Rajit: Level 11: Ratcheting It Up A Notch

Rajit pokes at a sample of Hydra flesh in her lab, watching as it squirms and begins to regrow at the agitation. She puts her steel prod in the nearby burner, and watches with boredom as the metal heats to a dull red. With a sizzle she cauterizes the sample, which ceases to grow and quivers in the glass dish. "Well this ended up being a bust... If I could figure out how this works I could make so many medicines. But all this thing does is eat and try to become a Hydra again." Rajit jots down a few notes, and then underlines and puts a slash down the rest of the page of her notebook.
 
"I wonder if Miloje would eat this... probably shouldn't do that though." Rajit reaches for a bottle of nearby distilled alcohol and douses the sample. She lights a simple cotton wick at the burner and then lights it aflame, tossing it into the bowl with the sample. The sample begins hissing and withering in the flame, the quivering coming to an end. The flames reflect off her round glasses in the dark laboratory as she thinks. "That thing was powerful, and I don't think I would've stood a chance if not for Crixus going all hulking green juggernaut on it. I just couldn't do enough with my crossbow."
 
Rajit's head turns as the flames go out as she looks at her crossbow. "I don't think I can do much more with a single bolt. I've already removed the safeties and it cranks back so hard it just about snaps the limbs off. And the bolts themselves are already tipped with jolting copper boltheads." She fiddles with the crank of the unloaded crossbow, her fingers running back and forth as she thinks. She imagines shooting at the hydra again, and cocks and fires the empty crossbow, dropping it to crank it back again and she stops, realizing her mistake.
 
"Hehe... hehehehee. Rajit, you're an idjit sometimes. If you can't put more power into the shot, then put more shots downfield. Now let's see..." Rajit disassembles her cranking mechanism and begins making adjustments. She removes the lever based crank mechanism and builds a ratcheting rotary mechanism. "Now I can cock it at my shoulder, instead of one heavy draw I should be able to just turn this..." Rajit goes through the motions, turning the rotary and ratcheting back the crossbow, pulling the trigger and repeating.
 
"A little oil here... tighten this spring there... and ground this... don't want to shock myself." Rajit tinkers away, eventually satisfied with her work as her copper-looped crossbow now has a rotary reload mechanism, with the simple trick of turning it a few more clicks for an overdrawn shot. "Now to practice with this thing."
 
Meanwhile Gilbert has been training with Crixus, tring to mimic his strength and technique. Gilbert can't match Crixus's skill and brutality, but the training does harden his muscles and improves Gilbert's martial discipline.
 
Rajit reaches level 11, taking her 4th level in Mutant Blood Hunter. Driven by her ineffectiveness against the regenerative properties of a Hydra, she tinkers with her crossbow to improve her firing rate and gains the Crossbow Expert feat. Gilbert gains an additional feat and uses it to improve his strength, achieving the pinnacle of monkey might.