Last night we played Alas for the Awful Sea at Vault Games CBD store.
This is a PbtA game - none of the players had ever played before but were up and running with characters and playing the game in minutes.
Anyone is welcome to come play, just reach out!
(Spoiler Warning: this adventure is almost a direct port of the Vaesen module called "The Silver of the Sea" from the A Wicked Secret book but with a few modifications that I've made to add some dynamism to the adventure. Please don't read ahead if you don't want spoilers. For those familiar with the module, yes some names are off - I ran this mostly from memory). This is the third time I've run this 'adventure' and because of the nature of PbtA games we've never had the game go the same direction twice - this was no exception and I was very surprised at how it played out…
Our characters were:
• Tom Sallow (Old Sea Dog) - rum soaked, 'seen it all before', and deeply leaning into his own story and mysticism. Has helped Mason with many a medical procedure and is his trusted assistant.
• Milo (Cook) - A burly bruiser of a man, with the impeccable palate of a culinary genius.
• Mason Fletcher (Doctor) - The ships Sawbones, looking to strike it rich so that he can retire with a great library of books and read them all in peace.
The group began on a skiff headed towards Wrecker Isle from Fjallbacka on the Swedish west coast, navigating their way through the archipelago under the guidance of their companion - Oscar, the local priest.
This whole thing began when their ship was laid up for repairs in Fjallbacka and Oscar had approached Mason to conduct an autopsy on a body recently recovered from the ocean - Oscar's mentor Bishop Hedqvist. As near as Mason could tell, despite being in the water nearly a month the body was absent any damage from fish and crustaceans who would normally devour a corpse. Hedqvist had been shot in the head in an apparently self-inflicted wound.
Oscar recounted the story of how Hedqvist had finally snapped and set off for Wrecker Island about a month ago to stand up to 'The Herring Baron', Zacharias Amundssen. Hedqvist (and Oscar) believed something sinister was going on out there on the island and that Zacharias was 'the devil himself'. Wrecker island had become a very wealthy town in the last couple of decades since Zacharias had taken over, with unnatural hauls of 'The Silver of the Sea' - herring - carrying the local economy out of desperate poverty and starvation. Everyone in the local region looked up to and respected the baron, believing him to be the reason for the plentiful herring that had relieved their stresses and burdens. The island itself was run by Zacharias and his mother, a lady with an evil reputation as a wrecker, along with his three brothers (Pete, Pace, and Paul) who also ran the only pub on the island.
Oscar was adamant that there was no way Hedqvist would ever kill himself, and there was the mystery of why his body was left alone by the sea creatures for over a month - the group were intrigued and agreed to investigate for cash and out of strange morbid curiosity.
As the skiff made its way through the archipelago, they encountered a sudden storm and the boat began to be tossed by violent wave. Mason used his medical knowledge to hastily prepare a 'seasickness cure' which he fed to Oscar, while Old Tom stood up proud at the bow, and proclaimed that the sea would take what it wants, there is no use fighting it! He let go of all control and let the sea take them - luckily, straight to the harbour at Wrecker Isle! Unfortunately, hastily prepared seasickness cures are not the best, and poor Oscar became violently ill. The group left him in their boat while they headed ashore and straight to the "Sea Serpent", the only pub on the island which is run by the notorious Abela Amundssen.
Despite being barely midday, the pub was already raucous with drunken sailors, having little else to do on shore leave here. Old Tom made a beeline for Abela, who standing behind the bar serving patrons and tried to talk her into meeting with her son, the Herring Baron, Zacharias Amundssen. Sensing something suspicious, the old woman edged closer to the shotgun she had nearby while Tom noticed (from damage to the roof timbers and the ageing brown smears on the floor where he was standing) that the weapon had been used quite frequently. He took a few steps back to give her peace.
A commotion behind the group in the doorway revealed that Oscar had followed them, and he was now harassing a young waitress named Justinna and demanding that she leave this 'den of sin' with him immediately. She was trying to force him away and return to work, wanting nothing to do with him. Abela lifted up her shotgun casually, but it was Milo the cook who grabbed Oscar and dragged him bodily out of the pub - earning a modicum of respect from Abela for this.
Outside, Milo convinced Oscar to return to their boat where it was safe, but with a wink and a sly smile Oscar agreed - so long as they took 'the long way around' and went past the massive train oil factory here in town where herring and whales were rendered down into oils to maintain the machinery of this industrial revolution. Sighing at this, Milo agreed and the two made their way into the train oil factory where Oscar slipped off among the towering rows of barrels. Unfortunately a couple of workers noticed Milo standing there and came over to question him, but he threatened them with violence so they shut up and answered some questions from him - further confirming that Hedqvist was indeed in town before he disappeared, but they didn’t know more than this. Luckily, Oscar returned from his search of the factory holding a golden necklace with a crucifix on it that was covered in blood - Oscar was now certain that his mentor had been murdered here in town or somewhere nearby!
Back at the pub, Mason had a chat with Abela trying to get info about Hedqvist, and impressed her by slamming down some pretty strong grog. On noting that he was a surgeon though, she said that her son Pete might need his attentions and that he should call on Pete to take care of a recent wound he had suffered. Tom got chatting to another pub patron, a drunken old Fisherman who warned him of dark tides, and that the full moon was an especially dangerous time to be around on Wrecker Island. Sensing the beyond, Tom looked deeply into the fisherman's eyes and realised that something dark and utterly evil had terrified the fisherman into drinking himself stupid - and now that he thought about it, it was currently a full moon! Mason chatted with Justina and found out that Hedqvist had been here in the bar the last time he was seen alive, and that he was kicked out by Pete, Pace, and Paul - likely as a result of waving around a shiny revolver for attention and decrying all present as 'heathens who would burn for their sins'. She was terrified though and could give no further information so went back to work. Mason and Tom agreed to sit out the afternoon and sober up before heading to the manor house up the hill to deal with Abela's wounded son Pete and perhaps catch an audience with the Herring Baron himself - Zacharias Amundssen. While sitting out in the sun and sobering up, they were met by Milo and Oscar who detailed their suspicions after their trip to the Train Oil Factory.
Now past nightfall, and finally with Tom and Mason sobered up, the group set off for the Amundssen manor up the hill - telling Oscar to head back to their skiff at the docks and to keep a low profile. On arrival they were told by a servant girl to wait in the foyer at the bottom of a grand staircase while she went to see if the injureed brother Pete was ok for the surgeon to come up - so Milo immediately wandered off looking for the kitchen, it was after all nearly dinner time. He was welcomed into the kitchen by a handful of cooks and servers and was quickly put to work on the family meal. Tom snuck over to the dining room door and peeped through, noting that Abela and a thuggish looking man (likely her son, Pace) were engaged in conversation about money, while at the other end of the large dining table sat a regal, well-groomed looking man pointedly ignoring their petty discussions. Soon the servant girl came back and ushered Mason and Tom upstairs to the wounded man and then she left them alone with their patient - whose leg had clearly gone septic in a very bad way. Mason was quick to identify that (unlike what Abela had told him at the pub) this wound was no boating accident - Pete had been shot in the leg.
Performing some quick surgery, Mason and Tom removed the leg from the patient - with Tom staring into the abyss with the fevered man to catch a glimpse of the future. "Who is that?" asked Pete, staring wildly and feverishly up at the ceiling "oh, it's you. Did you kill mother yet? Or is that yet to come? I can't tell anymore it all blurs together" he said to Tom - with the old sea dog experiencing a vision of himself facing off with Abela, both holding guns and pulling the trigger simultaneously at each other.
Down in the dining room, Milo had prepared a sumptuous feast for the Amundssen family, and was engaged in 'loose lipped' conversation by them. Asking some probing questions about the full moon and dangers and things revealed some information, but soon he pushed too far and was pointedly discussing Oscar and Hedqvist, which earned him a sharp warning from the matriarch - don’t meddle or you'll end up dead. Pace had had enough though, and drew a large revolver from his pocket - chasing Milo out while firing wildly in his direction. The other two upstairs heard the gunshots and rand down the grand staircase and out into the night with Old Tom leading the way back down the hillside to town.
Reaching town the group heard a commotion - an angry mob of sailors were throwing rotten fruit and the occasional glass bottle or rock at the young Oscar, who had made a makeshift platform out of barrels and boxes and was delivering a sermon to the collected sailors about how they were all going to hell for their sin. The group tried to defuse the situation, but were quickly associated with Oscar and the mob turned violent. The group found themselves beaten and wrapped in heavy sail-cloth and dumped in the harbour. Old Tom cut himself loose but lost his gear in the process, while both Milo and Mason nearly drowned before being hauled up onto the docks, where Mason used his medical knowledge (with Tom's assistance) to clear their lungs of the choking sea water. Now that the crowd had left, the group were left alone on the darkened docks near midnight, with the full moon shining down. A lit match revealed the face of Zacharias as he puffed away on an old sailors pipe. He offered to turn against his mother if they could retrieve something for him - something locked away in a chest in his mother's bedroom. Seeing few other options, they agreed to help him. Once the herring baron had left, Old Tom brought himself to near-drowning in the waist deep seawater to try to achieve a mystic vision of what the baron could want in the chest. His vision revealed that the chest contained a massive iron chain, which gave him pause to consider if this was literal or metaphor.
The beaten and near-drowned group made their way back up to the manor house, encountering Justina on the way. Mason convinced her that if she had no love for Oscar that she should tell him and put an end to things with him. She agreed, and gave them a warning - the Amundssen family were known to leave the house on the full moon and sail out into the darkened waters for unknown and mysterious (likely horrific) purposes. Noting they were headed to the family manor, she tried to warn them off before leaving. Arriving that the house they caught sight of Abela and Pace leaving the front door while talking. Abela said something along the lines of 'needing a sacrifice' and that 'Pete is no good to us now with only one leg' to which Pace responded with a horrified voice 'No mum, we can't do that'. 'Look what we had to do with Paul' she responded, before walking off down towards town with him. Tom decided to follow them sneakily, while Milo and Mason broke into the house to get whatever was in the chest, although Tom struggled when Pace and Abela split up in different directions, so decided to follow Abela who headed to the pub to collect some things.
Abela soon made her way to the docks and was clearly preparing a skiff to set sail, and not knowing what else to do Old Tom finally decided that there was nothing left for it but violent action. He leapt at Abela when her back was turned but unfortunately for him she'd heard his footsteps on the wooden docks, and when she turned around she whipped up her shotgun and caught him full square in the chest with both barrels. Bleeding, dying on the deck, there was nothing Old Tom could do but lay there limply and listen as the evil old woman thanked him - she'd needed a sacrifice this night and could only hope he didn't bleed out and die before she got him where she needed to take him. She stuffed him into a large barrel aboard her skiff and he soon heard the voice of Pace as he too shoved his own barrel onto the deck of the skiff, with a muffled crying noise coming from inside it next to the one Tom was in. Tom felt the familiar rhythm of a ship making its way out of the small harbour, gently rocking in the waves as the blistering pain of buckshot embedded in his chest washed over him.
Mason and Milo broke into the house and found the large sailors chest in Abela's room, noting that it was very dark and quite clearly waterlogged even though it was up here on the hill in the house and nowhere near the sea. They searched the room and found a prybar to open it with, determining that aside from a large amount of sea water the chest contained a fur of some kind - possibly that from a large seal. Not knowing what else to do with it, Milo picked it up hoping this was what the herring baron was after. The two were leaving when they encountered the one-legged form of Pete blocking a doorway and shouting about the intruders - they bull rushed past him but Mason was knocked down, causing Milo to hesitate for a minute before turning back and knocking Pete off his friend and then both legging it down to town. They arrived at the docks just in time to see Abela and Pace sailing off with two large barrels on the deck of their skiff. Zacharias appeared from the shadows telling them he'd just seen his mother and brother stuff their friend Tom into a barrel. He demanded the seal-skin, and not knowing what else to do and wanting to take off after Abela, Paul, and Tom in the barrel, they handed it over without arguing - witnessing a miraculous transformation as the herring baron was transformed into a large beautiful seal, which with a wave disappeared into the deep black ocean beneath them.
A little stunned, the two friends hopped into their own skiff and set off after following the lantern light on the boat ahead - the years of living aboard ship giving them confidence as sailors even without Tom here to do it for them. Tom meanwhile dying in his barrel, started to see into the "great beyond" and was given visions - finally witnessing and understanding everything that was going on here.
His vision showed him:
Almost 20 years ago, a notorious wrecker named Abela Amundssen and her three awful sons happened upon a Selkie, one of that mystical race of seal-like creatures which can shed their seal skin and walk on land as humans. The curse of the Selkie race however is that if someone else possesses their seal-skin, they must act out every wish of that person - so the evil couple set about a diabolical plan - they made the young selkie man commune with an evil Mermaid and strike a deal. They would provide a monthly, living, human sacrifice to the mermaid each full moon and in return they would receive all the riches and bounty of the sea that they so desperately desired - a great wealth of herring. Failure would incur the wrath of the Mermaid's ally, a great kraken of the deep - which could scare off the herring and send tidal waves and smash ships with it's great limbs.
And so began a great nightmare - twenty years of monthly sacrifices until recently when the meddlesome Hedqvist appeared and started snooping around. Realising that he would make an excellent sacrifice, the three sons - Pete, Pace, and Paul - captured him, stuffed him into a barrel, and together with their mother rowed him out to Deep Reef to be fed to the mermaid. Heading their evil plans through the barrel, Hedqvist prepared his hidden revolver and then burst forth when they least expected - shooting Pete in the leg and Paul in the gut before he (realising what evil was in store for him) turned the gun on himself in desperation. Abela Amundssen, now without a sacrifice got desperate and so turned her own son, the injured Paul, over to the mermaid and the deal was done for another month.
The Amundssen boat arrived at Deep Reef and Pace unloaded both barrels containing their victims onto the rocky shore, before he returned to the skiff to rest and await the coming of midnight. Abela took a short stroll around the reef revealed by the tide, which gave everyone an opening. Tom kicked open his barrel and escaped, but in the process knocked the other barrel into the sea - muffled screams could be heard from within, so he dove into the ocean to rescue the occupant. Milo and Mason (with some excellent impersonation by Mason - pretending to be Pace's brother Pete) got the jump on Pace when they brought their boat in next to his - Milo jumped over to Pace and drove his chef knife deep into the ribs. Disposing of the corpse over the side, Milo took the gun Pace had (originally Hedqvist's) and they went looking for Tom - who was just now dragging a kicking and agitated Oscar from the sea onto the small patch of dry land. Abela was coming through the darkness (again put off by another brilliant impersonation by Mason) but as Tom came up through the shin-deep water he stepped on something… Soft. Squishy. Blinking. An eyeball.
All hell broke loose as the ancient Kraken was awakened. Enormous tentacles the size of trees were thrashing around in blind panic, and the sea was churned to foam. One of the two boats moored to it was smashed to splinters, and everyone was staggering around. Abela came up shooting, firing several shots from her shotgun but doing no real harm - as Tom (remembering the various prophecies he had experienced lately) realised he was MEANT to shoot Abela - his vision of both himself and her holding guns at each other before firing. He said as much to Milo, who tossed him the revolver and they stood there at an impasse - her with the shotgun, him with the revolver. They spoke briefly, with her first trying to bargain for her life by offering to tell the group where she had hidden all the money made over the last twenty years (a fortune!), and also informing the group that SOMEONE had to die here and the mermaid would be along shortly to claim her due - waving the shotgun at the group she demanded one of them be the sacrifice, to which they were none too pleased. Realising this was getting nowhere and that a *wounded* Abela would still work for sacrifice, Old Tom lined up for a gut shot and pulled the trigger - just as Abela realised his plan and fired at him also. Tom copped the full shotgun for a second time this evening and died a bloody mess on the ground, while Abela also instantly died from his bullet, leaving a terrified Mason and Milo standing atop a writhing Kraken waiting for a deadly mermaid to come and eat one of them… and both turned to look at Oscar. Poor Oscar. In terror, he had clawed at his face and his hair had turned instantly white. Stricken with grief after Justina had followed Mason's instructions earlier and rejected him utterly, and his faith tested by the horrific nightmare monsters he was now encountering, he was the only choice left (so reasoned Milo and Mason).
The mermaid arrived at midnight and they sent poor Oscar to his doom, before escaping the Kraken (which was starting to settle down under the mermaid's influence) and sailing back to Wrecker Island.
Epilogue.
Mason and Milo ended up taking over the operations at Wrecker Isle - Milo took over the pub using his gastronomic skills, and Mason eventually uncovered all the stashed wealth that Abela had alluded to, and subsequently filled the manor house with all the books he could afford and became a recluse - like the Herring Baron before him. Of course, every full moon they needed to continue fulfilling the pact - first starting with injured and dying sailors that had come to Mason for help, but eventually more macabre steps were required. This took a toll on the two sailors, and Milo descended into alcoholism at the pub becoming more and more like the bitter and evil Abela he had fought against, while Mason continued to treat injured sailors and make the macabre tribute to the mermaid. One moonlit night, the alcoholic Milo forgot the tribute in his drunken haze while Mason was ensconced in a book. The mermaid - denied her tribute - took her revenge and unleashed the Kraken on the archipelago, which was ravaged by tsunamis and then the herring disappeared - returning the surrounding communities to their prior state of desperate poverty and desperation.
This is the third time I’ve run this scenario in Alas for the Awful Sea. This was the first time any group had made it all the way to Deep Reef (I think) and met the mermaid. I think it was also the first group who has actually sacrificed someone to the mermaid and perpetuated the sacrifices. I think it was also the first time a group hasn’t just shot one of the Amundssen family in the town… it’s always a new surprise around the corner! I think I’ll retire the scenario soon, it’s been great fun but by writing it up it's now in full spoiler territory :)
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