Epilogue

Another Fine Morning in Nassau

The Presence made port at around eleven that morning, which was good news for Nassau's various tavernkeepers as it meant that there would be a full day of debauchery ahead of them. Nineteen sailors came off the ship that day, having to disembark one at a time due to the staggering amounts of treasure each one was carrying. All but one of them looked absolutely ecstatic to be in such a lawless place with so much booty to spend (and so much of a different type of booty available to be spent on). The merriment began immediately and lasted well into the night.


Wanting to experience a little bit of everything, most of the crewmen went straight to the main bar, drank their share and whored, then moved onto the next bar, repeating this process multiple times throughout the day until they had hit the main tavern on at least three separate occasions. Kaiser Friedrich III, however, was simply content at staying at the main bar and quietly enjoying his favorite brand of rum. His sack of treasure was slightly smaller than most, at a mere 108, however, he was still alive. The people that made big plays for their treasure and didn't make it off the ship wouldn't be able to spend it, and what was the sense in that? Yes, Friedrich figured, he had the system gamed.

edse, the Drunken pirate, and his partner Lyra, were at a different section of the main tavern, with edse currently being the source of much of the shenanigans that were going on. edse had acquired a good amount of gold for himself, 213 in all, and it looked as if he was spending every cent of it on liquor, as was his custom. When asked about this, he slurred something so thickly that nobody was able to understand what he said, save for Lyra.

"He says he needs the liquor to replenish his bloodstream," Lyra shouted, nursing his own smaller stack of treasure. The two separate thieveries the previous night had really cut into his stash. "Otherwise he goes through withdrawal symptoms!" He laughed and edse continued his raucousness, reaching record-setting levels of drunkenness. Somehow, he only blacked out well after midnight, about 16 full-sized bottles of rum in.


All throughout the taverns, that cliques that stuck together on the Presence mostly drank together in Nassau. Andres, Ironside, johnhughthom, and issaikhaan, who had killed together and at times had stolen from each other, shared a table, reminiscing and laughing about their adventures and exactly why khaan put on his strange "acolyte" persona aboard the ship, to which khaan simply laughed and took another sip of his ale.

The same thing was happening at a different table, where JoanK, NinjaCow64, and Captain Blackadder - who had done quite well for himself in the treasure count despite being mistaken for someone who wasn't even on board the first half of the trip - were discussing to themselves about the raid on the Marquesa and the other ships in the Spanish Treasure Fleet and how they could have potentially picked off a few more ships. It seemed as if some pirates could never entirely be satisfied.


The three remaining members of the New Four Horsemen, a completely inoffensive name, autolycus, and God Emperor toasted their fallen comrade Chaotix and then drank, mostly in silence. They had lived, yes. They had killed, yes. However, had they caused chaos by killing randomly and turned out to be the deadliest and most effective force aboard? Not quite, not this time. Perhaps, they ruminated, if there was to be a next time, the next time they could reexamine their options and go back to basics if the names of a completely inoffensive name, miotas, A Very Super Market, and Subotan were to live on in glory.

Still, though, they had lived, and that particular night, there was nothing wrong with that. 172 gold, which both God Emperor and ACIN ended up with, could provide a lot of pleasure, and autolycus's 167 was right behind.


There had been one super-dedicated thief aboard the Presence: Ishmael, who had opted to steal treasure almost every night before he decided to do his duty assigned to him before the raid and take inventory of everyone's gold. This pursuit of treasure had turned out quite successful for Ishmael, who had 201 gold to his name when he stepped off the boat.

Now, the question was, what was Ishmael going to do with all of this treasure? He certainly had a lot and could spend it on a truly epic night. However, taking inventory had also keenly attuned him to the fact that quite a lot of other people were filthy rich right now. After all, why be satisfied with 201 gold when you could have 401 gold? 1000 gold? Ishmael grinned. Everybody was already drunk. This would be like stealing candy from a baby.


El Barto, the last Musketeer, pondered to himself. He had most definitely enjoyed himself earlier in the night, but now was the time for some reflection on his part. His original group, consisting of himself, Diana Abnoba, and Askthepizzaguy, had made a vow to be absolutely merciless in the pursuit of gold. In the end, it had gotten ATPG killed and Diana most likely targeted for conversion to the Spanish, but it had certainly worked out for him. His count of 226 treasure was second-most on the entire ship, behind only Captain Zaccino's.

Were there any regrets? Probably - it would have been really nice had any of the other Musketeers survived, and there was most likely some actions he or they could have changed in order to reach this goal, but in the end his main goal had been accomplished. El Barto was rich. Now, the only question that remained was what to do with this money? Certainly everyone was currently having a great time - it sounded like edse was gunning for some sort of record - but that was the thing, they'd only be able to have this great time once. El Barto, see, was more of a long-term thinker. El Barto was thinking ahead to the means where he could enjoy nights like this on a regular basis.

He decided that he was going to start up a bank.


The Officer's Club was the swankiest, most exclusive tavern in Nassau, a place to go for the folks who had embraced the life of piracy but still weren't ready to cut all ties to the Old World notions of station being important. Hence, it wasn't much of a surprise to see TinCow, BSmith, and Captain Zaccino inside, enjoying a finer quality of brandy and smoking some of the best tobacco from the colonies. Between the three of them they had racked up 634 treasure, including a mammoth 260 for Zaccino. Not bad for the self-described "Triumvirate of Booty".

All had good reason to sit back and enjoy the finer things in life. TinCow had been denied the Captaincy, but he was still able to work his way into Zaccino's good graces and prove a useful asset to the Captain whilst still being able to acquire treasure for himself. BSmith was in a position of strength from the start, eventually rising to Zaccino's unquestioned right-hand-man and probably being able to decide the very fate of the Captaincy itself by choosing to support Zaccino over Visorslash in the Frenchman's coup attempt on the fourth night. Finally, Zaccino acquired the most treasure on the ship and had successfully defended his Captaincy from all pretenders, taking out the entire Guardacosta force along the way.

Yes, life was good for these three officers. The ship had survived, and while piracy was unquestionably on the downswing throughout the world, the Presence, at least, still struck fear in the hearts of civilized folk everywhere. That was the way it should be.

"Say," said the Captain at some point during the night, "either of you happen to see where that Frenchman went after we got off the ship? I still be a bit uneasy over him."

TinCow and BSmith looked at each other and shook their heads. "I wouldn't worry about it," said the Pirate Lawyer. "He be defeated, and in mourning to boot. He'll be lickin' his wounds for a while."

"I suppose you're right," Zaccino said, and the three continued drinking.


Meanwhile, at midnight, two figures met on a small hilltop that marked the highest point on the island. A rough wooden cross, about a foot high, was stuck into the ground.

"It's been a while," said the first figure, moving to shake the second figure's hand. "How be life treatin' ye?"

"They killed my consort," the second figure, Visorslash, said, motioning to the cross on the ground. "Right near the start. We didn't have enough time to do anything. I loved her, I truly did."

"Ah, I be sorry about that, matey."

"I'm sure it will pass," the Frenchman said. "Maybe you'll have to tell me one of your stories to cheer me up, but some other time. How about you? How fares business?"

The first figure sighed. "Business be tough. We mortal folk can't just go raidin' some Treasure Fleet every time we feel like it. The navies be crackin' down everywhere, you know that."

"So then, you should be happy that I have a contract for you, yes?" The Frenchman leaned in closer. "This wouldn't be an attack against any colonial power, so there will be little risk of a ship of the line coming in and leveling its guns at your boat. What do you say, are the men of the Maven up for it?"

The Captain of the Maven paused. "What be the target?"

"I'm done playing around," the Frenchman said. "I want the Presence."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please note: The order listed below is the order of finish. All Presence crewmen fulfilled at least one victory condition.

The victorious crewmen:
Zaccino - 260 (first place)
El Barto - 226
BSmith - 216
edse (Drunken pirate) - 213
Ishmael - 201
Andres - 179
a completely inoffensive name - 172
God Emperor - 172
autolycus - 167
JoanK - 165
johnhughthom - 160
TinCow - 158
Ironside - 154
NinjaCow64 - 151
Captain Blackadder - 138
Askthepizzaguy - 133
issaikhaan - 126
Lyra - 118
Kaiser Friedrich III - 108
Choxorn - 84
Tiaexz - 81
Buddhafish - 80
Memnon - 74
Montmorency - 69
Xenoneb - 58
Kagemusha - 50
Thermal - 43
DaveShack - 27

The defeated Spanish:
Diana Abnoba (Convert) - 161
Jolt (Lieutenant) - 125
Chaotix (Convert) - 74
Double A (Special Officer) - 70
Makrell (Lieutenant) - 61

The mourning Frenchman and his departed Consort:
Visorslash - 131
Arjos - 80