Desperately Seeking Sally
Chapter One
A/N: This takes place after the Serpent and the Raven, Old Scratch's first promotion quest.
As we dropped anchor at Scorpion Rock, I and my trusted associates walked to the cavern, where we found the skeleton of a cowboy and a large rock next to a large pool of water that cascaded down a waterfall into a lake below.
My first mate, Rena Raden bent down next to the skeleton and began searching its bones. After a minute or so, she shook her head.
"We could spend weeks looking for that ring in here, Captain, and never find it. Let me work me art." Old Scratch said as he waved his staff over the skeleton. The skeleton groaned weakly as he looked up at us. "What can you tell us about Don Rafael's ring?"
"I brought the ring here for Don Rafael, but before I could find a hiding place, I was attacked by bandits, and it fell down the waterfall." The skeletal cowboy said as he lied back again and fell silent.
"The ring – it's ours! You can't have it!" Voices said as light blue mist seeped out from cracks in the cave and formed ghostly bandits.
Old Scratch looked a ghostly bandit in the eye with the Eye of the Serpent implanted in his right eye socket, and purple lightning arced from the Eye of the Serpent, zapping the ghostly bandit and causing him to disappear.
I drew my gun quicker than the ghostly bandit closest to me, and he disappeared as an electrical burst from my pistol hit him.
Rena thrust her sword forward, stabbing a ghostly bandit in the eye, and Bonnie stabbed another ghostly bandit with her bayonet.
Emmett fired his two pistols, stunning two more ghostly bandits, and Jack and Ratbeard decapitated the last two ghostly bandits.
We regrouped, and Old Scratch said: "Bad mojo cling to this ring, Captain - let us go down to the lake quickly and find it so we can leave this haunted place."
We headed deeper into the cavern down to the dock above the lake, where I stripped down to my trousers and plunged into the lake with a knife.
The bottom of the lake was actually fairly shallow and pretty well-lit, with glowing crystals and mushrooms on the lakebed.
Managing to break off a piece of glowing blue crystal near me for future uses, I soon found a small algae-covered wooden container tightly sealed with wax, and I jetted upwards towards the surface, the wooden container in hand.
"We got the ring – now we take it to Sally. The Rabbit, he'll help us." Old Scratch said as I finally managed to open the container after a few minutes.
I put the silver signet ring that was inside on for safekeeping, and we headed back to the Aquila to sail for Flotsam.
As the Aquila neared the Stormgate to Flotsam, I pressed the Windstone in the center of the pilot's wheel, and the Aquila was surrounded by a transparent force field that protected the ship from the winds of the Stormgate.
But even with the Windstone's protection, Stormgates presented difficult circumstances for a sailor to work in, so a sailor's first time on the top deck in a Stormgate was like an initiation rite.
Rena issued orders for tacking to the men, while I constantly adjusted the Aquila according to the winds. As we reached the bottom of the Stormgate, we all tied ourselves to the Aquila, and she leaned forward as we entered, so that the deck was nearly vertical while the winds howled in our ears.
My eyes were closed and my heart was beating rapidly, as if it were trying to achieve a lifetime's worth of heartbeats before what could be the end, but then the Aquila suddenly righted herself.
As I opened my eyes, it was as if we were traveling through a dark tunnel illuminated by the light at the end and the sky blue auroras surrounding us like a loose glowing braid.
As we neared the light at the end and entered the Stormgate on the other side, the deck went almost vertical again as the wind howled in our ears, but then the Aquila righted herself, and as we were out of reach of the Stormgate, I breathed a sigh of relief.
As we drew closer to Flotsam, a town built from the wrecks of Pirate ships, our gunnery officers, the Clutterbuck brothers, David and Richard opened the bulkhead doors at the base of the main mast, and the men poured out from below decks to resume their posts.
As we dropped anchor, I and my trusted associates walked up to the Black Spot, a tavern built from the captain's quarters of a man-of-war.
We found the owner, One-Eyed Jack, looking out the stern window onto the horizon. "Well, look who we have here! I must say, I never thought to set eye on you again. What favor can I do for you today?"
"What can you tell us about Mustang Sally?" I asked.
"I haven't seen her in weeks. A little rat told me she was on to some new job, something very secret." One-Eyed Jack answered.
"I like you, Matt, so this favor's on the house: Roscoe Ratso, a vile little rat in Scrimshaw, was the one who hired Sally. I'd check with him."
"By the way, I heard the king and queen of Monquista want you dead. Something about getting paid a million bananas to start a civil war."
"Scrimshaw's in Monquistan skies, so their fleets will be gunning for you. Watch yourself." One-Eyed Jack said, and I nodded. "We should go."
After rounding up the men before they became too drunk, we set sail for Scrimshaw, Rena's hometown, and a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Before the Aquila had even dropped anchor, it was agreed that Rena, Ratbeard, and I would go see Roscoe Ratso.
We soon found Roscoe trying to sell a coat of contraband, and as we stood in front of him, he said: "Hey, I'm working here! I'm working here! Clear off, kids, you'll scare away my clients."
"What can you tell us about Mustang Sally?" I asked.
"I've never heard of her. Goodbye now!" Roscoe said. Ratbeard, who had been watching from across the street, then strode over to us. "Why hello there, Roscoe me boy, I see you still have all your fingers. Good for you…"
"I didn't see you there, Ratbeard! Yes, I hired Sally to do a job, very hush-hush – high risk, big reward. That's all I know." Roscoe said.
"Sally's boss was on a big Monquistan flagship near the Stormgate to Monquista. He might still be there. That's all I know!"
We left him alone, and we sailed aboard the Aquila east towards the Stormgate to Monquista and along the way, we spotted a Monquistan flagship with a carved gorilla head underneath the bowsprit and red sails with golden gorilla head emblems.
As we drew closer to the Monquistan flagship, I read the brass letters on the ship's bow: "Gold Monkey." I also spotted a familiar face standing on the Gold Monkey's quarterdeck, wearing golden armor. "It's Gortez!"
"The ship is yours, Rena." I said as I turned the pilot's wheel over to her. Leaping off the railings of the Aquila onto the railings of the Gold Monkey, I pulled myself up to find myself surrounded by halberds made of Monquistan steel.
Gortez shook his head and gestured for his men to stand down. "Lower your weapons, men! This is a friend. Matthew, it is you! Welcome!"
He offered his forearm and I gripped it, and he in return gripped mine. "So how goes the civil war for the Opposition?"
"The war in Monquista does not go well. The noble families, cowards all, are long in promises but short on help. I have a plan to change the game." Gortez said.
"What can you tell me about Mustang Sally?" I asked, remembering why I was here in the first place.
"I hired her to free someone from Fort Elena prison. If you find her and help her finish the job, I will pay you well." Gortez answered.
"Fort Elena's skyway is claimed by Marleybone. Sally thought the Scurvy Dog privateers could get her through the blockade. They might help you."
I nodded and I turned back to the Aquila. We sailed to the Scurvy Dogs' hideout, where a lone boatswain was repairing a rowboat on the shore.
As I and my trusted associates approached him with our hands on our weapons, the Dog boatswain cried: "Truce, pirates! We know better than to fight you."
"What can you tell us about Mustang Sally?" I asked.
"You want Captain Dan. He'll tell you all about it. He's up the stair, to the cave." The boatswain said as he pointed. We nodded and walked up to the cave, where a brown-furred Dog wearing a monocle, and a red officer's dress uniform of the Royal Navy was sitting at a desk.
"Greetings, Captain. We meet at last. I am Captain Dan, and my men told me about the thwacking you gave them when you came to salvage that Windstone." The Dog said.
"You're quite the pirate, aren't you? You've hunted my boys for the governor in Puerto Mico, but now I hear the Monkey royals want you dead."
"What can you tell me about Mustang Sally?" I asked.
"She's moved on to Port Regal. I had travel papers for the blockade, but she took them. I know another way you can pass." Captain Dan answered.
"First things first, we've been cut off here for months. Bring some fish and some fresh fruit, and I'll help you. Agreed?"
It didn't take us too long to arrange for some of the Aquila's supplies to be brought to the Scurvy Dogs. "Well done! Thanks to you, we shall be scurvy dogs no more. A deal's a deal."
"To pass the blockade into Port Regal, you'll have to give the Royal Navy something it wants, and wants rather badly. I know just the thing."
"Count Brastillo de Brass calls himself the Brass Monkey. He's the best captain in the Monquistan Navy, and he's destroyed many Marleybone ships."
"Approach that blockade with the Brass Monkey in chains, and they'll gladly let you through. The problem is finding the Brass Monkey."
"I'll tell you how, for another favor. The creatures in the tunnels below are getting out of hand – I need you to cull their numbers."
I nodded and Captain Dan gestured to a spiraling staircase leading down below. Drawing our weapons, we descended down into the darkness, and using the lanterns the Scurvy Dogs had given us, we lit the torch sconces hanging on the walls as we made our way through the tunnels.
We soon found orange Troggies patrolling the tunnels, armed with crude spears and shields. Just as a patrol turned their backs on our hiding place behind a corner, we quickly jumped out from behind and stunned them with our guns.
Avoiding the orange Troggies, and stunning them quietly when they were unavoidable, we soon came across a group of five Aztecosaur mummies.
Delivering two quick thrusts into an Aztecosaur's stomach, Rena leapt out of the way so I could deliver two slashes to finish what she started.
Bonnie and Emmett stunned the legs of another Aztecosaur with their guns, and Jack and Ratbeard leapt atop the fallen Aztecosaur and stabbed it in the heart, but Old Scratch and his Eye of the Serpent had a few new surprises.
Old Scratch smirked as he waved his staff as large bones rose from the dirt floor of the tunnel and reassembled themselves into a wyvern the size of a boat, which promptly lit itself on fire and charged at the remaining three Aztecosaurs.
"Now, that is pretty cool." I said to Rena as the skeletal wyvern breathed a jet of flame from its mouth, burning the Aztecosaurs to crisps.
A/N: If any of you have been observing closely, you'll find several references to Mass Effect.