"I know you can't cast spells that way." And then he trips; his ankles are shackled together.

Mahdi reverts to his normal form. "I can cast Silent, Still spells without material components."

"You burned a fourth level spell slot on a prank?"

"Beats scrying."

"Speaking of fourth level slots..."

"Did you level?"

"The pirates might have done it but the sea serpent didn't. I was really surprised!"

"It's very frustrating sometimes."

"If you get these off I'll fight you too," he says cheerfully to Belmarniss from the floor.

"How about once we're safely on shore and nothing else can plausibly attack us."

"You want to leave him tied up that long? Kinky."

"These pirates are going to file so many complaints about our professionalism."

"They can do that? Cute. Do we get stern warnings?"

"I might."

"Are we meeting with important people?"

" - quite possibly. They didn't say when they recalled us but I guess they might be waiting."

"Turn me into a bird," Hagan says, "and introduce me as your animal companion."

"That's fifth level. I could do invisible but the hold person came out of my ring so not till tomorrow."

"I want you to be there," he says to Hagan. "There's actually a lot at stake here."

"I know there is. Me getting arrested won't help anything."

"We can say he has the plague and cheaped out on a cure and you left him in the desert rather than commit the sin of charity."

"If we might be asked to intervene in a war -"

"We can be completely straight with them. 'Also, we usually adventure with Hagan, who says there are some warrants out for him and doesn't show his face in Sothis, though we've never seen him commit a crime'."

"Really rather you didn't."

"Then show."