[Mkguild] New Story Arc to Bounce Around

[Michael Bard]

I bounced the idea off of Phil on IRC, and he thinks it's a GREAT idea!  He
even wrote the following bit to give the rest of you an idea of what we can
do with this plotline.

Michael Bard

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Mithras Attacks! by Phil Geusz

"Come on!" I cried from the bows. "This is our best chance! They're trying
to wade acorss the sea!"

"Yahrr!" the mute Rupert agreed, beatng his chest aggressively like the
gorilla he'd been for many years now. Meanwhile the world rose and fell,
rose and fell, rose and fell around us the storm raged on.

"A point to port," I shouted at the helmsman, who waved his hat in
acknowledgement. Our new course was too close to the wind, really, for such
filthy weather. But who cared if the storm battered us to pieces? The heat
ray had done for the rest of my little squadron already; there was no way
the flagship was going to survive. "Steady!"

We were within feet f the nearest fighting-machine now, and I opened the
little valve that would ready my most potent weapon, the Fire. Brass
plumbing creaked and groaned as the pressure built. The foul, hated Mithrans
might have some kind of magic heat ray, yes. But I had....

"Fire!" I screamed as we closed the last yard or so into range and I threw
the operating lever with my forepaw. "Fire, ye bastards! Scorching, hot,
scalding fire for every one of ye!"

"Yahhr!" Rupert agreed, leaping into the rigging. He had his own part to
play, I'd never see him again, I suddenly realized as he effortlessly
scrambled up the ropes. He must have realized the same, because just for an
instant he froze, then turned around and doffed his hat to me.

After that, however, I had no time for Rupert. My Fire-projector gurgled,
then died as its charge ran out, and I leaned eagerly forward, ears flapping
n the breeze, to see what effect the flames might've had. The body of the
hated three-legged thing was blackened, and even melted a bit here and
there. I watched as the "head" began to turn in an attempt to magic-burn
us...

...but then it froze in place! It was hurt after all!

There was only one thing for it, now. "Hard a-port" I cried to the helmsman.
Then I turned to my rowers. "Give way, men!" I demanded.. "Row for your
lives! For your homes and children!"

"For Whales!" one replied.

"For Whales!" another echoed.

"For Prince Phil!" a third added. Then they cheered and bent to their labor
with a will, as our galley seemed to rocket forward. "Port your helm!" I
ordered again, as the second fighting machine readied itself to burn us.
But, it couldn't! We were too close to its companion! "Steady!"

The impact, when it came, was like the end of the world. I'd rammed many
enemy ships in my time, but never before had I encountered anything so
unyielding as the fighting-machine's leg. Still, though, it slowly
buckled....

...and then, as my ship roared past under the impetus of wind and oar alike,
the fighting machine began to topple!

But there was no time for gawking, or even for celebration. "Hard
a-starboard!" I screamed into the wind, even as a cheer died stillborn on
the lips of my crew.

"Hard a-starboard," the helmsman echoed, spinning his great wheel.

"Steady!" I commanded, lining everything up just so. The second machine
still didn't have a clear field of fire. If everything timed out right...
"Meet her!" I ordered, when everything seemed just so. "Give way!"

Just then, there was a tremendous crash behind me as the first machine fell
dead into the waves. And, in that same instant, we passed directly
underneath the second! "Row!" I ordered again. "Row for your lives, boys!" I
watched as the magic heat-projector slewed around to track us. "Duck!" I
ordered, just as the deadly rays flashed forth...

...and bounced right back off of the mirrored shields that I'd ordered
placed all over our hull! The wood underneath smoked and blackened, but
between the sea and the spray and the reflectiveness, we survived! The
fighting machine steadied down to fire a second shot-- this one would be
death, I knew. I might be a rabbit these days, but I was fresh out of
dodges. And the men knew it, too. "Long live Whales!" one cried out.

"Hurrah!" the rest agreed, defiant to the end.

And then the miracle happened. Out of nowhere, a thick fog arose. Was it
natural? Or was it magical, the result of a spell cast by an unknown friend
or ally" I had no way to know. Not that I cared a whit! "Hard a-port!" I
ordered, as the beam sizzled down on the place we'd just been. "Steady!"

"Hurrah!" the men cried out again. And, finally, I smiled too.

For when I'd last seen the enemy, Rupert had been busily clambering towards
the fighting machine's main hatch...