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| Artwork © Martin McKenna 2006 |
You knew that last tankard of ale was a mistake. One
minute, there you were, drinking in the dockside taverns of
the bustling city of Gummport. The next moment, you were
awakened by a bucket of sea-water hurled at your face, to
find yourself chained as a galley-slave on a black-sailed ship,
watching the coastline of Far Analand drop away to the stern
of the vessel.
"Row, wretch!" howled an obese Man-Orc taskmaster,
lashing your back with a blow from his spiked whip.
Days passed and the welts on your back grew longer, as
your slave-ship, the Blood Auk, headed southwards.
Captained by a furious red-faced man called Kullion the
Crab, the ship was sailing for the Blood Islands, for it was
part of the fleet of the Chaos Pirates, who flock to those
shores like seabirds to the carcass of a whale.
Fate intervened however in the form of a colossal storm
that toppled the main mast and flattened the ship. Pirate and
slave alike were swept overboard as towering waves and
howling winds tore at the timbers of the Blood Auk. Your
own chains were snapped, and you struck out through the
seething waters, grabbing onto a tangled mass of floating
debris, even as torrential monsoon rains hammered down
relentlessly from above. Before you blacked out completely,
you prayed feverishly to Hydana, God of the Sea, hoping to
escape the notice of his hungry shark-toothed attendants...
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