ERode

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

A monopoly, or at least a superiority, in violence.

That sounded like an appropriate resource to develop then. Esfir, certainly, couldn't lay out an adult orc with a singular punch the same way that Xolkug did, and if she had used a weapon, that would have escalated the situation too. Fisticuffs were an expression of aggression; a blade drawn lead to a certainty of death.

As the last of the sausage disappeared, she wiped her hands of grease and fat by scrubbing it against the dirt, before tossing the charred stick she had been using as a utensil into the flames. The orcs that had gathered were gone at this point, their stomachs not satisfied but their taste buds happy, and it was now truly dipping towards the evening. All that remained was a shelter, and Esfir scampered off to get one set up. Looking towards the sky, it didn't appear as if it would rain, so she settled for a quick concept. Taking her hatchet, the runt headed off to the copse of dead wood around the camp, cutting off longer branches to serve as a simply frame for a shelter that would be just large enough to sit down in. The Harpy's wing membranes that she had kept were stretched out over the A-frame made from the branches, then secured in place by a combination of the remaining Mycellium lashes and the more pliable roots that she dug out from the earth. Maybe tomorrow, she'll spend the time to harvest leafier branches from the nearby forest to better help with rain-proofing and insulating the shelter, but it'll have to do for now. A lightweight shelter that was mostly just good for windbreaking would be fine.

And as for the matter of security...

Esfir looked at what remained in her bag. She had taken all she could from her kills at the start, mostly under the presumption of waste-not-want-not, but now, a lot of it just appeared to be...unusable. That was good though. There were some things that could be cared for, and others that could be treated as disposable. The rocks she had were kept for Bowbh, and she still figured that there was something useful to be garnered from the more 'unique' parts of the beasts she slew, but those cracked claws and horns? The talons? She could find more mushrooms in the future, and those rotleaves didn't look like they were an uncommon occurrence either. So instead, the Runt laid out all the mish-mash of sharp animal parts she had and used a stick to crush the rotberries and mushroom bits together into a paste. Carefully, she wiped that paste upon the broken claws and points, then scattered them around the entrance of her shelter, before throwing a dusting of dirt over top to hide it.

It would be easy enough to cross if one took an abnormally long step into the open entrance of her tent, but who would do that, unless they knew of the 'caltrops' she had laid in front? And her own shelter was separated far away enough from the others that one would have to intentionally walk towards it in order to step upon the caltrops to begin with.

At least, that was the hope.

...she wasn't going to think about the off-chance of someone walking up to her shelter because they wanted to go talk to her.

Skills

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Frost Arc - Rank I - An expanding spray of icy cold, over 10 feet in one direction and 5 feet wide at its furthest edge. The cold is more intense the closer the target is to the origin, reaching its lowest temperature within a span of about 2 feet. It constantly expends Magic Power the longer the cone is maintained.
• Murderous Intent - Rank II - 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. At Rank II, creatures weaker than you will be made Fearful instead of Intimidated. If they are already Intimidated, Shocked, or Unaware, the effect of Fearful will be extended to 10 seconds. Creatures that are equal to you will suffer Rank I effects.
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Antler Bracers - Equip, Armor - A type of bone armor used to protect the arms. Materials such as fangs, teeth, horn, antler, etc can be quite tough, but typically aren't as hard as metals. They are somewhat resistant to physical damage, though less so against Blunt impacts. Light Defense Boost!
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.
• Flint Hatchet - Equip, Weapon/Tool - A sharper edge than a Stone Hatchet of equivalent size, but lighter and more brittle. Requires more strength and proper alignment to get a good chop, but most wood will be cut faster.
• Borrowed Antler Pickaxe - Equip, Weapon/Tool - A pickaxe made with a sturdy piece of wood and a sharpened antler. Can harvest softer stones and some ores! It can be used as a piercing weapon, even on hard shelled creatures, but it wasn't designed for that. High Quality. On Loan from Bowbh.
• 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.
• Stomach-Bag - Small bag, improved from an Elwet's stomach.
• Rotleaves x5
• Rotleaf Seedpods x6
• Gizzard Sparkstone
• Elwet Feathers
• Raw Chalcopyrite Ore x3
• Bufonite x3
• Tungem Branch x3
• Jackalope Point x3
• Broken Jackalope Point x2
• Pimplestool Mushroom x2
• Crushed Pimplestool
• Mushroom Shreds x3
• Mycellium Lash x2
• Frayed Mycellium Lash x2
• Cracked Tatzelwurm Fang x1
• Tatzelwurm Fang x2
• Tatzelwurm Claws x3
• Cracked Tatzelwurm Claws x2
• Tatzelwurm Coilbone x1
• Crushed Tatzelwurm Eye x2
• Harpy Tooth x1
• Harpy Talon x3
• Broken Harpy Talon x1
• Harpy Wing Membrane x2
• Harpy Screech Valve x1

@Zeroth

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...! (Interest Check)

Will keep an eye on this. Isekai truly is brainrot, regardless of my thoughts on the genre outside of RP.

Revue of Annihilation

Goblin livers, their weapons (she'd recognize the same kinda spear that Theo had), as well as small pouches they carry that contain shiny tokens and whatnot. Predictably, goblins don't drop great loot, but if she was trained as a monster slayer, usually she'd make money off of the act of killing a monster, rather than the act of butchering a monster. Adventurers in Oratorio, however, make most of their income from the latter.

Revue of Annihilation

//A7 - The Ever-Burning Mausoleum
It was a solid building, with solid chimneys. No windows from the outside, but the chanting of canticles sounded alongside the rising plumes. It was continuous, that liturgy, a task taken on in succession rather than unison, but the words were ancient or foreign, indecipherable beyond the underlying emotion within the art.

If the end came, let it be bright.

The Ever-Burning Mausoleum was such a building, and when Lethe pulled the doors open, he could feel how heavy they were, could feel the hot draft that struck him as if he were entering a forge. His eyes teared up from that ambient heat, his dark clothes ill-suited for the searing brightness of the undying pyre. Acolytes, half-naked to avoid an unwanted immolation, chanted and raked ashes in sequence. It was through the gift of the Thousand-Faced that such miracles could be accomplished to begin with, magic alone being the source of the inferno that so readily blackened and disintegrated bodies beyond recognition.

Here too, however, money remained something to be considered. Clear prices segregated the services that would be given to the rich and the poor and those in between. The more money one spent, the whiter the ashes, the more private and glorious the spectacle. No doubt, the cheaper prices had no guarantee to begin with, that the ash brought back truly belonged to the one that was sent off.

Perhaps that was just another compromise though. If one’s life had burnt out, then so too ought one’s flesh.

"You appear to not require our services," a man, noteworthy due only to his age and the burn scars entwining with his sinew, approached Lethe's flock. "Are you followers of the Flame-Face? Or have you come only to watch our ceremonies?"
_@Thayr

---

//A3 - The Mug At Dusk
It could have ended in bloodshed and great loss, or even just a first blood and a small loss.

But instead, nothing had come of the encounter, that monstrous swordswoman breaking away and retreating. It had been an exchange that only lasted a fraction of a minute at most, far too short for any of the bystanders to have really noticed or considered it to be of any concern.

For those involved, however, it had changed everything. There was no mistaking it, after all. If that woman had not announced her presence, if she had simply steeled her resolve and struck like a proper bandit would, Theodore would be missing his head. Even if they had fought her with all they had, with all of Theo’s followers, they would’ve likely been on the losing end. It was by the fortune of her weak will that those who were Blessed by Blood had not been forced to swallow their pride and run away.

And now, there was a true and proper conundrum. Was it still wise to split, when that inconstant Ichor-Blessed could change her mind and return? Was it smart, however, to simply miss his other three followers, in an unknown city that was approaching the gloom of gloaming? If there was one Ichor-Blessed, there had to be more. Who knew how many threats remained then, how many who would be as flagrantly aggressive as that swordswoman?

Regardless of what Theo thought, regardless of what he did, he found himself sitting across from Samuel in a dingy pub. The Mug At Dusk was a proper hole-in-the-wall, squished between two more raucous establishments. Candles burned away by the half-dozens within the building, its dim light serving more to accentuate shadow than to illuminate darkness. Some huddled to play cards or games of chance. Others whispered furtively, planning heists or trysts. Still more remained by themselves, their moods ill-suited for the revelry that was common in other parts of the Adventurer’s District.

Samuel himself, however, was in a good mood.

“C’mon, mate, drink up,” he gestured. “Yah got outta it with your head intact and your wallet unharmed, so what’s there to sulk about? Now for real here, what exactly is your deal here? Divinity, blood-drinking, monster bait, tell me everything you can offer, and maybe you’ll get real rich, real quick.”
_@SilverPaw

---

//The Abyss
The Abyss welcomed her.

Even as the day died, after all, there were still guards up on the walls, ferrying adventurers up and down, and Elys too found herself descending into the darkness. Without the sun overhead, darkness consumed the Ichor-Blessed of the Void in her entirety, dark robes mixing with deep shadow. She could not appreciate the fog until she felt the damp against her skin. She could not appreciate the ridgeline terrain that paradoxically persisted in the depths of the earth, but could feel the softness of the grass beneath her feet. She could not appreciate the vibrant hues of the wildflowers yet smelled their scent in the misplaced breeze.

The beauty of the Abyss, its allure of adventure within a nonsensical labyrinth, was perhaps lost upon her, who sought only to wield her blade and to lose herself in the death-dance. To lose her thoughts before what she sought to achieve clashed once more with her own ideals as a human being.

It was a seductive thing though, the Abyss.

Even if ‘adventure’ was lost to her, ‘battle’ was not. And as the earth around her began to shift, the labyrinth rearranging itself beneath the twinkling rapture of the Perishing Star that crested over the horizon, she could feel it.

Monsters. Drawn to her, and her alone. Motley crews of murderous goblinoids, the entirety of their meagre intelligence driven to violence and plunder. If they had freedom of choice, they would undoubtedly be ‘evil’, but just as animals were driven to predation without burden upon their souls, so too were monsters driven towards the destruction of the creations of the Thousand-Faced Deity.

They would come. She would fight.

Perhaps that is where her solace lied, her identity as a monster slayer.

Or perhaps that is where she would fall further, away from what an Ichor-Blessed ought to be.
_@Estylwen

Iris Ascendis

Otis just lost his title as the Dark One, eh?

Time to rebrand as the Gray One.

Iris Ascendis

I'll post after Sifr does.

Iris Ascendis

Don't kill yourself over it, mate.

Iris Ascendis

Quick sauce made. Don't mind Otis taking every opportunity to look down on his peers.

Iris Ascendis

_@Nanaya

“It’s that same sort of behavior that caused them to fight amongst themselves yesterday,” Otis replied, glancing towards the janitor. “The presence of a goal does not excuse an unawareness of one’s surroundings.”

With the principal’s voice alerting him of the attunement ceremony, however, it looked as if it wasn’t feasible to find Chloe outside anytime soon. He could form a spell to track her down, of course, but on the other hand, her hair and her countenance stood out enough. If all were destined to flow towards a certain space, then why chase, when one could wait? He drew a sigil in the aether instead, whispering an incantation for a spell well-used during his own alchemical mishaps.

The soapy fluids rose up from the ground in dark globules, fusing together one at a time in the form of a perfect sphere. By the time Michael returned, there would be but a single ball, floating two feet off the ground.

And there would be no Strigidae to be found.

---

Instead, Otis floated above the Leyline Attunement Zone, amber eyes gazing down once more at the clusters of students that formed. There was the shock of red hair that marked out Valen, as well as the brambly black of Ciara who approached him with ill intent. Iraleth, gleaming silver, had arrived as well, but he didn’t catch the glimmer of Hildegunde’s rifle anywhere in the auditorium.

Nor did he see the vibrant strawberry blonde of Chloe.

Hm.

With a flexing of his fingers, his Adapa manifested before him once more, and an e-mail was drafted moments later, sent to all his contacts within Compact 1.

I do not see Chloe or Hildegunde. Has anyone else?

Expedition to Isekai

---

//Day 3 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel@AThousandCurses@Nakushita@Yankee}
“Don’t be a coward now.”

As Duncan leaned down, Haruko raised her own arms up, wrapping them around his neck to pull him down further into a quick kiss. Just a brush of the lips, a softness and warmth that disappeared a moment later, before she took his package of cigarettes and took a step back too. “And if you wanted to ace the whole quitting thing, you wouldn’t be keeping one with you either, dummy.”

There looked like there was more left to say, but if either of them kept talking, it would never end. A glance towards Asahi, who was getting waved off by Kumi, and then Haruko too turned away.

“See you, Duncan.”

It didn’t take long for that golden ichor to leave Duncan’s body. His core was warm once more, and he carried more food with him too. Asahi was in a similar situation, feeling more energetic than he had in days despite the heavy feelings in his heart. What would change when they return? What would remain the same?

Kumi yawned. Her secret for not thinking or worrying, it seemed, was to simply do what she had always done. “Just clean out the containers after you’re done with them. Mold grows after two days.” She managed a smile at Asahi, before heading back to the fire. “Sounding a lot more reliable these days though, Asahi. I’ll hold you to that fact.”

And with that, the two boys disappeared into the woods, towards that singular mountain in the distance.

...only, of course, to come across Oros.

---

This morning, the forest really was just serene and quiet.

Perhaps it was a consequence of Shun’s violence the previous day, having cleared out that den of monsters by her own. Perhaps it was simply that such monstrous threats were an anomaly to begin with. The woods around her were quiet as she strolled in a wide perimeter around the students’ campsite. It had been a slow morning for most others, her classmates content with enjoying the remnants of a restful sleep and a full stomach, even though Hana and Hiroshi were both up and about in getting the place in a better shape.

It was an opportunity for Shun to rest, at least. A chance for her to enjoy her solitude and to feel her own body continue to recover. There was still a faintness that lingered in her limbs, a weakness in her tendons as she stepped over brush and roots, but any pain that she had felt from tearing apart her body had disappeared, leaving only the pleasant buzz of a remembered victory. And now, her body was refuelled properly. She had strength enough to go even more wild than she had before, if she wanted to.

Up above, twenty meters high, there were claw marks upon the trunks of trees, the lingering scent of something bestial.

Perhaps there would be another battle on the horizon after all.

She could track those claw marks or inform others of their presence. She could do neither, and instead continue to enjoy this artificial peace, born from ignorance and apathy. An outlier could do whatever she wished to, after all, and none would even notice she did it.