Sweet Scent: The user exudes a floral and fruity aroma; be it his breath, body odor, or flatus. They are able to actively release a stronger scent around them. How alluring and intoxicating the scents are to others will improve as skill rank increases. (Passive/Active) E-Rank
Not sure if there's a misunderstanding, but just to avoid it, you can use Absorption multiple times with one monster. Absorbing all the skills of a slime is okay. Just noticed that most were going with only one. I mean, probably strategy, but wanted to make sure.
@ERode Yeah, I did say 6 initially. That just makes the number of escapees increase to 3.
The night phase will come probably after the 3rd encounter/scenario your goblin is in. A bit of plot progression, mingling with other goblins, then we go to the next day.
As for the skill, Hoi learned...Escape.
Escape: The ability to flee and get to a safe location much more efficiently. Regardless of the situation, the user gets a bonus when attempting to get away. (Passive) E-Rank
EMRI & HOI What was there to say? Hoi's plan was carried out perfectly; the Horned Rabbits didn't stand a chance. Their anxious and timid nature overcame any form of rational thought as they immediately scurried away from where Emri had emerged; at least most of them did. Instead of running away, the fattest one stood its ground, bearing its horns at the approaching Emri. Its heartbeat continued to increase, becoming more rapid as time passed by. It knew that if it wanted to survive, it had fight for it. In a last ditch effort, it rushed towards the young goblin. Emri decided to meet the chubby beast head on, hoping to end its life with one mighty swing with his wooden crop. The Horned Rabbit's adrenaline had kicked in and its chest began to bound. However, as it drew closer to its green-skinned attacker, as soon as Emri had striked, the Horned Rabbit fell over, the goblin's attack had missed, but the horned beast was on the ground and no longer breathing.
...
The smaller ones continued to flee towards the opposite direction. Little did they now that a larger threat was waiting for them. The fastest of the group suffered the unfortunate fate of taking a foot to the face. It did not see the kick coming and instantly died upon contact; well, it took a few seconds. Its body convulsed at it came crashing to the ground before becoming motionless. Distracted and distraught by the sight of its brethren being mercilessly punted, one of the surviving rabbits failed to notice the goblin's foot that came crashing down towards its body. Cracking bones and a loud high-pitched squeal left the rabbit's mouth along with a good amount of blood before succumbing to death.
Out of the five, there were two Horned Rabbits that managed to scurry away, surviving and living to tell the tale.
The possibilities I gave for this was it dying from fear, from Emri' attack, or a random event (this had the lowest possibility though). I just went with a heart attack. Anyway, that's the second hunt done.
Just to orient you of the time of day, most goblins left the cave several hours past dawn. You finished your first hunt near noon. So at this point, it'll probably be early-to-mid afternoon. You've got one more room for another hunt or time to explore the forest.
Progression & Spoils
Successful hunt (+8 Levels) Gained Skill
Intimidate: The user is able to let out an aura of intimidation able to suppress the weak-willed. (Active) E-Rank
Report Card Goblin Emri (Level 15) ---> Goblin Emri (Level 27)
AYA, RAGI, BUG, & TWIG As Ragi remained motionless from the neck down, she tried her best to calm her sister's worries, explaining that what had just happened was merely something she had already foreseen.
Although her anxiety was slowly building up, the distress Aya was feeling had slowly disappearing; her sister’s words had given her some reassurance. Taking Ragi’s advice, palming a rock along the way, she proceeded to a nearby bush, where she kept herself hidden.
Seconds turned to minutes as nothing particularly relevant took place. The Harvest Sloth continued to feast on the motionless insects while continuing to intermittently release spores into the air. Like the insects, Ragi remained motionless as well.
As soon as the sloth had finished its meal, it turned back to Ragi, somewhat surprised at seeing her paralyzed on the ground. Slowly approaching her, it nudged her head a bit and licked her cheeks, hoping for the goblin to move. However, the moment it realized that only Ragi’s head was capable of moving, it bared its fangs and sunk it into the young goblin’s shoulder. …. Back at the hole, Bug had rested enough and left Twig speechless as he lifted the massive rock over his head before tossing it a few feet away from where they were. Twig clapped and cheered in joy as Bug instinctively started flexing his muscles.
RESHY Let's be honest, Reshy wasn't having an amazing day. While his siblings spent their mornings building bonds, learning to hunt, and feasting on their first meals, not only did he clashed words with his fellow newborn, Reshy was left in a humid and rancid cave with an elderly goblin that gave him little to no attention. From there, thing didn't get better.
What started as an attempt to gain a better vantage point, ended in what could possibly Reshy's death bed. To be devoured by a slime was something one could not be proud of. Within the forests, as inept as the goblins appeared, there were several other creatures who were much weaker. Within the top of this list, was the slime.
Fortunately, Reshy decided to give in to his primitive side, and savagely attacked the blob of ooze that was attempting to eat him. Bearing his fangs and claws, he consumed the helpless creature until nothing was left.
A few blisters developed around Reshy's mouth as he wiped off what remained of the acidic slime on his face. Reshy was nasty.
Well, I guess he showed that slime. Anyway, consitency-wise, it was pasty and gave off a flowery scent, but tastes bland. The core however, tastes sweet but more fruit-like, unlike the the blue slime's which was candy-like.
Reshy's hunger isn't satiated, but the yellow slime core kinda gave him a rush similar to that of sweets or coffee. Right now, he'll feel kinda energized.
Frenzy: The user becomes entranced in a fit of rage, giving them the will to attack; pain and fatigue are temporarily ignored, but rational thought is not possible. (Active) E-Rank
KRISHNA, RENA, & TIK The frenzied rabbit turned its attention towards the goblin that had wounded it, lunging forward in a fury-filled assault. Leaping into the air, it directed its horn toward's Rena's face, hoping to cleanly impale her through her skull. Although she decided to face the rampaging creature head on, the female goblin knew that a test of strength wasn't what she needed. Despite her reckless approach, caution never left mind. As the rabbit plunged its horn forward, Rena had momentarily stopped. Her right foot planted behind, supporting her body and both arms which were twisted to the right, as she was about to deliver another decisive blow.
Her body's oblique rotation made the area the rabbit could target relatively smaller, resulting in gash along the goblin's cheek; this was certainly better than a hole in between her eyes. But as the rabbit missed its mark, it felt a crushing weight that came crashing into its chest. Rena smashed her club against the large rabbit, sending it backwards before landing on its side.
Making most of the situation, the winded Tik rushed in and mounted the horned rabbit, his legs wrapping around its next while both hands made their away towards it horn. Restless and clearly agitated, the rabbit snarled and struggled to throw the young goblin off, shaking him from side to side. If not for the disadvantage of position, the Horned Rabbit could have easily broke free from Tik's clutches. However, in due time, it would matter not; the stronger rabbit was eventually going to overpower the newborn. Well, this was only true if their scuffle lasted for a few more seconds.
Unfortunately for the rabbit, Krishna didn't allow this to go on any further. Springing forth from the bushes came the rock-wielding goblin. From meek and cowardly, Krishna came in full of fervor and confidence as he leaped into the air before ramming down the rock into the rabbit's face. Smash after smash, its body fidgeted and the horned creature's snarl grew quieter, until turning completely silent and motionless.
I guess swarm tactics was the perfect talent for this.
Anyway, the Horned Rabbit that you fought, if it wasn't obvious, was a variant; a Battle-Scarred Horned Rabbit. Its larger, has thicker muscles, and is more feral than the typical Horned Rabbit, but shares the same weakness that a Horned Rabbit has; it can only charge in a straight line. So approaching it from the side would make things easier. Dodging its attacks would be easy too, unless you charged at it head on, which was the case during most of this encounter.
If anyone was wondering, the rabbit meat's gonna be incredibly be tough, but still edible. Its savory but has an iron-like taste. It gives off a gamey, yet funky scent. For the pelt, if not torn to pieces, its enough to wrap around a single goblin, like a robe.
You guys decide on how to split the spoils. OOC-wise, I'm hoping for a consensus, and not just first come-first serve. Your goblins could do that though, just to stay in character.
Crushing Blow: The user incorporates incredible strength into their attacks. This technique is most deadly because of its effect on the bones of the target. Force from the user's strikes reverberate through the body and can completely shatter bones if the user has the strength to do so. This cannot be used in rapid succession. (Active) E-Rank
Escape: The ability to flee and get to a safe location much more efficiently. Regardless of the situation, the user gets a bonus when attempting to get away. (Passive) E-Rank
Large Rabbit Pelt x 1 Large Rabbit Horn x 1 Rabbit Meat x 4
Absorption
[???] - Utility Skill (Passive)
[???] - Offensive (Active)
[???] - Offensive (Active)
[???] - Defensive (Passive)
CULL The stoat's efforts to break free from the goblin's spear were anything but fruitful. Thrashing and squirming simply resulted to exhaustion as the goblin dug deeper into the stoat's flesh. As its own blood continued to slowly coat its brown pelt, the helpless creature could feel the weight of the goblin through the spear, as more of it was plunged through its body.
The young goblin, frenzied and entranced, let out a mighty roar, before finishing off the Brown Stoat. Its wriggling had ceased as it laid in a pool of its own blood.
As for the Horned Rabbit, it remained on the ground. Shallowly breathing and simply clinging on what little life it had.
If Cull's gonna kill the rabbit, which he probably will, just mention how he'll be doing it then I'll follow up with his report card and spoils.
TEVA, KOL, GEE, & SON 💀 Armed with sticks, rocks, rags and empty bellies, Teva’s group made up one of the larger hunting party of goblins that went out on the first day. Three of her siblings chose to follow her in search for something that could fill their stomachs.
Standing beside Teva was Son, a quiet and stern-looking muscular goblin with obviously robust shoulders. Behind them were Gee, the only other female goblin in the group, and Kol, the shortest of the bunch but was filled with so much energy. Gee had long dusky brown hair, which she kept timidly tugging on. Kol on the other hand couldn’t stop talking and moving around, running to the front of their group, just to run back and report that he was seeing nothing.
They moved through the forest all looking for their next potential prey, but they ultimately found nothing. The other goblins might’ve scared off some of the creatures while devoured the others during their own hunts. However, this did not stop them from continuing. Although walking father from their cavern, it wasn't long until they found something of interest. Well, it was Kol who saw it which he immediately relayed to the rest. Squinting his eyes, in the distance, he saw an Orc walking lazily through the forest. It seemed to know the forest well.
After seeing it walk a little bit more, the group noticed it had a heavy limp on one of its legs. Its wrinkles gave away its old age. The group must have lucked out and found an older Orc messenger of some sort. It held a bag in one hand and a small box of some sort in the other. It seemed velvety and of some importance to the bigger creature.
He had no weapons and only crude cloth clothing. Whoever gave him this assignment made a clear mistake by sending him through this jungle. It'd be easy to defeat the unsuspecting monster with the position that the party was in.
The orc isn’t as thick as the one in the image, though its fat and out of shape. Height-wise, it’s around five feet tall.
Feel free to ask any questions. Teva doesn’t know the talents of the other goblins, but I left clues for you to figure it out.
As for the poison, its a delayed-onset poison which'll only trigger after being digested. For the resistance, he just needs to eat most of the shrew since its relatively small. Definitely not something you'd wanna share with others.
Poison Resistance: Makes the user resistance to various poisons. With prolonged or repeated exposure to significant amounts, immunity may develop. The amount of poisons that do not effect the user become higher in number as this skill ranks up. (Passive) E-Rank
Deboning, gotcha. Anyway, anything in particular you wanna be going for while going back to the cave? Another encounter, joining up with another group, or just some R&R?
Also, the berries were poisonous but only when digested. I suppose Saito won't be finding that out now.
@Zeroth Alright, I'll just leave you a message if I see anything out of place.
For your questions.
1. Does cooking food remove or change the skills that can be absorbed, and would Goblins have the instincts/knowledge to make fire outside of their human memories? Cooking neither changes or removes the skills that can be absorbed. Goblin don't have the instincts/knowledge to make fire or have the means. Flint, rubbing sticks together, or banging stones won't lead to fire.
2. Would Saito be capable of lugging the carcass back to the cave, or is he exhausted enough that this is a "sit down and eat now" thing? I'd say sit down and eat, just because he's alone, but if you wanna bring the carcass to the cave, you can go for it and just eat the berries or something.
3. If he's able to carry it back to the cave, would it be possible for him to come upon one of the other groups or hunters (while heading back, not after he's already reached the cave) and still have enough energy to help them out (assuming the other player is cool with it)? Uh, you can join up with the other groups or hunters, but Saito would be too hungry to hunt. So he wouldn't be that helpful.
@Vec You can start from the cave or proceed to the forest. At first glance, nothing unusual with the forest. You can pair up or make a group with NPC goblins too, if you'd prefer. I'll include you in the next set of updates, which will probably be within a day-ish.
Also, could you replace Water Magic to Water Magic (Affinity). Just for consistency.
TheMushroomLord
Shovel