Placid Brokenfang-Somewhere on the Parthian Sea
After taking care of something that he needed to do, Placid Brokenfang, found himself on a ship heading to Ebernath to regroup with his companions from the Storm Company. Aboard a large cargo ship called
The Whale's Blowhole captained by a saltblood human known as Aswan, the voyage had been pleasant. The skies were clear and the sailing was smooth.
On the fourth day, that changed. When Captain Aswan came on deck in the morning, he surveyed the horizon, sniffed the air, and declared that a storm was on the way. Preperations were made and sure enough, by midday, the wind was blowing fiercely and the sky was clouding up. A few hours later, the sky was black, rain pounded the ship, lighting arced down from the clouds, and the wind was a gale. Huge waves rocked the ship and it felt on the verge of tipping over many times.
Placid was in the cabin he shared with three other passengers. Sitting on his bunk, everything suddenly became quiet. Looking around he knew nothing had changed, that the storm was still raging. Somehow, though, it was all...muffled. A powerful urge to go up on deck came over him and the lizardman stood up and made his way topside. He knew that he shouldn't go up there, that it was dangerous and Captain Aswan would certainly be upset. Something in the back of his mind said that it was the will of the Spirit.
Getting up on deck, Placid found himself in the midst of chaos. Before he could blink, he was soaked to the skin. Sailors rushed around the deck trying to keep
The Whale's Blowhole together. Aswan spotted the lizardman and started to hollar at him, but a shout (that was a whisper to Placid) interrupted him.
"Captain! Man in the water!"
Men rushed to where the sailor who called out was standing. In a flurry of action, ropes and poles were lowered down. They pulled a man up who seemed barely alive. His clothes were tattered and barely covered him. Scratches and bruises covered his sallow skin. His dark hair was missing in patches and streaked with gray. The man coughed weakly on his hands and knees and then looked up. His emerald eyes, full of life in stark contrast to the rest of him, looked straight at Placid and locked on the lizardman's eyes. The drowned man's lips moved and Placid could hear the man clearly over the storm.
The Pale King wakes.
The red moon rises.
The cunning man-thing calls.
The beast within answers.
The storm must rage.
The world will weep.
With a roar, Placid's hearing returns to normal. The drowned man collapses and two sailors drag him below deck. Captain Aswan staggers toward the lizardman, screaming. "What are you doing up here? Are you mad? Get below deck!"
