Thanks for the mead and the spot next to the fire, I've traveled a long way and clearly the summer is ending.

You see, I hail from the icy lands to the north, beyond the Summer Seas. I want to travel south and see the world. Problem is, there's not exactly a ferry system. Luckily after walking along the coast for some time I found the lair of some raiders who, once thier chief calmed them down, were willing to take me along if I joined them in the raids they were planning. He mentioned they were planning to take advantage of all the navy going out of the summer seas for some war. Even if I didn't know about sailing, seeing as I'm bigger than all of them I would intimidate any of the locals thinking of figting back.
I managed to learn a bit of sailing along the way and I guess the captain was right, we managed to run with quite a bit of valuables with barely any fighting. Until, saling away from a successful raid, drunk with victory and mead, we didn't notice in the fog a huge fleet. Guess the war had ended earlier than anticipated. They threw arrows and rocks at us and trying to flee we drove the ship into the rocks, the ship crased and sunk. The captain didn't make it but some of us managed to swim to land and take refuge in an abandoned fort made of stone. The fleet moved on, uninterested in following us or certain we didn't make it.
We had managed to dry ourselves by burning the scarce furnitures in the fort but night was falling. We coun't stay long, eventually the village we just raided would send someone to finish us off but we woun't survive the night if we tried to run now. We needed more fuel to make it until morning so I took my bow and an axe, and set off lloking for some firewood, even if it wasn't dry it would be better than nothing. I saw some animal tracks but nothing worth follwing, so I gathered enough wood on a pelt and dragged it over the snow back to the fort.
Getting close I could hear some commotion. Had no way of knowin if my crewmates were fighting each other or the town had found someone to send after us already. They didn't have much in the way of fighters when we were there but maybe some mercenaries happened to come through the town, or maybe the fleet sent someone after all. So I ran the rest of the way, bow in hand to see what was happening.
By the moment I got there most of the clashing sounds had ended and my mates were just arguing around the bandaged head of the funny one. As they told me a single bounty-hunter had just attacked. At first they thought it might have been a distraction for a larger force but no, this was one single fighter with a shield and a mace. They surrounded the intruder who still managed to beat most of them and walk up the stone stairs to confront the first officer who was on the top floor. They stared at each other until the first officer charged, the attacker took a step back and into the stairs, falling and rolling down the entire tower, where the wounded and angry crew were.
Once captured, the first officer ordered to chain the prisoner on the top floor and sent everyone back down. The first officer was always a sadist. That's why the captain kept him around, keep everyone else in line, but the captain also kept him in check. Now that he was the only one in charge, we were closed off, some were considering mutiny while others wanted to keep what was left of the crew together in order to survive, go back to the town in the morning to steal a ship and escape back north.
I didn't know what to do so I walked to the upper floor to see this person who fought most of the crew. It was a woman. Black hair dirty with blood and wrists chained to the ground, still wearing padded armor, surrounded by her mace, shield a hat with a broken feater and some rusty pieces of metal with which the first officer was surely planning to vent his frustrations on her. I couldn't see the first officer, he must had gone out to the watchpost before starting.
She spat at me when I got close and then we talked for a bit, once she was convinced I wasn't going to torture her myself. I didn't like this but if I confronted everyone they would most likely fight me too. And I didn't want to fight them, I had spent some time with them this past summer and I knew at least some of them didn't like this either. As she trembled, she insisted that if I unchained her she could fight everyone else and get out on her own. That surprised me, clearly that overconfidence is what got her in this situation to begin with. She seemed more hurt at my doubts than her wounds. She smiled, teeth stained with blood, and insisted she'd even give some time for me and everyone else I can convince to leave, as she wanted the first officer to come back, to beat him too.
I was conflicted. This was betraying my shipmates, but some were already planning on betraying each other anyway. I admit I was also curious. I agreed. By the time I went down, the ones wanting to keep everyone loyal to the first-officer had convinced the rest it was the only way to survive, nobody wanted to come with me when I left. Not knowing where else to go, I walked to the nearby town and into the tavern. I wonder if she managed... oh look, there she is, the one coming in through the door.
...why are you all looking at me like that.