Lady Inshun, the tiger priestess

As priestess you are The Bone Smasher's newest and lowest ranking officer. On Black Hooves' ship the term 'officer' was loosely defined. It meant you could issue orders, reported directly to Black Hooves himself and ate at the captain's table at dinner.

Being an 'officer' also meant you had challengers who wanted your position. You know of two of the ship's crew to watch out for on that note. The first was an old Sun Bear anthro who was called Doc by everyone. Doc knew enough voodoo to be dangerous. The other was Aki Hata, a fox anthro slightly older than you, with a similar background in ritual magic.

Three months ago, after the **** of the old priest, Black Hooves had decided neither were worthy successors and had recruited you. In this case 'recruiting' had meant ramming pirate captain D'solka and his ship, beheading him and any of the crew who had resisted, appointing you and letting the rest go.

Your first official act as Priestess on The Bone Smasher had been to see to the funeral of your old captain and shipmates to ensure no angry ghosts.

You'd had relatively few official duties since then. Two more funerals; one of an old pirate who had let a wound become infected and a foolish sailor who had challenged to become First Mate, lost and slain by Yagyu. You'd also moderated in a squabble between the wolf sisters Jade and Onyx who had fallen out over a young cat anthro called William. That had been an interesting experience, resolved somewhat successfully as the sisters agreed to share.

On the fifth morning of sail from Port Charlotte, just as you'd finished your regular ritual to appease the water spirits there came a knock on your door.

"Come in," you allowed, closing your silk robe closed over your flat stomach and large beasts before the door opened.

A goat anthro, one of First Mate Yagyu's trusted crew, entered cautiously. It was Galltrot and he would certainly recognise the remains of your ritual and know you would be entirely naked under your thin robe.

He spoke, "Mystery for you. We've found a circle of bones right at the back corner of the hold. Looks like someone laid them out neatly behind where we keep the preserved foods. I suppose we got lucky, could have gone weeks without finding it but the captain wanted an inventory taken. "

A circle of bones could mean a few things, most of which weren't good news and all begged the question - who was responsible.

Galltrot continued, tugging on his beard, "I think you should come straight away. Some of the crew are already beginning to freak out."