Pillaged Islands: Battle of the Buccaneers

The Legend

It was the year 1552, and a pirate sea captain known by the name of Captain Scarbrow was exploring, with his crew, a secluded island in the South Atlantic. As they walked through a wooded area, the captain's glance came across a small, metal canister. The captain noticed nothing special about the canister's appearance. It was plain in color, slightly rusted, and partially covered in dirt. The captain had seen many just like it during his explorations and didn't give it much attention, except that one, quick glance. But, as the Captain continued on, an overwhelming desire engulfed him to keep the canister.Almost involuntarily, Captain Scarbrow bent down, picked up the canister, brushed off the dirt, and opened the lid. Inside hefound a crinkled, old note and on the note a brief message:

"Heed ye this note and travel to the islands - PillagedIslands. There, if ye be of adequate cunning, may search for and acquire three small, stone treasures.“

Captain Scarbrow paused for a moment, wondering of the note's origins and the treasure of which it spoke. The Captain then looked up and noticed several intricately carved markings on a nearby tree. He hadn't noticed the carvings before and wasn't sure if they'd been there all a long or had suddenly appeared. As the captain slowly approached the tree, he found a glass eyelet hanging from the tree next to the markings. As the Captain peered through the eyelet, he found he could decipher the markings. The Captain began dictating aloud the deciphering of the markings. They told of an ancient people who first inhabited the island. While on the island the people enjoyed several generations of peace and prosperity. But in 1321, a young boy catalyzed a chain of events that would have unintentional and far reaching consequences.

This young boy, one day, brought home three small stones he found while exploring the island's woods. The stones were of three different colors and had a certain appeal to them that was surprisingly piercing. The boy was proud of his discovery and excitedly showed the stones to many others throughout the village. Soon, though, the appeal was more than the people of the village could maintain and anyone who laid eyes on the stones found themselves resorting to trickery, force, and cunning to obtain the stones. The wise chief of the village observed the contention and knew the stones must be removed from his village. He ordered the stones to be gathered in a cloth pouch and brought to him. With the pouch in his hands, the chief uttered a curse upon the stones banishing them to a hidden world - a world only visible to those who sought after the three stones. There, those who desired the treasures could contend and struggle for control of the stones isolated from the peaceful world the wise chief desired.

The hidden world consisted of several, uninhabited islands all of which spanned a storm riddled sea and whose currents were strong enough to dictate the motion of any crew's ship that dared enter its waters. The only escape from the world was to put out any inherent desire to obtain the stones.

As time passed, word spread and the legend grew. Some even claimed to have seen the hidden world with their own eyes. The world was so often described as a place of such pillaging chaos that it soon caught the name - Pillaged Islands.

The markings on the tree ended at that point and Captain Scarbrow again paused to collect his thoughts. He was surprised. In all his time sailing the seas and living the life of piracy, he hadn't heard of such a place as Pillaged Islands. Mystified, yet intrigued, the captain turned to his crew and ordered everyone back to the ship. As they walked back, the captain thought about the stones treasures and felt the desire to have the stones grow within him. When he and his crew reached the shore where they had anchored their ship they looked out into the sea and saw a sight of unbelievable nature - cannons booming, monsters rising from the depths of the sea, ships attempting to navigate storm riddle waters, and... barely noticeable, in the not far distance horizon on a passing ship - a small cloth pouch matching the description from the markings on the tree. And so, with that, Captain Scarbrow and his crew found themselves within the world of Pillaged Islands.

Now you and your pirate crew of scurvy swashbucklers have stumbled upon the same island that Captain Scarbrow did
many years ago. And, as you pass through the woods you have caught a glance of a small, metal canister.....