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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 57213" data-attributes="member: 143">Book II, Part 10…but at a high cost.  Eight of the crew of the Raindancer were dead, fresh-faced young men and women who would never again greet the coming of a new day.  The tally would have been higher were it not for the rapid intervention of the clerics, whose healing powers saved more than a few from passing beyond death’s door.  Many on board still bore serious wounds, and were taken below decks until the clerics recovered their powers and could treat them more fully.  Cal still had his healing wand, but he was reluctant to use up its limited magic, husbanding it so long as no immediate danger threatened.  Delem frowned, thinking the reaction different from the usual attitude he remembered from the gnome, but he said nothing about it to the others.  The pirates had suffered a far greater toll.  They counted twenty-one dead, including the orc wizard on board the Gray Raker and the minotaur captain.  Several others had fallen overboard and drowned, including apparently the half-orc barbarian that had commanded one of the smaller ships—which they discovered was named Plunder.  “An inappropriate name, in the end,” Benzan had commented.  “As we were the ones that ended up with all the loot.”  Even a cursory examination reinforced the tiefling’s assertion, for they found considerable treasure among the fallen pirates—particularly the leaders.  The minotaur’s quiver still held sixteen of the magical acid arrows, and both his axe and breastplate were of masterwork quality, purchased no doubt with the pirate’s ill-gotten gains.  The common pirates carried coins and trinkets that collectively formed a small hoard, including several items of silver or gold jewelry and even a few minor magical potions.  On board the Gray Raker, however, they found the greatest treasure, at least from Cal’s point of view: the spellbook of the orc mage, and a slender device of polished black wood that he identified as a wand of magic missiles.  They took eight prisoners, who were tightly bound and kept under close watch in one of the cargo holds.  They estimated that fewer than a half-dozen pirates had ultimately escaped on the last ship, which meant that they were no longer a threat, but Captain Horeth was still quite eager to leave this area behind lest more enemies stumble across them in their current weakened condition.  A brief debate followed on how to proceed.  Captain Horeth wanted to chart a course back along the northern coast of Tethyr to the port city of Velen, a full day’s journey behind them.  They had bypassed that fortified outpost city on their southern journey, but under the current circumstances it was the nearest safe port.  They also had the two pirate vessels as prizes, which they could tow back with skeleton crews and sell for a tidy profit.  Ruath took a stern stance against the captain—she wanted to sail onward, unwilling to sacrifice even a few days for the still-unidentified errand given her by the church of Tymora.  She had been stubborn in her steadfastness, but ultimately the rest of them agreed to the prudence of the captain’s judgment.  “She’s not the typical halfing,” Benzan said to his friends, as they continued the gristly work of clearing the deck of the Raindancer of the blood and bodies of the fallen combatants.  With the crew depleted by the battle and lingering injuries, and with those few still fit for action assigned to the pirate ships, they were all pitching in as they crawled back along the Tethyrian coast toward Velen.  Night was falling swiftly, and they had reduced their sails as they tacked against the northern wind, but Horath was reluctant to drop anchor so near to the site of the recent battle.  So they crept slowly onward to the east, the densely forested reaches of the wild Velen Peninsula a dark line against the southern horizon.  “Stubborn,” Lok remarked.  The halfling woman had returned below decks, to tend to those still injured, leaving them virtually alone save for the few active sailors left aboard.  Captain Horath himself was at the wheel atop the aft deck, guiding his damaged vessel toward safety.  “The hin are survivors, underestimated by many because of their diminutive stature,” Cal observed, as he stripped one of the dead pirates of valuables before Lok dragged him to the rail and tossed him overboard.  Their own dead they’d already granted to the sea with a little more ceremony, but in the end there was little difference in the ultimate result.  Delem gravitated to the front deck, leaving the conversation that continued behind him.  He paused to free a trailing grapple that was dug into the rail, but his attention was on the slender figure silhouetted against the bow ahead of him.  Pulling the barbed metal prong out with a final heave, he walked up to where Dana stood facing out into the waves.“I’m… I’m sorry I’m not helping, I just wanted to…”  Her voice was a little unsteady, and Delem suspected that she’d been crying.  “It’s all right,” was all he could think to say.  “We’ve just about finished the cleanup, and we’ll need to get some rest, so we can help those sailors tomorrow.”She looked up at him, and the glistening of her eyes confirmed his earlier guess.  “I guess I haven’t been much help so far,” she said.  “I suppose maybe Benzan was right about me after all.”  “You fought as bravely as any of us,” Delem said after a moment’s pause.  “When that minotaur jumped up onto the deck, I… well, I was terrified.  Every instinct in me told me to run—or at least keep far away from its reach—but then I saw you just run up and stick your little blade into it, and I felt humbled.”The woman smiled—a faint one, and it quickly faded, but it was a start.  “That monster almost killed me,” she said.  “If I hadn’t dodged, that axe would have cut me in half.”  She shuddered at the memory, and grasped onto the rail to steady herself.  “Look at me,” she said.  “So much for my vaunted discipline and self-control.  So much for the warrior monk of Selûne, strong and fearless.”“Accepting your limitations doesn’t mean you aren’t strong,” Delem said.  “We’ve all had to face them, but the four of us have learned to work as a team, help each other.  Just give yourself a little time, you’ll get used to us.”“Thanks, Delem,” she said, touching him lightly on the arm. “Hey, we got some slackers up here?”Dana and Delem turned away from each other as Benzan came bounding up the stairs to the foredeck.  The tiefling frowned briefly as his gaze traveled over the two of them, but was replaced quickly with a wry grin as he said, “Oops—I hope I’m not… interrupting anything?”“Delem was just helping me with something,” Dana said, and she walked past the tiefling back to the main deck.  As Delem trailed after her, Benzan said, quietly so that it wouldn’t carry, “Moving fast, I see—I didn’t think you had it in you, Delem.”Delem met the tiefling’s gaze squarely.  “Just… just shut up, Benzan.”</blockquote>

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