The Butcher of Gadobhra

Ozzie awoke and rolled over on the hard deck. It took a few seconds to remember why he was sleeping out here and not in his comfortable hammock. When he stood up and saw how much of the deck he had destroyed after he bumped his head, he remembered that Woodrat had insisted that he sleep out here. Work had already begun on the repairs, but it was two days work lost. Woodrat hadn't seemed overly upset. "Nothing a skilled wood wright can't fix. I was the one told you to eat a whale's heart, so it's mostly my fault. But then he'd grinned evily, and shown Ozzy the surprise he had ready for him. "It seems that I've got extra work to do, and that gives you some time to do some training."

Ozzy looked up at the mast where a chain ladder went from the deck all the way up to the crow's nest at the top. Grumbling some, he started climbing to the top. He hated the chain ladder immediately. It didn't stay still and was hard to climb with his bare feet on the rungs made of chain. Woodrat had put up the ladder yesterday and said Ozzy needed to make the climb six times a day to build up coordination and how to walk the chains. Having seen how easily Woodrat ran up and down the ladder, Ozzy had to admit that his low agility was a problem when it came to balance, climbing, and vaulting over bulls.

A person could get by on a zero agility. It didn't mean you couldn't walk or run. The same way a person with zero intelligence wasn't dumb. They just had a hard time with skills that needed intelligence, like mathematics or casting magic. The problem many contract workers had was not having a skill that would let them increase a stat.

When he had hit level 6, Ozzy had been zero in agility, perception, and wisdom. His dexterity hadn't been much better with a 2. Suzette and Ben had been low on strength and con. Rolly had been low on charisma, perception, and intelligence. Not having skills meant having no way to get experience. That had changed as they learned how to get around the restrictions being a contract worker put on them.

They had been making good progress. Adze had given all workers an option to increase their strength. Weak Poison Resistance helped with constitution, hard as that was to level. One by one they were finding some work arounds to at least be able to get all their stats up above zero. Some of the skills were limited, like Bull Leaping. Ozzy was hoping that he could pick up a couple of points of agility with Running the Chains so he could skip trying to somersault over sedge beasts.

Look Out was helping with his perception. Days spent on a raft with nothing to do but keep watch had raised that skill up to level 3. Another reason for climbing that ladder several times a day was to spend a few minutes using that skill and making sure nothing was moving around them. He could see a lot more from up here than on the deck.

The smoke was looking choppy, with small waves running across the normally still surface. The waves were getting worse each day. Woodrat had said it was getting hotter, even if the volcano seemed to not be erupting. The smoke was reacting to the increase in heat, and creatures that lived under the surface would flee away, or find someplace to take refuge. Like on the floating graveyard of ships.

He saw some sort of creatures in the distance, maybe a mile away, running along in a pack like wolves. There were over twenty of them, running on four legs with black coloring. They were pursued by a large and very fast crab. The crab was bright red. It was faster than what it was chasing, but each time it caught one it paused to eat, giving the rest a chance to get awy. He hoped that they all kept moving away from him.

Nearer to the ship, he thought he saw some movement. He kept an eye on the area and eventually picked up the movements of several human looking figures moving around a derelict, staying to the shadows, but moving in his direction. They weren't charred; The undead would move as fast as they could towards what they were hunting. No, these were regular sailors, which could mean even more trouble than the charred sailors. You knew what the undead would do, they were predictable. Humans weren't. He started back down the ladder, but got a leg tangled when he missed a rung. He didn't have the hang of this yet to go down fast. He compromised by sort of hanging on the ladder and letting his arms do all the work as he dropped down fast and landed in a heap on the deck.

Mariah came out from her cabin, appraising him. "You should probably work on your landing more. You look like a sack of oatmeal that got tossed into the hold." If he hadn't known she wasn't totally human, he'd have never guessed by her looks. She had been paler that first day. Her hair was darker now, and while her skin was still light, it was within the human spectrum.

Ozzy pointed in the direction he'd seen people coming. "Visitors on the way, tried to hurry." She grabbed his hand and heaved him up. Woodrat was just coming up on deck and looked out over the sargasso weed. "I make it to be five of them. Rough looking. They've missed a few meals and taken some hard knocks. I can emphasize with them. Being shipwrecked is never easy, especially the first time.

Let's go talk to them. We might be able to recruit them as crew, and if not, I don't want them near my ship." He hopped over the rail and down to the brown and crunchy top of the salad. Mariah did as well, landing lightly. Ozzy had noticed that she left no footprints in the salad. Woodrat did, and his own path was impossible for anyone to miss. Ozzy jumped and repeated his landing on the deck. He got up, brushed dried vegetation off of him, and followed his captain.

The newcomers must have seen them coming and ceased their skulking. The five men wandered their way, passing around a bottle. Their leader was a large, bearded man wearing a captain’s great coat over the garb of a common sailor. He had a nasty scar on one cheek that ran down the side of his neck. Three others looked like common seamen, although a bit bedraggled. The last was a boy of about 14 or so. He had an arm in a makeshift sling and none of the swagger of the others. They all had the flushed faces of men who were packing too much heat.

Woodrat stopped and when they got fifty feet away said. "That's close enough for a parley, I'd think." The other group looked to the man in the captain’s coat who shrugged and said, "That sounds fine, we can talk some. Nice to see some more folk out here. I'm Captain Tommy Dunstan and this is my crew. We're wandering this lovely burnt prison looking to upgrade our rowboat for something a bit better."

"I'm Captain Woodrat, of the Splinter. This is my first mate, Mr. Ozzy, and my navigator, Mariah. Might be I'm looking for some crew. What ship did you command Captain Tommy? And how did you come to lose her?"

Tommy smiled, showing quite a few missing teeth. "My ship? It was the Barracuda. As nice a little schooner as you could wish for. That wave of fire and rock did her in. Blew off the sails, put a few holes in her and killed off most of the crew. We kept her afloat as long as we could, but eventually I told these brave lads that we'd have to take a chance with one of the ship's boats. It was a perilous journey to get here, but my leadership got us through the worst."

Woodrat smiled. "Similar to our journey. I'd have to say that I hated the rowing the most."

There were nods all around from the four sailors. One held up his hands and showed red and bleeding palms. "Aye, I had hands as hard as shark skin but I wore down even my oldest calluses."

Captain Tommy looked the three of them over. So did the youth in the back, his eyes getting large. Tommy put his thumbs in his coat. "So, what do you say? We form a crew together and take to the smoke. Eight of us are plenty to man that pretty little ship I see over there."

Woodrat considered for a moment, and looked them over again, slightly shaking his head. "Eight is plenty for her. I'm sure I can manage with less if I had to. But I see a problem with shipping out together. I think you and I have something in common, Tommy. I took this coat off of a dead Captain who I slew, and I think you did too. The difference is, mine was an undead monster and your captain was alive at the time. You're no captain, just a mutinous murderer."

The mirth left Tommy's smile. "Now why the hell would you say that? It's fairly insulting, especially when you admit you’re not captain yourself."

Woodrat sighed. The man wasn't a good liar and wasn't even denying it. "Several reasons, the first of which is why would a captain have his men row and not raise a small sail? No reason to wear the men out and take twice as long. Unless you can't do it?"

"And your coat has that slashed and stained part on the side where you stabbed him. There's no wound on you, you couldn't walk if you were hurt that bad. I'm betting you panicked and tried to steal away, but got caught, and after the fighting was over, you fancied yourself a captain. Just stealing a coat doesn't make it so."

Tommy pulled a sword, the other three had truncheons. "We have you outnumbered, five to three. I think you should consider joining me. We'll go by the Wayfarer's Law, and vote on who we choose for captain."

The boy in the rear took a step back. "I don't think that's a good idea Tommy."

One of the other men turned and struck him, knocking him down. "Useless coward."

Tommy spat. "Four to three then, although I'll give your girl a chance to sit this one out too. Wouldn't want to hurt her at all, would we?"

Woodrat chuckled. "Go ahead, Mariah, they earned it."

Mariah didn't have to be asked twice. She spread out her arms and winds knocked over all of them except for Tommy. "You're right, I did kill a captain, and now I'll kill another." He charged at Woodrat who casually drew his own sword.

"When you get to the bottom of the smoke, and you stand in that long line waiting for one of the Black Barges to take you back up, you can brag that you got to cross blades with one of the Seven Captains." He blocked the larger man's blade and forced it down, then cut across his face, trimming off most of his beard. Tommy staggered back, taking small cuts and growing weaker and weaker. Woodrat wasn't a fabulous swordsman, but Tommy was far worse. Finally, he collapsed in a heap, low on smoke and nearly dead.

Woodrat put his sword under Tommy's chin. There was a low moan from the weapon. "You get to live. Take off that coat and crawl away. Take your three crew and head somewhere else, far from here, or get back in your boat and row off, but show yourselves here again and I kill you. The boy stays here with me. He had the sense to not fight. Even tried to warn you. You should have listened."

Ozzy had dealt with the other three assailants. As they had tried to stand up, Ozzy walked over to them. The first he simply back handed and knocked down again, the other two he grabbed in a bearhug and squeezed until they passed out, unable to breathe. He could see that none of them were over level 3. The boy was level 4, surprisingly. Tommy and his three crewmen staggered up, and started moving away. Tommy looked at the boy. "Get your ass in gear." The boy shook his head, and Mariah stepped between him and Tommy.

Ozzy grinned. "You should get running." He held out his hand and threw a ball of smoke at them. It formed into a creature of pitiless eyes and huge teethe, trailing smoke and fire. It nipped one sailor in the ass and when they ran, it chased after and repeated the action to keep them moving.

Woodrat laughed out loud. "Learned something from the Shark, did we? Good. It's a useful skill to have." He walked over to the boy. "Were you a navigator or look out?"

"Look out, sir. And Tommy was no captain, you had that right. Just a bullyboy. Old Captain Smithy was already hurt or he could never have killed him. The crew split up, taking boats and fleeing the ship. Tommy took the captain's coat. I didn't have much choice when Tommy forced me to go with him."

Woodrat smiled ruefully, "Sometimes, if you want to live, there isn't much of a choice. Now, tell me, what do you see with those eyes, lad? You're from one of the old families, aren't you."

"Aye, Derick Orland of Clan Orland. We have the sight. And I see you all. A Captain with a Burning Sword and a spark inside, a giant with bloody hands and fire all around him, and a Lady of the Wind. Tommy should have listened to me."

Woodrat ruffled his hair. "Aye, a fine crew, isn't it? And now we have a skilled lookout. Do you want to sail with me, Derick Orland? I don't know when we'll get back to an island, but if your clan wants you back, I'll let you go. I won't press gang a man, and won't leave a lad like you to his doom."

"Aye, I'll ship out with you sir." There was little hesitation. Woodrat patted him on the back. "Good lad. Go with Ozzy there. He'll help you get your temperature down, and then fill your belly with sausage. And then we get to work. I have a bad feeling things are going to start happening soon."

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