A snow leopard giant utilizes a gunpowder firearm for the first time with far smaller humans assisting him.

This takes place in the same universe as Friends In Low Places, and I figured it'd be a fun slice of life quickie to explore black-powder weapons within the setting!

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Parvez placed the stock of his blunderbuss against the ground, inspecting the brass barrel. Loose stones crunched beneath the black paws on his feet during the process. At over thirty meters tall, he shadowed over all the humans standing on the sidelines, and his large and fluffy tail almost brushed against them as he went about fiddling with his upscaled firearm.

A human gunsmith standing on a raised platform clasped his hands together. “Now, the next step involves gunpowder. Quite a lot of it, actually. It’ll be just like how you trained, but now it’s the real deal.”

“Wait… why did you use brass for the barrel?” Parvez asked with his head perking up. “I thought you humans used iron or steel for these sorts of things.”

The gunsmith looked up at Parvez, staying silent for a moment. He could only see his bright blue eyes and feline ears poking out from a black cowl wrapped around his head and muzzle. “We do use bronze and brass for ship cannons too. Mostly because it’s lightweight and won’t rust from salt water in the ocean. Brass in particular is dirt cheap, so I figured it’d be good for a gun at the scale of a mergich, especially since it won’t be as dangerous if something goes wrong…”

Parvez cocked his head to the side. “Like what? Do you think it’s gonna blow up in my hands?”

The gunsmith shrugged. “Probably not, but better safe than sorry. It’s just an experiment anyway.”

“And if something does go wrong…” Parvez said, his tail slumping to the ground. “What then?”

The gunsmith shook his head and chuckled. “Don’t worry, my dear boy! Since it’s made of brass, it won’t create a bunch of shrapnel or splinters like iron if there’s a major malfunction. Instead, it’ll just implode on itself, but you’ll be fine. Um… probably.” He paused to nod. “Yeah!”

Parvez sighed. “I see. But you said the next step involved a bunch of gunpowder, right?”

“Of course.” replied the gunsmith, gesturing at an adjacent barrel. “I got some prepared for you over here, actually.” With that, the gunsmith popped open the wooden barrel to reveal a ton of black powder, allowing the giant to gaze inside. “Go on then. Load her up, big boy!”

Parvez’s face scrunched up. “Okay…” He carefully picked up the wooden barrel with one hand, slowly sniffing it before his nostrils flared. “Ugh. Is there a reason why it smells like rotten eggs?”

The gunsmith rolled his eyes. “Probably the sulfur. Just go on ahead and dump it in your muzzle.”

“My muzzle?” Parvez said, blinking several times. “You have to be tugging my tail. I’ve never seen humans ingest this foul powder, much less put it in their mouths!”

“Not your mouth, you fluffy fool!” said the gunsmith, rubbing his eyes. “When I say muzzle, I mean the barrel. Like… the tip of it. Not your actual muzzle, more like the mouth of the gun!”

Parvez let out another sigh. “Ah, forgive me. I’m already hesitant to follow your instructions since your words haven’t exactly been encouraging… to put it politely.”

With a great degree of delicacy and grace, Parvez poured the gunpowder into the brass barrel. Its flared tip like a funnel made sure absolutely none went to waste.

“Only half of it…” said the gunsmith, holding up a hand. “You can stop now.”

Parvez shook the barrel a bit, thumping his wooden stock against the ground. The resounding thud made several humans stumble away. A large piece of lubricated fabric made from flax acted as his wad as he stuffed it inside the brass barrel, cramming it down with a crude ramming rod fashioned from a tall tree. He glanced at the ground afterward, looking at some scattered stones near his feet. “And you say this so-called blunderbuss can use almost anything as ammo?”

The gunsmith nodded. “That’d be right. Lead, gravel, sand… even bones. A blunderbuss can shoot almost anything you put inside of the damned thing.”

Parvez imitated the comparatively tiny nod in return. “I see. In that case, stones might suffice…” With those words, Parvez crouched to the ground. He scooped some stones the size of small boulders into the palm of his hand before dumping them inside the blunderbuss muzzle. Once more, he used his improvised ramming rod to compact everything down the brass barrel. “Is this satisfactory?” he asked upon completion, taking a peek down the barrel.

The gunsmith gave him a death stare. “Unless you wanna blow your brains out, don’t look down a gun barrel.”

Parvez’s ears and tail shot up. “Ah! My bad…”

“That’s just basic firearm safety in general.” said the gunsmith, letting out a resigned sigh. “It doesn’t matter if it’s loaded or unloaded. Always act like it’s loaded. Don’t point it at anything unless you intend to shoot it, including yourself.”

“I understand.” Parvez replied, grabbing the gunpowder barrel once more. He slightly tilted the barrel to put some gunpowder into an oversized frizzen. “Let’s just hope this crazy weapon works at my scale…”

The gunsmith crossed his arms. “I certainly hope it’s worth the time and money, I’ll say that much.”

Finally, Parvez cocked his hammer. He fully rose to his feet with his locked and loaded blunderbuss, retaining a determined look in his eyes. Only some unlit matchcord remained locked in the hammer. Grabbing a tiny match the size of a torch, he stuck out his feline tongue, striking it against his taste buds to ignite it with nothing but friction. This allowed him to light the matchcord held in the hammer itself, then his tongue once again came into play as he snuffed out the match with its slick surface before casually tossing it aside.

Meanwhile, the gunsmith leaned against the railing of the wooden platform. “Fire at will, Parvez!”

Parvez naturally aimed his blunderbuss at some distant target dummies. Most remained around the size of a human, but some mock horses and wooden carriages created a fake outpost of sorts. Nonetheless, he pointed his firearm at a downward angle from the hip, slowly squeezing his titanic trigger…

Everything unraveled in rapid succession.

A hammer sprung forward. Gunpowder in the frizzen ignited. An ear-piercing roar like a cannon filled the air combined with smoke rising, obscuring Parvez’s view. All the miscellaneous stones acted similarly to scattershot, albeit at a scale that shredded everything in his general direction. Most of the stones punched straight through their targets. Human target dummies were torn asunder, the wooden wagons practically exploded into wooden splinters, and the mock horses fashioned from various fabrics and bags became crushed or pulverized during the process.

A large majority of the two dozen or so targets were obliterated in the blink of an eye.

Furthermore, the stones punched holes straight through the wooden walls behind the targets, and the whole structure partially collapsed on itself during the aftermath. A subsequent cloud of dust and powder also slowly drifted back to the ground like sparse snowfall, all before the watchful gaze of the giant snow leopard man towering over everything.

Some of the other humans in attendance applauded or took notes on parchment paper once they got over their initial shock.

The gunsmith in particular had a wicked smile on his face as he clapped as well. “Damn fine work, Parvez! I knew giving one of you giant monks a big fucking gun would work out just fine!”

Parvez’s fur stood up a bit as he resumed staring at the smoking barrel, stiffening up a bit. “I… I’m holding thunder and lightning in my hands…”

“Don’t get all poetic on me now.” said the gunsmith, sneering. “You mergich might have invented gunpowder, but we humans are perfecting it. So let’s get ready to take another shot and make sure we got this all figured out!”

Parvez simply nodded in response. He went about holding the stock of his blunderbuss between his legs and bare feet once again, staining his traditional robes and other attire befitting for a monk with gunpowder residue. Thoughts about the newfound power held in his hands weighed heavy on his conscience as he poured what remained of the gunpowder barrel into his blunderbuss muzzle, preparing to repeat the complicated process like clockwork until it became second nature…

Much like any proper mergich warrior monk mastering a new weapon.