The Butcher of Gadobhra

Chapter 196: Blackfetter

Captain Jacob 'Blackfetter' Shackleford and Crew

Elite Level 12 Boss

Press Ganger, Ensnaring Chains, Smoke Eater

Renowned for his large and well crewed ship, Captain Shackleford sailed the smoke for half a century until a chance encounter with a Void Whale ended badly for everyone but the whale. When his ship went to a smoky grave in the belly of the void, Blackfetter saved a dozen of his crew by chaining their souls to his. With cunning ambushes, he will bind the souls of the dead to ship, The Rotter, one by one, and build a ship to once again sail the smoke.

Quest: Escape before your smoke is drained and soul is chained to Captain Blackfetter and you are added to his ship.

Captain Woodrat (Mate, Veteran Shipwright) Level: 6      Much better thank you, Warming up

Smoke: 1512/1525  Heat: 1257/2325  Fuel: 662/1623   Furnace: 24/27  Smoke Eating:0/15

Mr. Ozzy, (Crewman, promotion to Mate pending.), Level 10    Slightly Injured, Blazing

Smoke: 5657/5770  Heat: 9540/12850  Fuel: 1023/5170   Furnace: 148/148  Smoke Eating: 0/126

Neither Ozzy or Woodrat was anxious to go to work on another ship. Woodrat put more Heat into the sail, hoping to make a run for it, but the chains that stretched the ruined boat to the Splinter towed along the boat of undead, and then the barrel and chests. Ozzy could see spectral chains that connected the Rotter to the Captain and his crew, and they were substantial enough to pull the crew floating behind along with the boat.

Ozzy grabbed one of the larger beams he had salvaged from the barn and balanced it upright. This was far trickier to do on a raft bobbing in the smoke than on land, but it was the only ranged weapon he had. He hurled the beam into the air, watching it make a full turn and come down on the rotten ship's boat.

Your caber has hit The Rotter. This creature is chained and cannot dodge.

Base damage: 120

STR damage: +125

Strike Undead bonus: +100

You have Slaughtered the Rotter for 690 points.

The undead all jerked as the boat got hit and Captain Blackfetter staggered. Then he pointed his hand at a crewman and Ozzy watched as the Husk collapsed and the Smoke moved to The Rotter and the boat was healed of damage. Captain Woodrat saw it too and scowled. "I can't break these chains. And even if I do, he can repair them as fast as I damage them. The can't just row to us, but eventually those husks can pull in enough chain to get to us."

Ozzy looked at the chains. They lead from the Splinter to the Rotter. He needed one attached to the captain. He cupped his hands and yelled at the creature in the torn captain's coat and hat "I say, isn't that little Jacob in that boat? Didn't he used to poop in his pantaloons whenever he had to run the chains? What did his father have to pay to buy him his commission? Quite a bit I'd think, and now it's all wasted. Captain Pantpooper is better name I think!"

Some of Blackfetter's crew were amused at the taunting. They might be chained to him for eternity, but they had still been sailors once, and what sailor doesn't like a good jibe directed at an officer? They elbowed each other in the ribs or slapped their legs. Captain Blackfetter turned towards Ozzy, with blazing green eyes full of wrath. "You are out of line and your surly mouth has brought you much trouble! I'll have you cleaning barnacles off the ship bottom for a hundred years."

From his hands, Blackfetter threw out a thick, black chain of Smoke. It shot across the fifty-foot distance like a striking snake. Ozzy blocked it with his arm, and the chain wrapped many times around his arm. Immediately, he felt his smoke drain into the chain. Bracing his feet and grabbing the chain with both hands, he jerked hard pulling Blackfetter overboard.

Ozzy started to haul the undead captain to him. "Alright you bastard, let's see if this plan works." Chaindrag

The Butcher's perk he had learned from the Guild Hall activated and jerked Blackfetter across the distance to land on the raft next to Ozzy. Ozzy slashed down on it as Blackfetter pulled a saber from his belt. "You wish to engage me a duel? So be it. You can die by the sword and I'll use you as chum for the sharks!" He slashed across Ozzy's chest, but was surprised when he did only a little damage. "Oh, a hard hull on you? I'll skin you first then."

You are enchained! Unless you can break the enchanted chain, or destroy Captain Blackfetter, you will bound to serve him until you die, and quite a bit after that.

Captain Blackletter’s Enchained Grasp has stolen 110 smoke.

Captain Blackfetter has cut you and you have lost 50 smoke.

Captain Blackletter’s sword Darkfyre has stolen 110 smoke.

You have struck Captain Blackfetter with a cleaver doing 295 points of damage.

Base Damage: 20

STR Bonus: +125

Strike Undead Bonus: +100

Hack Undead Bonus: +100

Hull: -50

Captain Blackfetter and Crew: 9125/10,000 Smoke  

Ozzy glanced at the notification for only a second as he used their mutually chained arms to pull the captain off balance. That was a hell of a lot of smoke! He thought about trying to block the sword and slowly wear down Blackfetter, but he had more help coming. The spectral chains binding him to his crew were pulling them along behind the Splinter as Woodrat kept putting Heat into the sale. Offense was the only option. There was enough slack in the chain to hack with both cleavers and he could endure the drain until this thing died.

Time and again Ozzy engaged with the undead mariner. Blackfetter was getting more agile by the moment as if shaking the rust out of his joints. Each time they crossed blades Ozzy managed to get one or two hits with his cleavers, while Blackfetter drained his smoke through the chains and his saber added one cut after another to Ozzy's hide, until he was bleeding smoke from a half dozen wounds.

Captain Woodrat meanwhile, was watching as one by one the crew of The Rotter dissolved in smoke and was sucked into the boat. Less than half of the dozen original crew remained. This didn't seem to bother Blackfetter in the least. In fact, he was looking quite excited.

Captain Blackfetter and Crew: 6140/10,000 Smoke 

"You've put up a good fight for one of the lower classes. Surely you are some noble’s bastard? Breeding shows and I can see you have a fine, strong chin despite your terrible taste in clothing. Think about it lad, you cold sail with me, be my first mate! I'll outfit you in silk and leather. We'll sail to the Isles and drain them dry together."

His saber flicked out, inflicting one more wound upon Ozzy. Blackfetter smiled, horrible thing to see, his blackened and charred skin flaking away as he stretched what was left of his face into a grin. He leaped back to the edge of the raft and relaxed his guard. "I'm enjoying our little fight. Go on, take a deep breath and renew your smoke. Might as well burn off some of that overabundance of heat I see within you."

Ozzy actually was low. Between being constantly slashed and drained, he was down to 2650/5770 smoke. If the undead captain wanted to brag and give him a chance, Ozzy would take it. He shifted 300 fuel and 300 heat into his furnace and felt the smoke fill him back up, his muscles feeling strong and his wounds slowly began to close.

Blackfetter nodded. "Good lad, very good lad. You'll do. Certainly, worth trading the others for you." His sword suddenly burst into fierce black flames that hurt the eyes to look at it. He advanced on Ozzy, dancing from side to side. Woodrat screamed. "Don't let him hit you with the damned sword!"

Blackfetter swung, but Ozzy retreated, putting the mast between them. Blackfetter didn't care, and swung through the mast, severing it entirely so completely that the top half balanced on the bottom. The tip caught Ozzy in the chest, shearing through an inch of skin and breastbone. A deep moan came from the sword as is sucked in his smoke again, the flames growing darker.

Woodrat cursed and ran to the mast, pushing it over and onto Blackfetter who deftly stepped aside as it fell and the heat of the sail was released. He started to advance.

Desperate, Ozzy wrapped the chain around the stump of the mast with one loop and pulled hard. Blackfetter was caught off-guard and his chest slammed into the mast, immobilizing him. Of course, that also meant Ozzy couldn't move either, and he was in range of that terrible sword. Woodrat had no illusions about his chances against his fellow captain. But he could give Ozzy a chance. He took a step and spun to Blackletter’s side where he grabbed the undead captain’s sword arm, then used all of his weight to pull it down. "Hit the bastard while you can!" This close to the sword, Woodrat felt his life draining away into the weapon as the flames charred his skin.

Ozzy took his best shot, lining up his attack carefully and bringing down the cleaver just below the shoulder. Precision Cut and Hack Undead, and Strike Undead combined with Slaughter to do 640 damage. Another crewman disappeared and the arm began to heal, but not before the next strike. Ozzy felt his cleaver go completely through the bone cleanly, and Woodrat threw the arm and sword to the back of the raft. Ozzy yelled at him. "Hold it down with something. Undead cheat when you cut off chunks of them." Woodrat used the end of the severed mast to pin down the arm, which was already flopping around trying to get back where it belonged.

Without a sail the Splinter was dead in the smoke, the Rotter was able to use its connection with Captain Blackfetter to pull up to the raft. The last four crewmen started to shamble aboard. Ozzy started hitting Blackfetter in the neck and head. Three strikes later and the last crewman dissolved. Blackfetter clawed at Ozzy with the one free hand and drained his smoke, but it wasn't enough to keep the Butcher from striking him over and over in the head. Finally, after a flurry of blows, the Rotter itself was gone, and Blackfetter was hanging limp in the chains. Ozzy was reeling, having used up a large amount of smoke to fight, and more had been drained from him by the husk captain. The last hit shattered the skull and it was suddenly quiet on the smoke except for the moaning of the flaming sword.

Woodrat had deep burns on his hands and arms, along with one side of his face. The wound Ozzy had taken to the chest was likewise burned and cauterized. Woodrat was leaning against the stump of the mast. "Are they all gone? I don't want to look."

Ozzy scanned the area. "Nothing here but some scrapwood, a barrel without a top, and a very nice treasure chest floating a few feet away from us."

Woodrat smiled. "Something for our troubles. Secure the treasure, Mr. Ozzy, and don't touch that sword."

Ozzy looked at the weapon which was still burning slightly, both the flames and the moaning decreasing as time went on. "What is it? Besides an obviously evil, smoke-stealing sword with bad sound effects?"

Woodrat laughed, then coughed hard, spitting into the smoke. "Well, that sums it up nicely. But it's more than that. I didn't realize just what that sword was until it burst into flames. It would have taken your life it had hit you when fully charged. It was draining you, wasn't it? When it drained enough, it used the smoke to become something much worse. You'd have been Charred all at once. That was why he wanted you to heal up. He wanted to kill you with all that smoke and heat in you. You'd have been like him: powerful, and intelligent, the perfect first mate to serve him. The old tales say that seven of those swords were made for seven Captains. It's a long story best told with lots of beer."

Ozzy looked at the cutlass, slowly losing its fire. "So, I'm guessing it's not something we mess with at all. Kick it overboard?"

Woodrat paused, then stood. "No. Can't do that. It wouldn't be long before it made its way to something else like the thing we just killed. The only way to keep it from its purpose is to claim it and keep it safe. And I need it if I'm going to continue living. I'm have charred because of it. I'm taking back what it stole."

He picked up the sword, and made couple of practice strokes with the it. The sword seemed to actual fight being used, but slowly the strokes became smother and easier as the captain whirled through his practice. He paused after several minutes and looked down at it. "Now give it back!" The burns along Woodrats hands and arms turned from black charred skin to old scars. His face did as well, but half of it was blackened as if by soot. He stuck the sword in his belt like it was a normal wooden knife and turned to Ozzy. "Now let's go see what sort of bounty awaits us in that chest!"

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