Like I said, I'm more focused on flavour text for my game than finishing, so I likely won't have 50k words by month's end, but here is an introduction that I've written.
Spoiler
The rain soaked streets and grim atmosphere echoed his own mood as Kai prowled the streets of Tangiers. He had been in the city for over a week, but he still had not found the next step on his path. His inattention cost him as he was close to his lodgings when he realized he was being followed.
Looking around, he realized that they had wanted to be seen; they had bracketed him from behind, just far enough in his peripheral vision that he would notice them- and fail to notice the other two now slipping from the shadows. He could also see from their movements they were good. And he knew he didn't have much on his side, merely the fact that they did not know whom they had been sent after.
Cold reasoning took over his movements then as he turned to face the two attackers behind, just as if he were stumbling into their trap. One of the two stepped forward. "Give us your money and live," the man said, his eyes not betraying the presence of his comrades. But the other was not as careful, and he could almost see the two men in the rear of him moving into place.
“Is this the best that they could do?" Kai asked, smiling, standing unafraid in the face of death. “Go back and tell your masters that you could not find me,” he continued. “Live to fight another day.”
The leader's eyes narrowed at this insult, and he eschewed their plans to draw a knife from the folds of his cloak, leaping forward. Kai stepped in to meet his charge, grabbing the knife wrist and thundering a heavy blow to the man's face. As the thug fell back, his victim gripped his wrist with both hands, spun him around, and twisted the arm savagely, dislocating his shoulder as he disarmed him. As the thug screamed, his three compatriots surged forward. Kai threw the hapless thug into his friends, taking a wider, defiant stance.
"If you come at me, be prepared to meet death, for I'll send you to her smiling," he said through a menacing grimace.
They hesitated then, and one moved to pull a small pistol instead of the cudgels and knives that they already held. The injured leader was now on his knees and shook his head, causing the pistol to disappear as quickly as it had been shown. Then he motioned them forward, urging them on with
a low command. "Kill him," he said with more emotion in his voice than he would like to have shown.
As the men rushed him, he flung the dagger with devastating effect; though it was not made for throwing, it took the first thug in the throat. The violent act stopped the others in their tracks for just long enough for Kai to dash forward, gaining the initiative.
They belatedly started to move as Kai charged headlong into their midst. Barely slipping past one blade, he was caught by another from the other side, but he paid it no heed, elbowing one man in the throat as he kicked a second man in the knee, causing it to fold in a way that nature never intended. Before either of his targets had hit the ground, he grabbed the third man's head in his hands, coming in too close for him to bring his cudgel to bear, and head-butted him fiercely in the bridge of his nose. The man fell heavily, blood streaming from his ruined face. Kai twisted to one side just as a thrust from behind would have ended his struggle, continuing his turn, leading with a heavy fist he caught the man on the point of his chin, spinning him so brutally that a sharp crack from the man's neck echoed in the tight space. The third attacker was on his feet again, and Kai dived unsheathing his own wicked blade with a cross draw from behind his back, coming up just inside of a wild strike from the thug whose leg he had crippled. He blocked the blow with the blade of his knife, bringing the serrated edge down viciously, continuing the motion in a power assisted slash across the inner thigh of the thug's ruined leg, hearing an answering shriek in return. Reversing his blade, he one armed it into the thug's neck as he fell, turning to face the final living attacker.
Blood streamed down the thug's face as he stood there looking at their supposedly harmless mark. "One last time I tell you, leave before you join them in hell." Meeting the man's eyes with a fierce look, Kai stood there unmoving until the man backed down, slinking away into the night.
As Kai watched the man to make sure he left, he leaned back against the wall, bringing his hand to the solitary wound he’d received in the fight. He felt warm blood flowing under his hand, and knew he would have to attend to it soon. But he struggled to his stand putting that aside to make his own way out of the alley, wary of the thug returning with help. Through a grimace at the pain he smiled, glad the waiting was over, knowing he was on the right track, and this was his opponent’s way of telling him the game had begun in earnest.
"Soon," he said, even as he stumbled on through the dark streets.
