The Scab

The Scab, the closest thing to a fortress at the seafront in Skullport. The current owners and proprietors of this building are the Sanguine Raiders, and notably, this state of ownership has been the same for the longest time in the fort's history. This is mostly accounted for by the reluctance of many of even their toughest rivals to rally against their fearsome, vampiric Pirate Queen.

The pit of despair
One of the scab’s notable features is a small collection of caves that opens onto a steep drop into a fiery lava pit. This network has been adopted by the Raiders as a prison, with entry and egress available by either the aforementioned lava-drop, or by one of two guarded holes in the roof of the caves.

A prisoner in the pit is left to fend for themselves, and their stay will end in one of three fates; the trials, the feeding line or suicide by lava.

The trials are a set of public ordeals of combat held in the arena above the pit. Survive, and you will be conscripted into service with the Raiders, but the odds of survival are far outweighed by the odds of a painful and messy death.

This is an inherently preferable fate for a prisoner than that of the feeding line. Little is known of the detail but the wails and laments of victims of this fate have sometimes been heard for weeks after they have been taken, growing weaker but more desperate as the days pass. Nobody has ever returned from the feeding line.

Interestingly, the potential for escape, or belief of the individual that success awaits them in the trials seems to be strong enough that most prisoners cling to hope not despair, and do not opt to end their own lives.