"I would be glad of the escort. We've lost a lot of good men and I suspect my wizard has largely exhausted his bag of tricks." He takes a more moderate sip of his drink. "The attack...I am still shocked that they attacked a vessel such as mine. We weren't greatly over-matched. Usually pirates prefer to prey on weaker vessels. They bested us to be sure, but at great cost. Only a fool lets his own ship be lost along with half his men to gain another similar ship. We aren't even carrying an especially valuable cargo. Very strange indeed." He shakes his head in wonder. "Anyway, they were sly enough, they just sailed one ship passing well a beam of the other. No indication of trouble until they were just on our aft quarter and they let fly with some sort of magic that shredded our sails, becalming us in an instant. Then they just swung about and started to board. My man Abliss specializes in fire spells. Yes I know an unusual choice at sea, but he's quite good and he had their ship burning and several of their people roasted early on. I thought we'd have an easy time of it, but they fought much better than I'd have expected from pirates. I suspect they were magically enhanced somehow, but the spell seemed to run out just about the time your lot arrived. We had been forced to give ground until only a handful of us were still fighting on the quarterdeck and in the tops. A bloody business to be sure. I thought they were fighting so desperately because their own ship was burning, but now I wonder if they weren't compelled somehow."
