xD A story's merit is judged by its contents, not the container.

The Stormwake's Bounty The stern exploded, splintering the heavy timbers of the Drake, and throwing me forward onto the rough deck below. Just my luck. I was sixteen, and I was going to die. For the past four days, the Stormwake, a notoriously cruel pirate ship, had unrelentingly pursued us like a giant shark, bent on its next meal. My name is Jake. I am the cabin boy for the Drake. I had spent my last three years aboard this ship, doing grueling work, like scrubbing the bilges. The Drake is a cargo ship, and I had seen some strange things come aboard here, like baboons(very loud), parrots(extremely smelly), and even elephants(please don't ask). But our latest acquisition topped the list. Just one hour before we were set to sail, a richly dressed woman and six armored gaurds appeared and bartered passage. Their cargo: seven packs and a locked casket. They paid their due, so no questions were asked. Now...inquisitions were flying around. The Drake had never had problems with pirates, but now the most ghastly of them all was on our heels, and had succeeded in immobilizing us. As the pirate ship drew parallel with the Drake, the Stormwake's bear figurehead gave a menacing glare at me. I stared horrified, until a hand clenched my arm and a frantic voice whispered: "Do you know where they keep the dories?" ​Startled, I placed up, to find myself face to face with our mysterious passenger. My mouth was dry, but I managed to croak, "Yes" "Good, now show me where they are!" "But the captain hasn't given the orders to lower them." "Forget the captain. Worse will happen if I don't escape." I wanted to argue, but her firm grip, hard voice, and the determined look in her eyes made me think twice. "Escape?" I asked, "Escape to where, miss?" As she hauled me to my feet, her nail bit into my flesh. "There," she said, pointing to a distant isle, "and don't call me miss, my name is Alina." "But isn't that the island were Marsilok lives? Won't he kill us for trespassing?" "It will be better than being on this ship tonight," came the calm answer, "Now where are the dories?" After showing Alina and her escort where the dories where kept, I turned and was alarmed to see that the pirates had boarded the ship and were tussling with the crew. Beyond the bloody scuffle, the sky was darkening, and thunder rumble in the distance. Flonk! A magnificent splash informed me that the dory was in the water. Turning back, I saw one of Alina's gaurds hand her the iron-bound casket. Two hands grasped me and tossed me into the dory. Startled, I steadied the small dory. "Why am I coming?", I wondered. A humorless smile flashed on Alina's face. "Because I can't row the oars." Resigned to my fate, I grasped the oars and heaved. "Why aren't your gaurds coming?" "They will stay behind and cover my escape." "Bloody nasty job," I muttered as I rowed on. Alina was sitting in the stern of the dory and so, she couldn't see the skirmish on the boat. Her guards were bleeding for her, and she was sitting smugly in a boat, sailing away from the violence. Then one pirate approached the rail, lowered his pistol, and shot Alina in the shoulder. I reached over to prevent her from falling when she gasped weakly, "Keep rowing. Must get away." I had been trained to heed orders, and I stuck to that principle now. Dark clouds covered the sun as we left the ships blazing in our wake. Then the rain commenced. Here I was in the middle of the savage ocean, in an undersized tub, with a wounded lady and a locked casket. Rothro3

Lets just hope they can award us the contest crystals before the micro-upgrade sale. :P

Look again. In my sentence "psychic" is used in the noun form, which is defined as: "A person who is allegedly sensitive to psychic influences or forces;medium."

Funny this should come up. I never doubted the existence of female tankers, after all, my own sister was one of them, and was pretty good in her own right. Personally, I think female tankers are like physics. Real, but rare.

The Real Story of the Trojan War You all know the story: the Trojans steal Helen, the Greeks go after her....Blah Blah Blah. But did you know the unknown side of the story? So the Greeks were assaulting the city of Troy (and having little success at it), when one night the god Poseidon appeared in the midst of the camp and gave the Greeks a revolutionary weapon: a cannon that fired projectiles faster than the speed of sound. The Greeks were astonished by its power. Because the cannon was too heavy to carry, the Greek constructed a massive wooden horse on wheels on which to mount their weapon. After sacking Troy and burning it to the ground, the Greeks invented a fictional story to tell their countrymen, which is the standard tale we know nowadays. Upon returning to Greece, the Greeks placed it in the temple of Zeus. Poseidon was enraged and sent his armies to destroy the temple. The army arrived too late, and when they arrived, they discovered that someone had attempted to steal the cannon, and it had malfunctioned, leaving the temple in ruins. The thief escaped and went to Italy, where he founded Rome. Over time, Rome grew, and the Romans used the cannon to conquer their neighbors. One Roman engineer managed to copy the design of the weapon, and built several duplicates. These were mounted on the walls of Rome, and attached to the rails. The original was retired to Neptune's (Roman form of Poseidon) temple in Rome, and remained there until the Carthaginians stole the original and its duplicates. The Romans responded by marching on Carthage and destroying the city. In the commotion, all the copies were lost and someone smuggled the original cannon out of the city. Centuries past, and no word, not even a whisper was heard of the famed Roman weapon, until all the remaining tales of the super-weapon were discarded as myth. But Poseidon's gift was not finished. During WW2, the cannon was tested as potential turret for the Russian t-34 tank, mass produced, and sent into combat. The turret was dubbed "Railgun" in honor of its history as a Roman defense. Railgun-mounted tanks were a huge success, and demolished any opposition. In retaliation to Railgun's triumph on the battlefield the Germans sabotaged all active Railguns, except the original, which was rescued by a soldier nicknamed "Hornet" for his swift battle tactics. Hornet took the original to Solikamsk and enshrined it in an underground catacomb. When Tanki Online was created, one of the developers insisted upon including the weapon as a memoir to its service in WW2. Purposely made overpowered, the gun rose in popularity until it was practically worshiped. And that, my now-iformed tankists, is why Railgun is the ultimate destruction machine, divinely predestined so long ago. Rothro3 Words: 470

Well done developers. Looks like a great holiday coming up. Did anyone else see what they did with the split sales? Take the most popular equipment at 30%, and the less popular at increasing discounts.

LHamster, is the Newspaper still accepting editorials?

Looks like a couple more hours of binge-reading has arrived!

Well done, and well spoken. A good reminder to all of us who rage quit from druggers or missed gold boxes(I plead guilty) to relax and actually enjoy the game.

The most satisfying comment I have ever received was "That **** Smoky is SO ANNOYING!" to which I replied, "Thank you! That means I am doing well." :P

Great contest Lhamster, and congratulations to the rest of the winners!

Yes, and I personally do not approve of haters that complain about the slightest change the developers make. It affects me too, but I know better than to complain about something I can't change.

The subtitle says it all: Everything you already knew about supplies. :D