It was by some miracle Ivy managed to keep her composure when at last Jötz words reached her conscious mind. Well. Miracle, or distraction. She had been watching bits of mummified flesh pile just under Jacob Ludd's decaying shin, caught somewhere between faint nausea and wonder. For some reason, she could not remove from her mind the image, texture, or taste of the jerky the Jaeger had given her a few hours prior. 

"Um..." she said, swallowing convulsively. She was still staring, wide-eyed, pale-faced, at the pirate's hand and chin and took another step back until she felt her shoulder's hit the bookshelf. Another heavy tome toppled to her feet, coughing up a cloud of dust. She jumped at the sound and turned her attention back to Ludd. And the gun. She found it felt rather like staring into eternity, peering down the relatively short muzzle she had refashioned only days -- or was it hours? -- ago.

"Treasure," she blurted suddenly, her gaze flicking briefly between the pistol and the empty eye sockets that were somehow still trained on her. "Treasure. Gold and silver and...and all the riches you could ever carry." She gestured around the ornate room. "That's what pirates want, isn't it? Gold? Gold and...and other nice things?" She felt her resolve tremble for a second and quickly reasserted herself. 

"Castle Heterodyne!" she said, and once she had spoken, there was no going back. Her plan would work, or it would not. The half a hundred possibilities that lay in between had vanished. Idly, she wondered what it would be like to die, and how soon she would be doing it. 

"I can offer you Castle Heterodyne. Th-the whole...erm...the whole thing. Every hand at your service, and...and..." she trailed off and remembered the offer. 

"I could take you there now. But you have to promise to let me and my friend go."