Questing News From The Spiral

We arrived in the Tierra Primata Skyway to hot breezes and barren landscapes. I didn’t like this place the moment we arrived.

One of the items we acquired before entering the Stormgate was a map of this skyway. Luckily we knew that when we arrived we would come out of the gate right into a location where flocks of Scarakeets like to fly. So we were prepared to avoid them, or to engage in our first battle upon entering this place.

Thankfully we made it around the birds and headed straight for Monquista City and a visit with the Royals. Have I mentioned how snobby the Monquistans are? If not, they are. Unbelievably so! And like the Governor in Puerto Mico, you can’t trust them. To your face they’re nice and pleasant. They were seemingly grateful that we captured Gortez and brought him to justice. But once we delivered him to Zenda prison and the guards there opened the Kings Orders; we were the ones fighting to stay free.

I’m glad we were kind and respectful to Gortez on our journey here. I don’t think he would have been so kind to us and help us fight the Zenda guards had we not been. Goes to show that kindness always wins in a battle. With his help we defeated the guards and released the prisoners. That was necessary to discover what was really going on in this new world of Monquista. Seems there’s been some uprisings and many of the royals have been captured and jailed in one way or another. In order for us to broker this deal for Avery, we’re now involved in the middle of all this too.

So it’s off to do the bidding of the resistance. Our first stop was a place called St. Bonobo’s Abbey. Now that’s a peaceful place. Even though there’s very little green there to see. We met with Queen Ana and picked up some additional information which lead us to the Summer Place where Queen Catherine was staying. That wasn’t an easy place to get into, but then what sewer system is nice?

From there we were sent off to La Mancha. Now talk about some odd characters. We found a donkey who used to be a Monquistan that went crazy over some magical scepter called the Monkey’s Paw. According to the donkey’s servant, Pancho Stanza told us about the paw and how it turned his master into Donkey Hotay. He has on more wish left with the paw and he could change himself back to a monkey if only we would go on a quest to find it. I was skeptical, but the crew wanted to take on the adventure and pick up some gold along the way. So we took off in search of the Monkey’s Paw.

Of course we picked up some coin from the multitude of side quests along the way. From lemon aid to sewer keys, we took on nearly every kind of Monquistan ship in the skyway. Let me tell you that those monkeys might be small, but they have some tough ships and mean battling skills. We were able to up-fit the Windlass with new equipment and a great set of new guns as well.

We finally took care of all our small business matters and headed to Diablo Cut. That is the last place anyone ever saw the Paw. We thought we had it on board a derelict ship belonging to the Valvida brothers. Only to discover they too fell victim to the paw. And what a tragedy that was. Not only did the brothers suffer a terrible fate, so did their crew. I’ve never been more scared in my life!

In order to get to the Chamber of the Paw we had to defeat undead Monquistadors. These guys were the terrifying part of our quest. Evil and vicious looking they were. And when you over came them, a demon hand came from the ground and tried to pull them into the depths of darkness. But some how each one was able to escape fly to light with angelic wings.

We at least got past them and made it to the Chamber of the Paw. Ratbeard was sure we were in for another epic battle, but thankfully we only had a challenge of wisdom to contend with. We picked up the paw and headed back to La Mancha. Our journey did not end well unfortunately. Donkey Hotay didn’t wish to return to his normal form, he wished for it to rain bananas and it did. So we high tailed it out of there!

We made it back to the Tradewind Skyway only to discover a new Governor who denied knowing anything about our mission was in charge. Some how we managed to get the treaty signed and headed back to Skull Island by way of Scrimshaw. We found out that our old friend One-Eyed Jack had some news for us. But he had been captured. Took a little doing but we managed to find him and rescue him. I’m kind of glad he now owes us a favor.

He told us that rumors had been going around about some map we have. What map? Took some doing but we finally caught up with Avery to deliver his trade agreement and confront him about these rumors. Turns out he’s the one who started them! Never trust a pirate! We ended up finding out that the map is Marco Polio’s Map and the Armada wants it! They’re doing everything they can to get it. But it seems the map has been torn to pieces and scattered through the skyways. They supposedly had a piece of the map thanks to our old friend Fin. That silly shark. We tracked him down on an Armada ship of all places and once again defeated him.

We headed back to Skull Island to tell Avery what we had discovered. We arrived in time for the Shark Week Celebration. What a crazy festival that is. I’ve never thought those Shark Pirates were a very intelligent lot, but it seems some of their non-pirate kind have a great deal of smarts. Even the pirate ones are cunning and they do have a lot of skill at hunting things down. But when it comes to working out some of the details of things, they’re more interested in brawn, not brains. We did win a prize in honor of the celebration though. A 7day Hammerhead Shark mount. He’s really made getting around the islands much quicker. Who can complain about that!

While we waited for Avery to send for us, we did a little shopping in town. Picked up some nice new cloths and we meet a Shark in the Tavern that looks an awful like Fin. In fact we found out his name was Fin. I like this guy so I asked him if he’d like to join our crew. Took some up front Crowns, but he agreed. Didn’t take long for me to make him my First Mate. Wing Chun just hasn’t been himself since he picked up that promotion to Crane Disciple. His head just always seems to be somewhere else.

I might have a rag-tag crew but I wouldn’t stand with anyone else in a fight. Each one of them has exceptional skills of their own and we have been through much together already. Ratbeard has been true to his word and changed his ways to be a valued member not only to the crew, but to me as well. Wing may have his head in the clouds meditating every chance he gets and shirking some of his on-board duties, but he certainly steps up when there’s a battle to engage in. Even little Romba has contributed to the success of our missions and battles in unusual but effective ways.

We finally made it in to see Avery and told him what we discovered. We all agree that if the Armada manages to acquire all the pieces of Polio’s map it would be a bad thing everyone. So we’re off to find the pieces our selves and acquire what pieces the Armada might have found.

We located two Monquistans in Puerto Mico, Hooktail and his pal Silent Roberto (who isn’t so silent) for some information. Making us prove ourselves, Hooktail sent us on a quest first. Of course my crew completed that task with flying colors and we returned with our bounty in hand.

Our Monquistan taskmasters were impressed. So impressed that they agreed to offer aid and gave us a Monquistan ship, seeing as how the Golden Windlass was a little worse the wear after all the battles she’s been through.

Our new ship is impressive I think. She too is another light Skiff, but this time of Monquistan origins. I’m rather liking the Santa Sophia now that she’s outfitted with the latest and greatest equipment from the local Crown Shop.

With our new ship in hand Hooktail and Roberto told us where we could find the crystal to the Valencia Stormgate. And we’re headed off to find what awaits us there.

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