In the end, River, Fenrir, Sirocco, and I all troop down the hill together. I know I need to work on the tree trunk River and I cut down, and I hope that I’ll be able to use magic to shape it since that will save time. But for now, I am determined to expand my diet a little. Plus, with any luck, using the inspection Skills will level them up quickly. Through the Beginner ranks, anyway.
As soon as we hit the forest, I use Inspect Environment. Like before, a pulse of mana goes out from me and a number of plants are haloed in either red or gold. Focussing on one of the plans haloed in red, I use Inspect Flora.
Common plant: Aasmuclanor
Edible: Poisonous (leaves, flowers, roots)
Alchemical uses: Poison (leaves, flowers, roots)
Medical uses: Unknown
This plant is a perennial which poisons most creatures that consume it. Its distinctive red patterning is a warning to those which encounter it.
Close message? Y/N
“Do you recognise this plant, River?” I ask, gesturing towards it. He stoops to look at it more closely, sniffing at it and using a claw to tilt its leaves upwards, revealing small white flowers beneath.
It looks similar to one I recognise, he answered. It’s smaller though.
“What do you use the plant which looks similar to this for?” I’m curious. He shrugs.
It’s a poison when eaten directly. It sends a numbing through the body, stopping the heart in relatively small quantities. However, my…the Herbalist can add it in small quantities to other substances to create a numbing effect which does not harm. She uses it particularly in balm for soothing sunburn, injuries, and a potion for pain in general.
Interesting. An analgesic in the right quantities. I shoot another Inspect Flora at the same plant, wondering if my new knowledge will make a difference to its results.
Common plant: Aasmuclanor
Edible: Poisonous (leaves, flowers, roots)
Alchemical uses: Poison (cardiotoxic) (leaves, flowers, roots)
Medical uses: Analgesic in correct quantities.
This plant is a perennial which poisons most creatures that consume it. Its distinctive red patterning is a warning to those which encounter it.
Close message? Y/N
So my own knowledge does matter, I conclude. And as I learn more, more information is added. Good to know.
By this point, Inspect Environment has long ceased its effects, so I cast it again. I don’t really need to – the benefits of increased Intelligence appear to be a better memory. I therefore could technically identify all the plants which had previously been haloed in gold or red. However, I do need to level up the Skills as much as possible, and each of the casts of Inspect Environment only take ten mana each, so no reason why not to cast again. Besides, I think the light effects look kind of cool.
This time I pick a plant which is haloed in gold. This one is a darker green than the previous, its leaves thinner and longer. It doesn’t seem to have any flowers at all, though maybe that’s just because it’s not the right season.
Common plant: Sycopsis franguloides
Edible: Yes (leaves)
Alchemical uses: Unknown
Medical uses: Unknown
This plant is an evergreen which may have specific properties when exposed to extremes of temperature
Close message? Y/N
“How about this one?” I ask, gesturing towards it. River once more stoops to inspect the small plant. Sirocco sends me a series of images tinged with impatience: she would like to know whether we’re actually going hunting or just looking at plants. “Well if you want to go and find some prey, then we can hunt it,” I tell her with a shrug. River seems perfectly happy to look at plants and Fenrir just seems to be happy to be out with the pack. It’s only Sirocco who’s got a problem.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
She sends me a feeling which I can only compare to a huffy ‘fine’ and wings away. If she finds something, great: I can use Inspect Fauna on it before my Bound kill it. If not, no big deal. If we really can’t find anything, we can always head further down into the valley tomorrow: creatures get more dangerous as we descend so we’re sure to find something that won’t immediately run away from us. We have enough meat for now, though it will be the stuff from my Inventory which Sirocco, at least, turns her beak up at.
I don’t recognise this one, River says once my attention is back on him. Either it doesn’t grow near us, or it’s not one that the Herbalist uses. Certainly, she never asked me to gather it for her.
I nod and cast Inspect Flora again on it. Unsurprisingly, the information that I receive is the same as before.
We continue like that. I alternate casts of Inspect Environment and Inspect Flora, gaining more and more knowledge about the plants around. Unfortunately, there is no record of what Inspect Flora says in my status screen, so I’m going to have to rely on my own memory. At least that’s improving with my stats, though, so hopefully I won’t forget too many of these plants.
I also take the time to gather a number of them. Curious about whether the Energy-stripping quality of my Inventory makes any difference, I put half the plants I gather into my Inventory and tuck the other half into my pockets. I really need to create some sort of bag, I decide. Once I’ve got some tanned hide, sewing one together shouldn’t take too long. Though it’s unlikely I’ll be able to create a bag which will be able to hold the carcasses of creatures we kill; I’ll have to just stick to other methods like carrying them on a stick between River and me.
By the time Sirocco comes back to tell us excitedly about a group of prey animals further into the forest, I’ve amassed a good collection and the two Inspect Skills I’ve been using have both increased to Beginner three. Inspect Fauna, of course, hasn’t moved. Though thinking about it, I should at least use it on all my Bound. Not that the Skill is likely to tell me anything I don’t already know about them.
Fenrir doesn’t react when I cast Inspect Fauna on him; neither does Sirocco, though she seems to sense that something’s been directed at her. Maybe through the Bond rather than her having a sense of the Skill itself. She sends brief curiosity at me, but then seems to forget it as the animals she found come into view.
They’re…odd. Kind of like large – very large – beetles. The smallest are about the size of a dinner plate; the largest are about three times that. They’re quite flat, their tops only about six inches off the ground at their highest, and their legs more side-ways squat than holding them up tall. In fact, their legs rather remind me of a cockroach, even if the actual shape of the thing isn’t particularly similar. Instead, they’re round with no obvious head.
I realise why that is a moment later: their mouths must be underneath them as I see them leave a trail of destruction as they move slowly across the ground. Generally bizarre.
Not wanting to miss the chance to use my Inspect Fauna Skill, I quickly cast it.
Pylobus
Tier 1 Beast (unevolved)
Special abilities: None detected
Health: 90u
Mana: 10u
Minimum Willpower recommended to Dominate without other impacting factors: 10
Invertebrate species subsisting on loam and other detritus. Important for the health of the forest as a whole.
Close message? Y/N
Basically worms, I conclude, except with an exoskeleton.
“You want to hunt these?” I ask Sirocco dubiously. Not only are they not likely to be much good for Energy considering how little health they have, but bottom-feeders don’t tend to taste good. Yes, I know that many people like eating the rubbish bins of the ocean – namely shellfish such as oysters and mussels – but that doesn’t mean that these are likely to be particularly nice to eat.
Sirocco, however, seems to be of another opinion. She sends a series of images to me of her finding a much smaller one once, picking it up and letting it fall on a rock to crack open the exoskeleton. Apparently she really liked the taste of the meat inside. I’m rather impressed at her ingenuity in finding a solution to getting through their hard outer covering.
“Alright,” I say quietly. Pulling my mace out of my Inventory, I then pause. Maybe a mace would be better for crushing, but perhaps these things have a softer underbelly. Certainly they have a mouth, so that indicates that there might be some easier way through the exoskeleton. If I can flip them over with my spear, I might be able to make the fight easier than it’s already likely to be: I can’t imagine that these creatures are going to offer our group much threat. Then again, I have been wrong before.
Pulling my spear out, I look around at my group.
“Ready?” I ask, receiving a range of affirmative responses. “Then let’s go.”
Since the creatures don’t seem to have identified our approach despite the lack of stealth we’ve been practising, I don’t bother to engage it now. Although, on second thoughts, maybe I should have used it anyway: it’s not going to increase in level unless I use it, and then what if I fail against a more perceptive opponent because I didn’t use it when I could have?
Anyway, too late for that. The beetles – pylobus, apparently – become aware of our approach when we’re only a few steps away. They scatter, darting into the bushes as quickly as they can. Which turns out to be pretty fast when they have a mind for speed.
Using my spear, I try to flip as many of the creatures as I can, figuring that even if I don’t kill them immediately, either one of my Bound can, or I can come back to deal with them later. I reckon that they’ll take a few moments to right themselves either way.
It takes me a couple of tries to get the right angle to flip the pylobus I target, and in the end I only manage to get three onto their backs by the time the rest have disappeared into the bushes. True to my expectations, they rock back and forth in place, their legs waving madly. Definitely a design flaw, that one.
When I look at what they were hiding underneath I can’t help my face from screwing in disgust. Where the top of the pylobuses are dark brown and obviously hard, their undersides are some non-descript beige colour. Also looking pretty hard, I can see why Sirocco chose to drop it on rocks from above, like vultures do with bones or seagulls do with mussels on Earth.
The pylobuses have legs set all around their bodies, emerging from joints at the edge of their carapaces. Right now, they are all waving in the air, the pylobuses clearly trying to gain some sort of purchase somewhere. It’s hard to get a proper count with them moving so much, but I reckon that there has to be around twenty to twenty-five legs on each, though the bigger ones appear to have more legs than the smaller.
The disgusting bit, however, is their mouths. It’s a mess of tendrils that remind me more of an anemone or a parasitic infestation of worms than anything else. With them stuck on their backs, even their mouths are doing their best to reach out for anything they can grab. I can’t help turning to Sirocco again.
“You really want to eat these?”