Current
@Cleveraptor: Gallery might be your best bet for prose samples, or possibly Roleplaying Discussion.
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13 days ago
@Estylwen: If it helps I once did the same, staying awake for a total of about 36 hours and managing to force-write a little over 30k words. I'd say around hour 22 was probably when the mania began.
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14 days ago
PlayerTips: Awesome, your character did a cool thing! Now look at your co-PCs. Who HASN'T gotten to do a cool thing in a while? How could you subtly push them into the spotlight for a bit?
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20 days ago
A spirit appears in your room with a more successful-looking version of you: "--and THIS is what you would be!" "My God! Spare me these visions, I've learned my lesson!" Both immediately vanish.
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24 days ago
GMTips: Shrink your plots---No, even smaller than that! Don't let them pick from all the starting points on your epic sandbox map; 3 Plot Coupons are easier to collect than 7; keep stakes personal!
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Bio
On CST time, United States. Typically busy most of the week and do most posting/replying on weekends.
Goh chuckled as he listened to Nibiria, before tapping out the ashes from his pipe---away from any of the plants, of course, and grinding them into the dirt with his heel to be sure no stray embers got away.
"You are too modest, young miss." he said as he closed his eyes and felt the breeze whispering through this well tended, peaceful garden. "I think all of those things you mentioned would be of interest. But even if you don't agree with me, I agree with you quite wholeheartedly." He placed the pipe back between his wrinkled lips and folded his arms into his sleeves. "Those little rapscallions are always getting into something---and they've been slacking off in their training. I'm always telling them, they'll get hurt if they don't pay attention!" He laughed again, though at the end he coughed politely into one fist.
Truthfully, his senses could pick up the children's energy even from here---totally fine and traipsing about without a care---but why mention it? He wanted the good doctor to come out among the townsfolk in any case. "Let us return, then!" He stepped aside to let Nibiria pass first, clearly willing to let her lead the way.
Update is up! Hopefully I didn't miss anything this time. Also, I'll try to get around to updating NPC/World tabs and whatnot at some point. @Crusader Lord I think I came up with a workable way to have the Runts sort of move on without Esfir, without straight up rocks-falling anybody or being too egregious with puppeteering.@Unkown58Sorry that I missed your question! Still need info?
@Rune_Alchemist@Timemaster@Kaga Classs@Ashh@Steel Legion Since we've had a few dropouts, I wanted to drop you folks a notice if you still had interest in joining! Given the pace of things has been fairly manageable (a few blips on my part notwithstanding) I'll lift the original "10 players" restriction for you all so anyone who wants to throw a CS out here, feel free! Also, apologies--I think I missed replying to some of you when you originally posted, I didn't mean to be rude!
You’ve Attempted to Craft! Tools Used: Charcoal, Sharp Rock Process: Curing, Tanning Material: Rough Tatzelwurm Hide, Tatzelwurm Fang
… Result: You’ve Crafted: Tatzel Sash! The quality of this item is undetermined.
Consumed: Cooked Tatzelwurm Meat You are Well Fed. Your HP and SP recovery rate is temporarily boosted. Activate [Ingestion: Tatzelwurm] (Y/N)? Approximate Ingestion: 0 > 20% Current Ingestion: Tatzelwurm - 20% Ingestible Skills [Tatzelwurm]:
[Slash]
[???] - Further Progress Required.
[???] - Further Progress Required.
Ingest Skill? OR Continue Biomass Accumulation?
Though the Runts weren’t familiar with all the faces of the Orc tribe, they would know the big players from simple observation during their time as babies—even if those memories now seemed subordinate to those from their human lives. Thus, Ushnekh was able to find his way to the Shaman’s home after his satisfying meal.
The orc camp, nestled between the mountains and cliffs, had a few dwellings in the form of natural caves carved into the rocky walls by time and elements. Usually only the stronger or more renown monsters lived in these, with the rest being forced to make do with tents and teepees—in the case of some poor Grunts, it was the best they could do to make an A-frame shelter with a bed of leaves. But the Shaman enjoyed a rather cozy home by comparison: the cave itself was set at an angle to a curved rock face, and the lean-to had been built as an extension of sorts. It was similar, perhaps, to a covered patio or porch built as an add-on to a human house. A few of the Shaman’s personal belongings and knicknacks could be seen around the corner of the stone entry, but the outer area seemed to serve as her “workshop,” or ritual area…maybe even a lab? It was hard to peg exactly what she was doing here at the moment.
Under the shade of several stretched out pelts between the support posts, Yambagorn stood in front of a small table made from stacking a long, flat rock on top of some timber sections. On this table, a small brazier full of fresh red coals seemed to be roasting a batch of nuts. And below the small, black-iron pot that held the nuts, a blackened wooden tube collected some kind of oil dripping out of the shells and through a series of small holes in the pot. A wooden cutting board held the finely-chopped remains of red-and-green capped mushrooms, and the shaman had just finished cleaning her knife as Ushnekh approached. Without looking at the Runt, she slammed it into one of the nearby wooden posts and let it hang there, quivering.
The female orc turned and retrieved a bowl of something from on top of a wooden barrel with her thin, leather-skinned arms. The wooden bowl seemed to hold some kind of grass or herb, which she began smashing to paste with a stone pestle between her gnarled fingers. Then she looked up at the approaching Ushnekh, her rheumy eyes taking his figure in before she snorted with what might have been amusement.
“So, ya furst hunt be goin’ well, den? Good, good.” She sat down on a seat made from a tree stump, and continued to grind the herbs. “Good ting ya ain’t be hurt, too. Medicine ain’t ready yet.” She gestured with her weak chin and wobbling neck towards another stump. “But ya lookin’ like ya got tings ta ask. Dat’s good, Runt.” She gave Ushnekh a gummy smile, before she snorted and hacked a big loogi between her feet.
Fully Consumed: Slime Membrane Current Ingestion: Slime - 75% All Ingested Skills have been detected! Choose ONE:
[Blunt Damage Resistance]
[Danger Scan]
[Scavenge]
As he chewed, Agar quietly moved through the forest while trying to acclimate his new body to the same stealthy movements he had once been used to. As he left behind the other group of Runts, he now found himself alone…and as he pressed deeper into the trees, the sounds of the forest began to reach him. Indeed, if so many Runts had been stomping around until now, the local wildlife had probably been pretty wary. But now, since he was by himself and making far less noise, he could pick up the ambient signals all around him.
Leaves rustled. Birds called in the distance. Every so often, the trees groaned and sighed under the wind.
And then, something ahead and above of Agar made a sound. He probably wouldn’t have picked up on it if he hadn’t been walking so quietly himself—it was as subtle as a squirrel moving in the branches. But it wasn’t a squirrel. He only caught a glimpse of it, as it passed between a gap in the canopy, but it was enough that he could follow its movement further across two trees.
It was the same kind of snake-cat creature that the other Runt had been carrying, right after they made that big cracking noise in the other part of the forest. So that meant it was what they called a Tatzelwurm. However, this one had its back to Agar even as it lowered itself down from branch to branch. Its gaze was intensely focused on something in front of it…and soon, Agar could see exactly what the Tatzelwurm saw.
A corpse of some unlucky animal lay on the ground, already half consumed by whatever had killed it and now in the stages of decomposition. But right next to that corpse, another creature was hunched, tearing off strips of the rotted flesh with clawed limbs and bringing them to a gobbling mouth. It had leathery, batlike wings folded close to its body, and only two legs/arms/whatever one might call them. Maybe this was what some of the older Orcs had called…A Harpy?
Whatever it was, the Tatzelwurm was intensely focused on the creature. The harpy, for its part, was unaware it was being stalked. The tatzelwurm moved much like Agar now, slow and silent, its coils gripping the lowest branch that hung not too far over the harpy’s backside.
A scavenger, being ambushed, by an ambusher that was being tracked by an orc runt. Now, would Agar try to take his rightful place in the food chain, or…?
You’ve Attempted to Craft! Tools: Sharp Stone Process: Knapping Materials: Tiny Tatzelwurm Bones
…Result: You’ve crafted: Bone Shards x3! Small bones splintered into sharp pieces. Though there’s no hole for a needle or threat, they could be used for sewing. They could also serve as a fragile arrowhead or fishhook, or be thrown like small darts.
Acquired Materials: Petrified Fragment Rotleaves x3 Rotleaf Seedpods x2
…Result: Your attempt failed. Some materials were damaged in the attempt: Cracked Tatzelwum Coilbone x1
As Vola munched on the leftovers of her shared kill with Gren, she also looked around the clearing for anything useful and tried to make use of the materials they already had. Before the group departed for the North Caves, she was able to find the same foul smelling, black colored plant that Esfir had and gather a few of the nasty looking leaves and seedpods from it. But she also found something else:
One particular tree at the edge of the clearing didn’t stand out much from the others, save for one thing. A branch had been broken off its trunk at some point, and seemed to have further broken down into multiple pieces on the ground where it landed. But something about these fragments of wood caught her eye, and when she picked it up, she found it was more like a piece of petrified wood than anything green or dried. Upon looking at the place where the wood had fallen off the original tree, she found that rather than splinters or peeling bark, the place where the branch had broken was also slightly petrified…as if rather than growing new bark over the wound, the parent tree had instead been covered with a layer of rock. The rock also blended almost imperceptibly with the still-growing trunk, its bark the same beige and gray mix of colors and of a similar roughness to plain stone.
But before she could investigate further, one of the other Runts called her. It was time to go.
Gren’s last crafting experiment, making a sling, didn’t work out quite as planned—though the Coilbone was quite flexible, it still had sections of harder bone or cartilage, whatever the stuff was made of, and thus it didn’t quite flex the way a normal rope would. He was able to get it into the shape of a sling well enough, and it even released his first test rock with some decent force. But the knots didn’t hold, and the whipping motion caused something in the fatty joints to pop loudly. The spinal cord might’ve worked better as a sort of chain, only moving along one axis of flexion, rather than a freely twisting rope. Or maybe it was just his clumsy knot tying. Given the damage he’d already incurred, though, it might be risky to try re-tying it. Besides, they had to go… On their way, the group passed another Runt, who seemed to be chewing on something. So far, it looked like very few of them had managed to resist the urge to go ahead and eat their first kills, despite what the Head Warrior had told them about bringing their prey back in one piece. Then again, by the standards of Orc society, they were all still foolhardy youngsters, after all.
Or…if other Runts were like them, reincarnated humans, maybe everyone had the same idea about experimenting to find out what skills they could get?
In any case, though the other Runt had something unusual to say, he didn’t seem intent on joining their group and soon disappeared back into the brush. So they continued to the North Caves. Once they had arrived in the valley, and taken in all its sights, the “leader” of their little group suddenly spoke up.
“There are many of us now. Split into teams, and search thoroughly.” Esfir said in that no-nonsense way of hers. “Remember, we fight from ambush. Retreat if outmatched; if you’re in danger…” She thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Scream loud.” Then, she pointed—not towards the incredibly obvious cave, but towards the rocky walls on the other side of the valley. “I’ll go this way. Don’t want something following behind us as soon as we enter that.”
And then suddenly, each of them received a message.
Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole
Kill a Creature
Ingested New Creature: Elwet
Learned Skill: Fire Bolt
Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves
LEVEL UP! Choose ONE:
Increase HP (Health)
Increase MP (Magic)
Increase SP (Stamina)
Gain 1 Skill Rank Point
Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole
Kill a Creature
Ingested New Creature: Elwet
Learned Skill: Fire Bolt
Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves
LEVEL UP! Choose ONE:
Increase HP (Health)
Increase MP (Magic)
Increase SP (Stamina)
Gain 1 Skill Rank Point
Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole
Kill a Creature
Ingested New Creature: Elwet
Learned Skill: Murderous Intent
Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves
LEVEL UP! Choose ONE:
Increase HP (Health)
Increase MP (Magic)
Increase SP (Stamina)
Gain 1 Skill Rank Point
Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole
Kill a Creature
Ingested New Creature: Tatzelwurm
Crafted New Items: Short Spear, Spear Thrower
Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves
LEVEL UP! Choose ONE:
Increase HP (Health)
Increase MP (Magic)
Increase SP (Stamina)
Gain 1 Skill Rank Point
Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole
Apologies everyone but I've been dealing with some stuff and haven't been able to sit down and think on some updates. I'll get an extra day off because of the 4th so hopefully if I don't get anything done this weekend I can get a midweek update out instead.
Since we've lost a few members at this point I'm also considering getting in touch with some of the people who expressed interest after we'd reached our initial quota. Feel free to show hands if you'd be for or against that or have any other concerns about how the RP's currently going.
Just wanted to let folks know I'm still here, just been dealing with some stuff and haven't been able to get a post out. Apologies @Enkryption if I'm holding you or @Mae up.
I started to post a reply but thought I'd wait a bit since I didn't want to double-reply too often. If you'd like I'll go ahead and try to get something up between now and tomorrow.
You've Attempted to Craft! Tools Used: Stone Hatchet Process: Woodwork, Fire-Hardening Material: Tungem Branch x4
...
...Result: You've crafted: Fire Hardened Short Spear! (x3) You've crafted: Spear Thrower! The quality of your items is undetermined.
Short Spear - Equip, Weapon [Fire Hardened, Tungem Wood] - A haft roughly three to four feet long topped by a sharp point. Though lacking the range advantage inherent to most spears, it's easier to use in one hand and light enough to throw.
Spear Thrower - Equip, Weapon [Tungem Wood] - A stick with a carved notch and handle. By placing a spear in the notch, it can be used as a lever to multiply the power of a throw. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, it may be as much as three times the force.
You've Attempted to Craft! Tools Used: Sharp Rock Process: Woodwork Materials: Wooden Stick, Tatzelwurm Claws x2, Tatzelwurm Fangs x2
...
...Result: You've crafted: Bone Spiked Club! The quality of your item is undetermined.
Spiked Club - Equip, Weapon [Horn/Bone, Wood] - A club that's had spikes of some kind embedded into it. Basic, but gets the job done.
Grunthor and Gren experimented with the materials they'd found while the others mostly discussed the creature they were going after next and how to bring it down. While putting together a few weapons either to share or solely for himself, Gren also helped himself to the fire as Esfir had "graciously" allowed. Lola, for her part, seemed content to observe for now. The female runt had been content to let Gren take the lead before, so maybe she was just the agreeable type. Although whether she'd risk traveling so much further from camp, and taking on a beast the Head Warrior had apparently given some cryptic warning about, was yet to be seen.
Grunthor found he couldn't bend the scales, but perhaps it was less their toughness or resistance and more the fact that, being as small as they were, it was hard to get enough leverage with just his fingers. Like when a piece of paper has been folded too small to fold anymore. And these metallic bits of scale from a chicken sized creature were both harder and smaller than a folded square of paper.
Esfir seemed in a hurry to get a move on, so regardless of how long Gren took to do his crafting and eating, or whether or not Lola spoke up, it seemed like the original four Runts would soon be on their way. The others had all pretty much passively accepted that they were following the "oldest" of the reincarnates, so when she struck out, they would too.
While traveling towards the North Cave, they would come across yet another Runt traveling in the opposite direction, keeping the camp to one side and the forest to the other. He was carrying what looked like...a deflated blue dodgeball?
But of course, whether they ended up negotiating with this Runt too likely wouldn't change their end-point destination, even if he ended up coming with them as well...So they would eventually arrive at the North Caves... [AREA CHANGE]
Cutting the Slime open and feasting on the jelly within was a fairly intuitive process---they seemed like incredibly simple creatures, and perhaps that was appropriate for something so similar to an amoeba. Once he'd taken the edge off his hunger (truth be told, there wasn't actually all that much to the slime to eat, for while it was filled with gel, its body was also inflated by air, which was, of course, inedible) Agar continued his journey along the treeline. He carefully kept the camp in sight, a sound strategy for a new environment where he hadn't yet learned his way.
But as he continued on, he would soon see another group coming from the opposite direction. And they were headed on a path that seemed it would take them into the mountains. There were at least four of these other Runts, and they had the remnants of vaguely recognizable odors around them: Smoke and ash, blood, and...was that...barbecue?
If he wanted to speak to them, or maybe even join them, it looked like he might have to do it quick---they were all following a female who seemed very focused on getting to wherever this group had decided they were going. Were they all still on the hunt as well?
North Caves
Roughly an hour’s walk from the camp, in a northerly direction along the scrubby, gravel-covered slopes between the trees and the mountainside proper, a valley opened up where a fast-moving stream came down a long slope and meandered off into the woods. Within this valley, there were several cracks and clefts in the rock walls to either side, and one of these was larger and darker than the others. It looked to be a talus cave of some sort, where the collapse of rocks who knew how many eons ago created a roof that was piled high with detritus and topsoil over the years. A short climb would allow one to see over the lip of the ground and down into a slanted, slippery passage...but this open chamber of the cave was still somewhat cramped, and a much narrower passageway further into the depths sat at its back, where the shadows hid what else might lie down that path. Yet, one could feel a cool draft coming out of the rock, which meant there had to be more to this cave than met the eyes...
The climb here had been mostly uneventful, as the proximity of the Orc Camp had probably kept most of the more dangerous critters up on the mountain paths more subdued. Dire Rats could occasionally be seen darting here and there among the rocks, in a manner similar to squirrels in one's backyard, but without a concentrated effort these little critters would be quite difficult to catch. They could fit into such small spaces, and move so quickly, that if they wanted to hide---which they did, as even if they were predatory, Orc Runts as a rule were at least twice their size---they could do so before one could simply jump and grab them.
However, up in the vast blue skies, every so often the shadows of birds could be seen. They didn't circle like vultures, but rather simply passed over from time to time, so it was hard to tell if it was the same creature each time, or different ones. It was also hard to tell how big they were, or whether they might be observing, tracking, or simply ignoring the Runts. Nonetheless, they were an indicative sign of life from the environment. Once, one of these flying shadows did let out a very hawk-like screech, and sped up as it arced over the valley's roof, disappearing in an instant beyond the edges of the rocky peaks above.
Thus, did the questing Runts come to the next leg of their hunt...
@Lucius Cypher Nasty stuff noted. The description for Coilbone should be in the last update along with the claws, fangs, etc.
@ERode It's not that late in the day yet, after midmorning but not quite noon.
Okay guys, sorry again, I didn't get the update finished and tomorrow is going to be a no-go because of my class. So we're aiming for a mid-week update this time.
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