Ardur, Ash, Digbie, Mourningstar, Oberon, Reoth, Steve, Torrent
Obtained Item: ??? Berry x5
Obtained Item: ??? Leaf x5
Obtained Item: ??? Worm x3 - NOTE: This Item is a Creature!
You have too many items for your inventory.
---
Your Tamed Creature is Well-Fed.
Your Tamed Creature is Hydrated.
---
Item Removed From Inventory: ??? Berry x5
You used Alchemy II!
---ERROR---
This target has not been harvested, dissected, or otherwise broken down into useful components. Without more Analysis Skills, at its current rank the Alchemy Skill is unable to analyze the traits of this target or its reactivity.
---Alchemy Complete---
You used Magic Analysis I!
This is a Monster. It has limited magical abilities. Effectiveness reduced to 30%.
---Lesserwurm---
This Monster is developing a handful of magically oriented skills and spells. It has at least one usable spell skill.
ERROR. ENCOUNTERED FOREIGN OBJECT...
--Comment: Installed Conditional Response to Foreign Object Error--
ERROR REPORT CANCELED...
You used Magic Analysis III! You used Monster Analysis I! Your targets are plants. Effectiveness of Magic Analysis reduced to 35%. Effectiveness of Monster Analysis I reduced to 25%.
---Wild Kele--
This plant has no magic qualities. This plant is not dangerously toxic or otherwise harmful in its current state. You can eat this plant.
---Wild Topapo---
This plant has no magic qualities. This plant is partially toxic or otherwise harmful in its current state. This plant can be eaten.
Skill Gain: Muffle I!
This skill grants you the ability to be just a little bit better at being stealthy, with a focus on reducing the sound of your movements.
As Ardur bit into the first of his three worms, its flesh easily burst in his mouth. The juicy pulp tasted terribly bitter and acidic, and the flesh was so suffused with this sour tang and the flavor of wet mud that no comparison to other meats came to mind. Though it wasn't at all pleasant, at the least it didn't seem toxic...then again, he had only eaten one thus far. He ended up giving the other two to Steve, which lessened his load somewhat. Thanks to his enhanced strength Ardur hadn't struggled too much to carry all these items, but there was almost no room left on his spider silk covered body to stick something--and these threads didn't seem like they were going to last much longer, being wispy and dry at this point and losing much of their adhesive.
Steve didn't seem to have much issue eating the worms either, but perhaps her venom did something to her prey's body to make it safer for her to eat. It looked like she had snagged a few small insects, like moths, in her web as well. She wasn't entirely dependent on Ardur to feed her, but as the System soon let him know she was very much sated.
Depositing the odd berries he had found fixed the rest of Ardur's inventory woes, though it seemed Ash hadn't heard his request to analyze them...Maybe that was because she was currently staring rather hard at Torrent in her attempt to use the Alchemy Skill on the Lesserwurm.
Unfortunately, Ash wasn't able to find out much. Alchemy had, so far, only told her the traits of items she used it on and their reactive nature with other items. She might need more of these Analysis skills in order to gauge the quality of items, and get any non-alchemic information about them.
Then, Ash felt what could only be described as an "itchy" feeling inside her skull. Something...was not right. This was the feeling of being watched, the feeling of hearing a sound you couldn't quite place, the feeling of a vibration underfoot that just didn't seem right. Now Alerted to the presence of...something, Ash would likely feel the compulsion to look around more carefully at her surroundings...
If she looked straight up in the sky, she would catch the tail-end of a dark shadow circling over the clearing, before it headed back over the tops of the trees...
Meanwhile, as Digbie practiced his Soil Manipulation, he would find that for some reason despite suspending it in the air like zero gravity, the earth did not want to form an orb like most loose materials would. Instead the clump seemed to stabilize the most in harder geometric shapes, like cubes and prisms. Keeping it stabilized passively while actively attempting to use another skill, however, was much more difficult--like trying to balance a stack of plates in one hand without looking at them.
As his Tremor Sense spread out, however, it soon reached the small plants they were currently considering as a food source. And slightly deeper into the forest, underneath and a bit beyond those plants, something was tunneling. Something headed for the tubers with a slow but purposeful speed, digging through the moist soil easily. It was about a foot long, and as big around as an average human's upper arm. Several appendages stuck out all around it, likely legs, so as to imply some kind of insectoid form...
As Torrent sprayed a nearby tree with her Poison Breath, the bark began to hiss and produce purple fumes as the acidic cloud ate away at it. When the first layer of bark had been burned away, the wetter and greener layer underneath began to rapidly darken and shrivel, peeling off as the acid continued to eat away at it. It wasn't enough that she could immediately cut down said tree, but the acid certain seemed to work on it.
While the others went about their various tasks, Mourningstar had decided upon her Transformation. Almost immediately after doing so, she felt a deep fatigue overcome her. Despite sleeping all night, it felt as if she had been injected with a powerful sedative. Lightly floating down to the ground, the Wisp's light went out entirely, leaving only a pale white ball of flesh covered in fine, delicate hairs like some kind of electrical filament.
The others would see this fleshy body begin to pulse, as if its heartbeat suddenly grew stronger. With each pulse, it would swell just a bit. But inwardly, in the realm of her mind, Mourningstar saw something else...
Mourningstar could see EVERYTHING.
Not in crystal clarity, of course. But she drifted upwards, out of her body, rising high enough that she could look out across the forest. She could see the mountains stretching far into the distance both north and south, forming a wall between two lands. She could see the forest stretching on for miles to the east, broken by a series of square clearings where a large house of stone and wood and thatch, with various smaller buildings around it, sat calmly puffing smoke. To the south, a vast grassland stretched for what seemed like eternity, but it seemed that even looking that far cause the sun to grow brighter and hotter...
She could see the sunlight reflecting off of something, south of the forest but east of the plains, yet before her eyes could adjust she was rising higher. Now she saw a river further north, spilling out of the mountains and heading into the distance. She rose higher, drifting through clouds that stretched over the cave and further beyond, over curling smoke trails and unnaturally shaped structures of wood and stone that could only be civilization. Somewhere to the east, a large body of water sat glimmering with the last rays of the setting sun.
She rose higher. To the south beyond the grassland, deserts and canyons, windstorms sweeping over the dunes. Further to the east, a bright light cutting a path to safety for those in need of guidance. Over the mountains, to the southwest, a grand city stretching for miles. Still in the west, but far further north, a tower like a mighty tree reaching up to the heavens with roots stretching deep, deep into the earth. So far to the east that it became west again, a lonely, cold, desolate island where red lightning split the sky. Further beyond that, marshlands and mountains and untamed, wild lands.
She rose higher. A world, a planet, rotated thousands of miles an hour, yet from this distance appeared as no more than a soap bubble, as if it would pop if she but brushed a fingertip against it. The city lured her, cried out for her. The island's red skies held her in sway.
Then she began to plummet, and the feeling of fear, the experience of a dream in which one dreams one's own death, began to swallow her up...
Asura, Momma Slime
As Asura explained things to the big blue slime, she wobbled and made a low gurgling sound. Especially when he scolded her for misusing her skill points; she even seemed to deflate a bit. Then he showed off his Smash skill, and began to trade her memories of how he had learned it--but after a few moments Momma Slime pulled away.
"Too mush...yoo." She rocked from side to side. "Me...not yoo. Too mush." What exactly was she saying? That he was showing her too much information at once? It seemed related to sharing his experiences with her, at the least.
By this point, what remained of Rattleskull's arm had disappeared into Momma Slime's gelatinous innards. She turned and looked towards the nearby entrance to the cave, then turned and looked back towards the distant pool.
"Wanna eet. Where eet?" she asked.
Asteria, Danny, Ed, Jason, Mother Rat
TRANSFORMATION COMPLETE!
(Immature) Dire Rat > (Adult) Dire Rat
All Stats have Slightly Increased!
Base HP has Increased!
Potential has Increased!
You have still not reached your full Potential.
Skill Gain: Aqua Sphere I!
By charging a small amount of water with mana, create a sphere of pressurized liquid to be launched at the target. While it does not require ammunition so to speak, this spell works better if there is water in the environment or in heavy humidity. Its range, damage, and MP cost are virtually identical to Mana Orb, but its nature as a Water spell varies its power based on elemental properties of the target.
CHANGING DESIGNATION: SKELEBLIN_003...
NEW DESIGNATION DENIED. ERORR LOG: DUNGEON DOES NOT UNDERSTAND "AND/OR" STATEMENT, "LEO FOR SHORT."
RECCOMENDATION: USE LESS COMPLEX ORDERS
CHANGING DESIGNATION: SKELEBLIN_004...
NEW DESIGNATION REGISTERED: Y'TAHL.
REGISTERING ORDERS:
TRAVEL NORTH BY WEST - LANDMARK: LARGE, FLAT ROCK. 3 GOBLIN CORPSES. 1 CLUB AND 2 SPEARS.
EQUIP 1 CLUB AND 2 SPEARS.
RETURN
-IF- EQUIPMENT NOT FOUND
RETURN
--
ERROR
ERROR LOG: TOO MANY CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS FOR CURRENT LEVEL
RECOMMENDATION: USE LESS COMPLEX ORDERS
DUE TO ERROR, ORDERS FAILED TO EXECUTE.
OPENING DUNGEON MENU...
As Danny took his experiment in steps, the first thing he pondered was the odd reaction between his Mana and the water. Using his new and improved version of Lesser Force, he was able to collect more water than before, and put it under much more pressure to hold its shape and direct it where he willed. Remembering the previous reaction, he tried infusing it with Mana more slowly, in a controlled fashion. While Mana Shape only controlled the shape of the Mana itself, Danny would once again feel the change within the energy as it and the water began to join. Water, as a fluid, took up the shape of whatever container held it. Danny had felt this before, as his Mana became more fluid than a crackling discharge of energy, and now he could more accurately identify it as his Mana Shape and Lesser Force gave the water a sphere-shape to take.
Then, taking aim and pushing outward, he tried to fire the water the same way he would a Mana Orb. The "field" of his Lesser Force gave way--but the water held its shape! The "shell" of his Mana Shape dissolved, but again the water stayed in the shape of an orb. With a blue flash, the sphere of water shot forth across the pool. When it struck the surface of the water it penetrated and kept going into the depths, still glowing. After a few feet it lost its form, however, and quickly dispersed as the light faded. But Danny received a new system notification: the spell Aqua Sphere was now his!
Ed fairly bolted out of the pool, practically beaching himself on the bank like a furry ship as his frenzied strokes kicked up small waves in his wake. Between Danny and the Dire Rat's splashing, the pool's surface had become quite stirred up. The water lapped around the edges of the bank with soft slapping sounds. But while the fish that nibbled at him was small, only a few inches long, one might not think it entirely harmless. The rats couldn't know anything about Torrent's earlier encounter, but these fish had quite the set of teeth in their tiny heads.
When Asteria looked at her reflection, she would see that she was now much larger in build, as much so as Mother Rat. Her fur had grown a good deal thicker, and her fangs and claws seemed longer and sturdier. Overall, she had simply matured, much as the Transformation's name implied. As she lowered her tail into the water, for a few moments nothing happened. Danny and Ed had probably disturbed the water enough to send the rest of the fish into hiding. But as the male rat shook himself off on the bank, slowly a few of them once again began to poke their heads out of the depths. Three in particular seemed intrigued by the wriggling tail nearby. They slowly approached...two of the three gained the lead...slowly, they came closer...One of them got closer just as Asteria's tail twitched, and immediately darted away at the slightest movement. But the other continued...
Asteria would feel a sharp series of pricks in her tail, which would no doubt speed up her "reeling." But she successfull hauled a very small fish out onto the bank, where it flopped and floundered uselessly. By observing it she could see it really was nothing more than a small fish, like one of those mini-piranhas some people got as exotic pets or because they liked throwing other animals into the tank like psychopaths. It could probably have given her a nasty bite, but outside of the water it was no threat. It would likely suffocate soon outside of the water, or a nip from her fangs could easily finish it. Easy pickings.
Meanwhile, Jason commenced giving a number of orders to the Skeleblins. A great number of orders with several conditions. It seemed that at its current level either the Dungeon Core or the Skeleblins themselves couldn't process this much information, as they returned a System error to the Slime Mage. When this error message was finished, the light in the Skeleblins' eyes dimmed and they headed off on their own, apparently to do...something else besides Jason's task. Gawain and Y'tahl, however, headed in the direction of the pond...Leonidas, or Leo although the Dungeon didn't seem to recognize that, instead turned towards the Dark Corner...
When Jason instead attempted to open the Dungeon Menu, he had more success.
DUNGEON MENU OPENED
Monster_Roster:
Dire_Rat_A - Resting...
Dire_Rat_B - Searching...
Dire_Rat_C - Wandering...
Fanged_Lizard_A - Searching...
Ghost_Wisp_001 - Wandering...
Ghost_Wisp_002 - Wandering...
Ghost_Wisp_003 - Resting...
Pixie_A - Resting...
Pixie_B - Resting...
Skeleblin_001 - Destroyed. Reassign?
Skeleblin_002 [Gawain] - Searching...
Skeleblin_003 - Wandering...
Skeleblin_004 [Y'Tahl] - Searching...
Skeleblin_005 - Wandering...
Skeleblin_006 - Wandering...
Skeleblin_007 - Wandering...
Skeleblin_008 - Resting...
Skeleblin_009 - Resting...
Slime_A - Wandering...
Slime_B - Wandering...
Slime_C - Wandering...
Zombie_Pixie_001 - Resting...
Zombie_Pixie_002 - Resting...
Zombie_Pixie_003 - Resting...
Monster_Assignment:
Auto-Repair - Currently No Monsters Assigned
[Create New Task]
Dungeon_Map:
Dungeon_Resources:
Healing Herb - 34
Healing Herb Seeds - 4
Healing Herb Sprouts - 5
Poisoned Herbs - 4
Mana Crystal - 35
Tainted Mana Crystal - 5
Stone - 999999
Water - 22,134 Gallons
Wood - 6
Flame Touched Mana Crystal - 2
Dungeon_Stats:
Level - 1
EXP - 43%
Floors - 1
-Traps - 0
-Doors - 0
Bosses - 1
Mid-Bosses - N/A
Mini-Bosses - N/A
Hidden Bosses - 1
Damages - 36%
Assimilation - 26%
Core Status - Emaciated
Core Mana - Depleted
Accumulated Value - 63
-Hidden Value - 1200
MENTAL_MAP INCREASED TO 0.3
Orchid and Goblins
You have Disassembled an Item!
Stone Spike Club
Sharp Stone (Average Quality) Removed
Your Crafting IV skill prevented deterioration of the item!
Your Crafting IV skill prevented deterioration of the component item!
Your Stone Spike Club doesn't feel as Strong anymore. It can no longer deal Piercing Damage.
Stone Spike Club has changed to Club (Good).
Obtained Item: Sharp Stone (Average).
As Orchid explained how to make rope to the goblins who didn't know how to make it--which apparently included all of them except Crispy--they watched her with various expressions of awe and confusion. At one point, Sqwal snorted as he stood up and went over to a nearby tree. Grabbing a creeping vine wrapped around the trunk, he began to pull until a length of it finally snapped off.
"Dis make gud rope, and lot fasta! Why do it dat dum way?" he said, holding up his own rope to Orchid. At the moment she was handing stones to Clod, and the longer she took to respond to his question the more frustrated Sqwal seemed to be getting for some reason.
Clod took the Sharp Stone and one of Orchid's two Hard Stones that she offered, along with the Wooden Clubs she had bored holes into. She had used the Wooden Clubs that the Goblins had been using during the Raid, since they were of better quality than the wood the greenskins had found last night for the fire. He stared at these objects for a little while, trying to figure out how to do what Orchid had told him. He too was already a bit confused from the rope-making lesson, but he merely scrunched up his eyebrows and sat down, spreading his materials out in front of him.
Orchid used her remaining Hard Stone and began scraping the bark from a stick in an attempt to make it more suitable for crafting, while thoughts of what she might make later danced through her head...
Obtained Item: Gnarled Stick (Average)
You Processed an Item!
Gnarled Stick (Average) - Using Hard Stone (Good)
Your Crafting IV skill boosts the effectiveness of Processing.
Your Crafting IV skill prevented the deterioration of your Processed Item
Your Crafting IV skill prevented the deterioration of the Item used to Process the target item
Your Crafting IV skill was unable to boost the quality of your Processed Item.
Obtained Item: Smooth Stick (Average)
While Orchid did this and, presumably, answered Sqwal, Crispy tended to his fire. It was soon roaring up again, and ready to cook whatever food Jezee, Bigs, and Wej would bring back. Clod finally seemed to come to a decision, and began his own work. Using the Hard Stone Orchid had given him and one of the better Sharp Stones he had produced from his own knapping, he began to adjust the notch in the better of the two Wooden Clubs to make it larger. Then, using the lumpier, not-quite-so-sharp Large Sharp Stone he had produced by breaking one of his big stones in half earlier, he inserted this into the Notched Wooden Club. The end result was a Stone Celt similar to what Rattleskull had possessed--however, the notch had not been fire-hardened, the stone head had not been fixed in place with anything like resin or rope, and the wood had been degraded during the crafting process. It showed a few cracks and splinters where the head notch had been widened, which would likely weaken the haft. Still, Clod held the item up triumphantly, staring at its stone edge as if it were gleaming.
