Thursday, June 19, 2014

Volume 1, Chapter 3: Ghosts and Prawns


With the Azectosaurs saved and Manny resting in peace, I got to work on the others. First I checked on the tidepool Jack said he met some contacts for something...

 

And found crabs. Giant crabs. It was an annoyance but a fellow pirate called Dead-Eye Todd Spencer aided me in the fight and the one after with the Cutthroats who were keeping the crabs as pets. We tried to grill them but they were tough and tight-lipped, so we had to do something drastic...

 


We hunted down every Cutthroat vessel on the skyway until one of them fessed up to the plan - to kill Captain Avery and take over Skull Island! We hurried to Avery and told him the grim news, and he was aboshed. He directed us to Mordekai, his captain of the guard.

(No, that's not Agnes in a new outfit - that's a Level 24 Musketeer called Happy Sofia, she helped DESTROY the boat of Cutthroats who we took down to get the info about the plan. ^_^)



I knew that this shark was one hammer of a head, he trained all the local buccaneers in their art. He pointed us to an escape tunnel that was meant to evacuate Captain Avery in case of an emergency.

 

Sure enough, the guards double-crossed us and attacked, and we put them all down. We chased the leader, Sergeant Seger, to the other side and found a shark who had a weird accent.


I merely shrugged and helped a fellow pirate with fighting him. We took out the wharf rats but Seger and the strange shark teleported away.

(Agnes shrugged because she was inches to triggering combat... but the combat didn't trigger! WTH? Also, I made the mistake of targeting Seger in the first battle and McFin in the second when they both teleported away and I wasted my powers on them. PHAIL.)


We headed to Mordekai, who directed us to the shaman Madame Vadima, who was also known for training all of the witch doctors on Skull Island. She also had helped us with a cursed statue incident a while back. She told us that magic was involved and put an enchantment on us so we could avoid being tricked by illusions.

 
 


We cornered Seger in the Ancient Tunnels under the island. (We also helped Old Nick get his treasure back from Black Jacques, the notorious Red Claw pirate.) He begged forgiveness and told us that the sharks were directing operations from Devil's Landing, a small nook in Corsair's Skyway, so we set sail there and took out the chumps... and discovered that the sharks leading the revolt weren't sharks at all but giant prawn-men. I took the pleasure of subduing the crustecean, who revealed the plan to blow up the docks with a 'fire ship' filled to the gills with explosives!!! I was horrified - the thought of Skull Island in flames disgusted me.

(A new feature of Pirate101 is the camera angle where they showed Agnes and her companions in dialogue. This is really awesome and I wish Wizard101 had used this feature. Oh well. Also, a couple of companions from another pirate player participated in the dialogue, which is cool. ^_^)



We hurriedly located the ship and defused it with a cannon, but not before we took out some more grunts from another prawn-man, who gladly handed over a key to a cave at the top of Skull Island, where his Master was residing. We had to fight through some sharks and take out another prawn man or two to get inside the refuge, but we made it inside...

 
 


And after taking out some guards, we confronted this Master - who was just a giant prawn-man wearing a greet coat. I personally enjoyed shish-kabobing him after Subodai and Sarah took out a ton of annoying crystals blocking the way to him.

"You may have stopped us today, pirate," he hissed. "But we'll lick our wounds and come back stronger than ever! The skyways will return to us!"

"Keep dreaming, crustecaen fool," I sneered, wiping my blades clean and sheathing them. "Once we get the people of this island alerted, you'll be watched 24/7 - go ahead and lick your wounds, that is all you'll get to do." I gave him a rude gesture and left him to gripe.

(I don't remember this battle much - I think someone bit it but I don't recall who. Either way, we all took a lot of damage in this fight due to the stupid geysers which hurt you when you are too close to them. I am grateful that companions get all of their health back after a battle.)



We reported back to Mordekai and he forgave Jack for his treachery. That rat was grateful we fixed his problems and went to the hereafter. I felt a bit bad for the prawns, but they learned never to mess with Clever Agnes Thatcher. ^_^



Finally, we went upstairs and drove off a few birds guarding the chest which held the gold wedding band that Moe had stolen. Fan had to return to the ship for a change of clothes after one of the evil parrots dumped a 'surprise' on her. I held my nose. That was not pleasant.

(The skreechers Mega Hit is... bombing their droppings on you. Yick. Poor Fan was hit with that disgusting Mega Hit. I hope we never fight birds again. @_@)


We returned the ring - luckily it was not dirtied - to Wilhemina, but she said that her fiancee, Captain Gordon, had gotten captured by Red Claws. I recalled those guys - they were cruel and merciless crab men who were well known in smuggling before Gordon stopped them cold. We found some Red Claw vessels and forced them to talk.

If you don't know who Shelly DuVall is in real life, this joke will make no sense. XD

Sure enough, I figured we would be heading to the Devil's Landing again. We fought down some Claws but they told us that Gordon was in their hideout in Skull Island.

We went to the hideout and invaded it, taking out some guards and then some more thugs who were about to boil Captain Gordon alive! I slipped by the brutes and released Gordon, who helped us take down the rest of the foes. He was quite a capable fighter - no wonder the Claws hated him!

(I do not have any screens of the two fights in the Red Claw Hideout but Fan got her butt handed to her in both - the crabmen ganged up on her and wiped her out. The second fight in this 'dungeon' should be familiar to you players if you played before the update - you had the same conditions, only you rescued a rat child who was Jack's nephew. The first part of the fight is getting to the cage and using it before three turns passed, and the second is protected the ally because if he died, you lost the fight! Luckily Captain Gordon is far stronger than a wharf rat child and he got a few Epic Hits against the crabmen.)



Unfortunately, we were unable to escape before their leader arrived with a horde of men. I bit my lip in frustration - Fan was staunching bleeding and I was the only one in any condition to fight...

Bonnie Anne saved us. "Parley."

"Parley, you?" sneered the leader. "I know ye're one on Avery's finest, but you really think I'll..."

"Hold," said one of the crabmen. "I recognize this one. She helped calm down the Troggies in Skull Mountain. It'd be wise not to get on her bad side."

The leader snarled. "Fine... we parley. Now I know you want to get Captain Gordon back to his lady but we're not so sure..."

"I see," I said, rubbing my chin. "You want treasure. How much?"

The crab leader smirked. "Seems yer Captain is pretty smart. Well, there is one piece we would love. The Golden Hook of the Floating Dutchman."

I recalled that. It was said that the Golden Hook was the prize possession of the captain of the Saint Marie Celeste, a notorious pirate vessel that disappeared before my time. "I can make little promises but since you have the cards and we need the rat, I'll see what we can do. As long as you promise not to harm Captain Gordon. But if you do..." I took out a dagger which still stank of the Master's blood. "All bets are off."

"Very well, we have an accord," said the leader. "But hurry... we haven't eaten all day!"

Captain Gorden was re-caged, but in a cage that was on the ground so there was no way he'd be boiled. "I can see strength in yer eyes, lass," he said. "I have faith in ye."

 

With those encouraging words, I led my crew to find the sole survivor of the ship's fate. We got his location from the bartender of the Kraken Skulls(and also promised Prospector Zeke that we'd help his Marquis friend from Monquista locate some rotting bananas - we told him where to find a few) and found the old man being accosted by some wannabe treasure hunters(which we took down). He told us that the ship had been dragged into the Cauldron of Perdition, a dark foreboding place where undead reside. I didn't like the sound of that. But we had little choice.



I won't tell you of the terrors we faced on the Saint Marie Celeste but I spent the rest of my time before I left Skull Island for broader waters with one eye open while I was sleeping. Still, we collected the hook. (No screenshots of the fights, sadly, there were so many fights. Also, the epic fight with the Floating Dutchman had this cloud of pestilence if you got too close to him - Agnes, Subodai and Fan were affected... but I didn't see any ill effects.)

The hook was a fine piece of golden artwork - if I had been as clever as my name said I was, I would have found a way to cheat the crab leader and get both...


But an accord is an accord. The Claw Leader got his prize and handed over Gordon, telling us never to bother him again. I promised that - I didn't have any wish to get into another fight.


Wilhemina got her man and her ring, so she was ready to be married. She forgave Moe...



...who was very pleased as he went to the hereafter. Lasko was pleased as well and promised to make due on his word to help us get Ratbeard. We had all but forgotten the Will but now we remembered that we had to get that Will back, though by this time, he already had Gunn's treasure.

"Unfortunately, I can't help you find Ratbeard," he said. "He left for his chambers after laying the spread and I know for a fact he has an escape route which makes it impossible to track him if he wants to leave the island on his own."

"That explains why his tracks didn't leave the cave," I muttered.

"True," said Lasko. "But I know who can find him for ye. He's the head of all criminal elements from here to Mooshu. Go to Jonah Town and find Captain Ahab, tell him you want to speak to the Frogfather."

That name was clearly ominous and crooked. I nodded and, after promising to avenge him and his shipmates by bringing the jerkwad to justice, we left the Blood Shoals for good.


 


However, there was one more matter. Bonnie Anne took me aside and told me that she was due to become a Sharpshooter. I escorted her to her old mentor, who told us that we needed to get a new rifle, a Scaramanga. He knew of a Cutthroat who had one and we went and beat the chum out of the crew of a ship in Skull Mountain, and their leader told us the guy had been dumped on Corsair's Cave, an island in the Corsair's Skyway.


We located the gun - the owner was probably fish chum by now - and got it fixed up(the gunsmith owed Bonnie a favor so he didn't charge us his usual price).

"Thanks Captain," said Bonnie Anne. "Now I can put this to good use."

"Hold up," I said. "Now you're not a rookie, you need a change of fashion to look the part."



After a quick trip to the bazaar to get some new clothes for her, I was pleased at my sense of fashion - my mother always told me the clothes made the girl. ^_^

(I bought a few skill books from the pelican in Kraken Skulls to boost everyone up to Level 8, and that triggered my first companion promotion quest.)


But there was little time to admire fashion. And so I stand here in Jonah Town, which was built on top of a giant sky whale. Yeah, the name fits for some strange reason. Time to locate the Frogfather. (Agnes is now Level 10! Woo! ^_^)

{To be continued...}

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