Well, I found out more about my new body over the past couple of hours. Mostly that bugs don’t give me any biomass. I found this out by accident, crushing a fly with my paw when it annoyed me. My body automatically absorbed it but I got no message saying biomass had been added. So it must not be enough to make a difference. I guess I need either a lot of bugs or to just find something bigger.

A couple hours of wandering through the forest later I managed to find something. A large pile of crap. Literally.

It was still steaming too so it was quite fresh. It was also at this point that I was actually grateful that my senses were dulled slightly by the loss of biomass. The smell was terrible, but I know it could have been so much worse. Large oddly shaped foot prints lead away from the area. They were hurried at first, but seemed to calm down after a little bit. The tracks resembled large hoof prints, but whatever made them had only two feet. They were really deep so the creature is pretty heavy. Maybe they are carrying something they hunted?

I kept following the tracks for a while. More out of curiosity than to hunt. Plus maybe whatever this is had some food I could absorb easily. Hunting wasn’t really going to well for me at the moment anyway. All I seem to be able to kill are bugs and a baby snake I stepped on by accident. The creature seemed to not really care about leaving tracks so it was very easy to follow them. They left an obvious trail of broken branches and partially destroyed bushes as they went on. Their smell was getting stronger, even to me with my dull senses I could tell I was close.

It wasn’t until the sun was low that I arrived at what was apparently a tiny village. When I arrived I caught a glimpse of what I had been following. Large chubby creatures with hooved feet and thick muscle. Small tusks protruded from their mouths at either side, though some of them had smaller tusks. They stood on two feet and carried thick clubs made of wood. Most of them were a dull shade of pink and they lived in mud huts. They were built in a semi circle, surrounding a large fire in the middle. There seemed to be gathering together as the ones I was following arrived. The largest of the ones arriving was carrying what looked like a large deer on its shoulder. The ones around the fire cheered when they saw this. All chanting something together that sounded like “MOOGREH MOOGREH – DOH” I assumed they were just excited at the return of their successful hunters. This was reinforced when several of the ones sitting at the fire left and came back with a large flat stone and several small pots. The chanting had stopped but they were still grunting things at each other. I didn’t bother trying to understand and just watched what they were doing. The hunters had brought the carcasses to where the large stone was placed. Dropping them in front of it and then joining the others around the fire.

Several of the smaller ones got up and pulled out some sharp stones and started preparing the meat. The others had stacked a bunch of flat stones on either side of the fire and had placed the large stone so it was directly above the flames. These creatures remind me of the orcs from certain video games I used to play. Trying to remember the names of the games only gave me a headache so I didn’t try for long. I don’t know what else to call them so I will just call them orcs for now.

The smaller orcs that had started cutting up the meat placed each prepared piece onto the stone above the fire. Soon they started to sizzle and pop. Once that began one of the older looking orcs took the pots that were brought out and opened them. Dipping his hand in he pulled out some powder out of the first one and sprinkled it lightly over the cooking meat. Then the other he pulled out an unevenly ground sand and sprinkled that around as well. He seemed to know just how much to add because he put most of what he pulled out back into the pot before sealing it again. The smell spreading around the area was so appetizing. I could practically feel my body begging me to eat some of that meat. I started walking towards the smell before I realized. I didn’t know just how hungry I was. I was starved for biomass and I was starting to feel it even more. The smell was a mixture of garlic and something else that I just couldn’t identify. The closer I got, the stronger that smell pulled me along. Before I realized it, I had my nose right next to the sizzling meat and the orcs were all staring at me.

I froze immediately and tried to back away slowly. I haven’t really seen these orcs act aggressively towards each other but all the stories I had read and anime I had watched in my past life had me a little worried about how they would react. I kept taking slow steps back, while keeping my eyes on them. None of them moved, except the ones still cutting apart the meat. One of them glanced at me for a second but just went back to cutting. I was just about to turn and run before the small orc that had looked at me while cutting the meat had crouched down and was holding its hand out at me. On its hand was some raw meat. Took me a second to realize she was offering it to me. At first I thought it was a trap, but none of the other orcs moved. They didn’t get up or make any aggressive motions but just sat there and looked at me. Every now and then one of them would grab a piece of meat off of the stone and stuff it into their mouth. Chewing slowly to savor the taste while waiting to see what would happen. I wanted to run but I was so bad at hunting and it smelled so good I couldn’t just leave.

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I slowly walked forward, Making sure to watch for any movement. The small orc hadn’t moved either. Still holding her hand out at me with the piece of meat. Now that I’m close I can tell that this orc it wearing a small cloth over its chest. I guess this one is female. I couldn’t tell earlier what they were wearing because they were so dirty. Also not all of them bothered to wear anything at all. The girl almost didn’t blink as I approached. I got close enough to sniff the meat she had in her hand. It smelled very bloody and looked like it was ripped out instead of cut. It smelled fine so I took a small bite to test it. It tasted like blood and was tough, it was not very appetizing but I was pretty much starving so I dug in. The other orcs seemed to relax at this and once again started talking to each other around the fire, although they were a lot quieter than they were before.

Once I had finished the meat she had in her hand she was going to grab another one of the raw pieces, but before she could I snatched a seasoned piece off of the stone slab. This was a pretty large piece so I dragged it a couple steps away and started gnawing at it. It tasted so much better, whatever that powder they sprinkled on the meat made it taste so much better. The girl looked at me with what I think was surprise on her face. She turned to one of the older orcs who was still looking at me and said something. His look became a little curious before turning to the girl and answering her. She turned back to me after grabbing a piece off the stone for herself and watched me eat while she bit at her own piece.

Everytime I finished a piece she would throw me another until I couldn’t eat anymore. Turns out they had a lot more meat than they could eat. Another successful hunting party came back and added more meat to the pile. After everyone had eaten their fill the rest of the raw meat was taken to one of the huts that was a lot larger than the others. Maybe that’s where they store their extra food. I curled into a ball and just watched the orcs for a while as they went on with their business. Some stayed around the fire for a while, but a couple of the ones with smaller tusks that I identified as the females had taken the discarded skins and started processing them. I had to say they seemed more advanced than I thought at first. Maybe this group is from a larger tribe or something and these guys split off from them. Sometimes one of the females would leave, following a path that started right behind the biggest hut and come back with a bundle of some sort of herb in their hands. The girl that fed me went with them, but she came back with a different bundle of herbs. The others came back with a plant that had thick leaves, but the little girl had a clump of plants that looked like they were just stalks and they were soaked. The girl headed to the large hut and dropped of a large amount of the bundle but kept a single stalk. She walked towards me with it held firmly in her hands, I had no idea what she intended to do with this but I didn’t want to be aggressive as they were pretty nice to me so far. She stopped at the fire and placed the stalk down next to it to dry. As it dried, she just stared at me some more. Causing a disturbing thought to pop up in my head.

‘They keep staring at me. I hope they don’t start worshipping me. Or try to eat me.’ I watched her carefully as she watched me. After a while I got bored of our staring contest and I went back to watching the other orcs move around the village. Apparently, this was the moment she was waiting for. As I was watching the orcs move around with torches doing random chores around the village the little girl was slowly getting closer to me. About when she was an arms length away she pulled out the stalk that she was drying and held it out to me. It smelled weird, like cucumbers mixed with cinnamon and a hint of ocean salt. The smell was weird, I was curious as to how it tasted. She didn’t move as I got a little closer and gave the plant a curious lick. The flavor was completely different than what I was expecting. It tasted like salty butter but also somehow sweet. It wasn’t bad to be honest. I kind of liked it, but as I moved to take another bite I noticed the girl was chewing on a piece of it as well. Maybe this is some kind of treat for them?

I took another bite and chewed slowly to savor the flavor. The girl only took a couple of bites but gave the rest to me. The flavor seemed to get better with every bite. Eventually I lost myself in the taste. When it was all gone I felt a bit loopy. Like I was floating along a calm river and my legs were noodles. I had so much trouble standing up the orc girl started laughing at me. After that everything was a blur, somehow, I ended up wrapped in a blanket in one of the huts. I couldn’t tell very well but I think I was in a cage. By now my head had cleared enough to notice a blue window that I had for some reason thought was hilarious earlier and had even tried to talk to it a couple of times. It said something that I had suspected and I wished I had hands so that I could facepalm right now.

WARNING – WARNING – WARNING

You have been drugged

WARNING – WARNING - WARNING

‘DAMMIT!  again?’