[!]Month 2
Hunting:
Kro'Lit had not been pleased.
Not with itself, not with its performance, not with the outcome of its clash. No, to say that it had not been pleased would be to a large extent an understatement. It'd badly underestimated the enemy, or rather, badly over estimated itself in ways in which it mocked and tormented other fallen Vorid for before. In fact it was this very self-knowledge which it had found itself ignoring that had motivated it's joining with the pack in the first place.
It would not be making this mistake again.
With renewed interest in the hunt born of the mockery of its newly forged packmates, the Hunter vorid riled up a crusade to crush the foe which had a defeated him, utilizing surprisingly effective tactics of flattery, rivalry, and the outright predatory and competitive nature which even the most peaceful seeming of Vorid all shared. Zerelth, Old Crow, and the Eternal Storm would all throw in their lot on this hunt, leaving Kro'Lit to grin in pure blood thirsty satisfaction.
Sov Rein on the other hand would show a particularly imperious streak, rushing off after word of the precious commodities which had been stolen from the pack had been received, its scorpio-form body skittering off almost immediately to confront the beasts and subjugate them before its will.
It had been a slaughter on both fronts.
The hardy band of Vorid under Kro'lit's lead had managed to corner the Juggernaut of a beast, harrying and disrupting it from feeding in a deliberate strategy to weaken the rampaging beast. Unstoppable as it was in most cases, the mounting damage which came from all sides no matter what it did, took its toll on the creature. The Feline/Hivayi Hybred-form hunters were both providing cover and direction as the Old Crow and the properly Feli-form vorid would blind side and break it down.
The hunt went on for weeks, attracting other attentions in the meantime... attentions quickly dealt with by the group with almost evil glee, quite as often as not taunting the rhino-like vorid with the Biometal which these quick hunts accrued making the beast ever more desperate as the damage mounted up.
And then the tipping point came.
Too damaged to run, and without being able to move quickly any more it could no longer gather armour for its hide, the four fell upon it, butchering the moaning creature alive as it finally toppled to the ground and claiming their prizes from its body.
Sov Rein on the other hand would find itself deep in the primary nest of the raiders, its ability to crush the wills of the lesser scampering avians proving invaluable as it worked its way inside... But the raider nest was not unguarded. Though the lesser raiders were no match for the very exposure of its ideal, the larger specimens were indeed much more that, it'd bargained for.
The ensuing battle would be a mad scramble within the nesting cave of the raider's main staging nest, forcing them to collapse the entire thing and in the process escape with most of their lives, leaving the vorid of rule to a kingdom of ruin.
It took most of the rest of that month in order to completely dig out all of the bodies for their Biometal.
A decisive victory... but one which rang hollow none the less.
The raiders had scattered and escaped, with not a trace of Bloodmetal to be found.
Reward:
+1 Advance in group comfort level.
Raider Vorid nest moved...
{Design Core: Unyielding} (Unlocks the 'Unyielding' bonus skill)
[Kro'lit] +120 Biometal, +4 AP, +6 core.
[Zerelth]+60 Biometal, +2AP, +4 core
[Old Crow] +60 Biometal, +2AP, +4 core
[Eternal Storm] +60 Biometal, +2AP, +2 core
[Sov Rein] +10 Biometal
Settling in again...:
The attempted attunement once again did not go well... the raider vorid once again circumventing and destroying most of the seedlings sent out even as Verethragna attempted to play guardian. But even despite their loss to the Sov Rein earlier in the month, their numbers had only grown.
And the problem steadily worsened... only barely had they been able to equalize the situation as the plunderers came, ensuring their own food for the month from the bodies of their pests... but loosing portions of the stored Biometal in nips and bites each passing day.
On the other hand, Ephemeral would find itself doing far better, as its work to raise actual walls on their clearing to make an actual encampment, a bit crude despite its plan, technical skills making up only so much for inexperience. And though it had indeed made their camp less accessible to enemies, it also had made them more notable.
Kohas in its attempts to clear away the nearby seeder path vorid, would fail to do more than scrape off enough Biometal from the tree-like vorid to make it's meals for the month... it at least also managed to avoid being blasted by the irritated, but relatively immobile vorid.
Avid Learner on the other hand would simply ignore the antics of all the others, concentrating itself upon improving their defenses against the constant raids. Carefully it considered the utilization of Biometal in manners beyond simple self-repair and those burst of 'inspired' reconfiguration known as contemplations. Each vorid had within it the capability to intimately work with and rework the products of their own flesh.
Biometal.
While the 'metal' part of its construction was indeed a bit of a misnomer, Bio-metal was not a simple substance. No it was the end result of several thousands of years of technological development, a tool kit of sorts, where the active components of it allowed it to work at near plank levels of precision in organizing and reorganizing materials. The fact was that most materials containing Bio-metal were not infact made of a large amount of the active substance, instead the active parts would build what they needed, structures both inert and mechanical in nature out of their environments to complete their tasks. Biometal itself was an incredibly versatile toolkit, but one which needed constant care and attention. For like any other 'biology' it found its limits in the simple laws of physical expression...
Law which the vorid were created to ultimately break.
The fact was however, shaping Biometal to its will beyond the constraints of repairs was... tricky. Most vorid had a multitude of sub-processors which allowed them to carry out the tasks of self-repair without thought. In order to do this work for which it had set itself, the Avid Learner would need to retune and reconfigure a small swath of these subroutines, changing the way in which they responded to its touch.
By the end it had managed to create working biometal schematics and what could essentially be considered a 'mini turret' all be it one which could be carried by any vorid with hands, though it's more ambitious goal of creating a defensive system to properly ward off the enemy had come too late, and though it had held onto the Biometal itself, working with the hording area and holding the biometal within its folded workspace, it would find that instead of having come away completely safe... that chunks of its workspace itself had been 'stolen'. The conceptual residue of 'theft' left tainting with an odd 'hole' burrowed in.
The Avid Learned redoubled its curiosity as to just what these raiders did, and could do. Their capabilities seeming more advanced than what it had at first assumed.
Rewards:
[Kohas] +1 Biometal
[Avid Scholar] Has opened Line of Inquiry – Biometal shaping?, + 1 Biometal, Crude Biometal Gun (-5 Biometal)+4 to combat rolls when worn by a hivayi-form Vorid.
[Varathragna] +1 biometal
[Eden's Garden] +11 Biometal, no headway on attunement of area
[Ephemeral of Existence] +1 Biometal, Camp upgraded. +1 AP
Pack/Social:
... Things... went poorly to say the least.
The less said about the seeder 'friendship' incident, the better...
Unfortunately this minor disarray had been enough to allow the Raider Vorid another foothold despite the wall, allowing them to steal liberally from the new reserves of biometal.
Reward:
Biometal stolen...
Consequences
The Raiders have changed their nesting location... Attempts to find them now subject to a separate 1d100 search roll, modifiable by the appropriate skills.
Raider's now avoid confrontation unless they have overwhelming combat power on their side (Combat challenge increased)
You have all gained notoriety (A known Quality)
Camp has become more noticeable to the general population of this Garden segment.
Current Resources:
Biometal stores – 135 units.
(Every Vorid uses 1 unit of Biometal per month, 10 if injured, 30 if critically injured)
Cores – 8 units
(Vorid cores are used by Vorid doing energy intensive work. One core is used up if a unit is critically injured)
Bloodmetal stores – 0 units
(Bloodmetal is precious; it will not be used up without group agreement.)
Camp status: Basic Walled Encampment (+5 to home defense)
Pack capabilities: None learned
Pack Fame: A known quality (Challenge level -1d40 to hunting, -1d20 to exploration)
Pack comfort level: Beginnings of trust. (2/50)
Pack Size: 10 members (10 Founders)
Biometal Construction Options:
Create Simple Biometal structures: -100 Biometal
Integrate Biometal with existing structures: -50 Biometal per structure
Sacrifice minion for biometal structure upgrade (Minion becomes part of structure, runs defenses): Cost -1 minion per structure.
Biometal defenses (Spike tendril, saw blade tendrils, Gatling spikes, writein): Cost -100 Bio-metal per defense instance
Lines of Inquiry:
Better hunting: (? ? ?)
Progenitor Party: (? ? ?) [1 more turn?]
The Raiders: You are plagued by lesser vorid opportunistically raiding your stores... (-? ? ? per turn) [-60 Challenge]
Biometal shaping?: Discover the uses of biometal shaping.
Pack action:
[] Write in. What do you wish to do first?
Personal action:
[]Write in. What do you wish to do?