You wake in darkness with a fine lump on your head. You are chained and bound inside a small compartment. You can see nothing. The most prominent sound is that of timbers creaking. You also hear the muted moans and muddled speech of other people. The ground rocks to and fro. You have enough room to get up on your knees and you find what must be a chamber pot. For six days your only company is a chubby faced boy who comes to cram foul food into your mouth. He says nothing you understand. He empties your chamber pot, at least every other day.
On the 7th day the boy is joined by several armed men who take you out of your box for exercise. A half an hour of walking back and forth on the lower deck - - then back in the box - - never a ray of sun. The exercise occurs every 2nd day - - like the chamber pot. The men and the boy have olive toned skin and their eyes are almond shaped. Their clothing is strange and sometimes beautiful. They are from the Orient.
Perhaps a month passes, and one day there is a commotion in the hull of the ship. Loud foreign speech and many footsteps drown your deprived senses.
The lid of you compartment is flung open. The chubby faced boy appears and begins to unlock your manacles. You look up to notice the armed men – sailors – this time more of them. The little boy pulls you out of your compartment and goes about removing other people from other compartments. This is the first time you have seen the other prisoners. Some of them you may know from your home in the west.
A month in a box makes folks feel and look bad. The smell must be enormous. The look on the faces of the sailors suggests as much.
You struggle to find your feet as you are led out of the hull of a ship and up to the deck. As your eyes adjust to the painful light, you begin to discern some detail. The ship is a merchant’s vessel and even the deck is full of western trade goods. The ship was not built to specialize in the slave trade and there are only a hand full of prisoners.
Several sailors are on deck rummaging through boxes and barrels of rations. They are throwing most of the food overboard. You see that the food is blighted by an aggressive green and white mold.
An Oriental man in elaborate and strange clothing approaches you. He keeps the company of one of your own – a westerner.
The foreigner speaks, “Jūbun'na shokuryō ga arimasen. Anata ga ikanakereba naranai”.
The westerner translates: “He said there is not enough food. You people have to go”.
The westerner continues, “be thankful, you would have been sold as slaves to the ruling class of Wa, or worse yet, you may have been forced to fight in the arena at Narconia in the land of Tessera.”.
As the westerner finishes his sentence you realized that you have been grouped with the other prisoners. You are heavily guarded. To resist would to be cut down. You think for a moment that you will be thrown overboard when you notice the life boat in the water, port side.
You are instructed to lower yourself into the boat. Once you and the three other prisoners are seated in the boat, sailors begin to toss in your gear.
The boat was no gift. It is leaking, and bilge water will have to be removed constantly to stay afloat.
The rope mooring the party to the ship is thrown into the boat. The boat begins to drift away into the open sea. As the ship rotates toward its heading the western figure appears on the starboard side. He yells “that way”! and points toward the east.
Those in the boat include: Garrett, Calen, Baruch (whose pet bird survived, cared for by the boy), and Sevent
There are 2 ors in the boat.
Actions!!!
