Rorik stepped out of his rowboat as it landed upon the desert island of Savaria. He could feel the sand beneath his boots and the harsh sun burning on the back of his neck. He saw a rather large pirate ship docked in the harbor, its flag flapping in the wind. The ship appeared to be badly burned, as if it was set alight not too long ago.
“Hm. Another traveler, eh?” a harbor worker remarked. “Seems like we’re getting a new one everyday now.”
Rorik sighed, “Look man, It’s been a long boat ride. I’m dying of thirst here and I don’t have time for you right now. So if you just point me to the nearest tavern, I’ll be out of your hair before you can blink.”
The harbor worker pointed towards town, “Down that street and to the left, can’t miss it.”
Rorik nodded his thanks and set off.
“So… I heard you guys are having some issues around here.” Rorik casually mentioned to the barkeeper.
The barkeep chuckled, “Well… You didn’t hear wrong, but we just had our biggest problem solved recently. Heck, things are so good right now that we might even be able to build that tourist attraction we always wanted to put in town.”
“Aw come on, surely you guys have something that needs to be solved with brute force?” Rorik said with a crestfallen look
“Hmm… How confident are you in your combat abilities?” The barkeep inquired
“Heh, fairly confident.” Rorik said, fondly remembering his encounters with pirates in the past.
The barkeeper sighed “Well… a small group of bandits have moved in just south of town, I doubt that they’ll amount to anything. Better safe than sorry though. We’ll pay you… a flintlock pistol, if you kill the bandits.”
“Sounds good! I’ll see you in an hour”
Rorik parried another cutlass strike before smashing his opponent’s skull in with the pommel of his sword.
“Small group of bandits my ass! This is a well-organized group of bandits with a sanctioned leader and everything!” Rorik vented to his next opponent, “I mean, if you’re gonna give someone a job, at least give them the full details!”
The bandit swung at Rorik with their scimitar in the vain hope that he was too busy talking. Rorik parried the weak attack and cleaved the bandit in two. Another bandit rushed up to him, this one got a lucky slash on his outstretched arm before being eviscerated by his cutlass. Rorik, not seeing anymore threats for the time being, decided to start looting the corpses. He still had to kill the bandit’s leader, but there wasn’t any rush to get the job done.
“So, you’re the one who’s been killing my brothers and sisters.” a voice said
Stepping out of their hiding place, a strong looking man glared at Rorik with deep brown eyes.
“These are your brothers and sisters? Damn, your parents must’ve been ugly! WAHAHA!” Rorik laughed
“You’ll pay for that insult…” The man warned
“Terribly sorry, but I’m fairly certain that paying for your cosmetic surgery is WAY out of my price range. And anyways, its the inside that counts!” Rorik said, laughing at his own jokes once again.
With a roar, the man charged at him. The two combatants clashed blades. Rorik got a few glancing hits off, but the bandit leader clearly had him outgunned. The leader lashed out in a flurry of blows, almost all of them hit him. Rorik panted as his many wounds made themselves known, the sand around them was stained a deep crimson. Vultures circled the battlefield, waiting for one of the fighters to drop so they could feed.
“Tired yet, Weakling?” The leader said with a shit eating grin as he slowly walked towards Rorik.
Two meters away from Rorik, the man stopped and raised his arm. An earth magic circle appeared in front of the man’s outstretched hand.
“I suppose this is goodbye, a real shame. You would’ve made a great addition to the fam-”
BOOM
The leader was flung back as a teal bolt of lightning hit him directly in the chest. Rorik stood there, his arm outstretched behind a lightning magic circle.
“Well, that’s new.” Rorik remarked to himself. “Now, the true battle begins!”
The leader lifted himself from the ground. The combatant’s magic clashed against one another in a brutal spectacle of power. Rorik’s lightning shattered the leader’s boulders, however, the leader always pulled an earth shield up just in time to block most of the strikes.
Amused by the petty display of power before him, another man watched from the sidelines as Rorik hit the ground in front of the leader with a bolt of lightning, shooting sand up into the leader’s eyes. By the time his eyes were cleared, Rorik had already run up to him. There was no time to block, the leader watched as Rorik’s cutlass sliced through his neck.
Falling to the ground, and choking on his own blood. The leader looked up at Rorik. Rorik’s once green eyes had now turned to a vibrant blue. The last thing that the leader saw, was a lightning magic circle aimed directly at his forehead.
Rorik, tired and badly wounded, slowly lost consciousness. The last thing he heard before darkness consumed him, was the sound of someone clapping behind him.