78 Glade 121
One thing always led to another, that was how progress worked and advancements were normally so interconnected that progress in one field could satisfy the needs of another This was how it happened for Dakkur. Despite the usual assumption that magic and technology were so distinctly separate, they could never be able to meet in any common ground, it was something he felt while designing an item for runeforging which inspired him to try something new with his gadgets. But of course the usual assumption of magic and technology is inherently flawed. Dakkur knew it through the examples of guns, trains and airships and if he could realize it, there should be plenty of other people who realized it too however in the unlikely event that this was not the case and Dakkur was an outlier to such thinking, could he be the pioneer to new ground? More ambitious men would be excited at the thought but Dakkur who through his family had some familiarity with those with ambition knew he wanted nothing of it. Being a pioneer would be too much work and responsibility. If he was going to do any serious work, should he not be doing it for his own benefit?Which is why this item he was going to make, was going to be for himself and only himself. For anyone else, they should just consider themselves lucky to be able to benefit off it if they had the chance.
As someone with enemies, Dakkur needed a way to get hostiles off his back but as someone more inclined to mental practices violence was not his forte. It would be more accurate to describe him as someone adverse to violence. It was funny since he had one of the more violent weapons to have been introduced to the world recently- relatively recently, a way to add killing potential to the common man, a gun. For Dakkur however the gun was more of an interesting piece of study rather than a means. He would only ever use it as a last resort although given how recognizable it was, he could not dispute its usefulness as a deterrence if he just brandished it around. To that end he wanted something more suitable for him to use as his nature would allow him to and his answer came from something uncovered in Zeraphesh from long ago. In fact he remembered tossing one of those around for fun with his friends until the camp leader had to come round and ruin their fun.
Bolas!
Now any idiot could make bolas, no one actually needed any sort of experience to make them and knowledge? What more is there to know other than to put some weights at the end of some interconnected cord? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dakkur did not know how long it would take the ordinary layperson to make one of those for themselves but he was confident he could make a few easily within a day, hours actually, mi- actually not that fast so hours. However that would be too simple. Too boring. Too inelegant. Completely unsuited for someone like him so why should he remain satisfied with the common make of the bola? Why not take it further? Add his own twist to it? This was where the problem was. The design of the bola everyone knew? It was too simple and its functionality was too reliant on that simplicity so what could he do? All the artisans knew this one rule intuitively. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
So just what was it about the bola which was broke? Its lethality? Its stopping power? Its weight? Wait, wait Dakkur knew the answer to this one. Maybe it was because he and his peers were untrained idiots but he remembered the times they ended up tripping because of the bolas, their own bolas, their own bolas which have yet to been thrown at anything... Yes they were idiots but being idiots had allowed Dakkur to recognize what he wanted to fix, the portability of the bolas. Now the question remained, just how was he going to improve the portability of the bolas if they were nothing more than weights tied together by some cord? Keep the weights and cord separate until needed with some assembly required? That would waste a lot of time and anyone who had to use a set of assemblable would likely get whacked long before they were able to use the assemblable bolas.
And this was how Dakkur continued. He first realized he had to make more portable bolas and they had to be in a completed state ready to use. What next? What did he mean by portability. Obviously it meant not messily dangling around his shoulders and waist but how was he going to fix that? He put a little more thought into it. What could he do? He has had plenty of successful projects so it would not be hard, he even made the anyt- Oh if he made it like that past project, it might just work. Excitedly, Dakkur drew up the schematics and did the calculations. Just how heavy would he need a set of bolas to be for it to be effective? "I would like to see some of your bolas" in a quick trip to the weapon store. He had no plans to but any but he acted like he did just so he could get his hands on them and test them. Unless he was already tired, he finally reached the set he found the lightest in playing them by hand and asked its weight and materials. Very curious questions but nothing suspicious for the informed customer. Taking the chance he asked "mind if I try these" and took a few bolas to the targets.
Dakkur's lack of experience and ability showed almost immediately, not quite the informed customer as the shopkeeper had to point out he was doing it all wrong from the way he was wildly flailing it to the way he was holding unto the weights and cords to make his throws. "How would you do it then?" Dakkur asked with his frustration showing Whatever happened to the customer was always right? However to his credit the shopkeeper made a really good demonstration. It did not look like he put much strength behind his throws but the bola still smoothly flew in the air and wrapped it around the target. While it was to his satisfaction, Dakkur declined to have it wrapped up as he never had the intention to but and allowed his annoyance of being shamed with his own poor performance to take charge as he led himself out of the store because he hated this store. Hopefully the owner was not around. It would not be good if the shopkeeper got into trouble just because he had to make a show of it.
But on his return it was no longer his concern as he only wanted to make the bolas, his bolas. Like his earlier creation he decided to have all the components fit in together and after he decided on a shape, a sphere since you cannot go wrong with the classics, Dakkur had his iron sphere of the necessary weight commissioned at the local smith. An iron sphere which once was created, would be equally divided into the three very distinct and equal parts according to the specifications in the note he handed the smith. After that there was some drilling and screwing and the tying of the knots which would leave the now divided sphere together forever, for better or for worse. Dakkur took a test run of his new bola and found it working well. A success it should have been if it was made to be a bola but what about as a gadget of his?
He did not think of it as much of a success as he should. It took far too long to stuff the cord inside the bola and sometimes it would tangle itself inside anyway making it stuck when it unfurled. Dakkur also yet again forgot something which in this was a locking mechanism. Dakkur decided to take the easy way out for both. For the cord tangling up he decided to drill in a few more holes and made a makeshift key he could fit into one so as he wound it up, the cord would neatly roll itself up inside the ball. As for a locking mechanism, Dakkur simply added a clasp into the other holes and had it hold the entire sphere together when it was slotted in. It worked when he tested it outdoors and every attempt had the bola wrapping itself around the trees but it was still not to Dakkur's satisfaction. While the winding of the key was a negligible concern he could overlook, pulling at the clasp felt really unintuitive which to someone who valued precision like him translated to intense discomfort.
"You don't think I want to use a button?" One push and the entire bola would unfurl and wrap around its target in one quick motion instead of Dakkur having to do it in stages while unclasping the entire thing. Did this random man he found while winding up the bola truly believe that Dakkur knew nothing? It was rather insulting that he had to admit "I don't know how to put a button in. I already tried." The man did not have to remind him about how bad the clasp was but "pull or push, its the same as long as it works right?" And then in an enlightening moment the man showed him that it was all the same. All Dakkur had to do was make a button which can be pulled up to hold the sphere together and then pressed down to let it free. "Yes... yes that could work. Have you made things like these before?" Once upon a time and the man was quite glad that the younger generation was still as inquisitive and creative as ever. An old inventor then. That ought to be fun.
Dakkur did not know how true he was when he told the man he would see him around after the heartfelt thanks for giving him some direction in his creations but he was too engrossed with the modifications he was going to make to turn the clasp into a button. Oh, this was going to be such a good gadget for when he runs into and away from trouble. Maybe he should have another prepared. How about two more? Two more would definitely be good. Any more than that he may as well surrender because if he needed that many he was certainly in deep trouble.