Hold the Harbor [Solo]

[Gar]

Gar was seated atop a barrel. His eyes locked on a ship near the horizon. It had been floating outside his harbor for a day now. Black sails and a black flag. It wasn’t difficult to determine what this was about. Someone was upset with Gar overthrowing Bullring, and they wanted to do something about it. It was still curious though. To launch such an obvious attack with one ship, there was no way they would succeed.

“I wish they would just get it over with. It’s not like they could take us out with one ship anyway.” A newly freed man, now a member of Gar’s crew, spoke. Gar grunted. “Aye, from the looks of it, they are waiting for a chance. I say we don’t give them one.” Junzentaru peeped up, giving some information. We have nothing to gain by chasing them down. If they wish to challenge us, let them try to fight on our territory. We have the advantage here. Gar responded with a simple “Arr.” He wasn’t satisfied with an enemy ship sitting so close to his harbor. “We should tell the carpenters to start working on a ballista. Something that can take out sitting ducks like that one.” Gar rose and began walking up and down the dock, listening to the conversations of the dock workers.

All they could do was comment on the presence of the black sailed ship. No one was doing the work that they should be, at least not as efficiently as they should be. It was annoying the berserker . Gar spoke up in an angry voice. “If you all are so concerned about one ship, set up our defenses. Sandbags, pitch, torches. Bring them here and I’m sure that ship will turn tail before sundown.” A couple sailors stammered and said “Aye, Aye” before they began setting up the defense.

The presence of one ship was disconcerting. But as much as Gar wanted to sail out to it and take care of it, he knew he had to stay put. He was the only one who could keep the crew in line. His crew was a strange mix of mercenaries and pirate from his assault on Bullring’s fort as well as some of the freed slaves that Bullring once owned. If Gar wasn’t there to keep order, there would be no one else that all groups could turn to. So Gar stayed on the harbor, eyes on the horizon.

The fort itself was up the mountainside. If anybody wanted to attack his fort, they would either have to traverse the mountain range, or come through the harbor. Gar was considering the possibility of this ship being a mere distraction to buy time for a group attacking the fort from the mountains, but it just didn’t seem worth it. The soldiers would be tired and beat before they even began the fight. The siege would be broken before it began.

The mystery remained. Gar addressed the ship directly. “What are you doing out there?”

[Gar]

The harbor was again bustling as it should be. Defenses were being put into place, more than enough to stave off the crew of one ship. More than was necessary, but a lifetime at sea reminded Gar that pirates were honorless and tricky children of pillage and plunder. Better safe than sorry. The black sails had been there all day, the sun was low in the sky. If he looked close enough he could see gray dorsal fins swimming around the ship. Sharks or dolphins? He knew the latter to be playful enough to follow boats around, but the former, they were only around when death was nearby.

Gar turned his head to a voice at the far end of the docks. “What in the world is that?” A sailor knelt on his hand and knees to take a good look into the water. A clawed arm splashed from below the surface, grabbing the sailor by the neck and dragging him under. A scream, muffled by a splash. The water beneath the surface was dyed a deep red so quickly that Gar knew it was too late for the sailor. Another scream rang out from the opposite end of the dock.

Directly in front of the pirate, an arm placed itself atop the wooden dock. It heaved a reanimated corpse onto the wood. Abominations! June immediately pulsated with a bright yellow light. Gar drew his weapon and held it with both hands. Had he not taken some of June’s courage, he would’ve been taken aback by the sudden sight of the terrible creature that appeared from nowhere before him. “We are under attack by revenants and wights! Stay calm, if you can’t fight return to the fort and update them of the situation, warriors, aim for the head.” Gar engaged the revenant before him before it had a chance to raise its sopping wet corpse from the dock. A downward strike split the corpse’s head in two and wedged the winged axe into the dock itself.

Gar kicked the motionless corpse into the water. It floated there for a moment before it began to sink slowly below the surface. Gar turned and fell back to the line of sandbags and surveyed how the sailors were dealing with the initial onslaught of the undead. Just by looking he could tell who had faced creatures like these before. Some of his soldiers were cowering, even with Junzentaru’s inspiration. Gar moved closer to these people and fought alongside them.

A revenant was able to take one of his younger mates to the ground. Gar recognized this young man, a freed slave, still being trained in the ways of the sword and dagger by a mercenary. The young mate was struggling against the monster’s weight. Gar dove at them, managing to separate the two, but putting himself in a precarious scenario while hid did so. The monster reared up before attempting to swipe down at Gar. Before it could connect, the monster’s momentum was stopped abruptly by a dagger to the eye.

Gar offered his thanks to the young mate. “Appreciate that.”

“Anytime Cap’n.” Gar gripped the mate’s arm and rose. It was difficult to know where the next threat would come from when the enemy was hiding below the surface. At any point they could be overwhelmed. Gar rectified this with a quick order. “Fall back, we need more space to pick our engagements.” The sailors followed Gar’s words and set up a line of defense along the sandbags.

[Gar]

Sailors fell in. An arc of sandbags had been placed in four piles that rose to about hip height. There were three gaps in-between the four groups of sandbags. The line blocked the main path from the docks to the trail up the mountainside. There was also the forest and shrubbery on the sides of the dock, but that terrain was rough and any incoming threat should be seen coming from a distance away. Gar took it upon himself to set up in the center gap. His stronger fighters took to the other two gaps and the greenest of the group fell to the mid lines, hopefully to get a hit or two in when the coast was clear. Only a few ranged soldiers were at the docks, Gar had most of them manning the towers up the mountainside. Some of them would surely be here soon. For now, Gar would have to deal with the threat with the troops he had.

Gar wasn’t a strategist, but he had experience defending ships from boarding pirates. This couldn’t be too different. As the first of the revenants funneled toward each of the three paths, Gar gave a command. “Let’s test they’re sealegs.” Gar swung June at the zombie’s leg’s effectively removing them and causing the zombie to hit the dock. A pile up ensued and other revenants stumbled and fell over the removed limbs. Sure enough the fighters at the other chokepoints followed suit, causing roadblocks at their chokepoints as well.

This was good, the fighters were following orders. Not to mention, the enemy was entirely brainless, stumbling over each other to reach their goal. It made things simple. Gar rose his axe above his head to deliver a finishing blow when a glimmer caught his eye. Gar moved Junzentaru to deflect and arrow. Luckily, the arrow was short and buried itself in the wood. Gar wanted to charge the wight archer, but he had to hold his position. “Ranged fighters take out that archer, and any others you see.”

Again, his troops listened. An arrow and a fire ball flew past the target without connecting. Then, a flying handaxe embedded itself in the wight’s skull. Gar grunted, most of his skilled range troops were in the towers, but he needed them here, soon. He had sent those who couldn’t fight up the mountainside, surely they would tell the troops in the tower that they were needed right? No time to think about it now. He had to deal with some crawling revenants.

Gar dropped the axe on the legless zombies head. He withdrew the pulsing axe and kicked another in the head to slow its progress. Gar’s eyes briefly scanned the docks, the numbers kept growing as if the ship in the harbor was filled to the brim with the corpses. It would be horrifying if not for June’s dull glow. “Stay strong mates, they won’t stop coming until we’ve killed every last one of them!”

The sun was setting, it would be dark soon. Dark and chilling.

[Gar]

The sun set too quickly behind the mountainside. Fog had settled upon the dock. June's glow wasn't enough to cut through the haze. Not only was their sight diminished, but the dock was getting slick with viscera and the settled mist. They needed torches, immediately. Gar recalled telling his crew to set them up instead of sitting around questioning the presence of the black sailed ship. That was some time ago, but he couldn't expect them to have already set the torches up. He would likely have to hold his own until the ranged troops came, hopefully with lights. Gar turned his head to look up the mountainside.

Sure enough, there were little specks of light, making their way down the trail to the harbor. His reinforcements were on the way. Now the only question was, could they hold the line until they got here. Gar's attention was brought back to the task at hand with a scream from one of his front line troops. "Arrgh get off me ya freak o nature!" A couple thuds and grunts came from the direction, but Gar couldn't see through the fog. He called out instead. "Report! Whats going on over there?" There was a moment of silence then a curse. "Report!"

"Aye, I got my arm bit. Damned fog, lost my footing." Gar cursed himself. The man wouldn't be able to fight effectively with an arm injury, especially not on the front line. Not to mention the man would need to be healed to avoid the wound getting corrupted. "Fall back, wait for the healers to get down here. Closest troop, cover his spot." Gar was calling through the fog, but he couldn't be certain people were still following orders. He didn't have time to check, more enemies were approaching from his front.

Gar prepared to swipe at the monster's legs when a motion to his left came through the fog. A revenant slashed at Gar's torso, drawing blood from just below the Berserker's ribcage. Gar let out a stifled grunt before kicking at the surprising revenant's leg. The decayed knee buckled and the zombie fell to the ground. The berserker backed away from the other encroaching revenant. Gar placed his off hand against the open wound. It wasn't fatal, but it was deep. He would need to be healed sometime soon. But for now he had to convey more orders. Gar gritted his teeth and called out through the fog. "North side breached, back up and regroup, stay tight."

Gar took a deep pull of June's power and swung the holy axe with one hand at the crippled revenant. With that threat ended, Gar hefted the large axe upward to rest on his shoulder. Gar backed away from the oncoming zombies, with one hand on Junezentaru's handle and the other hand on his injury. He could've been overwhelmed here. However, a fire ball flew past Gar and collided with the leading revenant, buying him some time to turn and regroup with the rest of his crew.

[Gar]

The fireball had bought him time, but not much. Gar barely had time to regroup with his crew and turn to face the threat. Their numbers were astounding, and those numbers were only increasing as more revenants and bonewalkers emerged through the fog. Gar swung his axe with one hand at the nearest revenant. The axe lodged itself into the decayed flesh surrounding the zombie's collarbone. The revenant stopped moving and slumped against the holy axe. Gar yanked on the weapon but it wouldn't budge. The motion of pulling on the weapon shot a stinging pain into Gar's abdomen.

Junzentaru was stuck in the slain revenant and his would was keeping him from effectively removing the weapon. This was a problem as more of the walking dead approached Gar and his group. Zombies and walkers began to surround them, pushing against the corpse that hung on Gar's axe. Bones and flesh fell to the ground around the berserker as his crew fought the tide of monsters.

Gar had to regain his weapon immediately. He gave one last ditch pull to try to remove the axe. The attempt failed in removing the weapon. It did pull the dead revenant upon him as he fell to the ground. Gar was his back, The slain revenant atop him. Others of the walking dead began to pile on top of them. Gar heard a muffled "Captain!" from the bottom of the pile. The crew had killed the monsters as they piled atop of him. The berserker could barely breath beneath the layer of slain monsters.

Gar struggled at the bottom of the pile, to no avail. He wasn't able to free himself from beneath the weight of the slain attackers. Gar couldn't move,he couldn't give orders, he couldn't fight. He had effectively been removed from the battle. At least until someone was able to dig him out from beneath the pile. It smelled awful, and Gar couldn't see anything aside from a revenant's open mouth. He could however, still hear the sounds of battle. Junzentaru recognized their position in the battle and allowed the glow to fade. Well this is a new one. Bleeding out beneath some corpses. It's up to the crew now. Once those reinforcements come, they should be able to cut through these corpses. In no time. Junzentaru took a few moments before responding.

It appears that your chances of survival are surprisingly high. Considering your predicament, so long as your troops can be trusted to win this battle, they will dig you out and patch you up. A simple matter of time. What I am concerned with is the party responsible for this attack. Gar sighed for a moment as he laid beneath the pile.

Aye, Someone doesn't like me very much. Not only that, they're too much of a punk to try to take me out themselves. If they want to take me out they'll have to come here in person. Otherwise, my crew is strong enough to hold this place even without my help. Gar heard the noise of battle pick up. The reinforcements had arrived. This shouldn't take much longer now.

[Gar]

Gar laid there for seconds, minutes, hours maybe. The sounds of battle continued to permeate through the layer of corpses that separated him from his fortress. Eventually, perhaps a short eternity later, Gar began to feel the motion of dead corpses being dragged from the pile. IT was about damned time. How long could it really take to drop a couple walking corpses? More and more bodies were pulled from the pile. Daylight hit Gar’s eyes, forcing him to squint. Was it really dawn already?

“There he is! He’s alive.” Gar heard an excitable young crewmate shout. “Captain! Captain are you okay?” Gar wiggled his way out of the pile before he had to support himself on a crewmate’s shoulder. His wound needed attention. “Aye, just grab a healer for me yeah?” Gar looked around. Hundreds of motionless skeletons and corpses. He turned his head toward the horizon. The ship was gone. Cowards.

A healer came up to him. He was a middle aged man, once a priest, then a slave, now a mate in Gar’s crew. The man held his staff toward Gar’s abdomen, sealing up the wound. It felt good to be on the receiving end of a healer. More often than not it was him Sacrificing to heal others. Gar nodded his thanks and spoke to the crewmates in the immediate area.

“Well done mates! I’m proud of each and every one of you for turning away that attack.” A couple cheers echoed in the crew, but the mates for the most part just seemed tired. The excitable young crew member spoke to Gar. “Hahar it’ll take more than a couple zombies to beat us.” The kid sounded like a younger version of himself. Gar placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“No they weren’t trying to beat us. Whoever did this wanted to scare us.” They would have to do better than that. Gar kept them together. Junzentaru kept them strong. Not to mention that this victory was the crew’s, without the help of Gar and June.

“Captain! Glad to see you made it out alive. Look 'ere. We found this tied around a bonewalker’s neck.” The mate held out a wooden cylinder. Gar grabbed it and opened it to find a scrap of black cloth inside. Upon further inspection Gar found a note addressed to someone in turquoise. Must be me.

To the turquoise pest,

I remember you. How pathetic you looked then. I wanted to free you, to give you a new life. Alas, my foolhardy partner Bullring won you. This upset me, but such is life. I would have you know that I held no love for that brute, but I needed him for my operation. You have done me quite the disservice in removing him. You have forced my hand. However I am a reasonable person, I will give you a choice. Join the slave trade or die and be replaced with someone who will.

Choose wisely,

Bartholomew

They saw me at the slave auction. Either that Graybeard or that hooded scumbag.


Gar grunted and addressed his crew again. “Someone wants a fight. I say we give them their last.”

[End Thread]