The Taipan was a smoldering wreck.

Her twin masts, shorn of sails and burnt black as coal, jutted skyward like a pair of rotten teeth. Half of the main deck’s planking had been ripped up or smashed in. And to make matters worse, several of her key structural timbers had been snapped during the fight with the dragon.

Caleb paced one of the less damaged sections, restlessly surveying the scene. The scent of burnt wood, charred canvas, and spilt blood hung in his nostrils in a way that the breeze couldn’t quite blow clear. The Spitfire remained firmly grappled to the half-destroyed ketch, though he heard the occasional piteous squeak or groan as the two ships’ hulls rubbed against one another.

Teams of crewmen came and went from the ketch’s forward passageway. They carried cases, barrels, or sacks from below and bought them over as captured booty. Aboard the sloop itself, a group of a half-dozen women had spread the Spitfire’s damaged mainsail out across the deck, doing their best to trim the fire-damaged bits and repair the remainder.

Shaw circled high overhead, watching for the approach of other ships. Tavia had gone below to work with Harper O’Breen at the infirmary. He didn’t see Sienna, but she’d been a blur of movement, going from team to team to ensure that everyone had something to do.

Caleb looked over to the far side of the deck. Eight Myrkur sailors sat glumly along the rail along with Captain Campion and Komtur Ozul. They’d been clapped in irons as soon as Sienna had discovered a couple dozen sets of wrist and ankle shackles in Taipan’s hold.

The shackles gave a chilling clue as to what the ketch could have been used for. But while the restraints were useful at the moment, Caleb doubted that any of the remaining Sea Vipers had the will to resist. Though the Arrenmar had bandaged their wounds and given them water, they’d also stripped them down to their lightweight linen drawers.

I can’t blame them for pillaging the Myrkur’s garments, among other things, Caleb thought ruefully. This is the first time everyone on board the Spitfire’s had a full set of clothes aside from the rags left over from the dungeon.

Now that he had a moment to himself, Caleb brought up all of the new information that had popped up in his Quest Window at the end of the battle. He nodded approvingly at most of what he saw.

Adventurer's-Level Quest: Attack and board target ship as a Corsair for the first time. Quest difficulty has subsequently been increased by 150% due to the next two subsequent quests. STATUS: COMPLETE Veteran Adventurer's-Level Quest: Attempt to escape or win through the trap set by the Myrkur’s Naval Arm, the Sea Vipers. STATUS: COMPLETE Veteran Adventurer's-Level Quest: Attempt to survive the creature unleased by the Myrkur. STATUS: COMPLETE New Adventurer's-Level Quest: Pillage and distribute the spoils of an enemy ship with your crew. STATUS: IN PROGRESS New Bonus Level Mini-Quest: You are about to face a choice that will test your morality. How you handle this could potentially affect your Alignment. (CURRENT ALIGNMENT: NEUTRAL.) XP Value of the next quest completed shall be increased by 25%. STATUS: IN PROGRESS

He turned as he heard someone call his name. Sienna crossed back over from the Spitfire to the ketch and then headed over towards him. Her face and clothes were smudged with soot, and she was covered in a sheen of sweat. But she still held a certain radiance about her.

Come on, Caleb, he thought, as he mentally shook a finger at himself. Heck of a time to be admiring a woman. Especially right in the aftermath of a bloody fight. On top of that, she obviously likes Donal. Best to put it aside.

Of course, she had her ever-present sheet of parchment in hand.

“Captain,” she said, as she joined him, “I’ve got a lot of news to share with you.”

“Okay,” he replied. “Good or bad news?”

She considered. “I’d call what I have unhappy, less-than-good, somewhat better, and questionable.”

“Let’s take it in that order, then. Start with the unhappy news.”

“Aye, that’s the butcher’s bill, then. We’ve got three dead. Lucas Hughes, Kay Scullion, and Shaye Pender. Shaye was one of our best fighters, alas. He’s the one that fought his way up to the forward deck.”

“I saw. Komtur Ozul shot him,” Caleb said grimly. “Do we know who killed the other two?”

“Regan Murray and I hacked down the bastard who killed Lucas. The other Sea Viper was crushed by the dragon’s tail.”

“That’s something, anyway. How many wounded?”

“Ten. Only a handful of serious hurts, real bonnies that require a splint or more than a handful of stitches. Harper and Tavia are working on ‘em now.”

Caleb thought back to the bruises that Sienna and Donal had traded back at Deephold Port. They’d called them ‘blue bonnies’. Apparently that term extended to hurts of many kinds.

“The less-than-good news is the damage that both of our ships took in the fight,” she continued. “Donal just completed an inspection of the Taipan. Aside from her deck and burnt-up sails, belowdecks is awash. Her timbers are torn up and her keel’s broken. She’s just not salvageable.”

“That’s not great, but we don’t have the crew to man her anyway. What about our sloop?”

“She took no structural damage, Lir and Danu be praised. But her sails are a different story. The top half’s been crisped, and our patches won’t hold anymore.”

“Why? They didn’t catch fire, from what I saw.”

“Sails don’t need to burn to become unusable,” she pointed out. “In Jaladri, once a sailcloth’s natural oils dry out, it all goes as brittle as an oat cake. One strong wind and poof! it turns to so much dust.”

Caleb mentally kicked himself again.

Dammit, modern sails aren’t made of the same fragile materials. Jaladri continually reminds me of how different a place it is.

“All right, what are we looking at, then?”

“No one found any spare sailcloth aboard the ketch. We’re swapping out what we can with our jib sail material, but there’s only so much we can do. It’ll damn sure cut our speed in half.”

“Not great,” he said, “but at least we’re not dead in the water. What’s the ‘somewhat better’ news, then? I could use something more positive right now.”

Sienna held up her parchment and read off of it.

“We found a little more aboard to loot than we thought. To start, we’ve acquired a pair of filled water casks, three more barrels of rum, and a couple crates of food. Dry-brined beef, potatoes, a brace of fresh eggs, and a couple rounds of hard cheese. Doesn’t come close to filling our cupboard, but it’ll keep it from going completely bare for day or two. We’ve also picked up some much-needed cordage, turpentine, pitch and tar.”

“All the critical deck stores, then. That’s good, very good.”

“We’ve collected all the usable enemy blades, so our stock is up to thirty-six. Just about enough to outfit everyone who can handle one. Pretty much the same with the pistols, we’ve got enough to give you the captain’s three, two for me, and forty more. There’s also a stash of powder horns, so we can reload more than once for a change. Oh, and we found a pair of longboats stashed and ready to be assembled in the crates that survived the fight.”

“This is getting better and better. Go on.”

“Well, our seamstresses will be busy altering clothes for a while. We still don’t have enough material to outfit everyone in something new. But at least no one’s going about with a pair of britches that’s more hole than cloth anymore. Oh, and then there’s the gold and silver coin.”

That got Caleb’s attention. “You could have started with that! I didn’t think this tub would have much on it.”

“Aye, Captain. I thought I’d build up to it. This isn’t a treasure ship by any stretch of Lir’s imagination. But it did carry at least part of a garrison’s payroll.” Sienna checked her parchment once more. “All told, there’s a hundred and fifty-two gold crowns, nine-and-half thousand silver, and four hundred eighty-three copper coins. I did the math, and that comes out to the equivalent of fifteen gold crowns per crewman. The officers get thirty, and you receive forty-five. All in gold of course.”

With that, she pulled out a small cloth pouch from a pocket and handed it to him.

Caleb weighed the bag in his hand. Indeed, it felt slightly heavier than the one he’d taken from the former captain’s wardrobe in the great cabin.

“Is this a good amount?” he asked. “I mean, for everyone else, it’s still mostly silver coin.”

“Coin valued at fifteen gold is nothing to sneeze at. That’s more than a typical villager could earn in three months, and no one cares if it’s in silver if they can spend it. But that’s not the real question you’re after, is it?”

Caleb pursed his lips in thought for a moment.

“I suppose not. I’m more interested in what the crew’s feeling right now. Do they think the attack on the Taipan was worth it? Plunder can only go so far.”

“Morale’s high, Captain,” Sienna said confidently. She nodded over to where the three fallen Arrenmar had been laid out on the Spitfire’s deck. Each body had been wrapped in the otherwise unusable sailcloth, along with a spare cannon shot. “It’s tempered by death, yes. And the loot, while nice, only goes so far. But they’re a damn straight happier now than before.”

“And why’s that?”

She gave him a strangely jubilant grin. “Because with your help, they just struck back at the Myrkur. Really did them some hurt. We even defeated a dragon, thanks to your monsters!”

“Ah, they’re not really mine, Sienna. And neither Tavia nor Shaw are monsters.”

She shrugged off his objection.

“Even so, the crew thinks of their powers as being under your command. That’s why they accept orders from them without question. Rest assured, no one thinks the less of a unicorn or griffin, especially after all they’ve done for us.”

Caleb thought back to the boarding party following Tavia into battle. Or of the crew members who immediately pitched in to help Shaw pitch a pair of cannon into the sea. That was proof enough of what Sienna said.

“As for what’s ‘questionable’, that ties into the crew’s morale as well,” Sienna went on. “Everyone’s wondering what you plan to do with the prisoners. Half the crew wants you to toss them into the sea, shackles and all.”

“And the other half?”

“They don’t want you coddling them, or takin’ them with us, that’s for sure. But they’re a little queasy about doing away with them like so many sheep at the slaughterin’ house.”

Caleb ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

Well, now I know what that Bonus Level Mini-Quest is about. What should I do? What have I done before?

His memories before his arrival in Jaladri remained a blur of images and sensation. A voice without a face pleaded with him for mercy. He felt as much as heard the report of a pistol in his hand, silencing that voice.

That was one path, he thought. The path I committed myself to before. Do I have to take the same one again? Do I want to?

“All right,” he finally said. “I want a team to assemble both of the longboats, and I need it done immediately. Once we have what’s left of our sail back up, bring one of them over to stash on the Spitfire’s deck. We’ll need a boat like that for an away party.”

“And the other?”

“Lower it into the sea on the far side of the Taipan.”

She nodded. “You’ve made your decision, then.”

“There’s still some details I’m working out. Have the crew gather on deck once we’ve transferred over all the plunder and assembled the longboats. They need to see what happens next.”

“You won’t have any shirkers, that much is for sure. This should take the better part of an hour and a half, all said and done. Is there anything else you have planned, Captain?”

“Two things.” Caleb hefted the bag in his hand. “I’ll be putting this gold to use. Then I’ll be talking to Ozul and Campion. They might have some information we can use.”

“Of course. In the meantime, I’ll see to it that our three deceased crew members are given their rites before slipping them into the sea.”

He pursed his lips at that. “We’ll need to organize a ceremony for that, don’t you think?”

Sienna shook her head. “Not our way. We’ll sing of them in time. But the wound left by their passing is still raw.”

She made the Jaladrian salute and bow and left, shouting orders as she went.

Caleb went over to the shelter of the foredeck, where the early afternoon sun cast a shadow. The screens he brought up were easier to see there. He scrolled through, and then pulled up his still-to-be-activated spells in both Weathermancy and Craft with Iron.

Weathermancy Spells available for individuals ranked up through Level Ten:

Increase Ambient Humidity (13)

Decrease Ambient Humidity (13)

Squall Burst (16)

Craft with Iron Spells available for individuals ranked up through Level Ten:

Sense Metallic Weapon’s Qualities (6)

Align Metal Object (18)

Change Metal Object’s Buoyancy (19)

He opened the little cloth pouch he’d gotten from Sienna and then touched the gold that gleamed inside to three of the spells. A trio of flashes, and the coin pile shrank to a handful when he was done. He tucked away the remainder as he looked over his brand new spell powers.

Sense Metallic Weapon’s Qualities: This spell allows you to instantly sense any qualities of a weapon that are significantly better or worse than the norm. The item in question must be touched.

This allows the user to detect whether enhancement spells or dark curses have been cast upon an item but may not always reveal the exact nature of the magic. Also, it will not allow the user to judge the market price of the weapon or any attached components.

Note that this spell may only be used to detect the quality of the metal used in any object expressly crafted as a weapon.

Caleb nodded to himself. He’d picked this spell because he’d inherited a new cutlass from the Spitfire’s absent captain. On top of that, he’d also won swords from Ozul and Campion. He was betting that one of the three had some Myrkur enhancement.

He read the last line once more with some amusement. Note that this spell may only be used to detect the quality of the metal used in any object expressly crafted as a weapon.

“I suppose that if I grab a metallic candle holder during a bar brawl, it won’t tell me anything about it,” he remarked to himself. “I wonder if there’s a gray area when it comes to something like a butcher’s knife?”

With that, he looked to the next screen.

Change Metal Object’s Buoyancy: This spell allows you to instantly change the tendency of an object’s ability to float or sink in water or any other liquid, at a range of up to one hundred feet. The power of this spell can be increased substantially by burning XP.

“Well, any of these spells can be increased the same way,” he murmured. “Still, this will be useful if we ever get an anchor stuck and need to retrieve it easily.”

Squall Burst: This spell allows the user to conjure up an incredibly concentrated blast of wind for up to three seconds at a time, in a small area. The burst created can be oriented independently of the prevailing wind. However, it can only be directed in a straight line.

“Interesting. Looks like I wasn’t too far off thinking of this as a Line Squall.”

Caleb closed the screens and looked back over the Taipan. Sienna and a group of his crew were busy removing pieces of the longboats out of their crates. He glanced to where the prisoners still slumped next to the railing.

Then he squared his shoulders and headed over towards them.

All right. Let’s see if I can get any answers out of our two captured officers. Anything I learn could give us the edge we need in a future combat with the Myrkur.