STACY:

“I thought freedom meant nobody gets to tell you what to do.”

CAELWYN:

“Sometimes.”

They watch the battered brig limp back into harbour.

One mast is broken.

The sails hang in strips.

Three bodies lie beneath a torn canvas.

STACY:

“They sailed into the storm.”

CAELWYN:

“The captain chose to.”

STACY:

“The navigator told him the wind might turn.”

CAELWYN:

“It didn’t.”

STACY:

“The carpenter said the mast might hold.”

CAELWYN:

“It didn’t.”

STACY:

“So he made the wrong choice.”

CAELWYN:

“Yes.”

On deck, the quartermaster confronts the captain.

QUARTERMASTER:

“We should have waited.”

The captain looks towards the three covered bodies.

CAPTAIN:

“I know.”

STACY:

“He could blame the storm.”

CAELWYN:

“Yes.”

STACY:

“The navigator.”

CAELWYN:

“Yes.”

STACY:

“The carpenter.”

CAELWYN:

“Yes.”

STACY:

“But he doesn’t.”

CAELWYN:

“No.”

STACY:

“Why?”

CAELWYN:

“Because the storm didn’t order the ship to sail.”

Some of the surviving crew begin packing their belongings.

QUARTERMASTER:

“They want to leave.”

CAPTAIN:

“They can.”

QUARTERMASTER:

“We’ll be short-handed.”

CAPTAIN:

“I know.”

QUARTERMASTER:

“They want their share.”

CAPTAIN:

“They get it.”

QUARTERMASTER:

“After this?”

CAPTAIN:

“Especially after this.”

Stacy watches the sailors leave.

STACY:

“He’s letting them choose.”

CAELWYN:

“They trusted him with that choice once.”

STACY:

“And three of them paid for it.”

CAELWYN:

“Yes.”

A frightened deckhand appears from below.

DECKHAND:

“Captain.”

CAPTAIN:

“What?”

DECKHAND:

“There’s something carved into the hull.”

CAPTAIN:

“From the storm?”

The deckhand shakes his head.

DECKHAND:

“From the inside.”

The harbour falls strangely quiet.

No gulls.

No wind.

Only the sea.

STACY:

“Does he have to answer for that too?”

CAELWYN:

“He has to decide what to do about it.”

STACY:

“Even if he doesn’t understand it?”

CAELWYN:

“Especially then.”

STACY:

“That isn’t fair.”

CAELWYN:

“The sea never promised to be.”

Stacy looks at the captain.

STACY:

“So freedom is choosing your own course.”

CAELWYN:

“That’s only half of it.”

STACY:

“What’s the other half?”

CAELWYN:

“Living with where it leads.”

The captain looks towards his crew.

Then towards the unnaturally still sea.

Caelwyn looks at Stacy.

Stacy looks at Caelwyn.

Then both slowly look toward you.

STACY:

“You wanted the freedom to choose.”

CAELWYN:

“Now other lives follow your choice.”

STACY:

“The crew will remember.”

CAELWYN:

“The sea will remember.”

STACY:

“And whatever waits beneath it may remember too.”

CAELWYN:

“You’re still free.”

STACY:

“But freedom doesn’t make the price disappear.”

They wait.

CAELWYN:

“So…”

STACY:

“What would you choose?”

CAELWYN:

“And what price would you be willing to carry?”

BLACK FLAGS, DEEP WATERS

Freedom is easy when someone else carries the consequences.

At this table, your choices belong to you.

So do the consequences.

Join Black Flags, Deep Waters:
https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmpms9fi200f5if04i70p6741

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