Volume 1, Chapter 6: The Treasure Hunt

(Man, I play way ahead! This time, Agnes has finished everything in Skull Island and is now headed to Monquista, where more adventure awaits! But first, I have to finish off the current arc, so... avast!)

 It wasn't too hard to find the hut where Captain Gunn said the cask was. I found a training tome and the next note, which directed me to the ruined lighthouse near Flotsam, where the grave of Gunn's first mate was said to hold the next lesson.

The lighthouse was once a place which alerted ships to the dangers of sailing the skywas at night, but after one wretched vile pirate crew crashed into the shores near it and cursed the keeper, the place stopped working and fell into disrepair.

We docked and made our way into the nearby forest, called Shady Hollow. The place was crawling with undead, and we had to fight some to reach one of the graves. Yes, we had to search every grave since we had no clue where Ned's was. I felt Sarah's pain - whoever wrote the epitaths for these graves clearly had no remorse for the dead. :(

 

Eventually we exhaused all of our options, but Gaspard points to a cave deep in the forest, so we entered it... and were confronted by a skeletal shaman who attacked us for harming his 'children.' We quickly brought down the undead and I fatally wounded Old Scratch myself.

"Mercy!" he cried, so I put away my daggers. "Thank you, Captain my Captain. In exchange, all of me mojo be yours to command."

Sarah voiced reluctance. "I admit," I replied. "Having a member of the living dead, especially a skeleton, is... unorthodox, but I have a big feeling we'll need his shamanistic abilities in the future. Tell me, bone man, what be yer name?"

"I be Old Scratch," said the skeleton. "Thank you, Captain my Captain. I will work hard for you."

"Very well, you are free to join my crew," I said. "Just... don't look at me. Urgh. Anyways, I need to find the grave of Captain Gunn's first mate, Ned."

"You look for grave?" said the skeleton. He pointed to an alcove hidden nearby. "It be there."

"Thanks," I said, smiling.

Sure enough, the grave had a note which directed me to Bounty Island. I quickly led my crew out of this horrid place - I had a bit of an undead aversion ever since storming the Floating Dutchman's ship.

 

 

 We found the small island near a powerful vortex - what we pirates knew were called Stormgates, portals to the Outerdark of the Spiral that connected the worlds. I would peruse that gate far later than this current time, so I docked on the island and got accosted by an old crab who claimed that the treasure wasn't here and he had been digging for it for years.

After examining the mermaid statue, it turned out that the treasure was in Gunn's tomb, which was just under the island! I carefully followed the steps to open the gate, putting all of my nautical skills to the test to make a cannon blast the gates apart...

 

 

But when we got inside, we found we were too late. I had a sinking feeling that Ratbeard had been one step of us the whole time, and he had succeeded in getting Gunn's gold. I sighed. "I am sorry Lasko, I have failed to fulfill your request." I shook my head sadly.

Just then, the crab-man assaulted out of rage, saying we had stolen the gold. He sent his crab pets against us and, while they were powerful, we ended their lives without much of a struggle, thanks to Old Scratch summoning a skeletal warrior.

 

 

After chasing the crab-man away, Old Scratch cast a spell of Hoodoo on the corpse of Captain Gunn, which animated and stated to talk - Old Scratch had called back the spirit of Captain Gunn himself. I bowed in respect and sighed. "I am sorry, Captain Gunn, we have failed to get your treasure before Ratbeard did. Did you sense how he got here?"

"He had some accursed Water Moles swim through that underwater passage nearby," said the Captain. "I knew I should have sealed that place up. Waponis from Waponi Wu, I believe."

I mused. "Of course, it makes sense! Chief Urmoto from Rapa Nui told us that Ratbeard had allied himself with the Waponis..." My eyes trained on the trail of coins leading to the underwater passage. "They could have found a way in here. But where to look?"

"You might try the volcano near here," said the shade. "Please, take my treasure back!"

I bowed again. "I will do that." I recalled Chief Urmoto telling about how the Waponis worshipped a fire god... clearly any ancient tribe who worshipped fire would live around an active volcano! "Please rest in peace, Captain Gunn, we'll make those Waponis pay for taking your gold."

 

 

 

We left the island and sailed quickly to the volcano. It was sweltering hot as we docked and climbed up a rope ladder to the base of the volcano. We had to fight our way through tons of Waponis, but that did not stop us as we climbed the crater to its peak. Even the dreaded lavafish did not stop us.

We reached the top and found a sight that would have been ironic had the situation not been serious - Ratbeard had been betrayed by his allies and was being dangled over the boiling lava... which was where the Waponis were raking in treasure! I gasped. "Gunn's gold!"

"The Waponis are destroying it!" cried Sarah. We advanced to stop them but then a huge monster of a Water Mole got in our way and roared a challenge. It looked like we would have to subdue this hulk to get to the gold.

We lashed out at the creature with all our power and knocked it out... but then he glowed a bale red and rose up, his wounds gone. "He got knocked down, but he got up again!" said Sarah in horror.

"We never ever gonna keep him down!" said Old Scratch. Somehow, I had the urge to sing. (LOL - if you don't know where those lyrics come from, well... I can't help you. ^_^)

I was worried, what could we do?

Suddenly, I heard Ratbeard's shout. "The idols! Destroy them and ye'll break his spirit! Hurry!!!"

I looked around and saw three carved wooden idols the size of a man. I rushed over and slashed at one and it shattered. I smirked and hollered an order. "Sarah, Flan, run to the others and smash them! I 'll keep old chubby pants and his mooks distracted!"

Sarah slipped into the shadows and smashed the second one near the volcano lip while Flan leapt over some moles and struck the third down. When that shattered, the giant mole collapsed and the others fled in fear, chanting weird chants.

I wiped my brow and went up to it, but then it leapt up. I took out my blades... and saw in shock as the creature leapt into the volcano! What a weird thing to do.

Ratbeard was flailing in desperation. "Hah, serves you right, brigand," sneered Sarah. "I say we leave him to rot up there."

I sighed. "Tempting but I must refuse. First, I refuse to let him rot because he might fall in and to think I let someone die is bitter tasting to my tongue. Second, he aided us in fighting that thing - if it hadn't been for his advice, we would have ended up in Davy Jone's locker or worse. So..." I whistled. "Ratbeard, swing towards us!"

He did so and I flung my dagger, severing the rope holding him and making him drop ungracefully to the platform, He got up and brushed himself off, the rope dangling from his good foot.

 

 

He then did something I was surprised a pirate of his ilk would do. He apologized and asked to join.

"Why should we let you join us after what you did?" said Sarah angrily. "You stole that Will from me and then poi---"

"Well, technically, you hard-nosed the negotiations back at the Kraken Skulls," I pointed out. I turned to the rat. "But she's right, you did a lot of terrible things and stole Captain Gunn's gold."

He sighed. "I renounce my claim to Gunn's gold. There is so little of it anyways that it would be pointless to take it now. Ye've earned it."

I was taken aback. He... was giving up on the gold? I looked at what was left, a large pile of gems, doubloons and priceless trinkets. Even with what was left, it would gladly finance my pirating. At first I was sure Ratbead had gone mad from the heat of the volcano, but then I saw his eyes and knew he was being honest. "Well, I guess we should give you a share then."

"Are you barmy?" said Bonnie. "You're letting him join?"

"Well, you are the Captain," muttered Sarah. "But... if he tries anything funny..."

Ratbeard bowed deeply. "Nay, don't you worry, lass. I am a gentleman."

"That isn't what I meant!" snapped the mouse, red in the cheeks.

"Don't worry," I said, taking a dagger and juggling it between my fingers. "If he tries anything at all that would question his loyalty, I'll gut him myself. I splattered the blood of the guards of the Presidio on the walls of that fort for calling my uncute... I think he understand how risky betraying us is."

Ratbeard gulped. "Aye, I won't let ye down, Captain Agnes!"

"Good, we have an accord," I said, smirking. I then noticed something in sail-wrapped cloth and picked it up, unwrapping it. It was a silver chalice set in fine rubies. "This is..."

"The chalice Avery wanted," said Bonnie. "Let's get it back to him."

"But we must also get this gold back on the ship," said Gaspard. "Captain, you have done very well, I am sure your mother would be most proud... oh, and your father too."

I smiled sadly and crossed my heart. "Mom, dad, I hope you're watching me and smiling. Let's go!"

{To be continued...}