Sam Browne - Prey/Slave

Name: Sam (Sam Browne)

Age: 24

Your group: prey

Brief background story of your character:

JIBE!!!

Although yelled at loudest voice, the command was almost lost in the roaring storm that had hit us not only with his strength but also suddenness. It was a desperate command in this weather, the seas topping the midship with every wave now, lifting the men - who held on to the ropes desperately - off the deck, destroying all effort to secure the topgallant mast that had come loose a moment earlier. Still, it was our only hope, the gust of the rocks hidden under the rough sea being close nearby already; and the coast - and with it certain death and destruction - had to be not too far away, because the rolling thunder of the breaking waves was clearly hearable now even through the gale. The men began struggling to their feet again, trying to get a hold on the slippery deck, bracing themselves against the chaos to come...

I went aboard the "Flying Seagull" two years ago, starting as a deck boy but soon gaining skills by learning from the others on board and was named full sailor one and a half year later. I was one of the few who had learned how to read and write and thus the navigator started to teach me and the captain asked me to help out with the books of trade and later with the logbook as well. It could have been not too bad a life at all, this living on the sea... had there not been the true reason for my going overseas. Often in the night I woke up suddenly, bathed in sweat and stiffling a yell from the nightmares of that dreadful night when everything in my life was torn apart. I never told any of the sailors about my real reasons for being on board and they quickly accepted my tale of having run away from home although clearly some of them didn't believe it. But I was not the only one with secrets and there was an unspoken agreement that our history was left behind now.

...and PULL!!! That was about the last I heard in that night. I didn't see the rope end coming that knocked me out and over board nor did I hear the yells a few moments later as the ship burst on the rocks hidden underwater, leaving a boiling mass of splintered wood, life and dead bodies and turbulent waves smashing everything into pieces.

I woke up from a croak near my face. When my vision slowly came back, blurred first, I looked at the beak of a raven ripping off the eye ball of one of my fellow sailors. I was laying at the shore, hearing the surf in the background, the sun burning down on me. My whole body was numb and limp and I don't know how long I lay there. I must have lost concience because the next time I woke up it was night already and the cold made me shudder. I crouched up the beach slowly and then turned around. Lit dimly in the moonlight, I saw the wreckage and the dead bodies spilled onto the beach for over a mile in each direction. And suddenly I could make out some shadows moving in between, human shapes that seemed to salvage what they could find. At that moment I realized that I still was far from being safe.

In the next days I started to gather what I could find for my survival and explored the surrounding area. I found some rocks and later a small cave near the coast, where I could put some of my goods, but there was no water to be found and I soon had used all of the water I had collected from holes in the rocks after the downpour of that deadly night. One morning, I set out with my few belongings, walking close to the shore and looking for any sign of where the raiders of the first night might have gone. It was a two day walk and at the end of it I was near delirium when I finally saw the city. Placed on rocks nearby the shore, it gleamed in the sunlight, it's high towers reaching for the sky. The bustling of the place was overwhelming. So many people of different backgrounds, the clamor in the markets, the smells of a thousand spices...

Suddenly I heard a scream of horror and was almost trampled by a bedouin riding on his camel, a bound girl thrown over his saddle and whipping his way out of the city before the city guards had any chance of closing the gates. For a brief moment I wanted to grab the sword of a knight running by and jump on the next horse in persuit of the predator. Instead I moved into the shadow of the high city wall, making my way to the harbor gate, taking some food with me that I didn't have any money for to buy it.

Dispair hat gripped me again and I sat down, shaken by a flood of memories that came rushing in all in once. I could hear again the soft sounds of feet that woke me up that night, the sound of swords drawn, the fighting against the assassins, pouring in one after the other from all sides... I didn't feel my wounds first, but after a while I had taken too many and finally, laying in the dust half unconscious I heard those dreaded words, being spoken full of mockery: You failed! She is dead! Those words have never left me since that night. I vowed to not touch a sword again, I could not after my failure.

But being in this city, I had to find a way to survive. Not hoping for any decent kind of life - for the world now felt shallow and life- and colorless - I still had to live and try to make up for my failure. Therefore, I began to run. I started to explore in and out of the city until I knew more hiding places, more secret passages, more ways to climb or jump a wall or house or tent then most of the predators that were raiding the city and it's outskirts regularly...

Character personality traits, strengths, flaws:
Sam has a loose tongue and has gotten into trouble by that more then once already. He likes to boast sometimes and to annoy preds. However, he usually thinks not in groups but will respect each person individually, depending on their behaviour. Deep within he is hiding a passionate and caring heart and will go to great lengths to help someone in need. His true longing and desires are well hidden unter his outward behaviour of not caring about anything. He tries to hide his real thoughts and when asked about his past or the marks of his former profession on his body, he will avoid any real answer and shy away.