The new tar person introduced itself. "I didn't have a name in the old world. Was just a minor fire spirit. Now, I am Coop, slave of your core. May I recommend installing an alternative entrance to the harbour dungeon in the shop. Have a corridor going along the road. Some of my friends are now these creatures but working at the dock."

The words confused Sarah, what did Coop mean by harbour dungeon, she had no knowledge of such a thing, though it sounded like something the district core was responsible for. Presumably it was meant in the context of a place of adventure rather than imprisonment, odd that the Trade Tongue used the same word for both though apparently it was based on a creole called English with a few minor spelling and grammar differences.

"Well since neither of those exist yet and they are both my responsibility, I will have to leave you to it." Replied Sarah before heading off to the site she had chosen for the dock.

By the time Sarah got to the dock, someone had upgraded her road proposal to a wider one one lined with trees, they'd even included the proposed name Tar Boulevard for it. Someone must be in charge of a core to which the one for the harbour district reported the way the one for the cooperage did to it. As she watched they added residences to the far side of the road.

Sarah had a brief moment of panic when a message popped up saying Sojourn had identified her before she remembered that was the name of the being covering the duties of harbour master.

The tar people would need a place to spend their downtime, a bunkhouse and maybe a tavern, though her improved Etiquette Skill reminded her that alcohol was much less acceptable to the new gods, it existed but they considered its consumption sinful.

One of the advantages to having previously been an elf was that Sarah had above average statistics with Mind containing the word Indigo five times, Body and Respect three each and Assets twice. She also had a wide range of skills with triple Indigo, mainly related to sailing and Crafting but they included a smattering related to the theology of the previous world and a handful of magic spells useful at sea. She checked the update log, she had a new skill called City Planning but it otherwise didn't show anything noteworthy.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A notice popped up in her vision: Wolfe Glazier, glass-blower, was dissolved by Savage Beast, king slime. Respawning.

Sarah thought on the strange message, it implied they had multiple lives. Something to contemplate later, she needed to finish setting up this dry dock.

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James had been discussing his proposal for teaching Coop when the message came through. "Hey, what's the significance of this message?" He asked it.

"One of the prices the cores must pay their slaves is that they are killed by outside forces then they must be offered a new body to serve them further. This means I'd come back if someone other than you was responsible for my death and the gods didn't consider it natural causes such as age, mundane disease or true misadventure."

"So magical disease is excluded, but what do you mean by true misadventure?"

"Examples include drowning without outside influences, being destroyed by an act of nature or starving as a result of your own miscalculation."

"Ah, so further examples of things which are normally natural causes but which can be deliberately engineered. Thirst without intervention seems likely to be an additional item that belongs to that list and I take it that is not exhaustive but illustrative. I also feel that I am better with the new language, don't think I would be able to articulate these thoughts before."

"And even if you could, I did not speak the tounge of your land. It would have made these lessons much more difficult."

"Let's get back to discussing not only those but ones where you teach me what I should know about cores. It feels like you are an expert on the topic."

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Wolfe himself was feeling very confused, one minute he'd been in a forest with a large blue squishy creature wearing a crown, the next he was materialising in a workshop full of strange alchemical devices like those his father made. In fact that looked like a younger version of his father, maybe this was his new workplace.

"Went with the lupine look to reflect your name I see. Try using the appraisal skill, it should calm your immediate suspicion of me."

"I'd ask how, but I suspect like my new form it was divine intervention. That doesn't explain how I moved from where I was to here."

"Part of the divine contract, when you passed away this became your afterlife. Should you die in a way the gods do not approve of you will return here."

"It feels like there should be more to it than that."

"Whilst normally they won't interfere in destiny, they do demand you learn enough of the trade to make mundane items, they call them glasses and serve liquids from them. But first something easier, flasks for holding mundane items."