The trip back to Puerto Mico was, for the most part, uneventful. The first thing we did was stop over in Scrimshaw's tavern to celebrate Subodai's promotion. He put the plume in his hat and we got some decent clothes to match. He was looking a lot like a warrior. ^_^
We then went back to Puetro Mico and found that, once again, someone had usurped the position. My sigh was clearly audible. "Let's just go talk to the majordomo and see if he can handle this," I said. "And let's never come back here again - every time I come back, the governor gets usurped."
Sure enough, he confirmed that the treaty had been signed and delivered to Captain Avery without a hitch. I was pleased. I was also pleased that, despite the whole fact that helped incite rebellion in his homeland, he was willing to reward me for it. (I think he was getting tired of the constant turnover in his master's position as well. Or maybe it was when he asked me the question "You expect to get paid?" after listing all the atrocities we caused, I took out my blades and sharpened them on each other, smiled creepily, and said in a deep voice - YES. 6_^)
Then he mentioned that someone had given a letter addressed to me. He read it aloud, which really burned my biscuit, but luckily it wasn't something I would regret - it was from One-Eyed Jack and he told me I was in danger because of a map. I would meet him in Scrimshaw's tavern. I had to find out what was going on. The majordomo was right - I did lead an interesting life.
Sadly, when I got to the tavern, One-Eyed wasn't there, but a rat barkeep told me that he was kidnapped and taken into the city. Blind Mew came through for me again, pointing out where the scum had taken him.
I entered some more sewers and located the scum. They immediately focused on me, trying to kill me, but my crew helped protect me from their attacks and I slipped into the shadows to avoid the attackers. (Yep, in this battle, most of the enemies will target your main character.)
"You're welcome," I told Jack with a smile. "Now, about this map... I don't have such a thing."
"Oh, I see," said Jack, rubbing his chin. "Captain Avery said you had it."
I narrowed my eyes. "Looks like me and Captain Avery are going to have a long talk."
(I had a cool screenshot of Agnes glaring at Avery, but when I tried to switch realms to get a good camera angle shot [because someone was standing in Agne's personal space and ruining the shot] the game assumed I had hit the X button and went straight into dialogue. *headdesk*)
"Avery, we need to talk," I interrupted his praising. "Why did you tell everyone I had a map which I do not have. That's a lie."
"Map?" laughed Avery a bit nervously. "What map?" I slowly withdrew one of my daggers and licked it, and he grew a tad pale - he may be the head of Skull Island and attacking him was tantamount to suicide, but he had no right to deny me information. (I wasn't going to harm him and was actually surprised that the threat worked! I made a vow never to threaten Avery again, he was too kind to me and all and I didn't want to destroy any good rapport we had over a trivial thing.)
"Captain, I have been inciting a revolution in Monquista," I said in a sharp whisper. "I have seen horrors beyond imagining. I even wore a freaking monkey mask! Now you tell me what you know, or I may have to do something I will regret for the rest of my life."
"Yar, that be our Captain," laughed Ratbeard. "Don't let the higher-ups push you around like a pawn!"
"Oh... that map," mumbled Avery. I put my dagger away, he was willing to talk. "You must pardon the deception, but you must understand, I thought you were dead or rotting in some Monquistan prison!"
I narrowed my eyes coldly. "THANK YOU FOR HAVING SUCH FAITH IN ME."
"Very well," said Avery, gripping his hands. I knew he was learning who he was dealing with. I didn't want power, I just wanted answers. "I guess it's high time you learned a bit about this map and why every pirate is after you for it..."
The tale he wove made me gasp in shock - I recalled the ghosts of my parents in that crystal cave in the Isle of Doom telling me to look for what the tale was about - El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, a mighty myth told amongst pirates deep in the night when they were nursing their Yum in the taverns. Avery told me that only one had gotten to that place, Marco Pollo the legendary explorer. Out of fear for the city being found, he took the map to the Stormgate to El Dorado and tore it into seven pieces, hiding them all over the Spiral... and I had been so blind as to not notice the markings on that piece of sailcloth that had been wrapped around the chalice in Gunn's treasure we had brought back, which was later given as an offering for a treaty to the Governor of Puerto Mico! I slapped myself interally for not noticing it earlier. No wonder he told everyone I had the map to El Dorado - I had one of the seven pieces of it in my hands for a brief time!
Some pirate I was!
Avery then offered to 'cut me in on the deal', so to speak. I nodded. "I apologize for threatening you, Captain, but I just wanted to know what was going on. I only wish you hadn't spread that rumor, but you were right - technically I did have a piece of the map, if only briefly. Just give it to me and I'll assemble the other pieces for you and find El Dorado." To be honest, I also wanted to make my parents smile from the hereafter, and if they told me to hunt down the city from beyond the grave...
"Excellent," said Avery. "Now let's just..." He gasped. "THE MAP! FIN!!!!"
I face-palmed. "You hired that jerk again, didn't you? Will you ever learn?"
"I should have remembered not to trust that shark!" groaned Avery. "We have no choice, we need to find that map before someone else gets it!"
"I think I know who we can grill for information, sir," I said, half-smirking. "Good day."
I took my ship out and blasted Cutthroat ships into submission until one of the ship sharks coughed up the map to their hideout in the Tradewinds Skyway. We beat up the sharks until they directed us to the Vortex near the Presidio...
And there my eyes grew cold as I saw Fin talking with those fiends from the Armada. They immediately spotted me as I leapt onto their ship.
"You again," snarled the shark. "You never learn do you. I have some new friends, and they don't like you."
"No," I hissed between my teeth, whipping my daggers out. "You never learn, fish breath. And neither does Avery if he keeps bringing you on. He may forgive you, but I don't. En grade!"
Despite the clockwork backup, we managed to win.
"You know what?" I interrupted, kicking him in the side of the head and sending him to the dock face-down. "I don't wanna hear it. I'll make sure Mordekai gags you tightly when he drags you to the brig like the scum you are." (Interestingly enough, I get the Best Chum badge for this win AND unlock Fin Dorsal as a Crown Shop companion. Yeah, you can actually buy Fin Dorsal as a Companion. I'm not joking! :p)
One of the clockworks started babbling. "We do not... tire. We do not... sleep. That map will be... your doom..."
"As for you," I said, ripping off his head and chucking it into the vortex. "**** you."
Ratbeard guffawed at my salty language. "They may not tire, but they do die."
"Let's get the map piece and be done with it," I said.
The map was in a strongbox on the upper deck. We puzzled over it a bit but I put it in my rucksack. "We can puzzle over it until Perdition, but it won't help us. It's the lower-right corner of the map. Avery needs to know about the situation with Fin."
The trip back to Avery's court was just a warp away. Thank goodness for Life Fountains!
"Fin was selling that map piece to the Armada," I said bluntly. The reaction was adverse, Avery grew very white as a sheet.
"Brimstone's biscuits!" he cried in horror. "If that's the case, we're all in danger! You did tell me you had been captured by the Armada, right?"
"Yes, their Spymaster, Deacon, but other than that, I have no clue," I said.
"You honestly need to research your enemies, Agnes," he scolded.
He gave us a long detailed history of the Armada's origins - years before I was born there was a vicious war between the frozen world of Polaris and the other major powers of the Spiral. It was a stalemate until one genius from Valencia was inspired by the Gearheads created in Marleybone and created an army of clockwork humanoids which were well-trained in combat.
These clockworks were powerful - unlike normal people, they had no need to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom or bathe. Without the need to satisfy their needs, they could focus on nothing else but doing their commands, and thus the usual methods of dealing with an army, cutting off their supplies, failed because they HAD no need for supplies - they just marched tirelessly until they destroyed their foes, who COULD be denied food and water and be too weak to fight these unerring enemies!
Valenica immediately replaced all their normal soldiers with these creatures and soon they turned the tide and brought down Polaris with these tactics. Sadly, peace came at a cost - the Clockworks soon threw a coup and the one who invented them was cut down, realizing too late that he made a mistake - when your invincible creations turn on you, you're screwed.
The coup was led by Kane, the first clockwork, and Kane improved himself until he was the strongest clockwork in the Spiral. He formed the Armada government and created a set of elite clockworks - Deacon was just one of Kane's elite lackeys.
"They were excavating the ruins in the Isle of Doom," I muttered. "And if they were dealing with Fin for the map piece... they want to find El Dorado!"
Avery was sweating profusely. "This is worse than I imagined! If the Armada claim El Dorado... I've heard rumors of it having power that could make any who claim it an unstoppable army!"
"Then there is no stopping them, we are all doomed," I said. "The Armada will crush everyone and forcibly annex them to their empire, and nobody will be strong enough to stop them! Captain, my parents spoke to me in the Isle of Doom and told me to find El Dorado. I bet that's why Deacon captured me, not only because I was opposing them, but because they knew I had some knowledge about the map and were taking me to Valencia to torture me until I coughed up the information!"
I got a cold glare.
"My parents spoke to me then, their spirits spoke to me... because I was destined to stop the Armada from finding El Dorado, even if I have to disassemble Kane himself."
"Very well," said Avery. "That is the attitude I need from you, because you're going to have to go into the lion's den itself - one of the pieces of the map is said to be in Valencia because that is where Marco Pollo lived most of his life when he wasn't at sky."
I got a dark shiver down the spine - I was going to have to go into enemy territory. "I'll do it."
{To be continued... because my Internet crashed as I was writing this and I don't want to take any more chances}
