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I’ve found recently my time has been spent both playing in and running multiple role-playing games. I’ve been continuing with my Vampire character in what is now a multi-year spanning campaign (kudos to my GM for maintaining the game!) but I’ve also now found myself privileged to find a new group willing to submit themselves to my own desires to run some RP games.

It’s been an interesting few months, I’ve re-run my modern adaptation of the classic D&D ‘Dragon Quest’ Box set, one of the very first RPG sets I ever got, and more recently I’ve become the proud owner of a gold-foil cover edition of the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules book. Fifth edition D&D is good, but it doesn’t scratch a certain itch.

I’ve been trying my best to paint the models for Wild West Exodus, but I’m finding it very hard to get the motivation to do so, and when I do sit down find the actual painting to be difficult as my eyes clearly aren’t what they once were. I end up giving myself a headache trying to visually focus on the models, this is quite a sad realisation for me as I loved painting miniatures when I was younger, but I’ve not really painted anything for a decade or more

On a slightly more positive note, I had the fun of running a Sea of Thieves RP game and would like to share here the ‘retelling’ of our one-shot game session, and so I present “The tale of Hakkars debt”

The morning broke shedding new light on to the shores of Wanderer’s Refuge, The encampment set within the Old Ruins may have been makeshift, but it was as good a place as any other to be waking from a night of drunken debauchery, and three sailors, of the many of these scattered isles, find themselves bleary-eyed, a taste of stale grog and the wisps of a roaring fire nearby long since extinguished, only one other person present a cheery barkeep, gathering in what few bottles aren’t shattered and preparing themselves to leave the island welcomes the awakening few…

After collecting their thoughts and realizing their whereabouts the sailors; Ed, Bill and the enigmatic ‘sparrow’ begin trying to piece together what the new day brings them… They soon realise, their pockets are empty and on a broken table, a note has been stabbed into the wood with a short dagger. Ed, ever the leader takes a moment to read the note “Thanks for the game, you owe me two thousand gold – Hakkar”. In confusion the group, discuss who the heck Hakkar might be, and just how is it they claim to be owed 2000 gold! The barkeep, all but finished with their tidying and looking to get going offers only that the night before was quite a scene, and while they know little about ‘Hakkar’ – whom they claim to be a local menace of a pirate, they offer that the group should perhaps look for him at either Chicken Isle, a dead-end recommendation if ever there was one… Or at Dagger Tooth Outpost, which to the group, sounded much more promising a lead.

In the immediate moment of learning this, a noise catches them, the archway that acts as a natural door to this little haven has a scrawny figure standing in it… And in a scratchy voice, the new-come man boldly announces questioningly- “ah you’re awake at last! D’ya have the capp’ns pay?” the scrawny pirate apparently having stayed to remind them of their debt, in a moment of inspiration, Bill comes up with a tale to shake them of this man, telling him they don’t yet, they’d only just awoken! but they already knew of a voyage to set sail on worthy of collecting enough gold to please Hakkar. The ill-dressed scrawny man seems pleased at this, leaving and announcing he’ll tell Hakkar to expect payment.

Returning to their ship, and taking with them the mornings catch of a fisherman they pass. The group board and make ready to sail, Ed being the better at navigation, charts a flawless course to the nearby chicken isle. While they may not find Hakkar there… Their rumbling stomachs would be pleased with a little fresh chicken. The journey is short, and the hunt that follows yields enough to quench their hunger. In a stroke of misplaced good fortune, Bill stumbles across a small old sealed box. Finding inside a skull, but not just any sun-bleached skull, clearly of some importance due to its careful preservation. Thinking it valuable, he takes it back to the ship where the others are already cooking up their chicken. Sadly, their vessel has a food safety rating of 1, and the lacklustre mishandling and preparation of their food finds Sparrow taking to the bushes to feed the local flora with some vigour.

The day isn’t waiting for them, however, and they once again set sail, this time… To Dagger Tooth Outpost. Thankfully the weather holds out, a wonderful day for sailing the high seas, and aside from the small issue of Bill tangling himself in the rigging briefly – which he quickly sets right lest Ed finds out! They arrive at the imposing semi-mountainous island that is Dagger Tooth, the lowering sun casting the island in a cloak of jagged shadows. Taking the evening to quiz the many merchants and the innkeeper of the island, the party learns that Captain Hakkar and his crew had indeed docked here earlier, collecting supplies and quickly leaving again, sailing north. Bill makes some deals among the merchants selling the stolen fish and the skull he found for a couple of hundred gold pieces, Sparrow spending his time interrogating the innkeeper and Ed keeping the boat ready to sail asking the dock hands if they knew of Hakkar’s movements.

As the evening closes, the weather turns. At first a fine rain, but soon whipping into a gusting storm, turning the calm sea into a turbulent maelstrom. The crew decide that while docked in the small port, they would keep the safety of the harbour and await the new day. In the morning they would set sail to fulfil a contract set with the merchants to deliver some crates for a rather nice sum of gold. Surely this would go a long way to appeasing their supposed debt. With the intention to then resume their search to find and repay or confront Hakkar. It was a morning that would never come…

As the storm blows its fury over the ghoulish heights of Dagger Tooth Isle, the worst of it having passed after the crew set themselves to sleep. A low dewy fog chases the storm in to the darkness of the night lit only by dimly by the distant the lanterns of the inn on the island behind them. In that fog, out in the silence of the night a bell tolls, distant and quiet, but approaching. The soft sonorous ‘dang-dang’ closing as it approaches the docks. Sparrow, being the one to rouse first hearing this, blearily climbs to the deck, looking to the fog. ‘Dang -dang’ the bell tolls – unseen. Perhaps driven by a sixth sense, Sparrow returns below and shakes the others awake “there’s a bell approaching, a boat I think” he hushedly reports. In a gruff tone, bill growls back “So what, it’s a dock, of course, there are boats coming this way!” rolling over to get back to sleep. Unnerved and still on edge, Sparrow returns to the deck, grabbing a looking glass and studying the misted horizon. As he watches, a boat of similar berth to their own, cascades into view from out of the fog, merely a silhouette, but something sets Sparrow’s heckles on edge. ‘Dang-dang’ the muffled echo of the approaching ships bell tolls…

Sparrow begins sounding an alarm of his own ships bell, the ruckus rousing Ed and Bill from their slumber, and likely the locals too… The other vessel now adjusting its course slightly, no longer heading to dock, but turning… Through the looking glass Sparrow see’s that the deep turquoise sails are pulled to, allowing the vessel to slow, and on the castle, a few people mill about, a glint in the darkness betraying that they too are looking at him, but more importantly, the shadow of the boat now showing the clear and ominous sign that they’ve pushed their cannons ready to fire. Rushing from below, Bill and Ed annoyedly yelling; “what’s the fuss? Why you waking everyone up?!” sparrow doing his best to explain what he’s seen, but Bill, in no mood for such idiocy this early in the day, and without hesitation, sends Sparrow spiralling over the rails and into the water below. Ed yelling down after him to “shut up!” if it wasn’t already apparent of their shared displeasure.

In the moments in between sending Sparrow for early morning swim, and now seeing the vessel stood broadside to them, Ed and Bill share a glance. Perhaps Sparrow wasn’t making noise just for the sake of it. No ship sets broadside without meaning something of it… Adrenaline sets in and the two quickly and carelessly set the ship ready to sail, Bill once again making a mess of the rigging, and between them, in a hurry they split the capstan, but as they are doing so they look to the water where Sparrow should be, but instead see that he’d swam to the other boat yelling of treachery and pleading for mercy. Indeed, the other vessel lowers a rope and Sparrow hauls himself aboard.

Met atop the rope Sparrow, dashing the cold water from his clothes, the flickering lantern light illuminating several dark figures about him “Ah, so… rescuing is what you need ey? Do ya not recall my face lad?…” the broad scarred face now illuminated by fire, Sparrow confused shaking his head… “Tell me, rescue… Is that before or after I get the gold I’m owed” the imposing figure of Hakkar stood in the darkness, he bellows to his crew to ready the guns and orders Sparrow be taken below.

Bill, still angry by the early morning call, had rushed to get their own cannon ready, and doing so with great efficacy, only to realize that there were no shot or powder. Clearly, the day before, Hakkar had cleared their boat of such things and they’d not had time or inclination to check. Bill rushes to the deck finding Ed about to make way under sail… “We’ve no shot! but blast it, if they’ve got us under sight already, we’ll not make it clear of the harbour… RAM THEM!”. Ed grins and then nods, it’s the only hope they have. With the wind already in the sails, he spins the rudder to steer the ship directly toward the other. The cannons of Hakkar’s ship crack in the darkness, their thunder sounding the arrival of the first light of the sun on the horizon. The shots are wide, and Ed, feeling the warp and weft of the boat beneath him keeps the bow true. The sail above him tears as a cannon rips a hole. Close, but the ship is already at speed… And it’s too late now, the bowsprit and boom a spear, the wind his ally. The two ships become a mass of tangled shattered wood, Bill lunging forward with the momentum of the impact, slashing with his cutlass as he leaps to the other vessel.

Ed immediately knows that the impact was too great and surely the boat beneath him would be taking water, he rushes below to attempt to close up what he can. In the melee above, Bill takes as good as he gets and is forced to flee a retreat, clutching a bleeding wound in his side. Aboard Hakkar’s boat, in the now locked brig, sparrow desperately attempts to free himself as water begins to seep ever further up his legs.

Hakkar and his crew now rush to assault Ed and Bill. Aware of the impending assault, Bill grabs a blunderbuss, getting back to the deck in time to see several of Hakkar’s men rushing toward him, but the crack of his gun sends one of them spiralling in the gloom – a scream and a splash. he’ll not be a bother now. Seeing no way to get clear of the onslaught bill grabs some of the ruined rigging line and swings to the other vessel, in doing so the pirates turn back to follow him, grappling to get over the ruins of the entwined boats. Having finished the rushed repairs, Ed makes his way back above deck to see this unfolding.

Sparrow, in the near pitch black of the brig, the cold waters rising up his legs, the sound of more water rushing in, bursts all of his energy into the already weakened cage, and with the strength only given to those in mortal danger he crashes through the bar, pulling himself free and rushing out of the filling hull. In the crackling orange-red lights of the deck of Hakkar’s sinking ship, Sparrow watches as Bill swings across to grab at the side of the castle. On that castle though stands Hakkar. For a moment he smiles at Bill, and then with callous fury lands his cutlass on Bills grasping hand cutting it clean away… As Bill falls to the dark tide below, Hakkar laughs, a laugh ripped with glee, triumph and malice. In that moment, a pistol shot rings out. Ed having seen that there are still pirates on what used to be the Boom of his ship fells one of them, a pistol shot clean in the centre of his back, and in the darkness hears the scream of Bill falling to Davey Jones…

Hakkar spins about, with his bloodied cutlass pointed at Sparrow “And where d’ya thing you’re going, keep him down boys. He’s mine” before he gets a chance to react Sparrow is pinned by the remnants of Hakkar’s crew. Unseen in the darkness Ed cuts free the rowboat, and diving down to it sets about rowing as quickly and quietly as possible. It’s very clear now, that even after his efforts of saving the ship, there is no victory to be had here. Better to live another day he thinks to himself. The last thought he ever has… The pellet of a long rifle finds his head in the eerie first light of the day. Aboard Hakkar’s ship, the scrawny pirate that had been the messenger holding a smoking rifle, beside him Hakkar with a looking glass smiles a crooked smile that creases his scarred face… “Well, I see the debt is nearly repaid… But what shall we do with you” menacingly Hakkar turns to face Sparrow…

Whatever is to come, will not be pleasant.