[mads838a]

Friday, March 26, 2077; 13:30
The Sea Hag’s Catch, Aksel

As Aksel sat alone in the office, his mind began to wander even further back in time. He remembered Growing up in a tiny fishing village in Jylland. One of his earliest memories was of the black tide, the terrible flood that had devastated much of Scandinavia. Everything from before that point seemed to flow together, but the black tide was still fresh in his memory as if it had happened yesterday. He remembered the chaos as everyone tried to flee as fast as they could, he remembered the surrounding landscape being torn apart, he remembered crying as he found out his home had been destroyed. But it hadn’t been over then, his family had now become refugees in their own country and with the welfare state all but destroyed his family had no choice but to live in a slum from then on.

Aksel remembered when goblinization changed him into what he is today. His parents nearly collapsed from shock when they found out. It had been a few months since Aksel had finished his administrator education and was still looking for a suitable job. At the time he was working at a burger bar, he couldn’t remember its name, but he could remember being thrown out when he tried to go to work after becoming an orc. The rest of that year and most of the following had been a long period of sinking deeper and deeper into depression. It would take him the next 3 years of his life before he managed to work up enough confidence in himself that he could talk back to his bosses. But when that confidence came back it had come back like a truck. From that point on no one ever got to trample over Aksel again. That had made it harder to get jobs, but it also meant that the jobs he did get, resulted in an actual wage, rather than what corporations had decided to pay now.

Slowly but surely, Aksel and his brother had begun to crawl up the social ladder. Their apartment got bigger, Simon got a new car and Aksel began to upgrade himself with cyberware. Some of the ware had been for work purposes like the Cerebral Booster or the datalock, others had been for preventative medical purposes like the biomonitor or the Pathogenicnic defense. Some had been for easing daily life like the orientation system or the sleep regulator. But a lot of them was just there because Aksel thought they were cool, he had no practical reason to get a credstick or a lighter installed into his fingers, but he had done it anyway. There was also no practical reason for the camera in his cybereyes or his visualizer implant, he had just picked up art as a hobby. But he didn’t regret getting any of them, each of them had improved life his in some way, whether big or small.

This long life of overcoming obstacles and pushing his limits had given Aksel no small sense of pride and stubbornness. Both of which often worked against him, especially now where he had to swallow them to stay alive. But his long life had also given him a patience few orks could match. The short lifespan given to the orks gave many of them a constant sense of urgency, some would properly already have tried to fight their way out. But Aksel would bide his time, continue to gather information. In time an opportunity would present itself or he would be able to force one to present itself, and when it finally came he would grab it.

Aksel began to reflect on how he could take revenge on the triad for this humiliation, but began to shove the thought aside.
As much as i would enjoy it, these gangsters are incredibly dangerous, trying tangle with after i get out would very risky indeed. the ork thought.
Then again. They do say that living well is the best revenge. Aksel joked to himself.
Compared to this, a coffin hotel in the Barrens could be considered living well.

[mads838a]

Friday, March 26, 2077; 13:20
The Sea Hag’s Catch, Aksel

Aksel sat alone in the office. The tiredness he had felt a few hours ago was nothing compared to what he felt now. He had a soaring headache that felt like someone had tried to to rip his skull open and his body felt like he had run a marathon. As he sat groaning in pain and exhaustion his mind began to wander down memory lane, to when this ludicrous situation had started. The day the triad had sent their thugs to pig him up.

He had just found out about his brothers dept a few days ago and was sitting in their apartment trying to figure out a way for them to get out of France quickly and quietly, while his brother was out shopping for food. He had no real idea about what the consequences of being in deep debt to a criminal organisation was and had no intention of staying to find out what they were. But alas he had acted to late. The doorbell rang and Aksel went over to the door.

”Who is that”

A bored masculine voice answered him. ”We have your brother back at our headquarters. Come with us and do exactly as we say, unless you want him turned into fish food”

Shit. Aksel thought to himself. Okay, okay, calm down Aksel, just text the police on your comlink and tell them to track it.” Aksel activated his implanted commlink and tried to message the police. But instead he got an message “error, no connection” Damn! The bastards have a jammer, why, why, bloody hell why

The bored voice on the other side of the door adds a bit of emphasis. ”You need to get moving. I don’t have all day, and neither does your brother”

Aksel gathered himself. ”Okay, I’m coming.” He opened the door and saw the man who had been talking to him. He was a normal sized human with caucasian skin and messy black hair, he was wearing a sleeveless, gray t-shirt and brown pants with black boots.

The man clears his throat but does not seem outwardly impressed by any difference in size between himself and Aksel. ”Okay buddy I’m gonna lay some ground rules here. If you don’t do exactly as I say or if you try anything funny, well then…..”[/gray] Suddenly red, bone tattoos lit up all across the man’s body, his hair turned red and a pair of large blades sprang out from his arms. ”Are we clear?”. Then as suddenly as they had appeared the blades and the tattoos disappeared again.

Every part of Aksel wanted desperately to beat the man standing before him to a bloody pulp. But, alas, he had neither the shape, skill or weapons to do so. So he had to swallow his pride and do as the man said. ”Yes, we are clear. Where are we going?”

”Just walk in front of me and turn when I tell you to. Got it?” Aksel nodded, walked out of his apartment, closed the door behind him, and began to walk.

Aksel’s mind wandered back to the present. The events after that initial encounter had been a blur. They had walked to the curb and entered a van, then Aksel had gotten a bag put over his head. There were several hours of darkness and engine noises before he was dragged out of the van and thrown into the cellar of the brothel he now found himself in. When this bullshit is over I’m getting the biggest dog money can buy and I’m going to sic it on the next asshole who tries to do this to me.Aksel thought to himself. A Hell Hound would be good or maybe a Cerberus

[mads838a]

Friday, March 26, 2077; 9:15
The Sea Hag’s Catch, Aksel

Aksel was looking through the paperwork. It took him much longer than it normally would. Even with his sleep regulator there were limits to how well rested he could be when he was constantly having nightmares that woke him from his sleep. Shadow’s little display of violence from last night had stuck with him, he kept seeing the men torn apart or begging for mercy, sometimes he saw himself and Simon torn apart by the troll. He shaked his head “focus, you have to focus. If you don’t focus this is all going to be a waste of time”.

But that was easier said than done. He had drunk at least three cups of coffe to get his energy back but it didn’t really help all that much. He could barely keep his natural eye open so he relied on his cybereye to read through the papers for him and his half asleep mind barely processed anything he read, so he had to read something at least three times before he finally got it.

Suddenly the door opened and Aksel turned his head to see Anka standing in the door frame with another cup of coffee. “You know, I don’t think the coffee is working.” Aksel half mumbled at her.

“Got any better ideas?” she responded.

“Now that you ask, I think that I do.”

“Can’t wait to see where this goes.” Anka said in a sarcastic tone.

“You know those stim patches they slap on people to keep them from collapsing? I think I need one of those.”

“You do realise those are only temporary and the side effects when they wear off are even worse, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s gonna let me me work at normal efficiency for at least a little while, and there isn’t really a viable alternative.”

Anka sighed “Alright, I’ll see if I can find one in the first aid kit.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

Aksel looked back at the papers. He hoped that one of the Boss’ goons wouldn’t come in to check what he was doing. If one of them were able to deduce what he was doing instead of his job he would be in deep shit. Or least deeper in shit than he already was. Aksel had come to the conclusion that if was ever getting out of here he would need some way of getting out of the triad’s reach as fast as possible, and that would require money, preferably a lot of it. His hope was that somewhere in these papers there was something that could help him with that. Maybe these guys had a stash somewhere for safekeeping or dirt on a politician he could trade for some nuyen or maybe some stolen goods. There had to be something of value here somewhere he just had to keep looking.

Anka came back into the carrying a first aid kit. “Okay there is five stim patches in this box, that should be enough” she said as she handed Aksel the box.
“Thanks” Aksel responded and took the box. He placed the box on the table and opened it, the produced a stim patch, rolled up his left sleeve and slapped the patch on his arm. Aksel felt his exhaustion fading away. He threw himself back into his search with renewed vigor, determined to find something before the patch wore of. He searched every page of every book, until eventually the patch wore of and he had to put a new one on to continue.

Finally he found something, a record of several bribes given to a local politician by the name of Bernard Laurens. The records went back years, and many of the more recent ones were given in the form of campaign donations. “Excellent, the threat of this going public should be worth at least a few thousand nuyen, that should be enough to get out of here safely”. Aksel smiled as he used his cybereye to take a picture of every inch of the record. He then put all the books back in their place and resumed his normal work. Most of the important work had been handled yesterday, so he should be able to complete today’s work before anyone decided to check on him.

11:50
Aksel had a soaring headache and felt twice as exhausted as he had been before he had taken the stim patches.
“Urgh” he groaned while rubbing temples. The day’s work was taking longer than he had expected, because of the headache. He was getting through it, but it was a slow process. But there was an upside, today he was going to sleep much better than yesterday.

[mads838a]

Thursday, March 25, 2077; 16:07
The Sea Hag’s Catch, Aksel

Aksel was in the middle of cataloguing the new arrivals when the door of the office was flung open and the elf, Diamond, stepped into his small work space. “Come on pencil pusher, the boss is about to execute some traitors and he wants everyone to see it.”

“An execution? They are probably going to give them cement shoes or shoot them in the head. Why do I have to watch that?”

Diamond ignored the old Ork’s words and gestured impatiently for Aksel to get moving, implying that it would be best not to keep him waiting. They walked down to the dock, where they found a crowd of around twenty-five men and women already gathered in a semi-circle around the boss. Three other humans were kneeling on the rough floor of the cave, their demeanor certainly implying that they were the intended entertainment…..er, victims.

The boss looked around at the gathering, staring hard at the late arrivals. “Good, it would seem that everyone is finally here so we can begin.” he said in a voice dripping with anticipation. “My friends, this organisation is like an organism with its many cells working in unison to create a greater and more powerful whole.”. The boss then turned himself towards the three men and pointed at them. “Sadly there are those who refuse to conform to the rules; those who would harm the body for their own end.” He then turned towards the crowd and lifted up his hands like a priest preaching to his choir. “And like a cancer, these pests must be destroyed and expunged from the body. That is why we are gathered here today…..to witness the cleansing of the body.”
.
He once again turned to the three men and pointed at them. “For your crimes against the organization, I sentence you to death by combat.” Some among the crowd began to clap and cheer passionately, while others just watched, clearly unsure of what was going to happen next.

The three condemned men looked confused. “Who will we be fighting?” asked the man in the middle, suddenly a bit hopeful. As the largest of the three he would be nearly assured of victory if he had to triumph over his fellows In response the boss simply smiled and snapped his fingers. With no warning at all, the talkative man’s head was torn off by some invisible hand, arterial spray spurting out as his headless corpse fell to the side, against one of his fellows, causing that man to scream in terror. The crowd became even more excited and some began chanting.

“Shadow, Shadow, Shadow” they chanted, like it was the name of their favorite sports star, and to some it may well have been. The two other doomed men looked on, nearly frozen at the sight of the disembodied head seemingly floating in mid-air.. Then the hands that had torn the head from its former body faded into view and all color drained from their faces. Aksel, too, was frightened by the figure now standing before him. He had heard rumors of some monster the boss kept as a guardian of the sea approach, but he had thought that it was only that, just rumors. As the rest of the body came into view, Aksel realized that it was far more more truth than rumor. Shadow was the biggest Troll he had ever seen, standing nearly three meters tall. Clad in a chameleon suit and a Ruthenium polymer cloak, he had been nearly invisible. A white comedy mask completed the Troll’s garb, creating a truly macabre appearance.

A man with such strength being able to stand next to you without you ever noticing was truly frightening. Even if Aksel hadn’t seen it, it would still have terrified him and he realized that none of the rumors had indicated something like this. One of the remaining men seemed to have gathered his courage and leapt towards the troll, punching at him with all his might and screamed in pain when the punch had broken his hand.. The Troll said nothing, simply looking at the man and waiting for his next move. The desperate man gathered himself and attacked again, this time trying to kick the troll in the groin. The Troll simply caught the leg with his right arm and then grabbed the man’s torso with his left arm. All courage had left the man’s face and he was now crying out in fear as some in the crowd began to chant. “Kill, kill, kill, kill.”, echoed through the chamber like a mantra. The Troll didn’t say a word but granted their wish by throwing the man into the air so that he hit the ceiling with an audible crack as his head was crushed. When the body landed on the ground it jerked a few times in a reflexive spasm while blood and brain matter formed a widening pool as it combined with that of the first dead man.

The Troll looked at the last man standing, who was completely pale with fear. The man was completely unable to control his tears and the rank odor of urine and feces could be detected above that of the blood in the room. The panicked man turned to the boss and fell to his knees. “Please…..mercy, spare me. I’ll do anything, just please don’t kill me.” In response, the Boss held up a hand and the Troll froze completely, waiting.

“Oh thank you, thank you, merciful master” said the man crying tears of joy “I swear I will never disobey you again, and I’ll work twice, no three times as hard, I swear you will not regret this.”

The boss adopted a friendly face and laid his left hand on the man’s shoulder “I hope for your sake that is true,” he then turned his head to the remains of the two other men and adopted a much more serious face “you are now our new janitor, your first job is cleaning up the harbor, I want to be able to eat of the floor of this place tomorrow.”

The newly appointed janitor quickly looked around the harbor and then looked back at the boss “Yes boss I’ll make it shine, don’t you worry about that”.

“Excellent” said the boss and clapped his hands “alright everyone, shows over, back to work.”

The crowd let out disappointed sighs, but did not any raise further complaints.
As the crowd began to leave the troll walked into the Boss’s shadow and faded from sight.

As they walked back to the office, Diamond sighed. “I don’t get why everyone always gets so excited about Shadow’s fights,” paused for a moment to light a cigarette and then continued “I mean sure, seeing a man get torn in half or killed in one punch is exiting the first time, but after you seen it ten times it gets old.” He paused again for a moment to enjoy his cigarette. “I mean I get that they are not supposed to win, but they could at least get someone who let the fight last just slightly longer.”

“Do you always vent you personal opinion to your captive’s?” Aksel asked the elf.

For a second the elf looked he was about to fly into a rage, then he smiled and let out a hyena like laugh. “Hahaha, ah, you know for an orc you’re pretty funny.”

Aksel did not respond and the rest of the walk to the office was silent.

Four hours later:

Aksel was sitting in the office, tired from the day’s work and still thinking about the troll from earlier. Shadow, from what Aksel had seen the troll probably followed the boss around wherever he went. “Quite the guard,” Aksel said to himself “able to move around unseen and kill all but the toughest opponents in an instant with his bare hands. I wonder where he found a guy like that.”

The door flung open interrupting Aksels thoughts. A young woman with a food tray stepped in. Aksel had seen her nearly every day since his captivity began as she was usually the person to bring him food. He was pretty sure that her name is Anka and her ebony skin has led him to believe that she African. “Look sharp grandpa you’re getting fed now.”

Aksel turned to receive the tray “Thanks, I’m famished. It’s Anka, isn’t it?” The woman did not respond but she smiled as she handed him the tray which Aksel set on the table. He looked at the woman and then asked her a question. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that troll would you, you know, the one they call Shadow? I have heard some things about him but that display earlier………….”

The woman’s face went pale and she turned to door to look out in the hallway to see if anyone was near. She closed the door before turning back to Aksel. “You do not want to go anywhere near that monster, it’s fucking suicide.” the woman said in a worried tone.

“I’m not planning to, I just want to know where he comes from.” Aksel responded.

The woman’s face relaxed, “Okay, okay, it’s just that occasionally we get some people here who think they get to move upwards by beating him in fight and it never ends well for them.”

“No need to worry, I have no interest in climbing the ladders of this place.” Aksel said.

“Right, okay, I will tell you what I know about him, but it isn’t much.” the woman had now assumed a neutral tone.

“Anything is better than nothing, which is what I know right now.”

“Okay here’s what I know, Shadow was a child soldier that the boss picked up years before he ran this place. I don’t know where, or how, he got him, all I know is that the boss has spent several years training the guy and a fortune cybering him up.” The woman paused “And that’s it, that’s all I know.”

“Thanks, Anka, that was very helpful”

“If you say so,” the woman looked at her watch. “Listen I gotta go, nice chatting with you. Enjoy the food. By the way, you have never complained about it. Is there something you like that I could try to make for you. The crappy kitchen might ruin my efforts, but maybe not.”

“ i’ll give it some thought, see you later.”

Aksel went back to work, but he kept thinking about the troll. Standing up against that guy was out of the question, if Aksel was going to get out of this place he would have to avoid Shadow at all cost.

[mads838a]

Hello everyone im Mads, im going to be joining the game.

My character is Aksel Hougaard. He is a pencil pushing orc with a mean sideclare and a lot of cyberware.

Character sheet https://drive.google.com/file/d/1auqBD4Rw20hDp-kwyxPtIrJ_e-WahYp9/view

[mads838a]

Thursday, March 25, 2077; 13:07
The Sea Hag’s Catch, Aksel

Aksel sat silently in his office trying to process the events of the last few months. First he had found out that his brother, Simon, had given in to his old gambling addiction, a fact he had been hiding from Aksel. And just to make it worse, when Aksel finally found out, the idiot had went and gotten himself in debt to the bloody Dragon’s Breath Triad, a bunch of mean bastards if there ever were some. And now the triad was holding both of them hostage and making Aksel do the their paperwork, ostensibly to pay down Simon’s debt, but Aksel somehow doubts that they will ever be let free, especially with what he now knows of the operation here.

“Why did you have to loan money from the fucking triad, Simon? Couldn’t you just have done as normal irresponsible idiots do and simply sold our stuff to the bloody pawnbroker?” he yelled as if Simon was there to hear him. Worse, he even answered as if Simon were there to talk to him. “But I don’t have anything the pawnbroker would take.” Aksel spoke to himself in a whimpering voice, as if channeling his brother would help any..

He took a deep breath and held his hand to his forehead. “Calm down Aksel, this isn’t going to solve anything, just try to figure a way out of this.” he said to himself.

So once again, he went through the facts in his head. He was forced to live in the basement of a triad brothel; his brother was locked a few rooms away and both rooms were guarded by men outside the door. Christ, he could not even go to the fragging bathroom without some punk coming along to watch him pee. There was a jammer set outside the room to keep him from using his implanted commlink and cyberdeck to communicate with anyone on the outside, not that he really had anyone still talking to him out there.

To his knowledge, there were only three ways of getting out of the building; on the ground level there was the main entrance which had at least two guards and camera surveillance, the back door, which according to Simon, was made of steel and secured with a maglock, and finally there was what he considered the brothel’s secret harbor, if one could call it that, an old sewer tunnel that the triad had repurposed for their slave operation. A small dock there provided access to the building from the waterfront and held a small boat which they used to smuggle slaves in and out of the brothel. All of the building’s windows had steel bars installed and everyone held captive here had an ankle bracelet with a tracking device. Finally the place was usually crawling with triad members and their customers. The guards properly numbered around twenty, both on and off shift, and if Aksel added the customers who were armed or had guards of their own there was properly thirty people here who could kill him if he tried to escape.

In what he now considered his real life, he would have trouble getting through even one guard and this many would get him killed before he even got to Simon. He sighed and returned to his work. The triad’s paper work made him feel sick to his very bones; countless pages of people bought and sold like they were cars or furniture. Reading further into the transactions the numbers represented did not help matters. There were stories in these documents that told of how they had held pregnant captives for months so they could let them give birth and sell the child separately. Children….frag it, children were routinely swept from the streets and sent to other countries and others, from as far away as the UCAS or Asia brought here to satisfy the fucked up desires of some degenerate rich people. There were so many things he just wished he could blot from his memory. Again, he stared reviewing what had brought him to this state…………….

Suddenly the door opened, interrupting Aksels thoughts “What is it?” Aksel asked.
The man in the doorway was a young human with long, greasy, black hair and a big scar across his face. “The boss just got a new batch in and he needs you to be there and take notes of them.” the man responded in a casual tone, like he was talking about farm animals. Again, it runs through Aksel’s mind that they will never let him go. Still, always hope, right? Right?

“Okay i’m coming” Aksel said and picked up a clipboard and a pencil.

The man took out a cigarette and put it his mouth. “Hey you got one those finger lighters right?” the man asked. “Think you could light my smoke?” Aksel held up his left thumb against the man’s cigaret and a small flame lit up. Once the cigaret was lit Aksel shut off the lighter and lowered his hand. “You know next week i’m getting myself a cyber hand and I think i’m gonna have one those babies installed in it.” Aksel did not respond, but simply prayed silently that this man was one of those who end up tearing their own cyberware off.

“Hey could you stop holding up the pencil pusher and get going?” a tall male elf covered in enough bling to be mistaken for a disco ball stepped into the room.

“Right, sorry Diamond, i’ll get going” the man responded to the elf.

“Good, the boss is gonna get pissy if he has to wait too long, and we could do without that” Bling said in a frustrated tone. The man simply nodded grabbed Aksel’s arm and started dragging him along. Even a few months ago, such an act would have ended in Aksel punching the man, but this was a not a situation where he could afford to do such a thing. Aksel resented the powerlessness he felt. He and Simon had spent fifty years clawing their way out of poverty and now they were back to back where they had started, frag, worse than where they had started, living under the thumb of a bunch of criminals.

The two triad members escorted Aksel through the basement, past several locked doors undoubtedly meant for the slaves until they got to a big iron door with a keypad. “You do have the key code, right Bling?” asked the the human with a hint of nervousness.

The Elf snorts derisively and responds in an annoyed voice. “Of course I do you fucking idiot, that’s why I’m a pimp, because unlike certain people, I have the mythical ability to remember things like codes, timetables and how things are supposed to work around here.”

“Okay , okay, relax man.” The human said holding up his hands.
The elf then turned to the keypad and began to push in the keycode while mumbling something about stoners to himself. As he did, Aksel looked carefully at the elf’s fingers and began to memorize the code he put in. “0 7 4 8 3 4” Aksel thought to himself. “Might come in handy at some point”. The keypad lit up with green light and the elf opened up the door, gesturing for the human to go through with Aksel.

The elf closed the door behind them as he walked through. They were in a dug out cave with steel beams holding up the sealing. After walking for a few minutes they came to another door, this one was made of plastic and without any kind of lock. As they went through they transitioned to a sewer tunnel. The place had a foul stench that gave Aksel a sickly feeling, so he held his nose to keep it out.

The human began to laugh, “Hey Bling look at this wimp, he can’t take the smell. What’s that? Is the sewer too much for the big bad orc, haha. Aw.”

The elf had smacked the human over the head. “Shut up Facejob, your laugh makes my ears bleed” the elf said in his annoyed tone. Facejob didn’t say anything for the rest of their walk.

Once they reached the dock, the boss was already there, looking rather impatiently on as eight men were guarding what looked to be about a dozen prisoners. All were handcuffed and sitting on the ground and it seemed to Aksel that most of them were young girls. The boss turned his head and looked at Aksel and the two men escorting him. His look changed to one of anticipation and he gestured for Aksel to begin. The procedure is the same as always, with the boss examining the captives and telling Aksel what to write down.

The boss was average sized human man in his late fifties, his left arm was a sleek cyber arm with a tacky gold finish, he was wearing a purple suit with a matching cape and several rings adorning his fingers. He was also sporting a golden cane with several precious stones.

“So how much nuyen do you think we can expect from this batch?” the boss asked while eyeing a redhaired elven girl.

Aksel hid his disgust for the whole situation as best he could “About 280.000.”

“Excellent” said the old man joyfully, “Bling take the pencil pusher to the office and call up some customers, Facejob you help the others get the goods into the stables. I’m going to start planning a celebration of this catch.” The boss then strolled off humming joyfully to himself.

As Bling escorted Aksel out of the harbor, the Ork thinks to himself “Today was a bleak day, but I have caught a thread, and if I keep catching threads, I can eventually make a rope with which to climb out of this hellhole”