Invasion from the Blood Star
Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:47 pm
From the Journal of Andrew Senoris:
No one would have believed, in the year 770, that affairs in the core were being watched from beyond the stars. Few even considered the idea that life could exist in the cosmos, and yet, from beyond the firmament came horror so unlike anything the people of these lands had seen, even in places known for horrors.
It was early August of that year when I was summoned to the office of the Professor at the University of Dementlieu in Port-A-Lucine. The Professor was the foremost authority on astronomy throughout the core. All the greatest scholars considered him the primary pioneer of this new learning. As a former student, I was quite flattered that he summoned me to bear witness to what he refered to as 'his greatest discovery'. I found him in the tower where he spent almost all of his time with his telescope. He was quite proud of that instrument. It was of his own design and had been built to his exact specifications. It had given him more insight into the nature of the cosmos than anything else he'd gathered or made. He excitedly asked me to look through the eyepiece as I'd done many times before. I did so and for the first time in my life, I saw something in the sky I had never seen before. High in the western sky was a blood red star that had not been there before. How was this possible, I asked the Professor. He didn't know, he said. He'd observed the star there a few days earlier and had verified the positions of all other heavenly bodies in order to be sure that no other star had somehow shifted. None of them had. We were observing a COMPLETELY NEW ENTITY. It was astounding. Even during the changes wrought by the Grand Conjunction thirty years earlier, no new stars had appeared in the sky. The professor pointed this out and I responded that perhaps this new star was a precursor of something terrible. The Professor mildly chided me in his way that perhaps it was a harbinger of great things, perhaps terrible things, perhaps nothing, but we would never know without study. We began what would be several days of study of the red star.
We discovered that the path that the star traveled across the sky was an eratic one, meaning that the star was, in fact, a wanderer or planet as we call it, as opposed to a fixed star. The third day after we discovered this, a new wonder took place. A huge mass of luminous gas erupted from the surface of the blood star, as we'd come to call it, and sped downwards. I had no way of knowing this at the time, but within it was the first of the missiles that would bring so much horror to an already grim land. As I watched that night, there was another jet of gas, and another after that. And that's how it was for the next ten nights: A flare spurting out from the red planet bright green with a green mist behind it. A beautiful if somehow disturbing sight. I felt a strange fear growing within me but the professor only grew more excited. He said we were witnessing things that had never been seen before. We would be the first to even speculate about the events that happened.
Then came the day when the first of missiles fell from the sky. It was treated as an ordinary falling star but it landed in the sea just off the coast of Dementlieu. The professor and I immediately chartered a boat to go and examine what had fallen. As we passed out of Lucine bay, we were astounded to find what seemed to be a large round rock formation a good two miles off the coast where there hadn't been one before. The Professor re-checked his calculations and further astounded us by telling us that that was the exact place where the meteor had fallen. The owner of the boat we chartered, a fisherman, added to our dismay by telling us that he'd fished these waters his whole life and that part of the sea was a good ten fathoms deep. We cautiously approached the rock hoping to learn more only to discover that we were not the only ones to notice this new formation. Coming towards us out of the bay was a ship flying the flag of the Council of Brilliance. We paid them no mind as we approached what we thought was the rock.
What struck us immediately was the symmetry of the thing. It was a perfect circle thirty yards across with seemingly no seams or indentations of any kind. Our friend, the fisherman pointed to the water around us and we noticed it was full of dead fish. From mackerel and carp to large sharks. Suddenly there was a large screeching sound- like metal scraping on metal- coming from the rock. We turned and saw an inner section of the rock rotating like a potter's wheel. We watched in awe for several minutes as the section continued to spin. As it spun it rose and the professor observed that it was UNSCREWING! The boat's owner grabbed my shoulder and said that this entire thing was unnatural and nothing we could pay him could make him stay a minute longer. I hastily agreed. This was clearly something better observed from a distance. It took the professor a moment longer but his sense finally overwhelmed his curiosity and he too agreed we should leave. The owner raised his sail to its full height and handed each of us an oar so that we could move as quickly as possible. We tried to wave off the ship but it was no use. They were bound for the rock and there was nothing we could do to warn them. Suddenly we heard a loud sound of metal on metal, like the sound of a hammer striking iron in a forge but much deeper and louder. We looked back to the rock and saw that the unscrewing section had flipped off.
Two luminous disk-like eyes appeared above the rim. A huge rounded bulk, larger than a bear, rose up slowly, glistening like wet leather. Its lipless mouth quivered and slathered and snakelike tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated. A tall inverted funnel rose and pointed toward the ship, then a near invisible ray of heat leapt from man to man and there was a bright glare as each was instantly turned to fire and the entire ship became a mass of flames at the touch of this savage other-worldly fire device.
Thinking quickly, the fisherman maneuvered us behind the burning ship and out of sight of the creature and it's weapon. We quickly made all the speed we could for the shore. We reentered the bay and made for the docks with all haste. I was struck by how life was proceeding as normal. Fisherman repaired their nets and boats, ships loaded and unloaded cargo, and children ran and played in the streets. All oblivious to the annihilation that lurked barely three miles away. The professor and I left the fisherman to see to his boat and family and made our way directly to the Council of Brilliance to warn them of what we had seen.
We arrived to find the council already in session and discussing the matter we had come to warn them about. I had always heard about the efficiency of the council but I had never dreamed they could be like this. I had expected to see disbelief, confusion, panic. The councilors were already drawing up plans for both battle and defense. Messages had already been sent to the various nobles estates to call their militias together and bring them to Port-A-Lucine and, more importantly, to bring their cannons. The city guard had already been mobilized and were preparing to repel the invaders. I was amazed. I learned later that most of the council had been observing the ship they'd sent through their own telescopes when the invaders had destroyed it. It was clear to all assembled that Dementlieu was under an attack the likes of which had never been conceived of, let alone seen. I followed the Professor's lead here. He had dealt with the council before and knew his way around them. I followed him directly to Dominic d'Honaire, whose powers of persuasion were legendary. If anyone could get what we knew into the right ears it was he. The Professor managed to outline what he had discovered in the last weeks and M. d'Honaire led us directly to Lord-Goveneur Marcel Guignol himself. The Lord-Goveneur called for quiet in the hall and The Professor was allowed to outline our observations to the entire assembly. I watched the faces of all assembled grow more and more fearful as the implications of those discoveries became clear. Invasion from the stars! This the first of many to fall from the sky! It was then that one of the many councilor's aides entered the hall looking pale as a ghost. This man had been detailed to further observe the rock, as we still called it, while the council began to prepare defenses. This man informed the assembly that it was beyond his ability to describe what he had seen, that it would be best if we all came ourselves to see what the monsters were doing. Someone said that it might be a good idea and so we all filed up to the roof of the castle to see what was happening.
At the top of the stairs, we were all given long spyglasses that we may see the rock from where we were. What we saw was disturbing INDEED! The creatures had been quite busy in our absence. Already there were two poles, taller than the tallest tower, jutting up from the rock with a third under construction, but that wasn't what had so frightened the councilor's aide. Coming toward the shore, seemingly walking on the water, was a squat metallic insect with a hood in which sat one of the creatures from the rock. The councilor's aide said that he had observed the creatures building this thing, some sort of machine he believed, and when it was finished it stood as tall as the poles which now stood on the rock. Indeed, he said, those poles were undoubtedly the legs of another machine being built. What had frightened him was the creature using it's fire device to scorch the top of the water for some reason and indeed, I noticed that terrifying funnel shaped appendage jutting out from the front of the machine. And now this thing was coming towards us, striding through ten fathoms of water as casually as a man might walk across a street, growing taller as it stepped into shallower water. If we had any doubts about its intentions, they were dashed when another ship sailed out of Lucine bay and was destroyed by the machine's fire device.
Watching the second ship burst into flames lit another fire. This one under the council. Each of the nobles raced to the stables that they may retrieve their horses and join their militias in the field. Strangely, I didn't think any of them would just run away. Perhaps they knew, as I did, that if the monsters were not stopped here, they would not be stopped anywhere. When all had left, Only The Professor, myself, and Dominic d'Honaire remained. We went quietly to the roof to further observe the monsters. We found the creatures had made significant progress since before. The second machine looked about ready to begin moving and the first was just about to the breakwater which separated Lucine Bay from the Sea of Sorrows. Now that it was closer, I was finally able to more closely examine it. It had three metal legs with a metalic egg-shaped pod at the top from the front of which sprouted the funnel shaped fire device that wrought such havok. Just above the device behind a green shaded window that looked almost like a pair of eyes, I could see one of the monsters moving about, doing whatever it did to make the thing walk. For a brief moment, the machine reminded me of a tripod holding a kettle.
The first machine stepped out of the sea and onto the breakwater. I noticed that its three legs ended in flat shoes that were attached with joints like ankles. Suddenly I noticed that, where before the everyday sounds of the city of Port-A-Lucine had drifted up to us, now suddenly an eerie silence hung over the city. The entire populace had stopped to stare at this impossible invader! Then, as if in response to this silence, the machine emmitted a great roaring howl that thundered across the bay, rattling windows and spooking animals. Then the machine brandished it's fire device and the nigh-invisible bolt of fire shot across Lucine Bay to strike the docks. Fire leapt from ships to docks to buildings and finally to houses. The Merchants Quarter was almost immediately engulfed in flame. The population paniced and ran and we could do nothing but watch in horror as the terrible fire device incinerated streets filled with people. The machine began to stride across the bay while its fire device would regularly rake the city with fire, immolating dozens of people at a time. By the time it reached the shore, all of the city north of the guild halls was aflame. I suddenly noticed a peculiar greyish dust floating through the air around us and I felt my limbs grow numb and the spyglass fell from my nerveless hand as I realized it was the ash of completely incinerated people.
Suddenly, a great explosion erupted from behind us, startling us all. We turned to see three cannons perched on the hill surrounded the ruins of Ste. Mere des Larmes. One fired and it's payload roared across the sky to clank loudly against the machine's metal hide. The machine staggered. I never dreamed that cannon fire could be so acurate. Second and third cannon reports came from behind us again and the cannon balls struck the machine's side loudly, again staggering the machine. The machine fired it's device wildly, narrowly missing the building in which we stood. All three cannons fired now and somehow all three shots found their mark. The machine again staggered, then stumbled, then fell over like a cut tree. It fell parallel to the shoreline and crushed some buildings as it fell. A cheer, barely audible over the roaring flames, could be heard across the city as the surviving populace celebrated this victory over this impossible enemy. The Professor pointed to the fallen machine and I looked to see it was retracting it's legs. It wasn't dead yet! Suddenly, from the surrounding, surviving, buildings, people who'd survived poured from the buildings to attack the machine with whatever they could find. Sometimes with nothing more than their bare hands. The creature fired it's heat device and did set fire to many more buildings and also managed to incinerate a few more unlucky souls, but for the most part the crowd had figured out how to avoid the fire device. Suddenly a tall, barebacked, musclebound sailor charged toward the front of the machine with a harpoon. He launched that instrument clean through the window at the back of the fire device and raced around it to pull the harpoon out. As the sailor pulled with all his might, the machine's window caved outward and we could see clearly that the sailor had indeed speared the creature inside with his harpoon. The creature thrashed on the end of it as the crowd set upon it directly with hammers, axes, knives, and again, sometimes just their bare hands. A cheer rose up from the crowd as the creature was torn limb from limb, drowning out it's dying shrieks. The enemy was NOT unbeatable. Suddenly the cheers were overwhelmed by another roaring howl coming from across the bay. The whole city looked to see another terrible machine standing there ready to attack. A third one could be seen striding through the sea behind it towards us. It, too, emitted that terrible howling noise and the city again fell silent in it's echo. Behind them, in the sky, we could see more green streaks, like a half-dozen comets of doom, announcing the arrival of more invaders. Many more. We were in for a long battle.
Like its predecessor, the second machine began striding through the bay while raking the city with it's heat device. Again the air was filled with those terrible ashes. It sickened me to know that dozens were dead and even if the city survived, we would have no way of knowing who they were. It was as if the invaders were erasing all trace of us from existence. Suddenly, from our left erupted a series of explosions so loud they nearly split our ears. We turned to the west to see the coastline beyond the Government Quarter lined with cannons. There must have been a dozen, with more arriving. Before we could even count them, they fired again and a hailstorm of cannonballs sped across the bay toward the invader's machine. Many missed, but enough hit that the machine didn't just stagger, but flipped over like a capsizing boat. It looked almost comical, the upended machine with it's pod sunk beneath the waves and it's three legs sticking up in the air. Had the third machine not reached the breakwater, I might have actually laughed.
The cannons quickly targeted this new invader but their shots fell short. This machine had wisely moved out of range of them along the breakwater. Before the cannoneers could adjust or retreat, the machine turned it's heat device on them and scortched the entire coastline from clear across the bay. Stores of powder exploded alongside men being incinerated as the invaders ray of fire swept eastward down the coast and into the Government Quarter where we were. We dove down behind the wall which surrounded the roof of the Goveneur's Palace and prayed to Ezra for deliverance. Somehow, the fire missed us and we looked cautiously back over the wall to see what was happening.
The machine was making it's way toward the east side of the city. It moved cautiously, looking for where the next attack would come from. The cannons within the city suddenly began to play a sort of hide-and-seek game with the invader. The first shot came from the ruins of Ste. Mere des Larmes. As the machine turned to return fire, the second shot came from behind us, within the Government Quarter, again drawing the creatures fire towards us, then the third shot came from the southwest side, likely near the road to Chateaufaux. We could only guess as we couldn't see that side of the city and only knew the shot had been fired by seeing it strike the side of the machine. As the machine began to swing back, M. d'Honaire pointed to the top of far west road and cried out. Though our spyglasses, we all saw a great wagon pulled by four powerful horses and loaded with six or seven huge casks racing at breakneck speed down the hill toward the invader. Was the driver mad? He certainly looked it as he cracked his whip over the horses like one possessed. The machine aimed its heat device at him and fired but by some miracle the man steered the wagon around it and continued his mad charge toward the machine. The fire from the device chased the wagon all way down the hill and finally ignited the rear of the wagon just as the horses noses began to pass beneath the machine. Suddenly the barrels on the wagon erupted in an explosion that dwarfed all others of that day. Almost idly, I realized that the barrels had been filled with gunpowder. One of the burning unexploded barrels flew up and struck the machines pod like a boxers punch striking an opponents jaw. The machine keeled over backwards and crashed to the ground to be set upon again by outraged survivors of the attack. The driver's ingenius act of self sacrifice had destroyed the final attacker. Port-A-Lucine had survived the most insane attack anyone could have imagined. Little did we know that it was just the beginning.
No one would have believed, in the year 770, that affairs in the core were being watched from beyond the stars. Few even considered the idea that life could exist in the cosmos, and yet, from beyond the firmament came horror so unlike anything the people of these lands had seen, even in places known for horrors.
It was early August of that year when I was summoned to the office of the Professor at the University of Dementlieu in Port-A-Lucine. The Professor was the foremost authority on astronomy throughout the core. All the greatest scholars considered him the primary pioneer of this new learning. As a former student, I was quite flattered that he summoned me to bear witness to what he refered to as 'his greatest discovery'. I found him in the tower where he spent almost all of his time with his telescope. He was quite proud of that instrument. It was of his own design and had been built to his exact specifications. It had given him more insight into the nature of the cosmos than anything else he'd gathered or made. He excitedly asked me to look through the eyepiece as I'd done many times before. I did so and for the first time in my life, I saw something in the sky I had never seen before. High in the western sky was a blood red star that had not been there before. How was this possible, I asked the Professor. He didn't know, he said. He'd observed the star there a few days earlier and had verified the positions of all other heavenly bodies in order to be sure that no other star had somehow shifted. None of them had. We were observing a COMPLETELY NEW ENTITY. It was astounding. Even during the changes wrought by the Grand Conjunction thirty years earlier, no new stars had appeared in the sky. The professor pointed this out and I responded that perhaps this new star was a precursor of something terrible. The Professor mildly chided me in his way that perhaps it was a harbinger of great things, perhaps terrible things, perhaps nothing, but we would never know without study. We began what would be several days of study of the red star.
We discovered that the path that the star traveled across the sky was an eratic one, meaning that the star was, in fact, a wanderer or planet as we call it, as opposed to a fixed star. The third day after we discovered this, a new wonder took place. A huge mass of luminous gas erupted from the surface of the blood star, as we'd come to call it, and sped downwards. I had no way of knowing this at the time, but within it was the first of the missiles that would bring so much horror to an already grim land. As I watched that night, there was another jet of gas, and another after that. And that's how it was for the next ten nights: A flare spurting out from the red planet bright green with a green mist behind it. A beautiful if somehow disturbing sight. I felt a strange fear growing within me but the professor only grew more excited. He said we were witnessing things that had never been seen before. We would be the first to even speculate about the events that happened.
Then came the day when the first of missiles fell from the sky. It was treated as an ordinary falling star but it landed in the sea just off the coast of Dementlieu. The professor and I immediately chartered a boat to go and examine what had fallen. As we passed out of Lucine bay, we were astounded to find what seemed to be a large round rock formation a good two miles off the coast where there hadn't been one before. The Professor re-checked his calculations and further astounded us by telling us that that was the exact place where the meteor had fallen. The owner of the boat we chartered, a fisherman, added to our dismay by telling us that he'd fished these waters his whole life and that part of the sea was a good ten fathoms deep. We cautiously approached the rock hoping to learn more only to discover that we were not the only ones to notice this new formation. Coming towards us out of the bay was a ship flying the flag of the Council of Brilliance. We paid them no mind as we approached what we thought was the rock.
What struck us immediately was the symmetry of the thing. It was a perfect circle thirty yards across with seemingly no seams or indentations of any kind. Our friend, the fisherman pointed to the water around us and we noticed it was full of dead fish. From mackerel and carp to large sharks. Suddenly there was a large screeching sound- like metal scraping on metal- coming from the rock. We turned and saw an inner section of the rock rotating like a potter's wheel. We watched in awe for several minutes as the section continued to spin. As it spun it rose and the professor observed that it was UNSCREWING! The boat's owner grabbed my shoulder and said that this entire thing was unnatural and nothing we could pay him could make him stay a minute longer. I hastily agreed. This was clearly something better observed from a distance. It took the professor a moment longer but his sense finally overwhelmed his curiosity and he too agreed we should leave. The owner raised his sail to its full height and handed each of us an oar so that we could move as quickly as possible. We tried to wave off the ship but it was no use. They were bound for the rock and there was nothing we could do to warn them. Suddenly we heard a loud sound of metal on metal, like the sound of a hammer striking iron in a forge but much deeper and louder. We looked back to the rock and saw that the unscrewing section had flipped off.
Two luminous disk-like eyes appeared above the rim. A huge rounded bulk, larger than a bear, rose up slowly, glistening like wet leather. Its lipless mouth quivered and slathered and snakelike tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated. A tall inverted funnel rose and pointed toward the ship, then a near invisible ray of heat leapt from man to man and there was a bright glare as each was instantly turned to fire and the entire ship became a mass of flames at the touch of this savage other-worldly fire device.
Thinking quickly, the fisherman maneuvered us behind the burning ship and out of sight of the creature and it's weapon. We quickly made all the speed we could for the shore. We reentered the bay and made for the docks with all haste. I was struck by how life was proceeding as normal. Fisherman repaired their nets and boats, ships loaded and unloaded cargo, and children ran and played in the streets. All oblivious to the annihilation that lurked barely three miles away. The professor and I left the fisherman to see to his boat and family and made our way directly to the Council of Brilliance to warn them of what we had seen.
We arrived to find the council already in session and discussing the matter we had come to warn them about. I had always heard about the efficiency of the council but I had never dreamed they could be like this. I had expected to see disbelief, confusion, panic. The councilors were already drawing up plans for both battle and defense. Messages had already been sent to the various nobles estates to call their militias together and bring them to Port-A-Lucine and, more importantly, to bring their cannons. The city guard had already been mobilized and were preparing to repel the invaders. I was amazed. I learned later that most of the council had been observing the ship they'd sent through their own telescopes when the invaders had destroyed it. It was clear to all assembled that Dementlieu was under an attack the likes of which had never been conceived of, let alone seen. I followed the Professor's lead here. He had dealt with the council before and knew his way around them. I followed him directly to Dominic d'Honaire, whose powers of persuasion were legendary. If anyone could get what we knew into the right ears it was he. The Professor managed to outline what he had discovered in the last weeks and M. d'Honaire led us directly to Lord-Goveneur Marcel Guignol himself. The Lord-Goveneur called for quiet in the hall and The Professor was allowed to outline our observations to the entire assembly. I watched the faces of all assembled grow more and more fearful as the implications of those discoveries became clear. Invasion from the stars! This the first of many to fall from the sky! It was then that one of the many councilor's aides entered the hall looking pale as a ghost. This man had been detailed to further observe the rock, as we still called it, while the council began to prepare defenses. This man informed the assembly that it was beyond his ability to describe what he had seen, that it would be best if we all came ourselves to see what the monsters were doing. Someone said that it might be a good idea and so we all filed up to the roof of the castle to see what was happening.
At the top of the stairs, we were all given long spyglasses that we may see the rock from where we were. What we saw was disturbing INDEED! The creatures had been quite busy in our absence. Already there were two poles, taller than the tallest tower, jutting up from the rock with a third under construction, but that wasn't what had so frightened the councilor's aide. Coming toward the shore, seemingly walking on the water, was a squat metallic insect with a hood in which sat one of the creatures from the rock. The councilor's aide said that he had observed the creatures building this thing, some sort of machine he believed, and when it was finished it stood as tall as the poles which now stood on the rock. Indeed, he said, those poles were undoubtedly the legs of another machine being built. What had frightened him was the creature using it's fire device to scorch the top of the water for some reason and indeed, I noticed that terrifying funnel shaped appendage jutting out from the front of the machine. And now this thing was coming towards us, striding through ten fathoms of water as casually as a man might walk across a street, growing taller as it stepped into shallower water. If we had any doubts about its intentions, they were dashed when another ship sailed out of Lucine bay and was destroyed by the machine's fire device.
Watching the second ship burst into flames lit another fire. This one under the council. Each of the nobles raced to the stables that they may retrieve their horses and join their militias in the field. Strangely, I didn't think any of them would just run away. Perhaps they knew, as I did, that if the monsters were not stopped here, they would not be stopped anywhere. When all had left, Only The Professor, myself, and Dominic d'Honaire remained. We went quietly to the roof to further observe the monsters. We found the creatures had made significant progress since before. The second machine looked about ready to begin moving and the first was just about to the breakwater which separated Lucine Bay from the Sea of Sorrows. Now that it was closer, I was finally able to more closely examine it. It had three metal legs with a metalic egg-shaped pod at the top from the front of which sprouted the funnel shaped fire device that wrought such havok. Just above the device behind a green shaded window that looked almost like a pair of eyes, I could see one of the monsters moving about, doing whatever it did to make the thing walk. For a brief moment, the machine reminded me of a tripod holding a kettle.
The first machine stepped out of the sea and onto the breakwater. I noticed that its three legs ended in flat shoes that were attached with joints like ankles. Suddenly I noticed that, where before the everyday sounds of the city of Port-A-Lucine had drifted up to us, now suddenly an eerie silence hung over the city. The entire populace had stopped to stare at this impossible invader! Then, as if in response to this silence, the machine emmitted a great roaring howl that thundered across the bay, rattling windows and spooking animals. Then the machine brandished it's fire device and the nigh-invisible bolt of fire shot across Lucine Bay to strike the docks. Fire leapt from ships to docks to buildings and finally to houses. The Merchants Quarter was almost immediately engulfed in flame. The population paniced and ran and we could do nothing but watch in horror as the terrible fire device incinerated streets filled with people. The machine began to stride across the bay while its fire device would regularly rake the city with fire, immolating dozens of people at a time. By the time it reached the shore, all of the city north of the guild halls was aflame. I suddenly noticed a peculiar greyish dust floating through the air around us and I felt my limbs grow numb and the spyglass fell from my nerveless hand as I realized it was the ash of completely incinerated people.
Suddenly, a great explosion erupted from behind us, startling us all. We turned to see three cannons perched on the hill surrounded the ruins of Ste. Mere des Larmes. One fired and it's payload roared across the sky to clank loudly against the machine's metal hide. The machine staggered. I never dreamed that cannon fire could be so acurate. Second and third cannon reports came from behind us again and the cannon balls struck the machine's side loudly, again staggering the machine. The machine fired it's device wildly, narrowly missing the building in which we stood. All three cannons fired now and somehow all three shots found their mark. The machine again staggered, then stumbled, then fell over like a cut tree. It fell parallel to the shoreline and crushed some buildings as it fell. A cheer, barely audible over the roaring flames, could be heard across the city as the surviving populace celebrated this victory over this impossible enemy. The Professor pointed to the fallen machine and I looked to see it was retracting it's legs. It wasn't dead yet! Suddenly, from the surrounding, surviving, buildings, people who'd survived poured from the buildings to attack the machine with whatever they could find. Sometimes with nothing more than their bare hands. The creature fired it's heat device and did set fire to many more buildings and also managed to incinerate a few more unlucky souls, but for the most part the crowd had figured out how to avoid the fire device. Suddenly a tall, barebacked, musclebound sailor charged toward the front of the machine with a harpoon. He launched that instrument clean through the window at the back of the fire device and raced around it to pull the harpoon out. As the sailor pulled with all his might, the machine's window caved outward and we could see clearly that the sailor had indeed speared the creature inside with his harpoon. The creature thrashed on the end of it as the crowd set upon it directly with hammers, axes, knives, and again, sometimes just their bare hands. A cheer rose up from the crowd as the creature was torn limb from limb, drowning out it's dying shrieks. The enemy was NOT unbeatable. Suddenly the cheers were overwhelmed by another roaring howl coming from across the bay. The whole city looked to see another terrible machine standing there ready to attack. A third one could be seen striding through the sea behind it towards us. It, too, emitted that terrible howling noise and the city again fell silent in it's echo. Behind them, in the sky, we could see more green streaks, like a half-dozen comets of doom, announcing the arrival of more invaders. Many more. We were in for a long battle.
Like its predecessor, the second machine began striding through the bay while raking the city with it's heat device. Again the air was filled with those terrible ashes. It sickened me to know that dozens were dead and even if the city survived, we would have no way of knowing who they were. It was as if the invaders were erasing all trace of us from existence. Suddenly, from our left erupted a series of explosions so loud they nearly split our ears. We turned to the west to see the coastline beyond the Government Quarter lined with cannons. There must have been a dozen, with more arriving. Before we could even count them, they fired again and a hailstorm of cannonballs sped across the bay toward the invader's machine. Many missed, but enough hit that the machine didn't just stagger, but flipped over like a capsizing boat. It looked almost comical, the upended machine with it's pod sunk beneath the waves and it's three legs sticking up in the air. Had the third machine not reached the breakwater, I might have actually laughed.
The cannons quickly targeted this new invader but their shots fell short. This machine had wisely moved out of range of them along the breakwater. Before the cannoneers could adjust or retreat, the machine turned it's heat device on them and scortched the entire coastline from clear across the bay. Stores of powder exploded alongside men being incinerated as the invaders ray of fire swept eastward down the coast and into the Government Quarter where we were. We dove down behind the wall which surrounded the roof of the Goveneur's Palace and prayed to Ezra for deliverance. Somehow, the fire missed us and we looked cautiously back over the wall to see what was happening.
The machine was making it's way toward the east side of the city. It moved cautiously, looking for where the next attack would come from. The cannons within the city suddenly began to play a sort of hide-and-seek game with the invader. The first shot came from the ruins of Ste. Mere des Larmes. As the machine turned to return fire, the second shot came from behind us, within the Government Quarter, again drawing the creatures fire towards us, then the third shot came from the southwest side, likely near the road to Chateaufaux. We could only guess as we couldn't see that side of the city and only knew the shot had been fired by seeing it strike the side of the machine. As the machine began to swing back, M. d'Honaire pointed to the top of far west road and cried out. Though our spyglasses, we all saw a great wagon pulled by four powerful horses and loaded with six or seven huge casks racing at breakneck speed down the hill toward the invader. Was the driver mad? He certainly looked it as he cracked his whip over the horses like one possessed. The machine aimed its heat device at him and fired but by some miracle the man steered the wagon around it and continued his mad charge toward the machine. The fire from the device chased the wagon all way down the hill and finally ignited the rear of the wagon just as the horses noses began to pass beneath the machine. Suddenly the barrels on the wagon erupted in an explosion that dwarfed all others of that day. Almost idly, I realized that the barrels had been filled with gunpowder. One of the burning unexploded barrels flew up and struck the machines pod like a boxers punch striking an opponents jaw. The machine keeled over backwards and crashed to the ground to be set upon again by outraged survivors of the attack. The driver's ingenius act of self sacrifice had destroyed the final attacker. Port-A-Lucine had survived the most insane attack anyone could have imagined. Little did we know that it was just the beginning.