I had a really pleasant and enjoyable voyage today, and a busier string of PvE encounters than I could have imagined.
The day got started quite normally. I spawned solo at Galleon's Grave, stocked the ship, raised an Order of Souls emissary flag, and cracked open a bounty voyage – I'm still working on 9 Skellies Slaying. I got three maps: three captains at Wanderer's Refuge, two at Snake Island, one at Crook's Hollow. Wanderer's Refuge being one of my favourite islands in the game, I decided to head there first, stopping off at Isle of Lost Words, Shipwreck Bay and Rum Runner Isle for to further boost supplies and find a rowboat. I defeated an Ashen Key Master at Lost Words, and an emergent skelly captain at Rum Runner, and hit Wanderer's close to a grade 3 emissary. I took down the three captains and one crew, and decided to head over to Golden Sands to sell. I heard the skeleton ship music play, a sloop rose up to my starboard... and 10 cannonballs later, sunk beneath the waves again. Grade 4 emissary.
I sold up, leaving a clutch of skulls and trinkets on the dock in the spirit of the Festival of Giving. I charted a course for Snake Island, running around the southern tip of Wanderer's and then south-east. As I passed Wanderer's, I saw a sloop stopped at the island. I passed close, hailing them with my speaking trumpet to tell them about the gifts at Golden Sands, but the crew didn't seem to be around. I continued on my way, and as I pulled into the open sea, the megalodon theme started. Given today's daily deed and the 'Monster that rose from the sea' mission, I lifted my sails and got on the cannons. The fight made a bit of a dent in my meat and fish supplies, but I soon had the 'Hunter of the Hungering One' title and the bonus doubloons.
I'd been keeping an eye on the sloop at Wanderer's, and as I gathered the meg loot, I saw it moving towards me. I turned to cover the sloop with my cannons, but hailed them again offering to hand them some of the loot in the spirit of the Festival of Giving. At first I got no response, then noticed a green fin circling – an Ancient Terror had spawned on them! I added my firepower to the fight, and together we created arcs that meant the meg was very rarely out of our field of fire. I was only able to recover about of the Hungering One loot, but once we took down the Ancient Terror we were able to stop and talk.
I noticed that the other player (also solo) was running the 'Maiden Voyager' title. Turned out he'd been playing for just a week. He also said he was ill at the moment, so I decided I would do my best to brighten his day. He spoke a bit of English, and I a bit of French – his native language – and we used a combination of both as we agreed terms. We agreed to split the loot and sell in an alliance. I showed him how to use the harpoons for recovering loot and we started to divide up the loot. Just as we were finishing and I was returning to my ship, the skeleton ship theme played, and a skelly sloop spawned on me. The new player seemed a bit concerned, but I knew the ship wasn't really to be feared. Together we finished it quickly, and split the loot. I hit grade 5 emissary for the first time in my pirating career. I explained how to form an alliance, and we had just run our new colours up the mast when another skelly sloop spawned on him! I was beginning to lose hope of ever leaving these waters, but that sloop was also sent back whence it came. After gathering that loot, we each had an ashen chest to go with keys we had collected earlier.
I made repairs and set sail towards Golden Sands after my new friend. As we pulled up to outpost, I heard him say 'Oh no, all my stuff is in the water'. I looked around and saw that he had sunk! He must have had a hole that he didn't notice needed repairing after the last skelly ship. He tried to come aboard my ship but was killed by a shark – fortunately his new ship spawned at Mermaid's Hideaway, so he was back with me by the time I had finished gathering his loot back up.
We sold together and each made a packet, also selling each other's loot for the plundered presents bonus. With the emissary bonus I made about 80-90k gold and about 100 doubloons; he was not running emissary and made about 60k gold. By the time we'd finished selling the largest haul on which my pirate had ever set his eyes, I was in desperate need of some lunch. I loaded his ship up with supply crates filled from my barrels, and sent him on his way.
Finally, later on and influenced by a post I saw here a few weeks ago, I decided how to spend my gains. Purchasing a Redcoat Admiral jacket and belt, I completed a Santa-themed outfit that my pirate will be going around in for the next few weeks. (Unable to upload screenshot I'm afraid [sadbeard])
Have a happy and safe festive season, everyone. Thank you to all of the pirates who make the Sea of Thieves a special place.
