BoG New Ending to Chapter 267 (Patreon)

As pointe out, Ozzy hadn't retrieved his bag. And nothing like that can be simple. Here's the new ending to 267. The story of the refugee farmers finding a new home will probably be in Chapter 269 with about twice as many words, rather than splitting the story in two.

This new part is raw. I need to edit a bit. We also get to see the start of just how much Ozzy has grown.

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Earlier in the morning...

Ozzy always wondered why the world needed so many middle managers, tax people, accountants, bureaucrats and government minions. He'd dealt with so many of them in his life, in game and out. Working for a corporation, or some imaginary king. There was just a feel to them. The bunch that he'd talked to outside his pit weren't as high ranking as the crew that had come to talk to Billy before. Those guys had been professionals and specialists. Which made Ozzy wonder why they were here. Other people would wonder as well. He dropped off one smoke hellpig ham at the inn, and spoke to the Elder Kallvek while he was having his tea. The merchant nodded and thanked him. As Ozzy left he sent a message to his son. Suzette wasn't in the tavern, she and Ben were carving runes up at the keep. He'd be putting in some hours there every night. Georges had a lot of heavy lifting he needed to get done. But first, Ozzy had a few things to take care of. He left a message for her with Zephyr about their visitors.

The road up to Gadobhra showed many wagon tracks and footprints. It must have been raining a lot lately if there'd been that much mud. It was strange to think of rain as just a normal thing again. In the smoke it had been a terrible thing. He crossed into the city through new gates. The towers on either side of the road were larger and more imposing, with square crenellations that matched the top of the ACME headquarters. The ACME logo was on each one. Wrought iron gates with inch thick bars were open wide enough for a wagon to move through them. Billy must be using some of his windfall of building points.

The city beyond looked the same. Hungrytown stank of mud and dead things and from the Beastwoods came the howls of wild creatures. The castle loomed behind the ACME headquarters. To the left of it was the noble's quarter and the home of an undiscovered dungeon. A couple adventuring parties had gone in and been totally wiped out. They had no memory of what they had encountered. The stockyards and Pit of the Butcher were on the other side of the castle. Ozzy wanted his bag and had come to dig it out of the hole where his friends had hid it. The road had been paved over but he knew the spot. Two hard stomps loosened the paving stones. He'd brought a shovel, barely needed it to clear the two-feet of rubble and pull out his Hefty Bag of Large Capacity. The mundane outer wrapping and the magical bag inside were both untouched, as were the contents. As he was looking in the bag he heard the sound of claws scraping on rocks and turned to see a half dozen ghouls rushing in in.

"You bastards again?! Good, I didn't have to come looking for you." The ghouls howled and charged. Ozzy inhaled and then let loose with Butcher's Breath. Intense heat and flames raced at the undead who started screaming as their flesh cooked and bubbled.

Butcher's Breath
Base Damage: 150 plus 5xRAD = 300 damage
Mana Cost: 300 -40% (Aspect of Heat rank 8) =180.
You may increase the damage by +300 points for an additional 360 mana.
The fire in your belly needs to get out! Flames burst from your mouth in cone with a 45 degree arc and 30' in length. Anyone within the area must attempt to avoid or block the flames. A successful save will mean the target takes half damage.

When the flames subsided, only two were still moving, slowly crawling at the Butcher. Ozzy killed them by stomping on their heads. He leaped down from the embankment, two heavy flensing hatchets appearing in his hands. He kicked at the sealed crypts and yelled into the mists. "Anyone hungry? Fresh meat, right here. Come and get it!" The wind grabbed the smell of cooked meat and moved it across the crypts, tempting the undead to come out in the day. Another dozen ghouls rushed at the Butcher. Ozzy brought the  hatchets around in long arcs, fire trailing from them as he fed the heat from his furnace into his weapons. The undead exploded and came apart as he hit them, the combination of Slay Undead, Hack Undead and the added heat overwhelming them.

You have struck a Carrion Ghoul. Carrion Ghoul has been flensed into very tiny pieces.
Heavy Flensing Hatchet base damage = 200
Bonus for STR of 36 = 180
Bonus for Hack Undead = 270  (Skill: Butcher rank 12 + Skill: Hack Undead rank 15)
Bonus for perk: Powerful =20
Bonus for Strike Undead = 300 (10 points per rank of Strike Undead + 5 points per point of RAD.)
Bonus for Heated Weapon = 10
Bonus for Increased Weapon Damage =10
Total Damage = 990     
But Wait! There's More! These are level 6 to level 8 and below your Tier. You gain a bonus of 20% to your chance to hit!
You also gain 0 experience.

Dear lord, what sort of monster are they breeding the the Pit of the Butcher?

The ghouls were out of their league. Weeks and months spent killing undead in the smoke, especially the final battle where Ozzy had killed thousands of charred, had given him new skills and honed old ones. One hit was all it took as the two large weapons chopped back and forth into the mass of ghouls swarming him. There claws couldn't penetrate his hull, and their poison was useless if they couldn't break his skin.

Ozzy was breathing hard as he finished killing the dozen undead. Strike Undead drained 300 stamina with each swing. He had burned 20% of his stamina and 10% of his mana by going all out and testing his new abilities.  It was something he had to be careful with in a long battle. But not here, and not today. Nothing else stirred in Hungrytown.

Mama Laveau invites you to come sit with her and enjoy a cup of coffee with her some morning. She'd like to meet you.

That message surprised him. Coffee? And then he could smell it. A rich, dark roasted blend with a hint of chicory. That would taste good on a foggy morning.

"I'll be by some morning. I have to welcome some new people to the town today." He couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard soft laughter on the wind.