March 9th, 1681: I've returned to Santiago. If the frigate I've captured is going to be my flagship, some repairs will have to be made.
April 21st, 1681: While cruising around Port-De-Paix, I stumbled upon a Jesuit colony. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an overtly religious man (heh), but seeing the spire of the church brought a stab to my heart. Before my family was kidnapped and enslaved, I'd spent many a happy day going to church with them. My experience kinda deteriorated when I became a homeless street urchin. If I was lucky, I'd only kicked out of church. Anyways I'm thinking about visiting the colony. After all, it could have a nunnery.
April 21st, 1681 (continued): As I entered the monastery (no nuns there), the Abbot came personally to greet me. The conversation we had still burns in my mind (and in my lungs).
I was the first to speak. "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, and you killed my father. Prepare to die. I'm wondering if me and my men could receive some lodgings in your fine monastery."
"Inigo Montoya! I'm surprised to see you here!" The Abbot bellowed.
"Really?" I replied. The Abbot was a big man, and fond of bear-hugs, so I lacked the breath for anything longer.
"Yes, I thought that you would be chasing after Baron Raymondo."
I gasped out, "Baron who?"
"Baron Raymondo," The Abbot said quizzically, "the many who knows the whereabouts of your sister."
Figures. The last person to know about Baron Raymondo is me. Even the Jesuits, isolated as they are, know about him before me. It's easy a shame to say it, but I have neither the resources or the time to go chasing after the Baron. I'm sure my sister will be fine. Her nose is off-centre, and she does have hair on her back. The worst that can happen to her is that she looses a few extra pounds.
May 2nd, 1681: She's beautiful. A large, sensuous body, clean white sheets billowing in the wind, free of crabs, and she has the slightly green tinge of young wood. I must have her. The only problem is that she is covered by French sailors day and night. Luckily I have a sword and a (semi) willing crew to take her. It might pain me to fire a couple cannonballs up her poop deck, but that's nothing that time and money can't fix.
May 4th, 1681: She's mine! That beautiful Ship-of-the-Line is mine! She's just as beautiful up close, though it pains me to see the damage I caused to her. I'm heading to Santiago as I write this. The French will have sent some pirate hunters after me, and I'll need to make repairs as soon as possible.
May 12th, 1681: The pirate hunters are a little close for comfort. I'm ditching some of the merchant ships I 'picked' up. Maybe they'll slow my pursuers down a bit. At least we'll have more hands to sail the remaining ships.
May 14th, 1681: Those blasted French vessels are still keeping up with us. I'm leaving the rest of the merchant ships. I have a feeling that we'll have to turn and fight soon, so I need as many hands as possible on the Ship-of-the-Line.
May 16th, 1681: Bit of a bloody day. I finally had to turn upon my pursuers. We had enough cannons to blow them out of the water, but not enough men to use them all. We had to endure a withering hail of fire before we could get close enough to board. Even then, we were met by three times our number in close combat. If it wasn't for my sword-fighting skills I wouldn't be here to write this. As it were, a grand total of one survived, besides me of course.
May 16th, 1681 (continued): A bunch of the sailors we captured were impressed by my daring. I've recruited as many of them as possible. Hopefully we'll have enough hands to sail back to Santiago in good time. A navigator and one of those super-gunners were recruited as well. That artist fellow (I should really learn his name) will be pleased. As the only man with (two, attached,) good eyes, he'd been trying his hand at navigation. Rather unsuccessfully, I might say.
June 21st, 1681: I'm back in Santiago, heralded by a 21 gun salute fired by my super-gunner. It's not like he needed the help. The town, needless to say, is surprised by my capture of the French Ship-of-the-Line, and how I fended the pirate hunters off. The girl is worst for wear, I might add, and it'll take some time to fix her. While I'm at it, I might as well make a few modifications as well. Change the styling to something less French, level out the deck in case we get boarded, add some bay windows to the captain's quarters. The shipwrights tell me that it'll take around six months before she's ready to sail again. I gave the crew their share of the plunder and told them I'll send word when I'm ready to sail again. The last thing I need is for them to get underfoot. 102 doubloons ought to last them for six months, eh?
June 25th, 1681: The governor has invited me to his mansion tomorrow, so that we could chat about my exploits. I smell a promotion.
June 26th, 1681: I'm back from my little talk. The governor kinda jumped around my capture of a Ship-of-the-Line, so to speak, as an odd little glint his his eyes would appear whenever I mentioned it. I suppose that his brain was working overtime as he thought about what I did or could do. Anyways, despite any fears that me might have had, he promoted me to the rank of Colonel. Once again the rank is strictly honorary, but the merchants around here don't know that. Those hidden warehouses of theirs shall be a little less hidden, at least for me. As a Colonel, the governor's daughter is finally showing some interest in me.
August 10th, 1681: There's to be some sort of fancy ball at the governor's mansion tonight. His daughter has invited me as her partner. While I may be quick on my feet, I have no clue about those silly European styles of dancing, with their oblique order and Esprit de'Corps. She said that she'll teach me the basic steps of the dances, and will acts as the leader during them. Hopefully I'll get the chance to teach her some moves as well.
August 10th, 1681 (continued): Dancing is a lot like sword-fighting. You wait for your partner to make the first move, and then you gut 'em respond. I don't know if giving your dancing partner undisguised looks of passion is standard etiquette after a dance, but I have a feeling that I'll be seeing more of the governor's daughter (learning her name might help my chances a bit).
September 21st, 1681: Needing the cast, I've started to write a pamphlet on how to fence. There are a few choice watercolours I want to put in it. In other news the Dutch have broken their alliance with Spain. Finally.
December 24th, 1681: The governor's daughter presented me with a set of balanced swords, as a gift for me. We'll, that's not all that she presented me with.
February 1st, 1682: The ship is finally ready and my crew is back, ready for action. I have a feeling that it might be a good idea to leave town for a bit. Hopefully the governor's daughter is only gaining weight.
April 5th, 1682: It's nice to be in Santiago again. The town is just lovely this time of year. The rumours are less so. I'm going to stay long enough to take on fresh supplies and crew.
April 5th, 1682 (continued): One of the cooks from the mansion spotted me while I was out purchasing supplies. I never thought that I'd become a kidnapper. Thankfully the cook likes his new job, and can only speak Spanish. We'll need to keep an eye on him in Spanish ports, but this arrangement could work out well. Plus I've seen him feed five men on a hunk of bacon and a handful of peas, so our food should stretch out more.
June 30th, 1682: Santo Domingo is too close to Santiago. When the barmaid wasn't gossiping about the a certain woman, she was taking about the 9000 livre reward the French placed over my head, the cheeky woman.
September 13th, 1682: I don't know why I didn't sail to St. Martin in the first place. It's both poor and Dutch, a combination that I never thought I would see. More importantly, it's too far east to attract attention from Santiago.
September 14th, 1682: I bought the third piece to my treasure map. The person I bought it from was just as surprised as I was. Maybe St. Martin isn't as far east as I thought. A Dutch captain spotted the deal and came up. He said that what we were doing was illegal, but frankly I think that he just wanted a bribe. One thing led to another and anyways I ending up fighting the guy. I'm using fighting in a very loose sense. I threw more insults then blows, and a sword-wielding monkey could fight better than him.
September 15th, 1682: Got a sense of Deja view. The governor's daughter in St. Martin is more than a little pretty. As fate would have it, she's interested in colonels, but only Dutch ones. Mind you, I wasn't in the governor's mansion to check out his daughters (much), so as a captain I'm well on my way to becoming a Colonel. Maybe this time I take it a bit slower.
October 11th, 1682: St. Martin may be poor, but St. Kitts is full of wealthy English merchants. Some of them less wealthy than before.
November 17th, 1682: All my holds are full of plunder, so I'll be headed to St. Eustaticus. Being both wealthy and Dutch, they'll be in desperate need of goods.
December 8th, 1682: Promoted to Dutch captain, completed my treasure map, who cares. The important news is that I overheard a conversation involving the destination of Baron Raymondo. He must be a terrible sailor if word of his destination has gone ahead of his ship. The cook will have to be locked up before we enter San Juan. Can't have him sending any messages, can we?
January 22nd, 1683: I have no idea what possessed Baron Raymondo to become a sailor. He left for San Juan 122 days ago, and I beat him there. Not much to do but wait, I suppose.
The pamphlet will be published once I get enough sword-fighting screenshots to go with it.
Also, a name for our new ship would be nice. If nobody says anything, I'll probably rename it "Revenge" after the boat in the Princess Bride.
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Topic: Let's Play: Sid Meier's Pirates! That's Mr. Baron Montoya to you! (Read 21258 times)