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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 77223" data-attributes="member: 143">Reg Dword, glad to have you on board!  Yeah, for some reason those hapless commoner sailors just bring out my bloodthirsty streak.  You haven't seen the half of it yet, though...Anyway, it's been busier in the office today, but I'm still ahead in the story, so another double-post day.  Time for the usual post-battle wrap-up, with a few interesting developments <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />.And in part 6 we'll see another development in the ongoing Dana-Delem-Benzan triangle, so stay tuned tomorrow morning (PST) for another update!* * * * * Book III, Part 5A quick search of the camp turned up captives in several of the huts, huddled men, women, and children that resembled the boatmen in appearance.  There were fifteen of them in all, haggard and beaten down by their obviously harsh treatment at the hands of the raiders.  They looked up with despair as the companions entered their huts, disconsolate at whatever fate awaited them, but some glimmer of hope returned to their faces as Lok sundered their chains and released them.  There was a momentary danger of violence, as several of the former captives headed for the circle of captive raiders, murder writ clearly in their angry expressions.  The companions quickly stepped in to forestall them, however, and while neither side could communicate with the other, Cal was able to get a general message across via gestures and pantomime.  The islanders indicated that they’d been taken in the areas around their villages, a few days’ journey to the east.  They seemed eager to depart for their homes, so after conferring with Horath the companions agreed to let the freed slaves take two of the outriggers, after scrounging up some supplies and weapons for them out of the captured stores of the raiders.  They remained in the camp, under watch, for that night, and departed to the southeast with the first light of the sun upon the waves.  The question of the raider captives was a more pressing problem.  In all, they’d taken nine prisoners, including several critically injured warriors that had been stabilized by the clerics once their own wounded were seen to.  Evidence of the crimes perpetrated by these men was all around them, but especially in the faces of their victims.  Benzan commented that it might have been better if they’d let them all die in the battle, but none of them, even the tiefling, felt particularly good about the suggestion to kill them all now, in cold blood.  Ultimately they reached a consensus that they would hold them as captives in one of the huts, under guard, until they were ready to leave.  Then they would let them go, after taking all of the available weapons and the last outrigger with them.  “They’ll have a better chance than those people they captured had,” Benzan said, once the decision had been made.  In one of the other huts they found tools, buckets of tar, rope, and other materials that would be useful in repairing the Raindancer.  Lok looked into the cave, and quickly called to the others to join him.  There they found a heavy iron chest, cemented to the back wall of the cave and secured with a heavy lock.  “Aha, treasure,” Benzan said, kneeling in front of the chest.  “Careful,” Cal warned.  “It might be trapped.”“I know what I’m doing,” Benzan replied without turning, already checking the edges and seams of the chest, carefully probing here and there without putting his hands directly on it.  Finally, he took out a set of small picks and tools from an inner pocket of his shirt, and went to work on the lock itself.  The others watched, Delem augmenting the faint light coming from the cave opening with a few floating fingers of flame.  Benzan didn’t really need the light, but continued working the lock, letting out a few impatient sighs as he did so.  Finally, after a full minute, he sighed more loudly and stepped back from the chest. “Trouble?” Cal asked.  “Plan B,” the tiefling replied.  He pointed at the lock, and muttered an arcane phrase, completing a spell with a pass of his other hand through the air before him.  A small glob of liquid shot out of the tiefling’s hand, striking the lock with a sizzling sound.  The liquid, a potent acid, began eating away at the metal.  “Lok, if you would,” Benzan said, stepping aside to give the genasi room to approach the chest.  Lok hefted his axe, judging the distance and angle before raising the weapon to strike.“Um, maybe the raider leader has the key,” Delem said, but Lok had already begun his swing.  The axe sundered the weakened metal of the lock, dashing it to the soft sand of the cave floor.  The action also, however, caused a small trap door to pop open on the side of the chest, and a tiny—and very angry—snake slithered out and lunged for Benzan.  “$%#@!” cried Benzan, as he leapt back, the snake narrowly missing his ankle by inches.  The snake twisted toward Lok, but exploded as two of Delem’s magic missiles slammed into it.  They kept their guard up, awaiting another threat from the chest, but the cave remained quiet. “Don’t say it,” Benzan growled at Cal.  The gnome responded only with a raised eyebrow.  The chest was now free to open, but they were cautious nonetheless as Lok lifted the lid slowly with the edge of his axe, the cold of the blade causing frost to gather on the iron.  The concern was quickly replaced with eagerness, however, as the light of Delem’s flames glinted off of fat piles of glimmering coins within the chest.  “Oh yeah,” Benzan said, bending to examine the haul.  The chest contained several thousand copper and silver coins, of unfamiliar make, with symbols of animals and crowns, along with strange runes, on their faces.  There were also thousands of glittering silvery-green coins fashioned of a metal that was unfamiliar to them, a burlap sack that contained a variety of gemstones and a scroll, and finally, buried under the coins, a sword sheathed in a plain leather scabbard.  “What do we have here?” Benzan said, drawing the sword to reveal a perfectly fashioned blade.  Strangely, the weapon seemed to be made of bronze, rather than steel, although it was otherwise well-balanced and sharp.  Cal, who had been examining the scroll, turned his attention to the sword.  “Odd, that the pirate leader didn’t claim the weapon for use,” he said.  “May I?”Benzan handed him the sword, but no sooner had he touched the hilt than he drew his hand back, as if scalded.  “What’s wrong?” Benzan asked in alarm.“It… it felt… I can’t say, except that it was as if I was drained, just touching it.  It was like… like when I was brought back from death.”   Cal shuddered at the memory.  “Keep it away from me.”“It doesn’t feel wrong to me,” the tiefling said.  He offered it to Lok, but the genasi shook his head.  “Very well then, I will take charge of the weapon, for now.” “Be careful,” Cal said.  “I’ve heard of weapons like that… they’re made for a particular type of user, and they can sometimes have their own agenda as well.”“Bah, it’s just a sword,” the tiefling said.  “And anyway, if it didn’t like the raiders, that’s good enough for me.”  Hooking the scabbard onto his baldric, he slung the weapon over his shoulder.  “All right then, let’s see about bagging up all this loot.”* * * * * They encountered no further difficulties with the pirate treasure, so with the coins packed into sacks and carefully stored away on the ship (the gems went into the bag of holding), the companions joined the others in setting up camp for the night.  The night was warm, so they spent it out on the beach, resting from the recent battle and enjoying fresh foods from the raiders’ stores.  Captain Horath had found a ring on the body of the raider leader, which Cal detected as magical.  The elf kept the item, which they quickly confirmed granted the wearer the ability to walk on water.  The rest of the pirate gear, including most of their armor and weapons, was unremarkable, even cheap, probably earned in trade for captives taken from the coastal villages.  They did examine the chain shirts worn by a few of the pirates, and those were unusual, fashioned of a metal with a light gray-green coloration to it.  The metal felt slightly warm to the touch, although it did not radiate an enchantment to Cal’s spell of detection.  The companions were already well-equipped, so they distributed the armor among Horath’s sailors, to give them an added measure of protection.  The night passed quickly in tales of bravery and in much-needed rest.  Then, in the morning, they went to work.</blockquote>

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