Frost on the Water

Our ship was running the bare minimum crew. None of us were slipping more than 4 or so hours per night. I was using magic to purify our food and water as needed, but we only had so much. The rations were doing well enough along with catch from the sea. I was also using magic to keep the crew refreshed; we were able to keep the ship maintained and moving, but the possibility of starvation was always in the background. I could keep the crew going until they died, but they couldn't keep up the pace forever.

After about 3 weeks on the sea, we spotted another vessel. It became apparent it was going to attempt to intercept us; it had begun a wide slow turn to realign its course with us. Over the course of the next day, we set up cover for archers and prepared for a fierce battle. The other ship was better crewed, and had their share of archers as well. The dragon and rider was not currently in sight.

We found the ship to be well-equipped with shields and other defensive gear to put up. There weren't many of us, but our defensive position was good. I cast out a magical sensor, and located the captain on the aft deck. It looked liked he had an evil cleric with him. I notified the archers of this. Shatain had the potion of black tentacles ready. It looked like about 50 scruffy crew on deck.

Brennen fired 2 volleys of 3 at about 400', but didn't hit anything. The A'aloss fired as well, but only a few shots. He waited another minute, waiting for them to close about another 100', and fired another volley. 2 of the 3 arrows found their marks, knocking 1 pirate each off of the front line. The A'aloss opened up again, and took down 2 more pirates. Brennen continued firing, killing 1 pirate outright. His 2 additional arrows missed. The next volley hit 1 out of 3 as well, dropping another pirate down. The A'aloss continued firing as well, taking down 1 additional pirate.

At about 200', I checked with my magical sensor again. The cleric was still on the aft quarterdeck. A few pirates were dead, a few more were badly wounded, but they were pretty calm.

Brennen fired, dropping 2 more pirates. The A'aloss took out 2 more. The captain of the other ship issued some angry orders and they hunkered down farther, effectively removing any chance of further shots.

As the boat reached 180', I cast out a hammer of force to start attacking the cleric on the opposing ship. It attacked successfully, hitting for 8. The hammer struck again, hitting for 8 again, but missing with another attack. The cleric attempted to dispel the hammer, but failed. I also smote the back of the ship, including the cleric, captain, and as many crew as possible. It looked like the cleric failed the save, and took the full 15. The crew stayed down, so I couldn't tell how it affected them. The hammer fell again, striking for 4 and 6. I also dropped another burst of holy energy, hitting anyone that was evil and failed their save for 23.

The hammer fell again. It struck twice, killing the cleric. The dragon swooped in behind us, and landed on the aft deck of the pirate ship. It looked like a deliberately destructive landing; the captain was knocked aside, and the wheel house was destroyed. It used its breath weapon, finishing off the crew that were already injured, and quickly killing the rest of the crew.

Shatain lobbed the potion of black tentacles as the dragon prepared to lift off again. It hit the dragon, consuming it as it exploded and grew. The rider dropped to the deck as quickly as possible, but shortly the deck of the ship was covered in thick black tentacles. Remaining crew were grabbed and thrown; the rigging was dismantled quickly.

The ship was still on a bit of a collision course. Saigarn whipped the crew into action, doing his best to avoid a collision. It wasn't enough. The stern of the pirate ship clipped our stern; the tentacles grabbed a bit of our rigging, but we were able to avoid the worst of the collision.

Our crew cheered, though they were a little weirded out. Saigarn corrected our course to stay close to the ship so we could board it once the tentacles disappeared. The dragon reformed as the tentacles dissipated. The rider reappeared, somewhat haggard. He regained his mount and took to the air.

The dragon went about 100' up into the air, and then started gliding back towards our ship. This was not an attack run; we'd seen that. I told everyone to hold their fire but be ready. It landed gently on the aft deck.

The rider spoke. It was a woman. She told us that she'd toyed with us enough; we had something she wanted. We would either take it where she wanted or she would kill us. She strongly recommended we take the supplies from the other ship and get to a port. She would not clarify where she wanted us to go.

We boarded the opposing ship. The whole deck was covered with dead bodies; about 60. The dragon's breath weapon was frost; the bodies were gently smoking as ice evaporated. We checked the ship carefully, but there were no survivors; not even rats. The food was untouched and cold.

We retrieved the supplies and started looking for loot. There was a lot of miscellaneous gold and silver household goods. There was a chest with a little over 4,000 gold in it. Total haul including searching the bodies was about 5,000 gold.

I checked the body of the cleric. He had a rod that would let me maximize a lower spell three times per day. There wasn't much else. On the body of the cook (a mean looking, nasty man), I found a magical cloak. The cloak was hideously ugly; bright orange, with splotches and multicolored patches. The cloak would help the wearer avoid many of the pitfalls of life; avoiding explosions, resisting poisons, and increasing mental toughness. However, unless the ugly side was out and uncovered.

We split the gold evenly between us and the crew. There was about 4,000 gold worth of cargo; olives, silk, various good that we would need to sell off.