Down the rabbit hole with Duke

  • Gundy the Shark
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    We've all seen it. Duke's a tad skittish lately. I was rather curious when he mentioned something about Tina's grog tasting funny, so I decided to track down Tina at Golden Sands Outpost to see what the fuss was all about.

    I asked about the grog and she doesn't even know whats in it. Odd.
    So then I asked about places to party at. The response was...interesting...

    Apparently Tracy from Sanctuary Outpost has heard that a new place is opening at Plunder Outpost. It's name is the Jolly Roger Inn.

    Now hang on, you might say. There's already an inn at Plunder Outpost, right?
    Yes, however, it goes by a different name: the Drowned Rat (like a bilge rat, now that I think of it ;)

    So I can only speculate that the Sea Dogs Tavern will be called the Jolly Roger, and will be located on Plunder Outpost. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll be near the top of the spire.

    Thoughts?

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  • XZODEAK
    Champion
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    I noticed him acting funny but never took the hint and went to Tina

  • LucianSanchez82
    Legend
    Boatswain
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    @r4bbi-the-shark　Some nice detective work there matey! That line of text from Tracey has been in since launch, as far as I remember. Though we do know that Arena was always planned and has been worked on for quite some time, so it could well be that line was meant to relate to it, who knows, you may be on to something...

    I do love a good mystery. Especially when grog's involved!

  • Gundy the Shark
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    @luciansanchez82 If it’s been in since launch, then it’s probably a red herring :(

    Still, interesting that the Plunder Outpost tavern name (Drowned Rat) has a similar meaning to Bilge Rat. I’m sure that was meant to be a nice pun by the devs :P

  • Genuine Heather
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    I don't know. I personally think ole Duke is just feeling a bit embarrassed about the Bilge Rats not having anything to do this week, so he's hiding out to avoid the wrath of any disgruntled scallywags. I could be wrong, but that was the impression I got from speaking with him.

  • Boxcar Squidy
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    @genuine-heather you spoke to him and he seemed like he knew what week it was?

    Definitely, something up with Duke then, he normally doesn't even know what year it is. He's still paying me dubloons for events that finished months ago, ssssh though, don't tell him.

  • JetOrchidee97
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    @r4bbi-the-shark Aye it could be! I always wondered why she was talking of the Jolly Roger Inn tavern opening soon (time seems to be a bit circumvoluted in the Sea of Thieves).

    In a weekly stream, I think I remember (can someone confirm?) the devs saying that the tavern was in a high location and it was bit like a caban in a tree with wooden bridges, etc and that it was also bigger than the one at outposts.
    I was thinking that maybe the tavern might be on top of that tall rock in the middle of the 3 original regions.
    Can't wait to know!

  • Genuine Heather
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    @boxcar-squidy said in Down the rabbit hole with Duke:

    @genuine-heather you spoke to him and he seemed like he knew what week it was?

    Definitely, something up with Duke then, he normally doesn't even know what year it is. He's still paying me dubloons for events that finished months ago, ssssh though, don't tell him.

    He did mention something about the grog being "off." Maybe someone's watered it down too much and Duke's sobering up. Now that would make any salty old sea dog cower in a corner!

  • Boxcar Squidy
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    @genuine-heather now there's a thought that'd put a chill in this old sea dog's bones. Sober Duke? The innkeepers will start calling in other pirate's bar tabs to make up the shortfall. It would be chaos!

  • Genuine Heather
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    @boxcar-squidy said in Down the rabbit hole with Duke:

    The innkeepers will start calling in other pirate's bar tabs to make up the shortfall.

    Now that's a genuinely disturbing thought. You know, I haven't paid for a single mug o' grog since the day I arrived on the Sea of Thieves. We've got to find out what's wrong with Duke before he stops drinking altogether. If the barkeep calls in her tabs, we'll all be in the poorhouse! Arrr!

  • Salvasian AU
    Insider

    @r4bbi-the-shark I did likewise as you and went and investigated Tina after speaking to Duke. I didn't discover anything other than you and I went all over Golden Sands outpost just in case there might be any clue.

    I wonder if the Duke commentary is currently a pointer that Tina will say something in the future (similar to how they used the parrot et al before the cursed sails patch, as sort of a teaser). I say this because, while I may very well be wrongly remembering things, I could have sworn she has said that line about the Jolly Roger for at least a while as I think she said it to me back when I spoke to her in the lead up to the skeleton ship patch.

    The other reason that I think it may be old is because it seems like it could be a relatively crass play on words (or perhaps I simply have a sick twisted mind) as she talks about going with a couple of her friends to Plunder Outpost to go to the Jolly Roger Inn. Trying not to stray into unacceptable areas on the forum but use your imagination, when I read it the other day it just came across in the dodgy way (but as I say it may say more about me).

    Edit: Fixed a missing part about Plunder Outpost.

  • Fritzbube
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    @r4bbi-the-shark said in Down the rabbit hole with Duke:

    Apparently Tracy from Sanctuary Outpost has heard that a new place is opening at Plunder Outpost. It's name is the Jolly Roger Inn.

    she said that in the alpha/beta already

  • ClosingHare208
    Marauder
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    @boxcar-squidy I won't mate

  • BoomTownBoss
    Rogue
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    I made a short theory about Duke in another thread I'd like to repost here. :

    cheap funny tasting grog, hmmmmmmm indeed. Could it be poisoned? BY COLE?! The feared spokesperson of the Twisted Knife!?!? Who are only spoken of "in hushed and fearful tones over flickering candles of some squalid drinking den". Who also happens to be the beholder of a cursed whispering chest?! He's poisoned pirates before...

    I think there are a lot of parallels to where Duke is and the description of the Twisted Knife in the Tales of SoT book and what Duke says about the grog. It's likely a long shot but it still seems potential; if it is true we'd be getting a new cursed chest to find! Or this whispering box could be a new washed up item to find on islands during storms.

  • Cpt Parr0t Head
    Insider

    Is Duke being killed off? Who would do this and why? Duke has been good to us! Do the Bilge Rats have Mortal enemies?

  • ClosingHare208
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    @cpt-parr0t-head maybe it might be sticher Jim who's trying to kill him it makes sense

  • JE0RGIE P0RGIE
    Lord
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    @r4bbi-the-shark Now this, this is some good detective work! Well done! Well done indeed. I love how Rare hints at things to come through the NPC's in game. I never really picked up on it before but the questions you can ask them change over time and Rare says nothing about it ;)

    It's a really cool way to introduce and hint at features to come. For instance Sandra the Shipwright at Dagger Tooth say something along the lines of "building a new ship called the Sandra's Revenge that has two decks worth of cannons." Then if you ask her if you can purchase more powerful cannons she says something like "no unfortunately the Pirate Lord wants to keep things fair on the seas but I'm going to try and sneak some aboard the Sandra's Revenge."

    I'm going to have to take a peak myself and see what these NPC's have to say.

  • Sgt Paloogoo
    Commander
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    @r4bbi-the-shark
    Well mate, apparently the Arena has existed since launch.
    It was initially a PVP testing zone for the Devs, but then they got the idea to use it as a new gamemode.

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