Pitmuck Pirate Invasion

Pitmuck Island

February 7, 2015

By Riyana

Rumors of an impending attack on the island of goblins had been circulating for some time, and the notorious Holly Bloodhand herself had been spotted sailing toward Pitmuck. On Saturday, February 7th at 8PM EST, citizens from all over Sosaria gathered in the Vesper Auction House and Tavern to form a defense force and hopefully intercept Bloodhand before she could reach the island.

The group quickly traveled to a boat near Pitmuck, the captain of which claimed to know Bloodhand’s exact location.

However, an interception was not to be: before ever spotting Bloodhand OR Pitmuck, a Scalis Enforcer appeared! They hastily sailed on to Pitmuck, where they could form a solid defense against the Scalis, and no sooner had they defeated it than Bloodhand sailed up and boldly stepped off the ship to taunt the crowd.

Oddly, she was alone–the rumored fleet was nowhere to be seen. When asked where her fleet was, she had a peculiar answer:

Then she did something even more peculiar: she threw mysterious bottles at the defenders.

She then summoned a harbinger and sailed around the island while the defenders defeated it. Upon its defeat they followed her once more… to find a strange sight. What appeared to be an intact ship’s hold jutted out of the ground as if forced up through the earth. Bloodhand, clearly enjoying herself, made a few cryptic remarks about her so-called uncle, a mage known for his incredibly powerful translocation magics, having put it there for her… and that he could take it away.

And take it away he apparently did. The hold disappeared, and out poured well over a dozen rune beetles. Holly crowed on about how these were matured Pitmuck pinworms (perhaps all that remained of some of her missing crew?) as the pheromones she’d doused everyone with earlier drove the creatures into a frenzy.

She left the ship a few more times, leading the defenders on a wild chase around the island into two more harbingers and dozens of treasure guardians. It seemed almost as though she was toying with them. Then suddenly, she announced that she had what she’d come for. She sailed away, leaving the defenders confused.

The answer came quickly. A woman from Nujel’m hurried up to the crowd, out of breath and distraught. She reported dire news indeed: while Pitmuck was being defended, Nujel’m had been overrun by pirates! The group quickly made their way to Nujel’m to find that, indeed, a number of pirates had taken up residence in the city. They found Bloodhand again just before she sailed away, supposedly for a victory drink with her uncle.

Fortunately, many of the defenders were quite familiar with her “uncle”, and had even secured his current location beforehand just in case. They quickly regrouped and headed off in pursuit. Indeed, he was not far at all from Nujel’m…

Corgul the Soulbinder, or “Uncle Corgul” as Bloodhand calls him, put up quite a fight, but he was no match for the defenders. Unfortunately Bloodhand either never bothered to have that drink with Corgul, or her taunting words were just another misdirection–she was nowhere to be found.

It was also later discovered that she in fact had made away from Pitmuck with a large supply of ice cream, ostensibly when the defenders were under heavy opposition from her strange army of creatures. 

So the good news: save for the plundering of its ice cream stores, Pitmuck is safe. No permanent damage appears to have been done, and the island is free of pirates.

The bad news: the attack on Pitmuck was only a diversion, and now Nujel’m appears to be under Bloodhand’s control.

What is going on with these “Pitmuck pinworms” and the strange pheromones Bloodhand cooked up? What is she doing in Nujel’m? What will she do next? And what of the ice cream–could this be related to the ice cream theft in Jhelom? Only time will tell, so keep your eyes and ears open!