### 119

Shattered beams, pieces of planking and torn sails litter the white-flecked waves. It is all that remains of a merchant ship. But then suddenly you notice a body clinging to a broken hatch cover. A rope ladder is quickly lowered and the poor man is brought aboard.

‘Pirates!’ is all he says before collapsing to the deck. The man is wrapped in a large blanket and taken below. He has suffered many wounds and is close to death.

‘This crime bears the mark of the Lakuri pirates,’ the captain confides in you, ‘but it is unusual to run across them in these waters. They must be in search of a rich cargo to sail so far from their tropical islands.’

As the ship resumes its course for Durenor, you cannot help but wonder if that ‘rich cargo’ is you.

Turn to 240.