Pirate, mercenary, smuggler, gallows thief and renowned blackguard, Captain Edward Van Der Kraal has been many things in his life, almost all of them disreputable. He has escaped death a great many times over the years, fought agains the dark-mist kindred of the Cursed Marches and lived, raided the Norscan Coast with fire and sword and it is said even survived shipwreck on the infamous Vampire Coast of Lustria and somehow returned to tell the tale. Many of these stories and scores more like them that dog his heels may be no more than tall tales and tavern gossip, but what is certain is that Van Der Kraal is a hard man to cross and a born survivor, albeit his adventures have left him grizzled, scarred and maimed, but only a fool would think him slowed down by his injuries. Although a black-