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Poppa Pepper
Swashbuckler of the Inspired Blade
Human, male, unknown age and parentage
Str - 10
Dex - 16
Con - 10
Int - 15
Wis - 12
Cha - 14
Bare feet pounding hard, ducking fast to the right and then left, under a cart, and leaping over a stack of bolts of imported silk, I run hard along the docks and through the markets of the Shackles ignoring the angry shouts behind me. I have no idea what is in the neglected parcel I have snagged, but I am sure it will buy some favor as a gift to one of my maybe-mothers in the Red Latern. With luck, I will win a little meat with my meal, something other than fish, tonight. One never knows...
I pace left, then circle right three times, finishing with hopping three times on my left foot. I let out with a loud cock's crow. My childhood memory, unbidden, swiftly fades as I desperately try to remember the pattern. One again, barefoot and ingnoring shouts from my cell mates, I try to recapture the memory itching in the back of my mind. I know there is some form, some ritual, to my seeming madness. If I can just find it, my head will clear and the past five or so years will return to me.
I am close to whatever it is. I dance a little jig humming loudly, swaying left and right all loose boned, like I have been in the noon day sun too long with a belly full of rum. I smell the salt air of the sea even though I am locked in some madhouse waiting for a chance to make a break. Close, I am sure I am close to whatever charm or hex I need to break the spell. Glimpses of my childhood and of the sea upon the deck of a black ship guide me.
The only thing I remember for sure is waking here with grey in my beard that never was there before. I've lost something of myself, and a salty pirate won't stand for such magical mischief. I'll find my sword, my boots, and my fine feathered hat and take back that which is mine. Stagger, stagger, stumble, roll, turn around and chant some dark sounds which I know mean something, but what I do not know. Probably just cursed someone. Who knows?
I will have to sleep lightly tonight, or my cell mates will pummel me on a matter of principle. I would if such a lunatic was taking up all the space prancing about like an addled loon. Maybe I should give it a rest for now, and see if howling at the moon helps. The silvery light might reveal some clue or trinket to lead me on my way.
