"You've been exiled from six kingdoms, cautioned for gambling, arrested for stealing, and censured for 'conduct deleterious to the practice of virtue'. You are beyond hope and beyond help." "I debate that," I argued. "You haven't seen how virtuous I can be when people threaten to kill me." Shale expected the great oceanside city of Vinsama to be easy, profitable, and fun. All right-so there were giant mutant squirrels, and mad scientists assembling monsters from bits, and a power-mad tyrant threatening his life on a semi-regular basis. It wasn't anything that marked cards, a silver tongue, and a prediliction for faking his own death couldn't deal with. "My dear friend!" I said, shocked. "I do not lie. I uplift my audience with salubrious falsehoods, telling them the world as it should be, filling their lives with wonder and hope! The fact that I keep ending up with all their money is sheer coincidence." Everything was fine until Shale found himself blackmailed by both sides at once. Save the city or betray the city, his life would be forfeit either way. Chased by bloodthirsty pirates and murderous mechanisms, mired in a labyrinth of insane mutant monsters, he might just have to pretend to be a hero. The only question was-who in their right mind would believe him?