Looking for Niko

[Malva]

Perhaps to augment her use of potions, perhaps looking for mechanics to apply in making a pop-up book, Malva seeks someone who might have a more advanced trap-making ability than her own inherent nature as a faun. Rumor has it that Niko might be the teacher's she's looking for. On this breezy Thursday afternoon, she makes her way down to the forge in hopes to inquire.

[A Knife!]

Niko is queitly relaxing by the forge after finishing some work and just admiring the forge as it begins to cool when Malva arrives.

"Hey Malva, how's it going?"

[Malva]

"Hey Niko, I heard you might know a thing or two about making traps. Is that true? I'm handy at fiddling with traps other people have made, but I'd like to learn how to make them myself."

[A Knife!]

"Yeah I know a few things, since you already know how they work I can show you how to make them and how to place them. Was there a particular kind you'd like? I'm assuming something that would work well with alchemy."

[Malva]

"Well yes, I'd definitely like to learn how to set off gas clouds and explosives without being next to them!"

[A Knife!]

"So there's common things with all traps like placement. If you're trying to guard a certain area then you'd want to put them on any path that will lead to that area but just make sure it's hidden enough so the target wouldn't notice. Also there is no guarantee that only the people you don't like will get hit by the trap so be careful with just leaving them set or in areas that people also gather. When it comes to construction of the trap you need a trigger and a payload with some way to set it off. For a gas cloud having a trip wire that releases a bottle on to a rock or a rock onto the bottle could work well, if you just need it uncorked you could tire the trip wire directly to the cork. With explosives you need a spark and I found that haveing flint on the end of the trip wire and then having a metal disk in the bottle that the flint fits into works well, that way when the wire is pulled the flint scrapes on the steel and sparks. Other simple traps though could just be a small hole for someone to fall in covered by thin sticks and inside the hole could be some spikes with contact gel and your choice of poison."

[Malva]

"Hm, yes Phineas mentioned some of these things to me.
I think the difficulty in placement is part of why they haven't been very popular in our little town.
What if we just trapped things that only monsters and baddies touched? Like putting contact gel on a door at rate height? Or targeting just the undead with deserved rest?

[A Knife!]

"those would be good but wouldn't deserved rest still be used even if it was touched by someone undead? Other ideas I had were if we set up those barricades again we could trap the routes leading to them but leave maybe 2 untapped so we have an entrance and an exit. Lots ways to use traps but the hard part is only hitting the targets you intend"

[Malva]

"Hmm, yeah. I guess there's always bait for certain monsters... or for thieves.

Anyhow would you care to demonstrate crafting one?"

[A Knife!]

"Sure, so I would sharpen some regular sticks so that they blend in more, then you could use twine where is thin and hard to see but it also can't hold a lot of weight so it limits what you can tie to it so I'd use some rope instead and try to dye it a natural colour like brown or green or a bit of both. For the drop bottle let's tie the rope directly to it and hang it over a tree and we will lay some rocks around the base of the tree. Then we place the sticks in the ground but angle them so they hold the bottle on its own. Set the length of the cord across the path you want and as simple as that the trap is built and set. Just some rope, sticks, and a bottle, just be careful when setting it and be extra sure the sticks are in place before you walk away so the bottle doesn't drop. For explosives just make sure to attach the bomb to something sturdy so that when the wire is pulled the bomb doesn't go with it. The flint should fit tightly into the metal lip of the bottle so that it's sure to spark. Those are the more complex ones but if you want me to go over any of the simpler ones like fall traps let me know."

[Malva]

"So the string pulls the bottle off of the sticks and into somewhere it will break?

Oh- flint as a trigger - that sounds so obvious, I can't believe I didn't think of that..."

[A Knife!]

"yeah I think you got it, I can help you make a few and set them up as a test but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it really quick. You can also just attach the string to the cork so it uncorks the bottle but breaking the bottle is far easier of a set up and doesn't rely on a lot of force on the trigger to set it off"

[Malva]

"Hmm yeah that makes sense. Thank you."

[A Knife!]

"No problem" Traps 3

[Malva]

"Actually, you know what? Here - thanks. She rummages through her bag and brings out some bottles for Niko. "Explosives. Keep them somewhere safe." She winks. "Which means off your person if you're up gathering with the flame geysers."

[A Knife!]

"wow, uhhh I don't know what to say, these things are not cheap. Thank you so much, hopefully the traps training comes in handy for you."

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