The tales of the Naughty Poodle

Tale #2: The day I fought a ghost ship fleet for a piece of paper. (This tale has some nonsensical pirate jargon for added effect)

I was sailing on me ship and decided it would be fun to find a lost shipment for them merchant folks. T'was smooth sailin' right until I found that the next clue was right near a big ol' ghost fleet. I decided a few ghost ships wouldn't keep me from me clue, and figured I could anchor near it, scoop up me clue and any goods near it, and sail away. As I approached me clue, I looked away to make sure no ghost ships were preparin' to blast me ship to bits, and found I could no longer see them gulls that marked the clue spot. In a panic, I dropped the anchor and hoped for the best, but the seas decided to have a little fun at my expense. I ended up anchoring to far away from me clue, and right within cannon range of most of them ghost ships. I valiantly attempted to fight these pesky green terrors off, but was quickly swarmed and bombarded on multiple fronts. I managed to sink enough of them to let me raise anchor and sail to me clue, when I noticed four ghost ships near it and more approaching. I quickly anchored near me clue while I still had the chance, and prepared for the worst. I shot, bailed, and repaired desperately, and managed to scuttle the ones near me clue, hoping to procure me clue whilst the other ships in the fleet approached. But those ghostly terrors were not ready to give up yet. Rather than sail all the way to me ship, they proceeded to flee and summon reinforcements to blast me ship to davy jones locker. With no time to lose, I quickly harpooned me clue, and noticed to my dismay that there were no goods that went along with it. I took off like a shot to me anchor, proceeded to attempt to raise it, and realized that the spoke of me captan I was attemptin' to use had taken permanent shore leave. I raced to the other side, raised the anchor and made sail just as the next wave of them ghost ships appeared. Their shots ravaged me ship, but I pulled through and kept it afloat, hoping that me next clue would be easier to obtain. As if to make up for their earlier hinderance, the seas proceeded to give me good treasure near some of me clues, no further terrors to haunt me, and a sizable haul from the lost ship.

Alliance, betrayal, and a big pile of treasure. The true pirate experience

I had been doing a fort with an Athena emissary flag, wondering if anyone would show up, when, all of a sudden, a reaper sloop showed up and started blasting away at my ship. I set sail and we traded shots for a while, until a galleon showed up. The galleon was a reaper emissary as well, but they had yet to fire on me, seemed more focused on attacking the other sloop, and wanted to form an alliance with me. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, it seemed that the galleon and sloop were already in an alliance, and had attacked one another by mistake, as both ships started attacking me, causing me to flee. I decided to act as though I was leaving, then circle around a large set of sea rocks and return when their guard was down. As I rounded the sea rocks (which took about 2 minutes), I saw that the reapers had already betrayed one another, and were firing on one another. When they disengaged, I proceeded to fire upon the galleon, and managed to sink it. The galleon's crew started using the cannons on the fort against myself and the other sloop, so I decided I would go to the second nearest fort, pick up some gunpowder barrels, and destroy the reaper sloop, which would hopefully have defeated at least some of the galleon crew. I decided to get five gunpowder barrels instead of just one or two (which was a mistake), so I would be prepared in case the galleon returned. By the time I set sail, the other sloop had done the same, and it became a race to see who could get to the outpost first. As the race progressed, and I managed to block the reaper sloop from reaching the outpost, I noticed another sloop was coming from an outpost near the one I and the reaper sloop were heading for. Figuring the other sloop would chase the reaper sloop, who had a higher grade as an emissary, and therefore would be the sloop more likely to have loot, I decided to head towards the outpost I had blocked the sloop from, and wait for the other sloop to chase them towards me. Since the reaper sloop was a captained ship, the most logical place for them to weigh anchor would be right by the sovereigns tent. I placed a gunpowder barrel in the sovereigns tent and sent my ship away, as though I was abandoning the chase. I waited for a little while, but no one showed up. I returned to my ship, figuring that something had gone awry. Sure enough, the other sloop had ignored the reaper sloop, and was coming after me. I saw that the reaper sloop had gone to the outpost my pursuer had come from (for whatever reason they had left me in the alliance) and sold some of the best loot before they realized I was getting a cut of the treasure, at which point they left the alliance. I sailed to the outpost, planning to de-mast the reaper sloop, give my pursuer an easy target, and defeat the victor of the battle. I sailed up, managed to hit them with a chain-shot before I passed them (thankfully, their mast was already damaged, so the chain-shot de-masted them), sailed past, and waited for my pursuer to attack them. To my surprise, my pursuer ignored them completely, and continued to chase me. Furthermore, a meg spawned on me, which distracted me long enough for the reaper sloop to repair their mast and get away. I would have continued the chase a little further to see if I could catch or intercept them, or at least gone back to the fort to see if they missed any loot, but I was out of time. However, despite the fact that I did not get any treasure, the experience itself made the effort worth it.