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[b][color=96512B][h3]Gerrik Far-Teacher[/h3]
Level 7 Hain Hero
18 Khookies[/color][/b][/center]

Gerrik's eviction from Fibeslay had been unsettling for him. The Realta had been a physical struggle which pushed his limits, but Gerrik was fairly stoic about that. It was Shammick's attacks on his character and authority which really troubled him. Shammick's fanaticism had blinded him to the will of the very one who he said he followed, and this concerned Gerrik. Could there be others like Shammick, who would twist the mission of the Chippers to their own distorted purposes? While Shammick had been a rather unique case, Gerrik had seen other cases of corrupted Chippers, such as Grinder. The Chippers don't have a set code of conduct, as they grew organically from the influence of Stone Chipper, and as such there is nothing to govern their behaviour aside from the spoken words of authority figures. This was a concern to Gerrik, but the problem was so insidious that he didn't know where to start. He needed some other project to take his mind off things.

Heading south from Fibeslay, Gerrik found more villages, and did his normal thing of teaching them what he knew and learning what he could. It was all quite ordinary for Gerrik until, in one village called Tallgrass, as he was retelling the story of his encounter with the Realta, one hain spoke up.

"We saw a star-fiend too," she said.

Gerrik turned his head in surprise. "Really? Where? What happened to it?"

The hain pointed over a hill. "It flew over the village and started a fire over there. There was then a terrible crashing noise and the star-fiend fell out of the sky."

Gerrik stood up suddenly. He had wanted to inspect the body of the star-fiend more closely back in Fibeslay and experiment with the strange material it was made from, but he hadn't had time. This now was his chance. His eyes gleamed with anticipation. "The body is still there?" he asked. The other hain nodded. "Good." He began to walk off, then stopped suddenly and walked backwards. There was a small problem. The body of the Realta was many times his own weight, so there was no way he could carry or even drag it back. He would need to be smart about this.

Gerrik paced as he tried to devise a solution to moving the heavy weight across a long distance of terrain. This was not the first time he had attempted a similar problem. Constructing the lighthouse in Fibeslay had also involved some heavy lifting. He had used a lot of manpower to move objects, although this village was small so did not have much manpower to spare to carry a heavy weight across some kilometres of terrain with no food yielded from it. There had to be some kind of tool or device he could construct which would help him carry the Realta. But no ideas came immediately to mind, and it would take a long while to design and make such a device anyway, so Gerrik resolved that, for now at least, he would go to the Realta and work on it where it lay.

The group of hain he had been teaching were still watching him. "Lesson dismissed," Gerrik announced, "I have some matters to attend to." Gerrik then picked up his tools and set off over the hill towards the Realta's crash site.

Once he had summited the hill, the damage the Realta had done was plain to see. A large swathe of the landscape was charred black, trees and grasses burnt away to nothing, and sections of ground had been melted and resolidified into dark stone. In the centre of it all was a metallic gleam, and Gerrik headed down the hill and into the ruined landscape towards it.

The body of the Realta was lying there, dead, like when he had shot it with his Eenal Bow. However, whatever had killed this Realta had hit much more powerfully than even his Bow, for the Realta had a large chunk of its torso blasted apart, just under the right shoulder. The metal was twisted and tortured in ways which should not have been possible for a material so strong. Whatever had killed it must have wielded a frightful amount of power.

[i][color=Peru]That was me,[/color][/i] informed Teknall.

[i]That explains it,[/i] thought Gerrik.

Gerrik knealt down and ran a hand along the star-fiend's... flesh? A better word would be needed to describe it, for it was unlike any other flesh in existence. Its closest analogue was giant-bone. Star-bone? It was a carapace of sorts. Star-fiend carapace. That name would do.

The carapace was hard and dense, but evident from its injuries was that sufficient force would [i]bend[/i] the material, rather than shatter it like stone or wood. The jagged edges of the 'wound' were sharp. The carapace was coloured grey, like some stones, but had a lustre to it similar to a still pool of water. Additionally, despite its origins, it was cold to the touch, the carapace sucking heat from his fingers faster than most other materials. Tapping the material made a noise with a somewhat resonant ringing overtone. Gerrik moved his face closer to the carapace. It had no odor he could detect. He bit a small protrusion of the carapace on the edge of the 'wound', and the taste was reminiscent of that of blood or approaching rain. Probing under the surface with his Perception, the material of the carapace was smooth and homogenous, lacking a noticeable grain like wood or stone and without the irregularities present in most living tissues.

Having obtained all the sensory information he could, Gerrik now needed to find a way to manipulate it. He needed to either find some way to exert the enormous forces required or treat the carapace in such a way as to temporarily soften it. Conveniently, he had one such device for delivering powerful force. He took the Eenal Bow, knocked a cheap wooden arrow, drew it point-blank at the Realta, willed it to have power, and fired. The shaft wreathed in divine energy struck the carapace with a deafening clang, and the arrow pierced through the carapace and lodged itself deep inside the Realta, much deeper than when a similar arrow had struck the live Realta.

[i]Whatever force gave the star-fiend its terrible powers while alive must have also given it extra resillience,[/i] Gerrik thought. [i]Either that or its corpse is decaying. Or maybe this bow is just much more powerful up close.[/i]

Regardless of the reason, Gerrik fired a few more arrows around the same spot, until a chunk of the carapace was sufficiently perforated. It was now only held in place by a few thin connections, and when Gerrik reached down to try and dislodge the chunk he found that, given a good amount of strength and some twisting, those thin connections bent, fatigued and broke. In his hand Gerrik now held a chunk of star-fiend carapace, twisted and pointed from his method of removal. However, this chunk as-is was only an intermediate. He still needed to find methods to shape it into something useful, for the Eenal Bow was a fairly crude tool and only available to himself. So placing the small chunk of carapace in a bag, he headed back towards Tallgrass.

Back in the village, Gerrik settled down by the rock he used for flint knapping to experiment. His first test was to simply hit the carapace chunk with his hammer. Percussive force was a key tool in crafting many things, and from what he had learned so far it appeared that force would also be effective for this material. His hammer was of exceptional quality, made of fine stone and strong wood and made sturdy enough to withstand repeated strong blows against hard materials. So down the hammer fell, striking against the jagged carapace repeatedly.

When Gerrik stopped, he had partially blunted and flattened the section of the carapace he had been striking, but he could also see that his hammer would crack and shatter before any decent progress could be made. He would either need a stronger hammer or a way to make the carapace more malleable. The latter was an enigma at this time, but the former could be achieved if he could make at least one hammer out of the star-fiend carapace. And to do that, he'd need a bigger hammer.

It did not take Gerrik long to design his bigger hammer. Underneath a tall tree, Gerrik found a large flat rock and placed the carapace sample upon it. Then, similarly to his construction efforts back in Fibeslay, Gerrik used a strong rope slung over a high branch, in which he had carved a groove for the rope to fit in. The other end of the rope he tied to a big heavy rock with a flattened underside. Using his pulley, Gerrik lifted the rock as high as he could, then released it. The rock plummeted down under the force of gravity and crashed into the carapace, flattening it a little bit. Gerrik then repeated this cycle, hauling the rock upwards over a few minutes of muscular strain then leting it fall and strike, making that carapace that little bit flatter.

It was exhausting work, but the progress was noticeable. Gerrik might have continued on by force of will until the job was complete if he wasn't approached by another hain with a basket in her arms.

"What's this racket you're making?" the new arrival said.

Gerrik's head twisted so that one pair of eyes was looking at the arrival while the other pair continued to watch the rock he was lifting. It was the same female that had informed him of the presence of the star-fiend. Gerrik did not initially respond, as pulled the rope another half-metre and held the rope in place by looping it once around his right hand, which was partially covered by the Guardian Shield, so he could regain his breath for the next burst. Only then did Gerrik spare the strength to speak.

"Sharon, wasn't it?" Gerrik greeted, his words strained somewhat as he tried to keep his footing against the force of the rock. "I'm trying to. Make something. Out of the star-fiend's carapace."

Gerrik heaved on the rope once more, grunting as he did so, lifting the rock another half metre. His muscles burned and ached, and his chest rose and fell as his lungs fought to obtain enough oxygen to keep up the task. It was an impressive display of strength and endurance, well above and beyond what a normal hain could do, and Sharon could not help but be mildly awed.

But Sharon also had a few more practical things on her mind. Her head tilted back slightly as she said, "Were you going to lift rocks all day or are you going to actually do something useful?"

Gerrik pulled another half metre of rope. "I haven't just. Been lifting. Rocks." Gerrik suddenly released the rope, and the rock hurtled down and struck the hard ground below with a great thud. Sharon jumped at the noise of the impact. "I've been dropping them too," Gerrik replied wryly.

Gerrik shook his arms and rolled his neck. "You're heading out foraging, aren't you? I'll come help," Gerrik offered, "I need a break anyway."

Sharon seemed hesitant to accept Gerrik's offer at first, then relented. "I suppose an extra pair of hands is always useful," she said.

Gerrik retrieved his half-flattened lump of star-fiend carapace, picked up a bag and the pair headed into the forest to look for food. They started around Sharon's normal foraging spot, collecting ripe berries from some bushes, but Gerrik was quick to find other foods to collect. Gerrik approached a patch of ground which appeared to contain merely small shrubs, pulled out a wooden scoop, and began digging at the earth.

"What are you doing?" Sharon asked quizzically.

From the churned dirt, Gerrik uprooted one of the small shrubs, lifting up a fat, dirt-covered tuber. "There's good eating on one of these," Gerrik replied, severing the shrub from the tuber with a flint knife and depositing the tuber in his bag.

As Gerrik began digging up another, Sharon asked, "How did you know where to find that?"

"I spend a lot of time as a nomad. I've got to know where to find food," Gerrik explained, "And I have a knack for spotting things."

They had soon got what food they could from that area and moved on to look for more food elsewhere in the forest. Sharon knew where a few trees bearing some nice fruit were, and led Gerrik there. When they got there, however, they found no ripe fruit within reach from the ground, although some could be seen higher up.

"I'll climb up and drop the fruit down to you," Gerrik said, putting his bag on the ground. In a swift motion he jumped up and grabbed onto a low branch, hauling himself up to stand on it, the branch shaking under the load but staying intact. With grace and speed Gerrik ascended the tree, his footing, balance and grip maintained with the surety of someone well practised in moving their body. When he came within reach of a ripe fruit, Gerrik plucked it and dropped it towards Sharon below. Guided by his Perception, Gerrik knew exactly which branches could support his weight and those which wouldn't.

It was not too long before Gerrik had harvested all the ripe fruit in the tree, even from the top of the tree, and their foraging bags and baskets were stuffed full. With all the food they could carry, Gerrik and Sharon headed back to the village.

"I will admit," Sharon said, "I had never collected so much food so quickly."

"Could you say I've done something useful today, more than just lifting rocks all day?" Gerrik jested.

Sharon looked down shyly for a moment before replying, "I suppose you could say that. Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Gerrik replied, "Helping is what I do."


[hider=Summary]
Gerrik travels across multiple villages, until he reaches the village of Tallgrass. There he finds a Realta corpse, killed earlier by Teknall, in a nearby burnt out field. He experiments a bit with the material the Realta is made from, naming it 'star-fiend carapace' (because this is the Stone Age and 'metal' isn't a thing yet), and uses the Eenal Bow to sever a small chunk of it to work with.

Gerrik sets up a big hammer, involving dropping a heavy stone from a great height, to flatten his carapace chunk into something workable. As he does this, he is met by Sharon, a hain woman going out to forage. Sharon is unimpressed by Gerrik's apparently wasteful use of time and energy, so Gerrik goes foraging with her. Using his special skills, they collect their quota much faster than normal, and Sharon is fairly impressed.

Khookie Summary
Gerrik Far-Teacher
Start: 18 Khookies
Spent: 2 Khookies to identify star-fiend carapace as a useful, albeit difficult to work, material
Earned: 10 Khookies (13000+ characters)
End: 26 Khookies
[/hider]