The Devil and the Deep By Sam Robson
Instruments: 1d10
Game Description
You are a doctor, bound for a new life in Aotearoa (New Zealand) but something aboard the ships makes it clear you will not make it.
Game Content Warnings
These are content warnings that are from the game prompts and are present in all playthroughs.Playthrough Content Warnings
These are content warnings specific to this playthrough only.
Word Count: 970 Played: Nov 25, 2024
Why have you accepted this post?
I needed money. I needed to escape my gambling debts. I had to get out of the city as soon as possible and this was the best way.
Who or what have you left behind?
My sister and her children. Her husband died three years ago. It's been hard for her, but it was harder with me around too.
What hope awaits you in Aotearoa?
A fresh start. No judgement, no one pounding on my door demanding their debts.
Strange Roll: 1
There are among these waters occasional small islands. Ones with few inhabitants and fewer signs of life. So it is with most certainty that any creature which finds itself upon one will, nevertheless, perish within a few months. So it is with great curiosity that I write today that one of the ship's cats, despite its natural aversion to water, has lept overboard and swam to one of the nearby islands.
To my knowledge there is no shortage of food on the boat and no shortage of human companionship. What compelled the creature to do such a thing is beyond my understanding of its nature.
Danger Roll: 2
I feel as though I might be ill. I have imagined in the depths of the night between the waking hours and the dawn a most horrible encounter. The stow-away, the one we hanged the second day at sea, whose body lies in the lazarette, walks these halls at night.
Or so my eyes wish to tell my mind, though truly, deeply I wish to believe that it was merely a waking nightmare. I had believed myself to wander the halls in search of a way to relieve myself when through the corridors I saw the figure, hunched over and dragging itself.
When I let out a gasp, it turned its malevolent face towards me and gave chase down the halls. I ran towards my quarters, and bolted its lock and prayed fervently for its departure.
Encounter Roll: 10
Perhaps it is not just me who feels this place has an ill omen hanging in the airs. Steward Grayson was unable to recall the conversation we had yesterday, despite it being of utmost importance about his health. He merely shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps I should write this down as a symptom, but it is not one that is typically correlated with his conditions.
Perhaps this is nothing at all. Maybe I am overthinking the situation, people have lapses in memory all the time. I hope this is all there is to it.
Encounter Roll: 10
Steward Grayson has, once again forgotten we have spoken at all. His eyes are glazed over, his brow sweaty, and he has the signs of severe sleep deprivation. When I asked him about his condition he merely shook his head and shrugged. The same as last time. I shall have to speak with the captain about giving him extra sleeping hours if this persists.
For the time being I have written the instructions down on a piece of paper. If he has this, then surely he can remember this time.
Danger Roll: 6
Had a lovely dinner with my sister tonight! It's always so wonderful when she invites me to dine with the family. All my nieces and nephews are growing strong and healthy, without a care in the world. We spoke at length about the nonsense of youth, entertaining childish wonders and worries.
I gifted her a fine bottle of wine, which we happily drank and we laughed about the time she spilled an entire bottle on father's lap.
Encounter Roll: 2
I cannot recall what state I was under when I wrote the previous entry, but it matters little as more things are happening aboard this ship.
Today I found Timmy, the cabin boy, a lad of 16 locked inside the cargo hold. There was a padlock on the outside, and no way of opening it without a senior officer. After fetching one, opening it and examining the boy, we determined that he was in good health except for his nerves.
Though most curiously he cannot recall how it was that he was on the inside of the hold. No one holds a key except for officers, and as such he could not have locked himself inside, especially since it was padlocked from the outside. He claims that he was emptying buckets, as part of his daily routine, when the next thing he knew, he was suddenly inside the hold.
The captain insists that he will privately interrogate the matter with the other officers and that I should not interfere unless called upon by him specifically.
Danger Roll: 9
Six days into the voyage there was an accident. John Lawson, a topman, fell from the sails and onto the deck, killing him instantly. I shall not describe the details of the body as they were horrendous, but needless to say the body was in no state to be seen ever again and was barely recognizable.
It could have been no one but him. As the fog settled in around the ship I saw John working again today. In his eyes there was no light, only darkness. Only hunger.
I asked around and no one remembers the fall. No one remembers the body. All of them claim it was a nightmare, or some other delusion I must have suffered.
But it cannot be. I must check the records. Perhaps it is one too many strange occurrences that has led me to be confused as to the working men of the ship, but the records will set me straight.