Questing News From The Spiral

The crew and I have been battling the Skull Island Skyway for some time now and we finally recovered Gunn’s Gold. What an adventure it’s been.

We picked up some new equipment in Flotsam in the Flotsam Skyway. Outfitted the ship with some armor and new cannon. Along with a new Captain’s wheel, rudder and sails. She really needed the upgrade after sitting for so long unattended on the Jonahtown Docks. But she’s looking mighty slick now!

And I Scarlett Hawkins, was promoted along the way as well. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

We found Ratbeard alright in Flotsam. The scurvy pirate burnt the map to Gunn’s Treasure before we could nab him and we had to look for clues that would lead us to Gunn’s Tomb.

Thankfully enough of the map remained for us to locate Gunn’s Island, which lead us to the grave site of his first mate. To reach the grave site we needed to get past some zombies and skeletal pirates. It wasn’t an easy fight, but when we focused on their witchdoctor leader, the rest of pirates and zombies fled mighty quick. And once again we took on a new crew member. Old Scratch an Undead Witchdoctor who might have a few things in his arsenal that I can learn and improve my own magic.

That lead us to Gunn’s Tomb and some pretty inventive clues to reach his gold. But that dastardly Ratbeard had already managed to steal the gold with the help of the Waponi Wu.

Along the way we picked up a new ship’s mascot. A strange little chameleon named Gizmo. He’s a cute little fellow. Pretty good in a fight too. At least he and Sneaky Spike the Tropical Sky Snake get along. It’s nice that they can keep each other company during our sails through the skyway.

We had some side quests to take care of first. There was a bit of an issue with molasses, batacuda, a lost shipmate, and some other little bits of here and there’s. It was all good business mind you. Nothing like training up the crew and getting them in shape before a big battle. Bonnie Anne made the best progress I believe. She met up with her old teacher Ol’ Fish Eye in Avery’s Court and proved herself as a great sharpshooter. All she needed was a new gun to go with it.

Adolphus, an old friend of Ol’ Fish Eye had a Scaramanga Musket from Valencia that would do nicely for Bonnie. We only had to track down Adolphus on a Cutthroat ship named the Old Chum up on Skull Mountain. After a little convincing we managed to get Adolphus to tell us where the Scaramanga ended up. And it was back to Gunn’s Island in Corsair’s Cove. A little repairing by an expert gunsmith in Gullet and Bonnie had her gun and her new Sharpshooter title.

While we were finishing off some side quests we ran into a friend of mine who had recently acquired his first boat. He was battling in the Skull Island Skyway and doing a little fishing for some Batacuda steaks. Nothing like a little fishing to relax the stress of a crew. Everyone needs a little time off now and then. So Temujin and I stepped on board the Grinning Sky Slug and helped out a little.

Enough of the little vacation and we were back on board the Dashing Star and off to find Ratbeard on the Volcano island. That was a battle I’d rather forget about. Strange folk those Waponi Wu are. I don’t think they fully raise the sails, if you know what I mean. Seems they were the ones who recovered the gold from Gunn’s Tomb and they were throwing it into the Volcano to honor their fire god.

We also found Ratbeard, hanging by his feet over the volcano’s gullet. He sure became helpful and friendly hanging there. He helped us out by giving us a secret to defeating the Waponi Chief. Sure enough he was right. We took the gold, found the falcon for Captain Avery and took on a new crew member all in one shot. Yep, oddly enough Ratbeard was so grateful that we cut him down and saved him from being cooked to death by the volcano lava, that he pledged his allegiance to serving the Dashing Star.

Avery was quite pleased with our success as well. As the Governor of the Skull Island Skyways he bestowed the official title of Pirate Captain upon my shoulders. Not that I needed his approval, but it sure is nice to gain an official parchment with your name on it that says you really are a Captian!

It wasn’t that easy though. Once we got him back on board he started asking for favors to find his old gear. That lead us to Scrimshaw in the Tradewinds Skyway. Now if we weren’t heading that way in how, I’d drop Ratbeard off on the Skull Island Docks and leave him there. But I decided to give him a second chance, even though the crew didn’t like the idea very much. We found the pirate who had “purchased” Ratbeards gear and persuaded him to return the cloths. But the sword was missing.

We also took the time to pick up some new cloths for me. That old set was getting kind of ragged after the battling we’ve seen on this quest. New gear meant spending some of the bounty we’ve collected on our way to finding Gunn’s Treasure. What’s it good for if you don’t spend a bit here and there anyway! Along with having a new portrait made of my First Mate and I at the Scrimshaw Docks. We’re looking rather sharp I think.

Seems that Ratbeards sword was back in Flotsam with One Eyed Jack. And Jack had stored that in one of his rental properties on Flotsam. I have a bad feeling we’ll be responsible for repaying that favor to Jack along with Ratty. Of course getting the sword back wasn’t as simple as opening the chest and walking away with it either.

It seems the potion Ratbeard used to knock out his crew so he could take the map to Gunn’s Treasure for himself had been a poison. Ratty swears he wouldn’t have killed his lads. But their ghosts weren’t buying it and we had to battle our way out of a cabin. I must say Ratbeard really did seem shocked to learn about the fate of his crew. We headed off to the Tavern for a well deserved mean and drink, and so Ratty could have a think.

With his gear returned, Ratbeard truly seemed like a changed man and humbly agreed to try our brand of Pirating. He’s a full fledged member of the Dashing Star and has proved himself well in battle.

Our next task is to head off to the monkey towns in the Tradewinds Skyway to seek out a trade agreement with the Governor in Puerto Mico.

 © 2013 A Pirates Portal; Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.