26. Introducing Wily Wally, Merchant Adventurer! (SOT "Lootless Run" Challenge, Day 1)

Ahoy, Mateys!

I apologize for the lack of blog posts recently. I've been keeping very busy with the search for the Dodo! But today, I'd like to introduce a new pirate on the Sea of Thieves, a protégé of Skipper Jimi: WILY WALLY

PORTRAIT OF WILY WALLY, THE MAGNIFICENT MERCHANT ADVENTURER!

I've made this pirate for a very specific purpose: To attempt the LOOTLESS RUN CHALLENGE put together by the legendary PhuzzyBond himself!

I thought this was a very interesting idea. How difficult would it be to reach Pirate Legend without selling a single piece of loot? I decided to give it a try, and Wily Wally was born.

Wily Wally will fly the Reaper Mark at all times on this challenge to make it... well, even more challenging! The Reaper Mark flag makes your ship visible to all on the map!

Plotting Wally's Course

First, I would have to decide which three factions to level up to 50. It would be impossible (I believe) to level up the hunter's call to level 50 without selling anything. That leaves us with Reapers, Merchant Alliance, Gold Hoarders, and Order of Souls.

Except for the Reapers, you need to be level 15 in each of these factions before you can purchase an emissary flag, which will be the quickest way to level up in this challenge. Since you can buy a Reaper emissary flag right away, and since ANY loot will level them up, they seem like an obvious choice... A little too obvious and too easy, I say!

Therefore, Wily Wally will try to become a Pirate Legend through the traditional three companies: Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, and Merchant Alliance. My first goal will be to try and reach Level 15 in each of these factions so that I can get the Emissary Flags.

The Merchant Alliance

I quickly noticed that the Merchant Alliance will be particularly tricky for this challenge. Until Lost Shipments voyages become available at Level 25, all Merchant Alliance quests require selling items.

At Level 1, all Merchant Alliance quests require selling items. What a conundrum!

I thought for a moment that the challenge might not even be possible with the Merchant Alliance! There were only two commendations that I could complete without doing quests... But would they be enough?

The first was to purchase 250 Merchant Alliance Voyages for the Merchant Adventurer commendation. At level 1, voyages are free, so this would be an easy (if tedious) task. I was amazed that this commendation brought me all the way to level 12!

Before even leaving port, Wally became renowned as a Merchant Adventurer!

My only chance now of reaching Level 15 and getting a Merchant Alliance Emissary Flag will be to complete the "Sailor of the Merchant Alliance" commendation, which requires me to sail long distances around the map with Merchant Alliance voyages equipped. I finished Grade I relatively quickly, but it unfortunately yielded little result: I barely reached level 13! 

The fifth and final tier of this commendation requires 1000 miles of sailing! My main character, Skipper Jimi, has not yet completed this commendation even after three years! Hopefully Wally will reach level 15 at Grade 2 or 3...

So, it looks like I will have to sail around with Merchant quests up for a while longer. This is frustrating because: 1) I cannot complete the Merchant quests; and 2) I cannot do quests for other trading companies while I have a Merchant Alliance faction quest up for this commendation.

The Order of Souls

Thankfully, I can level up the Order of Souls while waiting for Sailor of the Merchant Alliance to get me to level 15 with the Merchant Alliance. The Order of Souls is probably the easiest of my three chosen factions to reach level 15 with for the simple reason that they have commendations for WORLD EVENTS (Skeleton Forts, Forts of Fortune, and Ghost Fleets). 

That is how I spent the rest of my first day on this challenge: Sailing around the map doing world events with merchant voyages on my quest table. Things are moving along quite nicely. I'm already level 9 in the Order of Souls. It's almost time to call it quits for today... While I wrote this blog post, Wally was taking a nap on a Fort of Fortune, while another crew finished it for him. It sounds like they are almost done. 😁

Until next time!

Wally completed his first day as a pirate by taking a nap on a Fort of Fortune. They are almost complete! What should he do with the Chest of Fortune if he manages to steal it? He can't sell it after all...!