Information


Doubloon has a minion!

Seaworthy the Leggy




Doubloon
Legacy Name: Doubloon


The Reborn Celinox
Owner: Reekoh

Age: 13 years, 5 months, 1 week

Born: October 17th, 2010

Adopted: 13 years, 5 months, 1 week ago

Adopted: October 17th, 2010


Pet Spotlight Winner
October 8th, 2012

Statistics


  • Level: 12
     
  • Strength: 28
     
  • Defense: 16
     
  • Speed: 13
     
  • Health: 13
     
  • HP: 13/13
     
  • Intelligence: 16
     
  • Books Read: 16
  • Food Eaten: 0
  • Job: Deck Swabber



Adopted: 7:17 ST on October 17, 2010
Color: Reborn @ 9:43:54 ST
Occupation: Pirate Captain
First Mate: Mr. Bones
Ship: Doubloon’s Plunder
Minion: Seaworthy, Given at 9:39 ST on Oct. 17, 2010


It’s not every day one meets a pirate of my sophistication in the modern world. For that matter, one hardly runs into a pirate of any kind these days. It takes quite a good deal of cunning and quick thinking to be a pirate on these overly patrolled Subetan seas, patrols which have put many of my competitors out of business, a positive thing for me, but those patrols are also threatening to put myself out of business. A good thing, you say, putting pirates out of a job? You might think that, looking at me and how well dressed and handsome I am. But you see, I don’t care for just myself in this world; my faithful friend Seaworthy here also depends on me, who, as you can see, has four peg legs, the poor creature. He has quite a number of medical needs that must be paid for somehow. Why, if it weren’t for me, Seaworthy would not be quite so sea-worthy, if you catch my drift.

Seaworthy and I have been at sea for quite some time now, and we have a fair handle on things. Being a pirate is not always guns and glory, either, mind you. True pirates like myself take their craft very seriously. Doubloon’s Plunder is not a pirate ship in the traditional sense, but rather a well armed merchantman, sailing the trade routes when all the other ships do, ships that are laden to the brim and heavy in the water, holds stuffed with unknown quantities of rare and precious goods. These last few years, the weather has been unpardonably harsh on many a merchant, with ships sinking to the bottom of the ocean with their precious cargos, never to be heard from again. Or, that is what I lead people to think.

You see, outright piracy is virtually impossible these days, what with detectives like Thorpe getting into everyone’s business. You have to be much more circumspect when stealing other people’s properties or you’ll spend a long time in the brig. As a businessman, you can see how spending time in jail might hurt my income, or rather, how it might be detrimental to Seaworthy’s health. I have spent the last few years developing a process that, shall we say, aids in the distress of the merchantmen in inclement weather. The best way to explain, though, might be by story, and you know a pirate never turns down a chance to spin a tale. I assure you, however, that this is no tale, but pure unaltered truth.

~*~

At this time of year, the weather is particularly rough in the eastern hemisphere; mountains of ice float between Arctic Frost and the Sacred Lands. Once down near the equator, the doldrums are especially bad during these months; ships have been known to rock in the mildly swelling sea for weeks at a time, with not even a hint of breeze to fill the sails. Most captains prefer not to sail in this region until the summer months, when the sun shines long enough to melt the icebergs and the east trade winds kick in. It is particularly dangerous to sail this region in the winter months, as running aground on ice is a constant threat, running out of food is most likely, but even more of a threat is the bad weather. Only the most superb captains, such as myself, are able to keep their ships afloat in a sea where waves rise upwards of 30 feet above the main mast.

More importantly, however, is that it is during this time of year that a rare berry is produced, one that they use in the Omen Islands for sacred ceremonies, and one that is only produced in the Arctic Frost region. It is of no use trying to store the berries and wait for better weather; the natives insist upon fresh products and actually pay more if you can prove how fresh the berries are. Captains who can make the perilous journey from the icy shores of the Arctic Frost to the humidity of the Omen Islands are guaranteed to make a profit so large that they only need to make this one run in order to supply enough money for a year’s worth of needs. That is where I come in.

I sail with an empty hold for the most part, with just enough food and water for my crew for 3 months time. We dock every year on November 1st at the port of Arctic Frost, and I send my first mate Bones ashore, to secure us a contract with a good friend of mine for the berries. Most of my men are anxious to get ashore, even in a port as cold as the Arctic Frost, because we haven’t touched land since Delphi Beach. I allow the hands 12 hours of furlough, leaving only a harbor watch on board to make sure nothing happens to the ship. It alternates every year which hands get to eavesdrop in the taverns for who has what crop of berries and what route they plan to take. This particular year, I was drinking some rum in The Drowned Cat when I happened to overhear a fellow captain bemoan how he had to travel alone this year to the Omen Islands, because his friend and fellow captain was sick and couldn’t make the journey.

Being the kind, sociable captain that I am, I sidled closer and offered to buy him a drink to tide him through his misery. I nodded at all the right places, filled his cup at the right times, and soon enough he considered me to be one of his closest and dearest friends. It was only natural that I agree to accompany him on his journey south with his precious cargo of berries. I even knew a shortcut, which would enable us to beat everyone to the islands. When I told him that, his unfocused eyes sharpened on me; I could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes. Everyone in the tavern knew that the first ship to reach port in the Omen Islands always had the greatest return on goods, as the Islanders were anxious for a fresh batch of berries, having gone a whole year without. They would pay almost anything for their sacred fruit.

He informed me that his hold was already full of berries, and that he and many other captains were only waiting for the tide to turn before racing out of port. Catching sight of my first mate Bones in the tavern door, who was waving a piece of paper at me, I informed my new found friend Captain Needy that I, too, had a hold full of berries, and that my men were anxiously awaiting my return so we could set sail. Captain Needy stood up none too steadily, grabbed my arm, and insisted that it was his duty to see me back to my ship, after I had been such a good friend to him. I convinced him on the way to the wharf that indeed, it would be my pleasure to escort him to his vessel, and that we would meet at Ends Point when the moon rose tonight, so I could lead he and his cargo, along with mine, through my short cut, virtually cutting our sailing time in half. He whole heartedly agreed, and I left him in the capable hands of his coxswain, while Bones and I walked back to our own Doubloon’s Plunder.

Bones handed me the folded piece of paper, and I slipped into my coat pocket. I knew what it said; it had said the same thing more or less for the last handful of years or so.

“I suppose we had better hurry,” I said to Bones.

“Aye, Captain, the mate I took this from will be none too happy to discover his date of picking certificate is gone missing. I wish him luck of finding it though.” Bones gave me a sly smile, and we stepped into my cutter to head back to my ship.

Pirates don’t have to steal everything to get what they need. I myself won Doubloon’s Plunder in a fair card match. Back then, she was known as The Lusty Wench, which I personally thought would give men too vivid an image of what they were missing out on, so had it changed to a much more respectful and modest Doubloon’s Plunder.

We sailed that night on the tide, along with a dozen other captains, although unlike them I was not jockeying for a good position in the group. I was first to arrive at Ends Point, a landmark about 25 miles off shore. My good friend Captain Needy was not too long in catching up; he signaled me that he would like me to come aboard, and feeling obliging, I did.

“Ah, my dear friend Doubloon!” said Needy. I cringed inwardly; I much preferred a captain before my name. It sounded so much more official that way.

Outwardly, I smiled. “Needy, old friend. I suppose you are wanting some information on my shortcut?”

“Yes, yes, but let us step into my cabin, out of this frigid air. We can talk about it in there.”

What he really meant was that he didn’t want any hands overhearing a valuable thing like a shortcut, which was fine by me. I followed him to his cabin, and we sat down at his desk, a map spread out before us. He offered me a drink, which I declined. He poured himself one, and looked expectantly at me.

“So, shall we?” He offered me a pencil, which I accepted, and then I proceeded to draw out a rough route of where we were going. About half way through my drawing, he started to laugh. “Ah, Doubloon, I knew you had a sense of humor, but I never thought it was this great!” He slapped his knee a few times, and heaved a few more loud guffaws before subsiding. “Really, friend, what is the route?”

All this time, I had kept tracing the route, and when I reached Omen Islands, I stopped. “This is the route; going east instead of west around the Sacred Lands will save us hundreds of miles, and bring us there weeks before the rest of the captains even raise sight of Shadowglen. And in this route, we never have to worry about the doldrums, either.”

Needy was speechless. Sputtering, he could not seem to form a coherent thought, and so took a fortifying gulp of something amber in his glass. Finding his words, he said, “Doubloon, you dog, you are deliberately trying to keep me from sailing so you can get to the islands before me! I will have you thrown off my ship, why, why...”

I stood up. “I assure you, I am in no way trifling with you. If I had wanted to ‘beat you’ as you so claim, I would have had you meet me here and never showed. As it is I can hardly keep myself from calling you out on such a grave insult. If it is all the same to you, sir, I will see myself off your ship, and carry on with my tried and true short cut, one I have made a half dozen times myself with success. Good day sir.”

At this point, I was to the cabin door and opening it. As expected, he called out behind me. “Doubloon, friend, I apologize! Come, come, sit back down. Have a drink. No? Well, no matter. Let us talk about this route. You made it a half dozen times, you say?”

It is always the same at this point; I explained the route in great detail, I penciled in more marks for him, I accepted a parting bottle of wine and I headed back to my own Doubloon’s Plunder, there to lead him through Winters’s Fury, what most sailors called the passage down the east side of the Sacred Lands.

It is fairly uneventful sailing for the first week, unless a storm arises. In this particular passage, no storm struck, which was a relief to the new hands on ship. Storms on the west side were bad enough, but on the east they were legendary. I have in fact sailed the east side of the Sacred Lands half a dozen times or more, and so I knew my way with ease. Even Bones was quite familiar with the route, having sailed with me almost since I first commanded Doubloon’s Plunder.

About 3 weeks into our journey we were a quarter of the way into the beginning of Winter’s Fury. So far we had only had 2 squalls, both fairly mild by eastern shore standards, and I was getting slightly worried, to be honest. Mild weather was not something I needed at this time. The beginning of the 4th week, there was a knock on my cabin door. A new cabin boy, he presented Mr. Bones compliments and asked if I was able to join him on the quarterdeck.

It was unusual to be summoned by my first mate during his watch, so I stepped lively to the sacred quarterdeck, that area that was the right of only the officers to pace on when on watch, and sometimes even then the younger officers would not tread upon it. Bones was standing at the starboard rail, and I joined him there.

“Sir, a storms a-brewin’,” he said, coming right to the point. He confirmed what I mostly knew, from the quick glance I gave my barometer before joining him on deck. The glass was dropping at an alarming rate, but I felt no fear. I smiled.

“Do the crew know their duties, Mr. Bones?”

“Aye, aye sir. Me and Jones drilled ‘em thorough, we did. Not a-one of them will dare get it wrong.”

I nodded my head. All we had to do was wait and soon profit would be ours. “Carry on,” I said.

Storms came up swiftly on the east of the Sacred Lands. Bones gave out sharp orders to batten down the hatches and taken in the topgallants.

I went back to my office, and began a mental preparation of what was soon to come. After about an hour’s time, I could feel the seas heaving; the swells were probably 20 feet tall. Putting on my oil skin coat, I opened my door and called for my coxswain. I ordered my cutter to be prepared; we were going to rendezvous with Captain Needy. This was not an unexpected order, as evidenced by the men already standing by the boat in their all-weather clothes.

It was unexpected to Needy, however. I received a captains greeting coming over the side of the ship, but an insult, too. “Are you crazy?” shouted Needy, to be heard over the wails of wind rushing through the rigging. “Why aren’t you over manning your own ship?”

“I was concerned you would not be able to manage in a storm this fierce! Don’t worry on my account, my first mate is entirely capable!” I had to yell even louder than he; in just the few minutes we were standing on deck, the storm was getting worse. I jerked my head at the men who had come up alongside me, and they raced away to locations known only to them.

“Where are your men going?” shouted Bones, as he led me to his cabin. We stepped inside and hung our wet coats on some hooks before I answered him.

“They are making sure your ship is properly prepared; please don’t take insult, friend, but I have sailed through storms many a time through this passage, and I have never seen one start this badly so soon. My glass has never been so low. Why, before I came over here, I even took it apart to see if the mercury had fallen out or the glass was broken, but no, it was all there in the very bottom.” As I spoke, Needy looked more and more worried. I reached his decanter of whiskey and poured him a glass. “Take it neat, you look like you could use it.” I didn’t pour any for myself, and he didn’t seem to notice.

After downing the glass in one swallow, he held it out for more, mumbling, “I never should have agreed to this.”

“Nonsense, Needy. This storm will be bad, but I have sailed through worse, or at least equal. Now, let me tell you of my preparations, and you can tell me if you have done the same.”

Before I could proceed to list out things that I knew would be useless to him to do and that he had most likely done already, a great, ominous, shattering crack filled the air. Needy and I exchanged looks, and he raced out his cabin door. I waited behind; I knew what the sound was. His mainmast had shattered, no doubt from the stress of too much canvas spread in a storm like this. Quickly, I rifled through his desk until I came across the date of picking certificate. I secured it in an oil skin, put my own coat on, and hurried on deck. While I wasn’t worried what the outcome of this adventure would be, I knew there were some real elements of danger involved. Mostly, it was that was a ship without a mainmast was unable to gain any speed to steer, and a ship unable to steer in waves this tall was most likely going to be broached and sunk within minutes.

On deck, I saw some hands trying to fish the mast with some capstan-bars, but it was no use. Everyone had come to the same conclusion I had known from the start of the journey; Captain Needy’s Highland Emerald was going to sink.

I ran up to Needy. “Get the boats in the water, and send as many men as you can spare down below to bring up what berries they can; I have your certificate,” I patted my chest. He looked gratefully at me, and I smiled. “No need to let this all go to waste!”

In about 5 minute’s time, the men brought up only a quarter of the berries most likely on board, but that was all we had time for. Into the boats, the men pulled hard to make it across to Doubloon’s Plunder, who had faithfully kept a close distance to Needy’s ship, knowing what was going to happen. I glanced at Needy and saw him staring despondently back where the Highland Emerald most likely was; in swells this large we only caught glimpses of her.

As we boarded Doubloon’s Plunder, and the berries were hauled up, a few hands on deck shouted and pointed. Turning, I saw the last of the Highland Emerald, as she was broached by a wave and sank to her watery grave. I took my tricorn off and rested a sympathetic hand on Needy’s shoulder.

My men had been busy from before I had even left to go to Needy’s ship. Cargo below was shifted in anticipation, and Needy directed his men to follow my orders on where to place their cargo below. I personally led them to the holds, not only to ensure the proper stowing of the goods, but to see myself what it looked like down there.

“A small crop you have, sir, if you don’t mind me saying,” said one of Needy’s crew.

I nodded in mock sad contemplation, gazing with pleasure at the berries my men had secured from Needy’s own hold. He didn’t even realize he had been swindled, that’s how good I am. “Aye, we got here late this year, and so were only able to sign for a partial contract. It’s a pity, but better than nothing, do you not agree?”

While I had been across conferring with Needy, my men had made several boat trips between our own two ships and brought a discreet amount of cargo over to place in our hold. We always took enough to look legitimate, but not so much to the point that the men of whoever’s crew we were relieving of goods would notice the depletion in their own stock.

It was an uneventful journey from that point on. We only hit a few more major storms, but that first was the worst of them, lasting for over a week before suddenly subsiding. When land was sighted from high in the rigging above, I was pleased. We had beaten a previous record of mine by 3 days.

We raised Omen Islands within the week, and as I had said at the beginning of our journey, we were the first ship in port. Needy was so grateful to me being there to rescue him, he even allowed me the honor of disembarking my own goods first to sell. All together, we probably had half a cargo holds worth between the two of us, but even still, being the first ship in for the year, Needy made enough profit to cover his costs of the berries and then some. I made enough not to have to sail for a year or more, but I knew I would sail again anyway. The sea always called to me. But perhaps I would make a slight detour home for a few weeks; a person back there had been irritatingly asking me to be home more often, as she worried about me.

~*~

And so that leads me here, vacationing if you will, with my “owner” Reekoh. I say owner in such a way that you will know that no one can own a pirate captain, especially one of such dash and courage as myself. As I am marking my latest adventure in my charts and sea log, Reekoh pops into my room.

“You know, Doubloon, you don’t always have to dress like a pirate,” she says.

I almost want to correct her- Captain Doubloon. But I don’t. Instead I say, “I know.”

I have more important matters to attend to, such as the next shipment out of the Darkside tomorrow at- but I can’t tell you. After all, now that you have read of my successful exploits, you might want to try your own hand at piracy, and that wouldn’t do. There is always room for a few extra pirates in the world, but you’ll have to learn the business like the rest of us did, one peg leg and eye patch at a time.



THE END?

Pet Treasure


Hook of Flames

Gold Special Coin

Green Doubloon

Blue Doubloon

Purple Doubloon

Red Doubloon

Red Special Coin

How to Survive a Shark Attack

Silver Doubloon

Red Doubloon

Hook of Ice

Silver Special Coin

Green Pirate Ship Sticker

Yarrburger

Burning Log

Damaged Focsle

Skeletal Octopus

Cannonball Pile Beanbag

Precious Thresher Shark Plushie

Blue Parrot Puppet

Kraken Terrarium

Pumpkin Pie-rate Ship

Tarnished Doubloons

Treasure Map Pizza

Orange Pirate Ship Wedge

Chocolate Doubloons

Raspberry Jolly Roger

Sparkling Cider Jolly Roger

Treasure Chest Plushie

Fruit-Infused Rum

Purple Doubloon

Gold Special Coin

Gull Splotch

Gold Doubloon

Blue Doubloon

Gold Doubloon

Swashbuckling Shark

Aged Scotch

Lime Pirate Ship Wedge

Random Pirate-Girl Doll

Vivid Merman Treasure

Pink Treasure Chest Sticker

Red Parrot Puppet

Wooden Ship Wheel

Dinghy in a Bottle

Pirate Cutlass Sticker

Black Pirate Boots Sticker

Pirate Map

Tainted Pirate Teddy Plushie

Cask of Rum

Pirate Rum

Fake Booty

Wet Whiskers

Keelsql

Trove

Ship in a Bottle

Pirate Treasure Map

Golden Foil Pirate Coin

Hazard Map

Gold Flipper Coin

Skeletal Dog

Pirate Treasure Chest

Mischief

Pewter Special Coin

Cay Harpy

Marauder Parrot Beanbag

Buccawneer

Black Octuupoo Plushie

Ahoy Matey! Sticker

Red Pirate Ship Plushie

Turquoise Pirate Ship Plushie

Siren Stein

Red Doubloon

Pirate Rum

Hook of Psychic

Hook

Compass Beanbag

Cursed Gold Doubloon

Pop-Up Book of Pirates

Belted Glass Drinking Flask

Cask of Rum

Blunderbuss

Treasure Map Pizza

Pet Friends