The Hungering Deep...
Where to begin?
As time is the only thing we can't alter, I barely managed to start playing yesterday afternoon. Gathered me crew (4 rusty drunken sailors) and started the quest. Everything was going well. The riddles and clues were fun, although a bit misleading for some that didn't play on a daily basis and , well... kinda forgot many of the island names and locations... :D. No worries though, it got back to us. Then... we were searching for the last clue... that cursed underwater cave under the uncharted island... if only Teri wouldn't be so fond of her Grog, heh? Darn drunken pirates :D///
Where was I? Ah, yes! Searching for the cave... As we were swimming all around the island, except the one entrance that was in front of us the whole time, only that we were 4 blind bats in a pile of muddle, I hear one of my friends addressing a dazzling onomatopoeic sentence: "Yeeeaaaaiiigghkeeas, a ship!". I barely gazed my look up from the water to witness a massive shadow that rose over the whole island and over my friend's dazzled face. A Galeon was in front of us. I couldn't even notice the crew as the massive hull was slowly rolling over me like a boot approaching an anthill. Suddenly, as I was confronting the thought of meeting Davy Jones, a loud boom was heard. "This is it lads!", I screamed to me crew as I was holding my eyes closed so tight I could even feel the cannon ball blowing me hair... Then, silence. Was I dead? I could still here me crew. Where they dead too? Suddenly I open my eyes just to see... nothing. It was a wall. A wall, you say? No. A massive wall. Yes, lads. It was the massive hull of the Galeon nearly touching my nose. The 'bang', was the anchor that stopped the beast in a second. I raised my look... I couldn't even understand who were we dealing with. As I decided to make 3 steps back, I hear a voice "Hello lads! We are friendly! Sorry for scarring you!", then started laughing. Clearly they heard my friend's expression: "Yeeeaaaaiiigghkeeas". Perhaps this is what saved us in the first place. That fearsome yell that inspired fear in their crew and made the captain to decide dropping the anchor or they were made for... yeah... right.
So, it appears they were indeed friendly. They just wanted to complete the quest and needed some more men. Which brings me to the point of my inquiry: Why needing a minimum of 5 man to summon Meg where there can only be 4 members in a crew? Why forced to befriend another crew just to complete the event? Hold that thought for a moment, I will get back to it!
Where was I? Ah, the encounter. So, these guys were indeed friendly. One of them, the Captain, was able to communicate like a normal person. The others, well... one could write as he lost his voice somewhere along the voyage, or he didn't have one at all, couldn't tell exactly, as clearly, my friend's onomatopoeic speech was more defined. And the other two... well, I believe they were as smart and as able to communicate like two monkeys on a Sunday afternoon... Exactly!
Well, they helped us find the underwater cave. You know, the one that was in front of us and we couldn't see it because... oh yeah.. because my friend yelled. After we read the final journal, we returned to our drummer friend to tell him about our journey. Here, all of us received a pair of drums and a set of tattoos. As me and my friends were trying to understand just what this poor fellow was trying to tell us, you know... what to do with these drums and where to go from here, it seems that on the other ship the two monkeys were having a blast. Yeah, 'blast'. Literally! They were firing cannons and shooting at each other like a pair of baboons that discovered these tools of destruction we sometimes refer to as "weapons", "guns", you get my point. In the end, we managed to come to a conclusion, but not before we started arguing how we should approach this. "I suggest, we sail with both ships. We keep the drums playing by one of us on each ship.", I said. "No, I think it's better if we board your ship and keep playing together.", the captain replied. "We can handle the guns better and we can all repair the ship faster if we need to.", he added. "Oh, we will definitely need to!", my friend stated as he was pointing towards their ship. "Gather everything you have from your ship: planks, cannon balls, bananas. Everything! And bring them to our ship. We will need everything we can use!", I said. But as I barely finished my sentence, the moment we were all 'not' expecting for, arrived like a fast bird that was eager to enter a room to escape it's predators just to hit the transparent window that was being closed in a morning summer day. Exactly! There was absolutely no point waiting for this moment. What happened, you wonder? Well, remember the two baboons that were expressing themselves on the ship? They discovered the ultimate thing. THE POWDER KEGS! Oh yeah! They blew each other apart along with the ship and everything on it. We could have laughed so hard if only everything we needed to take with us, was on that darn SHIP! "You have got to be f.....g kidding me!", the captain exclaimed. "What the ....?", he asked. We were dazzled. Speechless. Not only that we lost everything, the two baboons decided to leave. Yeah, you know. Left the group. Exit the game. You name it! Could it be that they wanted to sabotage us from the beginning? Could it be that they were trolls and wanted to have some fun? Or only a couple of baboons that thought it's fun to play with matches.... Nonetheless, our plan was no more. "I had it! This is enough!" Unfortunately, this is the point where one of my friend also decided to leave as... well, you can figure it out yourselves.
So here we are. 5 men. Enough for the Meg. Or so they say. With as many provisions as a wheel less cart dragged by a dead donkey. "What do we do?", one of my friends asked. "Let's continue", I replied. "Everyone, let's board my ship and head for the beast. Let us show her that even a bunch of drunken sailors with 10 cannonballs mean business", I added. At this point you wonder if we really did it? Did it happen? Did this brave sailors managed the impossible. Was he right to decide this? Well lads, I couldn't be more wrong.
We took the tune from our drunken friend and started towards the point of no return. "Count everything, lads!, I told them. "Keep playing those drums!", I added to my friend. "We have 45 cannonballs, captain", the captain of "Blasted Keg" said. "We got 35 planks left, sir!, one of my crew mates added. "There are only 23 bananas", a text appeared on the screen. Yep, you guessed. The voiceless lad. "Well, we either kill it or we die trying", I replied. "We are too far now to abandon", I added.
Here it is. The drums were beating louder and louder, the sea was turning red like our blood was leaving our bodies, the wind stopped and suddenly, our tattoos turned glowing green. And then, we heard it. She was a beast, she was. A powerful roar that made us say the exact same sentence at the exact same time: "Holy, f.....g s..t", only it was in everyone's different language.
So it begins. She attacks with a devastating power. Parts of the hull were flying off the ship. Water started spilling from everywhere. Cannons were firing like never before. It was intense. "We are running out of planks, captain!" The moment we were all expecting. "There are no bananas left". I knew that this was to be followed by, "These are the last canon balls!", a far voice could be heard. "Where are you yelling from, lad?", I asked. "Did she eat you?", I added. "I fell of the ship!", he yelled. "Wait for me!", he added. "Hurry up, we are preparing to raise anchor". "Raise anchor lads!", I yelled towards my crew as I grabbed the handle myself. "Help me push!", I said. We were moving. Easily drifting away with a ship that had more holes in it than an entire slice of Schweitzer. "Keep pouring water out of her lads! An outpost is near!", I said. "Give her everything you got, captain! We will soon be sailing on the bottom of the ocean at this rate!", Captain Keg yelled as he was running all over the ship or what was left of it. But the universe had a other, bigger plans stored for us 5 little simple sailors. Because as we were sailing towards the outpost, a loud tune started playing. The water was getting as dark as the sky on a heavy storm, the ship suddenly stopped as we had hit a reef.... Then weird arms started raising from the sea. What better to wish for than, "The Krakeeeeeen!", as one of my friends yelled. "You cannot be serious!", captain Keg exclaimed. "Why do you hate us so much, Rare!", I yelled. "Get in here lads! Let's not leave this day remain unwritten. Get in here and start singing! Let's give Davy Jones a proper welcome!, I said to them! And so, beautiful drums and symphony could be heard as the ship was going down faster than Felix Baumgartner. And we along with it. And finally.... silence. There he was. Davy Jones. Or was he? No! We were on the Ferry of the D amned. Where it's captain greet us with only his looks. He was steering the ship towards something. Couldn't tell where as he appears to be cursed to steer it forever. Then we knew it. We are given a second chance. And the doors cracked. And a bright light was behind it. We entered it. And it was true. A new ship. A new life. Same ugly pirates. Except... "Captain Keg!", I yelled. "Is it with you lads?", I asked. "No sir", my crewmates answered. "He is back on his ship", one of them added. Along with his fellow mute friend.
So this is it! My story. Our encounter with Meg. Also our demise. To live and share the tale. To give others the opportunity to follow on your footsteps and succeed where you couldn't... Or, should we gather more men and see to that beach (pun intended) once again. For now, we decided to join our peg-legged-one-eyed friend and write this tale. Only time will tell if the day were we will finally be able to say and sing "We killed her!"... will come.
The end
And as I said, I am back to the part of the 5 member crew. Yes, it's a great way to join and befriend other pirates. But, as some of them already completed the event and are unwilling or even against it (if you know what I mean) and this is a timed event, I suggest that you guys should add the possibility to have a 5 member crew on the ship or add members you meet to your crew. They can appear with blue text, as allies or add the possibility to have another friend or two, on a Sloop, join you and your team of 4 men on Galeon, on the same instance. This last one I believe it's a great addition and it's really needed.
Other than this, keep up the good work and continue to deliver us more experiences so we can continue to share our stories.
Cheers guys! And safe sailing on these new treacherous waters.
Signed - Captain Bobyslick