far as she could tell.
"Just let me change. We're here for a political meeting and that calls for a full formal outfit." Cain declared, changing outfits to match the Wave Rider Captains, with the sleeves rolled up to show off his tattoos before styling the short hair of his current Dark Elven form.
"Do you want an adjustment? I can make you blend in better with an illusion?" Cain asked Mythryll, but Nila declined on her behalf.
"No, I like her this way. Let's just go eat you fashionista."
Mythryll couldn't hide the laughter at that, and she was still in tears when the first round of drinks was served in the hotel tavern. The liquor was high quality, and the food that followed soon after was better than expected of the rather plain hotel that Cain was beginning to suspect was chosen only to match the name of their ship, not due to any other nonsense reason that the Pilot had fed them on the way here.
"Everyone has an early morning tomorrow, so I'm closing up early. If you need anything, just holler down at me and I'll hear you." The innkeeper informed them as they made their way back up to the room.
"I'm sure we will be fine. Will I see you tomorrow at the meetings?" Cain asked.
"Most likely. I don't know where they'll have you seated, but I'll be there somewhere." The elf told them, then returned to the back room to finish up the cleaning.
If even the innkeepers were going, the Council of Captains must involve much more of society than just the Captains. Wave Rider society valued sailing skills above most things, and the representatives that they sent to land-based duties were usually very low on the societal ladder, so Cain suspected that the innkeepers inside the floating city were in the same situation.
But again, he had missed his chance to ask proper questions, leaving them to go into tomorrow's meetings mostly blind.
