Forest
@ERode
Obtained Tungem Branch x4
Obtained Jackalope Antlers x2
Lost 1 Tungem Branch > Broken Wood Pieces x3
Obtained Pimplestool Mushroom x2
Obtained Crushed Pimplestool
Obtained Mushroom Shreds x3
Obtained Mycellium Lash x3
Obtained Frayed Mycellium Lash x2
Consumed: Partial Frayed Mycellium Lash
You have resisted Poison!
Activate [Ingestion: Pimplestool] (Y/N)? Approximate Ingestion: 0 > 10%.
Ingestible Skills [Pimplestool] - Further Progress Required.
Warning: This will ERASE current Ingestion progress!
Current Ingestion: Elwet 85%
All Ingestible Skills [Elwet] known; Additional Biomass Required for further Ingestion.
Jackalope Antlers have been broken down.
Obtained Jackalope Point x5
Obtained Broken Jackalope Point
You've attempted to Craft something!
Materials: Tungem Branch + Jackalope Point + Mycellium Lash
Process: Handcrafting
...Success! You've Crafted a weapon!
Jackalope Spear - 2H Weapon - A decent, if primitive spear. Not suitable as a throwing weapon due to its weight, but made of tough, sturdy materials. Jackalope horn is surprisingly sharp, almost as much so as metal.
The
Tatzelwurm that lunged at Esfir met the orc runt's eyes as they
flashed. In that instant it understood that not only had this creature seen it, ruining its ambush, but that the creature was stronger than one might expect for its size, and that it not only had the capability to kill the tatzelwurm, but the will to do so as well. The sheer wave of hostility threw the creature off just as Esfir hoped, and in that moment the runt made her move!
The jackalope spear pierced the monster's hide far easier than her sharp stone would have, catching it through its open mouth and piercing into the back of its head! The tatzelwurm was pretty much dead--but, like some venomous snakes of earth, its jaws continued to snap and its body writhed out the last of its energy! Its claws flailed at her, and if she wasn't careful its thrashings would push the body up the haft of her spear within biting range of her hand--!
Up above, the Harpy took off from its perch, and began to circle in the air...
Orc Camp
@King Cosmos
HP Increased! Healing Points are expended when you are injured, and when you suffer infection, illness, or certain status effects. When Healing Points are spent, your body will not be able to tolerate further expenditures. If Healing Points experience a sudden, severe drop, you may enter the Shock condition. When Healing Points are fully expended, you will enter the Unconscious condition. Further damage taken while in the Unconscious condition is highly likely to cause DEATH.
As Akeno explored the camp, she would see that many of the adult orcs and the Grunts were having their lunches around the cookfires, taking naps, or generally doing things that didn't require a lot of moving around, like sharpening weapons or crafting various bits and pieces. The weather wasn't especially warm, but the sunlight reflected off the rocks of the mountains and there wasn't a lot of shade. Combined with the ambient heat of the fires, it was comfortable enough for resting and bearable to move and work in, but unless it was absolutely necessary most of the camp seemed to be in "siesta" mode.
The entire camp rested at the base of a mountain, with a sloping ledge and trails at its edge back to the forest. Many of the camp’s shelters were thus carved into the rocky outcrops and cliff faces, though tents and crude wooden buildings were scattered around as well. Usually only the stronger or more renown monsters lived in the natural caves, 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.
The few orcs who
were moving around a lot, were doing something important enough to warrant it; Akeno saw a lithe-built orc running with a
double armful of freshly cut logs, drawing the ire of several other adults he almost bumped into.
Another had several wooden buckets and woven baskets balanced on his shoulders and head, and seemed to be making a lot of effort to keep them that way as he wibbled and wobbled towards a
large patch of unclaimed ground near the brood pits. As the stack on his head did its best slinky impression, causing the orc to walk in circles under it until the whole height stabilized again, Akeno saw a couple of
small beans fall out of the basket onto the ground.
She also saw the
huge orc blacksmith, the one the other adults called Bowbh, working under a simple wooden shed. Several tall wooden posts had been planted into the earth, and thinner branches formed a frame for a sloping straw roof on one side. Underneath this shed, a furnace of fired clay bricks had been built along with bellows made from animal skins. Crude tables of both wood and stone held various tools and a few works in progress, although for a "blacksmith" it seemed like he worked as much with tree branches and knapped blades as much as he did with any actual metal. In place of an anvil he simply had a huge, square slab of stone. Its upper half had been blackened over time by the heat of objects laid upon it, and a fine layer of ash and soot.
The orc carrying the wood deposited it next to a big charcoal pit, and said something to the blacksmith only to get a dismissive shake of the big orc's head and a halfhearted gesture of his hammer.
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?
She seemed to have just finished talking to another Runt, one that had returned earlier than Akeno, and as the orcling went on their way
Yambagorn shuffled back to her mortar and pestle.
Shamar, the Head Hunter of the tribe, could be seen near a large, yurt-like dwelling on the far western side of the camp, in an area of flat, unshaded rock. Away from the hustle and bustle of most other orcs, it was unclear whether she settled here out of personal taste... or because the fumes from her animal pelts, stretched and tanning in the sun, were so strong. Even to an orc's nose, they were unpleasantly pungent. The finished product of her pelts could be seen in her home's construction, stitched together in a multitude of colors with fur still attached.
It looked like she had just finished hanging some new hides in front of her fire to dry, and now she was looking at several carcasses hanging over bowls of fresh blood as she decided which one to take down next.As Akeno continued to wander the camp, however, she soon heard
a group of orcs suddenly break out in chanting. One of them even began to beat a drum that happened to be sitting outside a tent. In rhythm they stomped their feet as another, larger orc passed by.
"HOO! HAA! AG-RO-NAK! HOO! HAA! AG-RO-NAK!"
The
Warchief of the tribe passed among them with a wide berth,
two other orcs trailing exactly three steps behind both of his shoulders and scowling at any other adult who dared get closer. Agronak walked up the first set of stairs to a larger,
more ornate dwelling than any of the other orcs had, one that seemed to have been properly constructed (by orc standards) to take advantage of the mountainous terrain. His two bodyguards stopped at the bottom of the stairs while the warchief continued on. They turned back, looking out at the rest of the camp, as they crossed their arms and scowled in an appropriate manner for their station.
After seeing all the "major players" of the camp and continuing to wander for a bit, Akeno would also overhear several snippets of conversation--or, as it happened, a few shouting matches.
"Wot's he mean that ain't enough wood?! I spent all morning cuttin' down that damn tree!"
“Hmph, more wood? What ‘e needs is more ore! And better stuff, too. That bog iron ain’t worth gruhk!”
"Anybody heard from them mukhs wot was talkin' bout a new cave they found down south? They oughta been back by now!"
"They's prolly dead if they ain't, then! What they been gone for--three days already?""Two o' them new Runts went lookin' for 'em! Fat lotta good they'll do if sumfinn's killed the others!"
"Dat idjit, what's he think he's gonna do? Crops take too long, we needs food now! Besides, where's he gonna get da water?!"
"Specially when da spring keeps stoppin' every few days! Won't be long afore we gotta start goin' to da lake again with them stupid big tubs!"
"Hah! Weakling already knows 'e can't fight worth a grukh, 'e might as well kill 'imself!"
South Caves
@Kazemitsu
Obtained Red Cream x2
"Camazots are like...a giant bat, I guess? Imagine a wolf, but with its forelegs as bat wings and a way, way creepier face. Nasty predators, and they live in colonies big enough to split into multiple hunting packs. If you still remember what it was like sleeping in the Brood Pit, they were the things that screamed and blacked out the moon every so often." answered the Runt whose name Grunthor still hadn't learned.
As Grunthor watched the ceiling, he saw more web trails here and there but no sign yet of the spider that had made them. The two Runts came closer to the camp, and sure enough found the remains of a campfire, now burned down to cold charcoal, and three bedrolls. There were a few scattered belongings, the blackened remnants of a chunk of meat, and tracks...which led to the Runt's right, further into the tunnel. It was completely pitch black in that direction.
The belongings that Grunthor could make out in the gloom were:
- A necklace of bones and dried ears. The ears were now the color and texture of jerky, but had a more elegant look to them than orc ears. They were long and pointed, but otherwise human-like. The bones all seemed to be finger bones. They appeared humanoid, but much smaller than one would expect from a normal person.
- Leather gloves. Oddly, they seemed too small to fit an adult orc's hands, but they could probably fit a Runt just fine.
- A lucky paw from some bear-like creature on a thin string.
- Fingerless gloves, these properly adult-orc sized, made from plant fiber wrappings.
- A set of playing cards made from squares of tree bark, with smudged charcoal markings for symbols and numbers.
- A red cloth bandana.
- Stone dagger - A properly knapped and shaped stone blade set into a handle that looks to have been made from an antler of some kind.
"Hey, check it!" said the other Runt in a whisper that still managed to carry in the cave. "There's only two sets of these footprints--this other track is like something, or someone,
was being dragged!" He grinned back at Grunthor. "So your giant spider must've grabbed one of them, taken him deeper into the cavern, and the other two went after it!" He pointed back at the webbed up tunnel. "But if we haven't seen it again so far, that makes me think they either wounded it, or killed it. If we had a
torch we could burn those webs easy, and go deeper to see if there's anything else down here--I bet they were carrying weapons and maybe some other stuff with them!"
From here, when the two looked back, they could also see that the cave wall to their left was a little smoother and less craggy than what they'd passed so far. Near where the wall joined the floor, they could see
little lumpy masses that were oddly smooth, like rocks at the bottom of a riverbed. The first thought, of course, might be a mass of spider eggs--but there were no webs around this part of the cave, and where the sunlight's longest rays from the entrance hit them, they glimmered with a black luster...
Deep Forest
@ReusableSword
Skill Gained:
Muffle - Rank I - Muffle the sounds of your movements to become stealthy. The user's footsteps will be significantly more quiet, but this is only a deduction from the normal amount of noise they would make. Therefore, one's armor, weight, etc may still produce sounds beyond a certain level.
+Previous experience carried over
New Observation: Elwet, Goblin
New Ingestion: Tatzelwurm
You've gained a new skill!
New Items Crafted
Discovered New Area: Deep Forest
LEVEL UP! Level 2 > Level 3
- Increase HP (Health)
- Increase MP (Magic)
- Gain 1 Skill Rank Point
- Gain 1 Empty Skill Slot
Agar's new skill and his mud camo did wonders for his movement through the forest, as did his use of Field Scan. As he entered the dark grove of trees, the magical "sonar" wave expanded from him...and upon its return, a flood of information almost threatened to overwhelm him!
Skill Progression:
Field Scan Rank UP I > II!
At Rank II, one can roughly sense the silhouette of the creatures within range.
Not far from Agar, in fact so close that he could probably catch it if he lunged with the longer reach of his spear,
was a rabbit shape with horns--one of those Jackalopes! But there was much, much more to consider before he decided on whether or not to pursue this prey...
In one of those dark trees, a
large, bird shaped shadow sat nestled in what was probably a nest. It was bigger than that chicken-like thing he had encountered before. It was staying incredibly still, so much so that the silhouette he sensed actually grew
dimmer--was it
hiding from something?
That was
very possible, given that on the ground in roughly the center of the dark trees,
something with a silhouette like an alligator, plus ox-like horns, was slowly stalking through the forest. It was headed towards what looked like a ring of blurry shapes--they were apparently not close enough for Agar to make out the distinct shapes of them with his Field Scan. But based on their size...and the fact that he thought he could hear voices...were they more of those goblins? Or more Orc Runts like himself, possibly sent out here by Shamar? Whatever they were, they were definitely being hunted by this large, spike-backed beast...
Oh, and of course there were things more related to his actual quest. Through careful observation of the area and his stealthy movements, Agar had identified several mushrooms and other potentially useful materials:
- A pointy-capped mushroom that is shiny silver towards its top, dulling to gray, then black, then rusty red towards the base. x2
- A short, leafy tree no higher than six or seven feet, but many smaller branches on its trunk reaching up to nine or ten feet in length. The larger branches, usually near the bottom or middle of the tree, have round green nuts with thick shells.
- Red Cream - An unmistakable red mushroom that oozes a red, creamlike substance when its bulbous head is cut. You once heard an Orc say a single mushroom could keep someone full for several hours. But they only grow in dark places… x2
- Another of the mushrooms that look like a weeping willow, with all the tendrils.
- A Turtleshell Mushroom! x2
However, based on where the various mushrooms were, harvesting them might prove a problem--the Red Creams were under the bushes near Agar, and not far from the Jackalope. Harvesting them, even if he was stealthy, would probably disturb the prey and send it running. The shiny, pointy-cap mushroom was further into the tree copse, closer to that big alligator-esque creature. And the Turtleshells were nestled in the roots of the same tree that the large bird was nesting in!
The other mushrooms, and the tree, would be easier to get to without being seen...in fact,
that tree's branches would probably be sturdy enough to climb, if he needed to get away from something very dangerous on the ground...