Primordial Path (Climb to Godhood Quest)

Usually, water had always been a resource to be treasured in the Scorched Desert. For their presence was fleeting, and their absence means death. The life of all creatures on these arid lands relies heavily on their capability of finding any source of moisture for themselves before their bodies became nothing more than a shriveled dried up husk. Even the Red Valley, the land where water isn't as scarce, is not an exception to this harsh truth of the desert. Or at least, it was supposed to be.

For days now, the Red Valley had been under the constant onslaught by the sudden arrival of the heaviest and the most relentless rainstorm the valley had ever seen. It's coming had caught many unprepared. Sweeping away all who is small, and all who couldn't escape to the higher elevation in time. Creatures, plants, fragile earths. All is the same againts the fierce current of the flood that has now formed.

Nothing.

And yet, destruction and misery is not everything that the storm had brought. For after death, comes life. Flash flood is nothing new to the desert inhabitants, and they have learned from past experiences how a large swath of land could bloom in green with vegetation after a big rainfall had passed. Providing them with plenty of food for weeks to come.

So, while many of them grumbles at the inconvenience of it all, most of the valley's residents waits in their shelters with eagerness in their hearts. Hoping for the storm to quickly take it's leave.


Sadly, this particular storm in peculiar is merciless. The sun had gone to many of it's periodic rises and falls, and yet only those who resides within the western part of the valley had even noticed it happening as they are at the edges of the clouds covering. In the epicenter of it all however? In the Twin Horned Mountain? Beside the occasional illuminating moments when lightning is striking the ground, darkness might as well be everpresent. Silencing many in it's dark embrace.

And in the middle of it all. Atop one of the smaller mountains located between the two horns. Stands a lone old tree with an incredible size. Watching impassively as the land surrounding it is being ravaged by the tears of the sky. With it's only companion being the Sky Howler themself.


*Munch*

"Oooh, that's a crunchy one." You mumbled as you chew on a beetle the size of your paw. Savoring it's delicious taste and texture. Eyes already moving on to your next target that is trapped down here with you.

Much time has passed ever since you had decided to make your own den using this tree as a part of it. You weren't completely sure for how long you had been staying down here, what with the storm making the outside look dark all the time, but it's not really something that you get too much worried about.

There's a lot of critters that had made this tree their shelter to avoid the bad weather outside, with most of them you think had been originally here all along using it as their nest. With them around, you didn't need to concern yourself with the prospect of gathering food as much as you had been to. Not when the food is already here waiting eagerly for you at home.

Home. Even now that word still makes you feel giddy inside. You thought to yourself as you pawed another struggling worm full of juicy insides before bringing them over to your open mouth. Once again savoring their taste.

You're really liking the huge variety of bugs that exist down here. Beetles, caterpillar, worms. Them, and a lot more had all gathered here in mass. Looking for a safe refuge from the flood, but instead of salvation, they found you instead. Ready to devour them all to your heart's content.

Letting out a soft pleased hum and a chuckle, you inaudibly gave praise to your past self as you lay yourself down to the ground so that you can more easily relax. Finally settling in to this wonderful idea of a den is the best decision that you had made. Who would have thought living underneath a tree would be so delightful? You wouldn't before, but now? After you had taken a taste of the life down here?

*Munch*

Yeeeah, unless you really wanted to do something while being all wet, you wouldn't be going out of your new den anytime soon. You thought sleepily after swallowing your last bite of today. Belly well fed, you curled around yourself to get into a more comfortable position. Getting yourself ready for a bit of nap. Happy of how you had found your new home.


Hmm? It's that feeling again? You thought as you tensed your body up a little. A bit startled by the sudden timing of it. Slightly raising your head up, you searched around your new den with half lidded eyes. Looking around for the possible source of this weird sense of fulfillment that you had. Only to feel let down for a bit after finding nothing that seems suspicious.

Just what was that? You thought in confusion. Not understanding what had just happened. Now feeling irritated because you knew it was related to what you had briefly felt after you had berated the sky for it's transgression. When all of a sudden, the differences between the two became obvious to you. Wait. It's weaker? No, smaller? It's definitely smaller, but why?

Before you can ruminate on these questions anymore however, your attention was caught by a movement that you can see on the edges of your vision. When you hear the sound of a creaking wood along with it, you already know who it was by the time you turned your head around to regard them fully.

"Hey there. What's wrong?" You asked the few moving pieces of root tendrils that hang's from the ceiling in front of you. Watching how it moves, and wiggle in the air. Feeling more than hearing the tree's intentions. "Me? Nothing really. Just been having a weird feeling."

*Creakkkk*

"Yeah, I am sure. If it's really something malicious, then the feeling shouldn't be getting smaller like this. So don't worry about it."

*Crekkk*

"Not quite sure on that one. It's not something that is easy for me to describe." You said to them as you lay your head on top the fold of your front legs. Eyes narrowing down while being deep in thought. "It feels like I am both stuffed full, and yet is still lacking something at the same time. I can feel how there's a large reserve of energy deep inside of me, but I can't seem use them because there's nothing for me to put them in. Does that makes sense?"

*Crekk* A wiggle. *Creaaakkk*

"Wait, what?"

"Crkkrekk"

"Of course you do." You rolled your eyes at what they have requested of you after abruptly redirecting the conversation. Again. "I told you, I will ate them on my own time. I am already feeling quite full now, and this time it's literal."

*Creeakkk*

"Oh, don't be like that. With how big you are, it will take forever for even with all these bugs to finally be able to gnaw you down. More so when I keep focusing on eating those who bored holes to your trunk. So again. You don't need to worry friend, you are fine."

Hearing your clear refusal, the roots silently retreats back into the wall, knowing how it wouldn't be able to convince you to keep on eating all of the bugs that is infesting it this time around. You yourself quietly watched it go, feeling slightly more tired than before.

The tree just doesn't seem to be able to understand your situation no matter how much you had tried to explain it. While you are thankful for the den that it had provided for you, it is still quite frustrating when the tree keeps on bothering you at the end of your each meal. It usually stays silent outside of that, never doing anything unless you are the one who is starting an interaction with it. Directly after you had your fill of tasty bugs however, the tree would always decided to show itself up without fail. Asking you why you didn't eat more of the bugs.

Plant creatures and flesh creatures are different, you had always known that. That difference also extend more acutely with inanimate creatures, but this is the first time that you had ever need to deal with that difference so personally now that you are essentially living together with the old tree. It just doesn't seem to acknowledge some of the concepts that you had, or just ignores them entirely. You had tried to talk with it a few times in the short while of you living here, but beside the clear feeling of gratitude that it had expressed to you for eating some of the bugs, you got nothing really meaningful from your interaction with the old tree. Only simple disinterest.

You haven't even heard their voice yet.

In any case. You thought to yourself with a big yawn. Deciding to leave this problem as something for you to solve in the future as you curled around yourself on the ground once more. Ready to finally end the day with the sound of rain outside as your guide to the realm of unwaking. I can deal with it after I get a little bit of sleep.

And thus, peacefully fall asleep you go. Dead to the world underneath an old tree in the middle of a storm.


Each turn you will have 1 Major Action, and 3 Minor Actions. You can spend 2 Minor Actions to do a second Major Action.

For now, unless there is an opposing roll, all actions will have the DC of 20/40/80.

Votes will be in the Plan format.

Major Action
[ ] Ambitious Takeover: You are feeling very confident right now. Capable of besting any foe. It might be a little bit reckless, but you want to see whether you can take down somebody that you know has to be strong. Essentially taking hold of their territory for defeating them also sounds pretty nice. Taking this will result in a mini event.
-[ ] The Western Leopard
-[ ] The Eastern Goat

[ ] Home Grown: Now that you had a den for yourself, you would need to start thinking of ways for you to improve upon it. It's pretty bare bones for now, without anything unique or even a single defense to protect you from intruders. Unacceptable.

[ ] Delicious Pests: What you might consider to be a benefit, others might consider them to be a detriment. The old tree that you had made as a part of your den treats the large infestation of bugs that it has as an affliction. It's a bit sad, but maybe with some effort you can help your new den out by getting rid of them all tasty food for good.

[ ] Cold Night: Usually, your fur is good enough for you to keep your warm up when the sun is down. It just sometimes got very cold during the night. Cold enough even to the point where you feel like you don't have any of your fur in the first place. Maybe you can do something in preparation for it?

[ ] Into the Storm: You didn't really put much thought into it at first, but just what it was like in the storm? How did it able to create so much water? What was that loud and very bright things that is slithering it's way through the clouds? You are very curious, and are very much willing to get much closer to the storm that you had called.

[ ] Who Are You?: You had this strange feeling inside of you lately. One that is different from the strange sense of fulfillment. It felt like you were just on the cusp of something. Something that is great and bigger than you are. Where all that you needed to do to reach it, is to ask yourself a question.

Create for yourself an Aspect of Godhood. Choose as many deeds as you want. Total value of the deeds must at least be five, and at most be fiveteen.

-[ ] Write-In Deed to be used.

[ ] Write-In

Minor Action
[ ] Sightseeing: You had been to every distinguishable location in the Red Valley before, you are sure of it. You're not really seeing anything that looks important while being there though. Let's see if you could found something interesting in them this time around.
-[ ] The White Meadows
-[ ] The Barren Cliffs
-[ ] The Rocky Mountains

[ ] Strange Creatures: That pair of tree like creatures. They weren't like any other creatures that you had ever seen. It might had been days, and all of their trails might had already been washed away by the rain. But maybe you can still tract them down. Just in order to see them with a much closer look.

[ ] Unfinished Business: Honestly, you had almost entirely forgotten about that persistent cat that had just kept trying to eat you. Even though there's a very little chance of her actually managing to hurt you, she still had managed to greatly annoy you. It is time for some payback. Let's see whether she likes it when it is her on the receiving end.

[ ] Hello There!: You are quite lonely. It has been a while ever since you got your last friendly conversation with somebody. Well, it is time for you to remedy that then! All you need to do is to keep bothering someone until they would want to talk with you. Easy.
-[ ] The Western Leopard
-[ ] The Eastern Goat
-[ ] The Old Tree Den
-[ ] A Random Creature

[ ] Predator & Prey: You didn't need to do this as often as you did before for some reason, but you still remembered clearly just what it was like. To a Creature like you, survival is everything, and you survived by preying on others that is weaker than you. It is sad, but they do taste pretty good.

[ ] Veggies?: On the other paw, you did managed to learn of how to live yourself off by consuming only plants. It's a bit hard for you to figure out just which part of them that you could actually eat at first, but eventually you did figure them out. They weren't very filling, but they at least didn't talk quite as much.

[ ] Moving Out: You do not want to stay in this area anymore. It is time for you to go to a new place.
-[ ] The Great River
-[ ] The Howling Canyons
-[ ] The Blistering Dunes
-[ ] The Wild Savanna

[ ] Write-In

Your new den is a nice place.

It might be a little hard to see it in the middle of all this downpour, but you can still clearly remember just how it had looked like when you have first seen it after many days of searching. Seen just how breathtaking it was when sunlight was able to give a shine upon it's big towering form.

Your first look of it was of the tree that you can see even from a distance, it's big and green canopy being what had attracted you to it from afar. Thinking how it might provide you with a good place to rest under it's cool cover. As you began to make your way towards it however, you began to notice more and more details about it that slowly convinces you of it's bigger potential. How it might just be the place that you were looking for.

By the time you had arrived at the base of it's trunk and saw the large opening under it however? One that seems to be big enough to accommodate a creature of your size? You made your decision then and there. This massive tree would be your new home.

A decision that seems to be vindicated almost immediately after you had entered the opening proper. Finding within it not only a large space where you can freely move yourself around, but also a large collection of bugs that fits just perfectly with your taste.

"Woaah." You had said after seeing just what the cave has to offer. Eyes already wandering over from one bug to the next.

It wasn't that long ago, so you can still remember how you were just snacking on many of the nearby bugs at first, but as you kept on throwing more and more of them inside your mouth, you eventually just started chasing after every single bug that caught your eye in the end. Running circles all over your would be den. It's quite an embarrassing experience looking back.

"Hehahaha! That was fun!" You had said to yourself as you lay yourself around on the ground. Chest being slightly out of breath, and belly full. Already having such a great time even in a brief while of you being down there.

That is also when you have first met the old tree. Like what they have been doing now, they shown themself to you after you had your fill of bugs, asking you the same kind of question they had always did; why didn't you eat more?

It was already embarrassing enough with what had happened moments before, but even worse, your reaction to the old tree's sudden appearrance from behind you is just bad. It is so bad, even now you felt you just want to dig for yourself a new hole, and bury yourself in it.

You will forever deny any saying of how a dying shriek sound can be heard from within the tree that day, and how a bite mark from one of the old tree's root is in anyway belongs to you. Nothing of the sorts had happened. Nothing.

Thankfully, the baseless accusations of what had actually happened aside, the old tree seems to have not put your actions to mind. Which had gladden you immensely at the time. Your previous interactions with plant creatures had been very limited, and you were anxious what you had done would aggravate them to the point of no reconciliation. You were glad that just wasn't the case.

In the end, you decided to make the old tree your new den, promising to them you will help them in anyway that you can as thanks. It would be a shame to eradicate all of those delicious bugs, but after spending some time with the old tree, you think it would be worth it.

It is hard to find a creature as genuine as them.

Which, might have been the reason why you had been so eager to began exterminating all of the so tasty bugs that is trying to bring the old tree down. Even to the point of being willing to get completely soaked in the rain while you are combing through the massive upper root system that the tree has on the surface.

"Now then, where they could possibly be?" You asked to yourself. Your sharp eyes already looking around for any possible nesting spot that the pests can use to hide themselves in.

"Hm?"

In fact, you have been so eager, you had almost didn't able to notice the approach of a creature that is slowly making their way towards your position. Their loud, thumping sound that reverberates heavily through the rain being the only thing that warns you of their immediate presence.

Turning towards them, you wondered just what kind of creature they are to be willing to go out and about during such a bad weather. Only to have your question answered when you caught sight of their hardly visible, but obviously bulky form through the heavy torrent. Silently staring at you without moving a muscle.


Your first reaction when seeing how it was just a toad was to greet them. They were one of the most friendly creatures in these mountains that you have met. Very jumpy at first, but most are quick to become amicable when you shown them you mean no harm. Generally a good company to be around if you can manage to keep their attention.

"Kyaik!?"

Which is why, mid smile, you had almost been unable to react when you saw them open their large gaping mouth widely in your direction. Quickly launching their long sticky tongue towards you that you had only narrowly been able to evade with wide eyes. Managing to avoid being wrapped around them just in time, only to suffer a glancing blow to your left side when they use their already extended tongue to take a swing at you. Creating a rather noticeable bruise.


*Rumble*

Above you, the sky rumbled. You are snarling now, angry from the sudden attack, you waste no time to begun your counter assault againts the toad. Quickly recovering from the strike, you immediately began running close behind the now fast retreating tongue, definitely catching the amphibian off guard with your speed by the sound of their surprised croak. Arriving next to them only seconds after they had closed up their mouth.

*CTAAAARR!!*

The sky thundered just after the toad had hurriedly launched their tongue again at you in defense of themself, but predicting it, you are able to jump over it with moments to spare. The flashing light making your shadow briefly covers their form from above, which made you realize how they apparantly are only slightly smaller than you are.

Landing on top of their bumpy back, you directly began to claw them a new one. Tearing and bloodying their flesh apart as the toad jumps around in panic. Desperately trying to shake you off by the sound of their pain filled croaks.

Croaks that only become more intense as you began to use your sharp fangs to bit and shred the skins surrounding their bulbous eyes. Almost managing to reach those two orbs even for a few times. Making the toad even more frantic than before.

Before long, the toad is able to get you off by rolling over to it's side. Threatening to smush you over had you stayed. Having no desire to be flattened, you jumped off from it's back before it was too late. Landing yourself with no issue on top of some roots.

After receiving your cold greeting, the toad doesn't seem to want to stay around anymore. Quickly leaving the area by rapidly jumping away in fear, they didn't spare you a single glance as they slowly dissappeared behind the dense veil of falling water. Leaving trails of blood in their wake that soon fade as well. Washed away completely by the rain.

"And never come back!" You yelled at them as you watched them go with a low growl deep inside your throat. Incensed, but knowing you will only receive more injury were you to give them chase beneath such a bad weather.

It is irritating, but you need to let that toad go. The risk is just too great, and you have better things to do beyond chasing a violent fool.

The bruise on your side then decided it was a good time to throb itself in pain. Causing you to wince as you take a much closer look at the injury. From a glance, it doesn't seem to be as bad as you had first thought. It wouldn't hamper your movements in anyway, and would heal by itself in a short while. The pain itself would be gone in an hour or two.

Doesn't mean it wasn't going to be an annoyance however.

You then turned yourself around to set your gaze upon the old tree that is your new home. Mind racing. You don't know whether it was bad luck for you to be up and around when a toad of all things decided they suddenly want to hunt meat, or whether it was a good luck for them to not be able to sneak up on you in your sleep. Because unlike the cat from before, the toad is strong, and you weren't sure you would be able to survive a successful ambush from them. Especially not when you are in your den, barely even awake.

If a fight were to occur in such enclosed place then....

You strongly shake your head from side to side. Banishing the useless thought immediately from your head. In any case, the answer to this problem to you is clear. The state of your new home is unacceptable.

The bug extermination can wait, you would need to start building up your new den to be capable of resisting invaders first.

What would you be focusing on? You will put your focus on....
[ ] The Old Tree.
-[ ] You will gave some of your teeth to the old tree. So that it would grow strong, and became more majestic to the eyes.
-[ ] You will gave some of your blood to the old tree. So that it would gain a taste of it, and the willingness to actually move by itself.
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] The Den itself.
-[ ] You will cover up the entrance to your den with a very big rock. Preventing anyone without strength from simply entering it.
-[ ] You will greatly expand the size of your den. By digging much deeper down, and filling it with many disorienting paths.
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] The Surrounding Area.
-[ ] You will carve the surrounding area with many of your claw marks. Striking fear into the hearts of those who would see them, and discouraging any from approaching.
-[ ] You will dig a very deep trench circling the surrounding area of your den. Creating a boundary between the inside and the outside.
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] Write-In

The world is dangerous. That is what you have painfully learned shortly after you had gained your awareness. A loathsome lesson which sadly has been the main driving force of your actions as of late.

They are an integral part of life that you had found difficult to believe in at first, but eventually have been forced to accept. The world isn't a safe place. Violence can come at any time, and seemingly from the most unexpected of places. Welcoming death to all. Always waiting for the chance to snap you up the moment you let your guard down. An awful truth of the world.

At times, it seems the only place where you can truly feel safe was the numerous temporary dens that you have made throughout your life. Places where you can just close your eyes and, no matter how briefly, convinces yourself of how you are safe. How while in there nothing will ever disturb you. How there is peace within the safety of your den.

Looking back, you found those small moments in the darkness where no one can find you to be among the memories that you have treasured the most.

Your time of bliss however was just a respite. As even with the protection offered by the out of sight nature of your dens, those moments of peace was fragile. Easily destroyed by mere whims of random chance. Fleeting just like the cold morning air.

The desert is full of desperate creatures that is willing to go above and beyond to seek out anything that they desire. Whether those desires are food, shelter, or anything else that they had deemed as important, some creatures would always seemed to find you in abundance of them all, and haven't had the slightest bit of hesitation of relieving them from you. Greed, and selfishness in them apparent.

You had already lost count on how many of your dens that you have been forced to abandon prematurely. The most bearable ones were those when you have returned to your den after a long night of hunting only to find them already being occupied during your time of absence. Those are the easiest predicaments for you to handle, as after estimating the level of threat that you can perceive from the invaders, you can just instead choose to walk away from them if they were too dangerous and quickly go look around the surrounding area for a new shelter for you to be under. Before the sun raises themself too high and becomes too harsh even for you during the midday.

Those instances are pretty annoying, but they are certainly not the worst. Those that are were the times when you were being forced to frantically flee from your den after being woken up suddenly by invaders. Worse still was when the invaders are those who are a match or are even stronger than you are. More than once, those are the closest times death had almost gotten their cold dead grip on to you. Ready to make you say farewell to your life.

The sheer terror that you felt as you are being chased away from your den is not something that you can easily forget. Even to this very day, their echoes still haunts some of your dreams.

You had been hoping your new home would be an exception to this cruel series of events. Unfortunately however, that was just simply not the case, as had already been proven by the appearance of that bloodthirsty toad. With the only thing that the incident did well was reinforcing the lesson that now it, and the numerous other past examples had already teached you. An important one.

It is from them, that you have learned of how the world on the surface... of how just directly outside of your den... your home... pain and suffering can be found everywhere.

That awful lesson is why you are down here now, much below the ground than where you usually are. Currently adding the finishing touches to something that you had been tirelessly working on ever since the attack of the killer toad. Steadily digging your way deep and deeper through the hard under earth. Distancing yourself as much as possible from the cruel surface above.

"Huff... huff... almost done." You tiredly mutter to yourself in the darkness. Briefly stopping what you are doing to catch your breath before continuing on your work once more. Eager to finally finish your answer to the dangerous world that you are living in.

If struggle and pain are the necesary parts of the world, then you would make a place where there would be none. You determinately thought as you continuously claw down all the stones and soil that is in your way. Breaking them apart, and further extending the tunnel system that now almost span the entirety of the Twin Horned Mountain middle area. Giving you a vast amount of territory beyond anyones knowledge, complete with multiple hidden entrances scattered across the mountain range. The main entrance of it being your den which is located underneath the old tree. Right in the center.

If a den that is just directly below the ground is not safe enough, then why can't I just make one that is way deeper? You continued in your mind with a self satisfied grin. Proud of the ingenious idea that you had made. They were simple, but promising. Even untested, you are certain the many twist and turns along with the darkness of the tunnels would be completely able to befuddle all who entered. Leaving them free for you to deal with at your leisure, when they are weak and sluggish from exhaustion.

Afterall, you are the only one who knows of all the routes. Others would only get inevitably lost inside without any kind of directions to follow. They would have no hope of finding anything here. Nothing will ever be disturbed in these tunnels. Nothing!

Down here, there would only be peace.

You will make it so.

All that I need is to dig upwards from here and- . You voluntarily cut off your thought at the faint sound of rain coming from above. Digging a bit further, you smiled upon seeing a small stream of water that is now leaking through the tiny hole that you had just made. Telling you of how you had finally reached the surface.

Widening the opening further, but now horizontally up to the size of your head, you can see from it how the weather outside doesn't seem to be getting any better during your time in the underground. The storm still being as grumpy as ever.

Welp. You thought wryly as you silently watches the rain safely from the inside of your hole. At least my work here is done. A line of thinking that seems to be in support, as you soon felt the reemergence of the sense of fulfillment from before. Not as large as the one after the howl, but definitely better than when you had found your home.

This is when you build them down afterall.



"... They are close." You murmured after you took a close sniff from the base of a big tree that is before you. Not your old one, these plants seems a lot younger, but the one you had just found after following the trail that had been possibly left behind by the two strange creatures that you are currently tracking. Those who you were only able to see from afar at the start of all this rain.

It has only been a few days ever since you had completed your Underpaths, and left with nothing to do, your mind just can't seem to help itself but to wonder about those winged pair of creatures that keeps on reminding you of a tree. What with their bark like skin that they have. Even the old tree isn't much of a help, and he is a literal tree!

It is a strange feeling, to be this obsessed with some random creatures that you haven't even met properly. But no matter what you do, you can't seem to get them out of your head, and you don't even know why!

Something about them... just seems different.

Important somehow.

Important enough to make you travel through several mountains worth of distance, keeping watch of the probably mad goat that was said to be lurking around the area, and blindly looking around for every large coverings that you can find for their smell because, guess what, it is still raining flood!

Each of those alone is already frustrating enough, but what makes it all the weirder is what you thought (Thought! You aren't even sure!) you had felt on the day that you saw them. Something that you aren't even aware of was actually there until you began to refocus yourself on what exactly had happened then.

Because on that day, for the briefest of moments, when you are looking at those creatures, you can somewhat sense their... fear? No, awe? Something along those lines. Whatever it was though, what you felt then was so... natural and detached from you to the point you almost didn't even notice them. Very unlike the feeling of fulfillment that you had been recently having.

It is as if they were just a part of you that was just meant to be there all along.

Just like this thing right here. You thought as you side eyed something that had caught your interest, but not before looking at your surroundings once more. Observing where you are currently at after following the trail all the way here in the eastern most area of the Twin Horned Mountain. Where surprisingly not a small amount of vegetation was able to survive. Creating a rare sight of actual forest that you haven't been able to see anywhere else.


It is just unfortunate that the torrent makes appreciating all of this very difficult. You snarled as you rapidly shake your body away of all the water that was coating it. Momentarily releasing you of the burden that is their weight on your fur.

A burden that comes rushing back to you after you stepped right back into the rain. Away from the barely dry covering provided by the big tree. Continuing on your trek of following the trail of those tree like creatures that must have used the big tree as one of their many places of rest in their short journey. All the while putting to mind the steadily increasing number of things that had caught your interest about the forest around you. Those that do not seems to belong.

They are an ugly looking things. Somewhat reminding you of what had been done to the old tree by the infesting bugs, but worse. All around you, you can see many big trunks and roots that has been heavily damaged by something. Looking as if they had been chewed off by a creature in possession of a very large set of teeth. Leaving them covered in wounds that they never would be able to recover from.

More than that however, is how something yet still lingers inside of those wounds. Making them look dry, and far more shriveled up than any other part that surrounds them. Further damaging the trees long after the perpetrator had already left. Something that you can still felt very clearly.

Emanating from them as if they were alive, something...


... Hungers.

Shivering, you quicken your pace across the woods. Not wanting to stay around the place more than what you need to. Going deeper into the forest with the sound of your splashing footsteps as your only sole company.

The further you go however, the more of those hungering wounds that you can see. They appear more and more often, until all of the trees that is in the area seems to now has them. Even the leaves that was untouched seems to be affected, their green refreshing colour gradually changing into sickly purplish-red. The Hunger in them slowly becoming stronger.

You are running now, followed closely by the sounds of your rapid splashing footsteps. Feeling completely disturbed. Never had you seen something like this before. Where a forest seems like it is only moments away from trying to eat you alive. Just what had done all of this? Why would they even-

Whiiiiis!!

You abruptly stopped in your tracks upon hearing the sound that rang through the forest. The same sound that was made by those tree like creatures, but much louder and is now laced with a great amount of fear. Terror clear in their ethereal voice.

Sounding as if they were somewhere very close by.

You immediately turned and head straight into your north, to where your ears had indicated the sound had originally came from. Quickly passing through many of the changed trees to arrive at the top of a ledge. Where looking down from it, you can see...


... the tree like creatures being completely massacred.

You gasped, and lowered yourself low to to the ground. Silently watching on as a large furred creature snatched one of the tree like bipeds in it's palm before proceeding to bite off the biped's upper body in half. Without a doubt killing them in one blow before quickly gnawing on the rest of the remains until nothing is left.

The creature seems to be some sort of rat, but much larger and stronger than what you have ever seen. For some reason, he is also standing on two of his legs but with a slight hunch on his back. Similar to the tree like creatures that he is currently eating not unlike the way you are eating bugs in your den.

Something that seems to serve him rather well, as he have no problem of tearing through many of the tree like creatures he is currently hunting by simply charging at them with his mass. A large amount of drool constantly dripping from his mouth as he hungrily engorged himself out of his feast.

Frankly, you are feeling quite indecisive to what is happening, and it is all due to what the rat feels like to your senses. Because even though all the signs seems to agree that the rat is the one who had spread all the Hunger to the forest, there is something about him that ran deeper and far more obvious to you. Something that you haven't felt before in anything else. Not in the canine, not in the cat, not in the storm, not in the old tree, and not even in the murderous toad. Just him.

To your senses, that rat feels just like you.

You don't know what exactly does that mean... , but you know that just standing still wouldn't achieve you anything. You need to do something, before the chance to affect what is happening before you is gone.

What are you doing? You are going to...
[ ] Attack: You need to join the battle. Completely dominating a side to quicky end all of this.
-[ ] The Big Rat
-[ ] The Tree Like Creatures
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] Talk: You need answers. Somebody should be able to tell you something.
-[ ] The Big Rat
-[ ] The Tree Like Creatures
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] Wait: You need to do something more before interfering. Just what though?
-[ ] Observe
-[ ] Reposition
-[ ] Write-In

[ ] Leave: Nope. You want nothing to do with this. This is not your problem, and you will not make it yours.

[ ] Write-In