Boom-Boom finished his beer and tossed the empty mug back to the bartender.

It wasn't much of a bar, just two tables and a dozen chairs with the 'bar' being a slab of wood supported by two barrels.

Other barrels, tapped and untapped were scattered around.

Everything was dark with soot and some of the chairs were charred by fire.

Two-Screws considered not finishing his beer, it was that bad by dwarven standards, but he gritted his teeth and poured it down his throat.

The two engineers had responded to a fire two days ago and helped save what they could of a tavern.

With so little left, the tavern keeper had just shoveled an area of ground clear and set up his open-air beer garden on the charred flagstones that used to be the floor of the tavern.

Old Sculdy was thankful enough to the two dwarves to not take money from them for beer, but not thankful enough to serve them good beer.

Two-Screws was thinking of paying the ridiculous price for a barrel of Bludgeon Dark from Ralph, the Innkeeper at the Rustyguts Inn.

The two dwarves liked Ralph's beer, but the smell of charcoal was much preferred to the smell of unwashed humans.

"Somethings happening, I can feel it in my bones, something terrible." Boom-Boom scowled and considered another beer.

Two-Screws stood up.

"Well, I'm curious about what gives you that feeling.

Was it the ogre Monster-Hunter running by with a grin on his face? Perhaps Milo skipping over the roof-tops? Maybe the roar of a Dragonsnake? Tell me, oh wise one, what was the clue?" Boom-Boom looked where Two-Screws was pointing.

"Oh, none of that.

Just an itch in the back of my head like I forgot something terrible and it's coming for me.""Is it so terrible you can't blow it to smithereens?""You have a good point, friend Two-Screws.

Let's follow the rat and the ogre and see what we can find to blow up."

Milo leaped from one roof to the next, happy to have bones again.

Moving had been getting very slow and tedious while he was trying to escape from the slaver's airship.

It wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again.

From his vantage point on a tall roof next to an area of burned buildings he had a good look at what was happening.

Two ships were coming into the harbor.

The first was just a boat with a sail.

Milo wasn't very good with nautical terms, nor did he have a desire to learn.

The ocean was too big and empty, topped with a sky that was worse.

And things swam in the live-water that didn't like him.

Like the gigantic eel that was chasing the two boats.

It swam through the ocean like a snake moved on the ground, now and then diving to come back up.

It was huge and long.

From the way it moved, Milo thought there was a lot more of it under the surface.The second ship was more interesting to him.

It wasn't a surface ship by any means.

The sail was obviously a temporary affair with a square canvas hoisted by a spar and detachable mast.

Wind power wasn't how the ship normally moved.

He could see the propeller at the rear and see the small bits of steam being vented from over-worked boilers.

He loved the look of the ship with its patchwork of pieces stolen from other ships, the large observation dome in the front, and the numerous hatches and covered gunports that hinted at more surprises.

He ran the idea through his head of being in such a ship, deep down in the ocean.

It wasn't nearly so bad as the thought of crewing the small boat that was in the lead.

He wanted to get a look at the inside of the ship.

If it survived, which was doubtful at this point.

Whoever was driving the thing was pretty good.

They managed to slide up onto land and park it sideways, and then shoot the eel with some big guns.

They had an even bigger one being loaded at the end of the boat.

The rest of the crew was abandoning ship and running for their lives.

Milo was disappointed.

He had hoped that maybe the metal boat would have more surprises.

If he built one it certainly would have.

Captain Pike was running for the ship and the place where the eel would come ashore.

Milo thought about it, and he really didn't like that eel.

Just something about how it moved was wrong, and he swore it had made a rude gesture at him.

He leaped down and raced alongside Captain Pike.

The ogre noticed him and winked.

"Nothing like a little tussle to build an appetite, is there?"The huge cannon fired, and the eel kept coming.

Milo saw the dwarf gunner get knocked to the ground.

They were going to be eel food in the next few seconds, and that was if they survived being crushed by their own cannon.

He yelled to Pike as he ran: "You get the first shot.

I'm grabbing the gunner." Captain Pike was warming up his throwing arm.

"Good idea, we may need something to bait the eel and I bet it doesn't like that little dwarf lass at all after she drew blood."Milo raced by her, grabbing her with his tail.

What had been a spectral looking affair from a spell, now looked like a solid appendage of bone that ended in a sharp blade.

Milo could feel the bone extending up his spine, adding protection.

The bones covering his claws and hands looked thinner, but he knew they were much stronger.

The small plates acting like a knight's gauntlets.

The huge brass cannon tumbled through the spot where the gunner had been just a second before.

Leaping aside and pulling the gunner with him, he whipped his tail around and tossed her out of the fight to where Boom-Boom and Two-Screws were running up.Captain Pike had thrown his harpoon at the dragonsnake, ripping out a huge chunk of meat as he pulled it loose with the lanyard.

It screamed in pain and looked at him with malice.Milo took advantage of the distraction to throw a harpoon of his own.

He only had two of the bone harpoons carved.

If he had to cast the spell more than twice, it was going to hurt.

Harpoon of the Winds.

By carving a Rune of Destruction, and a Rune of Velocity into a small bone harpoon, you create a powerful ranged weapon.

Base damage of 200.+45 Damage for INT above 10Modifier: +25% damage for Skill: Ancient Runes (5)Total Base Damage: 307