text: [Themes: historical, fantasy, anti-hero]
  
  You approach Freddy leaning against the blackened tree. One of his knee is bent towards the sky supporting the mandolin. He finishes playing "My Sister, My Love" and looks up to you.
  
  "You know that's my favorite song," you comment.
  
  "Ever since we were kids, yes," Freddy replies finishing the final notes on the mandolin.
  
  As soon as his music stops, a deep rumbling echoes from within the tree's center. The earth begins shaking, dropping several members of the crew to the grass. Suddenly, the ground splits open and multiple roots slither through like tentacles from the Kraken herself. Caught unaware, you witness a couple of the crew dragged below ground.
  
  The ominous creak from a bark-covered tentacle curls itself around your ankle. Instinctively, you fire your pistol. Splinters explode from the tendril, but it remains fixed around your ankle. You holster the flintlock and recite the incantation exactly how Victoria taught you. Flames appear at your hands, which you quickly wrap around the tentacle. It recoils at the fire, and dives back below ground.
  
  Across the field, you see Victoria and Procter have already put into effect your keenly discovered technique. Flames project from both of their hands firing on close tendrils. Procter even takes it upon himself to fire at the tree itself. His blast craters a deep impact into the trunk of the blackened tree. Upon impact, a ragged deep whine echoes from within the trunk. The noise sounds like a whale call, only much lower pitched and resounding. The earthquakes increase knocking everyone, including you, to the ground.
  
  The tree begins to grow in size lengthening towards the sky. The ground erupts as more bark tendrils fly out pushing the tree upwards as if arms. You rise from the ground and look around. The peaceful field has turned into a chaotic frenzy. The neatly trimmed grass is now scarred by fire and the eruption of the roots.
  
  > Run
  Whatever magic the grove held, it's certainly more than you can manage. Realizing you're outmatched, you shout the word any man who wants to live would:
  
  "Run!"
  
  Needing no other command, where to run for example, the crew scurries off into the surrounding jungle. Once you cross back into the trees, the nighttime effect returns. The bright grassy grove is replaced with the dark dense jungle. A flash of purple hair catches up to you.
  
  "Cap, you made it. For a second there I thought I'd have to take command of the boys," Victoria says gesturing to the remaining crew behind her.
  
  "Is this all that's left?" you ask. "Where's Procter and Freddy?"
  
  "Not with us," she answers. "They're a resourceful couple, I'm sure they're ok."
  
  "I'm more worried about them killing each other rather than the island killing them," you answer. "Those two don't exactly have matching personalities."
  
  "I hate to say it, but we should continue towards the temple," Victoria says. "No sense in wandering around the jungle looking for those two. Besides if they have any sense of intelligence, they'd continue towards the temple as well. We're bound to meet up that way."
  
  "—unless they run into another magic tree, or worse, more natives," you reply.
  
  "I thought you just said you weren't worried about that?"
  
  "I was trying to be funny."
  
  "Maybe you shouldn't do that. We'll follow your lead. Continue towards the temple or search for Freddy and Procter?"
  
  > search for them
  "We may be pirates, but we're not animals...or even worse, lawyers. We'll spread out to cover more ground. We'll each lead half the crew in search. We'll meet back here in a day's time, with or without those two," you say.
  
  "So much for taking my advice about being funny. It's a plan. Men! On me!" Victoria says.
  
  Victoria and four of the crew set out east while you take the remaining three and head west. Once again, you're back to hacking overgrown vines and branches blocking your path. After a few hours of hacking, whacking, and slashing, you discover a series of stone-carved statues. There are five of them total arranged in a crescent circle. Each cracked, moss-layered statue is a naked woman looking downward with hands in a prayer position barely covering the front of their chest. The sculptor definitely didn't skip over emphasizing their womanly attributes as their curves are much more than a natural woman's. At first glance they appear the same, but a more in-depth look suggests subtle changes between them.
  
  "Have we been at sea too long or are these statues beautiful?" one of the crew, Jack, asks.
  
  You turn to blonde-haired youth. "They are quite alluring. Keep your distance though, we have no understanding of the magic of this place."
  
  Jack steps forward and points at the middle statue. "Is that what I think it is?"
  
  "Yes, those are breasts," another crewman, Henry, interjects.
  
  "I know what those are, asshole," Jack replies. "I mean the ring on her finger."
  
  Sitting on the middle statue's finger like a crown, is an extravagant ring. Freddy had many rings, too many for you to keep track of them all, but there's no doubt in your mind it's one of them. Freddy must have left it here as a breadcrumb to signify you're on his trail.
  
  Henry slowly walks towards the statues for a better look. At the last moment something catches your eye—
  
  "—wait, stop!" you shout.
  
  Too late. The ground beneath Henry collapses under his weight. In an avalanche of dirt, he falls into the pre-dug pit. You rush to save him, but not quickly enough. You arrive to the edge of the pit just before Henry hits the bottom. It's not a far drop. Not even a lethal height. The sharpened pikes at the bottom are another story though. Henry lies unmoving held suspended in the air by three pikes. His eyes are still wide-eyed by the surprise fall.
  
  "No one else move," you command the remaining two members. Jack and William glance at each other perfectly willing to follow the order.
  
  "He-he another man falls for us, sisters," a woman's voice projects from one of the statues.
  
  "They can never help themselves," another speaks.
  
  "Even when they see another man's ring on my finger," the middle statue jumps in.
  
  "Where is the man who gave you the ring?" you ask.
  
  "My love had to leave. He'll be back. They always come back."
  
  "Freddy's left more than a few women waiting," you whisper under your breath. Unsure of the statue's power, and not wanting to upset them, you say, "I am a friend of Freddy, your, uh, love. I think he's in danger and I need to find him."
  
  "Freddy?" the statue questions. "Oh you mean my love's man-servant. Elizabeth has already claimed him."
  
  The statue's eyes to the far left flash white for the briefest of moments. So fast, in fact, you're not sure if you imagined it.
  
  "You promised not to tell!" it says in an unusual pitch you determine to be embarrassment.
  
  Ignoring the outburst you respond to the statue with the ring, "Do you mean your love is Procter? Why do you have Freddy's ring then?"
  
  "My love's man-servant was carrying it for him of course. He's such a strange man," the statue answers.
  
  "No arguments here. Where did they go?" you ask.
  
  The voice answers quietly, "To the feathered serpent's resting place."
  
  You nod. "Do you know the way?"
  
  "I will tell you if only for the reason it will bring my love back to me sooner. Beware the guardian."
  
  You retrace your path back to the location to meet Victoria. You're a bit early, so you, Jack, and William, set up camp. You volunteer for the first watch.
  
  > wait for Victoria
  You reach the appointed hour Victoria should be back. There's still no sign of her. The worst thing you could do is attempt to search for her. Despite her reasons for being late, she would most likely return to the meeting place or continue towards the temple. You need to decide to keep waiting or continue towards the temple without her.
  
  > keep waiting
  It's way past the appointed hour Victoria should be back. There's not even a small sign of her. At this point, the worst thing you could do go look for her. She would most likely return to the meeting place or continue towards the temple. You figure your only choices are to keep waiting or continue towards the temple without her, though the thought of staying in one place too long makes you nervous...
  
  > keep waiting
  "Captain, I think I saw movement," Jack says.
  
  "Victoria?" you ask.
  
  "Not sure. It came from over there," he points a finger into the jungle in front of you.
  
  You peer into the overgrowth. You don't see anything, but a whizzing sound causes you to instinctively roll to your right. The feathered javelin hits Jack square in the chest. Two more quickly follow impaling his stomach as he falls back. The points rip clean through his back stopping his fall a few inches from the ground. He dies with the same surprised look as Henry.
  
  Staying in the same spot too long has alerted the natives to your presence. Perhaps they wouldn't have attacked if you didn't attack them first on the beach. A group of natives appear through the trees encircling you and William. They march forward spears held in front of them. You try to fight your way out, but there are too many. You die in the jungle next to your two crew members. Your quest ends prematurely.