Swamped

If magic's no good, all you've got to work with is words. Unfortunately, those were never your strong suit.

Well, she doesn't seem to want to harm Donnie, as best as you can tell. Maybe you can persuade her to leave him out of this.

"Have you no shame? Putting a healer's life at risk?"

"If I were worried about that sort of thing, I wouldn't even be here in the first place," she says. "What I'm fighting for will see a lot of people hurt, even killed. I made my peace with that long ago."

There isn't a hint of emotion in her response. She doesn't view what she said as anything more than just the way it is.

Well. If she won't listen to her own conscience, maybe you can call on a higher authority.

"And what will Nual think? He's already sent us aid against the pirates. How do you think he'll react to threatening a crewman under his protection?"

Now she looks angry.

"I do not fear Nual, or any god. The Master will overcome them all. If you have nothing of use to say, then speak no further."

Well. That's all your ideas gone now. You can only stand around silently as she walks past.

But as she does, you get the faintest hint of an idea. You raised the threat of divine retaliation. You were mostly bluffing, but now you're wondering. What if you could somehow make it happen? Perhaps you could wait until Donnie is safe, and then scare her into returning the mask. Then again, if it happened now, while your words are still fresh in her mind, it might be even more effective.

Of course, you have no way to command the gods. And if you tried to fake a divine punishment magically, she'd notice the ether. So it's really just a desperate, foolish idea...

Wiz, why'd you run off like that?

Resk's voice pops into your head, and as it does, you realize that the knife isn't moving at all. Probably because the ether was only needed to set up the communications channel; you don't need to actually cast anything to send a message to him.

Suddenly, this desperate, foolish idea seems just a little bit possible, if you can only think of some way Resk can help you pull it off.