A long time ago in a tavern far, far away…
Cough Cough “Arrrrgh!” snarled the old man as he took a noisy slurp from his tankard of grog. He had been drunk for quite some time within the run-down tavern of Outpost Island and had accumulated quite the audience with his ramblings of adventures on the sea and encounters with dangerous creatures. The rim of his empty tankard hit the oaken table quite loudly as he brought his hand down hard, signaling the tavern keeper that he was ready for another drink. As he smiled, gold caught the light of the nearby candles, showcasing an almost whimsical amount of solid gold teeth.
“Gather’ round lads! I’ve a story to tell… ye ever heard the tale of Cap’n Anubis the feared?” the old man asked, smile threatening to blind the young pirates clustered around his table. “Anubis the feared?” asked one youngster, sarcasm evident in his voice, “He’s just a legend old man, a story told to would-be pirates so they’ll be afraid of stealing from the innocent.” “Aye” said the old man, his face becoming hard and sober, smile disappearing. “Legend he is, that’s to say… he’s a living one.” “You’re full whale p**s old man!” another lad called with a laugh. “Aye…maybe”, the old sailor said with a thoughtful gaze, off into the distance, as his new grog was poured. The old man handled his new grog with care, staring down into the liquid with a look of pure wonder and with a whisper said, “the story goes something like this”.
"Out of the crumbling ruins of Egypt, came men and women who were exceptionally skilled fighters and hunters, Medjay they called them. These people flocked to other nations, spreading out amongst the land and offering their services for gold. The Medjay had always been honorable folk, so I hear, but certain sects within the group became power-hungry and blood-thirsty. Death came easy to those who found themselves at odds with these men and women. It wasn’t long until the plunders of the sea called to them as well. They took to seafaring quickly and became fierce pirates, adopting one of their Gods, Anubis, a jackal headed god of death and burial as their standard. The flag quickly became recognized and feared amongst the seas. The Medjay population, already small, dwindled over the years, until only a few were left. There were three brothers in all, they co-captained the same ship and the three had opposing views on their overall mission in life. One wanted blood and battle, to send as many souls to Anubis as possible, the other wanted gold and glory, to become a king among men, and the last… the youngest, only wanted to protect. His name was Jessepter Al’ Sorno. After five years sailing with his brothers, unable to change their ways, he knew that he had to kill them and send them to Anubis so their hearts could be weighed and their fate determined. And so it was that he killed them… or so the story goes. He sailed alone and the few he did trust to sail with, he informed them of his one rule, to only steal from those who deserve it. So his legend began, he traveled the sea, often called the sea of thieves, for it was the most favored destination of pirates far and wide, famed for its plunder. He sought out those who would steal from the helpless and he sent them to old Davy Jones. To the many pirates in the sea of thieves, he became known simply as, Anubis the Feared. He could easily be spotted on his ship, recognized by his infamous twin kopesh swords that he wielded with deadly precision, the same ones that appeared blooded on his flag. There’s an old rhyme we used to sing to pay homage to this demon among men.”
The old man began to sing quietly in his low raspy voice,
to thooooooooose, on the seeeeaaaa,
bound for gold or for gloryyyyy
Ye better watch, ye best bewaaaaare
Do not fall, to blood l**t’s snaaaaare
Then he began to say rather than sing,
And if ye slay the helpless, your conscious besmeared
Ye best pray HE won’t give chase
…. Anubis the Feared
The tavern was silent, wide eyed young pirates listened expectantly for the next part of the story. “Well?” asked a young lady, her eyepatch sporting a green jewel, glinting in the firelight. “What happened to him?” The old man blew out a breath, taking a swig from his grog. “Some say he died many years ago fighting a kraken, some say he finally met his match on the seas, but I’d like to think he’s still out there, in a tavern somewhere, listening to stories of himself.” At that moment the old man noticed a figure in the dark, unlit, corner of the tavern begin to stir. His attention was jerked to the laughter of one young man sporting a hook for a hand and carrying a particularly nasty looking cutlass in his belt. “Kat!” he giggled, “you can’t be serious, Anubis is just a myth! This old sod has got you by the ears, he’s full of p**s and wind and you are too if you believe anything he says!” The pirate Kat, stood, beginning to draw her cutlass from its scabbard. “I’ll have YOUR ears if ye make another comment like that!” she roared with deadly ferocity. Just as the young lad began to pull his cutlass free from his belt, a loud thud resounded across the tavern and jutting from center of the table, was a silver bladed Kopesh sword, a jackal head encrusted on the hilt. The light glancing off the blade gave the pirates no illusions as to the keenness of the edge, the feint silver glow almost supernatural. The pirates around the table gasped. “I know he’s real”, the old man said quietly, “I met him once… out there in the sea. I was a younger man back then, ye see, got myself in with the wrong type o’ crew. We would sail for days, just looking to kill and steal from those who were ripe with treasure, that’s the pirate way savvy?” He made the last statement with a sheepish grin.
The pirates began to seat themselves, turning their attentions back to the old man. “The thing is, we did much worse than that. We took new crew members and threw them into our brig for no reason other than to see how they reacted when we puked on them.” That raised a few laughs from the audience. “We fell upon crews while under the pretense of friendship and rent them asunder, and even worse… we killed pirates engaged in nothing but the beautiful art of making song.” This too garnered some laughs from various pirates. Kat, however, was listening intently. “We became known as the Grievers. We were revered among the seas, indeed, causing all sorts of grief and mischief wherever we sailed... until one early morning, my lookout caught sight of a ship behind us. I heard him call black sails at the top of his lungs right before a loud cracked sounded. He dropped from the crow’s nest, right by me feet, a smoking hole between his eyes. I looked back over the rails and saw the flag, it was the Feared. His ship gained on us too quickly. They came up on our port side, still too far distant for accurate cannon fire… so I thought.” The old man polished off his tankard. “There was a single shot from their cannon. Not but a few moments later, there was a soft thud on the forward deck of our ship… and there he was, Jessepter Al’ Sorno, Anubis the Feared, Captain of the notorious Sea Jackal... in the flesh. He stood there, all in black, twin Kopesh swords unsheathed and ready for battle. When he attacked, he was a blur of motion, dancing around the deck, swords flashing, and before I knew it, my remaining two crew mates were dead. As he approached, I pleaded for him to spare me, that I’d change my ways. Ye see, my life matters to me, I’m not one for a joy ride on the ferry of the damned. He inclined his head so I dropped me hands, let out a deep breath... and he hit me in the mouth with the flat of his sword. The old man smiled widely letting everyone get a view of his gold teeth. He wrenched it free of the oaken table.
“He took this blade and imbedded it into the main mast of my ship, he said that it was to remind me and that’s the last thing I remember before waking up to a mouth full of nothing.” The old man laughed as he peered up. “I just wanted you to know that I’ve changed” the old man said, now looking passed his eager and partly confused audience. “I wanted to return this to you sir”, the old man said with bow as he held out the blade, seemingly towards the young lad with the nasty cutlass. The lad reached out with a smile and the floorboards behind the pirates creaked. A tall, darkly clad figure walked between the seated pirates and wordlessly lifted the kopesh from the old man’s hands. “Now wait just a minute!” said the young lad, pulling his blade free of his belt. Before another movement could be made, the darkly clad man’s kopesh streaked out with blinding speed, severing the man’s sword just above the guard. With a tight flourish, the figure sheathed the Kopesh, a twin version of the blade visible on his other hip. The young lad stood there gaping and Captain Anubis strolled from the tavern, unhurried, and spared one backwards glance, directed seemingly at Kat. “Until we meet on the sea, pirates”, he said to everyone listening, in a voice that gave no indication of his age. With that, he was gone.
"Is it true that the Captain knows 300 ways to kill a pirate?" Kat asked the old man, with a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. The old man gave a devious grin, as if he had expected as much from her and said, "he knows 311 ways to kill a pirate... sevvy?" Kat stood up quickly, knowing in her heart what she had to do. The now swordless young lad moved swiftly to block her path, "no one leaves this crew!" he shouted. She didn't have to unsheathe her cutlass very far before the hilt hit its intended target. The lad sunk to his knees, grasping quickly, his hooked hand adding injury to insult. His cries and the pirates’ laughter echoed into the night, fading from Kat's hearing as she sprinted out of the shanty town, onto the docks. Out beyond the shallows was a black vessel, made blacker by twilight of the coming morning. The blowing wind allowed her to catch sight of a familiar flag, one described in legends. Three figures stood at the end of the dock, one with twin swords. A voice rang out, both smooth and calm, but unnaturally audible for the distance. "Your reputation precedes you... Captain Truewalker. We have have room for one more. "
