View source for UO:2004-11-23: The Pirate's Booty

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| title = The Pirate's Booty
| author = Archimedes the Old, Commander of the Royal Guard
| type = BNN
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Several days ago, the city of Jhelom was invaded by Pirates, all of which seemed to be in the process of evacuating when the Royal Guard arrived. We took care of the remaining forces with great ease, but were left to question why exactly the pirates were in Jhelom in the first place. It was clear that we had a little mystery on our hands, and I assigned the Royal Guard the task of solving it! Their first clue was simple; seek out any one in town with information concerning the pirate attack. The night was late, so I left with full confidence in the Royal Guard to uncover some answers.

Several days later, I walked into the Lycaeum to find several of the Royal Guard diligently studying the Gargoyle Tomes we uncovered in Montor. I reminded them that I was in need of information leading to the whereabouts of the pirates. My confidence in them was well placed - they had solved the mystery and were eager to show me what they had found! Off we went…

I was introduced to McKenzie the Guard, who was very hard at work keeping the Jhelom tavern keepers in business. Through his inebriated state, we learned he had high respects for a man named Jorston who may know something about the pirates. The only information we had was he was a heavy drinker, so the Royal Guard had to search all the Taverns and Inns throughout the land.

Within the lonely tavern of Vesper, Jorston set down his sword and raised a large bottle of ale. He was just as concerned for Jhelom as we were, however not enough to go check on his good friend Heather, whom we were asked to find back in Jhelom. It is my professional opinion that he is not capable of making it back to Jhelom until he gets himself some much needed rest.

Heather was located within the Brother of Arms building in Jhelom, clearly getting no help from the fighters in locating her kidnapped husband! She only knew Pirates took him and sailed off, with no clue as to where he would be. Well, as clichés would go, Spencer no doubt would be made a pirate himself or be forced to walk the plank and make it to shore. The Royal Guard searched high and low, and found Spencer alone on Avatar Isle.

Spencer had spent several hours on the Pirates' ship, and was able to provide some information on the identity of the Ship Captain; he wore a unique hat which led us to a fine tailor located in the city of Nujel'm!

Unfortunately, Irenya the tailor would not tell us anything about her clientele. One could be quite proud of her code of honor when staring in the face of the Royal Guard! However, my opinion of her turned sour when she explained a bribe would loosen her lips. Without any other options, The Royal Guard was forced to find the cultivar name of a type of rare cotton that she wished to obtain. There were only two healthy cotton fields in all the land; however this cultivar was so rare, the Royal Guard found their answer with farmers living next to an empty field!

There is one thing about farmers that sets them apart from other citizens – half the time, you can hardly understand them. After adjusting to this farmer’s thick accent, he insisted on us talking to his friend located in Britain. Again, the search was on – the friend was found outside the city in his personal residence.

Legleder was slightly better than Irenya; he also requested information but nothing scrupulous. He wanted to get in touch with a retired guard that worked at the Crossroads in Felucca! Thankfully, we did not have to travel there, for one of the Royal Guards remembered the guard’s name and gave it to him.

Irenya, while grateful for our help, was pleased with herself for getting the upper hand on the Royal Guard. But we did what we had to, and got the coordinates to where she delivered the hat a few weeks ago. With the aid of a sextant, we were directed to a small house just outside of Vesper and supplied the password “Booty.”

I thanked those that accompanied me that night and spent several days planning our next move - the invasion of the Pirate Cave! As I summoned the Royal Guard a few nights later, the first order of business was to congratulate and reward the fine detective work of Railod, Aristylla and reaper for solving this mystery and another one pertaining to the gargoyles for myself. It was unfortunate reaper was not in the crowd, and I'll have to scold him later for missing a meeting! Even so, I was able to reward Aristylla and Railod for their hard work.

With congratulations out of the way, I summoned Iyona Kondo who was prepared to accompany me this night to the Pirate Cave.

The entrance was an innocent looking encampment outside Vesper- nothing more than a small fire under a kettle, a modest tent and a lonely fisherman hanging around. However, using the information given to use by Irenya, we stood on the net and said “Booty” and fell through a trap door into the caves below!

A large number of pirates greeted us inside, very displeased at us for invading their cave; however we were prepared and easily made our way through them and into their stronghold!

Scattered throughout the cave were crates with the name “Lenshire” stamped on them, which was the name of the Baron in Jhelom that Heather worked for! It seems the pirates raided the town for his belongings, and were shipping them out of the city just before we arrived. We traveled deeper into the caves, and found a bedroom with most unusual decor and the remains of a fire with a damaged parchment beside it.

The Royal Guard fought well, and cleared out the Pirate Cave. Several boxes belonging to Lenshire were collected, and we made our way back to the Castle while I ordered a messenger to summon Lenshire to the castle.

Our business was finished for the night, and we bid farewell to the crowd and reminded them to visit the Baron's dockworkers in Jhelom to return his belongings.

Baron Lenshire was kind enough to issue Lenshire Clan Tabards to those that returned his belongings to his Dock Workers.

Tonight went well, however we are still without answers as to who is behind these attacks - but we finally have some clues as found in the room with unusual decor.

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