Steamlander™

It is my duty to alert the populace, airmen in particular, to a new hazard recently come to our skies. Air Kraken have been spotted with increasing frequency, both here and in New Babbage. Here is a shot of one of the beasts over the Vernian Sea.



Only this morning, aviators tangled with one over Lovelace Liberty.



Air kraken are very territorial. The females patrol the cloud layer and will attack any avatar who ventures too near. Lovelace Liberty is now damage enabled, and a close encounter with a kraken can be fatal. However, air kraken can be killed – not easily but they are vulnerable. It takes numerous direct hits to do the job.

Below are some photos of the dangerous, but exciting, business of hunting air kraken with a pistol.



She rises to me, her vicious beak extended, ready to rend her prey.



But hot lead ignites one of the hydrogen pouches that give her lift and she explodes in a coruscating cascade of kraken blood and ink.



I have found that a new kraken moves in to take the place of the dead one almost before the sky has cleared.

((The Air Kraken comes to us courtesy of the Questi & Discovolante Mechanical Consortium, which is to say Martini Discovolante and yours truly. Kraken hunts come courtesy of Her Grace, CoyoteAngel Dimsum, the Duchess of Primverness. There will almost always be one or more patrolling the cloud layer over Lovelace Liberty if you would like to try your hand. Rezzers are for sale; they work best if you have your own sim.))

A pistol? Might I suggest something a little less honourable and perhaps quite a bit bigger next time, sir?

You youngsters... in my day, we fought kraken with a blunt pen-knife and our teeth. And we thought ourselves lucky, too.

Tasted a bit like chicken.

Oh dear, what about our children on their broomsticks going to and from school? Can't anything be done to protect them?

> What about our children on their broomsticks going to and from school?

Madam, I have had it from a most reliable source that they taste a bit like chicken too, and are much improved by a light marinade.

I believe some of the estimable Mrs Beeton' s recipes may be adapted. The broomsticks, however, are wholly indigestible and prone moreover to stick in the teeth.

AS

Yes, Miss Tombola, a less sporting man might prefer the safety of a cockpit behind a pair of Vickers, but I am much attached to my Ordinal Industries Webley. It is not a weapon that will allow you to sit back safely and take pot shots at your quarry from 100 meters; you need to be up close where the .455 can do its job. However, I will admit that trying to reload whilst being pursued by an angry she-kraken does warm the blood!

A most thrilling morning's hunting!

Like Mr Questi, I am a more-than-satisfied customer of Ms Malaprop's and regard the Webley as a very useful, nay indispensible sidearm. But on this occasion I opted for a shotgun - a slightly heavier accompaniment to my rocket pack, using the manoeuveability it gives me to compensate for the time spent re-loading. The Webley I shall reserve for shooting at its manufacturer's most estimable jellyfish.

I must report that the monsters have adapted well to their aerial situation and respond to affronts with a great cloud of noisome, inky pollution. Goggles are therefore recommended and perhaps a mask or respirator.

A possible tactic for the lone hunter attempting to subdue the hellion would seem to be to stalk it from below and fire upwards - retreating downwards as one is attacked. One must merely be careful not to fall out of the sky and thus to sustain a possibly fatal injury in a most embarrassing fashion. Aiming for the eye would, as ever, also appear to be effective.

I am pleased to confirm that two more of the leviathans have been done for, with no loss of life or great personal injury to the citizenry. Having done my part to keep the skies of the Realm of the Roses safe, I then retreated back to Cape Wrath for a long soak in a specially-adapted steam boiler until the ink, viscera and general grime had dispersed from my clothes and countenance.

For the information and personal safety of anyone else planning to confront these freaks of nature for themselves, I have posted some pictures of my encounters here: http://www.twitpic.com/photos/Astrofiammante.

Well done, madam! In my limited time firing away with Miss Malaprop's Clock-Winding Pistol, I failed to dispatch the creature. And then I found myself back in my own home, as though awakening from a dream...

It has come to my attention that aviators using the Terra Combat System have been markedly unsuccessful at killing Air Kraken. Research reveals that TCS doesn't use real bullets. In fact it doesn't use bullets at all. It relies on sensors to detect avatars in the hypothetical path of a hypothetical bullet.

Unfortunately, killing a kraken requires it to be hit with physical bullets. Furthermore, a kraken cannot participate in TCS because it is not an avatar. It is merely a scripted object.

Perhaps there are other combat systems out there which make use of a different approach?

Lady Malaprops' Engine Rifle ended up being my weapon of choice after my opinion of my own accuracy started to reach bounds. I know my dogfighting skils are rusty but I didn't think I was that bad a shot

I wonder if the vaunted Chicken Cannon would work?

While I certainly rely on Dame Ordinal's skills for most encounters, I intend to explore the possibilities of the Reactor Cannon with various forms of ammunition this weekend....chickens will be included

I experimented with a number of firearms - hey, a girl can't be too heavily armed - and discovered that the Steampistol (pictured here, with its 20-shot chamber, works fairly well on the kraken. About 10 shots seems to finish one off.

On the not-so-bright side, now two of the beasts seem to roam the skies simultaneously.

I have been wanting to give my new shotgun a more thorough workout than subterranean zombies provide...and as I am insufficiently adept at both aviation and firearms to fly and shoot simultaneously--Mr. Questi, where did you find that jet-pack? is it one of Ordinal Malaprop's contrivances?

The jet pack in the picture was made by Moggio Morigi. I've had it for a long time and have forgotten where I got it, but I believe she has a shop in Steeltopia. I have seen a much fancier model made by Cubey Terra that is available at the Aerodrome on Abbot.

A couple of notes of potential interest.

Mr Merryman having acquired a new Tiny costume that came with a weapon firing 'actual' bullets, and myself now the proud owner of a wonderful flying junk from the same emporium, we were unable to resist the temptation to return and have another morning's sport with the beasts.

In the process we noticed the following.

It appears that a malefactor may be up to no good in the skies above Lovelace Liberty, since there are a number of roughly-assembled plywood objects up there, created yesterday and belonging to one Manah Werefox, a remarkably anonymous entity whose profile discourages interest in their activities to say the least. Just a heads-up.

Also there seems to be a scripting error on the Kraken sales box.

We merely hope that this information will prove useful and instructive.

Yours, &c

AS