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Ariala the Red was born Pavanna Baradin (Pavi was her nickname )her mother was Asmodia Baradin of Chelaxin descent she lived with a sailor from the Bonuwat tribes Harisko who Asmodia claimed was Pavi father. Though Harisko and his family treated her well as she grew she knew this could not be true as she looked like neither of her parents. Her mother was dark haired, dark eyed and fair and Harisko was dark skin, dark hair and had dark eyes. Pavi had fair skin dark red hair and the distinct purple eyes the marked her of Azlanti heritage. Knowing her mother was lying to her and growing up in Bloodcove a treacherous town of dog eats dog she grew up learning not to trust easily and that self-preservation came first. Her mother was a skilled midwife, wise woman, and witch and she taught her skills to her daughter. They both worshipped the god Gozreh. Pavi unlike her mother from an early age was attracted to animals her mother had a powerful connection to the elements.
When Pavi entered puberty the dreams started as did the uncontrolled magic she dreamed of dragons. Her mother used potions and herbs to try and control them and it did for a long time but it in time she time she could not deny the magic running through her blood or the gifts it gave her like the ability to grow claws. Even faced with that her mother stood fast to tale that her father was the sailor Harisko, and refused to tell her the truth of her origin.
Her best friend and the only person she ever really trust was a human boy Alexite Urison his father was an agent of the Aspis Consortium when his family was moving to Sargava he promised he would one day come back for Pavi.
Ten years later he did and much to her mother’s displeasure she chose to join him on an expedition into jungles it was brutal and dangerous and they lost half of their party but they were successful and made enough money to fulfill Alexite dream of owning his own ship and Pavi’s of getting out of Bloodcore.
They were married and set up life owning and operating a merchant ship out of Port Freedom called Freedom’s Wind. Pavi acted as the ship’s healer and quartermaster. Things were fine for three years.
They had taken on a normal run and taken on a passenger a half elf by the name Zirual Taldal. There was something about him that Pavi didn’t trust and that mistrust grew as the days went on. She mistrusted him so much that one night at dinner she pretended to drink the expensive wine he graciously offered to share with her and the rest of the officers. She was awoken by the sound of rain and storm and went on the deck to see to her horror that the ship was way of course and was heading to close to the eye of Abendego she saw Zirual at the wheel and the night helmsman dead. She ran below deck to wake the rest of the officers and found them drugged and she was unable to wake them. Below decks the majority of the crew were the in the same shape. Grabbing a weapon she snuck back on deck looking for her husband. She didn’t see him at first but she saw crew in the rigging getting the ship reading to head in. She made her way to as quietly as she could but she slipped when the ship lurched and she fell and one of the sailors warned Zirual. This told her all she needed to know that some of the sailors were working with the half elf. He had her brought to him and that was when she saw her husband alive but bound. She tried to argue with Zirual telling him it was suicide to try and navigate the eye that only seasoned sailors had ever succeeded and even those often died. He just sneered and said he had a compass that would guide him through safely. That may well have been but something went wrong and when it became obvious that he was losing control of the ship the coward used magic to teleport of the ship. Pavi freed her husband and he tried to save the floundering ship. She ran to the cabin and grabbed her haversack that she always had prepared in case of emergency. She also grabbed her familiar Fidget put him in a side pocket of the haversack but did not close it.
For a brief time it looked like Alexite might win his battle to save the ship. The wind was strong a mast snapped and that weight of that caused the ship to list to one side the next wave came crashing hard Pavi felt Alexite grab her and she felt both of them hit the water. She saw his face one last time before he was taken from her sight.
She fought her way to the surface and over and over and finally found a piece of jetsam to half cling to. She clung there mourning everything she had lost wishing she had tears knowing praying to Gozreh when she heard a familiar cry looking over she saw clinging to small piece of wood a wet miserable fox. Some show Fidget had survived as well. She kicked as hard as she could until she got close enough to bring the small fox to her.
How long they were in the water she didn’t know though it couldn’t have been too long because neither was not in too bad shape when a ship pulled them from the water. It was a pirate ship and she knew her luck may have just gotten worse. But maybe Gozreh was looking out for her. The captain was sick with infection from a nasty cut and they had no healer so she was able to barter her skills for passage to where the ship was going.
So here she is on Drenchport trying to figure out what to do. She has changed her name to Ariala the Red. She for now thinks it is better if Pavi Urison stays dead.
She knows her way around ships and thinks that she can use that knowledge to get a position by giving a version of the truth that she used to work on merchant ships her last ship went down and she really as no desire to go back.
She will one day fine the half elf who stole her life and he will pay but for now she will do what she learned as a child to do survive.
The ship that rescued Pavi from the ocean was the Sulfur Squid, commanded by Captain Kevir Rojar. The tall, dark-haired man seemed to resent Pavi having seen him in his time of weakness because he never spoke to her after she cured him. Instead most of her discussion was with the first mate, Feli Dhurs. Dhurs was a half-orc, but still a fairly good-looking woman. Pavi thought one of her parents must have been absolutely gorgeous to have passed on such looks to a half-breed. The half-orc made sure the healer had a place to bunk, and that the crew didn’t harass her, but she was busy with her duties and was not particularly friendly. Pavi looked after the injuries of several sailors—indeed, it seemed that most of the crew had some type of injury—but otherwise spent her three days on the ship mostly by herself, trying to clean and mend her drenched possessions as much as possible.
The crew of the Sulfur Squid was tight-lipped about where they’d been, or what they’d been doing when the captain got injured. Pavi suspected they were running from someone—either from retaliation for a failed attack, or from someone who attacked them—because she couldn’t think of any other good reason to be skirting that close to the perpetual hurricane. She gave absolutely no indication of that thought, however, as she valued her life. After she cured Captain Rojar’s infection, the crew loosened up around Pavi just a little and later Feli Dhurs told her that so near the hurricane, there is a strong current in the opposite direction. The ship was riding that current when they found her. Dhurs mentioned the current is called Gozreh’s Flow, and when she heard that Pavi realized she needs to make a thank-offering to her god at some point in the near future!
Although Captain Rojar and the crew of the Sulfur Squid grudgingly acknowledged her healing capabilities, no one suggested that she join the crew. As they reached the island of Tempest Cay, Dhurs came by to let her know that after the ship was docked, and the captain and first mate had gone ashore, she was free to leave as soon as she wanted. She also gave Pavi a scrap of cloth tied with string, holding several coins. The cloth contained 25 copper coins, 3 pieces of silver, and 2 gold pieces and Dhurs said the crew had taken up a collection as thanks for her using her healing talents while she was aboard. Since most of the crew had ignored Pavi except for help with injuries (mostly suffered before she came aboard), this was quite a surprise. She was also pleased, because this meant she’d be able to stay in Drenchport at least a couple days without having to dip into the small hoard of coin she had stashed in her haversack.
Even compared to the rough-and-tumble town of Bloodcove, Drenchport looks like a ramshackle place. It appears to be built almost entirely of driftwood, or the flotsam of wrecked ships. It also seems that the rain never stops, or it’s impossible to tell when it does because the wind blows so much water on its own without any needing to fall from the sky. Pavi found it hard to believe that people would care to live in a place where they couldn’t step outdoors without getting soaking wet, absolutely all the time.
The port itself was in slightly better condition, probably because the Pirate Lord who controlled the island wanted to encourage ships to dock. There were a couple of ships Feli Dhurs identified as pirates, one merchant ship that was also just docking, and several smaller fishing vessels. Pavi recognized the design of the merchantman – definitely Chelish. As for the pirates, one ship looked like it had started its days in Rahadoum but she couldn’t place the origins of the other.
When the Sulfur Squid reached the port, Pavi hung back until several sailors had gone ashore, then followed at a distance to see where they were going. (Fidget rode in a pocket of her haversack, just peeking out to see what was going on but trying to remain unnoticed.) The first place most of them headed was a low building whose faded sign depicted a wet, dripping dwarf with white eyes and kelp in his beard. She could barely make out the letters on the board above the door: “Drowned Dwarf. “ The inside was dim, but not much dimmer than outside and at least no water was coming down!
Pavi managed to get a spot at a table fairly near the fireplace and she thought she might eventually dry off. When a woman came to the table with refills for the prior customers, Pavi asked her about the cheapest drink. The woman told her it was beer – black kelp beer, the specialty of the house. It sounded awful, but it seemed nearly everyone was drinking it, so Pavi ordered one for herself. The black kelp beer turned out to be delicious! She drank the first cup, nursed a second for a long time, had a bowl of mediocre fish stew to warm her belly, and felt like she was actually getting a bit dry. (The two drinks and stew with bread cost her a total of 18 coppers.) The tavern was getting quite full, though, toward the end of the workers’ day, so she decided she’d better give up her spot and find a place to sleep before dark.
The ‘inn’ she found was barely worthy of the name. “The Gales Inn” was further from the docks than the “Drowned Dwarf,” with a tavern on the main floor, and had less than half the customers of the dockside establishment. However, it did have a large room on the second floor where customers could sleep off a drunk for only 2 silvers. Under most circumstances, Pavi would have been horrified. She had slept in worse conditions, though, because at least this was dry and she had Fidget to help watch over her things so that no one tampered with them (or her) during the night. She lay a long time in the dark thinking over her situation, and how she might go ahead, but made some decisions and was finally able to get a few hours’ sleep before morning.
In the morning, Ariala the Red got some bread and old cheese (for 3 coppers) at “The Gales Inn,” the least bad of the choices for breakfast. She declined any drink, though, fairly sure that the morning’s ‘beer’ would consist of the leavings of the night before. She’d go back to the “Drowning Dwarf,” or hold her own cup out in the rainstorm, before she’d drink anything served at “The Gales Inn.”
The rain that morning was lighter, although wind gusts made it impossible to keep anything really dry as they kept blowing the edges of her cloak around and whipping water into her hood. While on the Sulfur Squid, Ariala had thought perhaps she could get a job with a merchant house in Drenchport, but now she discarded that idea. Even if there were any merchant houses in the town (which she doubted, having seen it now), she had no interest in staying any longer than she had to. She had put up with heavy rainstorms every afternoon during her travels in the jungle of the Mwangi Expanse, but it didn’t rain all day and all night, too! Ariala thought perhaps she could get a berth on the Chelish merchant. She wasn’t too sure about joining the crew of a pirate ship; if she couldn’t get a job aboard the merchantman, she’d stay another day or two and hope for more traffic.
Ariala found a spot near the “Drowned Dwarf,” around one side and mostly out of the wind, and surveyed the situation on the dock. The Sulfur Squid was toward the further end. The hands aboard it were busy doing repairs, with several people seated on planks hanging over the side of the rail to fix parts of the ship that couldn’t be reached while at sea. One of the other pirate ships must have sailed on the morning tide, because it was gone from yesterday’s berth. The other pirate ship, Blade of the Deep, did not seem to be going anywhere today, based on the fact that its crew were just now staggering up to the deck. The crew of the Chelish ship, Dark Naga, had their vessel looking ship-shape, and several hands were scrubbing and swabbing to make it even better.
Just as Ariala was getting ready to walk over to the Chelish ship, someone strode past the tavern and down to the dock. She paused and frowned, thinking the person seemed familiar. It was something about the walk; the cloak obscured any sight of the person. At first she thought it might be Feli Dhurs from the Sulfur Squid, but she quickly realized that wasn’t correct. Puzzled as to who else it might be, she stayed where she was and watched the person’s progress.
Ariala thought hard as her eyes followed the path of the cloaked person across the dock. That little hitch in the step, she had just recently seen someone walking like that aboard the ship, but couldn’t think who on the Sulfur Squid it would have been. The individual turned toward the Chelish ship and the guard at the bottom of the gangplank saluted the person, who walked right on by. One of the ship’s officers met the newcomer at the top of the gangplank, holding out a hand in welcome. The cloaked figure pushed back the cloak’s hood and hurried up the last few steps, gripping the officer’s hand warmly. The two shook hands and patted each other on the back, as if they were friends meeting again after a long time. Then Ariala saw the a big deckhand on the ship shout at his underlings and crack a long whip at one; the deck scrubbers and wood polishers had mostly stopped to stare at the newcomer and now hurried back to work.
The officer from the Dark Naga put his arm around the shoulder of the other person and turned to walk aft along the rail. Suddenly Ariala caught sight of the stranger’s face and realized why he seemed familiar: he was Zirual Taldal, whom she had watched pace back and forth over the deck of Freedom’s Wind for days—the one who had sunk her ship and murdered her husband and the ship’s entire crew! Red filled Ariala’s vision as rage swept through her. She racked her brains for a way to capture Zirual and bring him to justice—or maybe just punish him herself! Public murder on the street would probably get her imprisoned, even in Drenchport. Quiet murder in an alley, though – that might be possible.
Having conversed with two or three people aboard ship, the officer escorted Zirual back down the gangplank. They were apparently headed into Drenchport for some reason and would pass right by the “Drowning Dwarf.” Ariala ducked out of sight behind a stack of barrels and waited for the men to walk by. She decided perhaps she’d follow and see where they were going, rather than accost Zirual right away.
Ariala caught the sound of Zirual’s voice as they approached.
“…ship broke up entirely, but at least that way there would be no survivors,” he said.
“Well, that’s good; it saves us some trouble,” the officer replied.
Her blood froze as Ariala realized the significance of those words. Not only did those two not care if anyone survived, they wanted any witnesses dead! There was no way she could confront Zirual now; that would just put her in line for murder! Furthermore, although the crew of the Sulfur Squid was tight-lipped, it was still possible that one might let fall the word that they had pulled a shipwreck survivor out of the storm. Then Zirual and his Chelish friends would be searching for her. She had to hide – or better yet, get out of Drenchport entirely! She waited for the men to pass and be completely out of sight before she left her hiding place.
Still somewhat obscured by the barrels, Ariala surveyed the dock once more, this time looking carefully at even the fishing vessels berthed out of the way of the bigger ships. One had apparently just sold its catch, but instead of the crew preparing to disembark and get some beer, they looked to be heading back out to sea. Maybe they were based out of some small fishing village, and she could hide out there until Zirual and the Chelish ship had both left Tempest Cay. She hurried down to talk to the captain.
The fishing vessel was the Silver Shark. Its crew is about 1/3 human and 2/3 undine and the captain is an undine as well, with aqua skin and deep green hair flowing around his shoulders. He wore a tight-fitting gray sleeveless shirt, black leather pants and a dagger and cutlass at his belt. One notable ornament he had was a silver torc with an oval piece of mother-of-pearl inset in the center front. He gave his small crew orders to get everything ship-shape and ready to sail.
Ariala called to the captain to get his attention. In a few minutes’ conversation, she found that Captain Aessek Whorl and his crew were headed back to their home port of Drowning Rock. They were reluctant to take on a passenger, but her promise of paying an entire gold piece (more than three-days’ wage for an average person) got their interest. When she offered a second gold piece for their promise that they had never seen her, they perked up even more. It wasn’t a huge amount, but being paid for doing nothing but going back to their home port—which they were already doing—sounded good to them. Captain Whorl did ask why she was in such a hurry and Ariala managed to come up with an excuse fast.
“I just spotted my ex-husband in town and I can’t stand one more repetition of his speech on why I need to come back home and take care of his ailing mother! Can’t you please get me out of here?” That gave the crew a chuckle at her expense, but Captain Whorl finally gave in.
That was yesterday. After hours in the boat, the Silver Shark made it safely to Drowning Rock. It berthed in what was evidently the undine quarter of the little town, and Ariala had to walk a ways to make it to an inn that didn’t restrict itself to undines. She also had to break into the little store of coin she had in her haversack to pay her lodging and meal expenses, but the quality of both far exceeded what she had in Drenchport previously. She still tossed and turned, worrying about what had happened to her and what she was going to do next, but at least she had a room to herself (and Fidget, of course) and didn’t have to worry that someone might just walk off with her goods while she slept. After a surprisingly decent breakfast, Ariala set out to explore the town and see what might be had in the way of jobs.