Chapter 2: A spot of Troggy trouble

"I take it you lost something or got stolen from?" Avery nodded and he explained that one of his recently former crewmate, a Cutthroat Shark named Fin, had stolen a jade amulet from him and has roused the Troggies into bombarding Skull Island with half of the powder kegs stolen from the warehouse and slinging them from giant slingshots. He then said "If you manage to apprehend Fin, stop the Troggy bombardment and get my Jade amulet back, I'd be more than happy to give you a ship. You have my word of honor." I shook Avery's hand in agreement and I said to him "I'd be happy to stop the troubles at Skull Mountain. And as for that ship, it doesn't have to be pretty." Avery nodded and then me and Wing Chun went over to the west bastion to see it being bombarded by stolen powder kegs. We then went over to Chief Gunner Rigby and explained that Captain Avery asked me and Wing Chun to lend a hand in stopping the bombardment, then he said "Good news I heard thus far! You'd best go across the bridge and speak to Bonnie Anne, you'd do more good there." He then opened the gates and me and Wing Chun crossed the bridge, having some close calls with a couple of slung powder kegs along the way. When we reached the base of Skull Mountain, I saw a vixen with a large Spark musket and realised it must be Bonnie Anne, so when me and Wing Chun approached her, she said "Who the devil are you?"

I then replied with a bow and said "Honored to meet you, Bonnie Anne. Captain Avery asked us to take care of the Troggy bombardment, apprehend Fin and recover Avery's amulet. I'd rather not ignore the sudden bombardment, so me and my shipmate here are able to lend a helping hand." Bonnie then made a gesture and explained that Fin riled up the Troggies, saying they've gone 'Mad as Badgers' and took half the powder keg supply in the dead of the night and are flinging it back at the town. She then told us that if me and Wing Chun can clear a couple of Troggies, we can cut through their defences and then report to Lieutenant Smollet after. I nodded and then me and Wing Chun went across a small bridge to Troggy territory and then went in a fight with two Troggies – a warrior and a shaman. The Troggy warrior came at me and lunged at me with the spear, but I dodged it and fluently went behind him and shot him at the back of the head, removing him from the fight, as the shaman readied a spell at me, but Wing Chun intercepted by making a low sweep and flung the shaman in the air, then I jumped up and threw the shaman on the ground and finished it off with a well placed shot. We then returned to Lieutenant Smollet and told him we took care enough Troggies to proceed, when a familiar voice said "Took care? You two are quite fluent fighters!" Bonnie exclaimed whilst putting a hand on her hip, looking very impressed. I told her I practise my shooting 3 hours a day and I was quite a decent shot myself, which she responded "So I see! Blimey… well I'd say I help you find Fin and I'm a girl of my word. Got room for another on your crew, captain..?"

I then said "Daniel. Dead-Eye Daniel is my name, and of course you can join. There's no point in leaving out girl power anyway." Bonnie seemed happy to join, then I returned my attention to Lieutenant Smollet and asked "I take it that the Troggy slingshots are next on the list? If so, the farthest slingshot seemed to be out of range for the town's cannons and the other two is barely visible due to the dense jungle." Smollet is quite impressed that I deducted the problem with the slingshots as he was about to explain the same thing, then he said "I take it you know what to do then?" I nodded and then me and my crew went over to the third Troggy slingshot, when it was about to fire. I then took a direct shot at the readied powder keg and the sudden explosion blasted the Troggies by the recently blown up slingshot into the tree canopy. We then went over to the centre slingshot and I made a spark shot above the slingshot and it exploded in a spherical pulse and then a cannon from the bastion made a direct shot at the Troggy slingshot and decimated it. As me and my crew got to the last Slingshot, I heard something creaking from behind Bonnie and I managed to tackle her out of the way from a log trap, which instead of harming Bonnie, it impacted on the powder keg pile next to the Troggy slingshot, resulting in a n immediate detonation. I apologised to Bonnie for making a sudden move like that, but she insists that it's fine and is in fact grateful for being prevented from getting harmed from that trap.

I was glad that Bonnie isn't mad at me, so me, her and Wing Chun went back to Lieutenant Smollet, who saw what happened at the last slingshot and said "Incredible pirate, I wasn't aware that the Troggies made a log trap, but at least the bombardment is stopped. Now we can focus on getting Avery his amulet back. I sent two of my best men – Ensign Livsey and Sergeant Shepard – ahead to scout out where Fin is, but they should have been back hours ago. Mind if you go up ahead and check their progress?" I nodded and assured him that we'll get his men back as well as apprehending Fin. Me and my crew went further ahead the path, when I saw a bamboo-made key lying on the pathway, so I picked it up and I pondered if either Livsey or Shepard got locked up by the Troggies; the answer came a second later with a shout uphill "Someone please help! I'm locked in here by the Troggy Shaman's!" We then went across the bridge to see a frog gunslinger trapped in the same bamboo-made cage that perfectly matches the key I found. I then approached the cage and unlocked it, freeing the frog who is Ensign Livsey. He then explained that Sergeant Shepard went on ahead inside the Skull mountain and he [Livsey] ended up locked in the cage by the Troggies. He also said that Cutthroat Sharks had made camp past the Troggy Shaman territory and he needs me and my crew to make a distraction so he can slip past them. I agreed to his proposition and then me and my crew avoided the Troggies and then we saw the Cutthroat camp ahead and Bonnie said "Let's go pick a fight Captain." I then made a smirk and replied "Melee opponents, this'll be easy."

I then readied my Musket and Bonnie hers as Wing Chun got into his battle stance, as about two Cutthroats noticed us and drew their blades towards us. One of them came towards Wing Chun, but is taken down easily with a combination of Wing sending the Shark up in the air and a well-placed shot from Bonnie's musket, as the other Cutthroat charged at me with his blade drawn, but each time he swung it at me, I dodged it every time and when he made his fourth swipe, I fluently ducked and grabbed his arm and held it behind his back as Wing made an uppercut with his feet towards the Cutthroat's head and he was in the air, before I shot him with three rapid shots from my musket and he fell on the jungle floor in submission. I then noticed Livsey grabbing my attention, so me and Bonnie holstered our muskets and we came to Ensign Livsey, who explained that he found a note from Fin and it read: 'Our buyer won't be here for a while, so I'll be waiting in the throne room inside the temple in the skull cave. When he comes, inform me immediately.' I looked at the cave entrance and thought (At least it's not an icy cavern), then me and my crew proceeded inside the Skull cave to follow Fin's trail.