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Food Chain (Worm/Evolve Quest)

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Metamorphosis III
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    • 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.

    You had 15 Points to spend.

    Updated to Chapter 24'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: 5/100 +5 via Random allocation.
        • 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
        • 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: 20/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
        • At 30, unlock 'Muffle II': All your actions are 15% quieter. (This is a replacement, not an addition.)
          • 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: 20/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
        • At 30, unlock 'Pounce II': When initiating combat, you gain a 15% damage boost for 7 seconds. (This is a replacement, not an addition.)
          • 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: 16/100 (+8 Every other metamorphosis.)
        • At 30, unlock 'Increase Distance I': Now when you Warp Blast, you are able to travel a further distance before rematerializing.
          • 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.)
        • 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: 23/100 (+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: 11/100
        • 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: 10/100
        • At 20, unlock 'Plundered Lexicon': When spending time around creatures, you automatically gather parts of their inner monologue, allowing you to learn words and meanings outside of Pattern Recognition's scope.
          • 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.
    You are currently about the size of a 10-year-old child. (This is a rough comparison for size and weight, not strictly one or the other.)

    Natural Selection: Phantom, Warp Blast, Sneak Attack, Noisiness increased this by 8 time; Smell increased by 5.
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by ecoolasice on Oct 22, 2024 at 11:10 AM, finished with 4 posts and 3 votes.
    • [X][Action] Yes.
      [X][Evolve] Write-In:
      - [X][Evolve] Communication: 10 pt
      - [X][Evolve] Noisiness: 2 pt
      - [X][Evolve] Sneak Attack: 2 pt
      - [X][Evolve] Self: 1 pt
      [X][Evolve] Plan: Sniff and Scratch
      -[X][Evolve] Smell: 5/100 +5 pt
      -[X][Evolve] Technique: 0/100 +10 pt
      [X][Evolve] Plan: Sniff and Sneak
      -[X][Evolve] Smell: 5/100 +5 pt
      -[X][Evolve] Climb Speed: 7/100 +3 pt
      -[X][Evolve] Noisiness: 18/100 +2 pt
      -[X][Evolve] Sneak Attack: 18/100 +2 pt
      -[X][Evolve] Base Speed: 0/100 pt
    Click to expand...
     
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    Chapter 25
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    • What do you upgrade?
    [X][Evolve] Write-In: (7 Votes)
    - [X][Evolve] Communication: 10 pt
    - [X][Evolve] Noisiness: 2 pt
    - [X][Evolve] Sneak Attack: 2 pt
    - [X][Evolve] Self: 1 pt

    After you hatch, do you still want to go into the ocean?
    [X][Action] Yes. (9 Votes)
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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 ruined gray and red stone building around me.

    I almost instantly notice another new pattern etched into the energy flowing through me. Feeling through it, I sort of know what this one does, unlike the crown for my Phantom, or the web spreading out from me that lets me Abduct, this one is entirely internal and following new channels through my body. I could conduct the world's power through those channels in a manner similar to my floating, though a lot faster, then the excess from the Warp would probably forcefully expel itself though, because I don't actually have a way to hand onto it. Not yet anyway. I can also tell that something has changed with my greater mind, though I can't pinpoint what exactly.

    Stitching out and shifting myself around, I am pleased to feel that all of my aches are gone and even the small twinge of pain from my left blade is gone. I can also tell that I am larger again, my spines are able to feel the air moving further away, letting me feel the air moving across the water onto land and using that I can tell the water itself is just out of range where before I could only see about halfway there. Taking a deep breath I can smell more too, most things are still drowned out by the saltwater scent, but there is definitely more odor reaching me.

    Of course, my new size does pose the issue of leaving my hiding spot. I squeezed my way in here and didn't really check before molting, and looking now lets me see that there isn't a way out. This whole area is covered in rubble and loose stone, forming the small pocket I am stuck in now. Approaching the crack in the wall that I slipped in through in the first place, a bit of testing tells me it is much too small for me to fit through anymore. Testing the wall, I find it is too sturdy to move, and it is the same story for the bits of rubble.

    An idea comes to me after a few minutes of thinking. Forcefully expelling the energy out of myself? That might be enough to widen the crack, which would let me get out! I look at the pile of gray rocks around me though, doing so might knock something loose and crush me. But, my Phantom is unhelpful, and I don't have any other ideas, so I am going to have to risk it.

    Swimming back a bit, I channel energy through me. I feel my body immediately start buzzing, and it only takes a few seconds before I feel it hit a critical point. I disappear before reappearing right next to the crack, the energy stored in me suddenly burning hot and painfully, making me curl up tight on instinct. The energy has nowhere to go though, and I feel parts of my skin bubbling up, making visceral unpleasant sensations to flood my brain.

    And then a second later the pain vanishes like it was never there and the energy explodes out of me with a warbling Boom.

    I can feel the new paths through my body realigning themselves, slightly shifter around from the energy, so I can't channel it in such a way for a few seconds. The rocks above me shift and dust flood the space, which makes me start coughing hard. The crack was widened, though, and I quickly slip out into the fresh air and start to catch me breath. It takes more than a few seconds, but once I do, I decide I dislike coughing. My lungs pressing against my rib cage and forcing my whole chest to expand before snapping shut as all the air is forced out, only to repeat itself? I dislike it a lot.

    I look at the building I just exited, as a strange groaning noise coming from it reaches me, sort of sounding like a tree before it falls over. Falls over? I quickly start moving away, down the beach towards the water, while keeping my crest locked on the building. It doesn't take long before I can tell one of the three remaining walls is tilting. And then it falls, taking the other two with it, the whole structure turning into a pile of rocks as dust fills the air. I know that the blast wasn't that strong, so it must have been close to falling over already. Seeing the dust makes me cough once more, to my annoyance.

    Turning around, I finish the journey to the water's edge and look out across the water. Nothing. I didn't really expect to see anything even with my increased vision, but the sheer amount of water still makes me feel small. That isn't even factoring in the feeling of being observed by something old, something just out of sight. Slightly choppy waters don't say anything, even though I think they are trying to show me a feeling. Pushing the matter out of my head, I stoop down and take a few drinks, the cool water chasing away the slight itching in my throat that was making me want to cough.

    I had planned on doing some hunting before I came across the carcass, and I see no reason to change my plan now that my molting has robbed me of the meal I had in my stomach. Glancing up, I note the sun is basically right above before pulling my jaws closed and slipping beneath the waves.

    I am greeted to a flurry of activity. Fish darting around, small things moving across the sand, ill looking plants all moving and dancing and making their own currents and tides alongside the water's overall motion. Where was all this before? I guess this is a different part of the water, away from my nest because of the Uprights last night, but why is this part more alive? Or, since it supports my idea that the Uprights eat from all the water, why was the other part so dead?

    Looking around, I find myself being pulled deeper, and I let it. I am bigger, meaning my lungs are bigger, so I should be able to stay under for longer. I avoid the small shelled things, and a lot of the fish are too small to be worthwhile, though I do see some deeper that might be good. Most things are avoiding me, though, so I start examining the environment to see if there is a way to sneak up on them so they don't flee even deeper into the water where I can't chase. Well I probably could, but the idea of going much deeper than the fish in question currently are unsettles me, so I won't.

    My scan of the seafloor comes up with two notable things. For one, there are definitely some Upright skeletons tied to various stones, long dead and eaten by the surrounding animals. The other thing I notice is that there are a lot of rotting metal thrown about in weird shapes and even making small buildings in places. I don't know why there is metal down here, but it is certainly useful because just looking now I see a path that I can sneak down to get close enough to the fish to grab.

    Swimming backwards a bit, I jump up and take a fresh breath of air before curling up by the sand and slithering to the closest bit of metal big enough to cover me. Moving from it to the next, to the next, I keep my spines flared up, watching all the small movements around me but really focused on my target school of fish. I can't smell down here, and my hearing is all kinds of muffled, so my spines are my best option because peaking my crest out constantly is liable to get me caught. It isn't as accurate a sense without being combined with a thing's scent, but I can use the motions of the water to compensate, even if the solution is a lot worse.

    Tragically, the metal stops far enough away that if I leave cover, the fish will swim away before I can grab any of them. On the bright side, I can curl the energy web around one of them and use that to snatch one. I try to do just that, but I can't move the energy at all. Looking to another fish, one with dull scales and too small to bother with, and suddenly the mesh starts responding to my wishes again. So I need to anchor it to something then, and seeing it with my spikes isn't enough.

    Slowly tilting around the side of the metal, I lock onto one of the fish in the middle of the school. I almost take a breath to ready myself but remember that I am underwater when my jaws don't move. Bursting down the tunnel of energy, the fish immediately react, turning to dart deeper into the water, but not fast enough. I arrive in their midst, my claws snapping out and around one of the brown fish, while one of my blades manages to pierce another. I have just enough time to tuck my limbs in close before I am yanked back down the sand.

    The red blood of the stabbed one starts leaking into the water around me, so I begin quickly heading back to shore. I can't eat underwater anyway. The fish that I got aren't very big, only a little larger than my claws, but they are big enough to keep me from going hungry for a few days, more thanks to the unexpected second fish. I want to let out a please trill, but again my jaws don't move because I am underwater.

    Thankfully, I make it to shore without attracting any challengers for my prizes, and I toss them a bit inland before shaking off the excess water. That solved, I float forward and put the still living one out of its misery by way of a swift stab. Directing the energy up into my mouth, I fill up a bit less than a quarter of my stomach, a lot less than I had thought I would get out of the kills but still enough to not get hungry for a few days.

    Meal eaten, I decide to make my way back to my nest to see if those Uprights are still there. I stick to the shadows as much as I can as usual, but my new size make sneaking a lot harder on these big stone paths on account that they are almost totally empty for the most part. Eventually I manage to get back to the same spot that let me see the sleeping forms last night and I observe my nest.

    Looking at it makes my head hurt a little bit, but it is easily ignorable, my spines are seeing no movement and a sniff tells me what I already know, that there were Uprights here recently. I also smell a bit of death in the spot that they were laying last night, but without any movement and their stench emanating in a wide area around that spot, I can't tell if there is a corpse there or if it has been moved. My nose does pick up on the smell of some food though, or edible at least, so maybe? The whole nest is still ventilating the Uprights' smell with fresh air, making details hard to nail down.

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    Fair warning, you are quickly approaching the spot that I would say Metamorphosis takes dedicated effort, not something that can just happen. You're not there yet, but it's coming, so I encourage you to look at other animals and how much they need to eat and how you might get that as a predator... Also, surprise longest chapter of the Quest yet.

    What do you do?
    [X] Investigate, you can't tell anything is amiss and want to look around.
    [X] Leave and come back later.
    -[X] Write-In: (What do you do in the meantime?)
    [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.)
     
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    • Chapter 26
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    • What do you do?
    [X] Investigate, you can't tell anything is amiss and want to look around. (8 Votes)
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    Once it is clear nothing is in the building, I do one last scan of the area before swimming towards one of the empty doorways.

    As I get closer, that headache starts to get louder, but it isn't nearly as bad as whatever happened last night. Maybe one of the Uprights left a piece of the bad technology behind? Thinking of Uprights, I glide my way over to the smell of death that I detected outside. Doing so makes the pain lessen, so whatever it is probably on the other side of my nest. I'll check it out next.

    Moving between the old machines, I become aware of another downside to my bigger size. Just like the shadows being harder to stick to, I can't as easily move under and between the lines of metal anymore. Instead, I have to stick to the dedicated paths and only float through the bigger gaps and spaces. I feel a bit of worry that I might be too big for my bedding now, but looking up at some of the other buckets still hanging about and the worry fades, they are still a lot bigger than me.

    Oh! I can see almost the whole building at once now! I like that a lot. Any disappointment about my size making it harder to squeeze into places is replaced by the joy of being able to see more.

    Reaching the spot that the Uprights slept last night, I see there is just one body with a small see-through tube with a stinger on the end laying on the ground next to. Examining it, I can't figure anything out about it, so I turn my attention to the corpse. I don't really have to know anything about Uprights to know that the body was unhealthy before it died. It looks thin, and sick, the fur is patchy, and its hands are stained red around their tips. Getting close and sniffing them, I decide that it is probably blood, the omnipresent smell of sickly decay and death makes it hard to tell though.

    Despite the carcass's state, I am not going to overlook a free meal. Directing energy through it, I can already tell I am not going to get much, it's poor state and how long it's been dead leaving few nutrients for the energy to latch onto and siphon up to me. Regardless, I manage to fill my stomach up to about a third full, so I am set on food for now.

    Now to deal with the light, but still painful, pressure on the back of my greater mind. Gliding around, it is fairly easy to narrow down whatever it is by using the steady increase in pain, like I would use smell. I find a short pole with yellow and blue blinking lights on the end mounted to the bottom of one of the machines. Seeing it directly on top of being so close is a bit too much for me and part of me wants to pull back and get away, but a larger, more instinctual part of me lashes out.

    Grabbing the rod, which hurts, I rip it from its spot and start to slash and smash it. As I do, the pain starts to lessen and instead of just disappearing, a sense of relief starts to trickle in, so I break and claw and scratch at it more. It doesn't take long before the pain is gone, and the relief slowly fades away, leaving me holding a destroyed bit of technology and out of breath. Dropping it, I catch me breath before moving on to my bed.

    Climbing the inside building is a lot easier with my uninjured blade arm, which makes sense. Floating up the unstable ramp, I feel the energy keeping me a lot grow a bit unsteady. It seems that I will need to reinforce it soon, my new weight might be a bit much to disperse across it for very long. Thankfully, my earlier conclusion was right, the metal bucket is still easily big enough for me to curl up in.

    My good mood doesn't last very long as my spines pick up on the shape of two Uprights making their way straight towards the nest. Focusing on them starts to make my head hurt all over again, meaning they have some more of the technology. The pain is increasing as they get closer brings like normal, but it is also briefly raising and lowering like a wave. Taking a deep breath, the wind isn't on my side this time, so I can't really smell them, but their proximity lets me pick up on a few hints and using those I come to a conclusion. It is the pair that had me trapped in that see-through cage when I first hatched.

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    This chapter was a bit hard to balance for what I wanted to happen. Also, I am thinking about giving you all a bit of a bump in the upgrade points gained during Metamorphosis', how do you guys think?

    What should you do?
    [X] Ambush them and…
    -[X] try to break the technology to give you some relief.
    -[X] try to kill them.
    [X] Flee, you can probably get away, though they are close enough that they will probably spot you.
    [X] Hide in your bucket.
    [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.)
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by ecoolasice on Oct 24, 2024 at 6:54 AM, finished with 5 posts and 5 votes.
    • [X] Ambush them and…
      -[X] try to break the technology to give you some relief.
      [X] Ambush them and…
      -[X] try to kill them.
      --[X] Abduction one of them, then Melee.
      ---[X] If fighting the two at the same time try to keep one of them between you and the other Upright. Deny line of sight.
      [X] Flee, you can probably get away, though they are close enough that they will probably spot you
    Click to expand...
     
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    • Chapter 27
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    • What should you do?
    [X] Ambush them and…
    -[X] try to kill them.
    --[X] Abduction one of them, then Melee. (8 Votes)
    ---[X] If fighting the two at the same time try to keep one of them between you and the other Upright. Deny line of sight. (4 Votes)
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    How are they here? How did they find me? I haven't left a trail at all and have been sneaky! The only time I got spotted was after eating those rodents, there's no way the Uprights managed to track me from that alone, right? I can figure it out later, they are here now, and I have to figure out what to do.

    The growing pain in my greater mind starts to grate on me, a weariness filling my body and slowly chipping away at the food in my stomach as it grows stronger.

    I am bigger now, and they managed to find me once already, so I decide it's time to test myself against them and the best method of attack is an ambush. Uprights' don't have armor, not like that small water thing, so I shouldn't have a problem at least injuring one of them enough that they bleed out. Quickly moving back down to the inside building's roof, I curl up and watch the pair's approach, listening in but mainly watching for the best point to initiate my attack.

    "... armor? Don't wanna take…" Their voices echo though the open building as they get ever closer. The bad technology's pain continuing to build, part of me wants the relief of braking it, but killing them is a more pressing issue. I can always break the stuff after they're dead.

    "It's small, the instability of the Poké Ball shouldn't be an issue."

    "You say that, but it was smart enough to play dead."

    "I don't know if I would say that makes it smart. Opossums play dead, right? I wouldn't exactly call those the height of brain function."

    "Fair enough. Now, how did it destroy the node? We hid it pretty well, and it is completely silent."

    "If I had to guess, it would be the lights. I wanted to get rid of them, but it wouldn't run internal checks right without them."

    "Tinkertech."

    "Tinkertech."

    "What's the scanner say?"

    "The smart spectrometer is telling me that it is definitely still here, so keep your voice down."

    Them slowly stepping inside lets me get a solid silhouette of their scent and movement through the air. I am pretty sure the two of them are making their way to the towards where that piece of painful technology was, navigating the rows of machines easier than I thought they would be able to when choosing the nest. They are also still on the other side of the building from me and their target is between me and their chosen entrance, meaning they will probably not be coming over here. So I have to get closer to ambush them.

    Sliding off the building I am on, I hear them continuing to talk, getting significantly quieter but still echoing all around, as they move, though my focus is on staying out of sight, so I can't listen in. Dipping and darting around, I come up with the idea to abduct one of them and drop them, they aren't too much bigger than me, so I should be able to do that and the Uprights don't float so it should hurt them pretty good. The problem is there aren't many perches for me to try that, and none that I can get to without alerting them. Getting closer is starting to hurt and make me hungry though…

    Adapting the original idea, they walk around on two legs, so if I were to hurt one they wouldn't be able to walk and would be easy targets! So if abduct one but aim at the leg and pull it back when go back to my starting spot they should be stunned for a moment! That would give me a chance to get some hit in on them, or go after their pair… Oh! Phantom could go after the Abducted one, and then I can Blast the other!

    Slithering under a row of machines, I finally see two of them with my crest, which hurts and makes me hungry, and I want to attack and run away, and watch them examine the broken pierces of the thing I just destroyed. The one that grabbed me is standing up while the other one is crouched down. Both of them have some metal armor added on, though it doesn't cover their whole bodies, and have a lot of spots that spike my pain to glance at. Being so close hurts, and I want to get away, but I already made up my mind, so I silence some clicks of discomfort that want to surface and start channeling the web at the standing Upright's leg.

    Steadying myself one last time, I dart down the tunnel of energy and arrive just behind the Upright. Bringing my claws and blades down, but mostly around, I try to sink into the leg only to be met with some resistance. Not enough to stop the smell of blood from hitting me right away, but enough that my small attacks only dig in a little. The Upright barely has time to react before I am being pulled back along the energy, my grip incipient to bring my target with me, but I do feel them shift just as planned.

    Pain roars though me from that proximity but can't let it bother me right now. Bursting from the hiding space, I split and send my phantom towards the kneeling Upright, while I pull the energy deep into me and their its channels. I Warp forwards, landing between both of them, and let out a shriek of anguish as I am surrounded on all sides by the bad technology and the feeling of my skin bubbling up before being expelled. The relief of the energy leaving me briefly overpowers the pain and lets me recover a lot faster.

    Turning to my Upright, who fell over, I pounce and start to slice and claw at their face, meeting the same result as my grab on the leg. I am getting though, but only a little bit. Despite the small amount of damage, they start to yell and thrash, hitting my side with something hard enough to dislodge me. It also sends a wave of agony thorough me, stunning me and making me let out a roar against the edges of their minds in pain.

    Regaining control over myself, I see that my target is trying to get up, so I slam my body into them, knocking them over. Darting another back, I start to slash and claw some more but can't get through at all now. How their skin isn't thick, I can see that, and they have some armor on, but I am aiming at the places without that armor—

    My world shrinks to nothing but white-hot agony pressing into me from all sides. Crisscrossing my skin like a root system of pulsing pain that makes my body thrash uncontrollably and both me and my greater mind scream—

    I am abruptly back inside what was my nest, laying on the ground. Quickly forcing the world's energy to lift me up again, the pulsing pain making both my hearts beat wildly is still there. Both of the Uprights seem just as stunned as I am, and I spot a half white, half red ball slightly smoking on the ground between me and the Upright that I sent my Phantom after. I decide that I don't want any part of this after all, my whole body is twitching in pain and the technology radiating off the two isn't something I can force out of my mind anymore.

    Darting towards the nearest door I can, hear the Uprights behind me recovering, and I abandon a notion of stealth as they give chase. Before long I come to an interesting space between the buildings, I'm not fast enough to climb up the side of one with them following me, and take a second to take in the area.

    Straight ahead, I can smell and hear a large gathering of Uprights, probably the same one I spotted when scouting the area around my nest. To my left, I can hear a high-pitched roaring sound on repeat that is headed this way. To the right, I can smell that wolf and blood place I avoided when looking around as well.

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    This might feel a bit forced, but all the parts have already been laid out or hinted at as much as I have been able to. Welcome to the first real point for a plot to develop, only took 27 chapters.

    (reminder, it is still the middle of the day)
    Which direction do you go?
    [X] Forward, towards the group of Uprights.
    [X] Backwards, towards the pair.
    [X] Right, towards the smell of wolves and Uprights and blood.
    [X] Left, towards the high-pitched roaring.
    (Votes are done in the approval style, where you can vote for more than one option that you like.)
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by ecoolasice on Oct 25, 2024 at 9:13 AM, finished with 4 posts and 4 votes.
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    • Chapter 28 New
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    • Which direction do you go?
    [X] Left, towards the high-pitched roaring. (5 Votes)
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    "Leet, go karts!"

    "What are you— That could work!"

    I don't have time to think through the options as I hear the two Uprights getting closer, so I just dash to the left. Slithering along, I barely notice as my knees keep scraping against the stone ground, the deep pain across my whole body getting in the way. Whatever that was hurt, and I am hungry, and I couldn't even think while it was happening.

    As I keep moving, I hear a low growling sound behind me slowly getting louder, which is also making the pain in my greater mind start to build again, feeling just as fresh and raw as before. Unfortunately, as I keep moving there is a slowly growing sense of pain from my chosen direction, but it is small, compared to just being near the two Uprights behind me, and somewhat familiar? I don't have time to sit and think about it, though, so I just brush that feeling aside.

    My journey is brought to an abrupt halt as I round a corner and find myself looking into an open area with a couple of armored Uprights, too many to count quickly but not enough to be called a lot, as well as some of the metal boxes with wheels I have seen moving sometimes, though these have white and green lights flashing on top. There are a few points of dull pain in the group of Uprights, telling me they have some of the bad technology, like they did last time I saw this armor. The high-pitched roaring noise also seems to be coming from the wheeled boxes, but that isn't what my crest is drawn to.

    All of them are looking at two weirdly colored Uprights, which immediately marks them as Alphas in my head. One of those Alphas is wearing red, and smell confirms that they are the one that I saw on that hunting expedition when I was looking for a nest. The other one is wearing a dull green, but their face and abdomen have blue and white and red thin armor around them.

    I slowly back up on instinct, though some of the Uprights are already turning—

    My spines feel as something is rushing towards me from behind, and I toss myself to the side, painfully hitting a wall as I do. I see something not-quite round white and green thing race past me and slam into a few of the Uprights. Spinning around, I see my pursuers riding something and approaching faster than I can move, looking at them hurts. At the same time, activity erupts from the Alphas' group with lots of loud roars and communication, I think.

    Stealth thoroughly gone, I buy some time by sending my Phantom at the pair before barreling to the side, moving away from both parties. Of course, it isn't that simple.

    One of the Uprights point one of those things that hurt to look at towards me before launching some white-yellow goo my way. I pretty easily dodge to the side because of the distance and continue forward, trying to put enough space between me and everything to start climbing a building. They don't let up, though, and I have to keep dodging, which is pretty easy because their aim sucks. A really loud series of Booms behind me nearly makes me turn around to see what happened, but the constant pressure to not get caught by the slime being thrown my way doesn't let me. Which is good, because if I did, that would—

    The red Alpha is suddenly next to me making noise, but with everything going on I can't dedicate the brainpower to listen. Lashing out, the Alpha easily bounces away from my blade, which makes it sink into the black stone ground of the wide path we're on right now. I pause for barely a second as I look at where my blade punctured the stone, it hurt a bit, but not nearly as much as it should have. I'm bigger now, that means stronger, right? Can I just sink my claws into the red rocks of the buildings? That would mean I can just climb up!

    I have to cut my thinking short and quickly dart backwards as the Alpha makes a grab from me, still making noises. I roar at them, but that too has to be cut short too as a heavy net is thrown my way, too big and close to dodge on my own I quickly channel energy up into and through my body. Spinning my body around, I Warp back the way I've been moving, noting that the goop has since expanded, before the energy from the Warp bubbles up and explodes out.

    That seems to make the Alpha stop for a moment, and I take the chance to catch my breath a little. I'm not used to moving around so much, and my body still hurts, my hearts are racing, and it is getting a bit hard to keep track of everything. I can see and smell and hear that the other Alpha with more colors is talking or fighting with the pair that were chasing me, I can't tell which. My brief respite seems to be over as the Uprights start turning the thing that, hurts, and I just want away, launches the goop towards me, so I start looking for which way to go. The expanded goop is blocking my right and if I follow along it, I would come across the red Alpha, behind me is a wall—

    Bigger, stronger, up! I forgot. Quickly turning around, I test the theory and find that yes, I can sink my blades and claws into the red and gray stones without issue. No more need to slowly chisel footholds, and the pain is barely noticeable to the rest of my body's aching. I quickly start ascending, unable to dodge very well while moving up the wall, I ignore the wet sticky feeling that hits two of my tails.

    In no time I reach the top and pause to breathe again, tiredness noticeably creeping in, but I still have a lot of fight in me. Bringing my attacked tails forward I see the yellow-white liquid is expanding, so I try to wipe it off with a claw but that just gets my claw stuck as it keeps expanding a bit more. It then rapidly hardens and is light enough I can still mostly move without issue, but it is making my tails stay bent up towards my claw, which is rapidly growing uncomfortable.

    Before I can start to figure out how to break it off, there is another series of loud Booms from below. Then just like last time the red Alpha appears, this time I can see him jump up and land in front of me though but that doesn't make any sense. Uprights don't have the legs for that and even if they did, they're not heavy enough, they don't have enough muscle, to do it!

    The Alpha starts making noises again, but I am paying attention to their body as they raise their arms up high to appear bigger, to intimidate me. Even though I know what they are doing, it still works, and I immediately raise my blades up too, letting out a click-click-clicking hiss in warning. I try to pull my arm up to flair out to the side, but just end up tugging on my tails. My crown finished reforming, the spiky formation ready for another Phantom if I need it.

    The Alpha lowers their arms keeping hands still forwards towards me and keeps making noises, communication I remember, as I try to figure out what to do.

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    This was a bit tricky to figure out, but I think it turned out decent. And with this, we are past anything I have planned, this vote is the point where things diverge beyond recoup and as such the vote will be longer than usual.

    Next step?
    [X] Try to calm down and listen, not that you can understand them, really.
    [X] Try to fight, the armor on this one doesn't seem as tough as the two Uprights' were, but you couldn't even get through that…
    [X] Try to flee, you just want away from all this.
    [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.)
     
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