Tale of the Curved Creek Pirates
It was the year 1720, and they were the most fearsome crew in the Caribbean, or so they told themselves. Sailing aboard the dreaded galleon Siren's Song, Captain Barnaby Jones and his crew of misfits lived for adventure and the thrill of the chase. Their ship was a legend in its own right, its sails a canvas of black against the cerulean sea, its hull a testament to a thousand storms and a hundred victories. But their bravado was shattered one fateful night, under a sky lit by a cursed moon...
They met their match in the murky depths of the sea, encountering a colossal kraken, said to be a pet of the legendary pirate, Davy Jones himself.
The beast, a living mountain of flesh and muscle, rose from the abyss. Its eyes, the size of cannonballs, glowed with an unholy light, and its tentacles, like ship's masts, lashed with the force of a hurricane. It wasn't interested in a fight; it was interested in a meal. The crew, for all their bluster, were terrified. They abandoned their course, their treasure, and their dignity, turning the Siren's Song north in a mad flight from the beast and its dreadful master.
The kraken, with a seemingly endless hunger, pursued them relentlessly. Days turned into weeks as they fled, past the sun-drenched shores of Florida and into the dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Confused and desperate, Sebastian Silas took a wrong turn, a mistake that would forever change their destiny, mistaking a wide, muddy opening for a hidden strait. It was no strait. It was the Mississippi River, and the terrified crew of the Siren's Song found themselves sailing upstream, away from the familiar sea and deeper into the belly of the continent.
Their fear of the kraken and Davy Jones's wrath was so great that they never dared to turn back. They sailed for days and nights, the humid air thick with the smell of wet earth and strange plants. The river was a powerful force, a current that seemed to have a mind of its own, but as they pressed on, they were awestruck by the towering bluffs that rose like sleeping giants from the water's edge. In the distance, they could hear a strange, rhythmic rumbling sound that was unlike any storm they had ever known.
And in the thick mist of the river, they saw a peculiar vision—a great, skeletal span, like a colossal arch of bone and metal, that seemed to rise from the water. Another vision, a second one, appeared beside it—a great iron cage suspended in the air. These were great skeletal spans, as if to let ships pass through a future that was not yet their own, a Memorial to a time they would never know and a testament to the Bayview that awaited. Just as they began to think they had outrun their fate, a new monster appeared. 
A catfish, larger than any whale they had ever seen, rose from the depths of the river. This was no ordinary fish, but a primeval spirit of the river, a guardian born of local legends. As it rose, Groggy Gus, in a drunken haze, pointed at its peculiar, clumsy strokes and slurred, "Look, it swims like a Doggy Paddler!" Its whiskers were like lashing ropes, its mouth wide enough to swallow their ship whole. The crew, already on edge, panicked. In a moment of sheer terror, Sebastian Silas spun the wheel hard, taking the Siren's Song off course and into a narrow tributary known as Curteis Creek in what would one day be Adams County, Illinois. The creek's currents were surprisingly rough, a jarring and bumpy ride unlike anything they had known on the open sea, scraping their hull as if the river itself were full of potholes.
The creek was no match for a full-sized galleon. The ship scraped and groaned, its hull eventually wedging itself in a sharp bend in the creek, the famous "Curved Creek." They were stuck. Marooned. With no hope of escape from the river's guardian and the dread of the kraken still fresh, they set up a permanent hideout right where the Siren's Song had run aground. From their new home, they could see the fertile valleys and the rolling hills of the future Quincy.
In their first days, as they began to explore their new, muddy home, Little Timmy stumbled upon something shimmering in the creek bed. It wasn't gold or jewels, but strange, beautiful geodes and crystals that seemed to glow in the moonlight, pulsating with a rhythm that beckoned them closer. A heavy stillness fell over the air, the kind that makes a man's heart beat a frantic drum against his ribs. Captivated by their eerie light, the crew each took one, a desperate attempt to find new treasure in a desolate land. But the geodes held a dark magic, a curse placed upon them by the river spirit. 
As the pirates held the glowing stones, a chilling cold spread through their veins. Their skin began to peel and their flesh withered away, the geodes consuming their life force and transforming them into the skeletal figures they were destined to become. The cursed geodes drained the life from their bodies, leaving behind only their bones, forever bound to the creek and their glowing treasure.
Their living names were erased and replaced with those of the bone, reflecting their cursed fate. Barnaby Jones became Barnaby Bones, Black Billy became Bony Billy, Sebastian Silas became Silas the Spine, Little Timmy became Little Tibia, Groggy Gus became Bonesy Grog, and Rackham Jack became Rusty Rackham.
Now, their spirits are bound to the creek, their skeletal forms forever guarding the "Gem City" from any who would dare to disturb their cursed sleep. The Curved Creek Pirates are cursed to protect their final resting place and the memories of their flight from the sea. Their tale is whispered on the wind, a warning to all who dare to sail against the current... for the legend of their final, cursed voyage will continue in the next chapter, to be unveiled next year in Halloween 2026.