Revenge is Sweet

Once again I went sailing, and once again I decided just to do my thing and not worry too much about the minute details of my voyage. I decided to do more Merchant Alliance missions, and my first was to locate and catch four chickens (a white, a gold, and two red-speckled). When I started out, I had no idea how long a process this was going to be.

I went to a number of islands and found no chickens, but I did manage to secure three more chicken coops and a pig crate. Eventually I ended up sailing to Smuggler's Bay, which was crawling with livestock. Only thing is, it was also crawling with skeletons.

As I sailed into the bay, a skeleton on the hillside began shooting a cannon at my ship. I leapt out, ran up the hill, and broke the skeleton up into pieces, but by the time I got back to my ship, it had been sunk. I swam out into the bay and got all my coops and cages back, making a nice little pile on the beach.

In order to save myself the trouble later, I captured the chickens I needed and left them behind while I went to my mermaid in order to get to my replacement ship. It wasn't too far off from Smuggler's Bay, so I set course and figured I'd have it all wrapped up within a few minutes. Wrong.

"Can't we just get along? Hmm?"

I passed near a sloop en route to Smuggler's Bay and its intrepid captain decided to chase me. Not really wanting to deal with a hostile encounter, I proceeded to wave at the guy. Afterwards, I put my sails up and slowed down while he pulled up alongside.

We had a brief conversation (which, in the video, is terribly one-sided, as only his voice was recorded). However, it went something like this:

Me: Hey there. I don't have any loot. I'm just looking for chickens.
island3r 808: Chickens? Fried chickens?
Me: Any kind of chicken, really.
island3r 808: This a merchant quest?
Me: Yep.
island3r 808: Lookin' for some krakens.
Me: Not sure Krakens spawn for sloops. I could be wrong.

At this point he begins to behave erratically, swinging his sword about.

Me: Well, I'm going to go ahead and get my chickens now. See you later.
island3r 808: Alright, have a good night.

I see he's moved down to his cannon, and I figured there was a high chance he was going to shoot me. But I also figured I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, right? I mean... maybe he's just making sure I'm not going to mess with him.

But no. This fellow ("island3r 808") appeals to his baser childlike instincts and shoots me with a cannon just as I begin to weigh anchor. Needless to say, I die.

After a few seconds aboard the Ferry of the Damned (my home away from home), I return to my ship. He'd shot it a few more times, likely boarded to confirm I didn't have anything worth taking, and was sailing away. I patched the many holes in my ship and bailed out the water before raising my anchor and continuing on my merry way.

This dweeb wasn't done with me, though. I guess continuing to follow me around and shoot at me was more fun than, well, just about anything else he could've been doing with his time. He knew I had nothing of value, so I can only assume he was being a jerk.

I decided to take a pot shot at him with my eye of reach. I know I didn't hit him, but it did incentivize him to shoot his cannon at me a few more times. Not one to sit idly by, I took up my own cannon and returned fire. To my sincere surprise, I received the "I Don't See Your Ship" achievement. And there his sloop was, sinking rather quickly into the sea.

All my aggravation at being griefed turned to amusement. He'd gotten exactly what was coming to him. Suddenly there was a God.

In summation, I returned to Smuggler's Bay and picked up my chickens. I left the extra coops behind, as it was late, and delivered the birds. I'd also found a message in a bottle along the way - a single map with five or six Xs on it - so I located the island and dug those bad boys up before heading off to my hammock for the night.

I count the evening a success, overall. My attempts to interact peacefully with another player came to nothing, though he did lose his virtual life in the process.

Avast!

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!

Today's Voyage

Plunder Outpost spawn-in.
Starting/Ending Rep - GH 22/23, OS 20/20, MA 20/20
Starting/Ending Gold: 24,891/27,946
Gold Earned: 3,055g

First Voyage: For the Merchant Alliance
"A persistent demand from the notable Mr. Lucas" who wants two white chickens and two red speckled chickens delivered to Ancient Spire Outpost by 11am on the 8th. Chickens are pretty easy to catch, but going in search of them is a pain in my butt.

Dropped anchor at Lookout Point to check for poultry. Found plenty of bacon, but no chickens. Notice shipwreck WNW of island. Might as well check it out.

No ships in sight. Dive to explore the wreck of The Blessing of Athena. Recovered Disgraced Bounty Skull and a crate of fine sugar.

Galleon far off to the NE. Going to cut and run, look for more chickens.

Land at Shark Bait Cove. Big island like this better have some chickens on it.

Chickens acquired. Notice ship (galleon) off port. Looks to be heading my way. Going to cut and run. Heading to Ancient Spire Outpost to deliver birds and other misc spoils. Galleon out of sight.

Spot glimmer on beach at Paradise Spring. Stopping to check it out. Coast is clear.

Found two messages in bottles (the first a map marked with several Xs, the second a wanted poster for three skellies on Snake Island) and a Disgraced Bounty Skull on Paradise Spring. Continuing on to Ancient Spire Outpost. It's late, will likely let those messages expire when I log out.

Chickens delivered to Mildred around midnight on the 4th. White chickens fetch 223g and 205g, red speckled chickens fetch 459g and 332g. Crate of fine sugar from the Blessing of Athena returns 134g. Spent 80g to buy new voyage from the Merchant Alliance.

Bounty skulls taken to Madame Olwen, fetch 337g and 205g.

So, to sum up, I didn't have much trouble this voyage. No one came close enough to mess with me, and the chickens were fairly easy to find.

cristian1452 and LazzyMe

Second Voyage: Booty Isle Treasure
The map I found points to Booty Isle. Assuming I don't get ganked on the way there, it should be a simple matter to go and dig up some stuff. Off I go...

Stupid skeletons on Thieves' Haven take potshots at me. They're pretty good shots, too. One must've hit me, because I have a hole in my starboard side now.

Arrived at Booty Isle just before dark. Coast is clear. Let's see what kind of booty this place is hiding.

Booty Isle should be renamed "Skeleton Isle." Damn place is crawling with them, and every chest I dig up brings more. And they kill me, too. Twice. Jerks. Certainly makes a case for doing this crap with a friend.

Hard Won, Only Died Twice!

While aboard the Ferry of the Damned, I ran into two gentlemen: cristian1452 and LazzyMe. cristian1452 proclaimed that "A Pirate vanquished me!" before running off with his friend Lazzy.

After all that abuse, what did I get? A Captain's Chest, two Seafarer's Chests, and two Castaway's Chests. Heading to Plunder Outpost to sell this crap and log out.

Harry the Hoarder gives me 604g for the Captain's Chest. Are you kidding? The others fetch 238g, 210g (for the Seafarer's Chests) and 89g and 99g (for the Castaway's Chests). Also earned the Hoarder of the Castaway's Gold commendation, which brought me up to 23 reputation with the Gold Hoarders. I guess I shouldn't complain.

That's all for tonight. Even I need my sleep. Avast!