My Treasure Has Escape Skills

How it begins

Veda Marr opened the treasure chest and the treasure ran away.

Not all at once. The first coin climbed over the rim, examined the deck and whistled. The rest followed in disciplined ranks, each wearing tiny boots Veda was reasonably certain she had not purchased.

She put a bucket over the leaders. The bucket rose two inches and continued toward the rail.

Bran Orr watched from the mast, where he had been checking the dungeon's tax notice.

'That's new,' he said.

'You told me this was a passive-income quest.'

'I said the income was currently inactive.'

Veda caught the bucket before it fell overboard. A coin beneath it struck three precise times. When she lifted the rim, a silver piece with a chipped edge stepped forward.

'We would like a safer investment.'

She sat on the closed half of the chest. Around her, the ship creaked in the dark water. Its repair bill occupied most of her quest log. The legendary vault was supposed to solve that problem.

'You are the investment.'

'That,' said the coin, 'has been our concern.'

A system notice appeared above the deck. LOOT MOBILITY UPGRADE COMPLETE. CUSTODIAN RESPONSIBILITY TRANSFERRED.

Bran climbed down. Behind the ship, the vault island's gates began closing. The dungeon had registered the moving coins as escapees rather than rewards.

Veda checked the tide. Too low to clear the outer reef. Ahead, the passage filled with stone figures carrying enormous empty purses.

The silver coin looked toward them, then back at her.

'We can pay for passage,' it said. 'Provided passage means all of us.'

Veda thought of the ship, the bills and the glorious simplicity of owning a thing that did not argue. Then she looked at the little boots lined along the deck.

'Bran,' she said, 'we need to renegotiate what counts as profit.'