Captain Woodrat (Mate, Veteran Shipwright) Level: 6 Much better thank you, Warming up

Smoke: 932/1125 Heat: 657/1525 Fuel: 621/1620

Woodrat had two reactions to the announcement. Part of him was stunned, and stupidly happy at finally being promoted to mate after decades of hard work. The rest of him knew he had something precious to lose and that fear got him back to thinking about survival. Going to level 6 had not only raised his the maximum for his Heat, Smoke, and Fuel by 100 each, but had also increased his current levels, moving him away from death's door. And the promotion to Captain of his own ship, small as the Splinter might be, had given him a precious point of radiance! With that glowing in his furnace he felt like he had a real chance of turning things around. RAD was what made an officer so powerful, and gave them mastery over the huge sails that drove the ships. That one point of RAD had restored 200 points of Heat to him, and increased his maximum as well. He was hotter than he had been in years. Feeling daring, he put 80 points of fuel and heat into his furnace, increasing his Smoke to the point that he was nearly full for the first time in years.

Without hesitation he put the two unassigned points into radiance as well. Of the three things that separated life from the cold of death, Heat was the hardest to raise. Low Heat was what kept crew trapped in the hell that was a small furnace. He had 15 Core Skill Points to spend, an amazing amount. In an emergency, he knew where he would dump them, but for now he held off, and got his crew working on salvage.

"We need the wood from this chunk of building you landed on. The wood doesn't have a lot of smoke infused into it, but it will do for increasing the size of the ship. The bigger the plank you can pull off, the better, but we need to do it fast. This part of the Smoke is full of scavengers. We won't have this area to ourselves for long. Once we get a load of planks on the Splinter, we can move off a ways, and I'll explain a few things to you while we work on catching our dinner. Then maybe a bit of chain work. You’re crew now, and crew need to know how to make a proper chain."

"You got a Core Skill Point. Save it, and I'll explain how you can best spend it."

Ozzy noticed his captain looked like a changed man. His face was less hollow and there was a spark in his eyes that had been missing before. Ozzy listened to his orders and then got to work. With time to look at it, Ozzy realized what he had landed on was a corner or a large barn or store house. It was made of long planks a foot wide and two to four inches thick. The wreckage was floating with a corner of the building at the top, and all sides sloping away. Standing was tough, and it got worse as he started hammering off the planks from the larger beams.

His hands were hard enough that tapping repeatedly on the backside of a plank would pop it loose from the structure. When Woodrat realized that the pieces were fashioned together with bits of metal, he started working beside Ozzy to save as many of the rusted, bent nails as he could, putting each one into a small pouch as if it were a gold coin. There was nothing inside the section of barn except an old glass and tin lantern hanging from a hook. This too was treated like a precious bit of treasure.

The other item that gave Captain Woodrat some excitement was the large beam that had run down the ridge of the roof. Most of the roof was missing, but the long ridge beam was mostly intact. Cut from a large log it was a foot square and nearly twenty feet long, ending in a jagged, splintered end. "That one there, the big one that held all this together? We need it. I can shape that into a keel for a proper small boat with a decent amount of sail."

Ozzy was looking at some way to take it all apart, not fall in, and not drop any nails. "Talk to me about that. How does the woodshaping work? That's what you'll be doing, right? Using smoke to turn the wood into a keel, not carve it up."

"Sure, lad. We can start with that. You'll be doing some of that on every ship, smoothing splinters and repairing decks and spars. Any crew needs to know some of that. Like everything else, it takes Smoke or Heat. I breath out some of my smoke and force it into the piece of wood that I'm shaping. The smoke makes it stronger, but also makes the wood bend to my will. It will take quite a bit of smoke to turn that big chunk, but it's the start of us getting to somewhere better"

Ozzy had been hesitant about trying to swim in smoke. His initial trial had been done while he held onto his piece of chain, in case he needed to pull himself back to the wreckage. Woodrat had just watched him work it out for himself. He found the sensation odd. He did float, but it was hard to gain leverage and push himself through the smoke. He spent an hour bobbing around like a cork while taking apart enough of the wreckage to free the long timber Woodrat wanted.

Meanwhile, Woodrat had expanded the size of the raft by using the planks Ozzy had salvaged. The existing raft became the framework on which the new deck was laid down, nearly doubling the size of the raft to roughly 12 feet wide and 16 feet long. A thick beam from the wreckage was now a 12-foot-long mast that was affixed toward the front of the ship, and slanted back at a 60-degree angle.

Ozzy could see that light was starting to fade. Woodrat motioned for him to climb aboard the raft. "A good day’s work Mr. Ozzy, a good day's work. We have the bulk of the planks aboard the splinter, and I've rigged a much larger area to make a sail. Let's not press our luck by leaving you dangling in the smoke like bait for something big to come take a bite out of you. The Cyclone chased off the predators, but there's too many bodies floating around for them to stay away for long."

Ozzy wished he'd taken part in some the big pirate events like Ben had been fond of. He'd watched them, but hadn't anticipated ever taking part in one of them, or sailing the high seas. It would have made this a bit easier. Ben had always been on bigger boats, to be sure. The closest thing Ozzy had to naval experience was a few fights in 'Island War'. He'd worked as a bartender on a huge wooden catamaran, serving drinks to Big Chief Warbucks.

"What now, Captain Woodrat sir?"

"No need for all the formality Mr. Ozzy, with just the two of us on board you should feel free to just call me Captain, or Sir. No need for both. But as to your question, it's time to start fishing and have a discussion about a few things."

Woodrat went through the steps of forming a fishing pole, showing Ozzy the two thin poles that he had shaped from a plank. The wood was dark and shiny, and had been infused with considerable smoke. Each had a 30-foot-long line attached to one end, made of the smallest chain Ozzy had ever seen. A sharp, barbed hook completed the project. Woodrat made both and handed one to Ozzy. "Now to add the bait. Small fish are always looking for some good smoke or a bit of heat. Focus on the palm of your hand and expend just 1 point of heat, then wrap it tight with a little smoke. Compact it all until it's a tight ball, then slip it over your hook. Then you and I can just toss our chain off of either end of the raft and see if something bites."

This seemed very much like normal fishing to Ozzy, and while he wasn't great at it, he at least had the skill from the Hunter's Lodge in the Beast Woods. Bait deployed; they sat in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't really like sun down in the normal world. There was no huge ball of fire lighting up the Sky. But the light was slowly fading. Ozzy was glad he had some night vision. It was eerie just floating on the dark smoke with nothing around him.

"Do they have Core Skills and Points to buy them with, down in the convergence, Mr. Ozzy?"

"Oh, aye Captain. I've earned them before and spent quite a few. I even have some I saved up that I can use to buy some of the new skills with. What should I be picking up?"

Woodrat began listing off the skills. "You have some points saved? Very good. It will be hard on you if we find one of the big ships to pick us up, one of the good ones, if you aren't at least at the bare minimum in the skills needed by a crewman."

"Make Chain is essential, and you should buy that first. You'll kill yourself making those ugly, big links to practice. Chain making is about creating and holding the image of the perfect link in your mind and then continuing the pattern over and over. You can control the size, the length, and the strength of the chain you make.

"Run the Chains is next. A member of a ship’s crew will be running up and down the chains at all hours, adjusting the tension, moving a spar, and positioning the big chains so the sails give full power. I've noticed you lack a lot of the agility needed to do that, hopefully with some luck and the basic skill we can get you by."

"After that, all the others are important, but Heat the Sails will be needed on a big ship, and here on the Splinter. Everyone on a ship has to contribute a little Heat each day to keep the sails full. Can you purchase those 3 skills?"

Ozzy took a look at his notifications.

You have slain Bone Gnawer, a Level 12 Epic Boss.

Each member of your party earns 10 CSP and 1000 experience.

Few are the creatures who can say they rode the wind. You were sucked into the wake of a Cyclone, but survived.

For now, take +5 CSP as a reward. Who knows where this path might lead?

You have earned the option to buy the skill: Strike Undead for 5 CSP. This is a skill that increases your damage against undead with physical melee attacks, physical ranged attacks, and magical attacks that use force, radiance, or fire.

Choose either RAD or STR as the governing stat for this skill.

Additional Damage: 10 points per rank of Strike Undead + 5 points per point of RAD or STR.

Cost: Stamina or Mana equal to half the amount of additional damage done.....This skill is fueled by your Heat or Smoke. If you choose RAD as the associated stat, the cost is 1 point of Heat per attack. If you use STR as the associated stat, the cost is 5 points of Smoke per hit. You may choose to not use this skill.

"I've got enough to afford all of them, and may have some questions about increasing my smoke or my furnace. I earned 10 CSP from killing the Ghoul Lord, right before I burned up into smoke. And riding a Cyclone gave me 5 more. I had 28 from before that, so all total I have 44 saved up."

The captain answered from the front of the raft. "I'll suggest buying all those skills then, you'll need them. After that, it's up to each man how he shapes his own soul, but consider options for increasing your smoke. Once you achieve the status of mate or higher, Radiance will be the best option for you. But you aren't getting to mate unless those basic skills improve.

Ozzy spent 13 of his points on all the basic skills. He debated on saving points or spending them. COR and RAD were both good stats here, increasing Smoke and Heat, but he should make sure to keep them balanced. Strike Undead was a no brainer, especially since this area had undead floating around. He went ahead and spent 23 points on the new skill, and 3 points each of Corruption and Radiance. He saw both of his Smoke and Heat increase. He pondered what to do with the 1000 experience, and then finally raised Hack Undead to rank 5 and Strike Undead to rank 3. He was going to have to ask a favor of the Captain for a pair of cleavers. He'd seen Woodrat fashion wooden knives, hopefully cleavers were just as easy.

Then he looked at his Smoke. He would have to start thinking about Smoke as his health and his mana combined. Some skills drained smoke, and damage from a fight took it down. He took some time to use Smoke Eating and burn fuel to make smoke and heat. Woodrat said his furnace would reset and he could eat more smoke tomorrow. No sense in wasting resources. Especially since their other source of food seemed to be whatever fish they caught.

Captain Woodrat, meanwhile, was happy that he was on the other end of the boat. His mouth had hung open like some fish caught on a hook when Ozzy told him how many CSP he had. This new arrival from the conjunction was a true monster. What sort of world did they live in that you could afford to just hold onto so many points and not spend them? He himself had spent 14 of his 15 after some thought. Survival was his main concern, and to survive he needed to be stronger. In quick succession he bought the first level of More Smoke, Larger Furnace, and More Heat from the Mate's and Officer's list, along with Spark of Radiance and Captain's Brilliance.

Every point of RAD restored 100 Heat and raised his maximum. He was wishful for more points and a larger ship. He had a better understanding now of how things worked. With a strong mate and a good captain, even a smallish ship could move across the sea at a good speed. He was still in awe at how much Heat a captain of one of the bigger ships must have. He was most likely the weakest 'Captain' to sail the smoke. But that would change. At least he was catching up to his monster of a crewman. He wondered just how much Heat the new guy had? They'd have to have a long talk on how to move around smoke and heat while working, and how to know when to quit. You had to set limits each day, or you might work yourself to death. He was itching to get to work shaping that keel, but held off. Tonight they'd fish and eat. Tomorrow they'd get to work on a better ship. Things were looking up. That, in and of itself, made Captain Woodrat worry.

Captain Woodrat (Mate, Veteran Shipwright) Level: 6 Much better thank you, Warming up

Smoke: 1452/1525 Heat: 1257/2325 Fuel: 621/1623 Furnace: 00/27 Smoke Eating: 0/16

Mr. Ozzy, (Crewman, promotion to Mate pending.), Level 10 Slightly Injured, Blazing

Smoke: 5590/5770 Heat: 9540/12850 Fuel: 870/5170 Furnace: 0/148 Smoke Eating: 0/126