Quest for the Red Lens.

The Spirit of the Ship

The light shined through the blue lens but there was no sign of a map appearing.

"Are you sure you got the right one?" asked Morlock.

Ms. Incantasha looked frustrated tricking the light in every witch way.

"I'm positive this is the right one but I don't know why It's not working," she said.

A voice from the speaking tube sounded, "Captain, we're still on course and approaching a cloud of fog"

Morlock went over to the tube. "Set the ship down helmsman, we'll let it pass afloat for now," he said.

"Aye Sir" the Helmsman replied.

The Captain picked up his hat and coat. "Well Ms. Incantasia, I'm going to call it a night, tell me if you learn anything in the morning," he said. 

The Captain stepped out on to the main deck, the mist had fully engulfed the ship by now. The fog was so thick that seeing ten feet in front of you was impossible. A glowing blue aura crept behind Morlock. 

"Is something troubling you, dear Captain?" an unearthly yet feminine voice asked. 

Chills ran up and down Morlock's skin.

"Ha.h.Who's there?" Morlock asked shakingly.

"Oh my, Of all people I would assume that the Captain would know who I am." the voice answered. 

Captain Morlock turned to look at whom he was speaking to. His eyes widened.

"The Dutchess," he said softly.

A young woman in an alaberent gown and headdress stood there with a regal expression. Then gave a little smile and curtsied to the Captain. "Do not be frightened. Tell me what troubles my dear Captain?"

The Captain relaxed a little bit. "I'm having trouble deciphering a treasure map," he said.

"And how are you trying to do right now?" the Duchess asked.

"with light."

"why?"

"because the yellow lens…"

"Yellow is the light but Blue would clearly be another element, wouldn't it?"

"Water" Morlock answered 

The Duchess smiled at the Captain's cleverness. The ship was passing through the fog and the ghosts time was running out.

"Captain Horatio Morlock My time is short I Must warn you of the man with the half mas...Ahhhhhh"

before she finished the blue flames around her turned red and she quickly burned to ash blowing in the wind.

The Captain stood there still in disbelief when the ship's night watch found him.

"Sir, Are you okay sir?" the crewmen said.

Morlock came back to his senses. "Yes, crewmen. I'm fine, goodnight," he said.

The Captain woke up the next morning and went to his ward room where they were working last night. He took the blue lens and dunked it in a pitcher of water and looked through it. The outline of a map started to appear. He quickly traced the image down adding to the incomplete map before the lens dried.

Ms. Incantasha was relieved that the map was finally deciphered and yet irritated that she wasn't the one to do it.

The speaking tube sounded once again.

"Captain, We are approaching Prush waters now"

"Understood Helm, Cast aloft and climb to twenty four thousand feet."

The Captain opened the channel of the tube that echoes throughout the ship.

"Attention this is the Captain speaking. we're going over the Prush empire right now and to stay undetected we'll be cruising at high altitude. Everyone get your cold weather gear and PBE on. That is all." 

Ms. Incantasha was confused 

"It's summer and what is "PBE" mean?" she asked.

Morlock opened up a wardrobe and tossed a parka and gas mask to her.

"The air is going to get too cold and too thin to breathe so we are hooking up your personal breathing equipment so you don't pass out" he said as he fastened her mask to the air tank. 

The Burning Duchess soared above the Prush southern prairies two degrees from the whole ship turning into an ice cube.

Ms. Incantasha guided the helm crew to the western lone mountain beyond Prushland. They finally arrived at Arsenal mountain. Arsenal mountain looked like a cannon aimed at forty five degrees. There was a town a mile away from the base and three Mont-Diamont Skies Cruisers. 

"It would appear that the expeditionary forces  are already here" Morlock said looking through his spyglass. 

"Commander, Assign an away team of most Marines to parachuted with me during nightfall." Morlock ordered.

"At once, sir" Scipio said.

The Away Team at the Card Table

The sun had set and the ship descended to jumping altitude. Captain Morlock and the away team were geared up. Ready to deploy the most senior Marine approach the Captain.

"Sir, Gunnery Sergeant Deegan reporting that all the men are ready to drop," he said with a salute.

"Thank you Gunny, we'll be jumping as soon as the patrol ships is halfway to the far side" Morlock said returning the salute.

The patrol ship finally reached the hallway point and the Away team drove off the larbordside. Not many of the crew could survive a halo jump but Morlock and the Marines safely landed onto the red clay ground below. The landing party took off their masks after wearing them on the outer decks for an hour.

The men snuck into town under the shroud of darkness. A sign saying "Welcome to Powder Town" hung from pole attached to a mill building. Next to the mill there was a large warehouse full of barrels of Red Spark Exploding Powered. 

Across the way the was a cantina. The men entered the cantina expecting to see townsfolk inside but instead they were met with soldiers from the expeditionary forces. Morlock slowly walked up to the counter to order some drinks for his men. 

"Hey, Black Jacket!" one of the soldiers said.

Morlock turned to the man sitting at a card table.

"Looks like you got coin to spend. Care to join in our game? We can use two more." the soldiers said. The air was intense with suspense with everyone cradling their sidearm.

Morlock smiled,"I'm always up for a game of coin house, right Deegan"

"that's right, boss" the Gunny said.

Morlock and the Gunny sat at the table with the other four.

 The deck was reset for a new game. Seven cards were dealt to all the six through in a blue ore coin, Deegan and Morlock did the same. The game was clearly paired in teams as each player alternated between red and black. Morlock knew he had to play this game smart since they were out number. He laid down a red card and hinted the gunny to do the same. The house card drew and it was black. 

"Aw, tough start. so what are you boys doing in this town?" the soldiers from before revealing sargent stripes as he placed his bet with coin card. 

"We're just passing through. Coming back from a job in goblin country." Morlock lied.

The coin flipped and the cards were shown. A 6♤ and a winner off a 7♧. The teaming up on was clearly obvious by now. 

A repeat of last time but the house card showed red. 

"Goblin country huh, that's dangerous work but it's probably why you got coin," said the sargent.

"Yes, indeed I do," Morlock said throwing in two gold ore coins. Signaled the gunny to fold but the other two matched and placed their coin cards down. They signaled the dealer to flip and the coin landed tails. The Sargent flipped his card, 4◇ and was about to take the pot.

"hold on their pal," Morlock said turning over a 2♡.

The game dragged out will Morlock and the Sargent rolling high on the table. The deck had been depleted and were four cards in the open house phase. 

Everyone was looking around because not a single ace has been played. The Sargent placed down a heavy bet of ten gold and six silver ore coins with house and coin cards face down. Deegan asked Morlock for five gold to match and the Captain agreed. Morlock discarded and threw four gold in the pot to fold. The Gunny placed both cards down. The coin landed heads by despite the Sargent having a high ace the gunny was sitting on two aces. The gunny stood up and threw down the last ace rendering the final card his win as well. They left the game and asked the barkeep for logging. They were  directed to an inn at the edge of town.

The Airship in the Mountain

The next morning they were awakened by the sound of dynamite blasts echoing in the distance. 

"Captain, They are moving some big equipment to the dig site," one of the Marines standing watch said.

All of the away team looked out of the window. there was a medium sized landship walking past the town. The men started to put their gear and made their way towards the lobby. 

One of the Sargents readied his weapon and turned towards the Captain, "Sir, which side will we be attacking" he said.

"We'll be climbing the backside of the mountain and repel down the mouth of the volcano." Morlock replied.

The men filed out of the inn and marched their way around the mountain. The climb took the Morlock and his men four hours to make their  way toward the top. Morlock pulled the lieutenant and gunnery sergeant from the repel team that were in standby until the signal to attack. The men began their descent to start setting up a mortar nest. The mountain shook as the Landship started to bore out an entrance tunnel. Morlock and the other two stumbled down the shaking mountainside to a good vantage point. Moving into a prone position Morlock dunked behind some rocks. Looking through his spyglass he watched the dig site in progress.

The landship finally finished drilling the entrance tunnel. Soldiers rushed in with large support beams. As the tunnel was being reinforced a group of officers and an Antifordin archeologist waited at the foot of the entrance. They were looking over some documents and the archeologist was explaining something but Morlock couldn't make out what it was. 

"Best we make it down there and blend in with the excavation crew" said Morlock.

They quietly slid down the mountain and designed themselves with headlights and worker coveralls. The tunnel was soon secured and the men went into explored the dig site. The tunnel was dark even with all the torches set up. The tunnel was only a quarter mile long before they came upon the ancient airship embedded into the mountain. The ship was made up of a mixture of fossilized wood and a composite almost like metal. The Archeologist was dumbfounded and overjoyed with this lost technology and history. 

"Yeti? No, Vibranni? No no no. This is something alien to almost everything known. These artifacts must predate over tens of thousands of years." he said.

The officer of an unidentifiable rank walked over to the Archeologist "Doctor Sinclair, may I remind you of the purpose of this excavation." he said sharply.

Doctor Sinclair nodded, "Of course you're lordship. Let us find the command deck." 

The ship was in pretty much condition considering its age and the fact that it crashed into a mountain. While most of the crew followed the Archeologist to the command deck, Morlock and his men went elsewhere. 

"Sir, shouldn't we follow the others?" the Marine Lieutenant acked.

"They'll find nothing there, nor the Captain's quarters. Something as important as this will be in the heart of the ship." replied Morlock. 

"The what. sir?" 

"It's the part of the ship that would be the last to go in a battle." Morlock said before abruptly stopping before a round metal hatch. "This is it" Morlock said as he pried the hatch open.

The hatch hissed and creaked for not being opened up for air in ages. The room behind the hatch no bigger than a storage closet. Morlock picked up an interesting looking short sword and the Red lens putting both in his pocket. The men quickly retraced their way toward the entrance. The sound of cannon fire echoed into the tunnel. Morlock and the others stood by the entrance looking upon a battle that wasn't going well for the Mont-Diamont forces.

Escape from Prush Forces

High in the sky two new airships entered the fray. They both flew Prush colors. One was a light cruiser keeping the Mont-Diamont airship at bay and the other was a massive dreadnought the was desecrating the ground forces. The gunny stood there pecherfied. 

"The 9th southern Prush fleet" he said.

"Wait, are you sure gunny?" Morlock asked.

The gunny was a veteran of the Prodigious War with the Antifordin Naval infantry and was a survivor of the Gondola town massacre. 

"I'd recognize that vile greenish blue gas anywhere" the Gunnery Sergeant said pointing to pockets of the rolling fog death. Every soldier coming into contact with the gas looked like they were hit by a wave of acid.

"Why Aren't the other ships fighting?" the lieutenant asked. 

"Because the ship is disabled and poses no threat" Morlock answered.

"And the after paralysing the airship they'll make their final pass for clean up." The gunny added.

"Who's final pass" The lieutenant asked.

The gunny pointed high up, "9th fleet armor wingsuit squadron, The Crimson Ravens"

A formation of shadowed silhouettes came out from the sun and strafed the survivors with flamethrowers. 

"I thought the 9th fleet was no more and it's leaders brought up on war crimes" Morlock said. 

The Dreadnought lowered and soldiers in gas masks disembarked.

Morlock turned to his men.

"You gents still have your PBE on you?" 

A platoon was sent to the town in search of more survivors but unbeknownst to them there were three men that didn't belong. The town's folk didn't take kindly to their newest visitors, greeting them with small arms fire. The platoon sargent ordered to take out everyone. Morlock and his men kept engaged in the firefight although putting in minimum effort.

The lieutenant asked the Captain "sir, what's the plan?"

"How long can you set your time bombs for Lieutenant?" Morlock asked back.

"An hour at the most, sir" 

"You see the warehouse with all the barrels?"

"On it, sir," said the lieutenant as he made his way to set the charge. 

The lieutenant darted in between cover like a squirrel crossing a dog park. It took little time for him to get back.

"Sir, the charges are set. I suggest we get clear." he said.

Captain Morlock agreed and they quietly dipped out of the firefight and headed back near the dig site. The flames had settled down and the Archeologist along with the other men in the cave were outside taken prisoner. They all seemed to be standing by as if they were waiting for someone. One Prush soldier stood in front of the formation keeping gard of the prisoners. While most of the soldiers wore black coats with dark red trousers, this fellow wore a bright red coat with navy blue pants and a navy blue kepi that had a red top with silver wings embroidered on it.

"That be the Red Raven himself, Viscount Royce Von Higher" The Gunny whispered.

"We're all aware of the famed combat ace, Deegan but I want to know who the men walking out of the airship now. I'd say he's the commander" Morlock said 

The man walked along the field with soldiers coming to attention then present arm's. This was no mere Captain approaching. His uniform had as many badges of office as buttons. He wore a white half mask with gold leafing.

"That's Admiral Otto Von Farage. Prash Grand Duke and commander of the entire western Fleet. a familiar voice said.

Morlock was surprised by the newest party member Ms. Incantasia.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered sharply at her.

"Sorry, I noticed the battle and expected the worst so I came down here to help." she said.

"Yes It's real helpful that I've got more people to evacuate now." Morlock said sarcastically.

"fifteen minutes sir" The Lieutenant counted down.

"Okay gang, here's what we're going to do. First we're going to make are way towards those wing suits and when explosion goes off we suit up and fly to the top of the mountain" Morlock said.

"What happens if we get spotted?" Ms Incantasha asked.

"If that happens then I'll shoot two flares. One for the Marines to shell the field and the other for the ship to come in for a hot extract"

The Archeologist was didn't take long to spill all the information about the operation after the third officer passed out from torcher. The Admiral bedside manner was more menacing than the Grim Reaper. 

"So doctor, where is this treasure map?" the Admiral said.

"Ttt..hey're in Mont-Diamont my lord" Doctor Sinclair studdard.

One of the Admiral aids set down a letter with a broken seal.

"This Is a note that we've intercepted from a ship trespassing our skys saying that the map pieces have been stolen" The Admiral explained.

A massive explosion that turned the town into a firecracker. All the soldiers posted up in defensive positions towards smoldering town.

The sound of steam jets alerted the soldiers of Morlock and his crew's escape. After the first shot Morlock shot the two flares.

On top of the mountain one of Morlock's men spotted the signal and rattled coordinates off.

"FIRE!" said the leading Marine.

The mortar fire struck the enemy by surprise, causing them to scatter among the chaos. 

The mortar made it almost impossible for other wingsuit soldiers to give chase and only the Red Raven himself was able to go through the aerial barrage.The Viscount notice that they flew into a dark cloud but by the time he was able to get there the trail had extended to the point where he couldn't follow without running out of fuel.

Morlock and the away team  Were back on the Duchess and were out of breath. It was a sprint the end but at last they could regain composure and debrief in the ward room. Gunnery Sergeant Deegan lit a cigar with a lighter. Morlock asked for the lighter test out the theory from the permission from earlier. He held the red lens up to the flame and an image appeared.