Talk about Random Encounters...

I couldn't sleep tonight, so I decided to hop on FFXI and see if I can do something until I felt like sleeping again.

I realized that I need to get the quest "Inside the Belly" active before I can even think about getting some nifty things from fishing. That, in itself, requires a chain of quests that needed to be done prior. One of those quests require that you encounter pirates on the ferry.

For those who don't know how to tell if a boat ride will encounter pirates, let me inform you. :3

When you zone into the Ferry, take note of the chat log and the fade in transition into the zone. If the zone appears and the "=== Area: Ship bound for X ===" message appears at the same exact time, it will be a normal ride (read: boring unless you're fishing or Sea Horror spawns). If the message appears in your chat log and the zone takes awhile to appear on your screen, you will be invaded by pirates.

So, what happens when you get invaded by pirates? Well, you go outside and wait a bit... you'll see another ship that will ride by (the pirates). Now, pay attention to the Humes that appear on the ship. If you see a Hume in a V. Cloak, he will summon Blackbeard (if going from Mhaura -> Selbina) or Silverhook (if going from Selbina -> Mhaura). The target that I'm looking for are the Crossbones, those mobs drop the Sand Charm item that I need for the chain quest.

I went on the ferry for about two rides and we got invaded by pirates... and unfortunately, a Hume was wearing V. Cloak was on it.

Sure, you figured "Eh, it's a Ferry, the Blackbeard and Silverhook are probably easy to kill!"

Well... yes... if you had the right job and gear for it. I, unfortunately, didn't.

Anyways, I was pulling Crossbones off to the side (thankfully they don't link) and killing them off, hoping for a sand charm. This fisherman (who was a THF) pulled Blackbeard into the cabin. I thought "Oh, he can solo it np!" Then after I killed my Crossbones (which btw, didn't drop the charm), I targeted him and he was at near 10% HP! @_@

Being the noble hero that I am, I quickly cured him and invited him to party. I was unprepared for the situation and my HP dropped down ridiculously fast! I quickly got control of the situation (without 2hr mind you) and we managed to beat the thing with like 10% HP each. The Sea Robber Cudgel dropped (which I can't use since its WHM onry) and the THF didn't want the cudgel so he let me have it. This will look nice on my mannequin.

Well... I'm still not tired, probably gonna take a few more trips back and forth, hopefully a pirate attack will occur again.

... And maybe I'll get to fight Silverhook. <.<