Serpents versus Dragons
by Kaytlin

The Man O' War Twilight Dragon stood proudly in the dock just north of Castle Chepstow, the paint gleaming in the rising sun. Drakonis hired the crew and pointed the ship seabound while I slowly hauled up the anchor. We slowly drifted north, chumming up mammoth serpents to keep us occupied. I was resting against the helm, enjoying the sea breeze, when a foul stench suddenly hit us. I looked up to see two serpent heads attatched to a colossal violet body with a dragon tail flicking at the end. I clambered to my feet and stood by Drakonis as he hesitated momentarily and then let rip with a larboard volley that did little damage to the serpent's body. It let out a mighty roar and dove out of sight beneath us.

It zipped around our ship, darting in to ram - only to be shot at and forced to turn. Mammoth rubys and enormous emeralds surfaced around us, drawn to the chaos. The deckhands continued to rain down shots upon the enraged serpent. A mammoth ruby surfaced yet again onto our larboard side as the colossal violet, now badly wounded from our enslaught came dashing up on the starboard side. I crossed my fingers as the deckhands fired and finally put the serpent to rest. The ocean was calm for a moment, then suddenly five violet shapes dashed from where the serpent had fell right under our ship!

Gulping, I took up the bow gun, peering around the figurehead at the mass of shapes beneath us. My nails dug into my palms as Drakonis called the deckhands perfectly. Two babies fell quickly to more and more volleys. I relaxed, propping myself up against the gun until at last there was only one serpent yet. It was zooming straight towards the bow as Drakonis desperatly tried to turn it onto the starboard side. Taking a deep breath, I pulled and let fire a shot onto the last baby that hit it squarely on the nose and it loomed around the figurehead. As it silently surfaced again alongside us, one more full volley put it down.

Grinning, we finished off slaying serpents, leaving well alone those that watched us with four or more eyes. As the familiar scene of the sky ripping open to announce the khrait pirates in a fashion most fitting one of the most dangerous creatures of sea. The shouts of three khrait ships called out over the sea as we prepared our ship and cast Harm's Way upon the enemy. Vasokui Jokar Ty sank with little trouble, yielding 250K fae for our cause. Furoam Seo Ty eventually fell to the constant attack of our firecasters, after speculation of what their hull was lined with, and also netted clan 19 250K fae. Only Tanigere Zaa Ty remained, already bruised and battered from our earlier shots. It soon fell, releasing 175K worth of fae upon our ship.

Deciding Lady Luck was on our side, we slew some serpents lurking around the mainland before heading out to face bigger, more rewarding serpents. But thats an adventure for another time...