Chapter 1: First Meeting

As the ship begins to pull away, Tasya fires one last shot at the guard who intently swings his sword at the air. He awkwardly thrusts and parries nearly loosing his balance each time in shin deep slippery waste flowing out of the pipe.

His partner finally pulls up the fallen guard from the the rope just as Tasya's bolt hits the guard fighting the imaginary foe. The bolt lodges into a gap in the man's armor just above his knee, causing him to lose his balance and be pushed out of the pipe opening by the flowing waist water. "Aaaah!" he screams as he drops from the sewer into the gorge. Perhaps he will become another meal for the greedy merrow.

...

It's not long before the ship's full sails get it moving at a hasty pace through the gorge. At this rate, the gorge will open into the harbor in about 10 minutes or less.

Tasya slumps down onto the deck in a sitting position and sighs heavily. "I really hate those people..."

Admiral jumps down from the railing and onto the deck. "Welcome aboard!" he says, cheerily, as he makes his way over to where Tasya and Mischa are slumped on the deck.

"The name’s Admiral," he introduces himself, sticking out a hand for a handshake. "Captain of the Whisker. And this ship too, I suppose..." His whiskers twitch and he glances around at the ship dubiously as if he’s not quite sure how he feels about that. He gives himself a shake and his upbeat attitude returns. "By the looks of things, we’ll be sailing out into the Jahore harbour in a few short minutes, where we will be making port and, in all likelihood, abandoning this vessel. Make yourselves comfortable, in the meantime."

"Umm..so you're Captain Admiral?" Tasya asks somewhat confused, as she accepts his hand. "Tasya..just Tasya." She confides to the Racasta swordsman. "Jahore is infested with more of those red-garbed creeps. They're swarming the docks and have taken some of our companions." She glances over to Mischa. "We're performers."

"Yes, from Madagast Circus...whatever's left of it," Mischa pipes in saying the latter part sadly under her brerath.

On mention of Madagast, Taresh walks over to the conversation. "I'm Taresh Sanji. Monk of the Order of the Keis"

"Sounds silly when you string it together like that, doesn’t it?" Admiral remarks wryly, in response to Tasya’s confusion about his name.

He frowns. "I suppose the Ring may have agents waiting at the docks for us too, come to think of it. Regardless, we do have to abandon this ship. Remaining aboard would make it far too easy for the Ring to find us… We could flee Jahore entirely, I suppose, sail out to sea, but this ship isn’t exactly agile, especially with a crew this small and inexperienced. Anyone who wished to catch us would not have much trouble, be that your ‘red-garbed creeps’ or the Iron Ring." He hesitates, then continues, "My ship, the Whisker, is fast, well-crewed, and heavily armed. She’ll be docked in the harbour. If we can get aboard… and if I can regain control of her… then we would be able to safely flee Jahore to wheresoever you please."

Tasya recognizes the order of monks Taresh Sanji mentions. She turns to him. "Yes. Those of our troupe who had made it Jahore were all with members of your order, Brother Sanji, below the tavern of the Resting Dragon when the red guards bursts in. I am yet knowledgeable of what has become of them all and if any, like ourselves, found a means of escape."

Hearing Admiral speak our the Whisker, she returns her focus to the Captain. "Our troupe leader had made some kind of deal with the crew of your ship, I believe, to transport us all to a nearby island to retrieve our own ship."

"Tasya, it's very likely that Jin and the troupe along with Master Jiren and the others did escape the guards. There is another way out of the Resting Dragon cellar beside the gate you came in and the trap door we found...a hidden door in the cellar meeting chamber leads to a dark alley along side the Inn. They would have hastened through that door upon any signs of trouble," Mischa assures Tasya. "I would be willing to bet Jin hurried the troupe to the Whisker."

Mischa turns to Taresh. "Taresh Sanji, Monk of the Keis you say?" Her look is serious and thoughful. "Master Jiren..." she quickly turns to Tasya, "before you made it to the gathering" and then back at Taresh "...mentioned he sent one of his Keis order to infiltrate the Order of the Shadow to learn of their operations and motives. Your name stirs my recollection, Brother Sanji."

"As does the name of your circus master, Madagast," replies the monk. "Yes, I did spend many months with the Order of the Shadow, learning their ways, before falling victim to a trap of the Iron Ring." He pauses and seems lost for a moment in uncomfortable memories before continuing. "Madagast's name was mentioned by The Order of the Shadow. Perhaps our meeting in this gorge is more fateful than mere coincidence."

Admiral isn’t particularly interested in whatever monk-stuff Mischa and Taresh are going on about, but lifts an eyebrow at the revelation that his crew has already begun making deals and plans in his absence. "Oh? How kind of my crew to help a scattered circus troupe recover their ship," he says, dryly. "Assuming my crew does not betray your troupe— and I have to warn you that they seem to have developed a taste for treachery of late —perhaps we could avoid the docks altogether and intercept them at this island instead."

Tasya nods in agreement with Admiral. "I must admit this arrangement with the Whisker has been of concern to me since discovering it when we finally arrived in Jahore. I have experienced quite enough treachery in the last few days."

"That makes two of us," mutters Admiral. Considering all that Tasya and Mischa shared with him, he rethinks his original plan, deciding instead: "We’ll drop anchor in the harbour, far from where the ships dock, and try to get a better idea of what we may be up against before we approach. There’s no sense in making more elaborate plans right now when, for all we know, the Whisker may not even be in Jahore anymore." His ears droop a little at the thought.

As the ship exits the gorge and begins sailing out into the harbour proper, Admiral dashes off to see if he can find a spyglass somewhere aboard the ship so that they can get a better look at the docks without getting too close, leaving Tasya, Petalwing, and Mischa to their own devices.

Rummaging through the ship, above deck Admiral sees nothing but stockades, cages, shakles, and ballista, but below deck he finds:

> some barrels of fresh water
> some chests of provisions, filled with preserved food and rations, which could sustain a crew for weeks.
> some crates of rum bottles, enough to keep morale high for quite a while.
> A large crate with more shackles and corresponding keys.
> More crates of ammunition for the ballistas above.
> And finally...a smaller chest with a compass, some charts detailing routes to different islands as well as the seas around them, and a spyglass.

As he searches he thinks of where his former crew may have docked The Whisker:

[C] They may have brought the ship to Dexar Blackthorn's pier. That shady dockmaster always turns a blind eye to any 'illicit' activity and ensures the ship avoids any inspections or delays from authorities...well, for a cut of the profits from any smuggling or raided loot he harbors anyway.

[D] Perhaps, they took the ship in under the guise of needing 'repairs' and brought the Whisker to Barnaby "Bolt" Driftwood's Shipyard, The Rusty Rigger. That burly man with a scruffy beard, does shoddy work, but always keeps his mouth shut for a little extra coinage.

[E] Or maybe they went to old "Silver-tongue" Lysandra Thorne's dock. That sly merchant is involved in a wide range of activities, mostly smuggling exotic goods. But she's notorious for inflating prices, selling counterfeit goods, and engaging in extortion. Her web of corruption extends into various aspects of Jahore's black market and Admiral has always suspected that she has some connections with The Iron Ring.

Admiral takes the charts, the compass, and the spyglass and swipes a few ship’s biscuits from the provisions chest too. He hasn’t eaten anything except for a few pieces of jerky since he woke up in that dingy cell hours and hours ago and his stomach feels jagged and empty. When he returns to the deck, he finds Briya at the tiller and asks her to steer the ship toward the middle of the harbour, where he ought to be able to get a good look at all three possible locations with the spyglass.

While all the strangers are moving about on the deck, Tasya tries to wash some of the stench off of herself from her smelly trip through the sewer.

With nothing but some salt water that has collected in a puddle on deck from the crashing waves earlier, Tasya tries to get the sewer stench off herself. Petalwing returns to Tasya's side. While looking at her reflection in the puddle the sprite sighs painfully and says, "Salty-salt. Me parchy-parched. Need fresh-fresh."

As Tasya cleans herself she sees Admiral, maps, spyglass, and compass in hand, hasten by. He marches to the tillers on the aft deck and commands one operator, a fit, pale, tattooed woman with brownish hair, to steer the ship toward the middle of the harbor.

Meanwhile Mischa stares off into the distance, or maybe inwardly.

...

Briya responds to Admiral. Navigating around tall rock structures jutting up out of the water, she gets the ship moving toward the center of the harbor. When it is in the open harbor, nearly halfway between the jutting rocks and all the activity of Jahore's piers, she calls for the the sails to be brought down and the anchor to be dropped.

Admiral then scours the piers through the spyglass. There's no sign of the Whisker at Blackthorn's pier. There is a ship careened at Driftwood's. It's not the Whisker. At first Admiral cannot tell if the Whisker is in the shipyard's drydock or not. But when he finally sees the large doors open, a different ship sails out. He knows his ship was not hiding there. Finally he turns his sight to Lysandra Thorne's dock. And there it is, The Whisker, just getting on its way, on the move from the dock.