Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 229 (Patreon)

Ozzy had told the story of his days adventure. Woodrat had laughed, especially when the mast had fallen over with Ozzy at the top. At the end he told them about having put one of the globes in the cargo hold along with the other things he'd found on various ships, prefaced by the information that it was already gone. Both Woodrat and Mariah had been horrified at the thought and what it could have done to both them and the ship.

Those thoughts quickly turned to how to use the globes to make a passage to free the Splinter. Since everyone had been drinking, it made perfect sense to go try it out. They were cautious enough to do it at the far end of where the passage would go, and not near the ship.

Ozzy had estimated that the radius of one sphere’s destruction was fifty feet across, so he put the sphere twenty-five feet from the edge of smoke. From seventy-five feet back, he started throwing harpoons at it. On the third throw the glass shattered, and the blue mist spread out across the sargasso, eating into it and dissolving it.

"You had that on my ship?" Woodrat had accepted the idea, but seeing the mist at work made him shudder.

"I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. There no way you can prove anything!"

Maria pointed out the flaw. "You told us you did it."

Ozzy grinned. "But I'm an unreliable mate from the junction and a notorious liar."

She grinned back. "You gave me a sharp little present, so of course I'll say your innocent. This time."

Woodrat wagged a finger at the two of them. "Surrounded by mutinous sailors. Luckily, I have Derrick here to deal out punishment to you."

Derrick looked a bit nervous at that statement but when he only saw smiles on the rest of the crew, he relaxed. He was glad to be rid of Tommy and his sidekicks. After a bit of time, they walked to the edge of the crater and looked down. The sargasso at the bottom was less burnt, but still dead. Smoke was pouring into the crater from the sea.

Woodrat looked it over. "This can work. We can use this nasty bit of mist to take out large chunks of the salad and then clear by hand the stuff that's around the ship. That's deep enough, just barely, to float her and then tow the ship to sea. But no screw ups with this. None of those globes near the ship, and only bring a couple over at a time. Leave a barrier between the first crater and the rest of the run, we need to see if there are any problems in the trough. We'll let the smoke in later. I think we'll all feel better when we can sail away from here."

The job of retrieving the globes became a group effort. Derrick was left in the crow's nest of the Splinter to keep watch, and to stay hidden if trouble did come snooping around. Woodrat had two reasons for he and Mariah accompanying his mate on this chore. The first was to make sure he didn't die to some huge beasty roaming around. The second was to help him kill any huge beasty that they found. Woodrat had nearly choked to death when Ozzy had casually mentioned a reward of 30 core skill points. Mariah had simply stared at him for a moment before pounding Woodrat on the back.

Derrick had been just as amazed. He'd gained a few points so far, but he couldn't imagine a windfall of thirty points at once. "What would you spend all of that on?"

Ozzy didn't mind explaining. "A lot of it I need to put into raising up my stats, and the skill caps on those stats. It's not enough just to get to Level 5. The next tier gets tougher, and I can only imagine what tier 3 or 4 will be like. You should be working on every skill that Captain Woodrat or one of the crew can teach you. Even things like cooking, skinning, wood carving and sewing are skills that will raise your stats. There's a tendency of some people to get good at one thing, and then let that define them. You don't want to be a lookout forever, do you?"

Derrick answered that immediately. "Wouldn't be allowed in my family even if I wanted to. It's expected that I'll reach Mate and then serve a captain until I know enough to move up in the ranks. It's what I want as well."

Ozzy nodded at that statement. What little he knew of Derrick showed the influence of a pretty good family at home. "Old seafaring family? I think Woodrat mentioned that. Well, if you want to do them proud, now is the time to work hard."

"But as to spending my points, I have a few saved up now. Besides increases in my stats, I'm going to increase my Hull and then buy the next couple levels of Dig. I expect that's not a priority skill, but I have a lot of crusty vegetation to move."

"Hull is good. One of my older brothers has Heavy Hull. I nearly broke my knuckles on belly when all of us were rough housing. He told me he wanted to save his points so that he could get Armored Hull when he transferred to a bigger ship."

"Made him hard, did it?"

"Sort of. His skin is just tough and doesn't bruise as much. But if he gets into a fight or falls, it gets harder. He never gets splinters anymore." Derrick was well acquainted with splinters in hands and feet, as was any sailor.

Before they left, Ozzy spent his points. He had enough to bring almost all of his stats up to where they had been to earn bonuses when he went to Tier 2. He still needed two points in strength and one point in constitution. They were difficult to get to 30, even after maxing them out at rank 10. He could buy 3 points with CSP, but after that it had to be something special, like killing ships.

He was careful buying Hull, testing out the first level before buying the others. As far as he could tell, it was similar to Mitigation, and stacked with it. He just didn't get hurt as much. Derrick had helped him test things by swinging a sledgehammer at him. Ozzy had 90 points in Mitigation from the skill and from Monstrous. Derrick could do 100 points swinging the sledge two-handed and hitting Ozzy in the chest. To Ozzy it was a 10-point blow. After the first level of Hull, he couldn't feel it at all. He took the second level, tested again, and then the third level. At Derrick's suggestion, they had gone to the next ship over and Ozzy had fallen from various heights and testing what damage he took. The only thing hurt was the deck of the ship.

You have gained the Core Skill:   Dig 3 at a cost of 1 csp. You may dig at 10 times normal rate. Your tunnels   do not cave in.

 You have gained the Core Skill: Dig 4 at a cost of 1 csp. You may dig at 10   times normal rate. Your tunnels do not cave in. You may compact the removed   material into the walls, floor and ceiling, leaving 75% less to be hauled   away.

 You have increased the following skill caps at a cost of 2 points each:
 CON to Rank10 for cost of 4 point
 DEX to Rank 10 for a cost of 4 points
 INT to Rank 10 for a cost of 8 points

 You have purchased the following Spirit Skills:
 Spirit of the Ox x2 ranks for a total of 9 points. (+2 STR
 Spirit of the Bear for 1 rank and 3 points. (+3 CON)
 Spirit of the Swan x3 ranks for a total of 9 points. (+3 CHR)
 Spirit of the Angel for 1 rank and 3 points. (+1 RAD)
 Spirit of the Daemon x2 ranks for a total of 6 points. (+2 COR)

 You have purchased the Mate's Perk: Hull for 2 points.
 You have purchased the Mate's Perk: Heavy Hull for 5 points.
 You have purchased the Mate's Perk: Armored Hull for 10 points.

 Total points spent: 65
 CSP remaining: 5

The trip to the destroyed ship was uneventful. Two of the small crocodiles popped out of the sargasso and chose to run away. The sight of the massive warship with all but the ends dissolved into the huge crater was impressive. Woodrat looked it all over, and talked to Ozzy about how many globes had caused the disaster.

Mariah checked on the ballistae on either end of the ship and pronounced them unharmed and fit for service. There were also several barrels of ammunition for them in the cargo area of what was left of the bow. Woodrat and Mariah each took a globe and carefully packed it into a crate to pack back. Ozzy had a box that would hold two. They'd decided to move them just a little at a time to prevent the possibility of too many exploding at once. The walk back was slow and without event.

But that was because the trouble was waiting for them. Derrick came from the crow's nest to the deck in only a few seconds, sliding easily down the chain ladder. He ran to the rail and pointed out into an unexplored area. "I spotted some castaways in a ship's boat. Couldn't tell how many, as no one was moving about. The boat was being towed by someone walking on the smoke, had to be a firewalker, Sir!"

Woodrat was immediately interested. "A firewalker? How big?"

Derrick had estimated his height based on the length of the boat. "Maybe ten or twelve feet, Sir. A small one. But Captain, that's not all. Something was waiting for them to come ashore. A crab sir, a huge one."

Woodrat smiled. "A giant crab would be tasty eating. How big?"

Ozzy spoke up. "Might have seen that in the distance, yesterday, probably twenty feet across. But he was heading away from me, so I didn't bother him."

Mariah looked at Woodrat. "Still anxious to eat the thing? He'd make twenty of you."

The captain started walking and loosened his sword in its sheathe. "Then I'll just have to hit him 20 times as hard as he does me. Let's get moving. I don't like leaving anyone to the mercy of a big crustacean. Mr. Derrick, you're with us this time. Let's go save some people and get dinner at the same time."