The "Road" to Freeport

[WhisperingI]

Backstory for my character, hope you enjoy!

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The "Road" to Freeport

The vessel slipped quietly into the harbor. Oars still, masts down, that was the plan after all. Pirate harbors were dark, it was in their nature to hide from the prying eyes passing by in the shipping lanes. A few other ships were set at anchor, and a few equally dark buildings dotted the shore. Ojii stood in the crows nest, using her sonic vision to scan the other ships as they approached. One of the unique aspects of being a ratonga. They could see better in the dark than in the day it seemed to some. One of those buildings, she knew, would be a windowless tavern. It would serve ale and bread and the all important cheese. Those fine staples of tavern fodder. Cheese being her most favorite food of all, even if that was expected of her since she was a rat. There would be many of the mates from the other ships inside drinking and gambling and not paying attention to their purse strings too and that was always fun. But they were not there for shore leave she reminded herself and pulled her attention back to the task at hand.

They were seeking a particular ship, The Blight . Ojii scanned the ship closest to them recalling what had happened. Her Captain, one foul tempered human named, Kith, had his mind set on revenge tonight. Weeks ago they'd taken leave on an island similar to this one. Kith had lost a pendant with a frivolous bet in a game of cards to an equally foul Captain Cold. He'd not been happy about losing it and had managed to wrangle a shot at winning it back despite his other losses. It seemed Captain Cold was toying with Captain Kith, perhaps in hopes of winning another prized possession to taunt Kith even more over his loosing streak. Ojii had no clue of why humans did so many silly things, like betting items they didn't want to lose. It was obvious that Cold was cheating to her. It takes a cheat to know a cheat, or so the saying goes and a ratonga can spot a cheat a mile away. She hadn't said a word though, it was much more fun watching her foul Captain Kith get the shaft put to his purse.

Halfway through that last hand a small fight had broken out amongst the drunken occupants of the neighboring table. Glasses and bottles flew and before the tavern's bouncers could intervene a large burly fellow was shoved into Captain Cold nearly tipping him over chair and all. He managed to right himself but not before several cards fell out of his carefully cuffed sleeves right in plain view of the gamblers at his table. The fight that had then ensued amongst the card players was legendary in proportion, the whole bar chiming in. Everyone it seemed began pounding on the person closest to them. Ojii had simply found a corner and watched the ruckus with a great deal of ale induced mirth. Ratonga are extremely agile and she easily avoided flying debris during the fight, even thoroughly inebriated as she was, and full of fresh cheese. The fight had literally lasted until everyone involved was too tired to go on, and then one by one they had left the tavern. Captain Cold had vanished along with Captain Kith's pendant in all the ruckus, much to his dismay.

Later she remembered getting a sound kicking in Captain Kith's quarters for not signaling him from the beginning that he was being cheated. Her tail flicked in remembrance of her sore backside in agitation. The reputation of ratonga for spotting such activities was well known to the mean-streaked Captain apparently. If only those idiots at the next table hadn't gotten into a fight she could have gloated over Kith's losses with Poiji, the only other ratonga on board The Black Mermaid. Just a bad string of luck she supposed, but she didn't want a repeat tonight and she scanned the ships for the one belonging to Captain Cold. She glanced down to the deck where Poiji waited for her signal. The both of them had no recollection of any past to speak of. It just seemed they had always lived at sea, working for the best paying Captain. Being ratonga, a rarity on the waves, they had developed a friendship quick on the long journeys at sea. Watching each other's backs as it were, amongst the population of scoundrels and scalawags they worked with. Poiji looked back up at her, and the understanding that this was all bad business passed between them. A new employer would soon be sought, soon as this was done and they finally took shore leave again.

She took a good long look at the next vessel they approached. It was The Blight , the one they'd been looking for all these long weeks . She quickly signaled Poiji, who in turn ran to the Captain and pointed it out to him. Grabbing a mast rope, she slid down to just above the deck and then dropped in silence. The very small two man dingy was already being lowered over the side, Captain Kith giving everyone "the look" that motivated them to be as quiet as possible. Ojii came to stand beside the Captain and watched Poiji in the tiny boat with an oarsman as they made their way to the target ship. Her tail flicked side to side, a nervous twitch. She had utter faith in Poiji to pull off his orders, but still the whole idea bothered her. She moved to the railing, standing on a swab bucket, and watched as the dingy pulled up along side the ship. No guards had seen them approach. Poiji tossed a small rope with an equally small grappling hook over the railing, something he had made himself, saying that human tools were far too bulky for real rat work. He quickly flew up the rope and then vanished over the ships railing out of sight.

Now came the dangerous part. Poiji had been ordered to retrieve Captain Kith's pendant from Cold's quarters. To do this and then set fire to the hold of the ship. Captain Kith was a man of extremes it seemed and not one you wanted mad at you. Ojii's tail ticked off the seconds that passed like a gnomish clock, her whiskers spiked out due to her pursing her lips in tension. She couldn't wait to get this over with so they could get away from Kith and his foul tempers. Long minutes went by, no alarms from the other ship, no guard cries. Poiji was quite good at getting the job done, but that didn't mean she wasn't worried about her friend. Ears twitched this way and that straining just as she strained her vision to watch the ship for any sign of trouble. Suddenly, much faster than she expected, Poiji vaulted over the side and slid down the rope to the dingy again, motioning the oarsman to get them out of there. She held her breath until the dingy was being raised back to the ship and her friend was back on board.

He quickly skittered to the Captain and held out the pilfered and long sought pendant, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. Kith snatched it, without so much as a thank you, and hung it around his red pirate neck and signaled the first mate who ran down to the oarsmen to get them moving. They needed to move quickly before the alarm was raised. Stealing was something to be expected between pirate's. It was par for the course amongst their kind. Burning another's ship was something frowned upon by the community at large however. They could raid each other, kill, rob and maim, but to destroy another's vessel was anathema. Ojii had always found it yet another strange facet of her strange life. Poiji joined her at the railing as they moved out of the harbor, oars stroking the water in subdued rhythm. Even as they made ready to raise sail she could see the first of the smoke snaking its way out of the boat's hold. A shout was heard breaking the silence, the fire had been discovered.

"Hoist the sails, you bilge rats." Captain Kith ordered and the sails flew up, the breeze catching them quickly and pushing them even faster out into the open ocean.

Before they were out of sight however, Ojii spied one furious Captain Cold on the deck of his burning ship looking their direction with what appeared to be a gnomish spy glass. The Captain had been in his quarters when Poiji had re-stolen the pendant she realized, and she shot him a look. Poiji only looked back at her with a large grin of self-satisfaction, before they both looked back at the now burning ship as they rolled out into the open sea. The deck swarmed with activity as they futilely tried to extinguish the fire. At least they weren't at sea and they could easily swim to shore, she mused to herself.

"This going to be bad buisinesses somedays you watches and sees." Ojii whispered.

"Not so's bads I thinks," Poiji replied and he placed a gold piece in her hand and winked conspiratorially.

........

Days later as they followed a main shipping line between the Island of Refuge and Freeport watching for another supply vessel to raid, Ojii leaned against the crows nest munching on dried wafers rather noisily, Poiji at her side scanning the waters ahead.

"Yous going to be as fats as the cook if yous don't watch it," he teased.

"Hushes! I brushes my fur the sames as yous." she popped the last cracker into her mouth and crunched it even louder than the one before, "Besides, if we could finds us a ships to raid thens we might finds some good cheeses and then who will get fats, eh?"

Suddenly Poiji stiffened in alarm. Ojii turned to follow his line of sight. On the horizon heading directly for them, skimming the water low was a familiar winged form. One that brought terror to every vessel they happened upon.

"Drakota starboard side coming fast!" they both shouted in unison.

"To Arms! To Arms!" the shout rang up and down the deck.

The ship was filled with shouting as the great beast approached. Men apprehensive and fearful waited on the winged impending doom, bows clenched with whitened knuckles. Ojii and Poiji crouched down in their spot painfully aware that this was the most dangerous part of playing lookout these days. The drakota beat its massive wings raising itself to full view of all on board, knowing it had been sighted and then swooped in with surprising speed and dove directly at the ship. It's maw opened and a gust of flame shot out setting the sails on fire. They both squeaked in alarm and scrambled to the ropes before they too burned away, even as the sail closest to them became engulfed in orange fire. Arrows flew towards the attacker, most of them bouncing harmlessly off its hard hide, as it circled in for another attack.

Ojii's coat had snagged on a nail that had worked its way loose from the boards of the lookout platform and she frantically worked to get it loose, looking down she saw Poiji was halfway down to the deck. She yanked and tugged but the fabric wouldn't let go. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the drakota diving again, directly at the deck this time.

"Watches outs!" she shouted at Poiji who had started back up the rope with the intent of helping her get loose.

It flew down the entire length of the ship, flaming everything in its path, boat and man. Screams and horrid smoke filled the air. Some of those in its path dove overboard in an effort to extinguish their hides. It was so low in fact as it passed that the gust of air from its wings blew poor Poiji around on his now burning rope.

"Poiji!" she shouted, forgetting her own predicament and grabbed at his rope to try and steady it.

Suddenly there was a resounding crack. The drakota had swung its massive tail in passing and cracked the mast close to the deck. The whole thing shifted and then snapped. The broken half smacking the deck before it teetered over and fell towards the water. The force not only tore Ojii's coat loose but it flung her, squealing the whole way, towards the waiting water below. She struggled back to the surface, gasping for the air had been knocked out of her and watched the drakota coming in for another run at the ship. No sign of her friend.

"Poiji!" she shouted again, swallowing some of the briny sea water.

The whole ship was now ablaze, the main mast destroyed, and above the din of it all she could hear Captain Kith cursing the beast for all his might, but no sign of Poiji anywhere. She was about to shout for him again even as she tried to scale the side of the flaming ship when the drakota hit the other mast full on, splintering it into a thousand pieces. One of those pieces smacked her in the head as the mast fell over and blackness claimed her completely.

.....

The ocean was calm when she awoke, soft rolling waves and a strong southern breeze and not a wisp of cloud in sight. She found she clutched a large chunk of wood, evidently a piece of the mast that had knocked her silly. No sign of the ship anywhere. Nor of her friend. She squeaked softly in sorrow. Poor Poiji, what had happened to him, she wondered. She scanned the waters around her. Nothing. No debris, no floating bodies alive or dead, she was alone. Survival instinct took over and she looked at the sun, the moon Luclin in its decayed form was in the sky too, her brain working out her position. Realizing that she was days away from any sort of land mass, it slowly donned on her that she was probably going to die out here. She ran a paw over her face in frustration, feeling the large knot that blossomed there, and began paddling with the current.

.....

The voice was back again. It had haunted her for days off and on as the delirium sat in.

.......Truth is subjective. Honor is subjective. Loyalty is subjective. In all things Ojii you alone are the judge of what best serves you....

"An whats of it? I am still drowning! A wet rat having the hallucinogens! Whats would my mother says if she sees me now?"

....You will not die I have ensured it to be so. Go, find others like yourself. Refugee's who will aid you....

"What's!? Aid me to do whats exactly? Why don't you does somethings other than prattles at me!"

.....Go to Freeport Ojii. Serve the Overlord. Your way will be shown to you....

"Heys! Don't leaves me here! I drowns I tells you!"

"Hellos?"....."Hellos!?!"

 

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Better font? LOL! I forget sometimes that my settings make my font seem larger than it is. Sorry about that! hehe!

Message Edited by WhisperingIvy on 12-17-2004 07:25 AM

[Gandr]

larger font good lord....

[Amadeus-Gide]

Can barely read this

[WhisperingI]

Pirates, Old Friends & Piety - Part One

Ojii swirled the ale around her mug. She had long lost track of what number of ale's she had downed this evening. A troll somewhere in the Seafury's sang about rat fur. Even drunk as she was it still annoyed her, but she was too drunk to pick a fight. She noted a presence beside her and looked up. The barmaid was saying something, what was it? Did she want another? Ojii fought through the fog and shook her head no. She knew she'd had enough. Standing she staggered towards the door, and exited the tavern.

The night air was hot and dry, Drinal shone its light down on the harbor. She stopped and looked out at the ocean, she always did. It called to her, the sea, with its memories and history. Ratonga were not supposed to like the open sea, preferring the underground, passageways and tunnels with their security and coziness. At least that's what everyone seemed to believe. Ojii had tried to convince herself that this was how it was supposed to be. But always she found herself right here, staring out at the water. It glimmered in the moonlight as if sprites frollicked on the surface.

She sighed, not the sigh of frustration, but of loneliness. For all her new found friends and aquaintences, nothing replaced Poiji. Turning her back on the water, she began making her way home. The militia guards hailed her as they walked by, how quickly they had changed their attitude towards her. Once in Freeport she had quickly established a guild and recruited the best that the sprawling city had to offer. Their exploits had earned them recognition, respect, even among some, fear. Fear was a great motivating factor. Ojii decided she hadn't cared how they advance through the cities social status quo. As long as they did so, and kept her life comfortable. Comforts made everything easier to bear, even if they didn't erase them.

Entering her apartment she moved for the bed, to pass out as usual across it. Even through her drunken stupor though she sensed something there, not ratonga. Whiskers twitched trying to pin point the smell in utter darkness, human. So drunk she didn't think to use night vision, her mistake as she realized someone had been waiting on her. Too close, she thought a split second before someone shoved her to the floor. She struggled blindly for a moment, then two set of hands grabbed her. She was caught. Hissing in anger, the ale induced fog quickly vanishing.

"Who are yous and how dares yous enter my homes!" she squeaked at the darkness, trying her best to sound indignant and unsurprised.

Someone lit the candles on her table and the ensuing light revealed 4 humans in her room, wearing dark hoods that covered their faces. "Answers me!" she struggled between the two that held her. One of the humans sat rather relaxed at her desk, idly fingering the books that laid on it.

"Soo, rat, we meet again." The dark figure stood. The voice she recognized, but her brain fought against it. No, she thought, it can't be him. He moved to stand direcly in front of her and pulled the hood back off of his head.

After all these long months, after all that had happened, here stood Captain Kith. Right here in Freeport and in her apartment. Ojii looked him over, he was the same except some new scarring along his cheek, but wait. His right arm was gone below the elbow.

"Captains is supposed to go down with their ships," Ojii stared up at him in defiance, black eyes sparkling, "At least the ones withs honors." Kith struck her across the face, backhanding her with his good left hand. She refused to squeak in pain and only returned to glaring at him. "I see yous lost your dealings hands," she said sarcastically, earning another backhand.

"Yes, ran into some sharks that slowed me down." he ran his hand up across the scars on his face briefly, "And Cold wasn't to happy about his ship. But that's not why I am here." The man was apparently unstoppable, Ojii thought. All those days at sea, sharks and whatever else had at him, and yet here he was before her. This was indeed bad business. "I believe you never left my formal employ, rat."

"I works for whos I wants! Yous nots owns me!"

"Ahh, your right there, but I have a proposition for you." He backed up and leaned against the side of her desk. "One I think you won't refuse."

"I nots works for you again, not nows and not evers. Take your thugs and gets outta my homes." Ojii spat at him.

Kith motioned to the other man, who had not moved from his position in the corner. Obviously the one that had shoved her. He moved forward and pulled a small cloth wrapped bundle from inside his outer coat.

"I have something that may incline you to reconsider." Kith smiled, and this alone, in all things he could have done, caused Ojii alarm. Kith never smiled unless he was about to do something vicious. The other sat the package on the floor and moved away, back to his position by the door. She looked at the package and then at Kith. "Before you make up your mind to deny me, rat, you should have a look in the package."

The two men holding her, suddenly let her go. She looked from them, to Kith and then back to the ominous package on the floor. She considered, fleetingly, laying them to waste now that she had room to maneuver. She could have done it. They had no way of knowing the awesome power the Gods had bestowed on her now. Something about Kith's demeanor however stopped her. He had the air of someone who knows they are about to get what they want, no matter the cost. She knew him, ruthless and vindictive. He might have made a halfway decent ratonga, if not for his inability to control himself at the gambling table. He was controlled now. This is what rang the alarm bells in her head.

She tenatively walked to the package and bent over it. Not taking her eyes off of Kith, she opened it, pulling the layers of cloth apart. He bore a large smirk across his face, causing his new scars to wrinkle menacingly. Pulling the last piece of cloth back revealed a small patch of fur, roughly no bigger than her hand. Raising an eyebrow she said, "Whats this? Some sorts of a jokes?"

"I think perhaps you should look at that bit closer, rat. You might see its more familiar than you think." He crossed his arms and smiled smugly at her.

Irritated at this game, Ojii snatched up the patch of fur. It's pattern was familiar. Some recognition worked its way from her memory. It was ratonga, mottled, not to many had fur of this pattern. Then it hit her. Poiji! She reeled and nearly fell over. How could this be?

"Seems a night for old friends, does it not?" Kith laughed then and was caught unprepared when Ojii charged him, dropping the fur. Launching herself across the room with a snarl she landed full on his chest, claws digging in as she tried to rip into his neck with her teeth.

"Relase me or he will die!" Kith snarled, trying to throw her off. His henchmen had ahold of her, but she was locked to him. "I mean it RAT!" The men finally got a hand hold on her and pried her loose, kicking and snapping.

"Where is Poiji! I kills yous!" she hissed.

"He is somewhere safe, for the moment. If you come at me again, he will lose more than a patch of fur." Kith waited, smug smirk returning to his features when Ojii once again stopped struggling.

"All rights," she knew this was it, he had her and he knew it. "Whats do yous wants? Moneys? I have moneys, connections, I pays you whatevers yous wants! Let Poiji goes!"

"I have heard that your doing quite well for yourself. Running a guild that's earning quite the recognition here in Freeport. Funny as it is to me for a worthless rat to have such influence, I have something that you may be able to achieve with your new found status."

"Whatevers yous wants, I gets it, you lets him goes!" desperate tears welled up, but she would not let herself cry. Not in front of him. Whatever comes of this, she vowed to herself, she would see Kith dead, someday, somehow. But she had to save Poiji.

Kith reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment and held it out to her. The men holding her let her go and she took the paper. Opening it she saw it was a map and she looked at Kith questioning.

"Before Cold went to meet whatever awaits him on the other side, he offered his life in exchange for that map. Supposedly it shows the location of an amulet that grants its wearer long life."

"And I suppose you wants me to finds it," Ojii looked at the map, it was vaguely familiar, but none of the markers made sense.

"Bring me the amulet, and I'll let Poiji go. Plain and simple business transaction."

"I don't evens knows where this is?" she tapped the map with a claw, "What else did Colds tells you?"

"Nothing that bears mention, amidst the screaming and tears the location of that map is all we could get out of him. He really was quite pathetic at the end."

"Allright, I'll does its. But yous better nots hurts Poiji anymores."

"No rat, you will bring me the amulet inside a month or your little rat companion will lose more hide, and more, and when he runs out of hide I will start on his toes."

Ojii shook with anger, but she knew Kith would make good on his words. She nodded at Kith, "Allright, its a deal. The amulet for Poiji. Don't hurts him anymore."

"If he gets hurt again, it will be your fault rat, not mine. A deal is a deal." Kith motioned to the others, and they walked to the door together. Kith stopped at the door, allowing the others to walk out before him as he looked around. "It's a sad day when a worthless rat can afford such things. Keep your end rat, or your friend will be sorry." With that he spat on her floor and left, shutting the door behind him.

Ojii sat the map on her desk, brain trying to work in all that had just happend. She walked to where she had dropped the patch of fur. Sinking to her knees she picked it up. How by all the Gods had Poiji survived, how had Kith? Why was all this happening? Running her fingers across it, tears staining the white fur on her face she whispered, "Don't worry Poiji, I won't let yous down."



To be continued........