Part 21: Buccaneer's Den

Buccaneer's Den is the home of pirates, gambling, and people avoiding taxes. It resides on a large island in central Britannia:

We flew there by carpet to check the place out. As always, we talked to everyone in town (after evicting someone from their bed and sleeping in it until morning). Talking to the townsfolk was much more interesting with the cube in my pocket. It vibrated several times and we learnt the truth about a lot of things:

The House of Games

• The Crown Jewel frequently visits Buccaneer's Den, and then moves on to the Isle of the Avatar. This is the probable location of the Black Gate. It repeats the trip frequently (shipping blackrock to the isle to build the Black Gate?)
• There's a broken friendship between two old pirates named Mole and Blacktooth. Blacktooth is disappointed that Mole has gone so "soft" since joining The Fellowship.
• Hook lives beneath the House of Games. I noticed a cave entrance behind a locked door there, I will need to find the key. Apparently Sintag can direct me to Hook's lair. I was also told outright that Hook is the Fellowship's "chief executioner" along with his assistant Forskis. I also learned that Hook was trained by Master De Snel in Jhelom which makes a lot of sense (and De Snel was The Fellowship's first executioner!)
• Buccaneer's Den has a Fellowship hall and Abraham is the leader. In fact just about everyone in town is a member, and The Fellowship appear to fund every business on the island. Danag, the interim leader of the local branch here, told me I was condemned to die after the cube prism forced him to speak truthfully. 
• Elizabeth is the "director of special projects" for The Fellowship and works directly with Batlin. Abraham is in charge of identifying targets for Hook to execute (and he apparently cheats at cards). In fact Danag told me outright that their current special project is the construction of the Black Gate - it doesn't get any clearer than that.
• Elizabeth and Abraham have also gone to the Isle of the Avatar to work on a "special project".
• The Black Gate is housed on the Isle of the Avatar in a secret complex within a dungeon. It is housed within the Shrine of the Codex and a special key is needed to open the barrier. There are only four keys - owned by Hook, Batlin, Elizabeth, and Abraham. Apparently Hook keeps one in his abode.
• There were several attractive women in town who refused to speak to me unless I went to The Baths in the evening.
• Sullivan the Trickster has been in town posing as the Avatar and was caught cheating at cards. He is now somewhere in Hook's lair in some kind of torture chamber. The torture chamber is an official part of The Fellowship...
• About a year ago a man named Duncan stole from the House of Games and was arrested. He disappeared from his cell one night and his corpse was found mutilated in the fashion of the other victims of Hook.

Behind the Fellowship hall I noticed a secret back room. A hidden door took me into a small room, and I used the Telekinesis spell to flick a lever through a wall and open another. I was tempted to wait and come back later... I feel like the "correct" way to get here is to speak to Sintag when he is working at the House of Games (it was daytime so he wasn't there). But curiosity got the better of me and I took a look around.

We found the torture chamber. Inside was a troll torturer and a lot of grim looking devices. We politely asked the troll, Grod, to stop torturing the prisoners but he refused. 

In one of the cells we finally met Sullivan the Trickster, an Avatar costume on the ground beside him. Our discussion was interesting - he told me all about posing as me to rob places all over Britannia, but how he had been caught stealing from The Fellowship. He also told me that he suspects once The Guardian enters Britannia (he is a member, I am not sure how he knew this) that everyone - including the Fellowship leaders - will be "eliminated". 

Also in prison was Anton, apprentice to Alagner. Anton was caught collecting information about The Fellowship.

Further around we found a secret entrance into The Baths, explored a lot of caves which teleported us around, and eventually came back to the torture chamber and killed Grod. He had two keys on his person. I freed both Sullivan and Anton who were both extremely thankful.

Heading the other direction from where we first entered the cave system we found Hook's lair. Inside were notes confirming the Crown Jewel is on the Isle of the Avatar. Even more interesting was Hook's "hit list" which contained Lord British, and myself, the Avatar:

We found a little more loot, and also Hook's key to the Black Gate which I am sure I will need shortly.

The last thing we did before leaving Buccaneer's Den was to stop in at The Baths. We paid the fee of 300 gold and went inside, much to Spark's delight. 

I was hoping to rescue the women and men who work here, but there didn't seem like I had a way to do that. In fact, the seemed to enjoy their job. If it's not clear by now The Baths is a fancy brothel.

The more I talked with "Wench" the more my own character reminded me that I am being distracted from my quest and I should probably go. Way to ruin my fun Avatar!

And with that, our time in Buccaneer's Den has come to an end. 

Next time we will visit the Isle of the Avatar, delve into the largest dungeon in the game, and hopefully destroy the Black Gate and prevent The Guardian from entering (and destroying) Britannia!