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The skies quickly began to grow dark no doubt all across the lands as the Mordukai witnessed an intensely rapid change from sunny, to increasingly stormy. It turned out that the land they inhabited, what they would eventually discover to be the South of an island, was usually particularly hard hit by the storms, being that they came from the South. The structure of their land, Mountains a few days walk away North, with coasts right next door, created a kind of physical wall into which crashed the Southern Storms like a freight train. Their hot, humid air was sent crashing upwards into the colder altitudes by what the Mordukai would come to call, 'Skyrender's Wall'. And, as hot air becomes colder, rain begins to form. And rain, god damn, it did there in the South during this time.

Within a week, the Queens became concerned and began ordering a harvest of the fields, as the banks of the Sunset and Sunrise began to rise. Within the past three months, a great harvest of vegetables from wild beans to squash had been grown. What couldn't be eaten by the Mordukai was often eaten by the Lepus, which the Mordukai had finally mastered the husbandry of with the help of simple stone age plant fiber ropes, adding more food to the Mordukai supply.

It could have been larger, the Queens lamented, considering the help that irrigating the fields had given to its yield versus having moved the fields somewhere safer. In the end, they decided to test the difference later.

During Week 13, the storms only worsened, until the Queens decided to move towards Skyrender and seek shelter there. All the Mordukai grabbed what they could, tearing up huts at times, and moved north, seeking to avoid the coasts which were reported by one Soldier as, "having over my head waves." Unfortunately, without a good means to store things, a large portion of food was left behind, pushing the Queens to wonder how to store items.

The Mordukai discovered the beginnings of the Skyrender cave systems, taking cover in the lower altitude cave entrances. At higher altitude, conditions were a fair bit less wet, though the Queens worried that the Storms would simply increase further.

Even as the storms worsened, the Drone, whom had once been simply exploring the area, killing and eating game but now found himself huddled in a cave losing his mind, came to the Queens and declared, "Lay with me!"

A horny, bored, eight foot tall, dangerous Drone is not a good Drone. The Queens agreed on one condition: that the Drone go out and kill an Ovis singlehandedly. In truth, the Queens had seen the beasts on the Mordukai's journey up to the slopes of Skyrender, had seen how they were thick, muscular, Soldier-height beasts that would likely trample and brutally murder even a Drone most likely. And so, half hoping the Drone would get itself killed, the Drone set off.

[hider=A Drone's Journey]The Drone crept among the slopes and earthly flows of the mountains, stalking a herd of Ovis that were grazing upon it. They moved surprisingly majestically, leaping here and there, but the Drone was utterly determined to bring back a trophy to his Queens. Besides some food, with him he brought three things: three stone knives and a long stretch of plant fiber rope. As he laid low on the ground, watching the herd carefully for hours, the Drone learned which Ovis were old, and which were young. The Queens had told him, 'kill an Ovis', but they had not specified what age, the Drone had realized.

Finally, the Drone began fashioning the rope into a crude kind of lasso, really just a noose meant to trap a victim. These nooses the Mordukai had learned from their trapping and beginning domestication of Lepus, and it was this noose the Drone intended to use on a younger Ovis.

Carefully, steadily, the Drone crept closer, using the winds and rains as cover, it finally leapt into action, throwing the noose. It fell promptly around the neck of a smaller, younger Ovis, causing the Ovis to jerk wildly against the rope. Its jerk movements spooked the rest of the herd, as did the Drone hissing and clicking loudly. Scared by something they'd never seen before, the rest of the Ovis scattered as the Drone wrangled with the much smaller beast.

Tossing aside one knife, two hands were used to pull the Ovis closer. In terms of size, the Ovis was about three feet tall, so still quite powerful despite its youth, but it was contending with a four-armed, eight foot tall Mordukai. The struggle lasted minutes, but finally, the Drone began stabbing the Ovis repeatedly in the neck until it stopped moving.

Triumphant, the Drone cut the head loose from the body and broke open the back of the skull, devouring the Ovis' soft and delicious brain. Sitting atop the body, the Drone took the time to clean the skull, and even used some impromptu stone tools to shape it until he was certain it was just right, then placed it upon his own head like a helmet. That done, the Drone removed what meat he could carry, and returned home.[/hider]

Upon returning home triumphant, he fell to his knees among a crowd of Mordukai within the caves, holding up his Ovis skull helmet to the Three Queens who had assembled in front of him. The First Queen took the skull from his hands and looked it over before placing it upon her own head, finding it fit better. With the horns of the Ovis jutting out from her head, she thanked him, "Thank you Drone, for your gift. We will lay with you." Satisfied, the Drone became less restful, for now.

With the demonstration of this capture technique by the Drone, the Queens decided to take advantage of the situation and began hunting the Ovis with spears and ropes, also deciding to capture a number of the most young Ovis the Mordukai could find. The Mordukai would turn these Ovis into livestock just like the Lepus, the Queens reasoned. The rain and winds may have made things more difficult in one aspect, but they helped cover the Mordukai's movements on the other.

Within weeks, the Mordukai begin adorning themselves with Ovis fur, helping them adapt to the somewhat colder temperatures at higher altitude. Ovis skulls and bones also begin becoming a central focus, with the Soldiers often wearing pieces of a kill to show their worth to their Queen. Slowly, but surely, the Mordukai were beginning to form a culture.

The Storm worsened more and more though, to the point that the Mordukai decided to keep their heads firmly down during these trying times, remaining mostly inside the lower altitude caves of Skyrender. And it was during this time that rumors began to circulate amongst the Mordukai of strange, eerie sounds echoing through the caves. Sounds that would keep Soldiers up at night, standing watch reflexively. The Queens decided a simple stance of doing nothing other than being ready to be attacked by animals was all that was necessary, and so the Mordukai hunkered down and waited.

Finally, the Storm reached full strength during Week 18. And it seemed to refuse to relent. They wait, and waited, for almost a week, and nothing changed. Occasional gathering parties would go out for food, and the Mordukai had some stores, but more was never a bad thing. Finally, they sent Soldiers into the cave system, armed with torches, spears, and knives, soon discovering 
 a glowing purple mushroom that, after testing with a Worker, was entirely edible.

What they also discovered were the Chit. These creatures were magnificant beings to the Mordukai, fellow insectoids that also worked together as a Hive. It was a match made in heaven. Except for the fact that the Mordukai could not communicate with the creatures. Despite trying to lure Chit in with food, or trap young ones, the beasts proved difficult to gain control of. The Queens looked upon the Chit as natural underlings beneath the Mordukai, if the Mordukai could just figure out a way to tame them.

Satisfied, the Mordukai returned to their abodes, waiting for the Storm to die with the help of their new food supply.


[hider=Summary]With the rapidly worsening weather, the Mordukai decide to harvest their irrigated fields because the Sunrise and Sunset Rivers are beginning to rise, and pick up root, moving to the lower altitude caves of Skyrender Mountain. There, a Drone kills a young Ovis by trapping it with a plant fiber rope, and begins a practice of Mordukai wearing Ovis bones and skulls. The Mordukai begin hunting the Ovis for food and fur, and capture a few young ones to begin domesticating much like the Lepus. They later investigate a small part of the cave system, discovering a glowing purple mushroom and the Chit, whom they try to domesticate but fail, for now at least. The Mordukai are working towards Pottery this turn.[/hider]