Ozzy was on the deck near the open hold making chain while Woodrat snored in his cabin. The two of the worked continuously trying to get the ship ready to sail. Or at least float away from the Sargasso. They had worked to weave the stays and main chain that would hold the mast steady and carry heat from the hull. When that had been done and their one sail made, Woodrat had been able to claim the ship.

With a ship under their feet again, and a much larger ship at that, Ozzy could pick a specialty as a Mate, and both of them gained some points for the accomplishment. Ozzy had 40 CSP saved up, and it was time to do a bit of thinking. Some skills he could buy might be only usable in the smoke, or on a ship, and he didn't intend to stay here any longer than he had too.

Captain Woodrat has laid claim to the newly repaired ship: Splinter.

Splinter is a Level 3 ship and requires a minimum of 2 crew, 1 of which must be a captain. For maximum speed and sailing efficiency, a crew of 6 is required, two of which must be a captain and mate.

Captain Woodrat has gained 10 Core Skill points for claiming the Splinter.

The Crew of the Splinter split 10 Core Skill points among themselves, minimum 1 point each.

Congratulations on your promotion to Mate on a Level 3 or higher ship.

With a larger ship comes more crew, and you won't be doing all the work by yourself. You may pick a specialty.

Quartermaster: A knack for stowing things properly lets you get the most stuff into limited space with the least damage to crew, ship, and cargo. Food stays fresh longer when a proper quartermaster sees to the cargo.

Perk: Quartermaster 50% less loss of goods to damage and spoiling. Foodstuffs last twice as long before going bad.

Chainwork: You know the tricks for making the most of chains and nets. Your chains take less smoke to make but are still tighter and stronger than even the old hands can make, and you can weave them faster while drinking or telling a story to the young ones about the time you rode a whale.

Perk: Tight Chains

Boarding Actions: When its time to repel boarders, or to dive headfirst into a fight on an enemy ship, you'll be the one leading your bloody cut throats to victory. Increased damage and mitigation in all fights on ships, or with a crew from a ship.

Perk: Bloody Handed Gain +20% damage, and gain +20 mitigation in fights on ships or when leading crew.

Boatswain: You handle the small boatwork, getting things and people to and from your ship. You set the pace for the rowers on a galley in the role of Coxswain.

Perk: Your skill in Boatwork gains a bonus of +3 ranks.

Bullyboy: Keeping order on a ship can be difficult. Sometimes the captain needs someone to 'unofficially' deal out a bit of hurt to make someone change their attitude, or to threaten a group to get the most work out of them. You lead any press gangs sent out to 'recruit' new crew.

Skill: Bully Any intimidation skill gains a bonus of +3 ranks while on your ship or with your crew. You gain a reputation for violence. 'Non-Lethal' damage is increased by 50% when dealing with your crew.

Gunner: If your ship has artillery you drill the crew in their use and make sure they can hit the broadside of a barn. Any crew you are part of gains increased accuracy and damage.

Perk: Ship's Gunner Increased accuracy damage of all artillery by 10% and double that if you are on the crew of a weapon

His other thing to consider was eventually getting to Tier 3. Going to Tier 2 had gained all them all some nice benefits for the skills they had maximized. He had to balance getting some upgrades or new benefits for high skills and spending the points on stats instead of buying hull or other skills. Hull might only be of use in the smoke, he wouldn't know until he got home.

To match what he had done at Tier 2, he needed to get COR and CHR to 20, plus STR and CON to 30. It was tricky, because he didn't know what sort of classes he might be offered, and what bonuses. Pitmaster had given him +2 CHR and three other points to put where he wanted. If that was true again, then he could probably get that far.

STR and CON were both at 25 and 26 and couldn't go higher from experience, but he could add +3 to each by spending some points. That would put him to 28 and 29. If he stayed with the Pitmaster class and got the same benefits, he could get both to 30. Of course, he might get nothing, and just fall short.

Between Aspect of Smoke, Smoke Stealing, and Smoke Weaving his COR was at 21. If he could, he should balance his RAD against his COR. He wasn't sure why he felt strongly about that, but it was a good goal. CHR 17 with room to spend points. Did his +1 CHR from his earring count? Probably not, so that was another point of CHR he needed. And he needed to spend some points to upgrade the soft cap on his stats. Some of them were lagging behind because he hadn't done that.

If he wanted to raise all those stats with CSP, he needed six points at a cost of 18, and then he needed to spend 22 points to raise the caps on his stats. And more after that for DEX and INT. If you were content to just earn five points per tier, then using your skills and killing monsters would do it. If you wanted to push past that, you needed a lot of CSP, and more every tier.

He had two other options to think over: The dried whale heart and the shark core. Woodrat said a core would give some better understanding of a creature and some type of bonus associated with the creature. A whales heart was known to give strength skills, or maybe just an increase to STR. Points he could gain that way would save CSP that he could put to Hull or other skills. He'd start with those, and see where they led.

And he needed to get some advice on what to chose as his Mate's specialty. Woodrat should know something about that, even if he skipped straight from crew to captain. Hopefully he stopped snoring soon so Ozzy could ask a few questions, and then have a snack of salad and whale heart.

Stats:

Name:

Ozzy

Class:

Pitmaster

Level:

10

15000/15000

Heritage:

Human: 80%

Monstrous, Fire, Shadowed, Bright, Sculpted, Smoke

Base (200+200 per L)

Special Benefits

From Stats

From CSP

Total

Health

2200

50,200,150

1125

50

3775

Stamina (x3)

2200

50

1125

10125

Mana

2200

50

990

2970

Characteristics

Stat:

T1 Base

Rank

Cap

EP

Bonus

Total

STR

15

10

10

9000+

25

DEX

2

9

8

8650

11(10)

AGI

0

1

5

150

1

CON

15

10

8

9000+

+1

26(24)

INT

3

10

6

9000+

13(9)

WIS

0

5

5

2250

5

CHR

10

7

6

4600

17(16) +1)

PER

0

5

5

2200

5

COR

10

10

5

9000

+1

21(16)

RAD

5

7

5

4300

+2 +1

17(15) +2

Skills:

Skills Name Stat Level EP P/S/T Pit Alchemy CHA 10 4500 Primary Butchering STR 10 4500 Primary Slaughter STR 10 4500 Primary Choice Cuts WIS 5 1200 Primary Precision Cuts DEX 5 1100 Primary Anatomy of a Monster INT 5 1400 Primary Hack Undead STR 9 300 Tertiary Strike Undead RAD 8 3000 Primary Active Fire Resistance INT 10 4500 Primary Aspect of Fire (spells undefined) INT 10 4500 Primary Aspect of Heat (spells undefined) RAD 0 0 Primary Aspect of Radiance (1 spell chosen) RAD 50 1 Primary Aspect of Smoke (?) COR 10 4500 Weak Poison Resistance CON 10 4500 Tertiary Weak Acid Resistance CON 2 400 Tertiary Caber STR 5 1600 Primary Resist Torture CON 3 400 Primary Billhook STR 8 2900 Primary Meat Hook DEX 3 600 Primary Demon Slaying RAD 5 1000 Primary Fire Eating CON 7 4500 Primary Boar Hunting STR 3 400 Primary Bulldogging STR 5 1000 Primary Bull Leaping AGI 2 150 Primary Grilling DEX 1 100 Tertiary Adze STR 5 1000 Primary Bear Hug STR 1 100 Primary Skinning DEX 10 5500 Primary Scrimshaw DEX 3 350 Primary Shark Hunting STR 3 500 Primary Woomera DEX 5 1000 Primary Fishing WIS 5 1000 Primary Hide Crafting DEX 5 1000 Primary Look Out PER 6 2200 Primary Run the Chains AGI 0 0 Primary Row CON 1 100 Primary Smoke Weaving COR 5 1000 Primary Chain Binding STR 2 300 Primary Swim the Smoke CON 2 300 Primary Smooth the Deck INT 2 300 Primary Heat the Sail INT 1 50 Primary Sail Making INT 1 50 Primary Boatwork CHR 5 1100 Primary Smoke Stealing COR 10 4500 Primary Dig ************ 2 Haul ************ 5 You may pick up and move objects weighing six times your normal limit. Perk: Butcher Shop Basics Basic knowledge of running a mundane butcher shop, packaging and selling meat in a totally normal way. Enhanced Reputation Increases the trust between a butcher and his community. Those bad things you heard? Fake news. Perk: Hunter's Slyness Your scent is masked from both other hunters, and your prey. Perk: Herd Sense You know when a member of your herd is in danger, and roughly where they are. Distance lessons the feelings. The closer you are to the herd member, the better the information. Cantrip: Curse Dark 0 Spell: Cleanse Light 1

Core Skills:

Core Skills Description Upgrade One Fist of Iron 3 Unarmed Combat with fists, based on STR.

Chance to Hit: 30%+5xSTR+10xLevel to hit.

Damage: 40 + 5xSTR Level 4

Cost 10 points The other of Steel Chance to Stun T1 and T2 creatures with a normal hit. Decreased chance on bosses. None If One doesn't get you, the other one will: Once every 3 rounds you may hit your opponent with a flurry of blows equal to your level. Cost: 50xLevel None Mitigation 3 You ignore 60 points of physical damage. None Dark Vision 2 You have normal vision in normal darkness (some light) out to 60'. Dark Vision 3

Cost: 4 Taunting Voice 3 Tier 1, and many Tier 2 creatures will focus all of their attacks upon you, even when this is a poor strategy. You must verbally taunt them. None Don't Mess around with Jim 3 You have an intimidating aura (active). Tier 1 monsters will not attack you unless in a group. You can easily intimidate those weaker than you. Effects vary on the individual, and your actions Level 4

Cost: 3 points Eyes of Magic You can see magical auras on T1 creatures and objects within 10'. Level 2

Cost: 4 Playing with Fire (Fire Aspected) You have a high Fire Aspect. Cost to use a spell will be 5% less per level. None Smoke of a Distant Fire (Smoke Aspected) You have studied fire and dark magics. You may learn secrets of the smoke. Cost to use a spell will be 5% less per level. None Light the World (Light Aspected) You are blessed with radiance. You may learn or be blessed with divine spels. Cost to use a spell will be 5% less per level. None In the Heat of Battle (Aspect of Heat) ??? None Endless Breath 4 You do not need to breath for an hour of normal activity. Minor Hostile atmospheres don't bother you. (Very hot, sulfurous, slight poison etc. None Gain Skill: Resist Torture (Primary CON) You take 10% less damage per rank from torture and recover from what might otherwise be crippling injuries much quicker. None Gain skill: Acid Resistance, passive. (Tertiary, CON) You take 5pts per rank less damage from acid and may recover from what might otherwise be horrible scarring. None

Extra Health 1

Gain +50 Health Level 2

Cost: 5 Prodigy: Grilling Gain the Grilling skill None Haul 5 You may lift, haul, or drag 6 times what you may normally lift. None Jumping Jack 1 You may jump twice as far as normal Level 2

Cost: 3 Abundance 5 Your gathering skills return +100% more resources than normal. None Skilled Provider 3 Your gathering skills have an much higher chance of finding better quality items None