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"They're way too tough... Captain, whadda we do?" one of the four remaining pirates asked their leader, who was a tall, pale and scarred elf with a trench coat and a leather hat. The captain made a scornful look to the dwarf.
"Coward..." the elf said in a deep voice. What happened next was difficult to define by a naked eye, but suddenly the captain's rapier was in his hand, slitting across the dwarve's beard. According to the red that ran down the bronze hair, the throat was slit as well. The dwarf's eyes widened as he shivered and fell overboard between the ships, hitting his head on the Osprey along the way. A human  and a troll remained on the other side of him, looking as defeated as the dwarf. Before they managed to come to from the shock, the elf swung the rapier in elegant motion twice as he dashed past them. Both of them dropped dead on the deck right after their heads did. I looked warily at the elf; This was no ordinary fighter. The elf captain looked at us down his nose.
"Garidesh Palesnarl..." he said before leaping on our deck, "I figured that I might as well present myself, so you'll know who's sword it is that pierce your hearts in a mere moment..."
"I won't have anyone threatening me on my own ship..." Daros replied to him, looking at Garidesh from under his brows. Of course he had to sound confident, but he was no fool, so I'm sure he knew what I did. There was no way to actually define how tough this pirate actually was. The velocity of his recent attacks was almost unnoticable for my eyes, although I didn't know how well Daros saw them with his demon eyes.
"Of course not, but the fact is that this ship is no longer yours," Garidesh said arrogantly, "it belongs to the Bloodsails now."
"Over our dead bodies..." Nina said stepping forward a bit, holding a sword in one hand and a firebolt in the other.
"That happens to be the plan." Garidesh said and dashed towards Nina in as quick motion as ever. His maneuvres were enough to outrun Nina's fire and reach her just early to strike past her sword and sink his rapier in her flesh just below her chest. Nina's fierce eyes widened as she felt the blade impale her torso. Just as quick Garidesh was to pull it out again and leap away from Daros's strike with the metal fist. What I didn't expect was Sabrine entering the frey next. The disciplined elf maiden screamed... she actually screamed as she made a furious assault. Barraging holy smite in front of her before proceeding for a fast series of strikes at the captain. She handled the fighting rod well and quickly. So quickly that Garidesh actually needed to focus to stay out of its way. At that time I acted. I stormed from the right as Saroni flanked from the left. The wall was coming from behind him, so he was slightly trapped. While getting pinned by the wall he stopped dodging and countered Sabrine's rod with a kick from the bottom of his boot. He grimaced in pain, but dodged the next strike by ducking with inhuman reflexes. Next thing we saw was Sabrine's leg getting a slit from the rapier. Saroni and I reached him and struck him during Sabrine's scream of pain. Saroni used two daggers and I used a very quick sword for crying out loud, and Garidesh parried every single attack. He moved the rapier from left to right so fast that it wasn't possible, but what he couldn't defend against, was Daros's charge from the front. His eyes glew fiercely as he charged and delivered a punch from his metal fist towards Garidesh. The pirate noticed him approaching of course and dodged by ducking again and tried the same he did on Sabrine who was now trying to heal Nina's wound despite her own badly bleeding leg. Daros however was prepared for it and took his other arm for a punch downwards toward him. I don't know what happened then, but somehow it looked like the pirate took hold of the metal arm that punched first and by supporting himself on it, he heaved himself over Daros's head. With that he was exposed to Arthur's gunfire. As soon as their faces met, Arthur pulled the trigger of the scoped rifle he was holding in case of a clear shot and now that he had it, Garidesh seemed to be done for. But what actually happened, was Garidesh swinging his sword upwards, as we saw sparks of a bullet impact hitting the rapier. I couldn't believe it. Garidesh's reflexes were enough to break the bullet in mid-air. The pirate then made another incredibly quick dash, now towards Meldrinn, slitting Sabrine's back on the way. Sabrine screeched at the painful strike at the same time that Meldrinn missed his own offensive and got a thrust to his stomach. Meldrinn wasn't wearing his armour, so it was very effective on the night elf. Immediately after that he lept to Arthur who was standing nearby and thrusted the rapier in his shoulder. The dwarf growled in agony and lifted his flintlock pistol from his belt, but Garidesh was too quick for that too. The pirate snatched the flintlock from Arthur's shivering hand and pointed it our way. He pulled the trigger and shot Daros to the chest. Daros fell backwards with a gasp of pain. Everyone was in pain... too big for even these injuries. I figured that there might have been something in that blade... poison perhaps. It had me worried, but this was no time to think about that, for there was just Saroni and I standing.

The pirate chuckled to himself  and waved the rapier in the air, while looking at us with a grin on his face. He kept gandering to the others in case they would do a surprising move. Saroni shuffled closer to me all of a sudden, as if she wanted to tell me something. I looked at her as she came and whispered: "There's a weakness..."
The moment she spoke to me, Garidesh dashed again. He was between us in a second and judging by the scream I heard he managed to hurt Saroni as well. I prepared for a strike which I knew that was coming, no matter how fast I tried to hit his back. I lifted my sword in front of my torso, because I wasn't quick enough to get it by my throat. His rapier clinged at my sword once, twice, thrice... I didn't even see what happened. I just hoped it wouldn't hit me. Suddenly I realized... when Garidesh took a step backwards and looked at me, calming his posture. I knew what Saroni meant. I knew the weakness, but I wasn't capable of exploiting it. I strafed right slowly and so did he. We moved in a circle looking deeply in each other's eyes. In the corner of my eye, Nina was getting up quietly, she was pale... having lost a lot of blood. Sabrine was down in pain, but Nina was forcing herself on her knees shivering. Her hand emitted  blue light. Behind Garidesh was Daros. I suppose the demon flesh was the cause of it, but the gunshot wound had healed quite well already. His eyes emitted the same green glow as the last time he transformed and he gave me a nod. I didn't know what to actually do, but it seemed that Garidesh didn't notice the two. I charged at an instant, shouting in rage as I struck furious but coordinated attacks from all over. I had never been so fast, and I figured that Nina's magic had something to do with it. Garidesh was completely confused with my newfound speed and needed time to adjust. He still blocked every single attack, but it was my aim to just keep him busy.
"Down, Brad!" Nina shouted as she shot a cone of fire towards us both. I hit the deck before Garidesh and swung my sword towards his ankles right by the floor. Garidesh knew that dodging downwards like me was out of question, since he didn't have time to parry my strike first. He leaped to the side, from the way of both fire and my blade, but he didn't expect Daros. As he was leaping, he had no way of dodging anything else coming at him. And through the flames dashed Daros with eyes glowing green, with every inhumanly quick running step leaving a burning shattered mark on the deck. He extended his arcanite fist and punched. The fist caught Garidesh from his stomach and almost literally nailed him to the fence behind him. That speed, that metal and that demonic strength hitting his stomach against the hard wooden fence which was fortunate to break only a part of the fence, was too much for him. Garidesh threw up on his chest and Daros's arm. His digestations were mixed with blood and he paled even more. Eyes watering and completely weakened he looked in Daros's eyes. The demon merc responded to his gaze by taking a firm hold of his head and twisting it rapidly, hearing a loud snap as the pirate's neck fell limp and hanged over the deck.

I looked to Nina. She shivered violently and hit the deck out of exhaustion. Sabrine came out of her agony, appearently managing to cure the poison with her healing skills. She crawled towards Nina with a worried look on her usually calm face.
"Nina... stay with me..." she said and proceeded to heal Nina, most likely removing the poison from her as well.
"How's the poison in mortal standards?" Daros asked Sabrine as he walked to them.
"I'd say fatal, but slow in effecting. The victim suffers for long before it's actually too late." Sabrine replied.
"So either it is poorly brewed, or the man was just that sadistic..." Daros figured. He turned his gaze to meet mine, which was not pleased.
"You alright, kid?" he asked.
"You were quite quick to cheat death, demon." I said in a rather angry tone, "Why not bust in earlier?!" I continued shouting. I was certain that he could have ended the fight far sooner. Daros however just stared at me calmly without his expression shifting and it annoyed me greatly. Did he even take me seriously, I wondered.
"Daros is of a rare breed among our civilizations." Meldrinn said, sitting on the ground gritting his teeth. I turned to look at him.
"He's one of a kind I dare to say," he went on, "his former kin fear him, the rest don't accept him and my kin especially loathes him, but we... the Osprey look up to him as a leader. That takes utmost respect on both sides and equal amount of contribution to the other end. He's always been there for the rest of us without hesitation and there's no reason he would stop now. So I suggest you to pay some respect yourself, unless you want to end up home covered in bruises."
Before I managed to reply, Saroni spoke for me.
"I'm sure he just expected Daros to regenerate faster..." she said. I looked at her confused. Why did she keep speaking for me like this? I didn't understand it at all. Except if... had she really? I tried not to give thought to such. Daros patted Meldrinn on his shoulder.
"Don't be hard on the boy, he's not used to the fear of death." he said. Meldrinn sighed and nodded. I now looked to where Nina was, worried. Luckily, Sabrine seemed to have finished removing the poison and was quickly closing the wound with light. Nina's breathing began to stabilize and she seemed to be very fine, although quite pale yet. What then caught my attention was Sabrine. Now... of all the cold and calm mercenaries I was travelling with, Sabrine was probably the one with the most stable demeanor, but here, she was crying. Out of relief clearly, but I just couldn't imagine her crying. I was relieved and confused, although I got the explanation quite quickly, for when Nina was regaining her strength, she reached out to kiss Sabrine on her lips, and Sabrine returned it. I looked at the scenery with wide eyes and increasing heartrate. Not that I would have found it exhilirating, quite the opposite really. I was disgusted to the gut, for I had been grown in an environment that was heavily religious and conservative. I did not stand the sight or thought of monogendered romance and found it blasphemous. I was on the verge of opening my mouth, but I knew that it would not be smart as long as I preferred not to swim or be carried in a barrel of lobsters.
"Now can you get the rest into condition in time?" Daros asked Sabrine. Sabrine, now breathing heavily in relief turned around and nodded, starting from herself. I had no poison in my veins, so I just retreated to the crew quarters with little sound. I sat on my bunk and covered my face, knowing that this would take getting used to as well. Saroni followed me quickly, concerned for me as usual.
"Bradley?" she asked looking at me. I kept looking down and shook my head at her.
"Not now..." I said quietly and sat there awkwardly.
"Please, tell me what's wrong..." she said to me. This time I took an angry glare at her.
"I said, 'not now'!" I spat back at her. She got slightly startled and took steps backwards. Then she nodded in submission and returned to the deck, looking a little sad. Immediately I would have wanted to call her back and apologize. She didn't need to be treated like this, much less by me. I just laid back on the bunk tired, hoping nobody else would show up in a while.

The sentinels had defended the Ashenvale grove against many kind of foes but this one might have proven to be too much. Outrunner Illyria's platoon of twenty had been decreased to her and four others along with Arnas Fangtooth, a druid of the claw.
"What happened? Where did those demons come from?" Illyria shouted in confusion. They were expecting brutal orcs to attack them head on, but got herself and all others ambushed by demons.
"The greenskins don't issue demons in this region. What's happening?" she pleaded from Arnas.
"Maybe it wasn't the greenskins..." Arnas replied breathing heavily. The woods around them were burning severely. It made them sad and vengeful at the same time, but there was no use staying when the enemy was coming from every corner before they could even hear them.
"Sergeant... Fangtooth..." one of the sentinels said in a scared but hating tone. She pointed at a tree nearby. Among the flames, they could make out a carving of a raven, stained in elven blood.
"No..." Arnas muttered...
"Don't let it be... no, no, no... Not him..." Illyria said with murderous intent. Suddenly, Arnas sensed something behind him.
"Beware, sisters!" he shouted, attempting to raise spiked thorns from the ground to stop whatever was coming. The thorns appeared too late, as a felguard caught a sentinel off guard and cleaved her in half from the stomach with its gigantic sword. The sentine's both parts fell to the ground with intestines and blue blood all over. The blue also stained the greatsword of the felguard, which took a stance with a cruel grin, ready to strike again. Three sentinels readied their bows, but one of them got a hit by a fiery sphere from somewhere. As the sentinel's head was burning all over, the strokes of the flames orchestrated by her screaming, Illyria, Arnas and another sentinel found the direction where the fireball came from. On a tree branch above their heads, an imp demon was jumping and cackling in sadistic joy and hid himself among the other branches at the instant of Arnas's bolts of nature's wrath. Meanwhile the last sentinel with any arrows managed to put one through the felguard's eye, letting it smash its huge body on the grass beneath their feet. She had no time to celebrate her victory however, when a dagger was tossed to her back from the nearby bushes. The sentinel screeched, trying to reach the dagger that dug through her spine, but didn't manage to... before already writhing in pain, crippled on the ground. The culprit was a succubus demon who lept back behind the flames sending a blowing kiss. It was just Arnas, Illyria and one other sentinel left. All this happened in a manner of seconds and nobody had much time to react.
"Definetly the work of the Crimson Raven..." Illyria muttered with hatred. She stood in a spot where the flames surrounding them made a shadow on a stone from her shape. Once it came connected with another shadow on the environment, something happened. Illyria gasped as some sort of dark arms emerged from the shadows, grabbing her by each limb and her throat. Arnas and her subordinate looked at her startled. Arnas reacted immediately when he saw a figure of a voidwraith within the shadow and released the nature on it. Streams of sparkling light hit the shadow and the voidwraith let out a howl, dispersing with its arms along. She sighed in relief and rubbed her throat.
"Thank you, Arnas." she said. Arnas smiled to her and was about to say something, when he saw a flash of green behind Illyria. When the green flash faded, there stood an undead man with a crimson battle-coat and a crudely-crafted sword, clearly not designed for elegant combat. Before Arnas managed to cast, the Crimson Raven lashed out the sword and chopped Illyria's head off.
"NO!" Arnas shouted and released the call for nature's wrath once again. The Crimson Raven grinned and quickly made a few handsigns, whispering words in eredun tongue and formed a nether ward around himsef. Advanced spellcasting it was, for the nether ward would absorb nearly any kind of energy , corporeal and ethereal alike. Arnas' attack was absorbed and the last remaining sentinel attacked with her glaive hand raised and ready to strike. The Crimson Raven was dreadfully quick however and waved his sword again, chopping the sentinel's arm from the middle, making her forearm and glaive fall on the ground. In the next second he made another lash that did the same to the other arm. The sentinel screamed in shock, and certainty of her own death... but it didn't come. Instead the Raven delivered a kick to her stomach, letting her hit the ground, but still live... in pain though due to her chopped limbs.

Arnas looked at the Raven, realizing that straight attacks were not going to work. Hatred and despise filled his eyes, meeting with the loathe and scorn emitting from the Raven's smile and cheerful black eyes.
"Got a problem?" the Crimson Raven spat bluntly and arrogantly.
"Don't you dare even speak to me, fiend..." Arnas grunted and struck his staff on the ground. Bright pillars of power from the moon itself struck the ground between them, as Arnas let out a growl. An animal-like growl, clearly out of the glutches of his feral heart. With this act, he called for all of the nature's force he could muster at once. He knew that it might make him unconcious and make him burn with the forest while the armless one had a chance to escape... but it was a small price to pay for the destruction of the atrocity known as Crimson Raven. The Raven himself just waited cautiously for the next attack, from time to time eyeing the sentinel still shivering on the ground. Finally, the pillars disappeared and Arnas extended his arms. The streams of sparks were immense compared to the previous ones. All this nature's wrath and the Raven realized that it was coming towards him. He screamed words in eredun again and let out his fury. Felfire met the energy of nature, and they were caught in an apocalyptic stalemate... The situation of two reckonable forces striking against each other nearly endlessly... until one eventually surrendered. The Crimson Raven needed his both hands for this channeling, so another nether ward was out of question. He made a risk move and pulled the felfire upwards. The nature's wrath got through and reached him, ripping his rotten flesh from several places, causing him pain he did not often feel. The Crimson Raven gritted his teeth and focused. Where Arnas was already smiling for thinking to have succeeded, the felfire came back towards the ground, now in a shape of a gigantic raven. Arnas looked at the fel coming towards him and shielded himself against it the best way he could with his druidistic abilities. A black crater formed all around him, but he himself was unharmed, but terribly exhausted. He couldn't possibly do anything like that in a while, and he feared that he knew what it meant. The Crimson Raven was walking casually towards him.
"That was HARSH, tree-humper..." the Raven said, "I almost died there. That's not nice!"
"Fall into the nether, scum..." Arnas said, trying to throw his last desperate attacks towards the approaching warlock, backing up meanwhile. The Raven laughed and shielded himself with weaker wards again as he approached the druid. Arnas collapsed and fell on his back, looking at the Raven with deepest hatred you could find.
"I'd like to remain forever..." the Raven replied finally and thrusted the sword through Arnas' lung. The druid felt the pain and coughed. He knew he wasn't going to have it quick... The Raven would make him suffer. And so he did.

After countless of thrusts in non-critical parts of the body, which felt like days and more days of needless torture, the Raven finally stabbed him through the eye and let him fall limp on the ground. The Crimson Raven sighed and turned to the now pale sentinel, still writhing on the ground. She looked at Crimson Raven, certain she would suffer the same, but she was surprised. The Crimson Raven simply pointed his sword towards her.
"Let's make this fun..." the warlock said, "You still have your legs. Use them to run to Astranaar and report what you saw here. Tell them that the Crimson Raven has returned. I don't want to be rude and not let them know I'm coming..."
The sentinel shivered and nodded, getting up on her feet and stormed away as steadily as she could in her state. The Crimson Raven looked after her and smiled.
"And the fun begins..." he said.