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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExDis" data-source="post: 888681" data-attributes="member: 10799">Adventures Beyond the Edge - Mikayla's JournalMikayla’s Journal - Entry OneMost of my fellow captives in the ship seemed broken of spirit and resigned to their fate. They sat, hunched and dull-eyed, with little to say, flinching every time one of the guards came near. But there were exceptions.In one port we at which we stopped, the guards brought in what I first took to be a young child, struggling wildly in their grip. No sooner had they chained her into a set of manacles and started to leave the hold that she leaped onto the last one of them, smashing a length of chain down upon his head. He went down like a felled ox and quick as a flash, the child had bolted through the legs of the other guards. But in the end I guess they caught her, for they brought her limp body back shortly thereafter, and chained her next to me.What I had first taken for a child was actually a young halfling. The guards had beaten her terribly, but when she awoke, with a piteous groan, she said she’d suffered worse in her day, and nothing seemed to be broken. Her name, she told me, was Marigold, and the slavers not bought her legitimately. She apparently had been going through the docks on her way to work, and was snatched off the street. I gave her an edited version of how I had come to be here in the ship, and when she realized I knew how to fight, she seemed pleased. We often discussed various plans of escape, but Marigold was of the opinion that it was better to wait until we were at our final destination. If we acted docilely throughout the sale process and the journey to wherever our new home would be, we would have a much better chance of escaping successfully, with provisions, weapons and clothing, and even some money. I was doubtful about the two of us staying together, but she was right. Halflings, apparently, aren’t popular as slaves, and she was included in my sale, which took place in the Theocracy of Pell.We were loaded aboard a ship with several other slaves, mostly human, but two of them gnomes. They I watched in interest, having never seen gnomes before. Even though they were as battered and bruised as the rest of us, their eyes, bright with curiosity, watched everything and seemed to miss nothing. Then, two elves were brought in and chained nearby. Shortly thereafter we felt the ship begin to move.There were five other humans chained in the hold; all of them male. Two of which huddled in on themselves and cringed away from the new set of guards every time they came in. One sat, serene and calm, no matter what happened around him. Be he was always alert, as quick to notice things as the gnomes, and I thought he bore watching. Another was obviously some young noble who had gotten himself in trouble, and didn’t realize just yet how serious his situation was. Soft was a good word for him, soft hands that had probably never seen an honest day’s work, soft body with soft muscles, soft voice. I felt sorry for him, in an abstract way, wondering how long it would take for him to loose that noble’s arrogance. The last man was the most intriguing to me, but he also sent chills up my spine, the intent way he studied each and every one of our guards. I would not want to be any of them, should he get loose. Marigold watched him with suppressed eagerness.We traveled for several days, some of us passing the time in quiet conversation. It had to be quiet, for the guards would beat any they heard speaking. The main topic of conversation was usually where we were going to end up. Speculation was rife, but on the fifth day Marigold suddenly spoke up, saying we were all headed for some brothel. The three men started muttering among themselves more urgently, after that. When I pointed this out to Marigold, she merely grinned sardonically and said she was starting to get tired of her chains.One day, the weather turned queer. Marigold suddenly began to struggle in her manacles, yelling about wizard weather and that we were all doomed, managing somehow to get free. The guards quickly subdued her, but were obviously uneasy themselves. They secured us to the ship and locked us into the hold. There we waited tensely for what was to come. After a few hours, we heard the sound of cannon. Marigold threw herself to the ground, pulling me down with her, and began to writhe wildly. I asked her what she was doing, and suddenly she was out of her chains, and helping me to get out of mine. Telling me to stay down, she quickly made her way down the aisle, freeing the gnomes and the elves, who had not yet managed to free themselves.There was a sudden loud roar, a great crash, and splinters of wood were raining down on me, stinging me like a swarm of bees. When my eyesight finally cleared, I saw two gaping holes in the sides of the ship, where a cannonball had hurdled through. People were screaming and clawing each other, trying to get through the locked door. Marigold came crawling back to me, shouting shrilly for everyone to get down. There was another deafening crash, another two holes appeared in the ship, and two bodies fell, one headless and one with a cannonball-sized hole in its chest.The next few minutes were a chaotic swirl of activity. Several barrels were lashed together and thrown through the huge, gaping hole, where water was pouring into the ship. As we all jumped into the water, grabbing pieces of wood to help us float, and making our way to the barrels, a small lifeboat was lowered into our midst. In the boat were two sailors and three passengers. I managed to persuade them to pull me into the boat and one of the passengers insisted that the sailors fasten the barrels to the back of the little rowboat. When we eventually washed up on the shore I discovered that neither elf had seemed to survive the shipwreck, nor had the two men who I believe had been slaves for some time.What a desolate place it was where we landed. Saltwater behind us, desert before us. We had a few tense moments when Tyran, the man whom I had known would be dangerous, wanted to kill the hapless sailors who had brought us safely to shore. The one passenger, Elithian, is a cleric, and he persuaded Tyran to leave the sailors alone, pointing out that they had nothing to do with our enslavement. We made camp for the night and in the morning caught sight of a road a little ways off, running parallel to the shore. As none of us wished to be enslaved again, we decided to stick to the shoreline, and headed east. We walked for days, the poor sailors taking turns carrying our one barrel of precious fresh water, which Elithian replenished daily. The gnomes taught us how to find clams and fish in the tidal pools, so we did not starve. The sailors were too tired from lugging the heavy barrel to turn on us, but I worried about the two merchants, who had also been in the little lifeboat. I had found a knife among the dead in the water and had given it to Tyran, thinking he was our best bet for continued freedom. I need not have worried, however. Just walking all day seemed to tax the two merchants to the limit of their endurance.During those days of endless slogging through the sand beneath a baking sun, I learned a little about each of my newfound companions. The gnomes kept to themselves, doing their share of the camp work and providing much of the food for the rest of us. Marigold’s story I knew, and she split her time between the company of the gnomes, searching for food, and keeping me company, for we were the only females in the group.I was right about the one young nobleman. His name was Azoi, and he was some nobleman’s younger son, who dabbled in wizardry to ease the ennui of his useless existence. He had set out to learn more magic, had somehow offended some town’s law keepers, and so been sold into slavery to pay his fines. He was quiet, did what he was asked without complaint, and was quick to find whatever humor might lie in a situation, even if it was turned on him.Tyran said little about himself other than that he was a chirurgeon. He had some familiarity with the customs of the locals of the area where we thought we were, and was quick to appoint himself our leader. He was blusteringly loud, opinionated, and bigoted, but competent. The non-humans tended to avoid him, and he bullied the sailors and the merchants, but seemed to get along well with the cleric and the other former slaves.Jaresh did not say much, but when I saw him fight, I recognized him for one of those who dedicate their lives to becoming one with themselves and their surroundings, whose body becomes their weapon. He also was quiet, doing what was asked of him without complaint, and spending much time in meditation and graceful, patterned exercises.Eventually we spotted a small hamlet upon the road. There was much spirited discussion as to whether or not to chance approaching the village, but in the end it was decided to avoid the place. We continued on along the shore, waiting only for dusk to hide us from sight. The sailors and merchants caused such a fuss, however, Tyran informed them, when we made camp late that night, that they would be allowed to go back to the settlement when we were half a day’s march past the place.That night we were attacked by a small pack of Kobolds. One of the gnomes was killed, but Elithian, Jaresh and, surprisingly, Azoi, each killed one of the creatures. Even Marigold tried to attack one, but missed. Tyran held back even though he had a weapon, and this was a cause of worry for me, though I said nothing at the time. All he did was yell loudly at the creatures to halt. Unimpressed, they ignored him, and ran off.When we returned to camp, the sailors and merchants had disappeared, of course. We went after them and this time when Tyran yelled at our quarry to halt, they did. Abruptly. And it occurred to me that perhaps Tyran, too, had some magic, though I had not seen him studying the spell book that had washed ashore, nor had I seen him praying like Elithian. I would have asked, but I do not think he likes me and he was in such a foul mood I had no wish to have him turn it on me.He was harsh with the sailors and the merchants, once we got them back to camp. He forced them to strip, and searched their clothes, confiscating all the money he found. I understood the necessity of it; they were obviously not slaves, so would not need money; their families or guilds would send whatever funds they needed to see them home, but we needed the money to protect us from being recaptured. But finally, I felt Tyran took things too far when he demanded their signet rings. I had nothing against these men; they had done nothing to try to harm me. I did not feel it necessary to deprive them of their only proof of identity, and told Tyran so. An argument ensued, and I finally told him that if he persisted on trying to take the rings, I would be honor bound to take action against him. Tyran then turned to the rest of the party for support. Once more Elithian stepped in and defused a tense situation, persuading Tyran to allow the merchants to keep their rings, and even to be given back a little of the coin.Halfway through our next day’s march, we let the sailors and the merchants go, though Tyran said darkly that he doubted they would make it safely to the little village an assessment I privately agreed with, but they were grown men and it free to make their own choices. Then we continued on our journey. Right before nightfall we spied another town, this one much larger, and obviously with a port of some kind. It was decided to take our chances here, spending some of the coin we had taken from the merchants to get us all some decent clothing, some supplies, and maybe even arrange for some transportation out of here. Reluctantly, Marigold and the gnome allowed themselves to be manacled again, for in this land, being non-human would have automatically earned them slavery. Well, it is easy to see where Tyran learned his bigotry. These people are a sour, joyless lot, with prejudices oozing from every pore.The accommodations were poor, the food barely edible, but oh, they know how to provide a bath! Marigold, acting as my body slave, came into the bathing chamber with me. Once we were alone, she surprised me by casting a spell that had us both clean and neat and able to enjoy a long soak in clean water. When I asked her why she hadn’t used magic before to escape, she told me she knew very little magic, and this spell was the only really useful one she knew. She is apparently a sorcerer, for she told me she never had a spell book. She also asked me not to let the others know that she had any magical ability, a request I shall of course respect.It is amazing what a bath, a hot meal and clean clothes will do for one’s outlook on life. I begin to have hope that I may get out of this alive and free. We have found out that Kobolds often attack in this area, and I wonder if the sailors and merchants reached safety. I have my doubts, but Tyran obviously thinks they had no chance, and grumbles about wasting good money. If he keeps it up, I swear I’m going to introduce his loud, foul mouth to my fist, though I doubt it will do any good.I am not happy with the situation, and I know my mother would have been disappointed in me. I should have done more to protect those men, but I was not willing to be chained again, and they would not continue on with us. Indeed , once we reached this place, they may well have turned us in, despite the fact that had it not been for us, they would never have reached safety alive.I do not know what we are going to do now; what actions we will take. We do not have very much money, and I do not wish to stay in this city. The people here seem as dull and dreary as the clothing they wear.For now I must throw in my lot with this group of ex-slaves and the cleric, but I will not let down my guard. Elithian has proved to be an honorable, trustworthy companion, though some of his views are a little misguided. Jaresh I cannot make a judgement on; he did nothing to harm the merchants and sailors, but neither did he do anything to aid them. Azoi is little more than a spoiled brat of a nobleman. He cast a spell that detected magic on the merchants’ rings, so of course he wanted them, and never mind the consequences to the merchants if they did not have their rings when they reached civilization (if you can call this place civilized). Just like a little child who sees a shiny object and wants it, irregardless of to whom it truly belongs. Typical droit de seigneur attitude, in all of its glorious misuse.I will do my best to protect Marigold and the gnome, whose name I can neither spell, nor pronounce. I will not allow Tyran and the others to sell them back into slavery, and I do believe the thought has crossed that man’s mind. For now we are useful to him, and so he welcomes our presence, but I cannot be easy with him. I see the capacity for ruthlessness in him, and I do not want to be in a position of powerlessness when he no longer thinks us necessary. I will guard my back well.Nothing in my mother’s journals, or her tales, prepared me for such a state as I find myself. I can only hope that what I have learned from my parents and my teachers will stand me in good stead. May the Knight of the Gods find me worthy of His protection.</blockquote>

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