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[Whisperling]

Spoiler: Suggestions (click to show/hide)

Don't move.  Watch carefully.  Maybe some better senses are in order.

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If these are humans aggravating the human race = doom

Attempt to gain some measure of clearness, and use the light going thru us to see.

While the animals would undoubtedly be a good meal, you decide safe is better than sorry. Considering their general oddness, it would be much better to watch and wait. Who knows? You might even learn something.

While further developing your senses would have been nice, that plan is immediately squelched by your total lack of vitality. Mutilating your new tree has been hungry work, and, as useful as parasitism is, it won't be quick in replenishing your stores.
Of course, while your vibration-sense may be imprecise, it is by no means useless. While you can't see the creatures with any real clarity, you do have an idea as to what they're doing.

That is, you would have an idea of what they’re doing if any of their behavior made sense, Taking into account your (admittedly brief) experience of natural selection, you know no creature with the desire to live would even think of acting as they do. Yet, they seem to be perfectly safe and sound- even, you dare to say, healthy.

It is only now, as they are about to walk away, that you get some hint as to their true nature. One of them abruptly stops- and turns around to face you. That’s when it happens- the animal makes a louder, sharper noise, and the other one follows its gaze.

The knowledge strikes you suddenly: these creatures think. They are intelligent enough to notice that you are here, and to register that you are something new. They will wait out there in places you have no way to see, and someday, when you are larger and stronger and more hungry than you are now, they will take notice.

Maybe, on that day, they will kill you. But maybe, just maybe, you will taste their blood.

________________________

It is about an hour since the creatures left, and the vitality from your tapped trees has built into a small reserve. The encounter with other beings has given you much to think about- and reason to worry, as well. While you have yet to consider a plan of action, it may very well be wise to keep them in your thoughts.

Spoiler: The Corruption (click to show/hide)

Currently, the corruption is a mass of various crystals and goo. It encroaches two trees, which have both been tapped for energy.
Fully spread, it would expand roughly five feet in every direction. It has a small store of energy, and is slightly hungry.

The Corruption has a small puncture wound.
It is in forest of moderate size.

[~Neri]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

[crazyabe]

Why not try and leave a small but viable amount of our self in the tree?

[endlessblaze]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

[XXXXYYYY]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

[crazyabe]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

[Potato9999]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

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[TheBiggerFish]

Underground seems like a good way to go, not to mention a constant passive microbe tap.

[Funk]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

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[Icefire2314]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

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We can also send out tendrils underground and slowly tap the roots of nearby trees. The roots is where most of a plant's nutrients are stored anyway.

[Gwolfski]

+1

[AoshimaMichio]

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

[Whisperling]

Spoiler: Suggestions (click to show/hide)

Lets send some roots into the ground. Tap into the roots of nearby plants and trees. Also mend that puncture.

this

Indeed. If it's possible, perhaps retreat (at least mostly) just below the surface. Our senses won't be worsened, and very well might work better there. It'll be a bit safer, and we can spread further with less risk of further things detecting us. If some small morsel walks above us, we could take a page out of the trapdoor spiders' book, and grab and consume it before dragging it back underground with little risk of detection, provided we move quickly.

+1

+1

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We can also send out tendrils underground and slowly tap the roots of nearby trees. The roots is where most of a plant's nutrients are stored anyway.

Now that you have a reliable food supply, you suppose that it may very well be time to move into new realms. In this case, “new realms” are underground.

You know that for every plant on the surface, there is a large and complex network of roots to feed it and hold it in place. While, previously, you had barely given these networks a thought, it occurs to you that there may be a way you can exploit these networks. What reason is there to devour a plant on the surface, when you could quickly and painlessly draw away the energy it uses to grow?

While it was by no means unenthusiastic, you have to admit that your first attempt at digging could have gone better. As it turns out, stabbing a tree is a lot more effective than stabbing the ground. The experience makes you wonder how some of the animals you’ve seen dig so effortlessly- almost as if they’re swimming through the earth.

Feeling, for the first time in your life, rather impotent, you figure that if there’s one thing you can do, it’s mend your own wounds. Fortunately, this proves to be much less complicated than digging- all you need to do is send some vitality towards the area, and in thirty minutes, the job is done.

As if a single, minor success managed to make everything a little better, you notice that you’ve managed to grow quite a bit- despite the phenomenal rate at which you’ve expended energy. And, of course, more mass means more prey. You estimate that your current size would be enough to tap several more trees- or, if you’re willing to put in the work, start adapting a trap for all the animals you’ve seen scurrying around. A successful trap could mean many things- not the least of which is a new source of energy. If you’re lucky, you might even manage to keep a burrower alive long enough to study.

Spoiler: The Corruption (click to show/hide)

Currently, the corruption is a mass of various crystals and goo, and is tapping two trees for energy. It has dug several small depressions in the ground.

Fully spread, it would expand roughly six feet in every direction. It has a tiny, but rapidly-filling store of energy, and is rather healthy.

It is in forest of moderate size.

[AoshimaMichio]

While we are going to underground, we might want to observe if any plants have developed methods of trapping animals and imitate those.

[High tyrol]

While we are going to underground, we might want to observe if any plants have developed methods of trapping animals and imitate those.

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