Apr 21, 2023 2:29 am
Jahore Port
You begin to come to your senses wondering why your head hurts so much. You remember breaking into that Halfling rum you got in Shireton with your crew last night. But...that's all you remember.
Without even opening your eyes you know you are going to feel quite squiffy if you try to get up. So you lie still. After a moment you realize that your bunk seems hard...hard as stone. You take a breath and realize the air is damp. Not the fresh crisp damp air of the sea, but a stale unmoving air. It smells moldy and horribly like urine.
You slowly open one eye and see your face is pressed against a moldy stone floor and you see bare stone walls in your side vision. This is not your cabin on the Whisker. You quickly claim your wits and your feline instinct tells you to flip from your prone position your feet. Your are just about to do that when you realize that your feet are chained together.
Suddenly you hear some murmuring of indistinguishable words. You turn your head to see a human man, by the look of it, a middle-aged low-caste Sindhi male. He looks frail, starved, and rather confused. His feet are chained as well. It almost seems like he isn't aware of your presence in this...this...cell.
There's an iron barred door. Beyond it you see dim light coming from a wall lamp that looks like it's about to burn out. A rat frightened by your stirring tries to scurry away out of the cell.
You think about how you could have gotten here. The last you recall you were on the Whisker heading to Jahore when your first mate talked you into breaking into that special rum made by the hin, the good stuff. You didn't...you couldn't...refuse that. He said the crew wanted to celebrate the successes and spoils they've gained since you took over after Captain Ebzer. You thought that was odd, since you narrowly escaped the last two encounters, but it was rum from The Five Shires after all.
During the first of those encounters, you boarded a Minrothad Merchant ship that was oddly west of Ierendi. It turned out, that ship had already unloaded it's cargo and had some ghastly unheard of arrangement where they were on course to receive payment after delivery. Anyway, on that ship there was a formidable merchant prince (an elite special order of mages that are stationed on many Minrothad merchant ship to protect the ships goods). You somehow managed to get the crew off the Guild ship unscathed but, alas, with no spoils.
The second of those encounters went much better. You thought it did anyway...but your grumbling crew didn't seem to share your sentiment. While in port in Shireton, some agents of the Iron Ring boarded your ship, offering a 'deal you cannot refuse' as they put it. They presented a chest of gold and gems and said there are ten more of these if you would make a number of runs between Sind and Thyatis, carrying human cargo from Sind to buyers on the Island of Hattias. You cordially shared your dislike of the slave trade with the Iron Ring agents, but you said you would be happy to take the chest as a payment for their lives. You heaved them overboard and hastily set sail out of port. So it is possible the Iron Ring put a mark out on the Whisker and it's captain.
Wait...that's it! Your first mate drugged you and traded you to the Iron Ring to remove the mark. Those bastards! You bet they even excepted the deal. Curses! They have all your stuff, your sword, your gold, YOUR SHIP, and they are now agents of the Ring.
So at least you know where you are now. You are in The Port of Jahore in the canal system under the city. You had heard that the Ring uses these tunnels to traffic people. You just never thought that you would be one. The good news, if there is any, is that you are convinced The Whisker is still in port, because your scallywag crew is trying to make good on the deal you refused.
What do you do?
You begin to come to your senses wondering why your head hurts so much. You remember breaking into that Halfling rum you got in Shireton with your crew last night. But...that's all you remember.
Without even opening your eyes you know you are going to feel quite squiffy if you try to get up. So you lie still. After a moment you realize that your bunk seems hard...hard as stone. You take a breath and realize the air is damp. Not the fresh crisp damp air of the sea, but a stale unmoving air. It smells moldy and horribly like urine.
You slowly open one eye and see your face is pressed against a moldy stone floor and you see bare stone walls in your side vision. This is not your cabin on the Whisker. You quickly claim your wits and your feline instinct tells you to flip from your prone position your feet. Your are just about to do that when you realize that your feet are chained together.
Suddenly you hear some murmuring of indistinguishable words. You turn your head to see a human man, by the look of it, a middle-aged low-caste Sindhi male. He looks frail, starved, and rather confused. His feet are chained as well. It almost seems like he isn't aware of your presence in this...this...cell.
There's an iron barred door. Beyond it you see dim light coming from a wall lamp that looks like it's about to burn out. A rat frightened by your stirring tries to scurry away out of the cell.
You think about how you could have gotten here. The last you recall you were on the Whisker heading to Jahore when your first mate talked you into breaking into that special rum made by the hin, the good stuff. You didn't...you couldn't...refuse that. He said the crew wanted to celebrate the successes and spoils they've gained since you took over after Captain Ebzer. You thought that was odd, since you narrowly escaped the last two encounters, but it was rum from The Five Shires after all.
During the first of those encounters, you boarded a Minrothad Merchant ship that was oddly west of Ierendi. It turned out, that ship had already unloaded it's cargo and had some ghastly unheard of arrangement where they were on course to receive payment after delivery. Anyway, on that ship there was a formidable merchant prince (an elite special order of mages that are stationed on many Minrothad merchant ship to protect the ships goods). You somehow managed to get the crew off the Guild ship unscathed but, alas, with no spoils.
The second of those encounters went much better. You thought it did anyway...but your grumbling crew didn't seem to share your sentiment. While in port in Shireton, some agents of the Iron Ring boarded your ship, offering a 'deal you cannot refuse' as they put it. They presented a chest of gold and gems and said there are ten more of these if you would make a number of runs between Sind and Thyatis, carrying human cargo from Sind to buyers on the Island of Hattias. You cordially shared your dislike of the slave trade with the Iron Ring agents, but you said you would be happy to take the chest as a payment for their lives. You heaved them overboard and hastily set sail out of port. So it is possible the Iron Ring put a mark out on the Whisker and it's captain.
Wait...that's it! Your first mate drugged you and traded you to the Iron Ring to remove the mark. Those bastards! You bet they even excepted the deal. Curses! They have all your stuff, your sword, your gold, YOUR SHIP, and they are now agents of the Ring.
So at least you know where you are now. You are in The Port of Jahore in the canal system under the city. You had heard that the Ring uses these tunnels to traffic people. You just never thought that you would be one. The good news, if there is any, is that you are convinced The Whisker is still in port, because your scallywag crew is trying to make good on the deal you refused.
What do you do?
