Adventure Story - S2.E3 | Bloodbeard

Bigheart and Amoth face a new enemy with an unconventional beard care routine

Poll results:

At the end of the last episode you collectively voted for the following continuation of the adventure:

Read through to the end to vote on where the story goes next!

---

New to the adventure? Start at the beginning by clicking here. If it’s not your first time, you can skip the character list and get right into the action.

Character List:

AMOTH PEACEDREAM: Classic good guy and aspiring dragon rider.

BIGHEART: He keeps saying he’s no hero, but it’s sure starting to look like it…

BLOODBEARD: Pirate Captain with unconventional hair-dye methods.

PEG LEG PETE: He has one leg, and also just one line.

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER: Describing him would ruin the point, wouldn’t it?

---

FADE IN

Bigheart and Amoth are soaring above the crystal blue Western Ocean on dragon-back. The dragon dips below the clouds and two ships come into view. The bigger of the two has white sails marked with a purple iris. Trailing it but quickly closing the gap is a smaller ship with black sails. As they watch, it hoists a blood-red flag.

AMOTH

Red Pirates from the Crimson Bay! They butcher their victims and give no quarter. Then they sink the enemy ship with all the treasure inside it as an offering to their ocean god.

BIGHEART

That’s as awful as it is wasteful. What about the other ship?

AMOTH

Merchants from the East flying the emblem of the Trader’s Guild. They won’t stand a chance.

BIGHEART

We have to do the right thing and save them.

AMOTH

Are you insane? Red Pirates are bloodthirsty, possessed zealots. They’ll slice us to bits!

BIGHEART

A dragon is worth a hundred pirates, Amoth. What’s the point of being a dragon rider if you can’t use your power for good?

AMOTH

I’ve never trained for combat.

BIGHEART

How hard can it be? Just aim the dragon and tell him to breathe fire.

AMOTH

If we miss, they’ll pepper us with gunfire as we pass over.

BIGHEART

Well then don’t miss!

AMOTH

For someone who says they’re not a hero, you sure like to act like one.

Amoth, despite being a 140-pound human riding a flying reptile the size of a blue whale, is able to defy the laws of physics and Steer the Dragon with Surgical Precision by Leaning to One Side and Concentrating Very Hard. They cut through the clouds at face-ripping speed and come up on the ship’s stern, whatever that means. Dozens of pirates swarm up from below deck, brandishing cutlasses and pistols.

BIGHEART

Amoth, now! What are you waiting for?

AMOTH

I forgot the secret word.

BIGHEART

There’s a secret word?

AMOTH

Dragons only obey you if you speak to them in their sacred language.

BIGHEART

And you forgot the word for fire? What kind of Dragon Rider are you?!

AMOTH

This is only my second ride, okay? Wait, I remembered! Ferezan, dragon, ferezan!

The dragon immediately turns upside down, and Bigheart and Amoth fall screaming off its back and onto the unyielding deck of the pirate ship. Bigheart has just enough time to see the dragon fly off into the distance before the pirates form a circle around them, blocking his view.

BIGHEART

Amoth, what did you do?

AMOTH

I may have mixed up the word for fire with the word for barrel roll.

BIGHEART

Next time I’m driving the dragon.

BLOODBEARD

Well, well, what have we here? A couple o' acrobatic Dragon Riders who flew too close to the Midnight Sun. That be the name of me ship, and I be Captain Bloodbeard. Speak, before I slit yer scrawny throats.

BIGHEART

I’m a lowly farm boy.

AMOTH

And I’m a nameless bastard.

BLOODBEARD

Be that so? A lowly farm boy and nameless bastard crossing the Western Sea on dragon back? I’ll ask one more time, and if ye lie again, I’ll dye me beard with yer blood right here on this deck.

AMOTH

I was afraid thats why he was called Bloodbeard.

BIGHEART

Me too. That’s a very…sticky-looking red.

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Personally, I love his style.

BLOODBEARD

Slit their throats!

BIGHEART

Wait, don’t do that! I’m Bigheart, I’m prophesied to save the realm!

AMOTH

And I’m Amoth Peacedream, Gravedeath’s secret bastard son!

SEA CRICKET

Cri-cri.

BIGHEART

We shouldn’t have said all that stuff.

AMOTH

No, that was a mistake.

BLOODBEARD

Confiscate their weapons and lock ‘em in the brig! We’ll send the merchants to Davey Jones’ Locker and then decide what to do with our little dragon riders. The rest of you, on yer feet. ye bilge-sucking rats! Let out the reefs, tighten the halyards, square out the yards!

PEG LEG PETE

We don’t know half those words but we know it means you want us to go fast, and we respond well to demeaning insults. All hands on deck!

BIGHEART

They’re taking us down below, how are we supposed to save the merchants now? Where did your dragon go, Amoth?

AMOTH

Dragons are fickle creatures.

BIGHEART

Stop trying to sound wise and help me think my way out of this mess.

AMOTH

We’re doomed, Bigheart. No one escapes the Crimson Pirates.

BIGHEART

Ruthless, are you still there?

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Sheathed at your hip, like always. No matter how many times they confiscate me, I always reappear at your side.

BIGHEART

At least there’s that. Do you think we can take on thirty Crimson Pirates?

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Absolutely. That will be a glorious way to die.

BIGHEART

Maybe I should be more specific. Do you think we can take on thirty Crimson Pirates and survive?

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Oh, that last part? Definitely not. Plus, we’re locked in the brig now. Hard to win a fight when you’re trapped behind bars.

AMOTH

Bigheart who are you whispering to?

BIGHEART

I was just talking to this barnacle I found over here.

AMOTH

That’s normal.

BIGHEART

Do you think your dragon is going to come back?

AMOTH

Dragons belong only to the wind and the stars.

BIGHEART

Stop doing that.

AMOTH

It’s true, they’re unpredictable and temperamental. Like scaly, cold-blooded cats. Who knows if we’ll ever see him again.

BIGHEART

Well we have to do something, we can’t just sit here and wait while the pirates slaughter an entire crew of innocent merchants.

AMOTH

We’re behind bars, and Bloodbeard has the key. What do you propose we do?

BIGHEART

We’re going to have to use our heads, Amoth.

AMOTH

Steel is stronger than bone, there’s no way we can smash through these with our heads.

BIGHEART

That’s not what I meant. Is there anything around here we can use to break out of this cell?

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

Not unless you can pick a lock with a barnacle.

BIGHEART

Agh, we didn’t see you over there in the corner.

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

I’ve been here for seventeen months, living off of snails and seawater. The only way to escape the brig is for Bloodbeard to open the gate.

AMOTH

He’s left you down here for seventeen months?

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

He’s very forgetful.

BIGHEART

Fantastic.

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

It’s a little damp, but you get used to it. Here, try a sea snail. They’re crunchy.

BIGHEART

I don’t want a sea snail, I want to get out of here and stop Bloodbeard from massacring an entire crew of traders.

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

A very noble desire, but sadly impossible.

BIGHEART

Ruthless, what can we do?

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Kill the stranger and eat him. If you’re frugal, you won’t have to eat snail for weeks.

BIGHEART

No, Ruthless, that’s not the kind of solution I need. Help me figure out how to get out of here. Can’t you cut through steel or something?

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

I am steel, you idiot. Isn’t it enough for you that I’m sentient and can talk?

AMOTH

Bigheart? Are you talking to the barnacle again?

BIGHEART

I was. The barnacle is useless. And ill-mannered, on top of it. The barnacle should know its place or I might just throw it overboard next chance I get.

RUTHLESS THE TALKING SWORD

Well maybe the “barnacle” would be better off in the claws of a crab than with an arrogant human who refuses to accept that he’s a hero.

BIGHEART

Okay, that’s it. You’re done.

Bigheart unsheathes Ruthless and hurls him through the bars across the room. Amoth shrieks and the the Mysterious Stranger begins choking on a piece of snail. Ruthless strikes a lantern hung against the wall above the staircase, shatters it, and the bannister goes up in flames.

AMOTH

Well that’s just about the only thing you could have done to make this situation worse. Also, where did you get that sword?

BIGHEART

It’s a long story and I wish it never happened. Never listen to a strange voice coming from a puddle.

RUTHLESS

Now you’re acting like a hero!

FADE OUT

---

Last episode, readers voted for Bigheart and Amoth to end up on a pirate ship. This week, you have the responsibility of voting on what happens back on dry land. Some of these options are more appealing than others, please be considerate of the power I’m placing in your unsteady hands…

Make sure to come back next time to see the results of the poll incorporated into the next episode. Thanks for reading Adventure Story! If you’re enjoying the adventure, please consider supporting me with a free or paid subscription.