Chapter I: A Battle Royale

It was a dark and stormy night (because events like these always take place on dark and stormy nights) in the year 1678, when Greenbeard, the pirate lizard, was tracked down by his enemies to a dockside drinking house on the island of Martinique.

The year 1678 was chosen as during the peak years of buccaneer activity (I don't like to call Greenbeard a "pirate")! Martinique was chosen because it was the known home of many French buccaneers.

He and his crew fought gallantly and with great bravado, as any respectable swashbuckler should, and for hours the clash of swords echoed through the rain outside, should anyone have been listening.

None of this has any particular meaning towards the contest solution.

Though outnumbered, Greenbeard’s courage was strong. In the best tradition of such brawls, drinking tankards flew through the air, to intersect or collide with participants not paying close enough attention. Tables were turned over, and at least one unfortunate soul, flung over the bar into a row of rum bottles.

This contains the first mention of a transformer: the Intersector.

But even the bravest lizards cannot fend off a dozen cutthroats forever. Their numbers dwindled until only Greenbeard remained, cornered by the most villainous pirate ever to disgrace the seven seas: the dreaded Captain Seahawk.

None of this has any particular meaning towards the contest solution.

Greenbeard’s sword had a streamline build, ergonomic design, and a ruby in the hilt. But he knew that it would be of little use against such an evil foe. Still, he laughed in their faces, raised a claw in defiance, and declared (according to some very questionable witnesses), “Quel imbéciles! You’ll never take my treasure!” Then, with a reptilian flourish, Greenbeard leapt through the window and into the storm raging outside.

Here's a second transformer: the LineBuilder. The French quote is another hint toward's Greenbeard's nationality and likely place that the treasure was buried.

Chapter II: The Curious Notebook

Thanking his creator for his lightning-fast speed, Greenbeard scuttled over to his personal ship-of-the-line, ex-tender, The Emerald Tide. Quickly raising the sails, his ship sped off into the stormy blackness.

Two transformers hidden here, firstly, the Creator. Secondly, there is the LineExtender. A "ship-of-the-line" means a sailing warship. A "tender" is a smaller, service vessel. The implication is that as lizards, Greenbeard's crew would use a smaller vessel as their main ship. Of course, really it is just so I could insert "LineExtender" into the text!

The ship vanished into history and was never seen again. Some say she sank with her captain, while others claim to have seen her ghostly green sails on moonlit Caribbean nights.

This is just scene-setting. None of this has any particular meaning towards the contest solution.

The only evidence that Greenbeard ever existed was a soggy, old journal that was found washed ashore. Its cover was marked with a curious emblem of a compass intertwined with a lizard’s tail. Inside were pages of scribbled riddles, half-complete maps, and cryptic clues written in lizard-like handwriting in green ink.

This is just to introduce Greenbeard's journal, whose puzzles drive the contest. Green ink? Well, what other colour would a lizard use?

These pages might have been simply a ship’s diary; perhaps just some notes for his Flamboyant Marine Explorer certification. But most people believe it contains directions to something valuable and mysterious. Maybe gold, maybe ancient relics. Greenbeard’s fortune, buried somewhere beyond the ability of anyone to find.

Yes, they had FME Certification back in Greenbeard's era! But the overall point of the story is to highlight various transformers (Creator, LineBuilder, LineExtender, and Intersector) to help explain the technique required to process the clue data.