Quill & Cutlass [Tagbook]

“Before us lies the Golden Age of Piracy, sea-spray and sunlight on our skin, the tang of gunpowder and salt in our noses.”

Wolfi paused, glancing up from the rolled parchment to make sure her listeners were paying attention. @Glitch0Ghost2024 and @Leya were nodding solemnly, and she was happy to see @soundofmind with her chin tipped sunward, eyes closed, taking in a deep breath of that salty air.

Rocking gently, the Blue Pearl’s cobalt blue sails were slackened in the still wind. It was a beautiful day, and for Wolfi, that felt like a good omen.

“We may be pirates in the literal sense,” Wolfi continued, “but we’re a far cry from your average peg-legged buccaneer. Believe it or not, we actually know how to read and write.”

“Insert gasps of admiration here,” @SilverNight said, leaning cross-armed against the mizzenmast.

“Literate pirates??” @Messenger mimicked, wiping his forehead in feigned surprise. “It can’t be! They lie!”

Smiling, Wolfi looked back down at the parchment. “Pirates of the Y.W.S. Blue Pearl joined forces to spread the joy of literature and poetry across a world ravaged by unimaginativeness.”

“Oooh, that’s a big word,” @avimoon whispered.

“They’ll like that.” @RangerofIthilien agreed.

Wolfi read on. “We’re still caught up in the occasional buried treasure thing, sure, but our legacy, first and foremost, is to write stories and share them with the world.”

With it being such an innocent mission, Wolfi was puzzled that the Royal Navy still persecuted them so. God willing, this speech would help change their minds.

“Armed with quill, ink, and parchment,” she continued, raising the unfurled scroll for added emphasis, “we scribble out adventures and seal them up in empty bottles. When night falls, we lay anchor and sneak into coastal cities or other ships to leave our stories behind. Sometimes, we grab some food or coin as payment on the way out - it’s only fair!”

@pixels raised a fist. “Hear! Hear!” they cried. “Starving artists deserve their due!” @daisyletters, @Lael, @ThatOneGuyRonin, and @Omni joined in with murmurs of agreement.

Wolfi cleared her throat - she wasn’t used to projecting her voice this much. “All in all, we hope you can come to see that we are nothing like the other pirates that rule the seven seas, pillaging innocent villages and wreaking havoc on your ships. We are a peaceful, agreeable bunch, and all we want is to spread the magic of stories.”

After a pause, Wolfi awkwardly added, "That's it."

The crowd clapped.

"Good work, Wolfi," Quartermaster @Spearmint said. "Could use a stronger call to action, though. We'll workshop it."

"How about this," @eulogy piped in. "On behalf of Captain @DungeonMaster, we humbly implore the Royal Navy to withdraw its hostility toward the pirates of the Y.W.S. Blue Pearl, and allow them to fulfill their honorable mission in peace."

"Write that down, write that down!" @winterwolf0100 shouted.

Scrambling for her bottle of ink, Wolfi was suddenly thrown off her pedestal on the quarterdeck as the ship lurched to the side.

"What was that?!" @NovemberCrow cried.

Everyone rushed to the starboard railing, scanning the water to see what had struck the ship.

@Z00KI3 leaned over as far as they could. "I don't see anything."

Indeed, the water looked calm, and the horizon was clear. But then, gradually, a dark shadow emerged from the depths of the sea, becoming larger and larger...

WC: 561

Even as some of the crew scrambled to the rails, there was a lot going on elsewhere on the deck.

“Then the calm became a storm,” said @LuminescentAnt . “How does that sound?”

“Hmm,” said @Meshugenah. “What if the sea had its own voice in the story? After all, it is the other main character.”

“Brilliant,” Ant said, continuing to write down the main storyline with @Avian .

@BluesClues read aloud to @genevieve and @goodolnoah . @looseleaf was also there for the spoilers of course. As Blue continued, “The tagbook was named after her. Just then the cabin doors opened and she stepped out wearing her pirate hat and poetry pen. ‘Fear not, for I’m here now,’ @Quillfeather announced.”

@Liminality , who was sitting in the back and listening half to Blue and @Plume, who was explaining the writing tasks, scribbled something down on a piece of parchment.

“Fantastic opening line!” @Roxanne said, looking over Lim’s shoulder.

“Alright, so what do we do now?” @canopy asked.

"I don't know. I was merely introducing myself," Quill replied.

Again there was a loud crash against the boat. A few barrels of precious ink were sent overboard.

“That did not happen” thought @ToastK who was in charge of making sure all the ink was safely stored away for future use. He had forgotten to secure the barrels because he was busy debating @redcarnation about different fonts for the map headers.

“But it did,” said @RavenAkuma in Toast’s head, “Yes, I’m a mind reader.”

@fatherfig gasped, but pretended to yawn becasue he thought he was the only mind reader around.

“Can you people be any louder?!” said @Snoink from her quarters. “Some people are trying to rest here.”

@LadySpark was busy making a soup with some help from @EllieMae , who would soon become the new master chef of the Y.W.S. Blue Pearl.

The calmness from a moment ago was replaced by chaos and people running around. This is exactly what all the other pirates wanted to see: The downfall of the Y.W.S. Blue Pearl.

“Not with me around,” thought @floodlights .

Everyone was now standing on the left side of the boat, trying to see what had hit it. The boat could tip over this way.

"People, if everyone stands on one side of the boat, it will - " @Wolfi said, trying to restore order, but she was interrupted when everyone ran to the right side.

"Well, well. This looks like a rather beautiful scene to put on canvas, don't you think?" @LadyMysterio, the painter of the Blue Pearl, asked @TheMythMaster. They were both standing on top of the deck. Everyone was amazed that they could paint without being bothered by the boat's constant movement.

The new batch of sailors bravely held their swords and took a deep breath. "This is what you've been training for," said @FireEyes. "Are you ready?"

“Aye,” @orion625 , @BrownMatter , @SanaPathan and @Alwaysea said.

"What no one paid attention to was the dark shadow emerging from the depths, which was coming closer and closer," Nadya said.

“Everyone inside!” @alliyah said to the chickens who were walking around on the deck.

But while they talked about plot points and fonts, the sea was still writing its own chapter…