I find myself wandering through the streets of colonial era Nassau, and I am surprised at the lack of people. I know in just a few short months that will change, but it’s still odd. There are a few sailors but I mostly see farmers bringing their crops to the port to sell. That starts to change as I get closer to the center of town.

The number of brothels and bars start to grow the closer I get to the center of town. After about 10 minutes I come to a long boardwalk that stretches from the large building in the center of town to a set of docks. I turn towards the building when I hear my name being called.

“Utah, lets go towards the docks first.”

I turn to see Zijde waving me over to him. I catch up to him and we make our way to the dock.

Zijde turns to me with a annoyed look on his face, “Well it looks as if there are problems with our goods. I need to go see Bheki and find out what’s wrong.”

I nod my head and continue walking until we come up on some of the crew offloading a massive amount of goods. Zijde waves at Bheki to get his attention, “Bheki my friend, what seems to be the problem?”

Bheki looks at the captain and just shakes his head, “Captain… I think you should just go talk to them. They have some questions that I’m not sure how to answer.”

Zijde chuckles, “I suppose I should have assumed that they’d be hesitant to purchase our top-shelf wares. I’ll bring Utah with me to help things along, if that’s acceptable to you.”

Bheki sucks air through his teeth in disdain, “Better him than me. The fucking drunk pushes my patience.”

“Then it’s settled my friends, come Utah. Let’s get our money.” Zijde spins on his foot and heads deeper into town.. On the way there my nose starts to throb again. I start to notice everyone has a horrified look on their faces as I walk by.

“So, am I coming as muscle? Or are you hoping that my appearance throws them off?”

Zijde throws his head back in laughter, “You’re very perceptive. Did you know this my friend? Yes, I am hoping you have both of the desired effects. The wife is a very reasonable woman. Although the husband can be a real bastard… to put it nicely.”

I slowly nod my head processing what he told me as we walk down the boardwalk. Most of the buildings are two story with the odd single story home. Then we come up on “Brown’s Bazaar Bar”. It’s a massive three story building with stone walls. It look more like a castle that a storefront. Zijde must’ve noticed my slackjawed look.

“It once was a small fort the Brown’s claimed when the Spanish lost control of the island several generations ago. They expanded over the years, and it’s now the marvelous structure you see before you.”

I start nodding as we walk through the large wooden double doors. Inside there are several dozen patrons, all at various levels of intoxication. As I follow Zijde through the clusterfuck of patron, tables, and chairs someone knocks a cup of beer all over my crotch.

“Ah fuck that’s cold. Watch it fucktard!” The man drunkenly stands up and gets in my face.

“Oi ugly, i don’t know what you called me, but it sounded like an insult. I believe you should buy me a replacement.” The guy slurs at me. His breath is basically flammable with the alcohol fumes.

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“Like hell man, you spilt the shit”, I go to turn around but the drunk sucker punches me… in the nose. The room spins from the pain as I clutch my nose. I can feel the blood already seeping through my fingers.

Notification Pain tolerance 45% Your tolerance to pain has grown to the point that minor injuries may go unnoticed. Beware of letting injuries go untreated.

As the man throws his head back in laughter, Zijde calmly walks up to the man, “Well my drunken friend, it seems you have caused my companion a considerable amount of pain. I think you should remedy the situation by buying each of us a bottle of this establishment's best rum.”

“How bout you pleasure my cock, you posh bastard.” As the man turns to laugh with his friends, Zijde grabs his crotch and twists almost as hard as he squeezes. The man reaches to pry Zijde’s hand loose, but is punched in the throat instead. The result ends up with a hilarious high pitched wheezing as the man is grasping for his throat and crotch simultaneously. Zijde jerks his handful violently sideways before letting go, almost certainly tearing something down there in the process. The man hunches over and starts trying to vomit, but can’t seem to get much up do to his throat spasming.

Behind us, a booming feminine voice stops everyone in their tracks, “Captain Zijde, that’s quite enough.”

I see a livid brunette staring down the captain with striking pale gray eyes. Her hands on her hips seem to accentuate her thick hourglass figure, along with a form fitting ocean blue dress.

Zijde looks over his shoulder and smiles mischievously at the intimidatingly beautiful woman staring him down, “Not quite my dear.” Zijde kicks the man in the face, causing teeth to go everywhere. As the drunk alternates clutching at his crotch, throat, and mouth, Zijde calmly walks up to the woman grabbing and kissing her hand.

“Wonderful to see you again Mrs. Brown.”

“Captain Zijde, do you think you could ever come into my establishment without hurting a customer of mine?”

“Mmhhh, I don’t know Mrs. Brown. Everyone I have the pleasure of meeting seems hellbent to hurt one of my own. You know where I stand on such matters.”

“Yes, I know your “rule” and it’s undeniably barbaric. Although, your crew member there definitely looks worse for for wear. I suppose the man deserved some of what he got.”

She looks over to a bouncer and nods towards the man Zijde just wrecked.

“Be a dear Arnold, and throw him out before he starts vomi… oh there he goes.”

The man is basically sobbing in between bouts of vomiting. Arnold calmly grabs him by the collar and drags him out the door. He walks back and resumes standing by the back door.

Mrs. Brown is pinching the bridge of her nose as she looks painfully deep in thought.

“You know Captain, if you didn’t make me such a wealthy woman... I wouldn’t be able to stand for the displays of violence you orchestrate, but since I am a wealthy woman let’s talk about this haul you brought in. Please, the both of you follow me.”

Zijde and I follow her up a flight of stairs and through a large set of elaborately carved double doors. It’s quite shocking going from a medieval tavern setup to a office any modern CEO would be envious of. Along the back wall is a massive window with a open view of the beach. A massive executive style mahogany desk. A incredibly comfortable looking red leather armchair is situated behind it. Four modest wooden chairs are line the front of it for any meetings she may have. A large Turkish rug takes up most of the room’s floor. A huge crystal chandelier hangs from the center of the room. On either side of the room, plush red velvet couches take up the space on either wall. A large balding man seems to be passed out on one of the couches.

“You will have to excuse my husband Captain. He is hard at work as usual. I’m hoping it kills him before long.” Mrs. Brown walks over to Zijde and drapes an arm seductively over the Captain’s neck, pulling herself up against him. “You know Captain Zijde, I’ll need another man to be the name of the company when he keels. With my business sense and your reputation we could become a force to reckon with.”

Zijde smiles at her sweetly, “My dear, I must politely refuse. Someone with my reputation could do nothing but harm your wonderful enterprise.”

“Pfff.” Mrs. Brown feigns being wounded, “You use the same excuse verbatim everytime. I honestly believe you practice that response. You are the one man I cannot sway with my womanly charms. So, I must fall back on my intellect. Please have a seat.”

She walks around the desk, putting her feet up as she sits down. She pulls out some incredibly expensive rum, and a cigarette holder long enough to make Audrey jealous.

“Your nose looks positively... ‘radiant’ darling. Would you like something for that?” She pulls out an opium pipe and hands it to me.

“Thank you ‘mam, but I’d rather just eat it.” I tip the pipe over and the large ball of opium falls into my hand.

She give me an incredulous look as she takes the pipe back.

“If you don’t know how to use it I’d be happy to show you darling.”

I smirk and chuckle as I pop the ball of opium in my mouth, “No mam, I just prefer not to smoke anything.”

She and Zidje share and odd glance before she pulls out a stack of papers.

“Right, down to business then. This was quite the haul Captain. I’d say you stole… around 45,000 pesos wholesale. The tobacco, salt, and silk were what added up. Now, that’s a wonderful take, by far the largest ever brought to. It being so large makes me very nervous though. How did you manage it?”

A sinfully charismatic smile spreads across Zijde’s face. I know he can’t tell the hole truth, but I’m curious as to what he is going to divulge, “My dear, get comfortable since it is quite the tale.”