As it wasn’t raining for the first time in a while Gar decided to light a fire to eat something warm it would be a treat even if it was the same berries pods and nuts he had been eating. He tried starting a fire but it wouldn’t happen all his wood was too wet to catch, even using some of the dried pine needles from his bedding as kindling didn’t help the wood was all simply too wet to catch. He figured that would be his start for the day then he needed some dry or at least dryer wood, despite that being the plan he wasn’t sure where he would find anything dry when it had been raining for days.
Nothing would change with him just standing there so he made do with another cold breakfast then he gathered his bag and his axe to go explore the forest again. He felt a little uncomfortable leaving his spear behind even though he had his axe to replace it and he still had the four badgers with him, the axe just had a different balance he wasn’t used to instead of the comforting familiarity of his spear. It quickly became clear to him that anything on the forest floor was soaked so he started looking at the lower branches of the trees, particularly those with broad canopies offering lots of shelter. It didn’t take too much wandering to come across armfuls of lower branches that where dead or easily removed with the axe, much of it was a little damp all of it was much dryer than anything he had at his base. He took several more trips having to go slightly further each time to gather some more wood. Some was stored in his shelter for more immediate use while the rest was put inside the cave entrance on his platform where it was out of the way but would stay dry if it started raining again.
Gar used his shovel to clean out the sludge and mess that remained in his fire pit then was able to get a fire going. He sat close to the fire, for the first time wishing he had some sort of chair so he wasn’t sat on the damp ground. Despite eating not that long ago sitting by the fire made Gar want to eat something different, so he skewered a couple of axen pods on a stick and started roasting them over the fire. The cold and wet hadn’t bothered him before but sat by that fire he just wanted to be warm and dry as quick as possible, especially he wanted to dry out his trousers that had been damp for days. He sat watching the pods cook as he dried out, he let the pods char slightly before giving an experimental bite. The skin of the pod had blistered while the flesh had broken down a bit so it wasn’t so stringy the char adding something different to the taste, all in all it was one of if not the best way he had found to eat the pods. He started setting up a couple more pods to cook while polishing off the first ones.
He was looking around while the next pods cooked for more reasons (excuses) to remain sat by the fire. Seeing the pile of ant carapaces he remembered something interesting in there inspect results, he pulled it up to check.
Mega-ra ant worker carapace
The exoskeleton of a mega-ra ant worker a lightweight but strong material. Has interesting properties when heated.
Uses: alchemy, smithing
Value: ????
Quality: good
Rarity: frequent
Durability: 180/180
It was the “has interesting properties when heated” line that caught his interest; he hadn’t been able to test it out before with no heat source. Sat in front of a fire he had an opportunity, leaning over he snagged a piece of carapace and looked it over. The piece he had was from a worker ant’s thorax. It was smooth relatively light material with a slight flex in it as Gar gave it a squeeze. It reminded him of some kind of plastic. Eager to see what would happen Gar pulled the axen pods out of the fire despite them not being as well done as the previous ones, not really caring at that point Gar ate them quickly so he could get on with seeing how the carapace did.
Poking a stick through one of the leg holes in the piece he dangled it over the fire, after a couple of seconds he pulled it back. Looking it over he could see no real difference to how it started, he tried touching it. Just the very tip of his finger and a very quick tap at that, it was slightly warm but that was it. He touched it again this time for longer, the carapace had warmed all over somehow evenly the material must have great heat transfer properties. When squeezed Gar thought he could detect slightly more flex in it than before. He dangled it over the fire again this time holding it for a couple of minutes, it was still not showing any visible difference as Gar pulled it out anyway. Another quick tap and again it was warm not blisteringly hot like Gar thought it should be. He pulled the piece off the stick and started handling it, like before it was warm and evenly so all over despite some parts being much closer to the flames than others. Giving it a slight squeeze to check how it flexed Gar was surprised when the whole piece deformed instead. Letting go the piece remained in its new shape. Gar was fascinated it was such an interesting material he played with it for another minute or so squeezing and pulling it into various shapes before it cooled and hardened again.
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Knowing he had a large pile of the carapace to use Gar took a small risk and dropped the piece he had been playing with directly into the middle of the fire. Gar watched as the fire burned around the carapace seemingly having no effect on it, after five or so minutes in the centre of the fire Gar used a stick to knock it out and sent it rolling towards himself. As it came to a stop against his leg he found it was still only a pleasant warm temperature and nothing more, although this time it was much softer taking minimal effort to mould. Seeing how far the material would go Gar pushed one of the leg holes closed then folded the edge over on itself squeezing and manipulating the carapace trying to seal the hole, it grew cold and hard again before he could finish so back into the fire it went. A couple of minutes later and fresh from the fire Gar was able to smooth together the two edges completely sealing the hole as if it hadn’t been there. Gar could think of so many uses for this material he just had one more thing to test.
He went and got his conrex claw knife and with the carapace cooled and hard he tried to cut it with his knife. He was able to leave a scratch in the surface and could tell with some effort and work he could probably cut it. He dropped the carapace back into the fire a few minutes later he pulled it out and tried cutting it again, the knife easily cut through it although he found the knife getting hotter the longer he used it on the carapace. He didn’t have any explanation for how any of this worked but he didn’t really care too much he had a pile of the stuff and it was much more useful to him.
The first use for it was going to be solving his water issue, he was confident he would be able to make some water bottles with it. The first step was using his knife and a few sturdy sticks he stripped the bark and carved a handful of tapered plugs. He then dropped some worker abdomen sections into the fire, while taking one of his off cuts of rope and unwinding it to get a number of bits of cord. Pulling one of the abdomen sections out of the fire, he put his wooden plug into the opening where the abdomen had joined the rest of the body then started working the material up the plug shaping it into a thin neck. Once he had enough material around the plug he pulled it out then put the abdomen back in the fire, a couple of minutes later he brought it out again. The tapered plug was put back in then the cord was wrapped around and around the neck pulling it tight the entire time closing the carapace onto the plug, before letting it cool.
With the new bottle cooled and hard again Gar pulled the plug out, he didn’t mind the slight stiffness to it as that meant it was a nice tight fit. Pushing the plug back in again it went in snuggly closing the bottle again even turning it upside down the plug stayed in place. All was good but would it hold water that was the real test. Pulling the plug out he filled it from his water barrel, as a basic shape it held water that was good, would the plug hold that was what mattered. He pushed the plug in giving it an extra push home to be sure, and then he slowly started tipping the bottle. It held at ninety degrees he kept tipping still no leeks, even turned all the way upside down and giving it a shake the plug held , no leaks. Gar did a little dance in happiness he had a way to carry water it needed work and was far from perfect but the hardest and most important part was done it held water and sealed.
He sat to solve the problems with his bottle, first was the shape it looked like a large egg with a thin neck coming out the bottom that would just be awkward to store and carry. The shape of modern water bottles was out he didn’t think he could reproduce that, instead he was thinking something akin to the traditional fantasy leather water skin or that sort of shape. He placed the bottle so just the bottom of it away from the neck was in the fire to let it heat up. Once it was suitably soft he started flattening out the shape and rounding the edges. It took some work and several times in and out of the fire, eventually he had a shape he was happy with it just needed a couple of finishing touches. He heated it again then pinched a piece of material near the neck completely flattening it and moulding it so the two layers sealed together before he put a hole in it with the tip of his knife. Then he repeated that near the base creating a second tab to put a strap through to hold it. The final touch was using his small auger he bore a hole in the top of the plug where it stuck out from the bottle then threaded the excess cord from round the neck through the hole and tied it off so when the plug was removed he wouldn’t lose it. Gar took it back to the water barrel to check none of his work had ruined its seal. He was in luck it held. Gar was surprised by how proud he was of making his water bottle, so he simply enjoyed the moment.
With one bottle done Gar got on and made four more, none of them where perfect or identical to each other but that didn’t matter to Gar he was happy with what he had produced. Gar used a bit more unwound rope to make straps for all his water bottles. Gar couldn’t help but feel the need to celebrate, while it may not seem like much the ability to carry drinking water with him on his travels was a huge hurdle he had overcome.
