Live Ammo Ball

gerbil ball · the grenade balls

A gnomish clamshell projectile that holds a living creature in stasis and releases it — a frenzied gerbil — on impact.

Story so far

Live Ammo Balls are the Dirigible Gnomes' versatile ranged weapon: round clamshell spheres, each holding a living, usually enraged creature in a protective stasis field, that pop open on impact to loose the beast on the target. They're thrown like grenades, fired far by a gnomish "Tickle Stick," or blasted in hundred-round clusters from the Wasteland's point-defense batteries; like pet carriers, stored creatures can be pocketed into inventory, and unbroken balls can be recycled. Carl realizes every ball hurled at him during the aerial battle — by Crixus, by other snipers, and by the dreadnaught's battery — contained the same thing: a Level 11 Frenzied Gerbil.

He's baffled until he understands the System AI engineered the misses on purpose: it wanted him to be struck, to fight and *stomp* a gerbil, reprising the beloved Ralph kill from the second floor.

Appearance

Fist-sized round clamshell spheres, each sealed around a living creature held in a glowing stasis field.

Role

The gnomes' living-ammunition weapon, and the vehicle for the AI's gerbil-obsessed tantrum against Carl.

Relationships

Frenzied Gerbil — The Level 11 creature loaded inside every ball thrown at Carl.

Crixus — The sniper who fires them from a gnomish Tickle Stick.

System AI — Which rigs the balls' misses to force Carl into a gerbil fight.

Wasteland — The dreadnaught whose batteries fire them in hundred-round clusters.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 13

A gnomish clamshell projectile that holds a living creature in stasis and releases it — a frenzied gerbil — on impact.