FINAL INVESTIGATION

[bathymetric]

Good morning, passengers. You've made landfall.

The ship arrives at the shore of the island early in the morning, suddenly grinding to a halt for the first time in weeks. A ramp is lowered directly onto the beach, and The Captain almost immediately hops down it, laughing the whole while as he does. Jones stands on the ship, not following, and The Captain addresses you:

"Don't take too long! We have business in that lighthouse, you and I."

Without another word, The Captain heads towards a path on the beach that heads lighthouse-ward, but not before turning back again.

"And Jones! Head to your ship and ready the crew for when this is over."

Jones seems... not quite content to do this, whatever it is, but after a minute or so for any last conversation, he vanishes into a wall.

With both of your captors no longer on board, the ship is quiet. Its engines are stalled, the journey over. If you wish to survive the day, you're going to have to go onto that island and face The Captain once and for all.

But first... there are some areas you definitely haven't explored yet! If you're going to go in with all the information you need, might be time to take advantage of this situation...

Comments

[bathymetric]

[ Stage Left will take you to an old prop room, Yeager! The props are dusty, but the room is well-stocked, if you were the performing sort.

Less dusty and actually lit by a light in the ceiling are the chair and table over at the other end of the room ]

[scythegun]

[There's probably something to be said here about how every day of his life is an act of some sort, but anyway!! Since all those props are dusty, they clearly aren't important. Anything else to note about them as he heads over to the table and chair?

And speaking of those, what's going on back here?]

[bathymetric]

[ There's certainly no cause to go digging through them without a reason! There's a lot of junk in here.

But the table and chair do look decently used, compared to the dust in the rest of the room. And there's a book on the table! ]

[scythegun]

[Hmm! What kind of book is this? Is it already open to a specific page? Yeager's absolutely going to skim through it for anything important, so what all do we have to find here?]

[bathymetric]

[ Before you sits an old, leather-bound volume: The Code of the Brethren Court: Being a Code of Conduct for Business and Ship-Bound Life Set Down By the Pirate Lords Morgan and Bartholomew, Transcribed From The Pirata Codex By An Anonymous Listener Present At Its Inscription.

It’s a really intimidating volume… luckily there’s a bookmark partway through! ]

[scythegun]

[This probably would've been a great way to pass the time if he'd been able to get his hands on it earlier... Oh well. At least there's a bookmark!! Thanks, Davy Jones. So what was our resident squidman looking at here?]

[bathymetric]

[ F in the chat for Yeager, dead of boredom, time for a regular trial...

Well, which do you want to focus on first - the page itself or the note written on the bookmark? ]

[scythegun]

[listen the fact that it didn't happen is some sort of miracle!!!

Let's start with the bookmark itself first - what does that look like, and what's the note here? Also is this in Davy Jones' handwriting, since we did get to see that?]

[bathymetric]

[ It is indeed his handwriting! It looks like a blank piece of sheet music, and written on it:

He is as beholden to this text as any other who sailed the seas in his time. He will honor this, if you demand it. ]

[scythegun]

[LOOKS LIKE IT'S TIME TO PARLEY!!!

Anyway, that's definitely interesting, thanks Davy Jones! Anything else interesting about the bookmark? If not, he'll move on to the book itself - what page are we on?]

[bathymetric]

[ You are in fact on the page about the rules of demanding negotiations and cessation of hostilities from an opponent. Turns out if you say "I invoke the right of parley," and cite the code if you must, they're honor-bound to cease violence and allow you to negotiate terms! ]

[scythegun]

[Well, that sounds absolutely fascinating! He's going to take a moment to read through this entire section (he's a fast reader, surely it'll be fine) and then he's going to jot down the exact code and anything that may be relevant for dealing with the Captain, because this sounds very important.

Anything else to note about the book? He'll flip through the rest looking for anything else that may have been shoved in there as well.]

[bathymetric]

[ There's actually a page from another book stuck into the front cover, if you'd believe it. ]

[scythegun]

[Hmm, weird! What's on this page?]

[bathymetric]

[ It seems to be some information about Davy Jones! ]

[scythegun]

[Is this another one of those speculative things that's wildly off, or is this one closer to accurate?]

[bathymetric]

[ This one even has some cited sources - it doesn't seem academic, necessarily, but it does seem legit.

Davy Jones was once a mortal man, and the first truly feared pirate, long before pirates were common in the Atlantic. He was such a skilled sailor and fair captain that Calypso, the very embodiment of the sea herself, fell in love with him. As he advanced in years, Calypso granted him the duties that defined him: ferrying the souls of the dead who pass at sea. In exchange, Jones is nearly immortal, save for his heart, but also can only set foot on dry land for one day every ten years.

Calypso promised to meet him, but when that day came? She didn't show. So in time, Jones became a cruel man, twisted and vengeful - he abandoned his position and misused his powers, and in his fury he told the Brethren Court, the pirate lords, how to bind Calypso to human, if not mortal, form.

Years later, a man named Jack Sparrow set off a chain of events that led to Calypso being freed and Davy Jones dying, reunited with her at last. ... If you're familiar with the plot of Pirates 2+3, a lot of that is in here.

What's perhaps most interesting is the note at the end - according to the foremost expert historical source on Davy Jones and the events surrounding the death of Cutler Beckett, twenty years later, Jones resumed service a changed man, and faithfully followed his duties from that point on. Neither he nor Calypso were encountered by mortals again.

Or at least that's what the memoirs of Elizabeth, William, and Henry Turner say. ]

[scythegun]

[Fascinating... This one's definitely important. So Davy Jones can't exactly follow us into dealing with the Captain, huh... Good to know - anything else important in here? Any notes from Davy Jones himself written on this?]

[bathymetric]

[ There's a note on the back! ]

If you wish to handle your vengeance against the Captain on your own, he's yours to deal with. If you wish for aid in breaking his spirit once you have defeated him, look to the fool's chest in this room.

[scythegun]

[Hmm... Our options may be kill him or subdue him then... Well, that's something for future us to worry about, for now... Is there a chest that would fit the description of "fool's chest" somewhere in here?]

[bathymetric]

[ Future Yeager will see!

Well, there does appear to be a chest in here, at any rate. Looks full of things one might juggle? ]

[scythegun]

[Ah, something Sylvando would have enjoyed, huh... Is there anything underneath all the juggling props?]

[bathymetric]

[ Looks like... you're going to have to take me at my word when I describe this to you, but it's a small copper tricorn hat that fills you with a gnawing sense of unease.

And a note under it! ]

[scythegun]

[.............i guess this is how it be today. okay.

But yeah a gnawing sense of unease is pretty much every day on this boat, so he can move that to get at the note! What does this say?]

[bathymetric]

[ Thankfully, it's pretty straightforward: ]

There be four pieces to this weapon - the base, this something gold, and something silver. I built a base in my room, break off one of the posts of the bed.

I suspect one of the other pieces is elsewhere on the boat, and the third somewhere in the room where you will face him. When he is defeated and weakened, and only then, assemble the pieces and the staff will tell you what to do.

Under no circumstances should one person hold all three component pieces at once until you assemble it.