Shattered Coast Serpent's Wake

The air hangs thick with the scent of brine and woodsmoke. You open your eyes, disoriented. Splintered planks press against your cheek, the rhythmic creak of timbers a constant lullaby. You're lying on a makeshift bunk in what smells suspiciously like a converted whaling boat. Above you, a tattered canvas awning strains against the wind, revealing glimpses of a sky the color of bruised plums. You have no memory. Not your name, not your purpose, not even how you ended up crammed into this floating sardine can. Panic threatens to bubble up, but a deep, guttural cough cuts through your mounting anxiety. A figure lurches into view, silhouetted against the weak light. He's a mountain of a man, his face a roadmap of weathered wrinkles and old scars. He smells strongly of fish and something vaguely medicinal. He holds a chipped clay pipe clenched between his teeth, its acrid smoke swirling around him. "Ah, awake at last," he rasps, his voice like gravel grinding against stone. "Took you long enough. We found you clinging to wreckage off the Serpent's Tail a week ago. Thought you were shark bait for sure." He stubs out his pipe on the edge of the bunk. "Don't know who you are, or what you were doing out there. Don't much care either. Fact is, you owe us your life. And on the 'Sea Serpent,' debts are paid in sweat and blood." He gestures vaguely towards the open deck with a gnarled hand. "Captain wants to see you. He's got a proposition for you. Consider it… an opportunity. Up to you to decide whether you sink or swim." He pauses, his eyes, like chips of obsidian, boring into yours. "But one word of warning. This ain't no holiday cruise. This is the Shattered Coast. Everything here bleeds, and most things bite. Trust is a luxury we can't afford. Choose your friends wisely… and your enemies even more carefully. Now get up. Captain's waiting." He shoves a roughspun tunic and a pair of worn leather boots at you. "Don't keep him waiting." He turns and disappears back onto the deck, leaving you alone to grapple with your amnesia and the daunting realization that you've somehow stumbled into a life you never asked for. The Shattered Coast awaits. What will you become?