----------- INTRO TO STAGE 0 ----------
Begining
As we struggled to complete construction of our base, one of our scouts returned in an outrigger, bearing dire news. It seemed we had not made a clean escape after all. The Juggernaut, among the most feared ships in the Royal Navy, had pursued us most of the way, but lost sight of us just before reaching Seahaven. It was patrolling the area and would surely find us in a matter of days.

Our only advantages were our knowledge of the area and the element of surprise.
----------- Outro TO STAGE 1 -----------
Greek Fire
A nearby island was home to a small band of pirates and I decided we had no choice but to seek their aid. They knew the Juggernaut’s reputation and refused to join us in battle, but when I pointed out that they risked discovery and arrest as well, they agreed to supply us with ammunition. As well as regular shot for our cannons, they gave us several pots of Greek Fire they had seized from a crippled galleon during the war.
----------- Outro to stage 2 -----------
Chain Shot
Though time was in short supply, there was an errand I decided must be run. We sailed to the nearest town on the coast, where I visited the local blacksmith. I brought with me a half dozen cannon balls and asked him to join them in pairs with lengths of chain. The request perplexed him, and my crew as well, but I explained it was a trick I’d observed our foes use in the war; these special shots would wreak havoc on the Juggernaut’s rigging.
----------- Intro to stage 3 -----------
Stage 3 title
Newly armed, we set sail in the Falcon to intercept the Juggernaut. She dwarfed us in size and in armament, but we had a plan. We weighed anchor out of sight around the point of an island, and waited for her to pass. A treacherous reef lay just north, and the winds were favorable. If we could just run her aground, we would have the advantage. I commanded my crew to ready the chain shot...
----------- outro to stage 4 -----------
Chapter 2 outro
We took the Juggernaut by surprise, and targeted her masts with our chain shot. We could not take down her main mast, but the chains ripped through rigging, tattered her sails, sending her off course to the north. We took heavy fire once she’d manned her cannons, but turned out of range before she could sink us and waited for her to hit the reef.
Thus immobilized, she was helpless when we closed in, this time with the Greek Fire. We bombarded her deck and sides with the blazing pots, and soon her entire hull was in flames, as panicked sailors fled in lifeboats or simply leapt into the ocean to swim for shore.
----------- intro to chapter 3 ----------
Chapter 3
With the Juggernaut defeated and construction of our fort almost complete, we turned our attention to the search for Elaine’s kidnappers. A ship leaves no footprint on the waves, however, so if she had been taken by sea, as we suspected, there would be no way to track her. We would need assistance.
We’d heard rumors of a wise old hermit making his home on a deserted island. It was said that his eyes were blind, yet he could see everything that happened on the seven seas. The trouble was, no one seemed to know the exact location of his island.
----------- Outro to Skiff -------------
Skiff
Scouring the area in which we believed the hermit should be found, we came across a likely-seeming island, whose arced shores sheltered a calm lagoon. But when we attempted to go ashore, we found ourselves attacked by an enormous white shark, which had made its home there. Its jaws had claimed two of my men before it succumbed to our harpoons.
The island proved uninhabited, but the beach we found a large skiff, superior to our own rowboats. A skeletal arm in the stern, the body nowhere to be found, was testament to the fact that we had not been this shark’s first victims.
----------- Outro to Map ------------
Map
We weighed anchor at a remote fishing village, hoping to find some information about the hermit’s location. The salt-encrusted residents were mistrustful of outsiders, and I was obliged to purchase several rounds of ale and whiskey at the public house before their lips loosened. Disappointingly, none of them had ever heard of this hermit, but I was eventually able to persuade one of the older fishermen to part with his charts; he boasted that he’d been sailing these waters so long that he no longer needed them.
There were several nearby islands that would need to be investigated, but it was still better than sailing blind.
----------- Chapter 3 key stage intro --------
Chapter 3 intro
With the assistance of the map, we were able to locate the island where this hermit was said to make his home. We weighed anchor, and lowered our newly-acquired skiff. As we paddled upriver, we found clearings with the ruins of stone buildings. What civilization had been living here, and what had befallen them?
Finally, we reached a building much larger than the previous ones. From its architecture, we deduced it must once have been a temple. More importantly, we found footprints in the mud along the river bank, leading towards its door. We tied the skiff to a tree by the shore, and ventured in...
----------- Chapter 3 outro -----------
Chapter 3 outro
For hours, we searched the labyrinthine halls of the temple. Just as we were about to give up, we stumbled into what seemed to be the altar chamber. Sitting cross-legged on the floor was an insubstantial wisp of a man, with limbs like twigs and skin that resembled nothing so much as a dead, shriveled leaf. Though his eyes stared blankly into space, he faced us as we entered, as if he’d been expecting us.
----------- Chapter 4 intro -----------
Chapter 4 intro
When I began to explain the purpose of our visit, the hermit held up one skeletal hand and said he knew already, but that he would require a service of us in before he would help. He described the location of an island chain to us, and said that several treasures had been hidden there a century ago by a band of pirates. It was all ours if we could find it, he promised, except for a set of three parchments. These, we were to return to him as payment.
He closed his eyes and would say no more for the time being, so we returned the the skiff, and went to seek his parchments.
----------- Parchment 1 outro ------------
Parchment 1
We found one of the parchments in a high mountain cave, ominously strewn with bones - some human, some from large beasts. As we crept out with our prize, thunderous footsteps echoed through the cave, and we found ourselves being chased by a monster; he was human in form, but as tall as a ship’s mast, and with only a single eye in the center of his head.
This eye was the weakness which saved us, for I ordered my men to target it with arrows. Forced to cover it to avoid being blinded, he lost his footing on the mountain ledge and plunged to his death. Shaking from the horror of the encounter, we hastened back to the Falcon.
----------- Parchment 2 outro ------------
Parchment 2
At one point on the beach, we discovered the wreck of a mid-sized ship, inexplicably located under the curve of several strange, white arches. Upon approaching them, we found these not to be man-made arches at all, but in fact the ribs of some enormous creature, far larger than any whale I’d encountered. With horror, I realized that we were standing where the beast’s stomach would have been - had it swallowed this entire ship whole, along with its cargo and crew?
In the ship’s hold, we found one of the mysterious parchments... but I would never again feel safe upon the waves with the thought that more of these terrible leviathans might be lurking beneath.  
----------- Parchment 3 outro ------------
Parchment 3
As we scoured the coast, a strange sound wafted to us on the sea breeze; female voices singing. Though both the notes and the language were unnatural, they had a hypnotic effect. Though the waters ahead seemed treacherous, I found myself holding a course for the shore.
Suddenly, strong hands wrenched me away from the wheel and spun it, the ship listing hard to port as we narrowly avoided dashing ourselves on the rocks. It was the second mate, Peter - he’d lost his hearing in the war, and that is what saved us.
The women scattered and fled into the woods when they realized their spell had been broken. Dropping anchor, we found the shore to be strewn with the broken pieces of other ships that had fallen victim to the sirens... and amongst them, a captain’s chest, containing one of the parchments we were seeking.
----------- Chapter 4 key stage intro ----------
Chapter 4 key stage
Having recovered the three parchments, it was time to return to the hermit’s island, but the seas were rough. Caught in a massive storm, we struggled to stay afloat. Several times, I felt I would be swept overboard, but my need to know what had happened to Elaine kept me alive.
----------- Chapter 4 outro -------------
Chapter 4
Again, we paddled up the river, and found him still sitting in the altar chamber of the ancient temple, as if he hadn’t moved at all since our last visit.
He unrolled the parchments one by one, and traced his fingers across their surface, as if he could read the ink by touch alone. He explained that they were the Holy Scrolls of this temple, and that he was the High Priest... the last survivor of his people, who had all been murdered by pirates, and their island looted. His last wish was to survive to see the temple restored, and he was now just a few items away from recovering all the plundered relics.
Satisfied with our payment, he proceeded to tell us what had befallen Elaine, while we listened raptly.
----------- Chapter 5 intro --------------
Chapter 5
In his minds eye, said the priest, he witnessed Elaine’s capture. As I had surmised, she’d been taken by pirates, but why had there been no letter of ransom? Where had they taken her, and why?
He could not answer these questions; her path disappeared into darkness, he said. But he did know who had taken her. My blood ran cold at the name: Blackbeard. If my dear Elaine had fallen into Blackbeard’s hands, the situation was worse than I’d feared.
The location of Blackbeard’s fortress was no secret, but it was heavily guarded. If we were to rescue Elaine, we would have our work cut out for us.
----------- stage 16 (Calico Jack) outro -----------
Calico Jack
While scouting the waters near Blackbeard’s fortress, we found ourselves pursued by a sleek ship, flying the Jolly Roger. Escape was impossible, and we feared we’d been caught by Blackbeard’s men, but the ship was captained by another pirate, by the name of Calico Jack.
They boarded us, but Jack agreed to spare my crew if I would face him in personal combat. I thought I could hold my own, but his speed was superhuman. Soon he had me helpless on the deck, but as he thrust for the kill, the wind shifted, our ship listed, and his blade missed my throat by inches, lodging itself in the boards. I quickly pulled a dagger from my boot and thanked my lucky stars as I finished him off.
His crew honored our agreement and went their way. I took Calico Jack’s cutlass as my prize, and found that it had been the source of his skill. It was a magical blade, and sure to be of help in fighting Blackbeard.
----------- stage 18 (Pirate Watchman) outro ----------
Pirate Watchman
Sailing by day, we spied a small tower on the shore, which we took to be a lookout post. We’d surely been seen, so we pretended to be a merchant vessel, and continued on our way, hiding around the point.
We returned by night with all our lanterns extinguished, the crew working by moonlight, and all of us praying that there were no unseen hazards in the waters ahead.
Dropping anchor, we went ashore and took the pirate guardsmen by surprise, storming the tower and finishing them off before they could raise the alarm. The sight of their uniforms gave me a plan, and I took one as a disguise.
----------- chapter 5 key stage intro ------------
Chapter 5 key stage intro
Under cover of night, I dressed myself in the watchman’s uniform and cast off in the skiff, leaving the rest of my crew on board the Falcon.
Though the fortress gates were locked, the stone walls offered enough handholds that I could climb over the top. My disguise let me reach the inner building unchallenged, where I found Blackbeard’s bodyguards asleep at their posts. I cut their throats and pushed open his door.
He was a light sleeper, and heard the creak. In a flash, he was out of bed, snatching his saber from the bedside. Calico Jack’s blade gleamed in my hand as we circled, then with a cry, he charged.
----------- chapter 5 outro --------------
Chapter 5 outro
Our battle was short but intense, and left the bedroom in chaos. He was a strong fighter, and I doubt I could have bested him without the magic of Calico Jack’s sword guiding my hand. Finally, I slashed his arm and he dropped his sword. I backed him into the corner and raised my blade to his throat, demanding Elaine’s release. 
----------- chapter 6 intro --------------
Chapter 6
Though his life was in my hands, Blackbeard laughed, and said Elaine was no longer there. He’d sold her to the Devil of the High Seas himself, Davy Jones. Jones intended to force her to wed him, to share in his curse and keep him company for eternity. I thought back on the priest’s words, that he’d seen Elaine’s path vanish into darkness, and knew that Blackbeard spoke the truth.
I wanted to question him further, but I the footsteps of running guards were approaching. Instead, I spat in his face and made my escape.
----------- Stage 22 demon figurehead outro -----------
Demon Figurehead
We’d heard rumors of an old hag living in cave, down in the far southern latitudes. Those we talked to said that she was an expert in all things supernatural, so we sought out her aid.
We found her in an icy cave high on a barren mountain peak. Though the air was cold enough for us to see our breaths, she wore only tattered rags, yet seemed not cold at all.
We explained our quest to her and what she gave us made our blood run colder still. A horrific figurehead, consisting of the parts of a human skeleton reassembled in an unnatural configuration, bound together with iron cable and affixed on the point of a spear. This, she said, would guide our ship to its destination.
----------- Stage 21 St. Elmo's Cross outro ----------------
St. Elmo's Cross
A week into our journey, we found ourselves attacked at sea by some enormous polar fish; a ravenous mass of sharp teeth and white scales. Defeating it required arrows, harpoons, and even blasts from our cannons.
Were our ship any smaller, it might have even swallowed us whole. Indeed, this seemed to have been the fate of some previous vessel, as we found scraps of sail caught in its teeth. More surprising still, when we climbed down onto its floating carcass to slit open its belly, we found a survivor living within. A half-mad old man; a ship’s priest, who said he’d been trapped in the belly of the beast for years, subsisting on whatever else it swallowed.
He thanked us heartily when we dropped him off at the next port, and bestowed on us the only possession he’d clung to all those years; a silver crucifix - the Cross of St. Elmo, patron saint of sailors. It was that, he claimed, that had saved him, and he hoped it would keep us safe as well.
------------ Chapter 6 key stage intro ----------------
Chapter 6 key stage
With great trepidation, we removed the existing figurehead from the Falcon’s prow, and affixed the witch’s gruesome artifact. Immediately, the sails snapped taught and the ship’s wheel began to turn of its own volition. The Falcon turned itself around and set a course southwards. For weeks, we sailed, until the temperatures began to plummet as we reached Antarctic waters. The men wrapped themselves in whatever they could find, and we began to worry this cursed artifact would carry us right into the grinding ice.
But then, our lookout stilled his chattering teeth long enough to shout a warning. A boat with ragged sails and a faint blue halo had appeared on the horizon. We made to pursue, but needn’t have bothered; as soon as it spotted us, the strange ship set an interception course of its own. I gripped St. Elmo’s cross in my hand and shouted to the crew to prepare for the worst.
------------ Chapter 6 outro ---------------
Chapter 6 outro
Cold as the air was, my blood ran colder still upon seeing the crew of this strange ship. Their skin was blue-grey, their lips rimed with salt and frost. They could not be anything but corpses, yet they walked like men.
Their captain, too, was a frightful sight, and wore a chain around his neck, attached to which was the corpse of a large, white bird. This, then, was the Ancient Mariner of song and legend, he and his crew cursed for having killed this albatross, which had been sent by the gods to guide them.
They boarded us and made to fight, but I raised St. Elmo’s cross above my head, and it blazed with blue fire. The dead sailors backed away from its flames, and I demanded to speak to the captain.
------------ Chapter 7 intro ---------------
Chapter 7 intro
When I told the gruesome captain that I had come to take his curse from him, he sheathed his sword and grinned at me, the rotting teeth loose in his gums. He lifted the chain from around his neck, placed in on mine, and then he and his crew collapsed to the deck, their bones finally at rest.
I felt my blood grow cold and my skin dry and shriveled. I looked at my crew, and they looked back with eyes sunken in their sockets. It was a terrible thing I’d done, and all I could do was pray that it was the right thing, and that it could later be undone.
There was no time to question myself, however. We left the mariner’s ship and returned to the Falcon, setting sail to meet our fate on Davy Jones’s island.
------------ stage 27 Holy Water -------------
Holy Water
As we prowled the seas, hunting for Davy Jones’s island, the curse began to set in. Our skin began to yellow and tighten and our cheeks hollowed, our faces taking on skeletal appearance. Our heartbeats and our breathing slowed - day by day, we were becoming walking corpses.
Our ship’s priest could not handle it. Every night, he dreamed of hellfire, sure that we’d doomed ourselves. Eventually he fled, stealing our skiff in the night and striking out on his own. Without him, we were truly a crew of the damned, but he left a vial of holy water and a note warning us that we were sailing straight into the devil’s jaws. He said he would pray for our souls, but I know not whether he made it to shore safely himself, for the skiff was not made for travel on the high seas.
------------ stage 28 Davy Jones Heart -------------
Davy Jones Heart
In the open seas, we came across the strangest sight yet; a patch of ocean where the water boiled. Steam rose in clouds, and dead fish floated on the surface, cooked by the heat. Though the phenomenon was strange and terrifying, the prospect of such a meal was too good for my starving crew to resist, so we cast nets to sweep the fish up.
What we caught, however, shocked us all. When the net was drawn from the water, we found it had snagged a box, which had presumably been resting on the sea floor. Stranger still, as soon as it was lifted from the water, the boiling stopped and the steam cleared.
The box was hot to the touch, and it was with great trepidation that I opened it. What I saw nearly caused me to drop it to the floor - a disembodied heart, blackened and half-decomposed, yet impossibly still beating. Looking on it, I somehow knew that it belonged to Davy Jones, and that we’d stumbled across the key to his undoing.
------------ stage 29 Silver Dagger ----------------
Silver Dagger
At one point, we found a small islet, no bigger than an acre. It was a grim sight, stripped of all life by Davy Jones’s curse: the trees were all barren and stripped of their bark, and tiny skeletons were all that were left of whatever animals had once lived there.
A small rowboat was washed ashore, and in it, a man’s skeleton, the bones scorched black as if by fire, though the boat was undamaged. In one hand, it held a sabre, the metal melted and twisted, and in the other, a long-bladed silver dagger, strangely undamaged. Was this one of Jones’s victims? And if so, why was the dagger undamaged?
Perhaps silver was his weakness, I thought. I took the dagger and have kept it sheathed at my side ever since.
------------ chapter 7 key stage intro (stage 26) -----------
Chapter 7 key stage
A cold fog began to rise from the waters as we approached Davy Jones’s cursed island. It grew so thick that by the time the island’s shore came into view, we needed to haul our prow about very suddenly in order to avoid wrecking the Falcon on the jagged rocks.
No sooner had we set foot on the shore than we heard the ominous tolling of a bell. We followed the sound and found ourselves at the doors of an unholy cathedral of sorts, built of black stone, with gruesome scenes depicted in the stained glass.
We burst through the doors and found that we were not a moment too soon, as Davy Jones was standing at the altar, with Elaine next to him, chained and in tears. He whirled to face us, fire blazing in his eyes.
My men drew their swords, while I brought out the box containing his still-beating heart. Opening the box, I raised the silver dagger in my other hand, and stabbed it in.
------------- chapter 7 outro -------------
Chapter 7 outro
Davy Jones screamed as the dagger pieced his heart, and collapsed. Black smoke poured from his mouth and nose and coalesced into a shadowy figure; the demon which had possessed him, now forced from its mortal shell.
It shrieked in rage and charged, but I had the holy water at the ready. No sooner had the droplets contacted it than its shrieking intensified, and it began to claw at itself and lose its form. Soon, it was once more reduced to a whirling cloud of smoke, and then that, too, dispersed.
------------- chapter 8 intro --------------
Chapter 8 intro
With her captor defeated, I ran to hold my Elaine, but the joy on her face turned to terror when I grew close enough for her to behold my ghastly appearance. When I explained what we’d had to do to find her, she began to sob once more.
Elaine was now safe, but there would be no happy ending for us unless I could now find a way to escape the Mariner’s curse. I decided that the only person likely to be able to help us was the ancient priest... but to enlist his aid, we would need to bring payment once more.
------------- stage 31 priest's robes outro ----------
Priest's Robes
Chasing every rumor of lost treasure we could find, we found ourselves investigating a sea cave, where we were attacked by an enormous serpent.
It erupted suddenly from the water and seized our ship in its coils, the wood cracking as it tightened around us. We would surely have been crushed were it not for the quick thinking of my second mate, who grabbed a powder keg and hurled it at the beast’s head. When it instinctively snapped it up in its jaws, I grabbed a lit lantern from the rigging and threw it in after.
When the blood and dust from the explosion had cleared, the coils relaxed and the beast’s corpse sank into the depths. Deeper in the cave, we found the pirates’ stash, just as we’d been told. Among other things, it contained opulent ceremonial robes, one of the items our priest friend had requested.
-------------- stage 32 sacred chalice outro ----------
Sacred Chalice
When we discovered the location of the priest’s sacred chalice, we feared our mission was doomed, as it seemed irretrievable. The ship carrying it had run aground and sunk on a reef, so the chalice was now at the bottom of the ocean.
But one of the crew remembered a trick he had witnessed used by a native tribe when diving for clams. He obtained a cow’s stomach, which he inflated to carry a few extra lungfuls of air with himself. He then tied a heavy rock to his waist and leapt overboard, intending to untie it once he’d retrieved the prize.
He was gone so long we were about to raise anchor and give him up for dead, when suddenly a cheer went up from the crew as his head broke the surface, followed by his hand, clutching the chalice.
-------------- stage 33 key stage intro ----------------
Chapter 8 key stage
When we returned to his temple, we found the priest collapsed on the floor. I panicked for a moment, believing him dead, but running over to him, found him still breathing, but barely. In a hoarse whisper, he told me that he’d foreseen our arrival, but that time was short and that he needed our help to complete his last ritual.
I wasn’t sure he would survive long enough to lift our curse, if indeed he was capable of doing so, but we had not come all this way to deny a dying man his last wish. Two of the crew helped him to his feet while I wrapped him in his robes. Under his instructions, we placed the sacred chalice on the altar and filled it with water.
I unrolled the first parchment and held it up for him; in a wavering voice, he began to read the prayer.
-------------- stage 8 outro -----------------
Stage 8 outro
The priest’s voice gained strength as he read the prayer. The language was unfamiliar, but his passion was clear. When he’d reached the end of the third and final scroll, he took the chalice in one shaky hand and passed it to me, indicating that I should drink.


----- READY AT START ----------
Having finally eluded the Duke’s ships, we set course for the secret island we called Seahaven. The crew and I, during our service, had discovered this uncharted island amidst treacherous reefs, and used it to hide our spoils of war. Our first task would be to make landfall here and begin construction of a fort to serve as our base of operations.
Before our preparations were complete, one of our scouts returned in an outrigger, bearing dire news. It seemed we had not made a clean escape after all. The Juggernaut, among the most feared ships in the Royal Navy, had pursued us most of the way, but lost sight of us just before reaching Seahaven. It was patrolling the area and would surely find us in a matter of days.
Our only advantages were our knowledge of the area and the element of surprise.