"Well, I guess that's ok." Michelle grumbled as TJ stuck out his hand for a shake. She shook her head before shaking his hand, but she did take it. Then, with a sigh and a frustrated wave of her hand, she gave TJ permission to cut both legs, one hand, and one horn off. The thoughts of what exactly he'd do with all that he'd plundered raced through his mind, but his general plan had been made.
It hadn't taken long for TJ to locate the corpse. When he told Michelle that he wanted the whole thing, the Blacksmith and he'd engaged in a battle for the ages. Or, perhaps more correctly, there'd been some serious bartering that'd swiftly begun. He wanted most of the usable materials, so he was expecting some resistance. He got it, and eventually, he had to admit that taking all the limbs, claws, and horns was too much. When he walked away with all that he'd taken, TJ knew that Michelle had been generous with him. Thus, as he stripped the desiccated flesh from the wendigo's bones, TJ didn't think about what he was doing as much as diving into a particular aspect of his Occupation:
Though this Class isn't focused on crafting as a whole, the Savage Shaman is focused on creating items that amplify the spiritual aspects of materials presented to them.
There was much more to the bones and claws than just their physical aspects, and TJ tried to inspire his Occupation to help him to bind the disparate bones together as one single, much larger stave. He wanted to create a spear using the two legs' bones as the haft, but they were, by nature, not a single, long pole. He couldn't weld them together, could he? As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his Occupation and Introductory Divine Primitive Craftsmanship worked together to warn him that no, it wouldn't work. Even such a mouthful of a Skill wasn't just giving him that information. So, he could tie it together, but that would make for a weak point that he didn't want to have exploited. So how to make the bone merge?
As far as he knew, there wasn't anything that he could do to "smelt" the bones together, but he figured if anyone knew, it might be Stanton. When he found the old cowboy, though, he was sitting with his legs crossed in the middle of his little garden, his eyes shut tight. Before TJ could reach out and shake him, Zig called out, "Don't touch him."
TJ turned and fought to keep his face neutral as he asked, "Is something going on?"
"He's evolving." Her tone was clipped and unkind.
"Alright, thanks." He didn't want to talk with her any longer, from guilt and hurt feelings on both sides, as well as who knew what other cocktail of complicated emotions. She didn't call out as he walked away, and he didn't turn back. Maybe he could have done something about the hurt and anger between them, but he also didn't want to open himself up to that pain and anger. Instead, he went to find Michelle, who seeing him walk back so soon after taking so much of the wendigo's precious materials, bristled.
He raised both hands placatingly. "I just wanted to know if there's some way to bind the bone together to make a single long haft for the spear I'm making. Wanted advice, not to wring you totally dry."
Michelle let her hammer fall from its threatening position. "I have no clue. You get bones too hot, they burn, crack, break, and so on. I have no idea what to do to get them to stick together."
"Well, crap." TJ sighed. "I've got nothing either. But I wanted to make a spear out of those materials."
"I had my ankle fused when I was a bit younger." Michelle offered with a shrug. "But they used metal and let the bone grow together. And anyways, it's not like you can do that with bones from a re-killed undead monster, right?"
"I… have no idea. But I'm willing to give it a try." TJ replied with a chuckle. "Good luck. See if you can't get some rest tonight."
"I'll try, but no promises." Michelle rolled her neck as she replied. "I've got plenty of things to do, and I wonder if getting more experience would just be better than getting a little more sleep."
"Wish I knew." TJ replied as he walked away. "Thanks for the idea."
"Sure."
TJ jogged back to this workstation, his mind already made up. Now that he had the idea, Savage Shaman assured him that the idea could work, with enough put into it. If MP would be enough to make that work, then he'd have a spear before long. The only issue with experimenting was finding what could be used instead of the metal braces…
He continued mumbling to himself about ideas as he sat down and looked at the series of bones that were laid in front of him. Most spears were long, longer than a person was tall, but he didn't feel the need to have a full-sized one. Instead, he would focus on making it just about his height, maybe as long as 6 feet. Then there was the head, would he use the horn for that? Probably. TJ set the bones in various positions, planning for the design of the spear until, about half an hour later, he settled on the final design, with the bones of the legs patterned in such a way that the haft was mostly straight and ready for fusing. How that would work, exactly, was now time to experiment.
The bones of the wendigo's ankles were distinctly inhuman, which probably helped TJ in what he was doing. The idea that he was elbow deep in the dust from a wendigo's bones wasn't exactly pleasant. Even so, he focused instead on the task at hand. Just squeezing the bones together as hard as he could manage didn't do anything, except to cause his hands to hurt a little. Maybe he could drill out a hole then place a dowel inside to seal them? But that would only be as strong as the dowel itself, so the spear would be way too weak to use. Savage Shaman and his crafting Skill promised that he'd be able to bind them, he was sure.
Then there was the pine sap he'd used as glue, but it was far from sufficient for something like this, since it was just sticky instead of something as strong as epoxy. He considered what Skills he might have to bind it, and he remembered the words that Michelle had said that inspired his choice in the first place. Her ankle was fused, but not by the metal. Those braces were only to hold the bone together until it could bind itself, most of the strength came from the bones themselves. There was only one way that he was capable of healing something other than his own body, so that was what he'd try. With his idea solidified, TJ pressed the bones together and activated Ritualistic Transfer.
At first, it all went according to the same way that the initial casting of the Skill had–speaking some words and soaking it in his blood, but when he tried to pull the bone into the ritual, it resisted. Though it was only two inch-long bones from the wendigo's ankle, they fought and took an additional 50 from each of his HP, MP, and Stamina before they submitted to the ritual and grew together. Then, once he broke their initial resistance, he could use the slight remnants of energy within the bones to reach out to each other. When that internal energy began to run dry, he provided it from himself to keep the bones growing.
Five minutes later, TJ let the two small bones out of his hand. Before he looked at the end result, he appreciated the Skill. He used the energy within the bones themselves to take on part of the load, and only then did TJ realize just how insidious the Skill could be. He could capture someone and, as long as he could overpower their resistance, use them as a battery, dragging them nearly to death as he milked their HP, MP, and Stamina to fuel whatever he wanted to do. He suppressed a shudder at the thought.
"I'll never subject someone to that." He promised aloud to himself before looking down at the one inch square segment of bones and Appraised it.
Shaman-Bound Wendigo bones, Dirt (0): Bones from the ankle of a Dirt (0) tier wendigo, bound together through a Savage Shaman's Skill Ritualistic Transfer.
Not much of a description. They were stained faintly red instead of the ashy gray from before, and when he tried to pull them apart, they resisted. When he threw the little amalgamation to the ground, they didn't shatter. Then, when he grabbed a nearby hammer and smashed the bones with it, they cracked, but not where they'd been made to grow together. AS it was still bound to him through Ritualistic Transfer, TJ felt he could provide any of his three resources to bolster the damage the spear had sustained. That was enough, no, it was more than enough. The only question now was how he'd get enough resources to get the spear done in time. If fusing those two bones took, not counting the 75 of each that the Skill itself demanded, 50 each of all his HP, MP, and Stamina to break open and another 30 of each to fuse, then he couldn't imagine that he'd be able to get to everything he needed to to make a sufficient weapon.
"What were you just saying?" Molly looked over at TJ as she asked. He reread the Skill description and laughed to himself before explaining and asking her for a favor.
—-
About 20 minutes later, Molly shook TJ out of his Meditation. Looking around, she'd managed to gather a surprisingly large amount of people with nothing better to do. Counting himself and Molly, there were 19 people who were going to help him in the creation of this bone spear. Standing up, TJ nodded his thanks to Sarah who stood nearby with a wide grin, and Rebekkah beside her.
"Thank you for coming. I'm going to use a Skill to fuse these bones together into a weapon," TJ explained, "that I'll be using tomorrow in the siege. Since you're willing, I'm going to use some of your MP and Stamina to help complete the weapon I'm making. To begin the Skill, I'm going to do a ritual and then put a little of my blood on your foreheads and the backs of your hands. If you're not comfortable with that, I get it. While you make that decision, I'm going to take a moment to get everything ready."
He chose not to mention the ability he had to take their HP as well, and turned to set all the bones together so that the natural curl of each offset the next. Once they were in the ritual, he thought he might be able to change their shape somewhat, but even if he couldn't, it would still be worth it to have a weapon he could bolster to greater strength with his own resources. Two minutes later, TJ was satisfied that everything was set exactly where it needed to be, and when he turned back to see who would be helping him. Strangely, twenty faces looked back at him. He hadn't paid enough attention to see what two people had thrown themselves into the situation to assist, but he nodded his thanks at everyone as he began to channel Ritualistic Transfer.
The beginning went quickly enough, but with so many people and his excessively large Vitality, he needed to cut his palm open three times to get enough blood to mark each person. Then, with each person anointed, TJ coated each bone with his blood and began to enforce his will over each of the six bones and single horn. Immediately, all three of his resources dropped precipitously. Since he didn't need to physically touch them to force them to submit, he immediately activated Divine Transformation. With twice as much of himself to throw at the problem, he made a small amount of headway, but it wasn't long before he needed to draw on the Stamina and MP of the 20 willing participants in the ritual.
A chorus of sounds of surprise filled the air as the others' resources all drained. The mere numbers he'd spent on his initial experiment were swiftly washed away, and TJ pushed more and more into it. He'd spent 80 of each HP, MP, and Stamina, and he was throwing that amount in against the will of these bones every second. In the back of his mind, he felt that he could do the same thing over time in the future, but that wasn't an option for now. He'd spent thousands, and drawn thousands more before the first, a tibia, bone's resistance snapped. As it pressed against the others, its paired fibula was the second. TJ watched as his blood on each one soaked deeper and deeper until the bones were dyed with the same red as the experimental Shaman-Bound bones.
With each person, once their MP and Stamina reached 15% of their total, he stopped drawing on them. Most fell into a sitting position to begin to Meditate as soon as he stopped pulling some of their strength into his ritual. Before long, most had dropped out, but the last material, the horn, was about to give in. With a roar of challenge, TJ pulled the last bit of will necessary to smash the bone's stubbornness aside, and it too, gave up. Everyone who had been willing to lend their strength was exhausted, though TJ hadn't drawn on anyone's HP except his own for the ritual. He'd still need probably another half of what he'd already spent to get the bones to grow together, but he could wait. He wasn't going to demand that–
"I know you can use it to fill HP," Sarah jumped in, "so can you use some of my HP to fuel this change? I've got plenty, and I'm not leaving the safe zone tonight, so I'd like to see what you can do with some more to throw at it. You know, as long as you leave me with a third of what I've got." The Zealot grinned widely as she spoke.
"I can," TJ said, "but I didn't want to do that just so I can make this weapon."
"To hell with propriety." Sarah countered. "I wanna see you get it done. I bet it'll help me out in my future if I help you create some dope-ass spear anyways."
Most of the other faces reflected that same desire, so, with a grin of his own, TJ spoke. "I'll make sure you don't dip below thirty percent of your totals." Then, without saying anything more, he pumped the life of every person in the circle into the bones. Maybe it was all in his head, but he swore that the bones' growth and fusion was more effective through using HP than the other two resources. To make sure that everything grew together as it was supposed to, he ceased his Divine Transformation and assembled the spear from the bottom to the top, each bone fitting exactly where he'd intended it to.
Before long, the red bones were fused together from the bottom to the top, and only the head remained. As TJ fused the horn to the top, he unfurled it from its loose curl and instead pulled it out into a foot-long spearhead, sharpening the sides and head to an acceptable level. Once the bone fused to the horn, TJ nearly considered it complete, but then remembered the yards of excess leather that remained from the many many javelinas that'd fed the town. He quickly cut long lines into the leather every inch, ready to wrap the bone haft. Then, with plenty of pine sap and a small amount of convincing the bone to cooperate, TJ wrapped the entire thing in leather.
It wasn't pretty, but the bone would be slick in his sweaty hands, and he preferred the entirely leather-wrapped look to the ominous red bones. As he tied the leather off at the head and dolloped a generous amount of pine sap there, he considered the weapon complete. He disregarded the level notifications and instead immediately Appraised the spear.