After 20 uncontested SoSS quests (first as a duo sloop, the rest as a solo sloop), I finally experienced a contested quest.
After waking up at Port Merrick and filling my pockets full, I jumped on my sloop, accepted the SoSS quest and headed SE to Castaway Isle. The trip to Castaway Isle was uneventful. Raising my sail as I approached, I jumped off the sloop, dug up and grabbed the key, and climbed back aboard my sloop.
Dropping my sail, I turned eastward towards Kraken’s Fall. As I neared my destination, I saw a sloop to the south heading towards me and the island. To gauge their intent, I sailed past Kraken’s Fall and watched. Seeing them pass the island and continue towards me, I knew my choices were to give up the quest or to turn and fight. As a PvE focused pirate with limited PvP experience, my instinct was to take the L and move on to another server. However, I decided to see how far I could get in the quest. So, I came about to point the sloop and prepared for naval combat.
As we neared each other, we entered an orbiting pattern and began our fight. My cannonballs were all over the place, but I was able to land some shots and at one point even de-masted their sloop. Their cannon shots were more accurate than mine, but they were not consistently hitting me either. I was a bit relieved to see that they did not seem to be the super sweaty PvP pirates I see on streams. But I knew it was going to be an uphill battle since it was 2v1 and trying to manage angle, sails, cannoning, repairing, bailing, and eating was very challenging for this mostly passive PvE focused pirate.
After what seemed like five or ten minutes of combat, I inadvertently sailed directly into some rocks. Fortunately for me, there was a very narrow gap between the rocks, so I ended up ping-ponging off and through them. Coming out the other side, I was pointing Kraken’s Fall and had gained some distance from the other sloop. I decided to forgo the naval combat, so I repaired my sloop and headed straight for Kraken’s Fall to see if I could get the chest before they caught up with me. I figured I was not going to be able to fully complete the quest, but I wanted to see how far I could get.
As I approached the island, I debated whether to raise sail so the sloop would come to a slow stop or to leave the sail down and let it keep sailing as I jump off the sloop. Looking back, the best answer would have been to raise sail and take the risk of the other sloop sinking mine. However, I decided to keep the sail down and let my sloop sail on alone, while I made what I thought would be my last stand on Kraken’s Fall. I grabbed the key and waded ashore.
After fighting some emergent skeletons and an Ashen Key Guardian, I stuck my shovel in the ground and heard the sound of finding the chest. More skeletons emerged, as expected, and while fighting them one of the pirates from the sloop appeared. After an EoR shot and some sword swinging, I was standing alone. I finished digging up the chest and placed the key in its recess. I now had the skull. So, what to do next. Before I could fully appreciate my foolishness of letting my sloop sail on, the other pirate appeared. Once again, with an EoR shot, some wild sword swinging and jumping around, I defeated the second pirate.
With very few options available now, I decided to see how far I could swim to the island with Briggsy, thinking the sloop would easily cannon or snipe me in the water. But as luck would have it, a brigantine showed up as I started swimming. They took a couple of cannon shots at me but missed, and then they turned their attention to the sloop. As both ships started fighting each other, I began my long swim towards the colorful swirls. I had little hope that I would make it, but I had come this far. So, press on.
After minutes of swimming northwest and praying that sharks would stay away, I saw the inevitable...a shark. I was able to shoot and slash it to death, but not before it took a good bite out of me and half my health. Unfortunately, I was out of food. So, I turned westward towards Shark Tooth Key which I saw on the horizon, hoping to find food and perhaps a rowboat. As I got closer, I saw my next challenge, a galleon heading straight for me from the north.
As the galleon arrived, one of the crew jumped in the water to attack. Once again, I got an EoR shot off and then went into sword slashing mode, ultimately defeating this pirate as well. However, my luck ran out with the second pirate that jumped into the water. He bested me quickly and sent me to the Ferry of the Damned. So, all I could do was offer GGs in chat.
When I re-emerged on my sloop, I saw that I was well into the western Ancient Isles and too far to try and make it to Briggsy at Crooked Masts before the galleon. The foolishness of letting my sloop sail on was strikingly apparent. With the race finally run and the galleon with the prize, it was time to depart the server and end the adventure.
While I was a bit disappointed in not being able to turn the skull into Briggsy, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a four ship SoSS contest. As a PvE focused solo sloop, I knew the odds were always going to be against me. But I survived a short naval combat, bested three pirates in 1v1, and I gained two ticks in the Seeker of Siren Song commendation and one tick in the Sentry of Siren Song commendation. I also walked away recognizing mistakes that I hopefully do not make in the future. It was a grand SoT adventure.
