Note: Summary at bottom!

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Young Nathaniel's imagination was lit when his father wove high-tide
tales of dashing pirates and their bold wenches discovering treasures
around the world before the evening fire, his thin face lighting up with
every whoosh of a cutlass. Despite the misgivings of his anxious mother,
he would run around Shastaan every day in search of pirates, even
running away from the town one day in search of a sword to call his own.

It was during this adventure that he met Etoile, whom he quickly dubbed
his "wenchie." Amused by the young boy's antics, she fed Nathaniel and
listened to his many stories before leading him home, even procuring a
wooden toy sword and an eye-patch to further feed his obsession.

No child in Shastaan was more excited to play each day than Nathaniel,
who ran about town waving his prized toy sword. Nevertheless, it was
this fascination with pirates that became his downfall.

"Where's my boy?!" shouted a worried goodwife. He hadn't returned home
all day and there had been strange rumblings in the nearby hills over
the last few weeks. Lisbethae was quickest to respond, and it was she
who revealed to the goodwife that her citymate Czanthria might have the
answer nearby. Joined by Darkender, the goodwife and her husband made
their way to the nearby shore where the mangled body of their young son
lay in the sand. The goodwife began to weep at the sight while her
husband, a burly fisherman, examined his boy with tears in his eyes.

It did not take long for Darkender and Czanthria to determine that the
boy's death was not the result of sharks or other ocean predators, as it
seemed initially. The fisherman pulled a letter from his pocket, one
that he and his son had written together only the day before, where his
son had spoken of visiting a pirate cave nearby. Distraught, the
fisherman admitted that he thought it was only the boy's imagination at
play, prompting his wife to begin berating him for encouraging their
child's obsession. As his mourning wife made her way back to town, the
fisherman began his own search separate from Darkender and Czanthria,
his knowledge of the coast allowing him to proceed quickly.

Meanwhile, it did not take the two adventurers long to discover a sea
cave along the coast. Inside, wary pirates watched them pass as they
made their way to the heart of the cave where a powerful pirate captain
awaited them with his cutlass poised to slit the fisherman's throat.

"You have a choice," taunted the pirate captain. "I will let the father
go free... but only in return for my escape. Or, you may have me for
your petty revenge, but so shall I steal away the father's life as
well."

With a cool gaze, Darkender replied, "You will let him go, and I will
find you on the seas myself."

"Then I shall have the time to finish my task," said the pirate captain,
before disappearing into the shadows. The fisherman was freed, but his
face showed only anger for the murderer's escape.

What was the pirate captain's task? When would he return? While the
fisherman and his goodwife are left to grieve the loss of their only
child, it seems that Shastaan's troubles are not yet over.

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Summary: A young boy from Shastaan with a wild imagination and a love
of all things pirate disappears. Adventurers discover he fell prey to
foul play and find the pirate captain that murdered the boy, who uses
the boy's fisherman father as a hostage to effect his escape. Swearing
to return, the pirate captain leaves behind a sea cave full of pirates
off the Eastern Shore.

Penned by My hand on the 18th of Mayan, in the year 670 AF.