[center][h2]Orc Camp[/h2] [hr] [@Guy0fV4lor][/center] [hr] [hider=Ushnekh][quote=SYSTEM] [b]Leveled Up: Gained 1 Skill Point![/b] Only one of your current Skills is eligible for increase. [b]Earth Wave increased to Rank II![/b] This Skill can be cast at any available Rank. Rank II increases damage (solid stone can now be cracked) and MP cost. [b]Mangled Tatzelwurm has been dismantled![/b] Some items have been damaged or are unusable. Usable Items Acquired: Cracked Tatzelwurn Fang x1 Tatzelwurm Fangs x2 Tatzelwurm Claws x3 Cracked Tatzelwurm Coilbone x1 Tatzelwurm Meat 7 lbs (11 lbs w/ blood, bones, organs, etc) Crushed Tatzelwurm Eye x1 Rough Tatzelwurm Hide x1 [b]You’ve Attempted to Craft![/b] 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. [b]Activate [Ingestion: Tatzelwurm] (Y/N)? Approximate Ingestion: 0 > 20%[/b] Current Ingestion: Tatzelwurm - 20% Ingestible Skills [Tatzelwurm]:[list] [*][Slash] [*][???] - Further Progress Required. [*][???] - Further Progress Required.[/list] Ingest Skill? OR Continue Biomass Accumulation?[/quote][/hider] 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, [b]Yambagorn[/b] 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 [b]nuts[/b]. And below the small, black-iron pot that held the nuts, a blackened wooden tube collected some kind of [b]oil[/b] 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 [b]mushrooms[/b], and the shaman had just finished cleaning her [b]knife[/b] 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 [b]herb[/b], 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. [b]Medicine[/b] 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. [center][h2]The Forest[/h2] [hr] [@ReusableSword][/center] [hr] [quote=SYSTEM] Fully Consumed: Slime Membrane Current Ingestion: Slime - 75% All Ingested Skills have been detected! Choose ONE:[list] [*][Blunt Damage Resistance] [*][Danger Scan] [*][Scavenge][/list][/quote] 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 [u][b]Tatzelwurm[/b][/u]. 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 [b]creature[/b] 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 [b]Harpy[/b]? [hider=HARPY] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094242197211185182/1127387112157753344/latest.png[/img][/hider] Whatever it was, [b]the Tatzelwurm was intensely focused on the creature[/b]. 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…? [hr] [h2][CENTER]North Caves[/CENTER][/h2] [hr] [CENTER][@Unkown58][@Lucius Cypher][@King Cosmos][@Kazemitsu][@Crusader Lord][/CENTER] [hr] [hider=VOLA][quote=SYSTEM:Vola] Consumed: Cooked Tatzelwurm Meat [b]Activate [Ingestion: Tatzelwurm] (Y/N)? Approximate Ingestion: 0 > 20%[/b] Current Ingestion: Tatzelwurm - 20% Ingestible Skills [Tatzelwurm]:[list] [*][Slash] [*][???] - Further Progress Required. [*][???] - Further Progress Required.[/list] Ingest Skill? OR Continue Biomass Accumulation? 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 [/quote][/hider] [hider=GREN][quote=SYSTEM:Gren] You’ve attempted to Craft! Tools: None Specified Process: Knot Tying Materials: Tatzelwurm Coilbone x1, Tungem Leaves x3 …Result: Your attempt failed. Some materials were damaged in the attempt: Cracked Tatzelwum Coilbone x1 [/quote][/hider] 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… [hr] 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. [hr] [u][b]Once they had arrived in the valley, and taken in all its sights, the “leader” of their little group suddenly spoke up.[/b][/u] “There are many of us now. Split into teams, and search thoroughly.” [u][b]Esfir[/b][/u] 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 [b]the other side of the valley[/b]. “[b]I’ll go this way[/b]. Don’t want something following behind us as soon as we enter that.” And then suddenly, each of them received a message. [hider=AKENO][quote=SYSTEM:Akeno] Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole[list] [*][s]Kill a Creature[/s][/list] Ingested New Creature: Elwet Learned Skill: Fire Bolt Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves [b]LEVEL UP![/b] Choose ONE:[list] [*]Increase HP (Health) [*]Increase MP (Magic) [*]Increase SP (Stamina) [*]Gain 1 Skill Rank Point[/list] [/quote][/HIDER] [HIDER=LAZASH][quote=SYSTEM:Lazash] Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole[list] [*][s]Kill a Creature[/s][/list] Ingested New Creature: Elwet Learned Skill: Fire Bolt Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves [b]LEVEL UP![/b] Choose ONE:[list] [*]Increase HP (Health) [*]Increase MP (Magic) [*]Increase SP (Stamina) [*]Gain 1 Skill Rank Point[/list] [/quote][/HIDER] [HIDER=GRUNTHOR][quote=SYSTEM:Grunthor] Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole[list] [*][s]Kill a Creature[/s][/list] Ingested New Creature: Elwet Learned Skill: Murderous Intent Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves [b]LEVEL UP![/b] Choose ONE:[list] [*]Increase HP (Health) [*]Increase MP (Magic) [*]Increase SP (Stamina) [*]Gain 1 Skill Rank Point[/list] [/quote][/HIDER] [HIDER=GREN][quote=SYSTEM:Gren] Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole[list] [*][s]Kill a Creature[/s][/list] Ingested New Creature: Tatzelwurm Crafted New Items: Short Spear, Spear Thrower Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves [b]LEVEL UP![/b] Choose ONE:[list] [*]Increase HP (Health) [*]Increase MP (Magic) [*]Increase SP (Stamina) [*]Gain 1 Skill Rank Point[/list] [/quote][/HIDER] [HIDER=VOLA][quote=SYSTEM:Vola] Quest: Find Something to Eat and Bring it Back Whole[list] [*][s]Kill a Creature[/s][/list] Ingested New Creature: Tatzelwurm Crafted New Items: Bone Shards Explored Areas: Orc Camp, Forest, North Caves [b]LEVEL UP![/b] Choose ONE:[list] [*]Increase HP (Health) [*]Increase MP (Magic) [*]Increase SP (Stamina) [*]Gain 1 Skill Rank Point[/list] [/quote][/HIDER]