Our First Adventure

          "Q here and I," Madge begins, pointing her thumb in the direction of the only other woman in the room, who sits almost wordlessly at the table, "we were in a tavern very much like this one, havin' some grog, and tryin' to pick up some extra loot from the patrons... without their knowin' it, of course. Unfortunately, Q's fingers weren't as quick as she thought, and we made a bit of a scene. In that hubbub, we met Squeak. We sort o' retreated after that, and the three of us signed on with the nearest pirate ship.
          "It was an idea o' Squeak's that led us to our first adventure. He suggested to the captain that we hold this annoying little kid of a navigator for ransom. Aye, real trouble, that one. A young elven boy--don't know how he got there. The kid's father was a nobleman, a lord, ye see. We knew this from torturin' the information out o' the kid... the boy won't never be much of a harpsichord player... On account o' the father's nobility and all, we figured we could get ourselves a good fat load o' gold out o' this ransom scheme. So we sent word to the kid's father with all the usual threats an' demands an' such business.
          "The lord fella, he agreed to meet us on shore. So the captain an' I rowed in, but we didn't bring the kid with us, as we intended to collect the ransom first. While I rowed, I was silently plottin' to kill the captain and make off with the ransom money.
          "But it got complicated. The kid's father was a sharp one, he was, an' he only gave us half the gold we'd demanded, promisin' us the second half when we brought him his son. So the captain an' me, we loaded the gold onto our rowboat, and headed back toward the ship." Madge sighs deeply, taking a swig from the mug of grog at her feet. "That was my chance. But I hesitated! I hesitated, thinkin' to wait 'til our second trip, after we'd gotten all the gold, before I slit the captain's throat. Curse it all to Davy Jones! 'Twas this mistake o' mine that led to all the crazy things that followed.
          "When we reached the ship, the captain announced, to my horror, that he was ready to just be happy with the gold we'd got, an' to set sail immediately. He decided to let the kid swim to shore, and he got ready to toss him overboard. Q an' Squeak an' I talked together for a minute, and we figured that there was a whole load of gold waitin' for us on the shore, and we weren't gettin' no richer a-stayin' on the ship. So we swam with the kid--not much of a task for me--" she adds, smiling, "aye, so we swam to shore to claim the gold. O' course, just our luck, no one was waitin' for us. We had to go to the lord's home city by merchant caravan in order to find the guy and collect the loot.
          "When we reached that city... I don't remember the name of it now, in fact, don't b'lieve I ever did know the name in the first place... when we got there, Squeak sent a message to the lord fella, saying that we had his son."