After you have chosen and customized your character, you will find yourself face-down on a beach. A man by the name of Kalanthes will approach you.

He'll tell you that you have landed on the Island of Tortage, in the Barachan Isles, west of Hyboria. You have been shipwrecked, and the slavemaster that held you captive on the ship has already begun his way to the city of Tortage. The city is unwelcoming of slaves, and if the slavemaster were to reach it first, you would end up being stuck outside, and left to die in the jungle.

He'll then tell you if you manage to beat the slavemaster to the city, to seek out a woman by the name of Nadini; and tell her Kalanthes of Ibis sent you.