The Tale Of Captain Sandwich:
I hear yee been askin’ for tales of adventure. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Let me tell you my story. The whole world was at war. But there were legends. Legends about a place so beautiful, so cut off from the world, that it was beyond the reach of the fighting. It was called The Sea Of Thieves. My parents, like so many others, clung onto the hope of this safe haven. They stole an old ship and sailed around the world, searching for these legendary waters. I was born on that ship. It was called ‘The Jewel Of Life’ and I spent the first eighteen months of my life living on her. We dodged warships, hid from planes and avoided bombs until my parents were starting to give up hope of ever finding The Sea Of Thieves. But then, one night, a bombing raid happened nearby, and the explosions set off a Tsunami. We were helpless as it lifted us and carried us through the water. The next thing my parents new, it was the next day and all three of us were spread out on the beach. First my parents ran to me and lifted me up and cradled me in their arms. Then they took in their surroundings. Our ship was just off the shore, in really bad shape. The island was unpopulated and amazingly untouched by war. And even though I was a baby, less than two years old, I still vividly remember what happened next. A man just appeared in front of us. We were shocked, you see, as all magic had been forgotten for thousands of years in the old world, yet here was a man, shimmering green, in front of us. He introduced himself as Ramsey Singh, The Pirate Lord, and helped my parents get some equipment and patch up our ship. Meanwhile, he picked me up and held me in his arms. Even now I can hear his words. “You’re going to make a great pirate,” he said as he seemed to stair into my soul. “I can see it in your eyes.” Then he gave me back to my parents and let us set sail. Then he guided our ship into The Sea Of Thieves. I remember my parents were ecstatic. After that I can’t remember anything, and neither can my parents as apparently there was a massive celebration when we arrived, and they had a bit too much to drink. They weren’t used to the strength of grog. And there we were, on Plunder Outpost, after just meeting the great Pirate Lord. We were so lucky to have been shipwrecked on Old Sailor Isle, as it turns out that it is at the start of the only entrance into The Sea Of Thieves. Unfortunately, everything didn’t quite go to plan. My mother wanted to settle down on Plunder Outpost, whilst my father wanted to sail The Sea Of Thieves and become a true pirate. And so he left on our ship, whilst me and my mother started a life on Plunder Outpost. My mother, Sarah, got a job as a chef in The Drowned Rat Tavern, although all she really made were sandwiches, so she became known as Sarah Sandwich, and then I became Ben Sandwich. I spent some of my time in the tavern, either listening to stories or helping out to get a few bits of gold. I spent some of it getting lessons from Maureen, the senior trader at our outpost, who believed if I was ever to be successful, I needed a proper education. I spent some of it helping pirates by lugging their treasure ashore, so they could sell it, again to make some gold. I some of it being taught different trades by the local shipwright, blacksmith and clothes maker. I spent lots of it sat outside Madame Olivia’s tent, watching her perform her fascinating rituals, as ever since I first met The Pirate Lord I have been fascinated by magic, and in turn, The Order Of Souls. But I spent most of it bored, dreaming about leaving Plunder Outpost and joining my father as a pirate. I couldn’t really remember him, but I knew I’d recognise him if I saw him. So, on my eighteenth birthday, I gathered up my lives savings, packed my bag, and said goodbye to everyone who I had lived with for the past sixteen odd years. I was gifted a set of clothes by Chris, who taught me a real pirate has style. To be honest, I really liked the clothes he gave to me, even if it was a mix match of botched clothes from multiple different clothing sets, including an admiral one, a grand admiral one and a few others. He even gave me a beard trim and haircut. And then I was off. I payed Captain Lethbone, a pirate who I had known for many years, for a trip to the nearest other outpost, Ancient Spire Outpost on his surprisingly old sloop, ‘The Deadly Voyager’. My plan was to wait there, maybe get a small job to earn enough to buy food and grog and accommodation, until my father turned up. I knew I may have had to wait a while, but I was certain eventually he’d come to Ancient Spire to turn in some loot and get a grog or something. He had avoided Plunder Outpost because of me and mum, but why wouldn’t he come to Ancient Spire. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. In the meantime, I got a job helping out Madame Olwen with odd jobs, anything from collecting ingredients to patching up her tent, but I knew I couldn’t live like that forever. I loved witnessing the magic of The Order, and Madame Olwen even taught me a few basic spells, but my dream was to be at sea. I was beginning to fear the worst. What if my father never came? I had heard stories about pirates who didn’t go to The Ferry Of The Damned, before their souls were ready to leave this world. They didn’t become skeletons, their souls didn’t respawn into their bodies, and they didn’t move onto the next world. Their souls were just lost forever, trapped in this reality. That could’ve happened to my father, and there I was, stuck on Ancient Spire Outpost with not even enough gold to go home. After I had been on Ancient Spire for ten months, I had completely given up hope of my father’s arrival. I thought I was going to be trapped on that outpost for the rest of my life. At least Madame Olwen said I was exceptional with magic, and that if I wanted to, I had the potential to join The Order Of Souls. I could become the first male in The Order. But then it happened. I had been collecting some ingredients from the North side of the island and was just making my way back to Madame Olwen’s tent when I noticed a massive commotion on the main jetty. Virtually everyone who was on the island was there, even the shopkeepers, and the company representatives, and they never left their shops or tents for fear of getting robbed. I pushed my way through the crowd, and then I saw it. The most beautiful ship I had ever seen lay sinking in the water in front of me, still looking dignified as it continued to fall apart. Everything was golden, and it shined like something heavenly in the sun’s gaze. And then it was gone, completely swallowed up by the sea. There was no crew, so they would either be on The Ferry Of The Damned or getting a mermaid back to their ship. Soon enough a mermaid would come along, fix the ship with their incredible magic, and send it to an island for it to be picked up by its owners. Everyone else left, and to this day I don’t know why but I waited. Maybe I wanted to see the mermaids in action, maybe I was just entranced in its beauty, but an hour later I was still there, and to my surprise, so was the ship. So I made a decision. Without even taking my jacket off I plunged into the water, and slowly, piece by piece, I hauled the bits of ship to the shore. All that lugging treasure around as a kid had strengthened my muscles. Maybe I could clean up the main parts and sell them to the Shipwright. With the value of these pieces I might even be able to buy my own ship with the money. And then, once the Figurehead, Capstan, Wheel, Anchor and both Cannons were ashore an idea hit me. With all I had here, all I needed was some wood, rope and fabric and I could build my own ship. I had been taught how to by Sue the Shipwright back on Plunder Outpost. Slowly, I dragged each piece over to an area of sand, just bordering the grass. I swept it away and underneath there was a large sheet of fabric. I lifted that up and underneath it was a big door, lying against the sand. This was where I had been staying on Ancient Spire. I unlocked the door with a key I kept in my left boot and swung it open. It led down into a cave. When I first arrived at Ancient Spire Outpost, I needed a place to stay, and when I was first walking along the shore I noticed a different, hollow sound when I walked over that area. Sure enough, after about half an hour of digging through sand, I came to solid rock. I dug through that with a spade I had ‘borrowed’ from the local Gold Hoarder representative and then I was looking down into a big, empty cave. I added a rope ladder down, fixed a door on that I had again, borrowed, from a Galleon, and over the months I had been there I had slowly added more things. Anyway, I used a pulley system to lower the ship parts into the cave. Then I set to work. I used wood from barrels located around the island meant to help pirates patch up their ships, I stole rope from different pirates sails when they stopped off at the island, and I used a big sheet of black fabric given to me by Madame Olwen for the sails. Whenever I wasn’t working for Madame Olwen, I was down there building my beauty. All the other parts I needed such as barrels, clothing chests and a map table I sourced from different ships when they were moored on the jetty. I even went two months without grog so I could afford to buy paint from the Shipwright. Then, after a year of hard work I had finished. I called her ‘The Regal Skull’ after the golden reapers mark I had embroidered onto her sail. I made a massive opening in the roof of the cave, big enough to easily fit my ship through, and then I went to the other side of the cave and broke a whole in the wall. A torrent of water flooded in, lifting me and my ship level to the sand. From there I dragged her across the beach and down to the jetty, filled up the hole I had made with rocks and covered it in sand, and then said goodbye to all I knew on Ancient Spire, except Duke, who I knew I would see again as he seems to always be on different outposts, and set off on my first adventure. I randomly placed my finger on the map, and it landed on Crescent Isle, so I raised my anchor, lowered the sails and off I went into the horizon. It felt amazing, the wind in my hair and the spray in my eyes. Me and my sloop were one being, moving as one, feeling as one. After almost two years after I left Plunder Outpost, I finally had my own ship. I was a pirate. The wind was strong, so I arrived at Crescent Isle in no time. It was only when I lowered the anchor that I realised I hadn’t brought any equipment, including weapons. I went onto the island anyway, hoping for the best. And then the one thing I didn’t want to happen happened. I heard a horrible sound and turned around to see a Skeleton Captain and three of his crewmates wrenching themselves out of the sand. I was backed up against a tree, with no weapons, no nothing. Apparently whatever injuries you sustain on your first trip to The Ferry Of The Damned are kept forever, and I had heard skeletons mutilated their victims. And then I felt a thump on my shoulder. At first, I thought it was a sword coming down on my neck, but after I heard three gunshots I turned my head to see a Cloudy Capuchin sitting on my shoulder, a flintlock in his hand. I was in shock. Of course, I had seen capuchins before but never ones like this. This one was dressed in like a right Sea Dog, brandishing a pistol. And when I turned my head back to in front of me all four skeletons were dead when he only shot three bullets. It was obvious he wanted to stay with me, and I was glad to have his company, so I picked up the skull of the captain and we headed back to the ship. To this day I do not know where he keeps his flintlock, but it’s always ready and loaded when it’s needed. I named him Sammy, as the name just seemed to fit him. After that we sailed to Golden Sands Outpost so I could grab some equipment, and a voyage, as well as selling the skull. Looking at the beautiful beach and dancing palm trees and shining ocean reminded me of how lucky I was to live in The Sea Of Thieves whilst the outside world was in a constant war. Firstly, I went over to The Order Of Souls tent and sold the skull, then bought some new clothes as well as equipment with the money. I bought a stunning hand made weapons set called The Reapers Heart Weapon Set. Then I headed over to The Captains Head to get a drink and a bite to eat. And there he was. He had changed a lot but instantly I knew it was him, even though he had his back to me. He was sitting at the bar with a tankard in his hands, half passed out. He had grown his hair long, and rather than the boring, straight up hair mum had told me about it hung in dreadlocks down his back. His skin was a charred black, meaning he must have been killed by burns on his first trip to The Ferry Of The Damned. But it was him, I was certain of it. I approached Duke to see what I could find out about this man. I asked Duke who he was, and he told me he was Captain Cider, a ex-pirate who lived on the island. He got his nickname from the fact he didn’t drink grog, and instead a peculiar drink called cider. It was made from apples and the tavern owner bought it in especially for him. I grabbed a quick grog and headed back to ‘The Regal Skull’, where I spent the night. In the morning I approached him. I caught his attention and was just about to try and explain who I was when he enveloped me in a hug. “My son,” he kept repeating, “My son.” We were stood there for what seemed like hours, clinging onto each other. He told me I looked so much like his father, and then we sat down on the beach and talked for hours. I told him my story, and he told me about how he had left, but realised he couldn’t afford to live as a pirate. He had been getting hardly any money yet spending hundreds on repairs. So he sold his ship and settled down on Golden Sands Outpost. Then he told me about his fiancée. She had been a Naval Officer in the old world, and she had, like my parents, bought a ship, ‘The Beauteous Saviour’ it was called, and taken herself and her daughter, Penny, to The Sea Of Thieves in hope of escaping the war. They crashed just off Golden Sands Outpost, just a few years after my father had settled down there, and swam to shore. Ronnie and my dad had met, fallen in love and were engaged. He introduced me to Ronnie, and her twenty-five year old daughter Penny. They lived above the Captains Head, as Ronnie worked there as a cleaner. They were lovely, and they felt like family – they even loved Sammy – but I hadn’t got this far to give up on my dreams and settle down on an outpost. So I said goodbye, but I also made my dad an offer. He could come with me as my Co Captain, and together we could sail the seas. We would come back to Golden Sands often, but we would be pirates together like I always had dreamed of. And he said yes. So I grabbed us a voyage from The Order Of Souls, obviously, and we sailed off into the sunset. We went on many great adventures, and I am sure many are still to come. My first trip to The Ferry Of The Damned was about a month after we first set off. I was cannonballed straight in the chest. All I saw was a Skeleton Ship alongside us, then this black blur came hurtling towards me and the next thing I know I am on this glowing, ethereal ship with a portal in front of me. When I stepped through, I found myself lying on the floor of our ship, missing my right arm, my right eye and my left leg. I got myself a peg leg, an eyepatch and a hook later and quickly got used to it. Since the start of my journey I have got new clothes, new equipment, new ship parts, even new body parts, and I have had an amazing time. And my journey has only just begun.
