The Boy, the Watch and the Seal...

[Seth]

The morning air was cold, and a deathly mist hung low over the ship as far as the eye could see, this mist was thick and greenish, hiding anything that might have been around them… Breath became mist as it left Jym’s body, his gloves kept his hands from freezing as the icy wind swept over the little frog. Land slowly came into view, spires and tall trees first solidified out of the mist, followed by sandy beaches and the rest of the small, sea-side village…

Seth stood like a rock on the bow of the Caravel, the waters below him were calm and still as the ship rocked gently, guided by the weak wind in their sails, now and then a creak broke the silence, echoing form the hull and out into the eerie green fog the had enveloped the bay, a weak stream of light fought its way through the mist and out to sea, upholding its eternal duty to guide ships to safety.

This isn’t right Jym… This fog is not natural…

It is like sailing through a blanket of mud, and there’s barely a wind to back us…[/b]

There was no answer, only silence as Seth sank once more into deep thought…

It is as though the air itself has perished, like it is trying to devour us…[/b]
Jym though to himself

Very slowly their ship approached the mainland, as they got closer more ships came into view, moored in the cities docks. As always there were transport vessels and trade ships… But there was one ship that they had never seen before, a gigantic war-ship, its three-level deck housed at least sixty cannons… This craft dwarfed Jym and Seth’s small Caravel, like an ant to a beetle, three huge masts rose form her deck, eight or so sails were furled and both of its anchors held the beast in place. Its greenish hull made the ship difficult to spot in the haze, but it was clearly big enough to carry several hundred men… And then a sight made Seth’s heart sink; The huge ship was flying blood red flags… The town was under attack!

Jym! The town is under attack! I’m going ahead, make sure they can’t get away!

There was no time to argue as Seth leapt from the ship and shot off towards the island as fast as he could, drawing Stormblade and preparing for battle. Jym tried desperately to steer with whatever wind there was in the sails, urging the ship forward…

The rudder turned hard to the left, the ship turning with it, after a few moments Jym managed to swing the ship enough to block the exit from the bay. The frog dropped both anchors and held his position to block the enemies escape…

Meanwhile Seth, approaching the dockside, saw that the town was intact and there appeared to be no dead… It looked like he had arrived in time… Looking along the shored the saw longboats, and pirates were crowded everywhere. As Seth surveyed the scene he noticed that all of the towns inhabitants seemed to be being held in the town square, surrounded by pirates… In the centre stood three people; one was an elderly looking man, judging from his clothing this was the mayor… Facing him was a tall, thin man, young looking, he wore a black robe and had his sleek black hair held back in a single ponytail. He looked too neat and upstanding to be a pirate, but he was obviously their captain… And finally, a small boy, looking terrified and clinging to the mayor with one hand, in the other he clutched a watch tightly against his body, the child was very thin and dirty, probably an orphan… The captain was staring at the boy with one hand outstretched, beckoning to the boy… The mayor was looking at the child as well, as if trying to convince him to go…

GIVE HIM TO ME! [/color]

At this point the captain seemed to lose his temper, lurching forward he went to grab the boy, but Seth was faster, and in an instant had landed between the two, with the point of Stormblade pressed against the pirates throat… The scene seemed almost frozen; the four figures, Seth’s face was cold and uncompromising, the captains’ expression was confused, and almost amused, and the mayor and child simply stared, too shocked to move…

Back away, filthy pirate…[/color]
Seth stated with a calm anger

Ha! You wish to stay my hand? Many of you would-be heroes have died at my hands… Do you really think you stand a chance?

I am no amateur… you have no idea of the power I wield…

You are horribly outnumbered, elf…

I alone could easily best a hundred of you dogs, as could each of my friends.[/i]

Well, you have no friends here, and I have well over a hundred men in this town…[/b][/color]

But with these words a figure dashed, lightning fast and deathly silent across the roof of one of the houses and, with a mighty leap. Landed near Seth… A moment later another figure pushed its way out of the crowd of townspeople, and ran to Seth as well… The three stood so that the mayor and child were protected from both the pirates, and their captain…

Great timing
Seth stated casually…

Any two people ready for a big fight reply, but don't start the fight yet please...[/b]

[Rumbus]

Rumbus was sharping his dagger when a herd of cattle ran speed past him. Rumbus's inquisitive nature got the best of him as he walked to the nearest town person, who looked stricken with grief

Why are you so far from town
Rumbus stated calmly

The town's under attack
The town person screamed

Rumbus climbed the nearest tree and saw a blood red flag high above a gigantic vessel. This was enough for Rumbus he jumped from tree to tree getting closer and closer.As he got closer he saw the vessel glowed with an eerie green, this vessel alone could destroy fleets.

With such a powerful ship in dock, It's a wonder why I've never seen it myself
Rumbus thought to himself.

Rumbus continued to dart from tree to tree, tree to roof, when he saw Jym was anchored at the exit of the dock, this made Rumbus nervous so he drew his Dragonsabre and continued on wards hearing more screams from the town people.

Then he heard Seth's voice and he seemed tense, so Rumbus moved forward and saw a fleet of pirates and one well dressed and upstanding person who if weren't being held at knife point by Seth may have been mistaking for a towns person.

Rumbus didn't hesitate he jumped as quick as possible from roof to roof landing beside Seth with the Dragonsabre by his side

[pain]

Pain lay rested at the town inn, but his rest was unexpectingly disturbed when shouts of villagers alerted Pain of a set amount of pirates that have landed on the island.

Troubled, the young warrior ran outside into the town square. He saw Seth standing with another obviously trained fighter. Noticing they were in some degree of strife, Pain pushed his way through the crowd and stood next to Seth and Rumbus.

"Hm...not exactly the perfect morning i'd like to wake up to..."

[Seth]

We don't really have time to talk guys... you two take the pirates... I'll take the captain...[/i][/b]

Seth did not say another word, he just leapt at the captain, the others took action, defending the mayor and boy against the hoards of pirates as Seth and the captain began their duel, Seth quickly realized that he was not dealing with a random pirate as Stormblade was knocked aside by a great blade on the end of a chain, this was a rare weapon, wielded only by highly skilled warriors, it consisted of two crescent shaped blades on either end of a chain, and between them another chain connected them to a wooden shaft. The pirate captain held a pair of them...

Seth came at him again, this time holding the blade back and thrusting it at him at the last second, this attack was dodged skillfully and countered with another swing of the blades, narrowly missing Seth...

OK guys, let loose, I'll butt in now and then with Seth's duel, just keep killing pirates till I give the word![/b]

[pain]

Seth broke away from Pain and Rumbus to fight one-on-one with the captain. Pain and the bounty hunter stood in a defensive manner protecting the boy and the mayor.

Rumbus started to fire his crossbow into the closing pirates as Pain charged up a ball of dark energy. The black mage fired his magic and together with the arrows shot from the golden string the two were able to slow the rageful pirates, but they were too numerous and still managed to quickly close in on them, once they closed in, Pain and Rumbus were forced to fight in close combat. The first pirate swung his seemingly rusted sword at Pain, but missed as Pain teleported behind him, striking him in the back with dark magic. However, the black mage left himself open to the next hostile pirate who quickly attempted to attack Pain as his predecessor did, but was blocked by the dexterous Rumbus, while Rumbus fought of the pirate, three more closed in, one went to help attack Rumbus, and the other two turned their attention towards Pain. Both Pain and Rumbus were now fighting two pirates each…

[Rumbus]

Pain drew his beautiful red sword, while Rumbus raised his sabre. The pirates were smiling as they advanced on Rumbus and pain. A pirate slashed towards pain, but pain was too quick and stepped out of the way. Rumbus swung at a pirate, the pirate raised his blade surprisingly quick and flicked rumbus sabre away.

Hmm seems quite a pickle hey pain
Rumbus quoted quickly

But pain was busy as he was outnumbered 100 to one, pain was a better swordsman then Rumbus, He had already slaughter a few with a slash here and stab there but the number game was too much. Rumbus removed his cloak and took a dive for his sabre. Just as he had a grasp on it a pirates blade fiercely stabbed towards the ground, but as Rumbus had saved Pain, Pain was as quick and dove his blade below the pirates and flicked it towards the sky and jumped up and caught it on its descend. Rumbus stood up sabre in hand, Pain by his side with two blades raised

[Seth]

As Pain and Rumbus battled in the centre of the clearing, Seth and the pirate captain had burst into the streets, still scrapping desperately, neither one landing any blows, the high pitched sound of steel bouncing off steel rang out with each attack...

The two of them pushed each other back towads the docks now, as the fighting in the twn square heated up...

Rumbus or Pain reply[/b]

[pain]

Rumbus and Pain fought on as the hordes of pirates attacked persistantly. The fight grew intense as more of the pirates are drawn to the horde.

The young Pain wasn't experienced for such an onslaught and as he turned to check on Rumbus's whereabouts, he found that Rumbus has dissappeared into the mob.

Now completely surrounded by rageful pirates, Pain was on the complete defensive. He used Mystic barriers and his new secondary weapon to block many of the strikes, but a large pirate weilding a giant sabre broke through a barrier and slashed Pain down the chest.

Immediately after, a smaller pirate weilding a basic sword attacked Pain from behind, however this was blocked by the secondary weapon Pain picked up. The force behind the small pirates slash cause pain to drop the second sword.
After weighing his chances, Pain decided to teleport out of the mob.

The mage's teleporting skill wasn't to a very great extent, and required several attempts to escape the horde. Finally Pain escaped to a rooftop. From the rooftop, he decided to charge a great magic attack. while charging the spell, unnoticed by the pirates, he saw Seth fight the Captian in a skilled duel in which neither was landing succsessful blows.

On the other side of the building he saw Rumbus slicing through the pirates. While charging, Pain had to decide what he would use the spell on. once fully charged it would be powerful enough to destroy a building. For now he charged his attack and watched his allies carefully.

*Seth or Rumbus reply*

[Rumbus]

Rumbus had lost count of the pirates slaughtered and the time passing. As Rumbus took a glance at a huge energy ball souring at a huge amount of pirates knocking them every way possible and in every piece imaginable.

As Rumbus was distracted a pirate aboard the ship had fired his cannon in a direct line for Rumbus. Rumbus ducked his head and moved to the left. The cannonball swished passed Rumbus's ear.

From the right a had charged with his sword raised, Rumbus was unprotected and then a blast of energy blew the pirate to bits. Rumbus once again looked towards the source and noticed he and Pain were separated and Seth was advancing on the pirate captain the slightest bit.

Rumbus realized he was surrounded and having no magical talent could not teleport to safety, so he slashed to the left slicing a smaller pirates arm off, then to the right slicing a pirates head clean off. When Rumbus felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg another pirate had attacked from behind Rumbus.

Rumbus fell to one knee when he noticed a gap between the pirates, Rumbus rolled through the gap only to end up in a dead end. Rumbus stood up bearing the pain, saber raised. Rumbus couldn't see Pain but Seth and the pirate captain were still going at it.

Seth Or Pain Reply

[Seth]

OOC: Not exactly my best work, but at least it's done so we can move on in the story.

One final stroke fell, Stormblade crashed against his foes blade, and there it stayed as Seth planted his feet on the ground again and both men stood, staring each other down, neither blade moved an inch...

After a few moments, the pirate spoke to Seth, not like a sea-dog, his speech was more upstanding and educated...

And here I thought, when you showed up that we might have a challenge... How you have disappointed me...[/color]

You're insane, you haven't landed a single strike on me, pirate.[/color]

Hah, we did not come here seeking blood, while you three have been blindly swinging your swords our quarry has already been taken aboard our ship...[/color]

Seth's eyes widened with the sudden realisation...

The child!

It took only this single moment of distraction, in a single second the pirate captain sot out his palm and stuck Seth in the chest with a bolt of magic, sending the Warlock tumbling across the rocky street, and giving the captain time to run.
Almost as if the entire event had been planned meticulously his crew returned to their ship swiftly, leaving Pain and Rumbus to kill off the last few stragglers as Seth picked himself up, and tried to piece together what had just happened...

From the town square came Rumbus and Pain, running after the shrinking crowd of pirates, they did not stop as they passed Seth. Finally, he remembered what was happening and shot off toward the docks after Pain and Rumbus, they set foot on the dock as the great ship was pulling away, taking action Seth leaped forward.

He landed with a thud on the ships upper deck and was immediately swamped by thirty men or more. Though still in a daze from the hit he had taken, Seth managed to fight off a dozen or so, but was quickly overcome and tossed overboard as immense gray sails fell from the ships masts, and the great leviathan began to glide into the fog, unaware of Jym's ship waiting to block their escape...

Pain, Rumbus or Jym reply[/b]

[Rumbus]

The pirates stopped dead in their tracks, Rumbus thought something was up as the pirates stood aside and two pirates walked up. These were no small pirates either both wielded a spiked club reinforced by steel. They were slow compared to Rumbus as the pirates swung Rumbus leapt to the side of the building feeling a whoosh as the club went past, Rumbus continued to leap up the building until he was upon the roof.

As Rumbus looked out towards the bay, he noticed that a bunch of pirates were returning to the ship carrying a small boy aboard. Just as Rumbus was about to leap to the dock, a spiked club came form the left and smashed into the side of Rumbus's face sending Rumbus of the roof onto the floor below. Rumbus quickly rolled to the left as a club cam smashing just where Rumbus's head was a second ago.

Rumbus pushed himself up again and realized he had dropped his saber somewhere. Rumbus turned to the left and saw both the pirates big toothy smiles, Rumbus shouted

WHAT THE HELL IS SO FUNNY

The pirates turned face and walked away, Rumbus stood stunned for a minute or two. When he came too he ran past Seth and the captain after the pirates noticing his saber over near the inn. Rumbus sidetracked to the inn picked his saber up and noticed a bunch of pirates straggling behind the rest. Rumbus ran saber lowered to his left, just as he reached the group he raised his saber slicing through one of the pirates. A clunk was heard as the top half of the pirate hit the ground, the rest of the pirates ran to their ship.

Rumbus walked towards the ship and saw pirates falling into the docks dark blue water, when he noticed Seth was among the pirates. Rumbus dashed into the icy water, with every push the water felt thicker. Rumbus had to swim between pirate after pirate until he reached Seth. Rumbus pushed with all his might towards to dock. When they reached the dock Rumbus collapsed Smiling, Rumbus stood up eventually and said to Seth

This was fun maybe we could do it again sometime

With that said Rumbus slowly walked back towards the town

[pain]

The dark energy Pain unleashed upon a gathering of pirates rendered him exhausted. Still on the rooftop he retreated to, Pain watched the several important events unfold before him, the kidnapping of a boy, the retreat of the pirates, Seth's brave attempt to take on their ship and Rumbus helping Seth out of the ocean.

As the pirates ship appraoched Jym's blockade, Pain teleported to the solid ground, ran past Rumbus along the damaged pavement and hastened to Seth's side. The exhausted mage looked up to Seth's face as he looked out to sea, his face seemed to be full of an unusual "controlled rage". But Pain didn't say anything, and looked out to sea as the warlock next to him did, awaiting some form of guidance.

-->seth or jym reply<--