"Y-your forest?"

The pirates braced themselves as the tall monstrous silhouette revealed its four arms, which sprouted from the middle of its thin three-sectioned body. The light revealed its viridian wings and white, feathery body - slightly poofier around the upper chest area - along with its gray humanoid face. The only other humanoid feature besides its facial structure and feminine appearance was its long, silvery locks that flowed with the wind.

"Captain, would you mind dealing with it?" Vanessa loaded another mortar shell. "Running low on ammo, so I need absolute focus to get rid of those monsters."

"I don't think we need to worry about that." Caesar relaxed his stance and lowered his cutlass. "She looks like a giant moth, but she seems friendly."

"And why would I be friends with humans?" The mouthless moth woman spoke directly with the minds of the pirates. Her mental voice sounded like an irate young woman. "You brought the demons here, didn't you?"

"We don't know much about demons, but I know they don't belong in the forest. We're trying to clear them all out of here!"

"Lies! The demons hunt for my babies day in and day out and destroy my domain as they go about it! We already protect the woods and provide the humans with silk from the shadows, so why do they not protect us?!"

"Your babies?" Cecilia tried to put the information presented so far, but there was only so much she knew about the forest and its creatures. "I haven't heard of giant moths calling an even bigger moth their 'mother.' Just what are you playing at here?"

BANG!

Another mortar shell exploded in the distance, inciting the cries from a trio of hunched rat-like demons. The rest of the rat-like demons stopped in their tracks, second-guessing themselves on their current course of action and decided to hide behind the trees instead.

"What is that infernal noise," the moth woman inquired.

"Guangzhou gunpowder," Vanessa answered matter-of-factly. "The best of the realm."

"I think she means the demons, love," Wulf corrected her.

"Human weaponry is the worst! I cannot allow this!" A glyph formed at the palm of one of the moth woman's four hands. "I cannot allow the demons to roam free, but your weapon will ruin the trees, the foliage, and the soil! I have no choice but to eliminate you first!"

Focused on reloading her weapon, Vanessa could not pay attention to the danger going on behind her. With Cecilia and Wulf out of his immediate reach, Caesar placed himself between the giant moth and his beastly artillerist. While surprised by the pirate's selfless action, the moth woman did not stop readying her spell.

"I'm not letting you hurt a member of my crew! I don't get what your deal is, but all we're doing is dealing with these demons before we go home!" Caesar pointed his drawn cutlass at his new adversary. "If you want to get to 'Nessa, then you'll have to go through me first!"

"A tempting proposition. Very well! I'll kill both of you and stop this madness myself!"

Grimacing before covering his face, Caesar remained in place and braced himself for the moth woman's attack. "So much for that!"

What would have been Caesar's gruesome, impending doom never came! Oh, for those of you who do not like pirates, this just isn't your day!

The young captain steadily removed his forearms from his face when he heard endless chittering. Another moth - the giant, non-humanoid variety - placed itself between him and its kin. Its wings fluttered erratically, doing its best to grab the monster woman's attention.

"What is it, my child?" Silence followed. The moth woman's compound eyes changed from a cautious yellow to a calm green. "This dashing human and his ugly companions saved you?"

"Dashing human," said Caesar with a slight blush.

"Ugly companions?!" Cecilia, however, was less than pleased.

"My apologies! Had I known you were the ones who saved my child from a horrible trap, I wouldn't have attacked you in the first place. I'm sorry!" The moth woman's psychic voice went from aggressive to sickeningly sweet in an instant.

"No harm done," Wulf reassured her. "That must be the little guy our captain saved earlier. What are the odds?"

"Save it for later!" Vanessa shoved her mortar into the wagon. "The demons are closing in, and I'm out of ammo!"

Surrounded by demonic snarling, Caesar, Cecilia, and Wulf scanned the woods around them and firmly gripped their weapons. The snarling was closing in from all sides, and with no way out, all present prepared themselves for a fight.

"Moths! Kill the moths and their Guardian," the demons chanted.

"Alrighty, then." Relaxed and carefree, Caesar issued orders to his crew. "Listen up, ye scalawags! The Order of the Blue Jay wanted to kill some moths, so let's do the opposite and save them! We're defending this wagon and everything inside, as well! Vanessa, get your knife out and keep the kids safe! Cecilia, provide some cover fire! Wulf, you and I will charge into melee, but stay close to us!"

"Yes, Captain!" The crew's reply was hearty and without fear.

"They got us surrounded, but this isn't any different than the time the police surrounded us during a botched dine 'n dash! We're just dealing with demons this time, so our no-kill rule is suspended for the time being! Plunder everything, and leave nothing!"

Music to everyone's ears. Just as the dice rolled for initiative, Caesar and Wulf charged in while Cecilia climbed the wagon to gain a better vantage point. The demons proved to be faster, and after hearing her babies were the demons' current targets, the moth woman found the resolve to fight back.

Suddenly, silence. The demons stopped hollering, shouting, chanting. Without a word, all six of them - each coming from a cardinal direction, plus from southwest and northeast - threw large rocks in the direction of their quarry. The moth woman shielded herself with her four arms, but a stray rock was lucky enough to hit her on the head.

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"Owie!"

"It looks like these guys are organized, Cap," Cecilia commented. "Any ideas?"

"I'll have to ask our expert on fiends," Caesar said, turning to Wulf. "What do you have for us?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." The dogfolk shook his head. "I only know demons in general can communicate via telepathy. They can strategize without us knowing!"

"Terrific," Caesar said sarcastically. "Anything to add before they beat us quietly to death?!"

"These demons are known as abrikandilu, or wrecker demons. They specialize in destroying things, preferably beautiful things!"

"Great! When we see Alistair again, we'll be sure to let him know we took good care of his wagon!" Dropping the sarcasm, Caesar scanned the area for any sign of the moth woman. Ever since she got hurt from thrown rocks, there hadn't been a peep out of her, and now she was gone. "Where did she go?!"

"She must have cast an invisibility spell or something," Cecilia guessed. The giant moth that Caesar saved was at a higher elevation, giving the sorceress an idea of what might be going on. With a snap of her fingers, she pointed at the wrecker demons closest to Caesar - the ones coming from the north, northeast, and east. "Alright, Cap, stick close to the wagon!"

A mass of the forest undergrowth came to life, and Cecilia smiled cockily as the tall grass and vines followed her hand movements and wrapped themselves around the ankles of the three wrecker demons. Two of them wriggled free instantly, but a third nearly slipped and fell when the living plants held it in place. Caesar took this as an opportunity to hug the wagon, since his chief mate had arranged the spell to give anyone hugging the wagon a wide enough berth to move freely without touching the living vines.

BANG!

The strong smell of gunpowder was hard to miss, and so was the bullet wound once Caesar opened fire from his quickly-drawn pepperbox pistol. Black ooze dripped from the rat-like demon that had struggled to break free from the vines, forcing it to gutturally squeak in agony. Caesar posed confidently with both blade and firearm, pointing upward with the latter and his opponents with the former.

But to the pirates' surprise, the demon's wound quickly closed off, stopping most of the bleeding. Its state of panic was short-lived, as it now confidently raised its claws and squeaked a sound similar to human laughter.

"That's not a good sign," Caesar warned his crew. "Wulf! What are these things made of?!"

On his end, Wulf had to contend with the demons coming from the south, southwest, and west. Quick on his feet, the caninefolk clashed with the demon coming from the southwest, putting himself within range of the other two in case either one had the idea to run past him. The demon claws were either parried by his trident or stopped by his leather jacket, giving Wulf the opening he needed to counter with a heavy thrust. The three-pronged wound seemed significant until a large portion of it immediately closed off, reducing the amount of blackened ooze seeping through the three holes.

"Captain, demon hides can be tough! Only cold iron can pierce them," the caninefolk warned.

"Great! I wonder where we can find cold iron!" Caesar slid back when a trio of claws closed in on him. With the wagon right behind him and the demons blocking him from the front and sides, the captain had no choice but to block their incoming attacks with the heavy blade in his hand. He knew there was no escape, and it was up to him to fight them off.

"Cold iron? That's easy; just ask the paladins you'll meet when we put you six feet under!"

Vines lashed out at the feet of the wrecker demons, none of them able to advance further until the obstacle in front of them was taken care of. The pirate captain valiantly stood his ground, and swung his blade from side to side to ward off the claws that reached out to him. His waist took most of the damage from the one claw that managed to break through his defenses, causing tears on his unbuttoned shirt while some blood escaped from his wound and dripped on the grass. Caesar's vision became blurry for a split second as he withstood the attack.

"You're a tough nut to crack," said the attacking rat demon. The blood on his nails instantly hardened. "You people are usually ready to pop like zits after a hit or two!"

"I smell blood in the air," said another. "He'll be popping soon!"

"Heh, you're not looking so hot, yourselves." It was hard to see, but there were pieces of shrapnel embedded on every single demon present, and they did not notice until Caesar pointed at them again. "Looks like our artillerist did a good job softening all of you up! All those explosions in the dark really paid off!"

"Lucky break," barked a third demon. "It's six of us versus the three of you! That flying moth is useless, and the Guardian made herself scarce by running away! But we'll find her soon enough!"

"Guardian? What exactly is she guarding? Is it-?" A wolfish yelp from the other side of the wagon yanked Caesar out of his train of thought. This was yet another mystery he had to solve later. "Wulf!"

"I'm fine, Captain!" On the other side of the wagon, blood had dried around bite wounds Wulf had sustained, giving his exposed white fur a desiccated rusty color. "Looks like I've been cursed by the demons, though. I suddenly don't feel so fired up." He sighed. "I know Vanessa likes clinging to my arms. She's going to hate this..."

"You don't sound well at all," shouted Caesar. "Need a hand?"

"I'll fight on, Captain!" A bloodied hand grasped the trident, holding it steady from right below the head with the help of the cleaner hand. "There's not a lot I understand. You and Cecilia have changed a little ever since you discovered there's a higher purpose for both of you. Things look a little bleak now, but you've shown me and Vanessa that woman and beastfolk alike can also live a life of plunder and adventure! The code is not fond of deserters, and I won't move unless you give the order to retreat!"

A ray of fire was shot between Wulf's ears and struck a distracted demon through the chest. The demon's hide repelled the beam at first, but ultimately the attack pierced right through, creating a small gaping hole before it dropped dead from where it stood. The demons looked up in the direction the beam was shot from, but did not locate the assailant. Coincidentally, where there once was a halfling sorceress on top of the wagon now had nothing at all.

This detail easily explained why the demons gasped when they heard Cecilia's disembodied voice coming from the wagon. "Got you."

"Looks like our chief mate is getting serious." Caesar shifted his smile to the left. "Where did you go, Cecilia? I thought attacking an enemy usually broke the invisibility spell."

"Our moth friend hasn't abandoned us, Cap," said the tricksy halfling's disembodied voice. "If these guys fight with overwhelming force, then we'll just have to match that with our own tricks!"