Peek: Larx

Wakefullness comes slowly, though it isn't resisted.  The elder of Lord Thedeim's ratkin enjoys his bed, but he also enjoys having an active day.  The transition would be easier if he could figure out some way to make the world outside his blanket as warm as the one inside, yet he faces the first challenge of the day with little hesitation.

If it's the most difficult trial of his day, he will have had a very nice day indeed.

He takes a simple breakfast of a large mushroom, deciding he doesn't feel like actually cooking anything this morning.  While he does enjoy what his Lord apparently calls a sunny-side-up cap, he doesn't feel like making a fire and steaming the cap with a cracked egg in it.  Besides, the raw cap makes it easier for him to walk around the enclave and check in on everyone.

With his robe on and staff in his other hand, he exits his small abode and into the open area of the shrine to Lord Thedeim.  He offers a small prayer of thanks and chuckles as he continues on, remembering when the other ratkin tried to give him the entire area for his own home.  He doesn't need it, and so he turned it into a meeting area and shrine to their creator.  He even threatened to do the same to any other property they would give him in the future, much to the laughter of all his kin.

This morning is one of catching up, and he make sure nobody is in danger of running themselves ragged.  They had all expected things to settle down in the winter on the surface, but the lack of winter in the enclave seems to have made those on the surface realize they don't actually need to stop everything until the spring thaw.

The surface isn't demanding, at least, though their curiosity and attention is more than expected.  Larx assumes that the surface dwellers have little else to pass their time with now, and so have the time to come and mingle with his people.  The spiderkin are also seeing an increase in visitors, though they are a little more remote than the ratkin.

He supposes the interest also stems from his people's interest in forging, and the new expansion of Lord Thedeim.  While he and his kin prefer to gather outside His borders, the coal and coke produced by the cinder ants are things they simply can't pass up.  They do make sure to not gather too much, at least, so their Lord may reap the bounty of mana the townsfolk will give when they gather it instead.

They've also gathered just enough orichalcum and mythril to experiment with, as well as some of the limestone that seems to have captured the attention of so many of the scions.  One of the others saw Slash cooking the stone in one of the forges, and removing something that did not look like limestone after he was done.

Something about the change stuck in his mind, and he suspects it's a secret from Lord Thedeim.  So he has been spending his spare time in the forges, experimenting.  Their current iron smelting certainly works, but he and the others can't help but feel there is more iron to be gained, that the simple heat refuses to extract.

After hearing his idea to try to bake some limestone along with some ore, Larx had no shortage of volunteers to help him process the ore and the stone for smelting.  He takes his turns at the bellows, at the skimmer, at the molds, and the others insist he get the privilege of pouring the first ingot.  He pours five before handing the job off to the next, the ratkin all moving with practiced ease.

There's something calming about working the smeltery, a feeling of peace and belonging that whispers of murky and forgotten memories from before they became ratkin.  He lets the memory guide him through the stages until he is once more pouring ingots.  It's not until he finishes pouring five more that he realizes something.

The rotation should have ended.  When he returned to the crucible, there should have been no iron left to pour.  Yet it looks like there is enough for another five ingots.  He smiles wide and gives a whoop of triumph, bringing the others from their almost-meditative trance from working, and he shows them the extra ingots.  It's with excitement that they watch the rest of the iron be poured into the molds.

Ten extra ingots extracted, thanks to the ground limestone.  Larx grins as he lets the others cool the iron and let the crucible cool for cleaning.  With this development, their smelting process will be in flux, and he can't wait to see how much further they can refine their refining.