Captain Calamity | Shiver Me Timbers 2023

Island 6: Kraken

The sky was an ominous steel gray. The wind howled and the rain crashed into the deck. It was disturbingly like the last time Sam had been in a storm – when he'd lost his ship. At least this time, none of the crew had scurvy. So they had that going for them.

Still, Sam knew that wasn't the only thing he had on his side. He had his loyal crew. Sure, he'd had them last time, and yeah, that hadn't worked out all that well. But this time, he knew they were here because they wanted to be, not because he'd basically tricked them into it.

A large tentacle twice as thick as the main mast lurched out of the water. It was covered in suckers the size of Sam's head. Then another burst forth. And another.

The first one threw itself across the ship. The other two started wrapping themselves around each of the masts. The wood groaned in protest, and the ship leaned concerningly to starboard.

No!

This was not happening again!

There was just no way he was losing his ship a second time.

It was too late to bother trying to outmaneuver the beast – at least, not until they took care of those ghastly tentacles. Fortunately, Finn and Milo were already hacking away at the one wrapped around the main mast. Cuddy took his sword and rammed it straight into the one that had draped itself across the deck and was now squeezing in a most worrying fashion. There was a roar of thunder, and Cuddy only barely had time to pull his sword out before the tentacle quickly withdrew back into the water.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Until he realized that the sound he'd heard hadn't been thunder; it had come from the beast itself. Had it breached the surface? Sam whipped around and came face to face with the largest eye he'd ever seen in his life. The thing was probably about as big as he was. 

Now, Sam liked to think he was pretty brave. He'd faced a giant snake, done battle with wizards, and plunged headfirst into not one but two storms – one of them on purpose. But at the sight of that horrific eye glaring down at him, he screamed like a child.

The kraken hoisted itself further out of the water, as the ship leaned further towards its gaping maw. Its beak snapped open and shut, and Sam knew it'd chop him in half if given the chance.

Sam took a step back, reaching for his own scabbard. Of course, he didn't have a sword there. He hadn't kept one since that melee. Swords were close-combat weapons. And he had something infinitely better. He still wasn't very good with it, but he'd been practicing in his spare time. Besides, he was pretty sure there was nothing he could do that would make this any worse.

Sam waved his wand, focusing not on any of the creature's concerningly long and thrashing tentacles, but on the horrific mouth that he was having such a hard time looking away from. An electric burst of neon green sparkles erupted from the wand, exploding not far from that giant black beak. It was quite pretty, but not exactly useful as far as he could tell.

Sam tried again. This time, it was bright blue. But he heard the beast roar again, and the eye snapped shut. Was the thing frightened? Sam laughed out loud; he could use this!

After a few more colorful explosions – more than one of which actually hit the monster – the kraken seemed to loosen its death-grip on the ship. It didn't let go, of course. Sam would never be lucky enough for that. But the monster was distracted, and that was all he needed.

"Cuddy! Grab the wheel!" Sam screamed as loud as he could over the still-raging storm.

He didn't turn around to see if Cuddy did it – he didn't need to; he trusted his crew completely. Instead, he kept waving his wand at the kraken. He tried to make something other than fireworks, but the only thing he succeeded in doing was making different shapes of fireworks.

The ship started tugging to port, and Sam braced himself. He took one final shot at the kraken before grabbing the mast. The kraken's enormous tentacle missed him by inches as it went crashing back into the water. At least this time, he'd successfully managed to avoid getting knocked out in the middle of battle.

Sam's final shot was a direct hit in the eye. The ship listed hard as the kraken finally let go. There was a brief moment when Sam wondered if they'd end up capsizing over the other side. But they didn't. Instead, the ship lurched away, battered, but still more than seaworthy. They'd actually done it!

"Congratulations, Captain." Cuddy said, clapping him on the back. "Now you can finally say you've slain something other than a snake."

"We didn't slay the snake." Finn pointed out.

Sam glared. Was this really the time? Fortunately, both Cuddy and the kid ignored him.

"Guess that means the end of 'Captain Calamity'." Sam said. "I wonder what they'll call me now..."

He was already picturing it. Maybe if he got to tell the story before any of his crew, he could slip in a few helpful suggestions. But before he could get too carried away, he was interrupted by Cuddy's sharp laugh.

"Something you'd like to share?" Sam glared.

"Just don't see why you think they'll call you anything new." he said. "I mean, you sailed into known kraken waters, armed with nothing but a fancy stick, and shook it until he went away."

"I caused explosions." Sam corrected. He hoped that when Cuddy was regaling ne'er-do-wells in Pirates' Cove that he'd phrase it a little better.

"Only proves my point." Cuddy insisted. "I don't know another pirate in all the seven seas who'd think of something like that."

"Not one." Milo agreed happily. Pickles squawked something that sounded suspiciously like agreement.

Finn raised his glass and grinned. "To Captain Calamity!"