Task Name: Give chase
Tier: Tier 1
NPC or PC: NPC
Location: Dawn island village outskirts
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: Lee leads the men deep into a forest, where he thinks he'd lost them. However, when he set up camp for the night, his fire brings his foes to him. He didn't anticipate them to be so determined. He has to find somewhere new to hide until morning comes. He manages to find one of the men isolated and he eliminates him.
Enemy Details: two T1 Pirates (avoid at all costs if they are together)
Boss: T1 Pirate martial artist

The sun was beating down hard on his back now, and Lee figured he'd made enough distance between himself and the pirates. When he got to shore, he walked along the beach several miles until he approached a village. He didn't want to bring any harm to them, so he set up camp in the forest neighboring the quaint village. He could watch from there and, if they managed this far, see if any of the pirates from that damned ship made their way here.

He'd be wise not to let himself be seen. He figured that this way all of the villagers could honestly say that had no idea who the pirates were looking for, and that they hadn't seen him either. If they could do this honestly, the pirates shouldn't be in the village too long, and he could come out of hiding.

However, he feared they may be persistent. He was the only person aboard that ship who knew how to really craft a decent weapon, and they'd gotten all the things he'd need to make their weapons on board and set up in his veritable cell. If they were meeting on more pleasant circumstances, he might have been thankful for the work. However, what they were having him do was nothing more than supply their war effort, and he didn't much agree with their cause. Tricking innocent people into thinking they were gentle-hearted and friendly pirates, only to stab them in the back first time they turn away, that was no way to live your life.

Lee absolutely despised these men, and condemned their actions as being the workings of weak men. He was vocal about his damning of the men at first, but they beat him enough to silence him, only furthering his resentment towards them. It made him sick thinking about it, and he wanted to go back to the ship and slaughter every last one of them, but he couldn't very well do that without getting himself killed, could he? He accepted that his plan was a cowardly one, but necessary.

WC:358

A few hours passed before Lee saw any men he recognized from the ship. Much to his surprise, there were only two men searching. He thought that he was making a bold assumption for a moment, then remembered who the men were. They were the Captain Illan's two favorite men, Vic and Wally. They were two cruel looking men, but for different reasons. Vic was missing an eye, which is probably the only reason Wally beat him in any of their fights. Lee overheard all the time that Vic would probably be able to kick Captain Illan's ass if he didn't lose his eye.

Wally was covered in tattoos, some vulgar, and others just nonsense. Lee didn't personally get the point of them, but he didn't bother to question any of Wally's tattoos. He was sure that the man enjoyed them, and he didn't much care to hear the reason why. Besides being the roughest and toughest men aboard the ship, they were also two of the guys who beat the hell out of Lee the most. Especially Vic, he never used weapons so he saw having a blacksmith on board as pointless and a waste of resources.

While he was relieved it was only two men, he didn't like the idea of either of the men being here. They might just start killing people and asking questions later. So, as much as he hated the thought, Lee knew he'd have to make himself known sooner than anticipated.

WC: 257

A bold move, but Lee knew it was his best chance of getting the men to leave the villagers alone. His stomach churned at the thought, but he'd have to come right out of hiding and make them chase him. It shouldn't be too hard. If they spotted him and he ran, then they'd probably come after him without thinking too much about it.

He wished he had time to set up some traps or something, but he knew time was of the essence. He made his way to the forest's edge, placing himself directly in the line of sight for these two pirates. He expected an immediate reaction, but they were interrogating a man near the edge of the village. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the hilt of his sword. He was ready to draw it and run at them when Vic, ironically the one missing an eye, spotted him.

Without hesitation the two men started booking it towards him, and Lee turned heel and took off running away from them. He should be able to lose them easily in the forest, but he had to keep them interested enough in the chase to get them too deep in the forest for simply turning around for reinforcements to be an option.

He led the men deep into the forest, deeper than he'd intended. By the time he'd finally lost them, the sun was setting and he found himself utterly lost. He figured that his best bet was to get to bed early and wake up before the sunrise, that way he could tell which way he'd need to know to get back to the village. The canopy was too thick to see the moon, and he didn't much want to climb up to see where it was in the dark. He collected some small branches and large twigs for a fire. He had found a few eggs in a nest of some kind and planned to fry them on a rock beside the fire.

However, he'd only had the fire going for a few minutes when Vic came to the edge of the light. Lee could hardly tell who it was, but the scar of his eye was a dead giveaway. Lee stood with a smirk and faced the man.

"I don't know why, but I was hoping you'd be the first one to show up." Lee laughed, drawing his sword from it's sheath. "I guess I just always hated you more for some reason."

"Heh, you know kid. I think I'm finally going to kill you. Then we'll go back to Captain Illan and tell him we couldn't find you. Sure he'll be pretty cross, but we'll only spend a week, maybe two tops killing everyone else on the island till they give up looking for your sorry ass." Vic replied, sending a chill up Lee's spine. He wasn't scared by the words. For some reason he was so angry that it had exceeded the point of being warm in the chest, and sent a chill up his spine.

WC: 531

A weight was lifted off his chest as Lee sighed. He was relieved that Vic was willing to kill him. It made him less resistant to the idea himself. That is, less resistant to the idea of killing Vic. Knowing the one-eyed pirate had every intention of killing him made it much easier to fight with lethal intent. Lee nodded and gave a slight chuckle.

"I guess that makes this a good deal easier. Here I was worried that you might try and take me back to that shit hole of a ship. I'd rather die, so honestly it's a huge weight off my shoulders." Lee explained, readying his blade to strike at Vic any moment now.

"Yeah? Were we too hard on ya? Poor baby miss his daddy? Want to go ho--" Vic started to taunt but was cut off by Lee's blade.

"Enough!" Lee had shouted slashing his blade between the two of them. It was too far for him to have hit him with the blade, so what the hell happened? Vic reached down to his chest, feeling the stickiness of his own blood seeping from a wound. One that wasn't there a moment ago. Lee was confused too, but at the same time, he remembered seeing a small whip of air come from the tip of his blade as he sliced through the air. He wasn't sure, but he had a creeping suspicion that had caused the wound.

How was this possible, was this the early forms of Kitsunebi-ryu that he'd been told about? His father talked about it like it was a myth, but what had just happened right before his eyes, Lee knew had to be real. This was no trick, he'd just attacked with a lash of air, and he could feel heat coming off his blade, but it was cool to his touch.

This was insane, of course he was imagining things, there was no other explanation. He stepped around the fire and raised his sword with confidence still. Something happened and Vic was hurt. That's all that really mattered. Too stunned by what had struck him, Vic didn't even notice Lee approaching him until it was too late. Vic looked up at Lee just as he thrust his sword forward and pierced the center of Vic's chest.

"How?" Vic tried to ask, but only choked on his final breath. He writhed in agony for a few more moments before becoming still. Lee pulled his sword out of the man's chest and sliced at the air to shake off the blood. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he had one less man to worry about now, so he guessed he had to be thankful for whatever happened, didn't he?

WC: 475
(EXIT)