As New Providence Island comes into view, gulls start to swarm the ship. The sight has become nostalgic of the course of my first month and a half in the game. They mean I’m about to get off a ship with the living space of a medium size studio apartment…. with 40 plus people crammed in it. Even on the top deck with the ocean breeze, the smell of body odor is overwhelming. The only relief is getting the time we spend onshore.

We sail into the harbor and drop anchor about fifty yards offshore. Captain Zijde and I, along with men to carry our ‘fresh’ goods, get into a rowboat to make our way to town. Bheki stays back to make sure the men don’t get too drunk and burn down the ship. We take samples of some of the goods we “acquired”, a sizable amount of coin, and Duncan’s body.

As we pull up to shore, Zijde sends the some of the men to deliver the samples to the local “merchant” while he shows me the way to the church. Walking through town carrying what clearly is body, attracts several types of attention. Some people look at us like we had just murdered someone, some people look confused, there are the fellow sailors that give us looks of pity, and there is one mother fucker that looks like he might start salivating.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: URGENT

I mentally dismiss the notification so I can focus on the creepy ass man.

“Cap’n, did you see that?” I turn and see Zijde giving the man a hard look.

“I did indeed Utah. Rumor is, that man has some “questionable” preferences.” The disdain sliding out of Zijde’s mouth tells me all I need to know.

I look at the guy daring him to try anything, and he just fucking smiles at me. I start walking towards him, but Zijde grabs my arm.

“Utah, look around. We are in front of a brothel and a store. It doesn’t get much more crowded than this. We do not want to attract any attention. Especially considering someone is sure to be looking for our cargo.”

“But…”

“But, later tonight should be a wonderful time to find him, and remind him why no one messes with my crew… in a most satisfying way.”

He gives me a reassuring smile and pats me on the back. We continue on to the church leaving him and the busiest parts of the town behind us. As we start up the winding path to the church I notice how rough and overgrown it is. I normally would struggle with carrying Duncan’s body up, but with the way the game rendered my body I have little trouble. Towards the top of the path the church comes into view. It looks as if it was a gorgeous building in its day, but that day seems to have been a century ago. It pretty typical, a brick building covered in white plaster. That being said, it was missing about half its plaster. The bronze cross attop the church was warped and missing one of its arms. The worst part, the entire building was leaning so badly to the side it makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa look stable.

I give Zijde a skeptical look and he just laughs at me. “ I know it looks rough, but no upstanding pirate would be caught dead anywhere else on Nassau.”

I start to chastise him for his poorly timed joke, but I realize that wasn’t an idiom. He meant that literally. I mean, where else would you be caught dead than your grave.

As we walk up to the large double doors I realize it’s missing a door. It’s looks to be a soiled bed sheet is covering the empty space. I say soiled since I mistook it for a door until I was close enough. At least it doesn’t smell as bad as it looks.

As we push through the sheet we see a bunch of half rotten pews on either side of a very dingy red looking carpet. Waiting at the end of the carpet is probably the largest man I’ve seen. He is at least seven feet tall and muscular enough to carry around a swivel cannon like a modern day minigun… that just so happens to be pointed at us.

He looks a Zijde for a moment before throwing his head back in booming laughter. “Hahaha, Zijde my child! You almost made me take your life. You should’ve found one of my urchins to let me know you were coming.”

“Good to see you as well Father. I normally would, but we have a child for you…”

The man puts down his cannon and walks up to me. He takes Duncan’s body from me with more sorrow on his face than I would’ve thought possible.

“I see Captain… I will need five pesos to cover the cost.”

Zijde pulls out a doubloon, “Give this one a headstone.”

The man smiles as a tear runs down his cheek, “I will. I suspect he will be ready for the service tomorrow night.”

“Thank you Father.” Zijde’s face hardens as he looks into the large man’s eyes, “Just so you know, our young friend seems to have caught someone’s fancy on the way here.”

The priest's face hardens, “I will make sure me and my urchins are in town tonight then. You can take care of it with the swine yes?”

Zijde nods and motions for me to follow him out.

“What was all of that about Cap’n?”

“You’ll find out tonight my friend, don’t worry. For now go see the town. Meet us at the large stone building in an hour.”, he waits for me to nod and proceeds to leave down the path. I find a tree to get comfy against. I close my eyes as I open up my HUD. It’s so much easier to navigate with a black background. I open the message to see what the AI needs to tell us.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: URGENT

Hello Dwayne,

This is to inform you that due to the rate of growth of 'weaker' players, the accommodation period has been shortened. The XP modifiers will be lifted 48 hours from now. At that point all players will gain experience normally. There will be a new stat system implemented as well. The stats will be a way players can easily track and compare physical attributes. These will be raised through natural mean ie... pushups will increase strength. There will be several other lesser system changes to help streamline the play experience. I hope whatever inconvenience this causes will be negligible. Please have a wonderful day.

Thank you,

Ceto

P.S. You're doing very well Dwayne! I am sorry for your recent troubles, but I want you to keep working hard! Especially in 47:58:13 hours...

Well, I never know how to feel after reading a message from Ceto. I mean, I guess she sends personalized messages to all the players, but I have no idea who else she might postscript. Also, have someone always watching you is nerve wracking in of itself. At least my thoughts are still private... I think... well shit I'm not going down that rabbit hole.