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.

His next two punches were better aimed, coming in hard on the husk's face, or what was left of it. It didn't seem to notice.

Charred Husk Level 6

Sometimes what's left over after the fire has burnt out is still hungry. Undead, Smokestealer, Cold.

50% resistant to Physical Damage, 50 mitigation to crushing damage. Smoke: 920/1000

This was going to be a hard fight. He wasn't doing much damage to this one, and two more of them were trying to climb to him. Ignoring the first one, he kicked the two of them back into the water...no...the smoke? How was he floating on smoke?

His momentary pause while looking at the smoky sea gave his first opponent a chance to attack. An arm went around he waist and sharp teeth cut into his side.

You have been bitten by Charred Husk taking 100 damage.

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

Charred Husk steals 80 smoke from you.

Ozzy suddenly felt weaker and colder. He grabbed the head of the husk with one hand and pulled it off of him. The small wound on his side leaked a wisp of smoke. The husk had nowhere near his strength and couldn't free itself. Ozzy forced it to floor and punched it hard, three times. Slaughter multiplied his damage. On the third hit he crushed the skull entirely and the entire creature turned to ash.

He heard the noise of more climbing aboard. Behind him, the small raft nudged against his chunk of wreckage. Two more Charred Husks were in the water near the raft, and the man he'd seen before lept onto his chunk. "I'll try to keep them off of the raft, if you can pound some more of them. Sound good boss? I'll join your crew for a bit?" He whacked one of the husks in the head, knocking it back in the smoke, and tripped a second as it as it lunged at Ozzy and then pushed it off.

Ozzy noticed his ally was a lot better standing up on a rocking platform than he was. The guy wasn't as strong as he was, but he was quick and agile, with much better balance. He seemed to want an answer to his questions though, glancing back a couple of times, seeming to be wary of Ozzy, as well as the husks. "Sure, let's team up."

It wasn't easy. Ozzy had to resort to picking up the husks and throwing them as far as he could to keep them away. His partner was adept at knocking them sprawling or tumbling them overboard, but the husks were doggedly trying to get back on. When he only had two to deal with, he grabbed both of them by their heads, and started slamming them together. One bit his hand, and that cold sensation spread up his arm before he could destroy them both. The biter lasted longer, and Ozzy had to beat it against the deck.

With four down, the fight was a little easier. The next one got one arm on the wreckage when Ozzy kneeled down, pinned it by the neck and started pounding it. It dissolved as the other three started climbing up. He tried to repeat the tactic of banging two together, but he had trouble getting ahold on them and was forced to throw one and kill the other. As he finished, he heard a scream from nearby. The third was biting down on the arm of his ally who was screaming and unable to save himself. Ozzy grabbed the head and pried the jaws apart, freeing his arm. Rather than let go he just kept pulling, eventually tearing the skull in half and destroying it.

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