Waves Breaking, Chapter 13
Captured
In the dead of night, Harrow led his crew, bolstered by Grimshaw and the rest of the prisoners, recently armed, towards the settlement. The hope was to sneak through to Jalneth’s headquarters, a large bar in the middle of the settlement, without raising alarm.1
Unfortunately, before they even got close, a bell began ringing and figures with weapons emerged from alleyways.
“They knew we were coming,” Grimshaw growled.
Harrow drew his blades. “It doesn’t matter, we fight our way through. Charge!” His crew engaged Jalneth’s fighters in a bloody melee.2
Harrow gutted a man, spilling blood and intestines on the ground below, when Grimshaw grabbed his arm.
“This ain’t goin’ our way,” Grimshaw said.
Harrow looked around and though it was dark, he could tell Grimshaw was right. Whoever had set them up had done a hell of a job at it. They were being pressed from all sides.
“We’ve been betrayed! Everyone, back to the Deathwish, fight or die!” Harrow called out, gathering his crew to push towards the dock.3
They were almost through, Grimshaw and Harrow fighting side by side, when reinforcements came, firing pistols and rifles into the Deathwish’s forces, Maggie standing behind them.
Harrow saw Jihun take a dagger thrust to the chest and fall. There was no winning this fight. His crew were dying left and right.
Jalneth’s and Maggie’s forces pulled back for a moment of peace, the twin moons illuminating the blood, guts and bodies on the ground, and the bloodied, wounded and grim-faced combatants facing each other.
Harrow stepped forward, raising a blade. “Hold! No more have to die this night,” he called out.
Maggie and Jalneth pushed their way to the front to face him.
“Surrender and that will be true.” Maggie asked.
“We will,” Harrow said, “if you swear to allow my crew to return to the Deathwish and free to sail away from here. If you swear to that, I hand myself over to you. Otherwise, we will fight to the end and you’ll love many more warriors before the night is over.”
Jalneth was a hulking brute of a man, over six feet tall, with a necklace of human ears. He looked at Maggie.
“I know it’s me you want,” Harrow said. “I know that’s why you betrayed me, Maggie. You can have me, without any more losses. Isn’t that worth it?”4
Jalneth gave a look to Maggie and then shrugged.“Very well, if they throw down their weapons, we will allow them to board the Deathwish and leave.”
Harrow looked at his crew and nodded. “Do it,” he said but held onto his own weapons.
Reluctantly, his forces dropped their weapons to the ground.
Harrow looked at Maggie and Jalneth. “Let them go.”
“You still have your weapons,” Maggie snapped.
“I’m sure you want me alive,” Harrow said. “I’ll drop them when my crew is free.”
Jalneth waved his hand and his crew moved out of the way.
“We won’t leave you,” Esana whispered, glaring.
Harrow looked into her eyes. “Yes you will. I’ll not have the whole crew killed because of me. Sail away and forget about me. That’s an order.”
She couldn’t meet his gaze and walked away, the rest of the crew following.
Grimshaw gave Harrow a respectful nod as he walked by. “You’re a decent captain,” he said.
“Take care of our crew,” Harrow replied. “It’s the least you can do.”
Grimshaw nodded.
The last of the Deathwish’s crew moved on, past Jalneth’s warriors and down to the docks.
Harrow dropped his blades in the dirt.
“I surrender.”
With a hood over his head and his hands bound, they walked him somewhere into the settlement, into a building, and finally into a cell, where they took the hood off but left his hands bound.
The cell door slammed shut.
He noticed multiple guards standing outside the cell door. Interesting, he noted half of them were Maggie’s crew while the other half were Jalneth’s. The two leaders clearly didn’t trust each other.
Harrow sat against the wall and stared at the ground. He wondered if this had been the cell Kaito had been held in.
Where was he, now? Likely dead.
Harrow shook his head. “I couldn’t save you.”5 He wept as he considered what must have been done to his friend. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, wiping his eyes. “I forgive you,” he said, finally.
He took a deep breath.
There was nothing to do but wait.
Wait for the Sacred Harbingers to come and take him away.
A few bad rolls led to a fascinating conclusion to Harrow’s story (for now).
Lately, I’ve been getting a bit tired of Sundered Isles and as it’s October, I’ll be taking a break from Waves Breaking. I like to play a short, horror solo-game in October. Previous years, I’ve played a creepy Lighthouse micro-game and Long Haul 1983. You can check the table of contents for other solo one-shots, chapters and campaigns.
This year, I think I’ll play Exclusion Zone Botanist as it gives me “Annihilation” vibes which is both a movie and novel that I really like. I am open to other ideas though, so leave a comment if you have any!
After October, I’m not sure whether I’ll return to Waves Breaking or pursue a new game. Perhaps I’ll drop a poll and have readers decide. I would also like to return to the fantasy world I created, Kol Noth, but I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do next for that.
Thanks to Andrew Wylde, BuddhaRandom, and Eric for being paid subscribers.
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Check out the Table of Contents for previous games I’ve played as well as other stuff I’ve written.
Face Danger + Shadow: 2 vs 5,5 → Miss with a Match.
Battle (Objective: reach Jalneth’s bar) Roll + Iron: 4 vs 5,9 → Miss.
Battle (Objective: reach the Deathwish) Roll + Iron: 6 vs 9,9 → Miss with a Match.
Compel + Iron: 4 vs 8,3 → Weak Hit. Demand or Complication.
Abandon Vow. Pay the Price. Endure Stress(-3). Resist + Heart: 6 vs 4,1 → Strong Hit. +1 Spirit (1).
Two misses with a match, poor Harrow. This was a blast to read. I'm keen to read whatever you decide on for your next serialized write up, but I agree with the some of the other commenters that you should do something you enjoy. It's a lot easier to take the misses and failed checks when you are having a great time!
My thought on continuing or not: don't do something that isn't fun.
It's been a blast to read but if you don't enjoy it anymore, then absolutely move to something else.