Background Story as kid:

Grew up on the docs of Nemme, never knew my parents.  Loading and unloading cargo ships almost everyday.  Sometimes overworked, other times living through idle distractions to pass the time.  Barely scraping by to just make it to one more day.

When you’re young, you can’t help but to look up to everyone.  All that posh, flash, and flair, you want to find some of your own.  It seems like you grind it out forever, but the shit keeps dumping down on you.

Then one day your whole world changes, just by who you meet.  I’ll always remember Captain Daine Killian.  Tall towering figure with tan skin, long brim hat, and chain laced boots.  When his feet hit the docks, everyone seemed to be like a bee, buzzing around him in orchestrated chaos.  
 
As usual, I was having trouble with the hand carts.  He took notice of my deficiency, and strutted in my direction.  I’ve taken a whipping before for less, but this time my legs spurred into hiding without thinking.

It wasn’t long before he found me, grabbed me by my scruff all while holding me off the ground. 

“Hey kid, I’ve got a job for you.  Go to the side street market and find Fat Ned.  You know who he is, right?”

My head nodded, “Yes, of course I do.  I don’t live under a freaking crate ya know.”

His hand released, dropping me onto my butt.

“Take this note to him, only give it to him.  Understand?”

Shaking my head again, but my eyes fixed on the coin between his fingers that was married with the note.

“The coin is for you, however I want you to wait for his answer.  Come back to me after he reads it, and tell me exactly what he says.” 

The coin and note made it discreetly into my pocket.   

He crouched down and looked me in the eyes, displaying more concealed coins in the other hand.  Whispering he said, “When you come back, you get two more when the jobs done.”

There was no way hiding the shock and awe on my face.  The one coin alone could get me by for the week, two more could stretch me out to almost the whole month.

Either he knew I was desperate and wanted to help a kid out.  Or it was just chance that he picked me.  Either way I learned a valuable lesson that day.  Back breaking work wasn’t the only way to survive.  Taking a chance to do something different, that has it’s payoffs.  

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Story of how I met Eoghin ( Ewan ) Twinklebeak

Meating Eoghin Twinklebeak

“If it talks to you, don’t eat it.”

 

We just left Panwei, full of cargo and passengers.  This could get a bit tenuous, two notable dragons resided on the island.  Play by the rules and you’re good.  Cross them, and your toast.  Once you’ve seen a sky ship go down riddled with holes, you don’t want experience that first hand.

A few clicks out and we’re in the clear.  After finishing above deck, I headed down to check on the cargo.  There was a good spread in the hold.  Some raw natural resources, a mix of woods, rocks, and combustibles.  Plants, fruits, vegetables, and live stock we’re at a premium this time of year.  Crates rocking around were normal, but they don’t tend to talk.

“Hey, hey, let me out.”  Cried out from a small box crate.

The voice inside didn’t sound aggressive, but I wasn’t going to take a chance.  With my knife at the ready, I pried open the top.  Two giant eyes blinked from inside.  We both paused to discern our intentions.

“Thank you sir!  Would you mind opening the crate all the way?  I’d like to get out if you don’t mind.”  

This was weird, food isn’t supposed to talk.  “How did you end up inside this crate on our ship?”

He cleared his beak.  “To be honest, I’m not quite sure.  I remember coming aboard your ship.  But with all the commotion on deck, I was captured and knocked out.  Someone must have locked me in this box.”

“Well it’s marked as livestock, are you sure that you’re not food?”

He rebuked.  “No sir, no no I am not food.  Have you ever had food that talked to you.”

“Me personally no, but we’ve transport some odd things for rich aristocrats.  You could just be another one of those odd things.”

He franticly declared.  “Good sir, I implore you that I am not an exotic dish for a rich bloated oaf.”

“You’re probable right.  But I don’t think it’s a good ideal to take you out of the box.  Not just yet, we have no ideal who put you in here.  Do you have any enemies, someone that means to off you?”

The big eyed bird stayed silent.  “I’m taking that as a yes.”

“We reach our destination in about a week.  You stay here, and I’ll check in on you.  We don’t want to tip our hand to who put you in here.  Most likely, they are still on the ship.” 

“I believe you, and if you’ll get me through this I will repay you.”

This pissed me off to no end.  I wasn’t going to be out classed smuggling on this ship.  

Patiently I waited, and was able to narrowed the list to 3 crew members.  Unfortunately it turned out all three of them working together.

I informed bird boy that we’ll make a move when we unload at the port.  “Hey, I have a name you know.”

We drop anchor in port and started to unload.  The three amigos we’re smooth.  I’m glad I played this one in the shadows.  They bypassed the on board manifest check effortlessly, and also knew what customs agents to bribe.  I didn’t think there would be a pay off for this charitable act, but seeing these guys in action gave me the wisdom to breaching port security down the road.

The one mistake they made was leaving the crate unattended for a moment.  With hand cart ready, I scooped up big eyes.  “Knock, Knock.”

“Am I supposed to say who’s there, I’m not good at these jokes.”

“Get ready to run, we don’t have much time.”

The trio took to me like flies on dung.  Couldn't tell if this was a personal or solely professional courtesy.  I’ve delt with being out numbered, but not exposed in the open like this.  Before I could act, owl boy pops out of like a jack in the box.  Scared the shit out of us all.

The three stooges got caught flat footed, blasted with magic from the wings of the Owlin.  While they were stunned, I grabbed my new friend and ducked into the alley ways.  Once we were well out of their reach, we stopped to catch our breath.

“Oh dear, I hope I didn’t severely injure anyone.  Should we go back and check up on them?”  

I wasn’t quite sure if he was joking or not.  He kept that remark close to his chest.

Eoghin Twinklebeak was pointed towards some helpful individuals.  You know, the ones that would find his talents most useful.  He seemed a bit squishy on the morals, so I made sure it wasn’t anyone the would put his integrity in peril.  From time to time, we’d bump into each other here and there.  And he did follow through on his promise, coming through exactly when I needed him.  

 

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The Chipper Morose

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Story of the Three Sea Shells

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The Nut Kruckers ( Gang )

A group of 21 orphan youths that banded together to survive the back streets of Nemme.  They mostly were involved in petty thievery, daisy chaining stolen items to a vendor and making a quick sale.  To stay afloat and relevant in the back alleys ways, they employed hire muscle to manage higher threats.  The mix of brains and mobility proved to be very useful to securing Fat Ned’s territory.       

As the members grew up, the gang’s focus changed to a more darker tone.  Actions laced with blood became a common feature now.  Jessamine Bankman ascendancy towards becoming the leader, pitted the core members at odds with each other.  Captain Giles Millian, one of the notable members of the gang, assisted with her successful coup.

Once a Nut Krucker, always a Nut Krucker.  It’s not publicly know how many original members are still alive.  It’s rumored that only a handful left live.  There is a saying that when a Nut Krucker dies, a plan for revenge will be devise. 

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Story of Jessamine Bankman - The itch that I just can't scratch

 

We have a tradition in The Nut Kruckers.  If you get to help your buddy up when they hit the ground, you get a free shot on them later.  Perhaps a demented game of tag, but it kept us on our toes.  

You never knew what the day would bring, or who you would be working with.  More often than not, Jessamine found her way into my world.  Collecting free hits on me became a growing hobby of hers.  On days that I was paired up with another Krucker, it couldn’t be girl.  Not unless your down to watch a cat fight.  I didn’t understand fully why until she started to exchange some of her free hits for kisses.

 The young love we experienced was a corkscrew of emotions.  Jagged cuts, never giving old wounds the time needed to heal.  We definitely figured it out as we went along, at no time looking back.  Our lives never fell short with excitement.  The passion we had was like a cheery on top of a delectable cheese cake, dripping with chocolate sauce from hell.

It was our ambitions that caused us to trip up on each other.  We grew up, and the world around looked much different from when we were kids scraping up the shillings to survive.  It was clear that our gang was going towards a murky trail.  Jessamine wanted to be on top, to be the one what would steer the herd.  My ambition was to get out, see more of the bigger world.

The Kruckers were split on how to change.  Between Jessimine and myself, we carried the bulk of the gangs support.  It wasn’t pretty, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t dwell on it.  We emerged victorious from the bloody mess.  Scarred for life, fare-welling old friends from our youth.

 Out of respect for her and my own preservation, I cut anchor.  The next day I booked out as a deck hand, starting out on a new career.  If I stayed with the Kruckers, I’m sure Jessimine and I would come to a head at some point.  When ever I’m in Nemme, I can feel Jessimine’s gaze piercing out from the shadowy alleyways.  Always a Krucker lurking, watching, and reporting back to their shifty mistress.

 

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Story of Encounter with Orcs:

Orcs have always fascinated me, I don’t know why that is.  From what I’ve seen and heard, they work together towards a goal.  Mostly piracy or merc work, but hey I’m not judging.  I admired that they look out for each other.  Kind of like a gang, but perhaps more like a family.

When I was younger, any time an orc clan would visit I would tail them to the pub.  There wasn’t too many places they would congregate.  Their visits tended to be short, and would have a high volume of injuries to the brainless locals that got in their way of having fun.

This was a hobby that lingered for many years.  Orcs are very straight forward when it comes to insults.  “Gloto Mav Tae”  Which loosely translates to eat shit and live.  That seemed to be a favorite saying.

This little hobby of mine had a big payoff when I was a deck hand on the Brown Banana, a steam merchant ship making the local runs.  Orcs boarded us quickly, took out our defenses.  If you were quiet and kept your head down, they didn’t bother you.  This was the first time I was in a situation like this.  It didn’t bother me much.  The cargo they were stealing wasn’t mine, and they didn’t pay me for combat, so no use stepping up to save someones honor or profit margin.

The leader of the group kept repeating, “Ban Gee Tae Me”, which I took as where is it?  Hell, time to take a chance.  So like an idiot I tried speaking to them.  

I piped up with “Ghed?”  I wasn’t a 100% sure of what I said, but I sure caught the big mans attention.  He liked me so much, that he picked me up by my neck with one hand.  The drool that was dangling from his tusks was just so eloquent.  Let’s just say that my words can not rightly convey the stench from this mans mouth.

So while I was gasping for air, he pointed to a shark tooth necklace he was wearing.  Again, I’m not a smart man, but I think he was looking for one just like it.  Who am I to stand in his way to finding this piece of jewelry.

It was unfortunate that they found out that the quarter master on our ship had one similar to it around his neck.  They were so happy to meet him, that they invited him to come back home with them.  I’m sure he’s living it up with his new found friends.

Yea, the quarter master might have been a dic, always leaning on ya if he didn’t like you.  It’s unfortunate that we never had the chance to become friends