Invasion of the Four Finger Pirates

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Job Title: Invasion of the Four-Finger Pirates
Rank: C
Player Requirements: none
Job Requirements: Must fight 2 of the 4 groups of enemies, if you choose to fight the boss you must only fight him. 3000 words.
Job Location: any island

Job Description:
A call for help in the form of a letter arrives at your guild or is sent to you.  A coastal town has been threatened by a pirate gang that if they don't pay a handsome sum to them then they will be raided and wiped from the face of Earthland. You are sent to protect this town from the pirates. Keep them alive if you can but protection of the people and town are the most important things in this job.

to succeed you must defeat the enemies you roll and make sure no harm comes to the town or city.

Enemies:

Weak: Four-Finger's Pyromaniac x10 - A fire wizard from the Four-Fingers gang, not too skilled but their spells seem to have a long range and homing capabilities. wears assorted clothes and armor. They deal less than 10 damage with their fire spells, but their attacks are hard to dodge. Takes 1 hit of D-Ranked damage each to defeat. They aim for civilians and wooden structures

Normal: Four-Fingers Cannoneer x5 - a requip master of the Four-Fingers gang, they wear leather coats. More skilled but extremely slow when they have their cannon summoned. They can summon huge hand held cannons that deal 1 C-rank but are slow to fire and inaccurate. Takes 2 hits of D-Ranked damage or one hit of C-Ranked damage to defeat. They aim for structures to destroy with their heavy cannons.

Strong: Four-Finger's Summoner's x3 - These 3 wizards wear blue and white masks with wave designs on them and leather coats. They are weak by themselves but together their pets can deal lots of damage. They each have a different summon; one is a metal golem with 3 artillery cannons on it (one on each arm and one in it's chest), one is a huge parrot with extreme speeds, the last is a whirlpool with 5 tentacles sprouting out. The summoner's take 2 hits of D-Ranked damage to defeat and their summons only die when they are defeated, however you could deal damage to them to incapacitate them (if you cut the tentacles of the whirlpool it won't be able to use them.)

Boss: Captain Four-Fingers - This guy is the big bad of the Four-Finger's gang. He is a very skilled Wizard; C-Ranked in his level of skill. He specializes in requip and fire magic, having the abilities of both the pyromaniac and the cannoneer without their weaknesses. Takes 2 hits of B-Ranked damage, or 4 hits of C-Ranked damage, or 8 hits of D-Ranked damage to defeat. If he appears, the other enemies leave.

Reward: 20000 jewel and the thanks of the town. If you capture the enemies alive and take them to the magic council they will thank you for your service to Earthland.

"Take the job, they said. You'll be fine in a boat they said."

Sarah complained to Shane as she hung her head over the railing of the boat, on the way to Crescent Island.

"And why the hell are you so calm all the time?! Do you enjoy seeing me puking my guts out like this? Of all the things for a guy to get a kick out of, that's a strange one right there."

Sarah never really could figure out what was going on inside Shane's head. This wasn't the first job that they had done together, and it probably wouldn't be the last. But, to Sarah, it seemed like Shane had nerves of steel. She vented her sickness once more before wiping her mouth, and sitting against a wall.

"So, what's the plan? Go in, rough up some pirates, and politely ask them to leave?"

As she finished asking this, the boat pulled into port, and began the docking process.

"You know, to be honest, I really can't wait for the fighting to start. Whenever I'm fighting, that's when I really feel alive. But, with this, I'd just like to get it over with and go home."

Sarah enjoyed boats about as much as she enjoyed dresses, which was not at all. So, having to take two trips by boat was something she found would be easier to skip, but the people here needed saving, and she wasn't in any position to refuse.

Code:

Post WC: 256
Total WC: 256/3000

Shane was enjoying the ocean breeze, feeling the wind in his face. Well, trying to enjoy it and relax as much as he could. He had picked up another job with Sarah, the newest recruit to Aurora, a feisty girl with equally hard fists to match. They were on their way to Crescent Island, travelling there by ship, to take down a bunch of pirates who were holding some town for ransom. And Sarah was continuously puking over the side of the boat, while Shane laughed at the side. When she was finally done, the girl had pulled herself back and then slumped down to the deck, leaning against the railing.

“Nothing much I can help with your puking, to be honest. Anyway, that’s exactly the battle plan I guess. I’ve dealt with the Four Finger Pirates twice, and frankly, unless it’s their captain Albiro and his five Division Commanders, we have nothing to worry about. It’s probably another of the lieutenants rampaging around,” Shane explained, finishing just as the boat rocked slightly, having docked.

“Let’s go. We should be able to wrap it up in two hours?” Shane said as he walked towards the gangplank without waiting for Sarah. He landed lightly on the docks. The gazes of the locals as they stepped off the boat were wary. Unfriendly even. Noticing that, Shane made an attempt to adjust the strap of his sheath, causing Breaker’s shaft in its sword form to shake around to the left and right. The moment he did that, the eyes of the locals instantly withdrew their gazes as they noticed the weapon behind him.

[Shane post WC: 270
Total WC: 526/3000]

"Oh good, it stopped moving."

Sarah got up and followed Shane. She didn't dislike him or anything, she actually saw him as something similar to a brother. They had worked together before on a similar job in Quanny village, so they pretty much had something of a dynamic figured out.

"So, how do you want to handle this? Same as Quanny?"

Sarah winced slightly, when she mentioned the village. It caused her to remember the bandages currently wrapped around her midsection, covering up a scar from a burn that she had received while fighting a bandit boss.

"Yeah, two hours. That sounds about right, I guess."

She did her best to hide the worried expression, and replace it with her trademark 100 watt smile.

"So, you've dealt with these guys before. What can you tell me about them?"

Sarah wasn't worried, really. She just didn't want to make Luna worry by getting injured again, and wanted to take every possible precaution against that. While waiting for a response, Sarah pulled a roll of tape from her back pocket, and started to wrap her hands.

"A little trick I picked up recently while watching a match. Turns out, a lot of mages similar to me tend to tape their hands so that they don't have to worry about breaking them as much. Honestly, I'd never thought of that before, but I guess that means I still have a lot to learn."

When she had finished taping her hands, Sarah placed the fighting tape back in her pocket. After all, it had a variety of uses. She was planning on using it to apprehend some of the pirates as well.

[Post WC: 285
Total WC: 811/3000]

As they walked down the docks, pointed in a right direction by an extremely friendly local after a little bit of non-verbal threatening, Shane wanted to give a few pointers to Sarah. He very much wanted to avoid having her running headlong again into danger. What she didn’t know was that after the last mission, Shane had almost had his ears chewed off by Luna with her going on and on about how he was supposed to take care of his juniors, what type of common sense did he have to let a mage weaker than he was to fight against the boss of the bandits. It had ended with a very visual and sweat-inducing threat. And even as fearless as he normally was, Shane was sure that Luna would deliver.

“No.1, leave the big bad to me. You will take care of his crew. No.2, don’t bite off more than you can chew. If they overwhelm you, call out. I will be there. No.3, always put your safety as the first priority. No point dying on a job, especially a low-level job like this. Got it?” Shane said, counting off his fingers as he spoke. And at the very end, stopped and turned around to look at Sarah. “Got it?”

Code:

Total WC: 1022/3000

Sarah was confused by Shane's behavior. Sure, she had rushed off prematurely, but they got the job done, and went home relatively safe. In fact, Sarah was almost ready to take the exam for the next rank. She just wanted to get this job out of the way first.

"Hey, now. I'm almost the same rank as you. Can't you give me just a little more credit? At least I learned something while fighting that guy."

Sarah wasn't sure why Shane mentioned dying on the job. She didn't think they had anything to worry about, what with the job poster making it sound so simple.

"Besides, I'm still here, right? No use taking a job if you're not ready to give it everything you've got, right?"

Still, seeing that Shane didn't seem like he was going to budge on this, she didn't see the harm in humoring him.

"Alright, alright, I got it. By the way, I know what I said on the boat, but it wouldn't hurt to stick around for a couple days. Besides, I need to rest for a while in order to get back to top shape. Plus, I mean look at my outfit. I can't fight like this."

Sarah walked into the resort, booking two rooms across from one another. She handed a key to Shane on her way to a local clothing store and bought a roll of bandages. She walked back to her room to shower and change her bandages before laying down for a while.

Code:

Post WC: 253
Total WC: 1275

Shane let out a sigh as he took the key from Sarah, one eyebrow raised, his expression going unnoticed by the redhead. On the contrary to the last time, he had wanted to start the job immediately. And this time, the girl had wanted to nap first instead. Tossing the key lightly into the air and then snatching it with a quick swipe, the silver-haired mage turned around in the hotel and walked out into the town.

It was an ordinary port town, the livelihood of the people depending on the products of the sea and trade. He was a little concerned about the hostile looks he had gotten the moment they had disembarked, but with cases like pirate attacks in a neighboring village happening so close to them, Shane could understand. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be more careful. Shane took his time exploring the streets, asking for information about the pirate attack as he made conversation with the friendlier ones.

As usual, the bits and pieces of information were a jumble, a mess of truth and false. Stopping by a humble coffee house, Shane took a seat by a table outside the café. A young man came out to take his order, ordering a cup of decaffeinated coffee. It arrived in less than a minute, with Shane eyeing the coffee suspiciously, almost certain that this probably came from the same pot as caffeinated coffee. He just shrugged it off as he picked up the cup and sipped the coffee. He had just ordered a decaf on a whim anyway. Coffee wasn’t coffee if it was decaf.
It didn’t take him long to go over each piece of information he received, allowing the pieces of the puzzle to fall in to the place. Mainly, the information had pertained to how and when the attack had happened. He had hoped to get more info on the pirates themselves, so that he could assess the danger of the job, but he couldn’t find anything on the subject.

However, he had also heard that some of the villagers in the neighboring village had been hung up above the village gate for attempting to escape. It had already been three days since the pirates attacked. Putting down the last of coffee down his throat, Shane took out a few folded notes and left it on the table before walking off. Within five minutes of walking, the male mage had returned to the hotel and just sat down on an armchair in the lobby, waiting for Sarah.

When she did finally come out, Shane immediately stood up from his armchair and went over to her.

“Let’s go. The pirates this time aren’t that easygoing as the ones I fought previously. We might have a more aggressive crew on our hands this time. There’s no plan this time. We go in, swinging and kicking and neutralize their entire crew,” Shane said in a casual tone, in contrast to the words that had just came out of his mouth.

He then led the way towards the village they were supposed to save. Two horses were standing outside the hotel, a man holding their reins smiling as he saw Shane.

“Here’s your horses, Mister Stern,” the owner of the horses said, handing the reins over to Shane. Shane, in turn, handed one of it to Sarah. With his free hand, he took out a few more notes and passed it to the man.

“Thank you for your business!” the man said as he turned around and went off.

“You won’t be getting motion sickness from riding a horse right?” Shane asked Sarah, giving her a sideways gaze, smiling as he spoke, before pulling himself up on his brown mare. Once Sarah was up on her horse as well, Shane tugged on the reins slightly and they were off towards the village waiting for them.

Code:

Total WC: 1918/3000

"No, I'll be fine on a horse. It only happens when I'm in something, like a boat, or something with wheels. Otherwise, I'm fine."

Sarah had usually been able to avoid the subject by walking everywhere. The boat was something of a new experience for her, and one that she didn't particularly enjoy. The ride to the village was rather enjoyable in contrast. There was hardly any traffic on the road, and the horse seemed very receptive to Sarah. This was also a new experience for her, but it was one that she could handle much more easily.

"So, if the plan's out the window, does that mean I can cut loose?"

Truth be told, Sarah was beginning to get a little stronger than the average D rank mage. Perhaps it was a sign that she needed to take the advancement exam soon. Still, she had been training night and day, hitting the heavy bag at a gym in the valley, and running through the nearby forest every morning before showing up at the guild hall. The relentless training was a reaction to the last job the two had done together, where Sarah had learned a painful lesson about not underestimating her enemies. As they arrived at the gate, Sarah stopped, and dismounted.

"How......."

She stood there, staring at the bodies hung on the gate, a fire in her eyes as tears began to form. She couldn't stand the cruelty that people were prone to showing one another. It pained her to see such things, even if she needed to.

"How can they do something like this?"

This wasn't the first time that Sarah had seen people mistreated. But, it was the first time that she had ever seen it go this far. After a moment, she punched one of the posts, as hard as she could, momentarily venting her anger towards the situation at hand.

"Shane....we can't let them get away with this. I've seen people hurt each other before....but....not this...."

Walking into town, Sarah encountered a group of the pirates, all ten of the Pyros had grouped up. Luckily, Sarah had done her homework from fighting a fire mage before. She moved quickly, attacking before they could, and hitting each of them as hard as she could, causing a few of them to lose their lunch as they passed out. Sarah was justifiably bothered, and she would see each and every one of these pirates pay for their crimes.

Code:

Post WC: 423
Total WC: 2341/3000

As soon as he saw the bodies hanging from the village gate, he tugged on the reins and slowed down to a slow trot. Sarah, on the other hand, was quick to jump off her horse and charge straight into the village. From the sounds of it, she had found targets to vent her rage on quite quickly. Shane got down from his horse as well. The people hanging were still alive, suffering from exhaustion and muscle cramps more than the damage from being baked in the sun. The weather in the past few days had been rather kind to them. From what he had heard, it had been raining quite frequently.

Shane swung his right arm upwards and five Stingers, arrows made of wind, were sent flying towards the ropes and sliced through them easily. Luckily the gate the wasn’t too high, so the tied up villagers merely dropped from the height of a one story building. With five quick slashes using Breaker in its dagger form, Shane quickly released the three man and two women from their bonds. They continued lying on the ground from exhaustion, too weak to move or even respond. The most they could do was open their eyes and tried to speak.

Shane moved them one after another to rest under the village gate, and then left them as he entered the village. He watched as Sarah took on ten low level mages at once, and left her to it, deciding that she could hold her own. As he walked past the scuffle, Shane moved in the direction of the village center by himself.

And he had found his prey. Sitting on a large chair with a long banquet table in front of him was the leader of the pirates, eating and drinking to his heart’s content. The food and drink he consumed was shockingly disparate to his body size. He had red hair, completely shave on the right side while he left a crop on the left side. Shane could see that he was lean, very different from his subordinates sitting on either side of him and in front of him. What really caught his attention was the hilt that poked over the back of his chair, caught in glimpses as the man moved his head back and forth while eating and talking.

Gathering wind in his right hand, Shane pulled back his right arm and then stepped forward in tandem with the swinging of his right arm forward. Three blades of wind, curved and white in color, the lower tip of the blades drawing lines in the ground as it charged towards the banquet table. The blades slashed into the table, abruptly cutting their lunch short as the table split into four unequal parts, dropping the food and drinks to the ground in a large clatter. The serving staff, comprised of the villagers obviously, were scared stiff, retreating back as the pirates turned their attention to Shane in concert.

“Party’s over, boys. You’ve troubled the good people here enough,” Shane called out as he continued walking forward into the village square, ignoring the angry stares of the small fries. His eyes were fixed on the leader only. And the leader had smiled as well, instead of throwing a rage. Very different from the previous lieutenant Shane had encountered.

Standing up from his chair, his left hand going to grab his long sword not unnoticed by Shane, the leader then kicked the broken table in front of him to make a path. It was a very long curved sword, a tachi.

“You and what army? I am--“

He was cut short by Shane, who threw his right hand forward again, sending six Stingers flying in his direction. His reflexes were good, pushing himself backwards by jamming the end of his sheath into the ground and unsheathing the tachi in a fluid motion, pulling off two slashes despite the cumbersome length to cut down all six Stingers.

“Sorry, not interested. I know you’re Albiro’s men. So it would be helpful if you can just quiet down and surrender yourselves,” Shane continued speaking, his hand moving to pull out Breaker in its sword from the sheath on his back. He made a show out of it, allowing the pirates to see him extend the sword into a spear.

“You runts can wait for my partner,” Shane said, pointing behind him with his thumb, before pointing it back at the red-haired leader. His face was a seething mess of rage. “You’re fighting me.”

Code:

Total WC: 3091/3000

Sarah had finished tying up the unconscious fire mages, when she noticed the commotion at the center of the village, and saw Shane pointing back towards her. She grinned, instantly knowing what he was saying. She didn't mind dealing with the small fry this time. It gave her more of a chance to test her skills. The summoners foolishly came after her first. With nobody in front to protect them, they didn't have any time to summon their pets. The Cannoneers, on the other hand, were a little smarter. However, their plan had one fatal flaw. They surrounded Sarah, thinking that if they all attacked at the same time, she wouldn't be able to do anything. She ducked to avoid their fire, and hit each of them with a quick 'one-two' combo before wrapping them up, along with the summoners, and piling them near the fire mages. Noticing that it would be troublesome to bring these folks back just with the horses, Sarah went back to get them. After returning to the pile, she hitched them to a nearby post before wandering off to find a cart. Once she had found a decently sized one, she negotiated a fair price for it, and hauled it back to the pile of unconscious, taped up pirates. One by one she loaded them in, piling them atop one another as needed, before hitching them to the horses.

Code:

Post WC: 238
Total WC: 3329/3000

“You will regret fighting me. I’m the—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Shane was already in front of him, swinging the spear in a wide arc. The pirate leader shut his mouth in the middle of his sentence, snarling as he quickly raised up his tachi, hilt up tip down, to block against Shane’s sweeping attack. That was only the beginning. The moment his slash was blocked, Shane’s right hand pulled back the spear while his left hand was holding it loosely. What followed was a flurry of thrusts at the pirate leader to which he continued blocking furiously, retreating.

Shane’s eyes were watching his spear and the pirate’s feet at the same time, patiently taking his time with the continuous thrusting attack, waiting until the last moment to jab his spear forward in a great stab. The thing was, he knew the pirate would be able to block it. The silver-haired mage proficient with a sword and a dagger, but a spear definitely wasn’t one of it. In fact, this was probably only the third time he had actually used the spear form of Breaker.

The pirate leader blocked the final stab flawlessly, but as he raised his sword to meet the spear, the momentum ultimately pushed him backwards, causing him to trip over the broken pieces of the banquet table.

“Told you I was not interested in your name,” Shane said with a laugh. What he got in response was a furious roar as the pirate shot back up on his feet and lunged without his tachi. He came at Shane with his fists drawn, ready to punch it out. To which his opponent emulated as well. Contracting Breaker into its sword length and storing it, Shane widened his feet and prepared to counter attack with a punch of his own.

But he wasn’t fighting any mere pirate grunt. Underneath the brash action was an equally shrewd mind. The straight punch was actually a feint, catching Shane off guard as he had attempted to block the straight punch, only to be assaulted with a palm thrust in his abdomen. A lightning charged one too. Shane was instantly thrown backwards by the electrical outburst from the pirate’s other palm. He regained his footing, having slid back quite a few feet.

“Now that I have your attention. I’m known as Roan the Shocker, lieutenant of the Third Division,” the young pirate said with a mean grin on his face.

“Ahh… You must know that Warren guy then. I’m Shane Stern, the guy that beat him up,” Shane said matter-of-factly, smirking as well. “It’s high time he gets a friend then.”

“You!” Roan exclaimed as his grinning expression turned grim. “You won’t be getting out of this alive then! Our Captain demands you be brought back to him!”

“You can try,” the Aurora mage replied, shrugging nonchalantly before charging forward, keeping his body low to the ground. As a Sky Demon Slayer, the wind could cause him little to no resistance, as he cut through the air, going in fast at the pirate lieutenant. With ease he closed the distance between them, right knee raised. It was his favorite move, the Sky Demon Slayer’s Lotus Flight. Unobstructed, Shane’s knee crushed right into the pirate lieutenant’s body with startling force and sent the young pirate crashing and bouncing into the ground before stopping while Shane stood up straight.

He wasn’t going to be merciful this time, after what he had done to the villagers. Leaving no openings for the Shocker to retaliate, Shane once again leapt at the pirate and came back down with an axe kick, sheathed in wind to increase the power behind the attack. Shane’s heel came crushing down on the pirate’s shoulder, the bone giving out with a very audible crack, just as he was pushing himself back up. Another scream of pain followed. And Shane still wasn’t done. Holding his hand up to shoulder level, fingers straight, Shane pressed downwards with his right palm with another technique, the Sky Demon Slayer’s Vacuum Palm. The wind-reinforced palm thrust collided into the pirate’s back, slamming him back into the ground. A spray of blood came from Roan’s mouth. There was no attempt to get back up this time.

Shane watched the fallen pirate without a single instance of glee in his expression, his face a blank canvas. He bent down again and grabbed the pirate by his collar, dragging him behind him as he walked to meet up with Sarah who was already outside the gates. He wasn’t surprised to see that the feisty girl had loaded up an entire cart with the bound pirates. Shane tied the pirate lieutenant’s hands behind his back with the same rope that had been used to tie up the villagers from the gate. Two more pieces of rope were knotted together to make a longer one. One end was tied to the rope around Roan’s hands and one more to his horse.

Once he was done, Shane got back up on his horse and looked towards Sarah.

“Let’s go.”