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Even as the chaos of the battle hit the vampire remained strangely calm. In truth she was just testing her magic and creating a map of where everyone on the enemy ship were. The other ship's cannons let loose a few of their deadly weapons. Her hand flew up, making most stop in mid air than drop into the now tossing sea. The one that she n't managed to stop tore through the mast next to her, making her jump to the side. Annoyed that she had missed it and soundlt feeling tired she stumbled a bit as she landed before grabbing her bow, putting an arrow in the string and letting it go.

The arrow lit up with white fire and exploded as hit hit the other ship, causing the wood to catch fire. Again and again she fired these arrows while fighting off the on coming enemy as the made their way onto The Frozen Sword. As someone came at her weilding a sword and dagger she was forced to throw her bow away and draw her cutless. Fighting with her sword she also threw more white fire at others, trying to protect the backs of her crew. Locking blades with on enemy and unable to free her sword she launched at him, sinking her fangs in her neck easily. Leaving him Ista moved to find her next victum, her eyes starting to go a red colour.

((yayyy!! page 2!!! Things are getting interesting...))

Rannos was now close enough, and jumped aboard the burning ship. Keeping the hunter in sight, he slashed by the pre-destined corpses known as the enemy to his blades. Charging forward he engages the hunter in sword to sword combat. Fast and furious were the blows and dodges made amongst the burning fires. A few blazes of Ista's fire shot past the two of them as they fought. In fact, one of the fire shots was deflected by Rannos into a mast, which fell onto the deck area, seperating the two warriors. By then the flames became too vast and smoke filled the entire area along with the mist. Rannos had to retreat back to The Frozen Sword, unless he wanted to be a burnt cadaver. Sweat pouring down his face from the heat, he runs with his left arm covering his face for protection. He couldn't see anything as he runs into the side of the enemy ship. Climbing up and ready to jump, the board gives way to the pressure of his weight, and Rannos falls short of The Frozen Sword. Slamming his sword into the side of The Frozen Sword, Rannos hangs there by his Rapier. Rannos uses his dagger and rapier to stab into the side of the ship, climbing his way up to the deck. As he crawls over the side of the ship the battle pursues.

Getting to his feet, he wipes the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. He then hears the sound of a lightning bolt, similar to earlier. Rannos dodges, but is hit with the bolt to his dagger hand. The hunter had somehow boarded The Frozen Dagger, wanting to finish the fight. Rannos grunts from the pain, but stands up and points his Rapier at the Hunter. "Finally, a challenge." Rannos' eyes focus in a berserk-like fashion. He takes a stance, and charges in like a devil, faster than before. "YOUR LIFE WILL BE MINE!!" Rannos' anger and lust for battle has overcome him. His body almost radiating an aura of determintation and courage, he attacks relentlessly at the hunter. The hunter is in shock and takes defense with spells and blocks with his sword. The spells were slashed away and eventually pierced the vital areas of the hunter's body. The thighs, shoulders, and a final slash across his neck, left the hunter to fall to his knees and then face plant onto the deck. There was still more fighting to be done, but the battle was going to come to an end soon. Rannos is showing signs of damage, but he isn't fatigued yet. He relentlessly runs around the ship attacking the enemy. His movement like an animal, he is only heard breathing heavily from fighting.

Smoke, blood, fear. A horrible mixture of smells. Especially if your a vampire. Ista just fought on, drinking whenever she could and resisting at the same time. It was all she could do to stop from going on a rampage. Enemy pirates now started to shrink away from her as she came near. Her eyes were now a bright red and had all too clearly the thought of murder in them, her fangs dripping red with blood. (ok gruesome I know. My bad. She is a vampire so it was going to come out like this sooner of later. lol)

Ista was near the edge of the deck when she spotted the enemy ship, about i=to sink. A sudden thought of sailing the oceans with a fleet struck her so ignoring the dying battle around her see reached out with her magic. Calling back the white fire that she had attacked with earlier. And using a stronger force of her magic she mended the holes in the ship. It wasn't a good job but it would float. Turning, staggering a bit from tiredness she launched back into the battle. And launching herself on the last standing suviver she drained his neck.

The vampire stood and looked around. There was many dead, more from the other ship than from the Frozen Sword but a few were her crew mates. Each one of these she walked over to, knelt and whispered words of farewell before closing their eyes and moving onto the next. Those from the enemy ship that were in her way she kicked. Finshing she stood looking at the other ship, that was now part of the Frozen Sword fleet. Searching wiht her magic for signs of life, and signs of damage. Others from her crew stayed away from her. Her eyes were still a bright red and her fangs still showed at the corners of her mouth.

((it's all good. Descriptive gore is still good. ^_^ ))

Rannos, exhausted and bleeding from the arms, walks towards Ista but lays his back on a mast halfway to her. He sheaths his weapons and smiles with gratitude. "Nicely done as always Ista. You've gotten better. This was actually a bit of a challenge. I never imagined a hunter sorcerer. The best of both worlds, but not a master of any in my opinion. Still stirs the blood nicely. How are you fareing Ista?" While Rannos talks, he is bandaging his wounds. Some minor cuts, but he can move his arm now from the bolt that hit it earlier. Not well, as it is shaking, but still able to move. "This will take some time to heal." Flexing his fingers, he opens his palm wide and closes it into a fist, trying to figure out how well he can use it at the present.

"Well, we'll have to see about to the damages. No rest today I guess. We need more sorcerers aboard who can do mending and healing magic. That would make life a little easier, eh?"

Ista turned to see Rannos stop a bit away from her. Glad he was using his head after the battle. He had nade the mistake one time to approach her straight after the battle. It was only because the captain was there Rannos had managed to get away with only a scratch. The vampire accepted what he said though, she had gotten better. Right now as well she was doing a good job and resisting the urge to take the blood dripping from his arm.

Gracefully she stood up and helped him bangage his arms properly. Quickly reasuring him through a look in her eyes that she wouldn't attack him, even though her eyes hadn't yet gone back to their original colour. "I'm good. I needed that. Ahh. Healing sorcerers that would be good. I'm saw we can find some some other time. Right now. The other ship isn't in a bad condition. And the only living things aboard are the cook and a couple of dogs. Everyone else is dead. PLus I think you might find the cook may have some healing abilities", she paused and smiled, turning away to help another crew memeber. "Some dau huh!"

Rannos stiffened as Ista approached him, but after seeing the look in her eyes as she bandaged him, he relaxed a bit, but was still very aware. "Thanks Ista, it's hard to bandage one's self." Rannos went to help the others as well. "Yeah, quite a day indeed. Not quite as I expected, but still quite satisfying." Rannos looks around as he's helping people. "Grab the clothes of the dead and toss the bodies overboard. Give me a count of loss of our own men, and hurry about it!!!" Rannos and Ista get the number in, and it's 5 men down. Not a big loss, but a loss all the same.

After a short counciltation with the captain, orders were given for certain crew members to board the other ship, and wear their clothes as cover. After the preperations were made, the boats sailed toward the islands, with one circling around as planned. Just as the ships were getting close, Rannos could smell a deep penetrating scent of blood in the air. Looking over the side of the ship, the water in the area had been stained with blood. "It's blood captain!" Rannos couldn't explain what had happened but he took extra precausion. Pulling out his telescope he looked towards the set of ships that they were going to encounter, and then saw their second ship pass by unharmed. They waved a flag to signal safety, and the two ships met up again side by side.

"They're all dead sir! What happened here? It's a graveyard of dead bodies, and they're not too fresh either. I'd say a day or two dead sir", said the crew member from the other ship.

"Hmmmm...." Rannos thought as if trying to figure it out, but couldn't understand. "Captain, Ista, should we try and salvage the remains? We should be careful, naturally, and keep a look out for anything." Rannos was on edge. This was starting to become a tense day for him and the crew. He started to realize why the captain hadn't gotten much sleep a lot of the time. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down, and regained his composure. "What are your orders? I suggest we try and sail around to make sure this isn't a trap. We could be flanked. Have either of you seen something like this before?" It was quiet, very quiet.

Ista went about her orders with no comment. She was in deep thought about what had happened and how the ship had just suddenly been there. Some unatural wind had caused it to reach them faster than it was meant to. And the worst thing was she had been looking for them the whole time and she hadn't been able to see that they were as close as they were. Something was screwing with her senses and she didn't like it.

The vampire smelt the blood long before anyone else did. It was a habit being tunned to that smell more than any other smell in the world. If she hadn't eaten before, they wouldn't have just being keeping an eye on someone off the ship. Ista would have gone insane. Taking a deep breath she realised there was something off about the smell. She raced to the side of the ship, scaring a few of the crew with her movements. See had seen something this once before, just once. "The oceans of the world will turn into blood and posion with the blood of vampires", those near her shrunk away from her.

"Captain, an evil deed has been done. A coven of Vampires have been killed. A noble Coven. Curses to the ones who have done this", this had once before happened. She herself was part of a noble family of vampires who had been travelling in their coven. They had gone the same way and she had been the only one to survive. Ista's hands were clenched in fists. "Stay away from the water everyone. It's poisoned." No one else on the ship knew about her past so anyone would just think it was because they were other vampires. "Theres no point looking for remains of anything, to kill a vampire is to leave a curse. If anything is touched that curse will fall on the person."

Rannos nodded, and as instructed, motioned to the other ship to not board or salvage anything. Rannos bowed his head in silent prayer for the fallen coven, and then climbed up one of the masts to the lookout post. "See anything?" Rannos was looking for abnormalities. "No sir. Nothing.", the lookout man said, while squinting his eyes and looking through a telescope. Rannos patted him on the shoulder, "Let us know if you do." Rannos climbed back down a rope leading to the deck, and the captain gave the command to sail on.

A few days had passed uneventfully, aside from the thoughts that plagued the crew. Some said they were cursed already and laughed over a pint of ale, while others were a bit paranoid, but went about their work. A newly joined member went crazy, and said that Ista's presence would bring about certain death to the crew. After being beaten justfully by the crew, he was thrown in the brigg.

"We're almost to our destination captain!" Rannos exclaimed in excitement as the Golden Island came into view. The crew became excited, and pirate songs busted out in full. The captain had motioned for Ista and Rannos to join him in his cabin for another important discussion. Rannos closed the door behind him, being the last to enter. The captain was cheerful for a change, but stated that he wanted to go over a few plans and to keep an eye out for whatever/whoever killed the coven, as their intents could be the same as our own.

Rannos sat down in his usual seat and provided some tactical information as usual. Rannos looked to the captain and Ista for feedback.

Through the next couple of days Ista was silent. She ignored everything around her as if she was in a trance. She hardly moved either, she mostly stayed on deck looking out into the sea. She didn't even notice that people avoided her more than they already had before. When the member of the crew went crazy all she did was stare at him, wondering if maybe he was right. Ista had never attacked anyone on the ship before. They all expected her too. The vampire had gone through times when she hadn't fed for days and she looked like she was going to any mintue but they were far from right. Ista had never even thought about attacking anyone on the ship.

She only moved from her spot when she was called down to the captains cabin to discus what they were going to do next. Ista turned as Rannos entered and nodded in welcome, the first real sign in the past few days of actually noticing that she wasn't alone. The vampire listened in silence, whatever killed the coven wouldn't appear until they killed the next one.

It was a reason she had become a pirate in the first place, to find who had done it and destroy them. She knew that when she came across them she would know it was them. It was a suprise to those back home when they had heard, they wanted to help. They knew though that Ista had the right to do it a lone thought so they stayed back to keep her throne ready for her return. "Whoever killed the coven, their intents are to rid the world of vampires. They do not have the same intent as us."

She paused and went over to the map of where they were and where their destination was. "Going through these islands," she ran her finger through the islands. "Will give us a good amount of cover. We have two ships now so even if attacked by a whole fleet we will have an advantage. None of these island are inhabited by more than animals, I did a search before I came down here. Here though." She pointed just offshore from an island at the far end of the cluster. "There is a strong pulse coming from there. I counted three ships but their may be more. We have to go through there to get to our destination though. Going around would take another week or two and theres still a chance of running into them and that would be in open water, with no cover." Ista looked up and waited for someone to speak.

Rannos was calm during the meeting with Ista and the Captain. "I disagree Ista. All endeavors require power of some sort to reach their objectives. If they are trying to be-rid the world of vampires, then they need more power as they continue upon that task. They may be after the legendary items the island holds as well. It's a possibility we can't overlook...." Rannos looked like he was staring off into space, but he was attentive and knew what was going on. He was just thinking heavily upon everything that was being mentioned as Ista pointed out locations on the map. "Three ships.... ::sigh:: .... or more. Never a dull day, but that's what I live for!" Rannos stood up and glugged a few mouthfuls of rum. "Lets do this! I'll inform the crew and help them prepare. Let's hope that it's those bastard scalliwags who killed that coven, so we can give them a taste of their own steel!" Rannos was chipper now and almost looking a little insane as he spoke. There was definitely a sparkle of inspiration in his eyes, and you could tell he was looking forward to the battle, as always. "Is there anything else either of you require of me beforehand?"

After the meeting was over, Rannos gathered up certain crew members and prepared for the battle. Going down into the lower deck area with his selected men, he told them to grab some gun powder from the stocks and a few other items. It's been a long time since he had to make specialty bombs, but he knew they would be necessary, and that's what made it fun. Not even Ista or the Captain have seen bombs like this made, and that was even more inspiration for Rannos. It took almost a day for all of the bombs to be made, but overall the results were great. Rannos didn't eat all day out of immersing himself in his work. It started to concern a few crew members as they hadn't seen him in quite some time during the day.

Upon completion, Rannos and a few of the members who helped him, went back up to the deck area carrying boxfuls of explosives. What was the most interesting was three larger sized packages, about the size of a small crate, and boxed like one too. Rannos grinned, "You haven't seen these before, but one of these can blow a ship to Davey Jones locker faster than you can say 'Where's the rum!' They'll float in water, and they are inconspicuous from their looks. What do you think? We never needed such firepower before, but if we're facing someone strong, these won't hurt to have." Rannos knew that Ista never mentioned about there being a strong pulse before, so he didn't want to be under prepared this time around.

((sorry about the long wait in me posting... my computer could die at anytime and it has it's off and on days so I can't do much because i always have a habit of picking the days it's not working properly lol.))

Ista said nothing more during the meeting. Even though she was the first mate and held more of an important position than Rannos sometimes the captian took his opinions over hers. The vampire could tell that this was one of those times. She lowered her head and was silent until Rannos left. "Captain you know me better than anyone on this ship does. You know of my secret, my title? You have pieced it together have you not?" He didn't even have to look up but merely nodded. Ista smiled slightly and started to walk out the door, she paused in the frame and looked back to see the captain looking at her. "You have no need to fear that those who are after the vampires have the same intent as us. If anything they would be searching for me. I'll remain apart of the crew until I have my venegence. I won't leave before that." As she left she heard something like a sigh of relief mixed with concern.

The vampire took her position at the front of the ship with her eyes focused firmly ahead, searching for anything that might be hidden from her powers. Apart from that she watched the other crew memebers. She wondered if any had figured out how much danger they were truly in with her on the ship. They could end up like the ships they had passed and they didn't even know. Maybe some suspected, for indeed some were giving her strange looks.

Ista only moved when Rannos came on deck carrying the boxes. "Bombs, a bit untrustworthy but i guess I'll accept them this time." She looked at Rannos than turned away. The vampire could admit she saw him as a friend and she always felt guilty that she hadn't ever told him who she really was. Ista decided that when the time came she would. "What now than?"

((It's ok. I had thought that you had given up on the roleplaying, but I'm glad you are still keeping this going! ))

As Rannos came up to the deck, meeting the cold stare of Ista and her strict sounding words of acceptance to the explosives, he knew she was serious and that the air was thick with tension. "I missed you too Ista" as he tried to break the tension with a short joke and a chuckle. "These are the best I can make, unless I made the ship out of explosives." Rannos' eyes widened at the thought, "Oooohhh I have to do that some day." Smiling he plops the boxes down and sits on them. "What now, what now. Hmmm.... it's getting dark, and we'll be needing to........" Rannos' eyes squinch in pain for a second, and he grasps his stomach. He falls to his knees and his head hits the floor. He gasps for air as he breath's heavily. Raising his head up, Ista can see his eyes turning a bloodshot red, as they had been earlier in the last battle with the hunter. He was starting to berserk from the lack of food. "Fooood.... quick.... uggghhh..... sorry.... forgot.... to eat.... food.... hurry." Rannos was starting to lose control of things, as his vision turned red and slightly blurry and over focused. He slammed his head against the floor and a couple crew members ran to get food. He was definitely regretting not eating anything, as he might be endangering his crewmates with his 'condition' of berserk rage. Depending on the condition, he can control it, but certain things like this he can't control it as easily. Foam and drool start dripping from his mouth as his breathing gets heavier and heavier, and his speech starts to become unclear. At the last moments before his rage starts to take over, he looks at Ista with eyes of sorrow and pain. Will food get to him in time?

(nope not sick of roleplaying, just a buggered computer... plus my holidays just finished and I was away the whole time.)

Ista looked at him disapprovingly at his "jokes". It usually would have got some hint of a smile out of her but because of the previous exciting events she wasn't quite herself. The vampire was confused as he suddenly dropped in what looked like pain and was even more confused as he started banging his head againest the floor. Ista had only seen vampires react this way when they hadn't had food for a long time. And she knew he couldn't possibly be a vampire because he was exposed to the su, and also the fact it wasn't long since she had seen him eat and vampires could last a couple of weeks before getting to the stage he was at now.

The vampire hadn't moved the whole time and she realised that every else had moved away as if waiting for a bomb to exploded. Ista knew something was up so grapped the food of the crew who had raced off to get some and than told them to move out of the way. If Rannos was going to go into some fit of rage she knew se would be the only one with a chance to stop him doing anything stupid. Deciding to ask questions later she chucked the food in front of him than squatted and watched him curiously.

Rannos was feeling awkward the whole time, as his stomach was making sounds of hunger. In his brief moments of rational thought, he remembers the rum he drank earlier. Was something put into his rum? He tries to take his jittery hand and grab the rum bottle he has attached to his side, and trows it across the floor. Just as Ista had thrown the food towards him, he smashes his head against the floor once more, and breaks the floorboards in that area. He had lost all control of his body, now being in an animalistic berserk mode seeking survival with food. Seeing the food, he goes for the large turkey leg and bites into it, ripping it apart. After eating the turkey leg, he sniffs the air and catches the scent of fresh stew that is being cooked....... on the nearby ship that had been taken over just days earlier. Rannos stands up, sniffs again, and faces the nearby ship, sailing about 40-50 feet next to them. He crouches for a moment, and runs and jumps off the Frozen Sword onto the other ship. Startling the other crew who ran to keep their distance. A huge metal cast cauldron was sitting there with stew, half full. Even the cook had moved back at the sight of Rannos. Rannos grabs the searing hot cauldron, and lifts it up single hadedly and tips the stew slowly into his mouth. The crew members were shocked at the sight of him being able to lift what would take 3-4 people to lift and carry. After finishing the food, the pain in his stomach was gone, and Rannos' rage had disappeared. He found himself baffled as he looked around to find he was on the other ship that had been taken. Seeing only shocked faces and people backing away even further from him, his only reaction was, "Ummmmm..... how did I get here? I remember being on the Frozen Sword." Turning around, after someone had pointed behind him at the Frozen Sword, he notices that he's quite far from the other ship, and Ista looks super pissed. Still confused a bit, he remembers slightly what had happened. "Ohhhhh shit." Rannos knew he was in trouble for what he did.

Motioning for their captain to pull up closer to the other ship, they do so, and Rannos hops back upon the Frozen Sword, and shamefully apologizes to everyone, especially Ista and the Captain. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it was either me not eating all day, or something with the rum. It's really odd."