August 23, 2008

The First Battle For Medievia
by Xaaxacus

On August 22nd, the DM made a startling revelation: "The end is near." Players were warned of the events to come (referred to simply as "the end of the world"), and urged to be online at 10 PM to watch it happen. At the foretold time, the story module was put into place, with the first entry in Chapter 1 ready for players to read. It was a grim, foreboding tale, that offered only one hint - that someone should engage the Khrait, before it was too late.

Over a dozen skilled captains rushed out to sea on their weathered Man O'Wars, opening fire on serpents of every variety. The race began to see who would be the first to reach the quantity of fae necessary to attract the Khrait's attention. Captain Ferral was in the lead, but an unfortunate turn of events led to the destruction of her ship. I was fortunate enough to be on board Ludicrous Speed when it accumulated one million fae; Captain Malaku had summoned the Khrait upon us, and we were now left to sit and wait.

The warning signs all came as they always did, but when the ships arrived, we found ourselves surprised and horribly outgunned. A full DOZEN Scoutships emerged into the ocean around us, opening fire on our ship and the other Man O'Wars nearby. We did our best to fight off their assault, even sinking a few of their number, but our friends dropped around us as quickly as our enemies. We called for reinforcements, and before long had amassed an armada much stronger than our original force - but it was all in vain. Whenever we managed to reduce the Scoutships to a manageable number, eight to twelve more appeared to continue the assault. Vryce caught a glimpse of a hundred vessels circling our lands.

To make matters worse, Marious reported that we were now unable to build more ships! Outnumbered and dropping like flies, we had no way to rebuild our navies to continue a resistance. It had all become a matter of buying Medievia time. The maniacal laughter of the Khrait leader echoed throughout the realm, mocking our efforts and promising the fast arrival of his fearsome Zarmonger warships.

On land, the situation was nearly as bad as at sea. Half a dozen Voroderms sprung up from the land in quick succession, turning the wilderness into CPK. Shortly thereafter, Hellraider, Hellreaper, and Hellripper all launched a simultaneous invasion of the mainland. It was complete madness everywhere, and we had no choice but to work together to defend the world. While the largest CPK clans attacked the demons, others went after individual Voroderms, slowly reducing the continent's threat from afar to an (almost) normal level. Pode and Antons assembled a coalition of brave heroes from all over the land to enter the Catacombs and seek out Hellripper.

Before we knew it, it was nearly two hours later, and chaos still reigned supreme. The Ludicrous Speed and its fellow ships had been reduced to splinters of wood long ago, but our resolve remained strong. Bardok stumbled upon some Scoutships that had run aground, and Malaku eagerly lead a boarding party onto their deck, engaging the Khrait in hand-to-hand combat. Samehdi proved his incredibly naval prowess by sinking Scoutship after Scoutship, striking fear into their hearts. Even his efforts proved to be insufficient, however, and we were eventually forced to retreat to the (relative) safety of the land.

It had been a sobering night, and it was clear that we'd suffered far worse than our enemies. My thanks go out to Omniumdeus, for helping me record the events as they transpired, and to the brave captains who sacrificed their prized vessels to drive back the Khrait. There was now nothing left to do but wait and see what would come next in the Story of Medievia, which was unfolding before our eyes.