Zeroth — Roleplayer Guild

The Forest

@Lucius Cypher@Unkown58

The Fangs and Claws Vola had taken off the Tatzelwurm were about as one would expect--quite sharp, the fangs also seemed to have hollows for venom, and the claws were almost as broad as a pocket knife's blade while being just about as long. What the system called a Coilbone seemed to be the creature's spine, except parts of it weren't really bone at all, but something with a fatty, rubbery texture---in certain segments, the vertebral column could even rotate nearly 170 degrees before the rest of the bones began to twist along with it. Given how thin and flimsy the connective material was between these sections, maybe it had something to do with the creature's catlike nature---supposedly, the reason cats always landed on their feet and could fit into tight spaces was because some of their bones "floated" instead of being firmly attached to the skeleton. The eye was like a cold, icky, glassy marble. A bright, venomous green with a night black pupil.

With the Tungem Stick and a few extra handfuls of its leaves in their possession, the two runts headed for the smoketrail they'd seen earlier. A short walk brought them through some thick underbrush and into a small clearing, where they saw four other Runts seated around a fire and eating what smelled like some kind of spicy chicken---though by this point there wasn't much of the beasts left, and their fire was beginning to die down too since it had taken a while to cook their kills.  

@King Cosmos@Kazemitsu@ERode@Crusader Lord

Skill Gain:
[Fire Bolt] - Rank I - A basic elemental bolt of fire magic. Hurl or shoot a magical projectile roughly 30 feet in a straight line. It travels at roughly the same speed you could physically propel a small rock. Upon striking a target, the flames spread over it in a small explosion; highly flammable targets may spread the flame for up to 10 seconds.

Skill Gain:
[Murderous Intent] - Rank I - Focus hatred and the desire to kill through the subtle senses. A creature that is weaker than you must exert its willpower or be Intimidated (Intimidated creatures suffer reduced speed). A creature that is already Intimidated, Shocked, or Unaware may instead become Fearful and be unable to act for 5 seconds. Creatures that are stronger than you can only be Intimidated by this Skill if they are already Shocked or Unaware, but their willpower threshold is higher.

Acquired Materials:
Rotleaves x5
Rotleaf Seedpods x6

Skill Gain:
[Fire Bolt] - Rank I - A basic elemental bolt of fire magic. Hurl or shoot a magical projectile roughly 30 feet in a straight line. It travels at roughly the same speed you could physically propel a small rock. Upon striking a target, the flames spread over it in a small explosion; highly flammable targets may spread the flame for up to 10 seconds.

Skill Gain:
[Murderous Intent] - Rank I - Focus hatred and the desire to kill through the subtle senses. A creature that is weaker than you must exert its willpower or be Intimidated (Intimidated creatures suffer reduced speed). A creature that is already Intimidated, Shocked, or Unaware may instead become Fearful and be unable to act for 5 seconds. Creatures that are stronger than you can only be Intimidated by this Skill if they are already Shocked or Unaware, but their willpower threshold is higher.
SYSTEM

While Lazash and Akeno made small talk and acquired their skills, Esfir began cleaning out one of the Elwet's stomachs and Grunthor examined the changes in his bird's feathers and scales. Each of the runts saw the results of their Ingestion, and thankfully once they had chosen a skill it seemed the System provided more knowledge about it---and, in fact, even more information that wasn't "spoken" by the strange interface began to throb inside their skulls. The method to call up the power each of them had absorbed...with room for personal preference, even, and a mixture of their psychological intent with the resources of their new bodies as fuel. Magic Power and Stamina Power, it seemed, were the primary sources that Skills needed in order to work.

As Esfir moved on to gathering leaves and seedpods from the gnarled, foul smelling bush, some of the plant's black sap happened to drip onto her hand from the broken stems. It smelled exceedingly foul, like fresh dog droppings or the stomach bile one regurgitates when there's nothing left in their digestive tract. What was more, it was sticky like a fresh drop of acrylic paint, and attempting to wipe it off just smeared it the first few times before finally removing it. Yet even once the gunk was gone, the scent remained. Her skin also itched slightly, but it didn't seem to be an allergic reaction of any kind.

Grunthor examined the blackened feathers and expanded scales. The "fire hardened" Elwet feathers felt more like plastic than actual feathers now, and the individual downy fibers seemed to have melded together into an even surface. It was as if they'd turned from "real" feathers into those fake ones most sport archery arrows had. Meanwhile, the scales just seemed...harder, than before. And ever so slightly warped in their expansion, so that their outer sides were slightly convex. His finger found that they weren't really sharp (though maybe they could be, considering how thin they were) but they had a cold, almost metallic feel now. They were still only about twice the size of a human thumbnail...but if they were put onto something else, like say leather, in large enough numbers, maybe they could actually be used as lamellar of some sort?

The four began bundling up their belongings in preparation to head North, to the Camazotz caves---but just before they were about to leave, two more Runts entered the clearing. One of them was carrying the remains of a snakelike creature, and the other had a primitive looking stone hatchet...

@Such A Birch@ReusableSword

Despite the Slime's panic, Agar was able to quickly catch up with it---the blobby monster didn't seem very fast given its lack of legs. Maybe if only one Runt had been around, it'd have staged an ambush attack from the tree, but faced with two it chose flight instead of fight. But Agar wasn't going to let it get away that easily! 

The vengeful Runt leaped into the air, bringing down his body weight and his sharp rock onto the spherical monster! The Slime made a high pitched, phlegmy warble as the knapped blade sank deep into its body. It lurched with all its might to throw Agar off, but as the runt rolled through the grass, the Slime wobbled from side to side. It moved forward only a few more inches before, with a pitiful sound like a deflating balloon, it stopped moving and...seemed to leak some kind of plasma, shrinking down as the fluid formed a shallow puddle underneath it.

The enemy was vanquished!

Loot:
Punctured Slime
SYSTEM

Small clarification: Nibiria's webs were discarded into the compost. It was the plants that told her that Goh was approaching. Because she takes care of them, they warn her of danger in return. It's an extension of her heritage magic. It's very hard to sneak up on her within her domain, as a result, unless you can understand the plants speaking.@Enkryption

Right, in the first post where Goh approached her property, when he stopped and slowly stepped over "something" it wasn't meant to be the webs she'd discarded, but a separate one around the border of her property rather than right up in her yard. I was just assuming that, disliking people as much as she does and being protective of her secrets, that Nibiria would have some kind of security around---such as a "trip wire" web that she'd feel when someone stepped on it or brushed past it or whatever. It was my attempt at a small IC detail to continue foreshadowing Goh's "clearly not a regular old man" vibes as well as the attempted comic relief of said old man sneaking up on the paranoid recluse. Now that he's failed, however, he'll just have to find another way, lol!

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