A while later once the water had cooled somewhat he got his hands in and started scrubbing. He had to be careful not to scrub to hard or he was liable to rip one of the small tears open but Gar was in no hurry so he worked them over carefully removing as much dirt and grime as he could. Once he had gotten as much of the mess off as he could he laid them out to dry as he continued trying to forget about the pain in his leg by staring into the fire.
He couldn’t be bothered to move so he had a badger drag out the bag of nuts for him to eat as he sat. He was surprisingly hungry for not having done anything and he munched through many nuts even roasting pods over the fire. When the trousers where dry he managed to get up to get his sewing supplies and a patch of material cut from his sheet. He started patching the hole the death dog had torn, again with patients and care for his actions in no rush enjoying any activity that occupied his hands and mind.
“Sewing levelled up sewing level 2”
Once the patch was done he worked through sewing up each small rip and tear, only stopping to grab more nuts or pods to eat. By the time he was done his trousers almost had more stitched sections than not. If he didn’t find civilisation soon he was going to have to work out how to make his own clothes. Figuring the wound had been aired enough and already feeling tired Gar bandaged up his leg. Then awkwardly he got his trousers on while trying not to move his leg to much then hopping to his bed and crashing for the night.
Gar woke up in surprisingly little pain it still hurt particularly right where the wound was deepest but it was not the same level of pain it had been. He undid the bandages and checked his leg. There was a lot of improvement, most of the area around the bite that had been necrotic had what appeared to be a thin layer of bone white skin covering it. It was tender but no longer bloody or weeping and he had a large scab over the actual bite. it was healing much faster than injury’s like that ever did on earth it should have been weeks not days before it was like that.
He got up and found that hobbling around didn’t really change the pain he was in so he could be a bit more mobile. He looked to the cliff wall and shook his head he may have been able to move but he wasn’t ready to climb yet. With some movement back Gar was looking for something to keep him busy. His eyes settled on the pile of carapace. He was going to make something he had considered before but dismissed as he hadn’t seen a need or had the resources to do it. He was going to make armour. Gars recent misadventures had shown there where things he needed protection from and if he’d had some armour he might have been able to avoid his whole recent painful ordeal.
If he was going to do it he was going to make the best he could, so he sorted through the piles of carapace pulling out the pieces from the queens guard ant. With the pieces laid out in front of him he started to work out what sort of armour he needed. He didn’t think a helmet was necessary as his horns where incredibly tough and protected much of his head, while his new set of mandibles sticking out of his face wasn’t really going to let much cover his face. He defiantly wanted some sort of chest piece but it couldn’t restrict his movement too much particularly in his shoulders or arms. He wanted some sort of arm guard or vambrace, his hands though needed to stay free. He never knew where or when danger would come in this wild place so he would practically have to wear the armour all the time that meant even when doing complex tasks so he needed full use of his hands.
He also wanted his feet free he had gotten used to walking around barefoot and the extra balance and agility it afforded when on rough or slippery terrain and the advantages when climbing. Not to mention the points of his toes where just as sharp if not sharper than the ones in his fingers they were likely to shred any shoes he wore and if he could remember them they could be devastating weapons in a fight. That meant it was some kind of gear for his lower leg as opposed to a large boot. The upper leg and thigh was difficult it defiantly needed protection as his recent injury showed it was how to do it that wasn’t obvious. What he settled on was if he had plates over his lower thigh while he made his body piece come down over his legs like a long shirt or a short dress that should give reasonable protection while not hindering movement much.
With a basic idea for what he wanted it was just a matter of working out how to make it. He built a fire as he thought and found himself wishing for some sort of armour making skill as he had realised that the skills always give him a nudge in the right direction. Why couldn’t he get an armour making skill? It would be beneficial his experiences so far in this world had shown him he was going to have to fight to survive. Gar thought about his skills it was the first time he had actually tried to earn a skill previously it had just happened when he was doing something. So the first step was to start doing the thing he wanted the skill for, Gar would start with the vambraces for his forearm as they seemed like the easiest piece to make.
He took a piece of the queen’s guard carapace plating and dropped it into the fire. Thinking about patterns and decorations he could put on the armour as he watched it heat up. When he pulled the carapace from the fire he shook his head to clear it of the frivolous thoughts of decoration. He was making something to help him survive his only concern would be functionality. The queens’ guard carapace was again hotter than the worker or soldiers, fortunately for Gar it was still just about workable with his bare hands. He worked the plate into a rectangular sheet as long as his forearm, and then placing it on his arm he wrapped it around leaving a thin gap along the inside of his arm. He gave the ends a bit of shaping to allow full movement at the wrist and elbow while letting the piece cool. When it was completely cooled he realised the problems. It rubbed and moved incredibly uncomfortably and he couldn’t make it tighter or the carapace formed to well to his skin and would stop movement. The bigger problem was he couldn’t get it off, he had thought the flex in the material would allow him to pull it apart at the gap and slip it off and that might have worked with the worker carapace, and there just wasn’t the required give in the carapace of the queens’ guard.
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Gar had to sit through several very uncomfortable minutes as he held his arm as close to the fire as he could before the piece was soft enough to take off. He was going to need something else it would seem the carapace by itself wasn’t going to work as armour. Gar went to his shelter grabbing his conrex claw knife and a couple of the sheets of leather. He had been reluctant to use the leather he had brought with him only using small amounts before this point, he felt that this task was worth it though as it could save his life. He cut a rectangle of leather the same size as the piece of carapace he then cut a long lace of leather. He poked holes with the tip of his knife up the edge of the sheet of leather before wrapping it around his forearm. He then threaded the lace between the holes on either side of the join pulling it tight onto his arm.
Then came the reshaping of the sheet of carapace it needed to not wrap quite as far around his arm. Instead of cutting some off Gar manipulated it so the excess mass would sit along the back of his forearm offering greater protection. It took longer doing it that way Gar knew and he didn’t mind as keeping his hands busy kept his mind off the pain in his leg. Once he was done Gar pressed it back onto his arm over the leather. It left more of the inside of his arm only covered by leather but that meant there was thicker armour on the outside where it was more likely to take a hit. The leather had allowed it to be tightened up enough to stop the rubbing and by undoing the lace he could take it off.
The new problem he found was the carapace slipping on the leather, it didn’t move easily the problem was when it did move it would get in the way of his movement and when taken off the two pieces separated. He wanted a way to fix them together. He heated the carapace again then slowly worked some extra carapace into tabs at the four corners being careful not to take the extra material from any one place and leave a weak spot. He then did the same on the inside making two more tabs in the middle of the piece. Once he had the tabs he laid the leather over the carapace and put little slits in it where the tabs where. The tabs were then slotted through the slits and folded over, holding the leather and carapace together. Gar slipped it back onto his arm and did it up finally getting the message he had been waiting for.
“”New skill acquired armourer level 1”
Armourer it sounded exactly like what he was after with it he would get some slight nudges in the right direction for any problems. Gar noted that he only got his new skill after the piece was done. A few quick tests and Gar was happy with his new piece of armour so it was time to check out his new skill. He pulled up his skill list.
Skills
- Observe, level 5: Allows the user to see details of the world around them.
- Fire starting, level 4: learning the basics of getting fire going, makes the process easier.
- Inspect, level 4: Allows a closer inspection of many things to see more information about them, dependant on other skills and knowledge.
- Climb, level 8: Improves ones climbing ability’s reach for higher heights and you might even get there.
- Traps, level 5: Improves your skill with traps whether they be for prey or enemies.
- Basic spear, level 2: The skill of knowing which end of a spear is which, the pointy end goes in the other guy.
- Knot work, level 4: Knowing the difference between a clove hitch and a sheepshank, joining things with some rope.
- Swimming, level 1: Improves as you swim as you improve how you swim. An improvement to your swimming.
- Hauling, level 5: Can haul more, faster and easier as you level it up. Hauling to pull or drag with effort or force.
- Cooking, level 5: Learn the culinary arts become one of the greats, or not just have good food.
- Woodworking, level 5: How to use a bit of wood to do many things. Well some things for now.
- Carving, level 4: Slowly remove material until you bring out the thing you wanted.
- Felling, level 1: See that tree standing there, cut it down, well done now you are felling.
- Throwing, level 1: Use your body and your physical strength to propel an object through the air, throwing things.
- Butchery, level 4: The art of taking apart a corpse and breaking it down into useful parts.
- Mana Control, level 8: Mana that ephemeral base of magic, just make it do what you want.
- Sharpening, level 1: Change things from blunt to sharp.
- Sewing, level 2: With needle and thread anything can happen.
- Cartography, level 6: Draw maps.
- Death magic, level 5: The energy of death itself is yours to command.
- Bite, level 1: Attack with your mouth (or mandibles) they won’t expect that.
- Leather working, level 1: It’s been dried and tanned now what do you do with it, why not make something nice.
- Mining, level 1: Take what you can from the ground but no one said it would be easy.
- Armourer, level 1: They find it easier to not get hurt if there is something between them and enemies, preferably a wall but armour will do.
Free skill points: 3