July 4, 2009
The Ruby Serpent
by Belladain
Until recently I had been on a ship less than
half a dozen times. I had never really gotten into them.
Part of the problem in the past was the cost as I loathe borrowing
money from anyone and I have never spent a dime of my clans money on
anything. The other part was the time involved. I had
never been able to set aside the time needed to really focus on
learning HOW to ship and then implementing what I learn in the real
world.
I decided to change that today.
I
started out ship training. It did not help me a lot outside of
practicing maneuvering and that is just a matter of repetition so I
spent very little time there. I then set out and purchased a
Man O'War, hired my deckhands, and proceeded to undock my ship and
crash into land. Luckily there was not a lot of damage and I
quickly repaired it and we set on our way.
The first few
serpents I chummed, which is what you do with serpent meat in order
to entice a serpent to rise up out of the deep and investigate your
ship, were thankfully small and I quickly put them down. I was
feeling confident....a little too confident.
With the help of
King Romsek and Princess Caelistis we had put down several larger
serpents. I was however inadvertently steering our ship into
deeper waters. New to shipping I had been thinking Sea's End
was on a different part of the map than it actually is, and was heading
that way......I could hear in the distance Sir Templins ship firing
ceaselessly on a large violet serpent, and for those who do not know
the violets are the fastest and amongst the most dangerous serpents.
I continued to chum as my clan mates went to take care of some
real life affairs and nearby popped a small, manageable ruby
serpent. I was a little concerned by the triple fanned tails
it had but my confidence, of which I assured my town mate Homet over
town channel, was overwhelming and off I went to launch my first
volley.
As the first volley was set to fire Templins
violet popped up next to my ruby and boom! I engaged both serpents.
I was a little stunned when yet another violet serpent popped up on
my other side and proceeded to fire on it thinking it was the first
one.
I soon realized I was engage to 3 serpents. To my
surprise the first violet went down with my second volley as I can
only assume Templin had heavily damaged it. In the span of
heartbeats however I realized I was out of my league when the second
violent rammed my ship causing massive damage. I immediately
fired all guns on him as it was preparing to toss us on his back and
down he went to join his mother at the bottom of the ocean, dead.
Breathing a sigh of relief that I had but my single, simple Ruby
left I turned hard to port and prepared to engage the now charging
serpent in a struggle that could only end with the death of one of
us.
And the ruby approached...................
Droplets of water fell across the deck, sprayed from the massive
serpent body. The roar of breakwater filled my ears as he
crashed down into the depths of the sea only to re-emerge seconds
later at a mere range of 4 from my starboard deck.
FIRE STARBOARD
FIRE STARBOARD
a gust of
wind............
The heavy "thump" of the cannons was silent
to my ears......because they did not fire......
I blinked
once...twice....the serpent was gone........the fan tails........The
serpent blew us off course....................oh no.................
*CCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH*
And so ends my tail as my crew, my ship, and her captain met
their fate at the hands of a Gigantic Hammer Headed Serpent body
triple fan tailed Ruby Serpent...
To the locker with us as
the sirens sang their song...filled with sadness..filled with
sorrow......yet if you listen closely........ renewed hope....hope
that one day the fated crew of the Shadow of Power will take their
revenge...............
Belladain
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