During the calm before, the others prepared for what was to come.  Dalious already felt to be in his prime, having put the hours of training in prior.  He changed his wardrobe, taking off any of the red painted designs and chainmail from his black crested armor, and instead crafted a white hooded overcoat to blend in to enemy territory all the better.  Before he put it all on, he had a tradition of his own to perform on his skin.  He heated one of his finest throwing blades and used ink to create more tattoos on his right arm.  His back had a large tribal tattoo of a compass, with various maps of the world within it, all adventures and treasures that told other stories for another time.  Along his ribcage was a ship layout of the Sparrow, on his upper chest were some skulls and crossbones, while on his arms were dash markings grouped in fives, each indicated a person he has killed over the years.  22 in total currently, with his intent right now to add those he took out along with his current company.  9 more was to be added, not including those unkillable assassins back at the castle keep.  Humming a soft tune to himself, he etched in the rest of his kills on his flesh and then moved on to his weapons.

His dragon designed katana blade had remained surprising sharp over the time spent, and other than his throwing knives equipped to his chest plate and his blunderbuss attached to his right hip holster, he added a few more smaller projectiles to his arsenal.  Small and compact tiny bombs, each filled with black powder and a sprouted stem to them.  

When he was finished with himself, he looked around to the others, observing some in prayer, others in more preparation, and the rest doing various other things to occupy their time.  He pulled out a flask of whiskey and put it to his lips, pausing just before taking a sip.  He shook his head and decided against it, putting the booze back away.  He knew he had to be sharp these next coming hours, and decided to instead save it for the victory, should it come.  If not, he had consumed his fill over his lifetime anyway.

He rose a curious eyebrow at Marco, who he felt should not had even been here.  He knew the boy was a mage, though unlike Drosil, he had not seen anything from the kid that told him he was equipped for such a horrible thing as war.  'Poor kid's gonna get killed' he thought to himself, then made his way over.  

[color=steelblue] "I hope you're ready, lad," [/color] he said.  He handed him over a handful of tiny bombs, just in case.  [color=steelblue] "Just be sure not to be around these when they are lit." [/color]

He then moved past Marco and over to the intimidating sentinels, approaching his favorite of them all, Gortul.  He simply offered the warrior a tap on the shoulder and a nod, telling him that whatever happens, it has been an honor fighting alongside him, with no words spoken at all.

When they reached the temple, Dalious broke out into the crowd upon the prince's orders.  He slowly edged his way forward, moving from person to person, while smoking a cigarette.  He made his way into the center of a few of the H'kelan forces, a good distance away from the stage.  There, he stood still and watched on as Gartian screamed across the area, ready to kill the prisoner.  

"Kill her!!" the man behind him shouted.

Dalious was about to yell something similar, all in playing the part, but he caught a glimpse of something he had not expected to.  There, off to one end of the platform, he saw a dwarf mercenary, smoking a fat cigar and watching on with arms crossed.  It was no ordinary dwarf however, as it was one he once knew.  Grefolin, the same bastard that betrayed him long ago, which led to Dalious being captured and nearly hung!  His eyes narrowed at the sight of the dwarf and his fist clenched, but before he could think anymore of it, Gartian quickly moved to attempt in killing the prisoner and Cyril gave the word to attack.  

Dalious lit multiple tiny bombs at once, quickly tossing each of them into those in front of him's pockets.  The man behind him noticed, and he grabbed Dalious' shoulder, though the pirate used his hand as a prop, twisting it and breaking it.  The pirate, whilst still holding the man's arm, did a back flip over him, then kicked him toward the others.

[color=red] BOOM![/color]

The bombs went off, with their explosive radius being the area of a singular person.  Every H'kelan in front of Dalious errupted in a red cloud of blood, and the power of the impact shot everyone else, including the pirate, backward and onto their asses.  Dalious shook off the cobwebs and stood, seeing the mutilated remains all around him, with his face and armor already soaked in blood from head to toe.

[color=steelblue] "Of all the blooming bad ideas I've had..." [/color] he started, but was on the defensive nearly immediately.  

Three H'kelan's thrust forward on him.  He backpedaled and unsheathed his katana, blocking each strike they gave.  When he found his footing again, he went on the attack, though not running straight at them as they did him.  He moved from the sides, being elusive and fast, cutting the three men down with relative ease and speed.  More blood splattered across his face as his vision picked up the dwarf again, off a few feet from him, with many in the way of.  

His eyes turned feral, and much like the beast like mode Stark was in, he went on a killing spree.  Men flew across from all sides as Stark made a path for him, he cleaned up those she had missed in her rampage.  Hacking off ones head, he shot the next one rushing in down with a quick hip shot from his blunderbuss, which fired the attacker backward at a quicker pace than he was running in with.  Dalious rolled under another attack, sticking his katana deep into the stomach of his next foe, while Alice topped off the dome of the H'kelan he had rolled past.  

Grefolin, the dwarf, was leaving a blood trail behind himself as well.  It wasn't long before the two came face to face, a pile of bodies at either side of them both.  The dwarf paused at the sight of him, even covered in all that blood, he recognized the man he betrayed.  The large dwarf cracked his neck, flipping his two double sided axes into a stance.

"Well, well, bloody fucking well," Grefolin said, as a circluar space became open for the two.  The dwarf spat someone elses blood from his mouth, a good portion of it stuck in his thick brown beard.  "Dalious Durendail, I was assured you were dead.  I should have figured you weren't, you were always the persistent fuck.  Given the situation...I'm glad to see you, old pal." 

[color=steelblue] "Well, I aim to please," [/color] the pirate responded.  [color=steelblue] "Mercenary work suits you." [/color]

"As it does you," Grefolin said.  "Though, I hate to inform you, you chose the wrong side." 

[color=steelblue] "I don't know, we do have a massive centipede called Sir-Mauls-Alot," [/color] Dalious jested.  [color=steelblue] "I also know that Captain Thorpe has the Sparrow, which makes you a horrible backstabber." [/color]

The dwarf let out a heartful laugh.  "Did you really think I betrayed you for that water bucket piece of shite?  I betrayed you for the money, Dal.  That ship of yours was useless."

[color=steelblue] "You take that back!" [/color] Dalious called.  

"I always wanted to prove I was better than you.  I'll be keeping your head as a trophy."

[color=steelblue] "Come get some." [/color]

The two engaged.  Grefolin charged around like a rolling boulder, his axes swinging wildly like a tornado.  Dalious swiftly rolled under an attack, side stepped another, and swayed away from the next.  His katana clinged against the hard steel of the axes, back and forth for a while.  A few other H'kelans jumped into the fight, while taking Dalious' focus away from the dwarf momentarily.  The pirate ducked and dodged, then struck as quick as a cobra, stabbing one soldier in the throat, while turning his blade back to block another death blow.   

Another random sniper's bullet came wizzing past Dalious' head to strike another H'Kelan down.  Dalious turned to look up toward Alice, though he couldn't see her he knew she was around somewhere.  He patted his hair and gave out an angered look to wherever she was.  [color=steelblue] "Are you mad, woman!!" [/color] he shouted, even though he knew she was spot on with her targets, she had almost hit his golden hair.  

Grefolin took the moment to charge in yet again, though Dalious blocked the axe swing, the dwarf managed to shoulder push the pirate to the ground.  He stood over him and rasied his axe high, bringing it down with enough force to crack the ground, as Dalious rolled aside, kipping up to his feet.  

"You've gotten faster, I'll give you that," Grefolin said, charging yet again.

[color=steelblue] "And you are much fatter, mind you," [/color] Dalious said with a laugh that turned into a serious face as he barely swayed away from the strike again.  

He rolled past his enemy, pushing against him as he did in order to create more distance between them.  Grefolin turned back toward him and raised his weapons once more.

"You don't even fight like a pirate anymore," Grefolin spoke.

[color=steelblue] "...wait for it," [/color]

It took the dwarf a second to hear the fuse burning.  His confused look turned into panic as he reached into his holsters, attempting to find the tiny bomb.

"CHEATER!!" the dwarf shouted.

[color=steelblue] "You were always one to blow things out of proportion, mate," [/color] Dalious said, then quickly rolled again as Grefolin exploded amongst the battle field.  

Dalious wiped blood from his face as he realized he was much further away from the target.  People were fighting all around him, with arrows wizzing by here and there.  Another enemy ran at him, though he quickly side stepped with an upstroke of his blade, splitting the man's chest open and spraying even more blood on his once cotton white clean wardrobe.

[color=steelblue] "Forty-two..." [/color] he counted.