Jötz’s expression did not change in the least. His entire body was too shocked for that! Of its own accord, he felt his head slowly turn in glacial speed towards her with a look in his eyes that said everything. [i]What did you just offer him?[/i] The Jaeger had been hoping that Ivy was swift enough to bluff or lie or even just do the sane thing and let the construct handle it on her behalf. A Heterodyne did not compromise or surrender or talks terms of surrender! Not willingly at any rate, and even when they did it was usually through minions. But to offer the lich the source of much of the Heterodyne’s power and authority?

There was also the matter of the Castle currently being mad and murderous. It had always been the latter, but the former had not improved its disposition.

The skeletal pirate furrowed its brown, flakes of skin falling away from its forehead to expose its raw skull. “You are young, aren’t you?” he finally intoned. Ludd gestured to the bookcases that lined the walls of his cabin, barely a millimeter of the shelves clear of books. “[i]This[/i] is my treasure, child. [i]These[/i] are the riches I plundered from the great cities and libraries of Europa and the reasons the Storm King desired my head upon an electroplated platter. Gold and silver had their uses, yes. My crew needed paying, after all, although I managed to fix that problem well enough before my demise.”

The clank hounds behind them growled almost in unison at that, flashing eyes and steel teeth still faced towards the two intruders. Jötz still thought he could take them on his own, although it would be challenging if he couldn’t find their power source quickly enough. The trouble with clanks was that unless their energizing batteries were removed, they would just keep going and going and going… They were a little like bunnies that way.

“But to offer me the whole of your domain?” The pirate tried to smile, dried skin cracking and peeling in the process. “I hope you do not take me for a fool! I can not believe one as you is the current Heterodyne in charge, if you would forgive me to say so, for you are simply too young. To tempt me with so obvious a trap?” He shook his head like a school master scolding a pupil. “Do your parents even know you are out here, young lady?”

Jötz’s head whipped back around and snarled at the captain. “She made chou an offer, the word of a Heterodyne!” [i]One that is going to get me killed.[/i] “Accept eet or don’t!”

Again that too dry chuckle. “While… tempting… The Castle Heterodyne and its environs is hardly on my list of desires. I am a pirate, after all. Tying myself down for too long in my new incarnation is not ideal. But if you should have the authority and power to offer me so much, Lady Heterodyne, then you should have little problem acquiring what I truly desire.”

The muzzle of the gun lowered ever so slightly. “I need a new body. A functioning, live one. I prefer that of a young, healthy male over any other, but a woman will do just as well. I am rather liberal about such things, after all.”

“They think me long dead, and they were right. Which means none of the towns or cities are expecting or prepared for my return after so many centuries. I dare say many have forgotten about me all together! So it is the perfect time for a comeback.”

Lidless eye sockets glowed very faintly with a sickly green light from deep within his skull. “Imagine the amount of knowledge that mankind must have gained in over the years! In combination with the lost lore I have in my collection? I shall hold the very secrets of the universe in living hands!”

Jötz tried not to sigh in exasperation. Alive? Dead? Some things about Sparks simply did not change. “A liv-ink body? Easy-peasy? Vhat color hair chou vant?”