Invasion of the Four-Fingered Pirates

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: TBA

-Snowfall Island, early afternoon-

Wearing all-white winter camouflage gear with polarized orange goggles on her head, her Azure Armor underneath the jacket, and a backpack of supplies which included the Bandolier, the Crown of Persephone, and a gas mask, Victoria strode down the gangplank of the boat that had brought her to Snowfall Island for the third time in her mage career. In front of her lay one of the few towns on the island, which was of medium size, made entirely of wooden buildings, and had most of the amenities of mainland Fiore. There were restaurants, shops, grocery stores, and even a bar imaginatively named The Polar Bar. However, the brunette was not here for tourism, but for a job.

According to the town's mayor, some pirates had threatened to destroy the town if the mayor did not pay an exorbitant ransom which would equal the town's budget for the year. The mayor refused to pay and the pirates vowed to one day make good on their threat to level the settlement. It was up to Victoria and her guildmate Harriet Artemesia to stop the pirates and protect the town.

Victoria strode through the town and felt the tension in the air as she spotted members of the town guard on patrol. Hardly any citizens were about except for a few going to and from work. Instead of going at a normal pace they walked briskly as if they expected trouble to start at any moment, which it very well could when pirates were involved. Surprise was the pirate's best weapon and they liked to attack before defenders could muster a response. The brunette tried to find the town hall so that she could get more details from the mayor, but she was at a loss for where to even search for the structure.

The wind blew through the nearly deserted streets and brought a light dusting of snow with it. Victoria felt the piercing wind on her face and was instantly reminded of her two trips to the decommissioned military base and how she had to struggle through snow and wind to reach her destination. She also remembered the snowstorm that had trapped her in the tunnel during her second trip to the base, where she investigated some new construction and ended up finding more mutants and their creator, the rogue scientist Alexander Kerwes. This island held quite a few memories for the brunette.

Victoria stopped in front of The Polar Bar and paused under a sign of a polar bear sitting in a wooden chair and holding up a mug of beer. She had just thought of something rather important.

Where was Harriet?

The brunette spun on her heels and began to retrace her steps back to the dock so that she could greet her guildmate when she got here. The pair would need to work together to stop the pirates before they could wreck the town and kill its inhabitants.

[Post Word Count: 500]
[Victoria's Word Count: 500/1,500]
[Total Word Count: 500/3,000]

Harriet was sitting down near the railing of the sailboat, looking out into the ocean. She wore her regular armor, which wasn't exactly resistant to any sort of weather. It got extremely hot in hot weather, and extremely cold in cold weather. In this situation though, she was as cold as can be, but she didn't mind it. No matter the history of the magic that took over this land, the cold will always be numb to her. It will never affect her the way it did before. Before, she was a lot weaker willed than she was now. She would never visit any areas that had it. Even as a master assassin, that didn't mean a single thing. They had their weaknesses just like the rest of the people on Earthland. For her, this was one of her main ones.

However, after she had been exiled from her family, she trained herself in ways that people couldn't imagine. She remembers starting small, from sticking herself in an ice bath for hours on end, all the way to keeping herself floating while in a sea of icy water. Every single step was to calm herself down from areas of pain or fear. She had to keep floating and staying in those situations, or else she would die both mentally and physically. She had to handle the cold like she did her bloodlust. She couldn't let it surface, she instead had to replace it with happier and more calming thoughts, or else she would relapse into it.

So, as she focused on the ocean, she smiled. She had thought of the day her parents had given her her weapon. Although any memory with her family was awful, she needed to find light of every single situation she could, because keeping them repressed was worse than looking at them in a brighter way. Harriet was so excited that day, because she had been training as much as her parents wanted her to, and they said they'd give her a reward. Even though she didn't know about this weapon's lust for blood, she was still happy even after sensing it. She was happy to be serving a better cause, the one her parents set out for her. Now though, she was using that weapon for good, not to kill, but to save. To save others from the grasps of people who were like her. People who were ruthless and terrible.

She was especially happen to be going on this job. Her partner was someone who had climbed the ranks rather quickly, and she was glad that she would be able to work with her. Harriet wanted to get better that she could do what she set out to do. The boat however was late to the meeting area. They had been stopped by a sea of animals swimming through the only way to the area. Going around them was too hard. Though, Harriet knew that she would get there. The mayor of the town wasn't going to deny the pirates' request without both guildmates there. This gave her comfort, because she knew that if anything, the townspeople were safe. Within a few moments of these thoughts, she saw a woman in a camouflaged winter outfit.

wc: 542
twc: 542/1500

While Victoria had been standing near the docks waiting for Harriet to arrive she also watched for the arrival of the pirates. Since they sounded like the traditional seaborne raiders that were the subject of so many books and movies, meeting them at the docks and stopping them before they could disembark and wreck the place seemed like the best way to handle the situation. However, she did not know how many pirates she would be up against and what kind of armament they carried. Going in alone against pirates armed with swords, flintlock muskets and flintlock pistols would be a lot different from going up against pirates armed with modern weapons. No matter what armament they carried they needed to be stopped before they could make good on their threat to level the town.

Victoria looked around her and saw the town guard patrolling the streets had stepped up their patrols and increased the number of officers in each group. When she had gotten here she had only seen individual officers, but now they were patrolling in groups of at least four. They must have decided to prepare in case the pirates conducted their raid earlier than the mayor had anticipated.

After several minutes of standing in the cold Victoria felt a magic signature slowly approach her. She turned around and spotted a red-haired young woman in old-fashioned metal armor armed with a nifty-looking spear heading her way via sailboat. The young woman had to have been the relatively new Sabertooth mage known as Harriet Artemisia, her partner for this job. Victoria was glad to have the help on a job like this one because as fast and as powerful as she was the brunette could not be in two or more places at once.

Victoria carefully approached the newcomer because she did not know how Harriet would respond to someone in winter camouflage clothing approaching her. While the Azure Armor would protect her, the brunette did not want to end up on the wrong end of the spear, so she opted to keep her distance and wave. Victoria would approach Harriet slowly so that there was no appearance of hostile intent on the former's part.

[Post Word Count: 371]
[Victoria's Word Count: 871/1,500]
[Total Word Count: 1,413/3,000]

As the snow rained down upon Snowfall Island, Harriet looked at the girl before her. She had been slowly melting into the area around her as the camo had become one with the snow. Though, there was one way Harriet was still able to know where the girl was, and that was her strong magical signature. She seemed to be an extremely powerful mage, more so than that of her family. That wasn't saying too much though, because most of them had probably gotten stronger since the last time she had seen them. Either way, it was still a good amount of strength, especially for a regular guild mage. After all, that's what she was guessing the girl was. A person with that strong of magic, and camo was bound to be the person she was working with. Of course, she could be wrong, but there was no way of telling if she was besides actually approaching the girl.

With the boat stopping on the docks, Harriet slowly walked up to the girl, in the same fashion she did. She waved in response to the brunette's wave, and continued onward, reaching out a hand towards the girl. Once she got close enough, she would say to her, "Hi, my name is Harriet Artemesia, and I'm guessing you're Victoria? You're magic signature is extremely strong, so if you weren't I'd be very surprised."

Soon after getting confirmation from Victoria, Harriet smiled at her, and said to her, "So, where do we start. I know my boat got here let, but there was not much I could do about getting here quicker. If you went to go see the mayor before seeing me, then it'd be nice if you could tell me what they said. Just so that I'm prepared to do what's needed." With this, her voice had been completely calm, no inflections of anger, sorrow, or anything else. She didn't feel the need to blame herself for the situation, nor crucify her partner for the obvious thing. This helped her in keeping her emotions from rising up to a level she needed to cool them down.

wc: 357

"Yes, I'm Victoria Sheridan." Victoria lowered her white face covering and introduced herself to the armored young woman who stood in front of her. Harriet had to be carrying that spear around for something other than show. She had to have trained with the weapon most of her life along with that old-fashioned metal armor. Victoria was glad that she did not have to wear metal armor for protection. Victoria's Azure Armor was made of modern materials and while it was not custom-made for her, her figure was boyish enough for it to fit without too much trouble.

Victoria wished that she could have told Harriet that she had already met with the mayor and gotten the details before her guildmate's arrival, but that was not the case. The brunette had been unable to locate the town hall, the mayor's home, or wherever it was that the official stayed at during office hours. She had not thought to ask any of the locals because there were so few of them on the streets; most of them were in hiding and the only locals on the streets were the town guard. Maybe the Sabertooth mages should ask one of them for the location of the mayor.

"I haven't met with the mayor yet because I've been unable to find them, Harriet. Maybe we can find them together. I'd suggest asking one of the town guardsmen for the mayor's location." Victoria informed her of her inability to find the town's leader before making a suggestion to her guildmate. The brunette probably should have tried a little harder to learn more about the pirates before Harriet got here. Oh well... now the two could learn what they needed to know at the same time.

[Post Word Count: 291]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,162/1,500]
[Total Word Count: 2,061/3,000]

With the confirmation of Victoria's name, and the new info that she hadn't yet been in contact with the mayor, Harriet had went up to a guard, hoping to get some information on where the mayor would be. As she did though, she heard gunshots coming from across the ocean as ships had begun to zoom in. It seemed as though the crew had been working hard to get to the area as fast as they could. Each one was using some sort of magic to boost the ship forward. Fire mages were using their flames to blast the ship forward. There were other mages on the ship though, ones that had stopped what they were doing before. As the ship got closer and closer, more and more of the pirate mages stopped their acceleration. Although they were still in the middle of the ocean, they looked ready to fight.

The captain, or the person that seemed to be the captain was at the front of the ship, looking down upon the city. As he spoke, his voice boomed across the city, as though it was enhanced by some sort of magic. "Alright matey's. Seems to me like you're mayor has jumped ship. Now, all of you will have to suffer for it." He then laughed a hearty laugh as he aimed towards the city. As Harriet looked over to Victoria, she said to her, "Well, looks like we won't be able to reach the Mayor in time. Let's let the pirates know that the mayor wasn't just sitting on her ass this whole time." Before even letting her partner respond, she raised up her spear, yelling aloud, "Swan's Flight!" With this, her body glowed as it formed two wings on her back. She then took flight and went straight towards the boat.

wc: 304

"Oh great. Trouble's already arrived." Victoria remarked to Harriet as the brunette brought out her Tranquilizer Rifle and looked through the scope to see pirates, pirates, and still more pirates. It was too late to find the mayor now. The town guard was busy ushering townspeople into secure shelters and rounding up stragglers while preparing firefighting equipment in case the worst happened. Danger was already at the doorstep and the Sabertooth mages needed to stand and fight to prevent the town from being overrun and destroyed. Victoria took a deep breath and prepared for a fight with honest-to-Ishgar pirates.

She recalled Captain Kooh's warning that pirates were desperate men and knew that the noose awaited them if they were captured, so they would do everything in their power to avoid being taken alive and fight with desperate energy. They would not spare the Sabertooth mages, so the Sabertooth mages would not spare them. The brunette took careful aim with the Tranquilizer Rifle and watched the boat in front of the rest slowly decelerate. Standing at the very front was a tall fellow bundled against the cold with a distinctive black fur hat with a white skull-and-crossbones.

She listened as Harriet cried out "SWAN'S FLIGHT!" and used her magic to make herself glow and sprout two wings on her back. Harriet then took off for the lead ship, leaving Victoria to defend the town with her arsenal of long-range weaponry. The brunette needed to clear the way before Harriet landed, so she began picking targets and shooting them with her Tranquilizer Rifle.

Victoria spotted a fire mage raising his hands above his head for a spell, so she aimed and fired a silver dart at his chest. He flinched and dispersed the spell to feel his chest where the dart hit. He gave up the fruitless endeavor and raised his hands for a spell but soon lost consciousness and crumpled to the deck. Victoria shot two more fire mages and they went down, but there were still plenty of enemies on board the captain's vessel. Victoria had just hit another target when the boat to the captain's left began hurling fireballs in her direction.

The brunette stood her ground and used Caduceus Shield to block one of the flaming projectiles that would have scored a direct hit on her were it not for the golden magic shield. She dispelled the rifle and brought out her Rocket Launcher for retaliation in kind. She did not need to kill them... she just needed to force their ship out of the fight and a single rocket to the hull of the wooden ship would do the trick.

Victoria took a knee and aimed at the hull of the target, aiming just above the waterline. She steadied herself and fired a single rocket that zoomed for the target and blasted a hole just above the waterline. The ship was still seaworthy, but she could barely make out men scrambling to bail out the water that sloshed into the hole she had just blasted. Victoria hurried away to avoid the incoming fireballs and found another firing position fifty meters to the right.

She took a knee and checked behind her to see if any civilian or town guard would get caught in the Rocket Launcher's backblast. Once she saw it was clear she aimed just above the waterline and fired again. The rocket slammed into the hull just below some cannon ports and opened up a manhole-sized hole in the vessel. That did it. The ship began try and turn around, but it was taking on too much water to maneuver effectively.

The pirates on board abandoned all thoughts of fighting and began piling into lifeboats for an escape from stiff resistance that they did not expect. Victoria let them go and hustled one hundred meters right to get a line of sight on the second pirate vessel. She hoped that Harriet could deal with the resistance on board the lead ship of the small pirate fleet.

[Post Word Count: 671]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,833/1,500]
[Total Word Count: 3,036/3,000]

After watching Victoria do her work, Harriet was astounded at the power the woman had. Even though she didn't seem like much, her use of artillery was extremely skillful. Harriet wondered how much she trained with those weapons in order to be so proficient with them. It took Harriet many years to actually overcome the drawback of her sword before being able to use it in the best way she could. Now though, she was still learning how to fight with it. Each form was unique in it's own way, which made it hard for Harriet to figure out tactics and combos that would work out for each fight.

As Harriet landed on top of the boat, she saw that there were still 3 mages on board. The captain, and two of his top ranked crew. One of them seemed to be some sort of summoner while the other was some sort of requip mage that specialized in cannon weaponry. They radiated fierceness as they glared Harriet down. The captain scoffed as the crew jumped ship, saying aloud, "Are you really going to let women wreck our ship?! We are stronger than they could ever be." With that, Harriet smiled at them and said in a calm and collected voice, "Well, if us women are so weak, then why not fight me?" She knew for a fact that this pirate didn't have as much control as she did over his emotions. His rage was starting to swell up more and more, and she knew it too. Rage used to run through her bloods, before she cooled it down to a level that was more suitable for her as a legal mage.

With this, Harriet took her spear and shoved it forward as feathers flew towards the captain. As his cannoner shot his weapon at Harriet and the summoner sent his bird towards Harriet, she pulled the captain in front of her, letting him take the hits. She saw as the air was knocked out of him. For most people, this would knock them out, but the pirate was still going strong. However, the summoner's bird wasn't so lucky. They knocked themselves out on impact, causing the summoner to shout at the bird. However, before the bird could fully get up, Harriet yelled aloud, "Swan's Onslaught" pushing back all her enemies. With this, her spear had turned into a whip. Without a moment to spare, Harriet spun her whip into a circle in front of her as feathers shot outwards towards the enemy pushing them all back. As they slammed into the wall, they all passed out leaving the job to be finished.

wc: 443