Chapter 191: Welcoming Committee

Chapter 191: Welcoming Committee

Ozzy had vague memories of falling round and round for a long time, unable to control his movement or even feel his body. After some timeless period, he finally felt more like himself, his mind cleared and he really did find himself falling. Falling sideways? No! Being whirled around and around by fierce winds that had a lock on his body. Below him, he caught glimpses of a a rolling sea grey sea with bits of flotsam and jetsam scattered about. He was still high in the air, but was descending.

Welcome to the Great Smoke

It looks like you caught the attention of something much larger than yourself and got dragged along as it headed home.

Things are different here. Smoke, Heat, and Fuel are what will define you. Guard your Smoke or others will take it from you.

Along with the things that had been traveling with him, he was spat out into the air and began to fall. He slammed hard into the ground, and lay stunned for a long minute until he pulled himself together. The world was rocking back and forth. Laying on his back and staring up at the sky, he saw a dark tornado moving higher into the air. He had the distinct feeling that it was laughing at him.

He stood up and tried to clear his head, but things got even more confusing. He was on a floating bit of wreckage that was bobbing up and down. A man on a raft was yelling a greeting at him and gesturing wildly to creatures that were clumsily swimming towards him. The things looked like charred corpses. They were constantly sniffing the air and making whistling cries out of their ruined throats. Their clumsy movements moved them through the waves towards him. As they kicked up wisps of black vapor, Ozzy realized that the ocean wasn't dark water, it was smoke!

The first of the creatures crawled up on the wreckage to attack him, he got a good look at it.

Charred Husk Level 6

Sometimes what's left over after the fire has burnt out is still hungry

Undead, Smokestealer, Cold.

With no cleaver, Hack Undead wasn't an option. He'd just have to hope he could beat them with his hands. He hit the first one twice before it could fully stand up. His right fist hit hard on the side of the head, but just glanced along the side, peeling off charred skin. His left hit it in the chest, for seemingly no effect. The creature slashed at his left arm with broken fingernails, leaving a long cut.

You have been slashed by Charred Husk taking 100 damage.

90 points of damage is blocked by your tough hide. You have lost 10 smoke.

Killing the last one wasn't hard, and then it was over. He didn't see anymore coming and went to check on the partner who's name he didn't even know. The man didn't look like he was in good shape. Without even trying, he saw some of the man's stats.

Woodrat Veteran Shipwright Level: 5 Crewmate Badly Injured, Cold

Smoke: 32/1025 Heat: 37/825 Fuel: 601/1620

"By the fires, that was too close! Another moment and he'd have drained me and you'd have had to pound my skull to ashes as well. Stupid of me, fighting husks on a bit of flotsam with an oar. But it worked right? I was useful. And I'm a good shipwright. Give me a chance and I'll show you I'm worth keeping around."

Ozzy had the distinct feeling the wounded man was terrified of him for some reason. He looked around at where he was at. The horizon stretched in all directions without a bit of land in sight. The light grey of the sky came down to meet the dark grey of the ocean. Bits of wood and trash bobbed nearby. Woodrat's raft was held to the larger wreckage by what looked like a smoky black chain. It reminded Ozzy of the chains Joe could make and had tried to teach him the secret of.

He tried to keep his voice calm, but he wanted badly to start yelling out questions. "I'll be honest with you, I don't have many clues about what's going on. I get the feeling you might be able to fill me in. That's very useful. As far as I'm concerned we can stay team mates."

Woodrat coughed a bit, then took some deep breaths. "Team mate? That's a strange word, but you're in charge, obviously. Just tell me you'll make me part of your crew and not get rid of me, and I'll tell you anything I know and then get started on finding out something else."

Ozzy nodded. "So crewmates? Same crew? That's how you'd say it here."

"Yep, that's the normal lingo boss. So what can I fill you in on? I'm not going anywhere, and we have plenty of time. Or you do, I'm sort of running out fast. Really low on smoke and nearly cold. Not a good combination."

"Let's start with that. What are smoke, heat, and fuel?"

Woodrat stared at him, then laughed a little but ended up coughing. He didn't sound good. "Oh, god, don't do that. I'll cough up what little smoke I have left. You really don't know? Where did you fall down from? Sky? The Junction? Things are a little different here I've been told. But smoke is your life, your power...it's everything. Heat is almost as important, and tougher to come by. And without fuel, you won't have either. Just the natural order of things."

Ozzy brought up his character screen and let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I can see things really are different here."

Ozzy Veteran Mate Level 10 Smoke (Health) Aspect of Smoke + 500, Pit Alchemy +1000 1430/5170 Heat (Stamina) Aspect of Fire +250, Radiance adds 200/pt: +2200, 9006/12250 Furnace (Heat/100) Fire Eating +10, Ambrosia +10 142/142 Fuel (Mana) Corruption adds 200/pt: +2200 1100/5170 Smoke Eating (Fuel/100) Increase fuel by breathing in smoke. 51/51 Aura Active FR +30, Monstrous +30, ??? +30 90 Hull Mitigation 1, 2, 3, Monstrous 90 SmokeStealer COR Skill, 10 + Rankx10 +CORx10 120