With the recent influx of new PS5 players and many pirates focused on the time limited gilded voyages, my main crew mates and I have noticed that the seas have been a bit calmer and friendlier the last few days. This atmosphere has led to one of our best and most unique sessions of Sea of Thieves last night.
We started our journey on Plunder Outpost. After raising our Gold Hoarder Emissary flag, collecting supplies, and starting the Gold Hoarder Gilded Voyage, we set sail and pointed our brig towards our first island, Thieves Haven. The journey was uneventful, only seeing one ship in the distance. After digging up the treasure, we set sail for our next destination, Crook’s Hollow, where our tale truly started.
While parked at the northeast beach, we spied another brig to the north. It was in the distance but headed our way. We prepared ourselves for battle but decided to attack only if fired upon. The brig approached peacefully and pulled alongside. Our guard remained up but no fight ensued. We soon realized the brig was open crew when two pirates dropped off leaving a lone pirate. My two crew mates eventually went for our treasure while I remained onboard and watched our visiting pirate who only communicated with the in-game canned responses. Soon, two new crew mates joined the solo pirate, both of which had voice comms. They seemed chill and didn’t have any specific goals it seemed, so we formed an alliance.
We and the other brig sailed on to our next destination, Snake Island. While my crew mates went ashore to explore and dig up treasure, I remained on the ship. After hundreds of hours of mostly shoot on sight experiences, it was hard for me to not be skeptical that an alliance betrayal might still happen. However, everyone was chill and peaceful. Two sloops even sailed up to Snake Island and hung out for a bit and then sailed on. The seas were proving to be calm that night.
Our next destination, Plunder Valley, became the height of our unique adventure. After we and our alliance brig arrived on the east side, my crew mates cannoned up to the top where their quick airborne arrival surprised two pirates exploring from a sloop parked on the west side. After a few moments of facing off with each other and assessing the situation, everyone realized that no one wanted to fight. My crew mates invited the sloop pirates to join our alliance. They agreed and sailed their sloop to the west side to get close enough to join.
At this point, one of my crew mates realized that we now had eight pirates working together in an alliance and she remembered that I had mentioned in past voyages that there is a commendation, The Legend of Glitterbeard, that requires eight players to complete. She asked me if we should try and complete it.
For those unfamiliar with The Legend of Glitterbeard commendation, it is an in-game tribute and memorialization to a Rare teammate, James White, who passed away in 2020. Once my memory was refreshed, I realized that we were already on the right island to perform the ritual to complete the Legend of Glitterbeard commendation. Fortunately, we had decent comms with everyone and everyone was onboard with attempting to complete the commendation.
To successfully complete the commendation, all eight pirates must stand around a specific tree on Plunder Valley. At sunset, everyone must play a specific song and a specific instrument based on which compass point they are standing on. If done correctly, all eight pirates are treated to a touching audio and video tribute. As sunset approached, we readied ourselves to play our instruments and waited in anticipation. At sunset, we all started playing and in moments we saw that we had successfully begun the tribute. I won’t spoil the experience for future pirates by going into further details, but everyone in our party was moved by what we saw and heard. Bravo to Rare for such a wonderful tribute!
I have known of this commendation for a long time. Given that the challenge of getting eight friendly pirates together in the right location and at the right time seemed to be a nearly impossible task given the typical spiciness of the seas, I never expected to have a reasonable opportunity to complete the commendation. The intersection of friendly pirates, both old and new, the crowding of the Ancient Isles with gilded voyages, and the serendipity of all eight pirates converging on Plunder Valley at the same time led to a truly unique experience.
The coda to our story is that after the tribute we sailed to Plunder Outpost and sold the treasures we had so everyone in our alliance could share in those spoils and continue on with their own voyages. We then grabbed our Grade 5 quest, sailed on, completed the last two gilded voyage islands and the four Grade 5 islands.
After selling at Sanctuary Outpost, we called it a night having experienced one of the friendliest seas we have ever sailed, gaining some new guild mates, and completing one of the most unique commendations on the Sea of Thieves.
