You wake up to the sounds of drums beating inside your head. You can vaguely remember the night before carousing at the Formidably Maid and then...nothing. Smacking your parched lips you can taste the cheap alcohol on your tongue and something else, nutmeg you think.
The nutmeg aftertaste is indication of Oil of Taggit poisoning, a soporific that renders it's victims unconscious for several hours.
Your head still swims from the events of last night and you can swear that the floor underneath you is swaying slightly back and forth.
Before your eyes can adjust to the darkness the sound of heavy footsteps
echo throughout the room moments before a spear of light stabs through the darkness. Blinking in the sudden light you see seven men standing on a flight of stairs. The leader of this group, a man with a black beard, cracks his whip in the air as the other men slap saps into their open palms. Looking around the room, you realize you are in the hold of a ship as you see four other people in the room with you in various states of wakefulness.
The whip cracks again as the bearded man says to you “Still abed with the sun over the yardarm? On your feet, ye filthy swabs! Get up on deck and report for duty before Cap’n Harrigan flays your flesh into sausage skins and has Fishguts fry ye up for breakfast!”
Instinctively you reach for your weapon only to find it and your other possessions are missing.
Under the watchful eye of their leader, the remaining men move into the hold and begin roughly yanking people to their feet and begin herding them, none too gently, up the stairs.
Soggy shakes his head as he slowly wakes up, wondering not for the first time why people kept insisting on calling it Besmera's "blessing" when most of the time it seemed to come into play, it was usually not even remotely beneficial to his health and well being. Not exactly eager to meet someone who was desperate enough in his search for crew that he had to resort to sleep poison, and annoyed at being yelled at as if the after effects were somehow his fault, he none the less manages to play along and do what was asked of him with no fuss. While he knew he could resist if he needed to, even without his gear, he felt like keeping that little detail to himself until he knew the details of his situation.
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Morgan's mind races as she processes the words of the shouting man. I don't even know a Captain Harrigan, and what is he doing on- Oh. The events of last night come flooding back into her mind as she is hauled to her feet, the jolt making a lump on her head from last night painfully obvious. Well, I wanted to be back at sea, I guess. Finding a small amount of irony in her situation, a grim smile plays on her lips as she stumbles up the stairs to see what future awaits her.
She takes quick stock of her situation. Clothes? Check. Equipment? Nope. Ship? Check. The question now is whose ship, and what destination.
Leaning against the wooden wall, Doreen tilts her head down and rubs her eyes. She gets up slowly, taking her time, trying not too worry too much about the men with the whip and his goons.
She looks around her, checking the other four, and then speaks to the bearded man. "Captain Harring is recruiting, huh? Well, let's meet him. I'm sure he has something for us." Like my gun, for instance.
She straightens her hat and clothes and stares directly into the bearded man's eyes, defiantly. "So. Are you the first-mate or something?"
Geoffrey groans as a shaft of light hits him full in the face.
I must have have had a *really* good night, last night... Why don't I ever learn that the morning after is usually so painful?
As the fog begins to clear, though, he realises that he is most definitely *not* in his room back in Port Peril.
Oil of Taggit? Someone spiked my drink! I've been shaghaied!
That sudden realization is enough to shake him to full consciousness, and he jumps to his feet.
Well, I *did* want to learn more of Besmara... I guess I should have been careful about what I wished for...
Geoffrey does his best to not draw attention to himself, although he watches carefully to see what happens to the mouthy woman...
Morgan pauses on the stairs with her "escort," glancing back down at the loud girl who hasn't been grabbed yet. She must not have grown up on the streets. Judging by the look of these men, they're a bad sort. Got to keep your head down, don't stir up too much trouble. Acting before you know what's going on? That's bad.
Doreen keeps her eyes locked to the bearded man's, unaware that Geoffrey and Morgan watch her waiting for something to happen. Well... this might not be the smartest move, but should be enough to assess the real power balance here. Doreen stands alert to react to any sort of physical violence.
Sylvestra's head swims for a moment as she attempts to make heads or tails of the stiuation she's in. "I've plenty of times woken up from a night drinkin', this ain't quite the same. Someone must've put a little somethin' extra in mah drink. Whoever it was is in for a world of hurt." She expects to wake up in some stranger's bed, but the sway of the ground tells her before her eyes adjust that she's on a ship.
Seeing the others around her and the words of the bearded man with the whip, realization dawns on her on what has happened. "Besmera's Britches." she mutters under her breath as she stands up.
She watches as one of her fellow 'crewmates' challenges the bearded man. "This'll be interestin' to see, the fool." With the bearded man at least temporairly distracted, Sylvestra takes the opportuniy to scan the others, see if anyone is sympathetic to their plight, the layout of the ship. "Never too early to be thinkin' about escape."
The man with the whip paces the butt end under Doreen's chin and lifts up her eyes to meet his, a wicked smile cracks his face as he says to her "You've got spirit I'll give you that. I like spirit. It makes breaking you all the more fun." Then in louder voice he says "My name's Scourge. That's Scourge to you and I'm bosun here on the Wormwood and I'm in charge of discipline on this ship after the Goddess and Cap'n Harrigan hisself. Now get topside so we can start your new life." With that he cracks with whip one more time and nods to the other sailors to take you up on deck.
Sylvestra remains silent as she follows Mister Scourge up deck, still watching the reactions of the other crew.
Well, that is more information than I had a minute ago...
Geoffrey quickly moves up onto the deck, wanting to avoid the sting of the lash as much as possible.
Doreen moves along the group. She looks relaxed and tries to hide a smile of satisfaction. Well, that didn't go so bad. Just the average bosun 'I'll crush your souls!' speech. Now on to my stuff.
Morgan clambers up the stairs as attention turns away from the loud girl. She tries to take stock of the room at the top quickly as she moves forward to let everyone else up.
Soggy waits quietly for everyone to catch up, too used to this life for it to really phase him much. There's always someone who thinks they're king. If the bosun is this bad, I can't wait to meet the captain. He must be a real charmer.