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Suddenly you're blinded, you hear voices, the cover has been pulled off the lifeboat!
"Hell is that?"
"Big bastard ain't he?"
"Hey Arashi! Looks like you've got a cousin aboard!"
"WATCH IT."
You close your secondary eyelids against the sudden daylight. Caught, by pirates? Traders? It didn't make a difference really, the (very beautiful by human standards) woman who seems to be the captain has a pistol pointed at your chest, so either way your stint in hiding ends here.
The woman's voice is silky smooth, like burnt sugar.
"Well well well. A stowaway are we~? Come out, easy big... boy?"
About ten of the crew are in a semicircle, cutlasses, harpoons and shortbows at the ready. A large, craggy looking blue dragonborn is standing behind the rail of the upper deck, glowering, lightning dancing in the air around his mouth.
You feel more eyes on you, and it's purely by chance, that, glancing upwards, you see the elegant, casually crouched figure of a silver haired high elf on the crows nest, you recognise those from the city. It has a longbow. That's important to consider.
"I'M A MAN." you explain with some (figurative) venom. "a woman lacks a hoo-"
"Oh so ~SORRY~! Come out 'big man'-"
"That's not what I-"
"Easssssy now."
You narrow your eyes at her dumb joke and slide down from the lifeboat, your weapons still strapped to your back: two hatchets, two short swords, two curved daggers. Your venom bottle is tied to your chest, your small pack is in your hand.
"Oh? Heavily armored for a stowaway. Planning on slitting our throats in our sleep?"
"It's 'armed' and no, I only wanted to steal a ride, not your lives, I am Ssami the hunter, the swimmer, the climber."
"Captain Elicia Hortensia, my pleasure I'm sure. I'm not going to have your throat cut and your body thrown overboard but I can't trust a stranger like you aboard my ship Sssssami."
"It's-"
"You said you're a swimmer?"
"Yes?"
She lowered her pistol and smiled.
_____
Your body was hunched holding the side of the plank. The sea was below, slapping and snapping at the air beneath you, begging to wash the city off you and leave you clean, only for you to swim back to it and get filthy again.
"I'm a hunter! I can earn my passage!"
"Too late Ssami. Arashi? If he doesn't jump, give him a push."
The huge dragonborn stands by his captain, arms folded, glowering at you.
You turn to the water, not giving them the satisfaction of seeing you sigh, and your eyes widen.
A shark circles below, the ship is anchored over a reef only miles from the shore. You could see the city over your shoulder if you looked back, but all you see is 15 feet of shark.
You feel cold fear like a jungle night without fire, you open your mouth to-
You stop yourself. To what? Beg for mercy? Cry? Ask for a lifeboat to row back in indignity? No. No. *No.*
You're not jumping off the plank. You're dropping from a branch. You're not leaping-
>roll Stealth with advantage (best of 2d20 +2)
