Merchant Alliance Quiet Time

Outside of one or two distant sloops (it might have been the same one twice; I never go close enough to find out who these people are), this was a fairly uneventful session. It was also fairly profitable.

I'm beginning to prefer Merchant Alliance voyages, primarily because they tend to pay fairly well at the higher levels. That, and requests for gold animals are incredibly lucrative when I can get them. By voyage's end, I got a bunch of gold and increased my reputation with the Merchant Alliance.

Here's my captain's log with all the boring details.

Sanctuary Outpost spawn-in.

Starting/Ending Rep - GH 23/23, OS 20/20, MA 20/21
Starting/Ending Gold: 35,596/41,609
Gold Earned: 6,013g

Snakes and Pigs: A Merchant Trader Voyage

"An amiable order from the prominent Mr. Abel"

This Abel fellow wants 2 black scaled snakes, 1 pink & black spotted pig, and 2 black coated pigs. Must deliver the critters to the Golden Sands Outpost by 11am on the 29th.Current date is the 23rd, so I see no trouble with this plan.

Travel to Lone Cove and search for animals. Find two black-coated pigs (671g & 542g), a black and pink spotted pig, and two black scaled snakes (894g & 898g). Also found a gunpowder barrel (187g).

In case you didn't know, snakes are a-holes. They spray you (or anything else around them, including pigs and chickens) with venom. This not only does damage, but it makes you nearly blind for a short period of time.

The risks inherent in shirling can be rather painful.

I'm sure everyone knows this, but catching snakes requires a bit of work. When you find the snake you want, you need to get one of your musical instruments and play music for it until it hunkers down. Then you can grab your basket and scoop it up. But wait, there's more! As you carry the occupied snake basket, the little jerk wakes up. If you don't drop the basket and play another ditty, the snake sprays venom into your face. Even if you drop the basket, there's still a chance you'll get the venom treatment.

Incidentally, this reminds me of an old Kids in the Hall sketch about the sport of shirling. Suffice it to say, it involves a pissed off snake atop a barrel and a bunch of idiots chained together around it. Something tells me that with a little work, we could probably shirl in Sea of Thieves.

Sorry for the digression. Shall we continue?

So I get back to my boat with the last pig, and as I'm standing there taking notes for this very blog, two skeletons with pistols spawn on the nearby beach, see me, and gun me down. Thanks to the damage taken from my reptilian pals' venom, the bone twins gun me down in a single volley.
I respawn after a few moments and weigh anchor, but that's not the last time those damn snakes inconvenience me. No, sir.

I notice too late that the snake I've placed in the hold has been magically spraying venom up through the forward deck at the pink and black spotted pig. At least, that's the only way I can reconcile the pig's death since I'd been feeding it regularly. To prevent further poisoned porcine casualties, I move the black pigs back away from the forward deck.

I spot a sloop anchored near Lonely Isle and there appears to be a storm brewing, so I decide to head to Golden Sands Outpost and deliver the animals. While sailing, I see a shipwreck off Cannon Cove. I drop anchor nearby and check the previously mentioned sloop. It's sailing away, so I decide to dive on the wreck of the Bloody Death. In the process, I recover a Hateful Bounty skull (678g), a Marauders Chest (283g), and a Crate of rare tea (367g).

After plundering the wreck, I go to Golden Sands to deliver my remaining animals and sell the loot I found. Afterward, I decide to find another pink and black spotted pig. I head south to the Lagoon of Whispers, but find no pigs.

There is, however, a shipwreck nearby. Turns out to be the wreck of the Hangman's Hate. I'm fairly certain I've encountered this same wreck at some point in the past. I always figured the names were generated in some kind of procedural fashion -- and they may be -- but I expected there to me more variety.

Meet the new pig. Same as the old pig.

So I dive and find a Foul Bounty Skull (168g), a message in a bottle (first time finding one of these in a wreck), a crate of fine sugar (131g), a Castaways Chest (96), and a Disgraced Bounty Skull (311g).

Still need that pink and black spotted pig, so I decided to check Mermaid's Hideaway for bacon. While there, I find a new pink and black pig (448g) and return with it to Golden Sands. While there I sell my loot and buy a new Merchant Alliance voyage from Mavis for 80g.

Incidentally, the message in a bottle contained a map of Crescent Isle with one X marked on it. It's close, so I head over there and find a Seafarers Chest (234g) and a gunpowder barrel (185g). I consider exploring the rest of the island in more detail, but I spot a sloop to the northeast. I don't want to deal with someone else, so I weigh anchor, go back to Golden Sands, and sell the chest.

Avast!