diff --git a/src/dat/nbt.c b/src/dat/nbt.c
index 2704afa..84ae5ee 100644
--- a/src/dat/nbt.c
+++ b/src/dat/nbt.c
@@ -131,12 +131,12 @@ MALLOC static void *nbt_procarr(const u8 *restrict buf, i32 nmem, uint size) {
 
 // TODO: not actually doing anything
 /* readies the output data for export, returns the new buffer position, or `NULL` upon an error (may be out of bounds) */
-static const u8 *nbt_proctag(const u8 *restrict buf, u8 *restrict out, u16 slen) {
+const u8 *nbt_proctag(const u8 *restrict buf, u16 slen, void *restrict out) {
 	const u8 *ptr = buf + 3 + slen;
 
 	switch (*buf) {
 	// integral types
-	case NBT_I8:  *out = *ptr; return ptr + 1;
+	case NBT_I8:  *(u8 *)out = *ptr; return ptr + 1;
 	case NBT_I16: *(u16 *)out = be16toh(*(u16 *)ptr); return ptr + 2;
 	case NBT_I32: // fall through
 	case NBT_F32: *(u32 *)out = be16toh(*(u32 *)ptr); return ptr + 4;
diff --git a/src/dat/nbt.h b/src/dat/nbt.h
index 967c3eb..3707f57 100644
--- a/src/dat/nbt.h
+++ b/src/dat/nbt.h
@@ -54,5 +54,8 @@ struct nbt_procdat {
  * `NULL` is returned upon failure, the otherwise returned pointer is not guaranteed to be valid. */
 const u8 *nbt_nexttag(const u8 *restrict buf) NONNULL((1)) PURE;
 
+/* Processes the tag entered in `buf`, `buf` is assumed */
+const u8 *nbt_proctag(const u8 *restrict buf, u16 slen, void *restrict out) NONNULL((1, 3));
+
 /* initialises a data structure used whilst processing the tags */
 struct nbt_procdat nbt_initproc(struct nbt_path const *restrict pats, uint npats) NONNULL((1)) PURE;