A young raven hopped through the dungeon doorway. It flapped and cawed in surprise. Its black eyes sparkled as it cocked its head to survey the surroundings. The humans had harvested the dungeon the day before, so the number of creatures was greatly reduced. Several butterflies flapped lazily between flowers, and a few millipedes crawled over the leaf-covered ground. The young raven took a few steps back and forth as it surveyed. It cawed again and hopped back through the doorway. A moment later, it hopped back into the dungeon. It cawed and hopped out. It hopped back in. The raven spent a minute hopping in and out of the dungeon. The System stuttered a bit as it prompted the dungeon core for a response each time the raven re-entered the dungeon.
The raven finally took a final hop out of the dungeon. A few more creatures spawned in the main worldlet. Flute music sounded faintly across the worldlets. With a chorus of throaty caws, several other young ravens followed the first raven into the dungeon. The new ravens reacted the same as the first and hopped in and out of the dungeon for a minute. The first raven remained in the dungeon however, so the System had time to prompt for a select a response.
_ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:
- Attack
- Claim (Unlikely)
- Dominate (Unlikely)
- Ignore
_
_ Random Selection. “Claim” Selected. Claim Failed _
_ Random Selection. “Ignore” Selected. _
The rowdy ravens began to explore the main worldlet. They flew around and over the large vines. A pair landed on a large flower and investigated it with their beaks. They ripped one of the petals off and let it drop to the ground. One raven stuck its head into the flower and came up brightly dusted with pollen. The other ravens cawed loudly at the yellow headed fool.
A larger raven dropped to the worldlet floor and pecked at a millipede as it emerged from under some leaves. The millipede turned to bite at the raven, but the raven easily hopped out of reach. A second raven joined in the assault on the millipede, snapping at the back of the millipede’s head before flapping a safe distance away. The millipede thrashed back and forth between the two attackers until the damage overwhelmed it and it died. The two crows pecked at it a bit more to see if it was truly dead, then they began to pry off the carapace of the dungeon creature. The other ravens joined in and tore into the millipede. The interior was not exactly their favorite food, but that didn’t stop them from cleaning out every edible piece.
A couple of the ravens tried to catch the large butterflies, but that turned out to be more difficult than expected. They quickly bored of that and flew to the top of the towering vine above the main vine body. This height gave them an excellent vantage to see a snake strike from a shadow and catch one of the ravens still on the ground. The snake’s jaw engulfed the raven’s head and upper body, leaving the wings to flap frantically for a few seconds before the abnormally large snake crushed the raven’s bones. The two ravens at the top of the worldlet began shrieking it alarm. All the other ravens took to the air in response. They circled overhead a few times, cawing back and forth as they identified the enemy. Snake, they communicated. Large. Killed one of us.
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The snake pulled slowly back into the shadow, dragging the raven corpse along the ground. The other ravens cawed in anger. Kill! They yelled to each other. Their anger was not quite strong enough to overcome their fear and caution of the great snake. They circled a few more times. One raven landed on the vine above the snake and loudly cawed its displeasure of the creature. The ravens built themselves up for a few more passes before one was angry enough to attack the snake. The raven flew down to the top of the snake’s head and stabbed at one of the eyes. The snake thrashed to defend itself and the raven had to flap hard to keep from being crushed under the snake. This additional attack on one of their peers was the tipping point for the small flock. They all flew down and struck at the snake’s eyes and mouth.
If the snake had been in a better location or had not had a dead raven stuck in its mouth, it might have fought off the flock or escaped. With its mouth full, the snake could not move as quickly as it normally could, and moving forward was hampered by the wings and feathers of the dead bird. The flock grew more and more bold in its attacks as the snake’s eyes burst and leaked blood. Eventually, the snake was dead and the ravens set to eating every soft part they could reach with beak or claw.
The snake was far too large for the small flock (now one smaller) to consume, and even before the ravens had eaten their fill, they were interrupted by the arrival of several large, featherless bipeds who entered the dungeon. The raven flock flew up to roost on the towering vine above everything so they could watch these bipeds from safety.
The featherless bipeds milled about at the entrance for a minute before the dungeon creatures rushed them. The bipeds slaughtered the small number of creatures without apparent difficulty. The ravens cawed softly to each other. They noticed that one of the bipeds had a big stick and killed creatures better than the other bipeds. The ravens also noticed that the bipeds weren’t eating the carcasses and instead just walked away from them. How could they be so careless and just leave good food lying around? Not to worry, the ravens would gladly take over devouring carrion left behind by such foolish creatures.
The flock’s attention was pulled from the attractive food by a startled squawk. One of the ravens had been watching the bipeds, but the bipeds had disappeared! The raven flew down to where the bipeds had been a moment before. It investigated by hopping around on a large vine and marching across the ground, looking for some bolt hole or other hiding place. The raven cawed out its findings and confusion to the other ravens, then that raven also disappeared. The other ravens cawed out their own startlement and flew down to investigate. The missing raven reappeared, cawing in triumph. It hopped back and forth a few times to show that this was a portal just like the one that brought the flock into this place. The ravens, one by one, hopped through into the delta worldlet.
The ravens were delighted at the sandy area with running water. Several began washing their beaks and preening gore from their feathers. The sound of the bipeds fighting more creatures gradually grew more distant, so several ravens flew up into a convenient apricot tree to watch. The flock felt happy at the sight of more carcasses left behind by the bipeds. With plenty of water and abundant carrion, this new place was shaping up to be a raven’s paradise.