Tak - Golgnome - Pyro-Geologist

Name: Ptergub Takigmin, or Tak “The Magnificent”
Gender: Male
Age: 173
Race: Gnome
Tribe: Golgnome
Occupation: Geologist and an Inventor.
Title: Pyro-Geologist

Physical Appearance: Tak just looks odd. He is tiny for a gnome, but has the biggest, bulbous nose that most people have ever seen. His bright hair is balding, but he has a full beard and a long mustache that are both the same bright color as his hair, though the edges of both are singed. He curls his beard up to the ends of his mustache, and both of them end in one large curl. He has no eyebrows, Tak jokes that they have been burned off so many times they decided it wasn’t worthwhile to grow back. His skin is also paler than most gnomes, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from all of the ash, burns, dirt, and other chemical stains that cover his body.

Height: 2 Fores and 9 Nailsbreadths
Weight: Roughly 1 Pygge.
Hair Color: Aeruillin Red/ Sor’inyt Orange
Eye Color: Nor’sidian

Clothing: Tak’s clothing is also particular. He wears loose fitting clothes that are specially designed by him with a number of secret pockets, as well as plenty of obvious ones. The robes are Aeruillian Red, but they fade to a Sor’inyt Orange, then to Korwyn Gold along the outer edges. Under these robes he wears a plain Nor’sidian shirt, surprisingly lacking pockets, and Udzera blue pants (with a lot of pockets). He wears sturdy black leather shoes, and will sometimes wear his Spark Gloves (see personal Inventions). He also wears goggles almost all the time. His goggles have interchangeable lenses depending on what he is working with, so he can change the color from a Charcoal, to Ruby, to Emeraude, to his personal favorite, Lyth'bel Yellow.

Personality: Tak is eccentric, loud, and ridiculously over the top. His motto is, “There’s nothing worth doing that isn’t worth overdoing.” He applies this principal to his explosives every chance he gets. Why go with a small charge when a bomb the size of his head would work just as well? Tak has been known to be a Macanti, pretending to have magical powers which he does not actually have; however, he only does this to impress rather than to swindle or harm others. He insists on being called “Tak the Magnificent”. Tak may sometimes been seen as cruel when using his explosives on anything that annoys him; however, Tak would never intentionally cause permanent damage to anyone/anything that didn’t deserve it. Tak also gets carried away very, very easily.

Strengths:
Mad Genius – Part 1: Tak is a mad genius. His obsession with explosives has brought him to new levels of ingenuity. Tak can fashion a bomb out of just about anything, and has just about blown everything up at least once (including himself).

Strange Smoke: Tak’s genius isn’t just limited to explosives, given enough time in his mobile lab, with enough ingredients, he can fabricate just about any chemical he needs whether it’s dyes, acids, poisons, ect. He learned most of his Alchemy as either a failed explosive, or from fellow alchemists as a “what not to mix and inhale/ingest/get on your skin” guide. Many many poisons that Tak has discovered have been from him trying to come up with a new explosive, but instead re-discovering a poisonous gas that Tak has written down two or three times with a big “DO NOT MIX” note in his journals.

Crack Shot: Tak took up the sling-shot, and he’s a fantastic shot with it. Tak’s custom designed wrist mounted sling-shot has an accurate range of nearly 30 Peds, and can launch medium and small sized ammunition at a pace similar to an archer quick firing a bow.

Well Prepared: Tak carries enough ammunition to blow up himself, Buttons, and the wagon several times over. Tak is usually very careful with his equipment, and is prepared for very long fights. He also has an assortment of different types of explosives and flammables so he always has the right type of ammunition for any situation.

The Bigger They Are…: Tak’s motto “There’s nothing worth doing that isn’t worth overdoing.” applies to his biggest bombs. Tak may have conceded that firing smaller projectiles is more practical, it doesn’t mean he only carries small explosions. Tak’s largest explosion may have been an accident, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to re-create it if it wanted to.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You…FIRE!: Tak is a bit of an actor. He would never get into theatre (they don’t like it when you set the roof, the stage, and the audience on fire) but as an amateur, Tak’s acting skills are fairly impressive. Developed mostly as a way to save his hide and his precious explosives, Tak pretends to be a Fire Mage when he’s approached. This touches on most peoples natural fear of being burnt to a crisp. That fear coupled with a few well timed smoke bombs, sparks from his gloves, and maybe an explosion or two can usually chase away the riffraff.

Geology Rocks: Tak has a sincere interest in Geology. He is expert on volcanoes and his studies focus on the interactions of volcanic locations and the geomorphology of the areas around them. Tak doesn’t speak much about his Geologic interests outside of gnomish circles, as most people look at him askew and then call the guard asserting that Tak has lost his mind.

Weaknesses:
Mad Genius – Part 2: Tak is viewed as a little more than a little mad. His research in explosives and his studies of volcanic activities have caused his peers to ostracize him. Among less learned people, they view him as a lunatic with explosives, which has netted him more than one armed escort out of town.

Gnomish Stature: Tak stands a grand total of 2 Fores and 9 Nailsbreadths tall. He isn’t much of a fighter, and with his old age he can’t run too fast or two far. A fight against Tak is like fighting a human child who carries explosives. If someone gets close enough to him, he’s easy pickings, assuming he doesn’t blow himself up.

Whoops: Tak’s experimenting needs to be done in a controlled environment with adequate ventilation, emergency disposal, some sort of fire extinguisher, and, for worse case scenarios, far enough away so he can’t kill anyone else. Tak’s current lab is in the back of his wagon, surrounded by explosive and caustic components, and is either moving or stopped in town. Needless to say these are not the best of circumstances, and they have caused Tak to ruin more than one experiment (and small stretch of forest). Worst case scenario, Tak is in the middle of town and develops an explosive that explodes in his wagon killing him, Buttons, and anyone within the blast radius. What usually happens is Tak accidently makes a poisonous gas, tosses the compound out the back of the wagon, and then feigns ignorance.

Obsessive: Tak has obsessive tendencies, mainly he is always looking for new ways to blow things up, but he’s also fascinated by geology. On more than one occasion he has nearly tumbled off the side of a rock face to get near a particularly interesting geologic formation, or delaying a trip several days nearly running out of food to explore a cave formation.

His obsessive nature stretches further than that though. When Tak has an idea, he will waste all of his resources to see it through. This applies to anything that Tak sets his mind to. So, if Tak dreams up a device that can shoot rabbits across a river, Tak will spend months researching, drafting, developing, testing, and perfecting a device that launches rabbits across a river. And if Tak cannot get it to work, he will keep the idea in the back of his head or in his notes, and when he come across some device or discovers a new compound that could potentially help his idea, he jumps right back in where he left off, tweaking mixtures, structure, and forms until he succeeds…or has to shelve the idea again.

This explains his obsession with his “Combustion Powered Propellant Boots” (or Combustion Boots for short). He cannot figure out how to launch himself and live. Tak has a fit of experimentation with these boots at least once a year, and they have stretched as long as six months. One day Tak will figure out his boots, and then he won’t know what to do with himself.

Impersonator: Tak’s escapades as a Fire Mage from time to time are harmless, mostly. However, Tak never takes into consideration what happens when people find out that he is NOT a Fire Mage. There is something about being lied to by an annoying gnome that makes people want to break out the pitchforks, and then there’s the wagonload of explosives, which many people have never seen or experienced, that makes them bring out the torches. Tak has been called a Demon, a Monster, and an Imposter. In fact, it is quite a common occurrence for Tak to be given an armed escort to the edge of the town – by the entire town. More than once that “escort” became more of a “race” to see if Tak could outrun an angry Mob after accidently exploding a Sparkfire in the middle of the town square.

There’s Nothing Worth Doing That Isn’t Worth Overdoing: Tak’s motto. It gets him into trouble more often than not. There is almost always a line, usually clearly visible, that Tak shouldn’t cross - and he makes sure to cross them all. “Don’t shoot the baby with a Sparkfire to make it stop crying.” “Don’t ignite the local Tavern on fire while you are still in it.” “Don’t tell an Ximaxian Mage that you are TOO a Fire Mage (and especially don’t try to prove it).” These and more are all instances of Tak’s tendency to overdo just about everything. It started out as a fun little jab at the locals, but it has since turned into a compulsion, and is more likely to get Tak killed than his Combustion Boots.

Caution, Flammable: Tak’s preparedness means his wagon is full of enough explosives to level a small village. A stray spark, an intentional flaming arrow, or just one angry fire mage could spell the end of Tak quicker than you can say, “Fire in the hole”.

Weapons: In addition to his custom made sling-shot Tak keeps a variety of explosives on him at all times. He has two of his Super Fragsent bombs, at least a dozen small Fragsent bombs, and another dozen Sparkfire bags. He has half a dozen flasks of Flammable Sticky Solution, half a dozen flasks of gnomish fire, and another dozen ClusterFrags. Tak carries around one or two Fireflowers in his wagon, which can be used as a weapon. There’s also the failed Fragsent Launcher, and an abundance of other acids, explosives, and poisons that Tak has in his wagon that could be used as a weapon. Tak is always experimenting with different chemicals and combustibles, and as such will vary the weapons he has on him at any given time. Those listed above are the ones that he usually has on his person/property.

Belongings: Tak carries most of his belongings in his wagon pulled by his pony, Buttons. He has a small alchemy lab and a great deal of raw materials that the pony pulls behind in a small wagon. He also has a number of failed and in progress inventions in the wagon or latched onto the side. He made a saddle that also functions as a ladder as Buttons is twice his height.

Familiars:
- Buttons: A Sarvonian Draught Pony, Buttons is nineteen years old and has been with Tak for fifteen years. She is big for a Draught Pony, reaching 13 palmspans high, nearly twice the size of Tak. Buttons is a light Barsa Dusk, with splotches of Charcoal and Eophran Brown on her back. Her mane and tail are both a deep Nor’sidian. Her hair is curly; however, Tak isn’t very concerned on her beauty upkeep. The two argue, with Tak yelling at Buttons and Buttons snorting back at Tak, he’s learned to stay out of reach of her mouth as when Buttons gets upset, she will grab Tak and carry him by the seat of his pants. Buttons knows several tricks, including basic directions (Stop, Go, Left, Right) and Fetch.

Personal Inventions:

- Slo-Fuse: Tak's first real invention. He took string, wax, and torch-ore, melting the wax and torch-ore together, and then set the string in it, letting the wax melt around the string. This gives Tak enough time to light a Fragsent or Sparkfire so he can throw it and run.

- Fireflowers: Tak's second invention. Tak took leather, rolled it into a cylinder and stuffed it with Malthanune, Torch Ore, Saltpetre, and the contents of Sparkfire bags. He included a Slo-fuse near the top so the items would burn from the top down. This produced a steady stream of sparks.

- Super Fragsent: Tak's studies with alchemists and his own research into minerals and substances around Sarvonia have resulted in a new and semi-improved Fragsent. The clay for the original fragsent is altered with a Ghostine that will burn at an incredible heat. This creates flaming super hot debris that fly through the air when the Fragsent explodes, it also has the added benefit of being much smaller than normal Fragsent. However, there is a drawback, it makes the Fragsent highly volatile, and Tak only carries one or two on his person at any given time.

- Fragsent Launcher: An unsuccessful invention that could be used for other purposes. The idea was to either launch a Fragsent further than you can throw, or to launch a large Fragsent far enough so you are mostly out of danger. This particular design resulted in launching a gout of flaming shrapnel out of the steel tube, with the Fragsent detonating inside instead of on impact further away. Tak is currently experimenting with this device to see if it could be used for combat and had one primed and loaded on his wagon.

- Spark Gloves: Spark gloves are a quick way for Tak to use his small explosives without needing an open flame. They are a pair of black leather gloves with a small piece of steel on his thumb. On each of his other fingers, he has ribbed pieces of flint. To light his explosives, he holds the slo-fuse on the side of his left index finger, and runs the steel along all of the flint, creating sparks. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but once a spark ignites the fuse, he can go ahead and shoot the explosive.

Tak is working on a new version of this, which has the thumb dipped in Bitumen or has a special divot in his palm for Torch-ore, however these need field testing first.

- Abngor and Tak’s Super Flammable and Sticky Solution: As the name states, it’s Tak’s tribute to Abngor , combining Abngor’s super sticky solution with Tak’s knowledge of explosives and flammables. The result is something akin to Gnomish Fire that sticks to you and is nearly impossible to get off. Even a small vial (such as one that Tak can shoot with his sling-shot) is enough to cause severe burn damage, and will cause normal people to panic, and attempt to extinguish the substance.

- The ClusterFrag: Really just several burning stones in a bag of Sparkfire, the sparkfire sends the stones flying, which then themselves ignite upon impact.

- Wrist Mounted Sling Shot: A sling-shot that Tak made custom in an attempt to deal with the elasticity problems he had with human sling-shot design. The design is more like a wrist mounted ballista. Located on his left arm, when Tak rotates his wrist it trips a spring that ‘pops up’ the sling-shot. Instead of an elastic spring, Tak uses bow string and similar principles where the metal for the sling-shot bends to provide additional thrust. The sling-shot allows him to accurately shoot nearly thirty peds, and shoot quickly.

- Combustion Boots: Tak has been working on Combustion boots for the better part of 100 years. Every single one of them ends in an explosion. Tak believes he is getting close, and, in time, will perfect Combustion powered boots!

Tak is always testing new designs for his explosive concoctions. It’s a common sight for him to be shooting a vial of something at a tree stump and see the stump explode, or see Tak jumping up and down in frustration.

History:

Tak was born in a nice house that wrapped around the trunk and some of the stronger branches of a tree in the Goltherlon Woods. Tak picked up his nickname when he wouldn’t respond to Ptergub, but would respond to his family name, Takigmin. Other than this, his youth was uneventful, attending Junior Gnomeling School from when he was 10 to when he was 30. He excelled in math and sciences, but had a hard time with reading and writing, and did poorly in history. Needless to say he was happy when science and math became more of the focus in Middle Gnomeling school. In High Gnomeling School, when they first learned Chemistry and Alchemy, Tak blew off his eyebrows. He did so again before he started High Gnome Academy. In High Gnomeling School, Tak discovered that he really liked Alchemy. But through pressure from his family he felt he had to study Geology instead of Alchemy in High Gnome Academy.

In the Academy Tak made friends with several alchemists and they all experimented with different combinations of substances, they called themselves the Alchemic Association of Realistic Gnomes, or AARG. The AARG created a great many devices and chemicals, some of the other members created a poisonous gas that almost killed the lot. Another group invented incredibly strong glue. Tak created compounds that set fire to their club house, twice. Here Tak grew very fond of fire, explosives, and explosions.

Tak and another gnome from the AARG, Gnor, began exploring. The two started out only venturing into the hills to “gather supplies”, but the further their ventures took Tak out of Goltherlon, the further he wished to go. The landscape amazed him. He and Gnor began reading about various places far away, places they both knew they would never see, but both dreamed of. After reading about gnomish theory that the High Fores might have been pushed up from underground, Tak gained a further interest in Geology. The thought of some huge thing being able to push mountains up from underground intrigued Tak to no end, he found he enjoyed Geology as much as he did Alchemy. On one of their ‘expeditions’, Tak and Gnor stumbled into a human camp. The humans were leery, but not hostile. They scared the two gnomes off, but Gnor thought they were hunting them. It took the two gnomes two days to return from what was supposed to be a quick trip, they spent the whole time hiding and only traveling by night. Tak was unphased, but Gnor had nightmares for weeks. He refused to go on any more adventures, and never left the forest again. Tak, without anyone to explore with, stayed in the forest until he graduated.

When he graduated Gnome Academy, he became an apprentice to Abngor Baledar, a recluse Geologist who dabbled in Alchemy. Abngor was the inventor of “Abngor’s Secret Sticky Solution”, a closely guarded secret concoction that sticks to any surface. It’s not a glue, it doesn’t dry; however it’s nearly impossible to get off without hours of scrubbing. The solution is very popular amongst young gnomes to dye various colors and stick it on an unsuspecting parent. Abngor thought that the ground moved based on physical processes and not magic. Abngor was viewed by the rest of the gnomish society as a menace, a poor influence on their children. Every time he left, the gnome parents breathed a sigh of relief, but when he returned they would try to keep their children away from him, afraid that his stories of adventure would somehow transform them into thrill seekers. Needless to say, Abngor was a perfect mentor for Tak. He promised to take Tak on a grand adventure, where he could learn so much more than he could in the confines of the forest. Abngor played on Tak’s interest in explosions and fire and showed him the Heckran Volcano. It was all Abngor could do to keep Tak from leaping into the lava to see what made the fiery mountain tick.

Abngor’s studies took Tak not just all around Sarvonia, but all around Caelereth. They searched for similar geologic structures and studied volcanoes. While doing so, Tak drafted, planned, and created several failed inventions. During this time Abngor taught Tak the basics of Alchemy, mostly the explosive side of Alchemy.

After seeing the fire spell Sparkling Stream for the first time, Tak got the idea of “fireflowers”. His first tests involved his own version of the spell he called “fireflowers”, an attempt to recreate the sparks using various explosive minerals. His very first test was successful, and the device sparked beautifully. Only, there was an unexpected side effect, when knocked over, the fireflower streamed across the ground at an incredible speed. This gave Tak his very first idea of Combustion Boots, an aspiration that would consume him for the rest of his life. His first test of the boots was done with his own boots and modified fireflowers. He was launched 60 peds just barely above the ground before the device broke off and exploded a few peds away. Abngor proposed a stronger case, and to use something else instead of Tak for the experiment of any other future tests. Tak took this advice and quickly made a test dummy out of cloth and filled with Alth'ho Grass. This proved to be a good idea when Tak used better bindings and blew the test dummy in half. This experimenting and traveling the world in search of geologic features carried on for forty years

During one of their Geology excursions Tak developed one of his first successful inventions, the Slo-Fuse. He discovered it by accident, when he attempted to make a “Fragsent Launcher”. The launcher consisted of a Steel tube Tak filled with his secret launch powder but Tak reasoned there would be a problem with launching it. He figured one of two things could happen, either it would be successful, or the whole thing would explode. Abngor's teachings had sunk into the gnome, and he decided he needed a way to launch it from far enough away he would be safe from any unwelcome blast. He took string, wax, and torch-ore, melting the wax and torch-ore together, and then set the string in it, letting the wax melt around the string. This fuse, only four nailsbredths long, gave him enough time to run away. It was a good thing too, because once it ignited the launch powder, the powder exploded and caused the Fragsent to explode in the tube. Because of this spectacular failure, Tak realized the explosive potential for Fragsents, however he quickly discovered the lack of practicality, as he couldn’t throw a large explosive far enough to avoid a blast. However, Tak kept the design in his notes as a possible weapon for launching tiny explosives, or shrapnel forward.

Tak and Abngor’s adventures weren’t all fun and games. They met bandits on more than one occasion. Usually they could get by with a small show of explosives via throwing Sparkfire and scaring them off. Sometimes Abngor would play Fire Mage and Tak was responsible with lighting and throwing explosive in the general direction of the bandits, timing it with Abngor’s dramatic hand jesters and chanting. Only once had the bandits not been scared off, and Tak and Abngor had to result to lighting fireflowers on fire and exploding half of their wagon.

During the end of Abngor’s last expedition, he fell into the Heckran volcano while returning home to Goltherlon. Tak had insisted on visiting his favorite volcano. Abngor was testing a new type of heat-resistant cloth when he lost his footing and tumbled into the volcano. Tak took his death very hard. Abngor had become a surrogate father to Tak and they had grown very close over the years. So, distraught over his mentor death, Tak went back home to study Alchemy with his fellow gnomes. Becoming more reclusive and an outcast, Tak began working on more explosive inventions, turning back to his passion. Tak built a lab at the base of a tree in the Goltherlon forest, his lab quickly expanded to encompass most of the bottom and lower branches of the tree. In this lab, Tak experimented for just over sixty years.

He also developed an ego. The thrill of creating a new explosive that explodes violently in your face became an addition for Tak. Every time he made a new explosive, or a new flammable compound that didn’t blow him apart he thought himself invincible. He began calling himself “Tak the Magnificent”. He made another attempt at his combustion boots, using a newly formulated mixture that put more emphasis on outward force than sparks and explosions. The end result from this was exceptionally bad and it blew up his favorite pair of pants. It was in this attempt that he discovered how useful Ghostine was, and that it could be used to hold a Fragsent charge.

His first attempt at adding Ghostine into a Fragsent blew off his eyebrows permanently, and left him with a scar above his left eye where a shard of the clay embedded into his face while it was still smoldering. Tak, gleeful as ever, made two more attempts and found the right consistency for the clay so the Ghostine wouldn't ignite before the bomb exploded.

It was also here where he developed his Spark Gloves. Having a constant open flame near some of his explosives was too dangerous, if he wasn't careful and a small ember landed on his pack, there was a good change the whole thing would go up in flames. But fumbling with a tinder box left very little time to light and throw any explosive, and if you misplaced it you were out of luck. So he developed gloves that he could use to create sparks with. He placed the steel on the thumb so he could direct which way the sparks went, and with a slight alteration of his slo-fuse, he discovered that he could light the fuse with ease, and could even light multiple line of the fuse at once while keeping any sparks contained in his gloves.

Tak also experimented with sling-shots. It started with the mimsy. The creatures took a liking to Tak’s tree lab. At first, their presence went unnoticed. Then they started knocking over vials of acids or concoctions of dyes. Tak finally snapped with one particularly bold mimsy got too close to a burner, lit its tail on fire, and proceeded to run across the room to where Tak stored his explosive powders. The ensuing detonation nearly killed Tak, burnt off all of his hair, and left his ears ringing for days. Furious Tak took it upon himself to rid what was left of his lab of these pests. He took up the sling-shot. He had found the sling-shot years ago while Abngor was still alive, a human child traded it to him for a fireflower. Tak was amused with the elastic bands, but found the toy lacking in sophistication. Now, the gnome finally found a use for it. Tak quickly became a crack shot with the toy, however he was disappointed with the elastic bands, as they wore out rather quickly and he needed to constantly trade for new ones. He made a note in his journal to find a way to increase the life of the bands.

One of Tak’s favorite things to do was load a small bag of Sparkfire, light it and then launch it with the sling-shot. It never did any real damage, the mimsy were too big, and the loadable ammunition for the sling-shot was too small, but it scared the daylights out of them and amused Tak to no end.

He also experimented with Abngor’s Secret Sticky Solution. Tak had taken Abngor’s notebook after he died and learned how to make Abngor’s more prized secret. True to his nature, Tak also figured out how to make it flammable. He mixed equal parts of Abngor’s Solution and Gnomish Fire, the result was a more viscous solution of Gnomish Fire. Tak found that if you fill a greased vial with the stuff, lit a fuse, and then threw it (or shot it) at a target, the vial would shatter on the intended target, and it would quickly be engulfed in flames. Tak almost tested it on the mimsy, but felt it would be too cruel, instead opting to test a flask of the sticky solution. It worked like a charm.

Tak eventually grew tired of his experimenting in the Goltherlon forest. He missed his travels, he knew what Abngor had said was true, that there was only so much he could discover here. Tak missed seeing new geologic formations, and he wished to travel Sarvonia once again. However this time, he opted to go on an “Alchemical and Geologic Expedition” as he called it. He sold his laboratory to a wealthy young gnome inventor, then he turned to the Caltharian Tribe and traded a great many dyes and in exchange for supplies.

They provided him with Buttons, a Sarvonian Draught Pony, and a wagon to store the many raw materials Tak thought he may need. Packing up his mobile lab, he bid his home farewell. Tak rode in the wagon that Buttons pulled.

Tak’s first stop was to collect samples from the Norong Sorna Volcano. He had heard of Magather Stones (burning stones) and thought they would do wonders for some of the explosive he was trying to create. He was having problems with his fuses staying lit after being launched from a sling-shot, and heard that the Magather Stones release heat when struck with force and set out to find as much of the stuff as he could.

Not very long after leaving the forest, Tak was ambushed by bandits. Of course they would attack him, a two fore tall gnome on the back of a pony carrying nearly a full sized wagon full of valuables. It was too good to pass up. However, these bandits had never met a gnome quite like Tak before. Tak had dealt with bandits before, but always with Abngor .

There were three of them, humans, ragged and haggard. One had a sword, rusty and notched, while the other two wielded clubs. When Tak waved at them politely, they just laughed. “Wait!” Tak yelled, stopping the humans in their tracks. “I am a Fire Mage! Level…Level Seventeen!” He snapped his fingers with his spark gloves on in an attempt to ‘show his power’. The men with the clubs hesitated, but the one with the sword was clearly unimpressed.

“How ‘bout ye git down, ‘n we don have ta hurt ya.” He said, motioning to the other two to grab Tak off of his wagon.

“Not so fast! Buttons, Go!” Tak yelled with a dramatic hand gesture for the pony to start running. Buttons turned, looked over her shoulder, and snorted. “Stupid Pony! Go Go GO!” Tak jumped up and down on his seat, furious. All three men were laughing, the one with the sword doubled over with laughter. “Fine! Take this!” Tak reached in his pocket and pulled out a Super Fragsent, lit it with his spark gloves and threw it at the lead bandit. The Fragsent caught him square in the chest and exploded, knocking the man backward and catching his tunic on fire. Buttons took the explosion as a cue to start moving again, Tak lit a Sparkfire and threw it at the other two bandits, who quickly scattered. Tak readied another Sparkfire, and looked behind to see the would-be bandits helping their leader put out the fire. Giggling uncontrollably, Tak yelled back to them, “And never forget the time Tak the Magnificent let you live!” He settled back into his seat. “Good Pony. I need to work on my acting, what a waste of explosives.”

While traveling to the Shendar, Tak worked on his acting and theatrical skills. He used small smoke bombs, which exploded loudly and had produced a great deal of smoke, but no fire or flash before announcing himself.

Tak eventually made it to the Narfost Plain, after nearly setting his cart on fire twice, fighting off a pack of wolves, and being carried by Buttons for nearly a Stral by the seat of his pants (a trick Buttons could do that the humans failed to mention). He set out to find a guide who could take him to the foot of Norong'Sorno. As they traveled through the desert and around the mountains, Tak kept a detailed journal and drawings of every feature he saw, documenting various geologic processes, and collecting a few samples. When they finally reached the territory of the Shen-Siuu, Tak was beside himself with anticipation. He struck a deal with them, trading several crates of burning stone rocks for dyes that Tak concocted right in front of them. For several days, Tak created custom dyes for the people in exchange for supplies for a return trip.

Here, Tak devised his favorite weapon. Tak filled a bag with Sparkfire and burning stones and shot it from a sling-shot. The Sparkfire would explode, sending the burning stones flying, which would then themselves ignite on contact. Tak called it a Cluster Frag and went about experimenting with several different variations, one that could be lit then thrown, and another, larger one that would require a full grown human to throw for it to explode at a safe distance.

Tak became a bit of a packrat, collecting rocks and trinkets from the Shendar and any other people he came across, his wagon full of miscellaneous junk. He used some of it for studies, before trading his junk for more junk. Tak didn’t feel that he needed to hang on to his specimens, just his findings, which accumulated into several volumes of writings, drawings, sketches, and observations. These are very important to Tak, and he continues to expand his journals (now numbering nearly a dozen) while traveling and exploring new places of Geologic and Alchemic interest.