Arrgh. Ye be askin' me now about old HellBeard the pirate. His
story is a grand one if you'll be hearin' it, for by all accounts
gathered, ol' HellBeard was nuthin more than the greatest, most
ruthless, most driven pirate that ever did terrorize the seven
seas, an' that's a sure fact.
His tales are all as ye've heard - that he once ransacked an
entire archipeligo with nothin' but a rowboat and the jawbone of a
bilge rat named stinky. Killed fifty men with his steely gaze. Sank
an entire armada with nuthin but water wings and a dull spoon. All
that an more he done in the persuit of his grand treasure.
His grand treasure was all that Hellbeard ever thought on or
spoke of or seemed to care even one whit 'bout. When he wuz in his
cups he would rant on long an' even on how he wouldn't rest from
piratin' untils he gathered together a treasure of 10000 fine gold
dubloons. He called that his grand treasure and saw as to where it
would set him as the greatest pirate what ever strode a deck.
It was that persuit of treasure that made him a pirate like none
other. He could track it like a dog almost. Tricks or wiles meant
to hide treasure were like nothin' to him, an' he could follow a
trail to gold no matter how confounded. Others sometimes said that
there were some better pirate out there, but the truth is them's
just a common gang of thieves and of no acccount worth makin'.
Hellbeard never stopped but that he ranged all over the oceans,
and he stored treasure all over too against the day when he would
gather it all up and live like some sheik. Rumors in these parts
put one o' his main bases up among the Tassle-Haired tribe of the
San Roamin valley. I done thought on them rumors more than once I
can tell you.
Now piratin' is hard work, and while many dabble at it, those
who take it to hand serious put all o' thereselves in the line.
Done too hard it can make a swab or it can break him. Old
Hellbeard, we're not quite sure which it's done. He talks on
nothin' but treasure ever, don't seem to eat or sleep hardly, turns
up sometime, and then he's gone to ground like he's th' treasure
that's hunted himself. Perhaps that's so, they say the man's in
front makes his back a big target. Perhaps he don't see that he's
stopped countin' the treasure and now he lives fer th' hunt. We're
guessin' you'ld have to find him to find out.
Anyhow, just like I knows Hellbeard would swoop in on treasure
afores some other pirate, I knows thems treasure's the sort that
gleams brightest in the chest. More than once I visited the
Tassle-Hairs an' talked with 'em plenty. I gone looking for
HellBeard plenty too, and even found a likely place but it was cold
with nothin' there that I could see. A fast retreat was in order,
for if that mangy cur had found me in his haunts he'd most likely
find some way to make me undead even more that I'm already.
Stay away says I. any treasure in these parts has likely been
moved, and should he find you hisself yer life will be as forfeit
as yer money.