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Captains Log - Feb. 15, 1467

Cap. Slap of the Maidens Blade.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know how long we've been here....After selling a hull full of loot you just want to relax for a bit and do nothing. Feet kicked up on the rail, no shoes, and leaning back on a folding chair, hat pulled down over my face and just soaking in the peace and quiet. Gulls squawking in the background coupled with the rhythmic rocking of the boat is a recipe for sleep I don't care who you are.. it's a wonder how anyone stays awake when fishing.

We parked the Blade off the shore of Lonely Isle. Being that far South we were hoping for a nice quite day of fishing, and that's when I felt a tug on my line. Slight at first, enough to catch my attention, then the pole bends in half and nearly goes overboard as I catch it at the last second!

"Oh Bobbo! I've got the Kracken on the end of me line!" I yell back at him with excitement.

No response. I turn and look and hes passed out with enough drool running down his face into his ears to block any hearing.

Wrestling with the fish for what seemed like forever, I finally wrangle it into the boat, and boy is it a beaut! An Ancient Battle Fish... prolly 20 lbs or more. I take it off my line and show Bob... Still asleep on the deck I drop the large fish on his lap. He startles awake as the fish flops all over him and he's trying to wrestle it off. Laughing harder than I have in a long time, Bob comments how that wasn't very funny as he tries to regain his composure. Eventually he comes around and we start to Filet and cook the monster fish. That's about the time we hear footsteps above our heads on the top deck. Bob and I make eye contact and draw our swords. I signal to him to keep quiet and we both hide below deck and wait for the intruder to show himself.

Before we see him his foul odor arrives, even over the smell of the cooking.

You know, we make our living on the Sea... you'd think he'd have time to jump in and rinse off from time to time... I think to myself.

The footsteps get closer until we see them start to come down the stairs to the hold. I signal Bob again... aim to kill. As the intruder sets foot on the bottom deck I lung out of hiding and bury my sword in his chest up to the hilt. It goes in without any trouble, must have missed all his bones. A hoarse gasp emits from the intruder as my sword let all the air out of his lungs. In almost the same instant Bob silently follows through with with a silent cut, liberating the rats head from his body. The body goes limp in my arms and I let it fall off my sword onto the ground. The only sounds now are the crackling of the grease and the cooking fish, as Bob and I stand over the lifeless body.

"Tend to the cooking Bob... I'll take care of our friend here." I say as I relight the lamps below.

I glance down in new light and see the true identity of the intruder. Covered in filth, unusual growths sprouting all over his body, and tattered clothes. Barnacles and Muscles have made home on numerous parts of his torso. His skin a wet green color mixed with a batch of grey, his head larger than what belongs on his body, and his face horribly deformed from what used to be human. The hair atop his head patchy and knotted. I've seen the likes of these before... and they never travel alone...

"Bob... Wrap it up.. fights a coming." I say.

"What is it cap? Pirates? Thieves? Bandits? The damned?" Bob asks without looking up.

"Sea trolls" I say with a quiver.

I head up to the helm to scan the horizon and don't have to look far. off the Port-side bow, to the NE I see their ship approaching fast. Quick as I can I lower the sails and catch the wind. I set a course to put them on our broadside to take a few shots as we pass. Approaching cannon range I yell at Bob to man the wheel. Digging through the cannon barrel I find an anchor ball. Quickly I load it into the Port-side cannon and take aim. Right when the ship comes into range I fire. The cannon recoils with a deafening boom. The ball travels through the air with a purple trail following behind it, tracking to the front of the Brig until it smashes into the side of their hull. The purple magic engulfs the ship swirling all around until it concentrates itself into the anchor dropping it to the bottom of the sea. The Brig, traveling at full speed comes to a crashing halt as the anchor catches. The front of the old girl dips into the sea and you hear the chain rip through the structure of the ship, splintering the wood. She comes to a complete stop as she begins to take on water all while we're sailing in the other direction.

"Haha! Bob! Did you see that? Set a course for the Devils spine... we'll lose them around the Mountains in the water." I say.

"Good shot cap!" Exclaims Bob.

Keeping the sails in the wind is the only way we'll survive this adventure. The brig is a fast ship, but our sloop is more maneuverable... and we'll have to use that. The plan is to get to the Spine and wait on the other side until they come around, then sail around the rock the other way and make it seem like we've up and vanished. It's a tricky maneuver but if we pull it off, we'll be in the clear.

Arriving at the Spine we manage to catch luck and enough wind to send the brig in the opposite direction as we sail off. Marking it up as a success, we decide to make for the nearest skull fort to relieve it of it's treasure. After a bit of sailing we find Skull Keep on the Horizon, doing a quick scan we see it...

"No. It' can't be." I say. "Bob look off the back."

We each pull out our spy glass and look to our rear. It is... the trolls are back and gaining.

"Unbelievable..." I say. "How'd they find us? No matter. Man the Cannons... It's them or us."

Hours pass. Exhaustion sets in as our ships battle it out. Hit after hit, collisions, fire, boarding attempts. Nothing seems to work... neither ship can sink, both proving fortresses of resentment to each other. Like two angry neighbors that would rather kill themselves than let the other win. Tiredness though... that's an enemy you can't defeat, she always wins. And right now she has the upper hand.

"Cap, We're down to our last board. What do you want to do?" Bob shouts up from below.

We've got nothing on board. No loot. No treasure. We've exhausted all of our resources... and for what?

"Damn Sea Trolls." I mutter to myself.

Communication with them has been useless, always met with blank stairs and a shoot first mentality. Wretched creatures wouldn't understand common tongue anyway..

"We abandon ship on the nearest Island and let her sail off into the distance. They Just want to sink it... they don't care about anything else. Just another notch in their perverted hull." I say to Bob

And we do just that. We jump ship and set her on a course in the other direction. We watch the trolls chase her down and sink her with an unnecessary force. We watch em wait around for a while... no doubt diving for any loot she might have had...

"Idiots. If they understood me at all they'd have known we didn't have anything on board..." I say.

"Damn Trolls." Exclaims Bob.

"Indeed good friend." I reply.

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TL;DR IRL: This brig... I'm not kidding. Chased us to the ends of the earth. Probably for about an hour. FOR NOTHING. We had no loot... nothing. If they'd had mics they'd have known... but nope. We tried fighting... Neither one of us would sink. We tried running.... but they persisted. Eventually we ran out of resources and Just had to give up. Let them Trolls have their fun for NOTHING! If I coulda been a fly on the wall when they found that out... Oh well.

I know it's Sea of THIEVES... but at a certain point it's Too much.

Thanks for reading my stories y'all.

Previous stories:

• Vol.1 Booty
• Vol.2 Flying Dutchman
• Vol.3 Fishing
• Vol.4 9/10 robbery
• Vol.5 Reapers Bounty
• Vol.6 Ghosts on the Water
• Vol.7 Ambush at Key Haul Fort