A cloud of dust and splintered wood heralded the entrance of the pirates. Curtis had watched the townfolk spend the better part of the past fifteen minutes barricading that door, and with just a single blow it had all been undone.

"Damn it..." he spat under his breath.

They still outnumbered the pirates by a solid margin, but as if to dispel any thought of resistance, their apparent leader seized Perry Hendricks--the local butcher--by the arm, crushing his limb as if it were made of paper. His wife Abigail screamed in horror at the sight, rushing to his side. When one of the pirates rushed for her fallen husband, she gave him a glare interlaced with both terror and rage.

"S-stay away from him, you bastards!" She snarled.

An audible sigh from behind him drew Curtis' eye to the Belessian woman, her bottle-green eyes staring pointedly at him. "Now I'm [i]completely[/i] out of rib roast! Whoever would permit such a horrible thing to happen?"

"Did you collide with the harbor head-first on your way here?!" Curtis snapped.