I’ve been questing up my pirate a lot lately, and I’m proud to say that I’m finally about halfway through Cool Ranch!

Warning: Storyline spoliers for Pirate101’s Cool Ranch follow.

Getting a face-off with the duck-of-the-hour was no small task. The trouble began (well, this portion of the trouble anyway) when the Duck of Death kidnapped Tonka, the Free Ranger’s ally and companion. (Side note: Hats off to KingsIsle for the Lone Ranger and Tonto reference. One of the many reasons why I adore KingsIsle games is because of all the cute references and puns they manage to fit in.) As if that weren’t enough trouble, the Duck of Death also fatally wounded the Free Ranger with some sort of bad mojo.

My job was to help heal the Free Ranger and find out more about this Duck of Death and how to defeat him. The problem was, the only person who knew all there was to know about this dark duck, the central Totem Spirit, Thunderbird, was only willing to help if I first brought peace to the Spirit World. It seemed like a complicated task to say the least, but Tonka was in need of help so off I went!

Reminded me of Grandmother Raven a little bit.

Brother Owl, Sister Snake, and Brother Wolf (the other totem spirits) all had a bone to pick with Three Scars, a rogue Bison who had betrayed them all. Once I fixed his wrong deeds and tracked him down, all was well in the Spirit World. Thunderbird would help me now, right?

I didn’t purposefully try to get my head in-between the fangs – but hey, it looks pretty cool.

Of course she did! A deal’s a deal after all. To assist in the telling of the Duck of Death’s backstory, Thunderbird put on a puppet show that detailed his dark transformation. Long ago the Duck of Death was known as William Duck. He longed for riches and success, but found very little. When the dogs of Marleybone came to the area, he helped them conquer many lands – hoping to change his destiny. He even adopted the dogs’ way of life and took the name of English Bill. But things didn’t work out as he had hoped. After an engine explosion, the dogs cut off all ties with English Bill, who was left with nothing. Consumed with rage, English Bill took revenge on everyone who had cheated him. The dogs angrily tried to hunt him down, but English Bill ended up fleeing to Darkmoor. After selling his soul to an evil spirit, English Bill didn’t exist anymore. The Duck of Death took his place. Although he was seemingly immortal, there was one thing that could stop him. Silver bullets. I needed silver bullets!

Then silver I will get!

After I went digging for some silver in the mines, it was finally time for the showdown at Boot Hill! Unfortunately, upon arrival I discovered that the Duck of Death had been working with the Armada. Those blasted clockworks are involved in everything, aren’t they?

You clockworks again?

But have no fear! I dipped my silver bullets in the basin to sanctify them and took down the Duck of Death. Or so I thought.

We’ll see about that …

The Duck of Death retreated to his ship where he boasted that he pulled me into a trap. Hah, oh really? I used his explosive trap against him and poof! The Duck of Death and his ship were no more.

Success!

Alas, there is still much work to be done. If I’m to find Captain Blood’s hideout, I’ll first need to track down Mustang Sally and reunite her with her long lost lover, El Toro. Wish me luck!