“Ugh, we need one more person for a galleon and no one’s interested!” Aesop tutted.
“Have you asked everyone?” Kohra asked as he set up a fourth computer. He, Elkay and Aesop had their personal laptops set up already. “Also, why are we all chilling at Elkay’s library anyway?”
“Epani wants us to spend the next week together, for all the End of the Sudden Darkness and Return of the Light events starting on the 6th…” Elkay sighed as he explained. “Which means that she wants us all in the same space, and publicly accessible to everyone during library opening hours. Aesop, you sure we can’t just play as a brig? Sure, I am not that good at the game, but if we bring someone else in, they’ll be new and inexperienced.”
“We can teach them!” Aesop snapped. “I just want to play on a fucking galleon for a change, and now I have eleven idiots who can join me and I’m still bloody stuck!”
“Yeah but… have you asked everyone?” Kohra asked again.
“I’ve asked everyone except Litty. I don’t even know if Litvir can comprehend video games.”
Kohra rolled his eyes. “Me and Litvir sometimes play Walkymonsters together! Of course Litvir can understand video games!”
“Yeah but has he ever played one?”
“They… Litvir is a they…” Elkay muttered under his breath.
“Hang on!” Kohra perked up. “Aesop, why is Litvir a guy to you, when you often call Rethans you don’t like “she” instead?”
“I don’t do that, some Rethans just seem more male or female to me! And, like, Elkay has literally pushed an egg out of his vagina, yet we all call him he! It’s confusing. Us Torr just don’t get you weird intersex guys… Alright, fine, let’s invite Litvir. He… they’ll be awful, but oh well.”
Kohra smiled, then teleported off and dragged Litvir to the small office.
“So, wanna play a game, Litvir?” Kohra asked.
“A game?”
“Yeah. It’s called Ocean of Scoundrels.”
“Oh? Does it have boats?”
“Yeah, with pirates on them.”
“What are pirates?”
Kohra glanced at Elkay and Aesop.
“They are… adventurers who sail on the high seas and find treasure,” Elkay explained. “Do you want to play with us? We have a boat for 4 people and you would be your fourth. We’d have to make a pirate for you, but the game isn’t that hard and you might like it.”
“We can go on a boat? And find treasure? In a game?” Litvir was confused but also very curious. “Sounds like fun, what do we do?”
Elkay and Kohra sat Litvir down at the spare computer. Kohra had set everything up, and had made a new account.
“So, first off, you need to make a pirate.”
Kohra showed Litvir a screen. On it were random pirates. Although the game was made by Spasts and Torr, all the characters were Temthans, since they were the main consumers of the game. Pressing a button would create new randomly generated Temthan pirates. Litvir hit the random button a few times but quickly settled on a bulky female pirate with purple skin and purple eyes, not really caring about looks in general.
Once Litvir was on the main menu, Aesop sent them an invite, then got everyone in game. Litvir’s purple pirate seemed rather odd compared to the dark brown, skinny, shirtless male pirate Aesop had, the short, light blue skeletal pirate Kohra had and the gigantic ghost barrel of a male pirate that Elkay was running around with.
“Oh! It is one of those 3d games where I use the W button to move!” Litvir exclaimed as they swiftly worked out the controls. They made their pirate run around in circles several times, before inspecting each button in turn. Elkay remained close to explain a few things, while Kohra and Aesop gathered supplies for the ship.
“It is, yes!” Elkay was a tad more uncertain. Being a Skyavok, his control scheme was completely different, so he’d glance at Aesop’s keyboard to make sure Litvir was pressing the right buttons. Thankfully, Litvir was a smart kid and seemed to pick things up very quickly.
“What faction are we doing today?” Aesop asked. “Kinda need to do Fisherman’s Call.”
“We’ll do that. We need something slow to ease Litvir in!” Kohra replied. “I’ve got supplies, shall we dive to a spirit fort to get supplies?”
“Um…” Elkay was a lot less certain. “I don’t think we’ve got time. We gotta get moving. Now.”
“Why?” Litvir asked. “Oh! Another ship! It is a big ship like our one!”
“Oh fuck… Kohra, get your ass on wheel now!” Aesop demanded as his and Elkay’s pirates raised the anchor. Litvir quickly worked out that they needed to do the same. “Rest of you, on cannons, start firing as soon as we are in range!”
“You heard him, Litvir, get on the cannon. Remember, the cannon balls have an arc! I’ll keep an eye on repairs.”
Kohra got the ship moving, and angled the galleon so that Aesop, Elkay and Litvir could fire the cannons.
“Is a red cross a good thing or a bad thing?” Litvir suddenly asked as cannon balls began to fly. Thankfully, the other ship didn’t seem to be a great shot. “Also, can I take cannon balls out of this box?”
“Yes, yes… wait, you killed someone?” Elkay exclaimed, watching Litvir’s pirate head to the storage crate and grab more ammo, before returning to the cannons.
“Is that what the red cross is… Oh! I got another one!” Litvir beamed, shooting as much as they could. “I assume the red cross is a good thing.”
Aesop glanced at Elkay, then tutted. “Alright, I’m going over. Keep on firing!”
Aesop’s pirate loaded itself into their cannon and flew through the air, somehow landing on the deck of the enemy ship. All of a sudden, the other ship lurched forward and stopped moving. Kohra’s tiny pirate raised the sails slightly and set the ship to circle the enemy, then joined Elkay and Litvir on the cannons.
“Aim for the lower decks!” Aesop demanded. “Killed another one! Bottom deck is nearly full!”
Kohra left the cannons again and raised all the sails so they could slow down.
“OK, ceasefire!”
Elkay did as he was told, but Litvir used all their cannon balls before stopping. The enemy galleon tipped to one side, then slowly sank beneath the waves.
“Did we win?” Litvir asked.
“Fucking hell, yes we did!” Aesop shouted. “I know we were gonna do Fisherman’s Call, but… Okay, change of plan, we’re doing Reapers. Right now.”
“What is a reaper?” Litvir asked. “That sounds… bad.”
“It’s not bad!” Aesop smiled. “It’s just a way to get tons of loot. This game is called Ocean of Scoundrels, after all!”
“Also, it’s just a game, none of this is real!” Kohra added.
Litvir thought for a moment, then perked up. “Oh. Alright! This game is fun!”
Aesop smirked. “Hah, I knew you’d like it. You’re already a pretty damn good pirate. Welcome to the team.”