Two weeks ago, Henry had a strange dream: He saw two of his fellow pirates, Willie „Pegleg“ Nelson and James „the Weazle“ Wolsingham, appear out of a strange fog. Their skin was pale white, their hair was wet and green like kelp. They were staring at him out of empty black holes and whispered with their lips shut. And the only two words, Henry remembered when he woke up, were “Help” and “Corgul”. While “Help” was a word that did make at least some sense, he wondered what the other word would mean.
During the next days he almost forgot about his dream, there was important business to do. He was desperately waiting for a shipload of ale that should have been delivered some weeks ago. His bar was running out of alcohol... He was even short on his beloved Knucklebrew, Sosaria´s best Whiskey, Henry´s mythical “Livesaver”. So, he had other things in mind when the ship with his alcoholic orders reached the small beach south of the capital Britain. Henry helped unloading the chests with liquor and – happy as he was – invited the captain of the “Merry Merchant” for a drink at the bar of the Parrot Bay Inn. After three or four mugs of rum Henry had a strange déjà vu-moment, when the captain used a word, Henry had heard before – “Corgul”.
The story was about a mighty necromancer, huge as a titan, that lived on an enchanted island. The pirates called him the “Soulbinder” because he lured pirate ships to the shores of his realm, killed every living being on the ships and turned them into undead servants – bound to his will forever. Some days ago, a fleet of pirate ships sunk in the so-called “Corgul Bay” and not a single pirate had been saved. Among these ships was the “Iron Maiden”, Willies and Jimmies ship… All of a sudden, his dream began to make sense. The merchant captain told him that there was a group of mighty fighters preparing to visit Corgul´s island and to make an end to Corgul and his unholy plans. When Henry heard all the names of the prominent fighters he was deeply impressed and decided to join without hesitating. Two days later the fleet left the shores of Britain – destination: Corgul´s Island.
After four days at open sea they reached a sandy beach and set foot on the Island. Everyone was quiet – as was the whole island. No voice was heard, no bird sung, not a single animal, man or dwarf was making any noise. And there was a thick fog hanging over this island like a curtain. The warriors, mages, beast tamers and pirates slowly approached the center of the island when they faced ghostly corpses coming out of the fog… Walking bodies of undead pirates, some of them in skeletal form, others half decayed – an incredibly cruel view. And there was this whisper again in the wet air, “Help! Help!”. The undead pirates attacked them and a fierce battle began. Henry had to fight zombie-pirates that once were his friends. But he knew, destroying their undead bodies would free them from their fate. After a while, the Britannian forces had slain most of the undead beings, the beaches and swamps on the island were covered with bodyparts – when all of a sudden a huge black titan appeared: Corgul! While the intruders were wondering about his appearance he began to attack: He threw invisible ropes on the intruders and pulled them to his body in order to crush their bones. Henry desparately tried to escape his magical grip, but as soon as he reached safe ground, he was pulled back and found himself standing right in ground zero, facing Corgul. It took a while until everybody knew what was going on…
The battle took long and many brave women and men had to die. But in the end, Corgul fell. It was a bloody but glorious day and Henry enjoyed the triumph. For his valor in defeating evil, he was rewarded with a magical sash that Corgul wore – and with a magical scroll that gives artificers a huge skill boost. Henry was extremely happy about his rewards as he usually doesn´t have much luck. When they left the island, the fog was gone and the dead bones had disappeared. He knew, that it was over. And that he had deserved his trophies from Corgul the Soulbinder.
But this wasn´t the only glorious event that happened on this journey: On their way back from Corgul´s Island, the fleet was attacked by a giant deep sea octopus named Charybdis. It sent monster-waves against the ships and attacked their crews with poisonous tentacles. They had to cut many of these tentacles until they were able to hit the monster itself. But in the end, the fight was much easier than the battle against Corgul. The cannons hit hard and Charybdis sank to the depth of the Abyss where it came from. A glorious victory – again!
The Britannian forces looted the dead body of the monster before it sank and found some enchanted leggings. As true pirates they let the dices decide who should own the price! When they finally reached the shores of Bucanneer´s Den they had a nice party with whiskey and rum. And in the same night, they summoned the third menace of the Sosarian Seas, Osiredon – and killed him. This time they were a group of many experienced warriors and it didn’t take long until he was dead… (which was a new experience for Henry, see Henry´s blog, part II).
Drunk of the triumph, Henry and some closer friends decided not to finish their journey before they hadn´t visited Navrey Night-Eyes, the greedy monster-spider dwelling in the Underworld. As everybody knows, Henry hates this spider. He had killed her more than 150 times without getting any reward for his glorious fights. But Henry felt, that this weekend would be different. With rum in his stomach, adrenaline in his veins and bloodlust in his brain he entered Navrey´s lair and defeated her almost alone (…“almost”, ok?). And then, the magical moment came, the moment he had waited for about 6 month: A voice called his name from above and said: “Henry, your oath is fulfilled! (see Henry´s Blog III) You have bravely fought and for your valor in fighting your enemy you will be rewarded with a magical item”. In his triumph he forgot to look in his backpack and imagined what item it would be: “These glasses – noooo, hopefully not. A magical scroll – hmm, might me. Ah, Tangle… Tangle. TANGLE…” He didn’t believe in Tangle – but in his heart he hoped that it existed and dropped in his backpack. And then the glorious moment came: He opened the backpack carefully and found it. Tangle. The first Tangle. HIS Tangle…
Henry sang a song of joy, praised the Seven Lords of the High Seas and emptied another bottle of rum – this was a glorious weekend, it was HIS weekend. The final proof for this fact was given to him when he travelled back to his home. He had to cross the Stygian Abyss alone because his friends went home in another direction. On his way he was attacked by a dirty bunch of rats and their leader Vitavi. But Henry had no fear – these silly rats didn´t know who he was: The glorious Sir Henry Morgan, the renowned freshwater-pirate, menace of the wealthy widows, destroyer of Corgul, slayer of Charybdis and Osiredon, master of Navrey! The rats died quietly, resistance was futile. And with his bloody cutlass he ripped of another magical item – a Void Infused Kilt that the rat-boss was wearing. With his bags full with treasures, Henry came home… This was Henry´s finest hour! HIS glorious moment!
