Sailing the Seas
by Xaaxacus

It was a slow day around the clanhall, and those of us who weren't already busy with our own adventures were looking for something to do. No zones had loaded any worthwhile equipment, the catacombs were several hours old, and there weren't any recent catastrophes that would raise the profits of a potential traderun. This wasn't a problem for Altus Fidelitas, however - there was always something else to keep us entertained, and Governor Liono had the perfect idea.

We outfitted one of our largest vessels, a Man O'War, with the guns and ammunition we'd need for several hours of fast-paced serpent hunting, and were sailing away from the docks with a fresh crew of deckhands within minutes. As we entered hazardous waters, Liono left the helm to throw a large chunk of serpent meat over the railing. The result came immediately after, when a massive ruby serpent emerged from the water to devour the morsel of food - then began hungrily circling the ship. We ordered our deckhands to man the guns, and before long the beast had succumbed to a barrage of darts, bolts, and fireballs.

The voyage continued in a similar fashion for the next hour. Whenever we'd finish off a serpent and begin to haul in chunks of its valuable corpse, another would come surging out of the waves close by, each possessing unique strengths and abilities. Before long, we'd accumulated over a million fae magic - not a bad haul for our first trip out in weeks. We were just beginning to wonder when we should turn around and sail for the docks, when the world suddenly exploded into a frenzy of activity.

Magical lightning bombarded the water all around us, as we watched a storm from afar grow above the ship. Fire ran across the surface of the ocean, and the sky itself split open with a horrendous boom! The clouds had almost completely blotted out the sun, but we were able to see four sleek shapes descend to the sea, setting their sights on our ship. It was a group of Khrait Scoutships, who'd sensed our growing store of fae and decided to seize it for their own. The storm began to pass, leaving the Sitharons to commence their attack.

We were greatly outnumbered, but our reinforced hull and skillful deckhands helped us to survive their initial advance. The agile ships gracefully cut through the waves, using their greater mobility to dart in and out of range. Liono's veteran hand calmly maneuvered the ship to keep them within our sights, and one ship after another was sunk by the volleys launched from our deck. When only one remained, we aimed our shots to tear through its sails, leaving the Sitharon helplessly stranded in the water.

We grappled it, intending to board it and finish off the Khrait manning its guns, claiming it for ourselves. However, our numbers had dwindled, and we were outnumbered by nearly 7 to 1. We decided to play it safe and simply sink the vessel, then return to Sea's End before we found ourselves facing more opponents than we could handle.