ven·det·ta \ven-?de-t?\ n.
1 : blood feud
2 : an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts

The Pirate Hunter

Somewhere off the Florida Keys, December 1720
Aboard the Xebec Jackal

“Sails on the horizon!” came the spotter’s call. Captain Stephen MacKenna brushed a lock of stray hair from before his eyes as he took the spyglass from Quartermaster Dugan. By the shape of her sails, the captain made her out to be some manner of packet-boat and by her speed, he surmised that she was probably heavily modified; perhaps a ‘Hermes’ Sleek or an ‘Expedition’ Privateer Packet-boat – wouldn’t that be nice! Her ensign was that of a French Naval Officer and she sported the arms of a society called the Legio Auxilia, an unknown factor recently arrived in the area.

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My luck from earlier in the day (See "A Day of Incredible Luck") was holding up and as I arrived at Cayo from the east, so too was a ‘Lexington’ Brig coming in from the north and I saw him with plenty of time to adjust my heading and get between him and the port.

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It had been a busy weekend. I often head out from Matthew Town on my own, sailing something light and fast like a ‘Fallen’ Refit Snow or a ‘Mediator’ Mastercraft Cutter. Occasionally I’ll go out alone in something larger like the ‘Algiers’ Refit Polacre or ‘Arcadia’ Mastercraft Xebec, but to be perfectly honest I’m not as comfortable sailing unsupported in larger, slower ships yet. Even though my days often begin alone, it’s common for me to join up with all manner of random pirates on a moment-by-moment basis.

Generally how it goes is I’ll spy an enemy ship on the open sea and start to give chase, then another pirate who had also seen and begun chasing my target will see me and invite me to group so that we might share in the reward for taking the enemy vessel. That’s how I met Cannonball Apollo and how he subsequently joined the Nine Winds.

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I started the night in Matthew Town, talking to the Harbor Master about my recently acquired ‘Arcadia’ Mastercraft Xebec. We were comparing the qualities of the Huge xebec with those of the smaller ‘Algiers’ Refit Polacre I’d been sailing for the last week or so. Sailing alone through the red, my inexperience cost me time and time again as I was forced repeatedly to disengage and retreat from fights that, based on everything I’ve seen and read so far, I should have been able to win. The only good point had been that most times I was able to break off from the fight and escape with my ship and its fittings intact. Other times, though… not so much.

But I belong to the Nine Winds. A pirate society that is populated with experienced, knowledgeable captains, quite a few of whom are well-known and respected PvPers on the Antigua server. One of our leaders, Captain Charissa de Mornay, is so feared that after having fallen asleep at the keyboard in the middle of a PvP zone, her ‘Mediator’ Mastercraft Cutter sat for nearly three hours unmolested by enemies who know just how dangerous she can be and likely assumed that she was playing possum.

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With the birth of the new Defiant server, the end of the Invincible server, and the opening of server transfers coinciding with said server actions, Antigua has seen an influx of new blood from multiple servers which has led to Nine Winds growing to the point where our leader, Haven Iomane, saw fit to promote two of our most helpful captains to the Leader rank.

Meanwhile, I’ve been experimenting more in-depth with a Privateer and Freetrader in the French nation on the Blackbeard server. Nothing exciting there, and I haven’t been playing Stephen MacKenna to engage in any fun piratical acts.

In other news, I’m kind of ‘in the air’ as to how I feel about tonight’s Series Finale of FX’s “The Shield.” I was really, really hoping that Mackie would’ve found some way to get Ronnie out of the gutter without screwing himself over. I did expect Shane to eat his gun, but I didn’t expect him to kill his wife, son and unborn daughter…

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