Fun to read/write is a different issue, and obviously it depends on the readers and writers in question. What I was objecting to was the apparent claim that you couldn't file the serial numbers off your story. "Drow" ->take file -> "dark elf" (It's even a descriptor you are already using.) Dark Elf is a traditional term, used to describe both the Scandinavian dosalfar (sp?), and the celtic bean sidhe (not certain how to spell that one, either, alas!), and therefore impossible to object to on legal grounds. It is, of course, less specific than Drow, so you would have to describe the creature in question, as well as provided a little more backgound -- either as a well written infodump from your narrator, or, as I demonstrated, some dialog between your pirates. But I really don't think either of those changes would have hurt your story any. But you might be relieved to learn that you can't be faulted on not learning how to write like this in school. I've yet to discover a school that teaches this stuff. :/ (You probably would be aware of this, if you had actually paid attention in class, but who am I to complain? I am guilty of spending most of my school hours, from eighth grade onward, scribbling stories down in the back of my subject notebooks.) :)