Blindweed

"Are ye alright, lad?"

Paxos woke up a short while later,as he tried to stand up he quickly grabbed his head while grunting, still in pain from the hard hit he had taken earlier.

"ohhhh, my head. It feels like someone has smacked me one with a bottle" He groaned

"Aye, those devils gave ye a nasty knock when ye came to help us. But now yer here we'll run those evil brain-eatin' dogs off the island fer good!" A voice he hadn't heard before responded to his grunting.

"What? What's going on here? I can't seem to remember anything beyond chatting to a man at the docks." Paxos managed to say slowly.

"Arr. Well lad, that would be Pete, one of my men. He's been out lookin' fer heroes like yerself to aid us in our peril. When ye arrived ye took a nasty knock to the head, so ye probably don't remember agreein' to help us out. But I swear to ye that ye did." The new man replied.

By now, Paxos had managed to stand up again and looked at the man. He had a long beard and was wearing a big hat together with some normal looking clothes.

"Okay… I'll buy that, i mean, it does sound like something I would do…" Paxos replied as he stopped trying to remember his missing memories. "So, where am I? And what's going on?"

"Yer on Braindeath Island! Where it lies is a secret, because ye are standin' in the brewery of Cap'n Braindeath, purveyor of the most vitriolic alcoholic beverages in the world!" The man replied, making a small "Wow" come out of Paxos' mouth.

"I am the notorious alchemist Cap'n Braindeath, and this whole operation be my idea! With my crew of sturdy, upright pirate brewers, we sail the seven seas, distributing cheap 'alcohol' to all and sundry. Well, fer a price, at any rate." He continued. Paxos who had been at many ports before had of course heard of Cap'n Braindeath before.

Seeing the adventurer brought before him recognised his name, Cap'n Braindeath smiled before starting to talk again.

"These be dark times, though, [lad/lass]. See, a week ago we awoke to find ourselves besieged. The lads and I have held them off so far, but 'tis only a matter of time before they sweep through the buildin' and put us all to the sword."

Paxos looked at the man strangely. "Who?" He asked, as Cap'n Braindeath pointed outside through the window, saying: "Them."

Paxos followed the Cap'n's finger through the window, surprise instantly showing on his face as he looked outside and saw many people in front of the building they were in. They were holding plates with bottles of rum drawn on them. As Paxos looked closer, he noticed something was off about those people.

"Those are… Zombies?" He thought to himself.

He looked back at the Cap'n curiously, asking him: "Are they… Protesting?"

"Arr, lad! That they are! Day and night they seek to break our will with their chantin', and their singin' and their passive resistance! Seems they lost their fightin' spirit after the first few days. Now most of them just protest all the time." The captain explained.

"So, what do you want me to do?" Paxos asked, looking back outside at the horde of protesting zombies.

"Well, me and the lads got our heads together and decided that if we can get their Cap'n drunk enough, perhaps they'll stop protesting. If that happens, we'll slip out the back and set up shop somewhere else." The Cap'n started once more.

"And, how can I help?" Paxos asked once more, not having gotten a decent answer from the Cap'n last time he asked.

"Well, first of all, we need someone to go out the front and grow us some Blindweed. 'Tis one of the ingredients of our 'rum'. The only problem is that those rottin' fiends have torn up and destroyed all but one of the Blindweed Patches." The Cap'n explained, this time being clear on what he wanted Paxos to do.

"Here, lad, I'll give ye the seed you'll need fer growin' the herb. Help yerself to the gardenin' equipment in the basement. I'll warn ye again that those devils are sat right on top of the patch. Try hecklin' 'em from a distance. Those Swabs may talk a good fight, but if ye can put a scare in 'em they'll keep out of yer way!" The Cap'n continued, handing over a small, while seed from inside his pocket.

Paxos nodded to the Cap'n before turning around to look for a way to get to the basement.

It didn't take long to find a ladder and after carefully checking if the ladder was somewhat steady, Paxos slowly started making his way down.

As he arrived in the basement, the first thing he saw was an enormous spider, his body as wide as a human and if they'd stand up straight probably as tall as a human as well.

Luckily for Paxos, these spiders were grown here and had gotten used to humans already. They had learned that if they harmed a human, they would be punished themselves, so all the spider did was look at Paxos for a brief moment before turning his head and walking away.

Paxos looked around through the basement for the gardening equipment the Cap'n mentioned, making his way through the basement slowly. His path was continuously blocked by, unsurprisingly, cobwebs.

As he closed in one of the corners of the basement, he noticed a tall cupboard. He carefully opened the creaking door and saw a load of old, rusty farming equipment.

"Well, not what I had in mind to use for growing seeds but… it'll have to do." He mumbled to himself while taking out a rake, a seed dibber and a small watering can from the cupboard.

He carefully closed to door of the cupboard again, making sure it didn't fall off, before making his was back to the ladder.