Chapter 4; Two Steps Forward, One Step Back, Two More Steps Forward
The sight of the victorious Athenian fleet returning to the harbour caused a sudden unexpected surge in national pride. Their fleet had been doubled through military ingenuity, so thrilled was the populace with this that they forgot about their woes, recovered slightly from a mass epidemic of slight insanity and became "more stable"; the nations leading psycologists stated that they were positive two...
Having a positive outlook is good for mental and public stability
The only people whom were unimpressed by this were the fisherman, whose fishing boats numbered in the hundreds and could easily lead a fish fueled crusade against the Ottomans. Unfortunatly fish pickings were superior in the North and thus their guild could not be convinced to act on Athens bealf.
The two vessels rested and recovered, meanwhile however Bernard and Pompalopadopalonabus schemed on how to best utilise their glorious fleet. Cyprus was crumbling under a dedicated Templar attack, and it seemed only natural that they come to their allies aid. As such, the two ships set forth, with the Athenian military numbering one thousand Roman styled troops to appeal to Pompalopadopalonabus's aesthetic ideals.
After battling with two seperate Moldalvian fleets and coming out triumphant, despite not inflicting any losses upon their foe, they landed on the beaches of Cyprus.
And were utterly destroyed
"Alas!" Pompalopadopalonabus cried in typical Athenian drama, "How did this happen?"
"Well Pompouslompaloppapom... pous... well sir, there were no survivors."
"But the report says that only twenty eight of our troops passed on!"
"That it does sir."
"So why don't you have a clue as to how it happened?!"
"Well sir, after loosing contact with them we searched the nearby waters and sent on a few chaps to the beaches to find any clues..."
"And? What did you find?"
"A pair of shoes."
Only the finest cow skin for our brave boys.
"Some corresponding footprints leading to the ocean from the battle field."
"One of our troops helmets."
Rather unfashionble in these times.
"A boomerang..."
A curved stick? We were beaten by enemies with curved sticks?
"A boomerang?"
"Yes sir."
"Whats a boomerang?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know it's called a boomerang?"
"I didn't call it anything..."
"Yes you did."
"No... that was you sir... in your infinite wisdom..."
"Ahh ut of course, continue."
"We also found an apple."
Excellent nutritional value
"Interesting..."
"It is quite a puzzle sir."
"Any ideas on what happened then?"
"Well sir, we can only presume that our lads were marching to the battlefield... humming and singing we imagine whilst talking of how much tey were enjoying seeing their wives when they got home. Unfortunatly a small local boy was playing with this wooden device nearby, striking our lead troops head he dropped his apple; pausing to retreive it the lads behind him marched straight into him..."
"And how does that account for the deaths?"
"We beleive there must have been a cavernous ravine next to them down which twenty eight of them fell before the formation stopped..."
"Ok...."
"Following that, a Templar scout snuck up behind our army, tapping them on the shoulder and yelling "boo" rather loudly he led them on an epic chase through a number of fields before jumping of a slight drop, naturally a brave boys followed... unfortuantly realisnig too late that it was a cliff..."
"So... a suicide spy?"
"Something of the sort yes sir..."
"Interesting..."
Undeterred by their failure, they used the funds raised through their war taxes to raise a new regiment. Intent on Plotting new scheme.
In other news, Milan had offered a trade agreement with Athens, apparently they find our pottery quite appealing... unfortunatly we could not afford access to any of the markets; regardless of this we accepted to further relations between us.
Ultimatly however, the desire to continue with the war was further fortified by a shocking demand from their Bosnian foes.
This of course ran counter to the desires of Bernard, and so the war would continue... once they had an army.
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For me chaps this is in the past, so consequently I cannot remember what my income is... if I recall vaguely however the only thing that's keeping my nation going are the war taxes.
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