When Sir Henry Morgan looked in the mirror this morning, he saw a man that has changed in the last five month. Henry, the fabulous freshwater pirate, famed menace of the wealthy widows, looked tired. It wasn´t the rum, that he inhaled the last night after his bar was closed. It wasn´t the pleasures he shared with some girls at the beach – lovely little pirate-girls that listened to his tales from the Sosarian Seas ´til sunrise. And it wasn´t the hard wooden floor that was his pillow in that night, when he broke down in his bar – totally exhausted from his decadent beach party…
No, the reason for the worn-out picture the mirror portrayed of himself was just a number – the number 150. It wasn´t his 150th birthday – even if his famous grand-father, the Colonel Herman “Cutlass” Morgan died in a battle when he was 157 (which proves that he could have been that old…). And it wasn´t an official anniversary. It was a very intimate count, symbolizing a deadline he gave himself – but we shouldn´t begin the story from it´s end…
When Henry came back after eight years of traveling he met some very nice inhabitants of Britannia, first and foremost the glorious Knuckleheads Gilmour of Drachenfels and Stephen of Drachenfels. Both introduced him in a world that had changed very much. The times when adventurers dwelled in famous dungeons such as Shame or Deceit was over, as Gilmour told him – everybody tried to kill so-called champions and peerless monsters in order to get stuff with names (artifacts – ridiculous, isn´t it? In former time it was all about fame…). They introduced him in a world with darker and deeper dungeons, in a world with powerful magical armor, and in a world in which he appeared to be very old-fashioned. Hence, his new friends crafted him new armor, showed him some mighty battle-pets and helped him to improve his skills to new levels of mastery…
And then a day came, when Stephen decided that it was time to encounter a new kind of monster – not the elementals and cavemen he usually killed for gathering gold and items. The name of this monster was Navrey Night-Eyes. Honestly, Henry was a bit frightened and had to drink half a bottle of rum to calm down. Gilmour and Stephen wanted him to fight a very big spider that was able to paralyze one with it´s webs and to deal deadly poison… But in the end, Henry decided to join the hunt.
And so a starting point was set for a terrible tale of suffering – a Sysiphos´ work, or even worse. His first encounters were quite successful and Henry learned fast. With the help of his dragon Ozzy, the prince of darkness, he gave this evil fat spider what it deserved.
The hunt was fun and Henry learnt that people enjoyed killing this monster not only for fun, fame, karma or the friendship of the Gargoyle queen – no, some lucky people got rewards when participating in killing Navrey. Henry saw how his guild-mate Gilmour got a magical scroll. And Stephen showed him magical glasses and a magical half-apron with the silly name “Tangle” – the latter seemed to be one of the highest sought after artifacts in this world… Well, Henry didn´t care much about this rewards as hunting was fun enough for him.
But one day, perhaps after killing 15 or 20 re-incarnations of Navrey, he witnessed what could happen at Navrey´s place with some luck: the brave knuckleheads were hunting again and Henry invited some friends to join the party. And in this night, one of them had lucky punch… He came in, helped killing her once and cried out: “Hey, I have got a Tangle!!!” After some investigative work, Henry found out that some people had made statistics: one of them told him that every 30 Nav´s there is a reward for lucky players. Others told him that they got two Tangles within 15 kills. And indeed, he saw it with his very eyes: within three weeks of hunting all of his guild-mates got this magical item, some of them even two within days…
When Henry had his 40th kill, he had to find out, that all of his four active guild-mates got at least one of these Tangles within one month, some of them two, and one of them two at one day!!! And he didn’t find any system behind this reward-system: some of his mates came in and won the Tangle within 5 kills. Others came in with a so-called luck-suit. Or they used some tactics that included dropping stones on the spider in order to kill her faster. Some got their Tangles when they killed the spider alone, others got it when hunting in a group…
His 50th Navrey was a day he would never forget. His wife Imana, a famous sorceress that had been living in the woods near Yew, joined his guild and participated in killing Navrey for the first time in her life. And it didn´t take long when she shouted out “I got a reward! Oh, look what it is, a Tangle!!!” Henry was surprised and – of course – happy that his beloved wife won the jackpot this night. Not to mention that she got a magical scroll, too…
But after some time, Henry began doubting that he would ever get anything from this spider. His mentor Stephen told him that he had luck and bad luck when it came to the rewards from Navreys. Sometimes he got two Tangles within a short period of time, in other times he had to kill more than 100 Navreys to get anything from her. So, Henry decided to give himself a deadline: his solemn oath was to kill this spider as often as possible – even if it took him 150 times to kill her. And there it was, the cursed number…
During the next 100 Navreys everything happened: his wife got her second Tangle and another magical scroll – which makes four drops within a margin of 40 Navreys. His mentors and guild-mates got some drops now and then and everybody he met in Britannia told him that it was quite easy to get this item… And of course, everybody had a Tangle. Everybody – except him…
He tried everything: He killed her with the magery of a mystic and necromantic arts, he camped in her lair to be the first to attack her in the morning, the stayed at her side to be able to join every hunting-party that reached this cursed place. He killed her by using large boulders that broke down on Navrey, by summoning colossal assistants, by casting flame strikes on her, by using a spider-slaying spellbook – and of course with the help of his dragon Ozzy.
And by the end of the last night, he reached his dead line – 150 kills. And here is his resumée after having killed this fierce monster 150 times: he got nothing, NOTHING, not a single reward. 172 bottles of ichor – but the taste was awful and had to be deleted with really strong rum. Everyone else got something, at least once – usually twice, some of them more often. He got nothing but experience and – of course – a great time with his friends.
Henry went home and gave everything to get as drunk as possible. He told his story to the nice girls at the beach and they helped him to forget his suffering… Har har har…
And here is another solemn oath – listen Drachenfels, listen Navrey: I stop counting now! I will kick this fat spider´s butt as long as I live. And even if I will never get this silly half-apron, the ugly glasses or these worthless scrolls, I will stand my ground down there in Navrey´s lair. Do you hear me, Navrey? I am your Ahab, you are my white whale! You are not fair, you are a mean old beast – but so do I. And I am meaner and older and more of a beast than you – according to my mirror this morning. I have spoken! You will die, believe me. And you can keep your rewards in your fat… Argh, where is my rum!!! I need rum!!!
Sincerely,
Sir Henry Morgan
P.S.: I do not believe in Tangle! It doesn´t exist. *hick* There are some people that try to be funny and to humiliate me. I know that you took an ordinary half-apron and faked your Tangles. I know everything, you scoundrels *hick*
