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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6244884" data-attributes="member: 6669384">"Is there a healer in the hall?", Granwar called as he lugged the limp form back inside.  He was hoping for Twilla's aid, but another woman spoke up first.  "Magical or mundane?""Whatever it takes.", Granwar responded as he tried to staunch the blood flow from the man's crushed wrist.The heavy woman in worn brown strode across the room with the rolling gait of a sailor.  She took him by the hair with her right hand as her left deftly found a spot on his upper arm.  She dug in her thumb and the bleeding slowed to a trickle.  "Well, he's alive.  You can tell because he was still bleeding.  Here. put your thumb right there and hold on for a moment.", she instructed, showing the warrior the spot.She called for strong drink and, to the surprise of the Persian, poured it directly onto the ragged stump of the man's wrist.The thief awoke long enough to scream in anguish as the fiery spirits flooded the open wound, then slumped unconscious again.The healer gripped the man's throat, feeling for a pules, then pulled Granwar's hand away.  "Waste of good drink, but putting fire to that thing would have killed him.", she said curtly.To the warrior's surprise the stump didn't bleed any more.  The thief was left in a pile inside the door, the stump of his arm swaddled in strips torn from his own shirt, to recover or not on his own as the healer returned to her shipmates, and Granwar swore never to sail aboard her ship.And the party continued into the night.*** "Something's out there", the deck watch called softly.  The storm had eased slightly, and the sound of, well, something had caught his attention.Ceburn and Artolis came on deck, followed by half a dozen men.  There was much "shush"ing, and soon all were by the starboard rail, straining to hear."It sounds like oars on the gunwales of a longboat.", Artolis whispered.  "About two lengths abeam, and for'rard."Ceburn nodded, then called up the slightest bit of his power.  "Photo-azure!",  he whispered intently.  At once a scattering of sharp, intense points of light, cobalt blue, gathered around him.  He gestured and they fled across the water to the place he chose.  And there, revealed by the mage light, was indeed a boat, long and low, with three sets of oarsmen and over twenty well armed men huddled inside.  The oar locks had been wrapped with rags to silence the creaking, but the low 'clunk' as the oars occasionally touched the side had given them away."Ahoy friend.  Have you lost your way in the storm?", the Barbarian prince suggested."Um, we were out fishing.", came the unsure reply as the raiders tried to crab away from the revealing light.  The light followed to their dismay."I think the storm will have scared the fish.  Better luck in the morning.", Artolis replied gleefully as he made a show of preparing his bow.Painfully aware of how vulnerable they were, the men in the boat wheeled it about and rowed away into the night.  The lights followed for a minute or so, then faded away."I thought the corsairs were all the way across the harbor.", the Boatswain commented quietly.  "There had to be two dozen other ships between them and us."  He made the remark quietly, not as a question but more as an observation.  He and his shipmates had long since learned that when they traveled with Ceburn and company, trouble didn't merely find them, it went to great lengths to seek them out."They'll be back, tonight or tomorrow.", Artolis declared, agreeing with the thought that all present were sharing.  Those men had worked hard at targeting this particular ship."I don't think so.", countered Ceburn as he mounted the rail.  A few words of transformation and he dove into the water.""All right, nothing more to see here.", declared the Captain as he herded the crew below decks again.  He signaled the man who had first heard the raiders, waving him below as well, while setting a double watch for the rest of the night.  The watchman had earned a hot meal and place out of the storm, at least for a while.*** "So, how does this work?", Granwar asked as he settled once more at the table, this time nearer the Devil."You owe me.", came the simple reply.  "When you pass Death's door, whatever your final destination, you will spend one day in every ten in my company."  He paused long enough for that to sink in.  Returning from death was a slim chance, unheard of for most of the world, but a slim chance now denied the Persian.  Plus an eternity of pain and suffering, dark enough to poison any pleasures his afterlife might have held."There is of course an alternative.", the Devil continued, the light bantering tone belying the weight of what was at stake.  "You could convince someone else to surrender their soul instead."  Again the long pause.  "Or you could perform some service for me while you still live.""What service?", Granwart demanded."I haven't anything particular in mind right now, but let me spell it out.  You are, of course, to be extended the utmost courtesy, as you already know, so I'll make this easy."  He held up one hand with three fingers extended.  "Three times I will offer you a service you may perform, and you are free to accept or refuse any of them.  You need complete only one to be free.  If you refuse all three, then your bill will come due at Death's door, not before and not after.  If you accept a task and fail to complete it, it won't be the tenth part of your soul I'll claim.  It will be the whole thing."The last words rang with a sound like iron.  It was clear that this wasn't a negotiation, yet still Granwar decided to try."You mentioned that you have been following us.  Can I negotiate for a second part of my soul?  Should the moment come when I need a favor, will you come and bargain with me again?"The Devil smiled and nodded.  "Of course.  I'm always willing to exchange favors with my friends and allies.  In fact, one opportunity comes to mind right now.  You are, of course, free to accept or decline.""This is the first service?", Granwar asked tensely."That is correct.", replied the fiend.  "I have heard tell that an item known as the Dagger of Helios stood atop the alter to the fallen sun deity, in the city of Pompeii, beneath the ashes of Mount Vesuvius.  Retrieve that dagger for me, and your debt is paid.""How soon does this have to be done?", asked Granwar, suspecting a trick."Let's be generous, shall we?  Let no one say I was less than fair with my allies.  You are to deliver it to me, in this bar, one year from tonight.  That gives you plenty of time, and allows you the leeway to pursue this without interfering in your other duties.  You recall, saving civilization?""It's a deal.", Granwar declared, offering his hand. As they shook, there was a searing sound and smoke arose from the grip. Granwar jerked his hand back to find a small seal branded into his flesh."That is the sign of our pact, and it will be by that sign that you may call me, should you wish to conduct further business.", the Devil declared.  Then his mood brightened once more and two more coins appeared in his fingers.  "Another round, Innkeeper, and make it the good stuff."*** The sea was dark and cold, and the rain spattering the surface made it impossible to see what was above, but Ceburn easily followed the ship's boat. It was the dark, calm spot in the rain swept sea.  Water flowed in and through his gills, and webbed fingers lent him such an easy, fluid swiftness beneath the waves that he had to work not to outrun his quarry.   He had grown up in a port city and known Sea Elves all of his life.  Transforming into one of them was not that difficult for a Wizard of his skill.The boat made a long, slow transit across the harbor then finally drew along side another ship.  Ceburn waited for them to hoist the boat aboard, but to his surprise it waited a few minutes then pulled away.  He came to the surface, risking notice so he could be certain of what was going on.Half the raiders had boarded one of the corsairs, and the boat was headed for the other.  It had been a collaborative effort.Now that he knew his enemies, the Barbarian/Wizard dove beneath the dark waves once more and headed for the second vessel.  The barnacled hull was rough beneath his fingers, but he found the spot he sought, the keel amidships.  "Infernus", he intoned, unsure if fire magic would work here under water.  He placed his hand directly against the hull, to minimize the flare of light and limit the fire dampening effects of the cold water.  Light blazed forth and the water immediately came to a furious boil as his hand ignited.  Normally this spell would allow him a volley of fiery lances.  This time he directed all of the power at a single spot.Steam bubbled and wood began to crumble to ash, but for all of the will power he put behind his assault the waterlogged hull resisted.  Ever persistent, he tried again.  The third time finished the job.This time there was no crust of barnacles or water logged wood on the outside, and he was rewarded for his efforts.  A gap the size of his head opened up, and some stones fell out even as the sea water rushed in.  He had holed them, well below the water line, and if his placement was correct, well below the level of the ship's ballast.  To patch this hole they'd need to shift that layer of stones every ship carried.  While the ship was taking on water,  In a storm.He quickly moved to the surface to watch what happened.  "See it burn, that's my name.", he murmured as he waited.  It took almost a full minute before someone noticed that there was a problem. He heard the Captain shouting orders in a language he didn't know, and the crew began to haul on lines.  To make sail in this storm was madness.  To stay where they were was destruction.  They were raising sail.Then, abruptly, the mast shivered and shifted.  With a sound of rending timber, it dropped, slamming the lowest boom straight into the deck.  He'd placed his damage better than he'd thought.  The heel of the mast, normally placed solidly against the keel and braced by ballast stones, had shifted, plunging through the already weakened hull.  And still men with axes chopped through the anchor cable and men fought to raise some sails on the foremast.  Ceburn decided to end the game.  Fire flashed in the night one more time and the rigging exploded into flame.  Most of the crew died in that blast, and the ship's sails and halliards were gone,  She was doomed.He turned in place to watch the second vessel.  They were lowering boats, to come to their sister ship's aid.  Fire flashed one final time, and a second ship was ablaze.  Ceburn ducked beneath the waves, his work done.  "See it burn, that's my name." he declared once more to no one but himself.  "You tried to take my ship, so I took yours."  Still it was a dark and worried Prince who clambered back aboard his own vessel.  He had been raised to rule, and he knew that that meant fighting wars and sentencing criminals.  He had been trained to make the hard decisions, but no matter how many times he told himself that they deserved what they had gotten, it didn't make him feel any better about it.  He was a Prince.  Princes hired executioners, they didn't become them.***</blockquote>

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