Food Chain (Worm/Evolve Quest)

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I decide that getting away from the location that I had been spotted is the best option for now. Then maybe I could eat some more? If eating makes me bigger, then I should so that I can fight the… I'll call them Uprights for now, because they're bipedal. So that I can fight the Uprights, though I don't know how much I'll need to eat. Part of me wants to look for somewhere less artificial, but it isn't a priority right now. That settled, I continue onwards, my senses tuned to look for things of interest, especially prey.

Journeying along the roofs, I smell a few errant trails of rodents but without hunger nipping at my mind I can take the time to actually investigate the smell and all the ones that I come across would only lead me to one animal, not another nest, so I decide that they aren't with hunting right now.

I do come across an interesting sound, though, a drawn out sound like a birdsong. But it is weird. The song doesn't stop for breath, and has a weird warbling sound. Following it, I find myself looking at a section of transparent wall with an Upright on the other side. They are holding a weirdly shaped piece of wood and moving a sick across it. Is that what is making the sound? Or is it the Upright? They make sounds a lot, so maybe they can make sounds like this? I like it and stick around for a few minutes, basking in the sun and letting the sound flow over me. Not for too long, though, sticking in one spot still isn't the best idea.

After the small break, my travels start becoming a bit harder. The spaces between buildings are getting bigger, more and more of the Uprights start traveling within range of my vision, and their scent start to clog out other smells in the area completely. I decide to change direction and start heading another way, which quickly starts to returning me to a part of the nest with fewer Uprights, but they are still a lot all over.

Finally, I start to pick up on a new smell, not something inherently prey. Following it across a few roofs, I find two animals fighting in a small space between the buildings, this one only having one entrance. I am downwind, so they should be able to smell me right away, meaning I can sit and watch for a little bit. Both of them are different kinds, so I am guessing it's a territory dispute, since I can't smell any food nearby. Both are four legged with a long pointed face and a stiff tail. One is almost double the size of the other, but the smaller one seems to be doing better in the fight.

I would have to guess that I am barely bigger than the smaller one, but nearly half the size of the bigger one. Pulling apart, I can see that they are both have a few injuries as they start growling at one another and making louder, more defined barking sounds. Like wolves. Are these wolves? If so, then where are their packs? A territory dispute shouldn't be solved with just one wolf. Is the bigger one being kicked out of the pack? Or the smaller one?

Or maybe it isn't a territory dispute at all, and they are trying to eat one another? No, neither have gone for the kill. If I wait for them to wear themselves down more, I can probably get both of them, especially with my Phantom. I can feel the crown of energy around my crest, eager to hunt. And if one kills the other, then it would be even easier to ambush the other while it is eating. But if they are wolves, then their packs are probably on the way and I need to act fast so that I can get any of the meal. A small clicking hiss leaves my throat at the problem.

Wait, they're not wolves! They are way too small to be wolves and even if they are, no pack would let such young members wonder off, so either way there shouldn't be reinforcements on the way! Now do I attack or wait. I could send in my Phantom, but if I do, and it fails to do much, they might end up on guard too much for me to actually attack.

Well. If the bigger one is getting beaten by the smaller one already, and said young wolf only has teeth as a weapon, then I should do better since I have my blades and claws. Why hasn't anything in the area had armor? Are there really no other apex predators around? Being at the top… sounds nice to some deep part of my mind. For now, though, I am still very well attached to the food chain.

Both wolves resume biting at each other and I decide that pouncing on them in tandem with my Phantom would be the best option, and if I do it while they are fighting they might not even notice until after I've already gotten a killing blow. All it takes is one deep cut, and most things bleed out in short order. Including myself, so staying behind them so they can't use their teeth would be a good strategy.

Slowly crawling my way down the wall, I can feel the wind start to change directions, the buildings serving to alter their course and put me upwind of my targets. But not yet, so I stat perched in place, claws and blades sunk into the soft white slits in the wall as I watch them fight. Still, neither wolf pup goes for the kill, not something I will be following. Once they start to separate again, barking and snarling at each other, I spring off the wall.

Splitting in midair, I aim for the larger animal and send my Phantom to the smaller one. I had planned on landing on them and just killing them outright, but my sneak attack doesn't take me as far as I had expected it to, so I end up landing somewhat hard on the rough ground, my tails and knees taking a few scrapes. I don't let it slow me down though, the rush of a newly awakened fight coursing through my blood lets me bush it off and rush to my surprised target.

Not surprised enough to let me sink my blade in, though, as it dodges back and growls out a warning. I hiss back my intentions, universal communication that it is prey, and I am the predator. Not giving it a chance to initiate its own attack, I press forward, blades swiping, and manage to nick one of its legs. It finally seems to click in the beast's mind, and it launches its own attack, slow but probably more powerful than my own, so I swim out of the way and slash at it's side, my claw leaving a deep wound.

I feel my Phantom dissipate and I briefly turn my crest that way as my opponent takes a second to spin around. I see my Phantom had better luck, the smaller wolf laying still in a growing pool of its own blood.

Returning my attention to my target, I see it starting to retreat and feel a spike of anger at such an action. Springing forward, I don't go for an attack, instead going wide and around to cut off the only exit. It seems weary, so I let it back up more, feeling the energy to resummon my Phantom slowly building back up. I slowly glide forward, spreading my limbs wide to appear bigger and letting out a slow and low clicking pattern. My prey lets out a whimper, and a small notion of letting it leave is quickly squished under the prospect of more food.

As soon as I feel the crown of energy reform, I am splitting again, my Phantom charging right at it while I circle around the side and attack its haunches. Under both of our assaults, the wolf quickly falls.

Pulling my bloody blade out of the corpse, I manage to keep myself from letting out a scratch of victory, keenly aware of the Uprights that are still moving about in the bigger space between buildings. Using their strangely colored trails.

Feasting, I quickly feel myself getting full, my meal from earlier not having time to be digested yet, that extra space has to open up so that I can finish sucking the value out of the body. Moving to the smaller wolf, I manage to top off the extra space too, feeling the energy start to bubble to a crescendo again, another egg wanting to form. I hold off for a moment. I drag both of the carcasses out of sight; the big one so that it doesn't get spotted, and so the smaller one I didn't finish will hopefully still be here when I emerge.

Climbing up to one of the roofs again, I've yet to see any animal up here, Upright or otherwise, so it is a safer place than on the ground below. Scanning, I see a smaller building with a door up here, so I glide over to it to at least be hidden from one side. Despite knowing this is the best place to grow, not having seen anything up here at all, I still feel exposed. Pushing that out of mind, I feel the nutrients being siphoned out of that extra stomach space first and then from my real gut. A new egg starts to manifest around me, and curl up as it does on instinct. Not long after, I feel myself melt into a mush of potential.

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Migraine, woo. Sorry for any stiltedness in this chapter because of that, point it out, and I will try to rewrite stuff.

But you've entered into the short stage where you can metamorphose a few times relatively easily in your current environment, so these will probably set the direction for the rest of the Quest. I honestly didn't really expect you to get away from Uber & Leet so fast, but that's the benefit of Write-In's sometimes!

As mentioned, your votes are going to be key for what way the Quest might evolve from here on. I have five paths already thought up (roughly) and what you upgrade decides which of them start coming to the forefront, or write ins might make me think of others. So be careful, because your size (and therefore metamorphosis requirements) are more or less exponential.

That's all from your QM for now, ^-^ (do try not to die : P)

What do you upgrade?
[X][Evolve] Write-In:

What should you do after you hatch?
[X][Action] Keep hunting, this weird nest seems to have a lot of prey in it just running around.
[X][Action] Start studying the Uprights. There are way more around here than I thought, so watching them might be the best option.
[X][Action] Try to find a spot to nest myself, I will eventually need to rest and having a spot ready might be for the best.
[X][Action] Write-In:
(Note: Write-In's must be simple in direction or concept. Your votes are instincts, not complex thoughts.)
(Votes are done in the approval style, where you can vote for more than one option that you like.)

Your random stat bonus went to Climb Speed today, pretty good for being in a city, bringing it from 0/100 to 5/100.
You can find your current upgrade page below this post in a few moments, marked as informational.

Please note, you will naturally grow independent of this chart. Because of this, most things are measured in percentages for a better frame of reference; to that point, '0' doesn't mean no skill, just nothing additional. Upon eating ~2.5 your body weight all at once, you have a moderate window to enter metamorphosis.

Upon entering metamorphosis you gain 12 points, plus 1 per prior metamorphosis, you can spend wherever you want on this chart. You cannot save points, any unspent will be lost. Each option has its own traits that you can unlock as you level them up, you can only see the next one in line. Every metamorphosis, a random ability will be rolled to gain a free 5 points, to represent natural adaptations.

There may end up being overlap or repeated abilities. Depending on the ability, those may do nothing or increase the power.

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You had 14 Points to spend.

Updated to Chapter 12's Vote results.

• Senses: Governs, smell, sight, hearing, and methods of detecting and understanding your environment.
  • Sight: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Crest I': You can now see 10% further.
  • Hearing: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Reverberations I ': You can now hear 10% further.
  • Smell: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Scent I': You can now smell 10% further.
  • Airflow: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Xenovibrissae I': You can now sense changes in the air from 10% further.
• Movement: Governs your overall speed, as well as things like teleportation.
  • Base Speed: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Glide I': You move 5% faster overall.
  • Burst Speed: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Sprint I': When 'running' you gain an additional 10% movement speed.
  • Warp: 1/100
    • At 15, unlock 'Warp': You temporarily subsume yourself into one of the world's natural energy fields, teleporting yourself forward a short distance in a chosen direction.
  • Climb Speed: 7/100 +5 via Random allocation. +2 via Vote
    • At 10, unlock 'Climb I': When ascending a surface, you are slowed down 20% less.
• Stealth: Governs your ability to hide and remain unnoticed. Some parts of this stat are intrinsic, and does not need to be invested in to advance, though you may speed it up. No matter your path, stealth will remain an important part of your build.
  • Noisiness: 10/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 20, unlock 'Echoey I': Your actions bounce off your surroundings in slightly odd manners, making it harder to pinpoint the source of any sounds you make.
      • Muffle I: All your actions are 10% quieter.
  • Camouflage: 0/50
    • At 10, unlock 'Concealment': When emerging from metamorphosis, gain a color or pattern on your body that makes you blend in better while in the environment that you metamorphosed in.
  • Sneak Attack: 10/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 20, unlock 'Shock': When attacking from an unnoticed position, your target is temporarily disoriented and has a slightly increased likelihood of stumbling, tripping or otherwise falling prone without direct action.
      • Pounce I: When initiating combat, you gain a 10% damage boost for 5 seconds.
• Defenses: Governs your armor, as well as your general toughness.
  • Armor Coverage: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Armor I': When emerging from metamorphosis, you gain a limited carapace.
  • Heartiness: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Healthy I': You gain 10% more HP.
  • Energy Resistance: 0/100
    • At 15, unlock 'Conductive I': You gain a 10% damage resistance to 'energy' based damage.
• Energy: Governs your stamina as well as how quickly you can reuse your abilities.
  • Capacity: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Stamina I': You can stay awake 5% longer and be 'active' for 5% more of that time.
  • Cooldowns: 0/100
    • At 20: unlock 'Energy Redistribution': Your 'Innate Abilities' are able to be re-triggered 15% faster.
  • Sleep: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Startle I': You can awaken moderately faster from sleep.
  • Feeding: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Stuffing I': You gain the ability to eat 50% faster.
• Combat: Governs your strength as well as technical skill in fighting.
  • Blade Sharpness: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Shock Absorption I': The tips of your blades become better at absorbing shock, hurting less upon impacting something they cannot piece.
  • Strength: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Fiber Density I': You become 5% stronger overall.
  • Technique: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Combo I': You become better are utilizing both your blades and claws in tandem.
• Innate Ability: Governs powers and skills that Wraiths naturally have. This stat is intrinsic, and does not need to be invested in to advance, though you may speed it up. No matter your path, you will eventually master all four main abilities of a Wraith.
  • Warp Blast: 8/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 15, unlock 'Warp Blast': You briefly overwhelm your natural capacity for energy, forcing yourself to teleport a short distance and expel the excess in a devastating blast.
  • Abduction: 15/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.) +2 via Vote
    • At 30, unlock 'Disorientation': Immediately after you and your target are returned to your original position, the target is briefly intensely disoriented, which you may capitalize on.
      • Abduction: You hijack the natural attraction between creatures and ride it towards a target, attempting to grapple them before being recalled to your original position by the energy deficit.
  • Phantom: 15/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 30, unlock 'Clarity': Significantly reduce the visual 'noise' from your Phantom, making it harder to identify it as the mental projection it is.
      • Phantom: When activated, an imperfect version of yourself splits off and can act independently for a very short time.
  • Supernova: 8/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 15, unlock 'Supernova': You temporarily force the world's natural energy fields to layer over and intersect themselves, this causes an area around this epicenter to become supercharged, opening your natural connection to this allows your speed, strength, and defense to all skyrocket while in the supercharged area.
• Psionic: Governs things like telepathy, mind reading, and resistance to mind-altering effects. It also governs your level of cognition, specifically relating to your 'self'.
  • Self: 10/100 +10 via Vote
    • At 20, unlock 'Personality': Your mind now lets you think of yourself and others in deeper detail. Letting you develop a 'higher' personality.
      • Self-consciousness: Your inner world has gained complexity, you may choose a name each time you progress on the 'Self' line.
  • Communication: 0/100
    • At 10, unlock 'Pattern Recognition': When you see objects repeatedly associated with sounds, you can start to associate them with each other.
  • Psionic Resistance: 0/100
    • At 20, unlock 'Xenostructure': Your mind's abnormal nature is emphasized, which may affect how certain powers interface with it.
  • Isolation: 8/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
    • At 15, unlock 'Isolation': Your greater mind Psionic potential resonates throughout the area you reside, weakening targets pain thresholds, making your next attack do 25% more damage.
• Abnormal Ability: Governs things that might not be innately part of your evolution, but still reside within your HNA. Mainly used to gain expressions of creatures you've eaten.
  • LOCKED!: 0/20
    • At 20, Unlock the 'Abnormal Ability' tree.

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You are currently slightly larger than a 'medium' sized dog.

Isolation, Supernova, Abduction, all increased this time.

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I awaken curled up, walls pressing against me on all sides, barely past the level of being cozy and into the realm of becoming uncomfortable. My legs and tail are all spun around each other, my spines pressed down against my back and all four of my arms bunched up to my chest. It is a familiar position, and I immediately start to push against the shell of my egg. A few small cracks form and I can start to get my claws between the separating sections and help them along.

A final heave gets the panel in front of me to fall away, letting me slither out into the orangish sunlight, and a look reveals that it is near the horizon. As I shake off the strangeness of being reborn again, I feel a new shape of energy form. A loose web like feeling extending away from me in all directions without actually interacting with my surroundings. The biggest change isn't anything I can directly point to, though. Everything just seems… closer. Though that isn't quite right.

It isn't a danger, so set the weird feeling aside for now and do a scan of the rooftop for any developments that happened while I was asleep? In my egg. But nothing stands out. The constant droning noise of this nest and the technology being used still reaches my ears, and a deep breath lets me briefly see the shapes of Uprights continuing to move about on their paths. It also tells me that whatever is left of the small wolf down below probably doesn't have any nutrients left, or not enough to be worth climbing down and then back up to the safety of the roofs.

So what next? Physically, I am not tired, my body is ready to go, but mentally I've been hunting all day and want to rest. Though at this stage I am too big to even try and fit in the little nest that I made back near my original cage, so I need to make a new one. Or, more, find a spot to sleep, really. The roofs have been safe, but they are too exposed for me to get comfortable enough to actually sleep. A space like the one that prey nest was in would be ideal, which means going back on the ground. I'll also have to stay quiet because otherwise the Uprights will break in. Staying out of sight goes without saying.

Floating over to the edge of the building, a different one from the dead end with the wolves, and smell to see if there are any Uprights in it, like there has been a few times. With nothing reaching my nose after a few seconds, and a peek over the edge in case they're downwind of me, revealing nothing either, I use my blades and claws to crawl down the wall to the space between buildings. I feel like I could probably work a grip into the reddish-brown rocks, but I don't see a point right now.

Reaching the ground, I do another sniff but don't come up with anything, so I start moving along. Sticking to the sides of the space, unable to fit under the big metal boxes anymore, when I come across them, I end up using them more as rocks to briefly pause behind and check that nothing has hanged in the area. On top of my sneaking, I am zigzagging across back and forth to check the walls on either side of the corridor, looking for another crack to slip into. I don't find any, though.

A few times this area wants to empty out to the big spaces, the ones will all the Uprights moving around, but thankfully there's been another path to stay between buildings each time. Eventually I do come across a box, flimsy but not? The same kind of boxes that were stacked up under the angled see-through wall back with the duo I woke up trapped with, that kind of not really paper box. But this one is stronger than those were, still flimsy to the touch. It is tucked into the corner of two buildings and has a soft nesting layer at the bottom. The space reeks of an Upright, but I don't see any nearby and I can't really tell how old the smell is. There are so many of them all over, it is throwing off my tracking capabilities for them really badly.

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I think next metamorphosis I will try to set up the vote count a bit differently so that it better reflects the will of the people. If people have ideas for how I might do that, let me know. Maybe counting tree votes? I am not sure, but this chapter had a lot of spread out votes unlike last time, so I didn't really see the problem till now.

What name do you take?
[X][Name] Write-In:
(Currently limited to natural things and not human names, hunter, predatory, sneaky, etc.)

Do you choose this spot?
[X] This works.
[X] Keep looking, this isn't it.
(Votes are done in the approval style, where you can vote for more than one option that you like.)

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Another test of the strange bedding has me dismiss this spot. There is too much Upright scent on it for me to get comfortable anyway. So I keep moving along the space between buildings.

I as I move come across a steadily increasing number of those small box-nests, a few of which are actually occupied, which confirms my decision to find somewhere else to sleep as a good one. The boxes must be temporary until they get their own real nest-building made because I don't think the paper material would work good in the rain.

Sneaking past them does reveal something, though. The web of energy around me collapses into a single stronger tunnel and sort of highlights on the sleeping forms. A tunnel I could dart down. I don't though, the Uprights are still a lot bigger than I am, and my spines twitch in illusory pain as I remember their strength. I want to be bigger before I fight one of them. And if they are pack animals, I probably won't end up fighting just one.

The sun is starting to set, and I have to transition to moving along the rooftops again as the Uprights start to transition from the bigger paths to the ones between the buildings. Doing so means that I can't keep looking for cracks to slip into for rest, and the continued lack of nature nearby, is starting to make me feel anxious. I can't see very far, but I can smell quite a lot up on the roofs and there aren't any trees upwind, nor has there even been hints of them. The roofs sometimes have doorways on them, or really loud boxes, but nothing I could actually hide in to sleep.

Maybe I could try to break into a building and use it for one night? But there are so many Uprights everywhere. I can feel my claws start to twitch as more negative feelings start to flow from my head and down to the ends of my tails. Idly bringing one hand up, I take a small break from my search to see how bad the twitching is, because I can't understand a lot of the swirling feelings dancing along my synapses.

I tilt my head as I look down at my claw, all four digits spread out. I am a Wraith, but I am… I am. Wraith. A monster that could have been a Kraken or Goliath, or anything. But there was so much energy around, keening and volatile and ready and I wanted it, to use it, which Wraiths are best at. Best at using the energy, at being— at mind— I was— I could've been— My hand twitches as I feel the energy coursing through me, keeping me aloft, spreading out in the web that my recent hatching let me see, forming the pink and also blue crown around the crest of the head and brain. I. Wraith…

I feel like I forgot something, but I push that matter aside, the sky is growing dark. This weird nest has plenty of artificial bioluminescence to start up another hunt, but I am not in the mood, I want to rest my mind right now.

Hopping across another rooftop, the blurry edges of my vision start to pulse an alternating pattern of green and then white. Curling up, I let curiosity take hold and sneak over to the edge of the roof. Peeking over for a second I quickly duck back down, there were a lot of Uprights with technology, a few pieces of which hurt to look at, making me aware of my empty stomach, thankfully they were far enough away that the feeling isn't too bad, and I didn't look long anyway.

There were also two in bright red armor, maybe alphas? They really stood out and were separated from the majority of the Uprights. Regardless, the Uprights are good at seeing things, if the big one that hurt my spines was anything to go by back in the see-through box. I stay hidden as the six spikes on my back combine with my sense of smell to let me watch their shapes as I listen in, letting myself take another break from my, thus far, fruitless search.

"Alright, you have your orders. Me and Velocity will be conducting separate searches as well. Keep your containment foam grenades or sprayers ready. For now the creature hasn't attacked anyone, so we are aiming to capture it. Everyone up to date on Blasto?" Anticipation? I am not sure if that is the right or even close really, maybe it is a tone that only the alpha Upright have? Because the one talking is one of the two red ones.

None of the other Uprights say anything in response before they split up into three groups of four, confirming my guess that they are pack animals because this looks like a hunting pattern. The two Alphas split— One? One Alpha Upright? Where did the other one go? It was right there, next to the one that I am still tracking. What? A Warp? But I don't feel anything in the energy world's energy that says it's been disturbed in any way. How? So Uprights do have weapons! Just hidden somehow. That makes me happy I've been staying hidden from them because if they can just… well even if they go invisible I should still be able to smell them!

I want to growl in frustration, but the one Alpha that I can still track is headed in this direction, not right at the building I am hiding on but close enough for me to stay silent for now. Oh, maybe only the Alpha ones have abilities? I don't know… What if the hierarchy isn't determined by strength?

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In comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom, humans have very good eyesight, you know?

Do you follow the Alpha Upright?
[X] Yes, you need to gather more information on Uprights and if they have other hidden abilities.
[X] No, you've stayed out of trouble so far, so what you're doing must work.
[X] Write-In:
(Note: Write-In's must be simple in direction or concept. Your votes are instincts, not complex thoughts.)
(Votes are done in the approval style, where you can vote for more than one option that you like.)