Seeing that this hunt will lead you out of the maintenance tunnels and into the streets, you decide to make a quick trip back to the clinic to rearrange your equipment before continuing. Many of these items will be useless in a hunt. It's better to travel light and silent. And it would also help to have some extra room in your pack for your cloak.
Inventory rearranged One of the things you leave behind is the can of droid oil. You wonder, as you stare at it, about what could be done with it. Ali said droids like oil. Does that mean you could trade this with droids? Perhaps if you gave it to one of the little ones it would let you into their Hive? Hmm. Are droids capable of understanding trade? They can certainly understand the world around them at least as well as most animals, they speak or at least emit cries of some kind and even show some basic responses like fear. But unlike animals they seem to have focus where there should be emotion. Would they want something outside their focus? Could they be happy about something or like something? Could they have friends? You'll have to experiment more.
...
You check yourself in the mirror. You look quite strange. A lanky thing covered in dark brown cloth, bulging on one side due to the pack hidden underneath, two smaller bulges where your folded wings poke against the cloth, clawed feet and a dark scaly snout the only things poking out. But it's marginally more "human" than how you looked before and definitely different, perhaps different enough to fool anyone who knew your previous appearance. It probably won't look too out of place in the streets outside. You've seen creatures covered by cloaks before and you also saw a scaly biped in the Arena the other day, so surely a scaly biped with a cloak won't be something too noteworthy?
...
Eating the corpse turns out to not be as easy as you thought. Whatever happened last time, this time it doesn't. You remember every bite and the wrongness each one carries as you force it into your body, filling yet tasteless. Its insides are cold yet well-preserved. Your body understands that it is edible and accepts it as something to fill your stomach with. But just like when you eat synthflesh, instead of being thankful for this bounty, your body complains. There's none of the elation, none of the painful-yet-pleasant inner burning, none of the rush that made you feel powerful. In the end you are unable to eat all of it, though what little remains is an unrecognizable mess. You toss the what's left into the garbage pit. Perhaps some vermin will finish what's left. Perhaps it will disappear along with the rest of the garbage, going to wherever garbage goes when it leaves the pit.
Status gained: overfed...
On the bright side, retaining control means that most of your body is nice and clean. It didn't take you long to clean the blood from your snout and claws, leaving your cloak and pack unstained. You take a few experimental steps with the cloak on to make sure you're ready and then start walking the last few steps towards the exit from the tunnels, slow at first, still adjusting, and then faster and faster until you are walking as quicky as a human, occasionally correcting your balance with a swish of your tail. It still takes some concentration, but practice has reduced the effort required by a lot.
...
You lie on all fours, the cloak covering you like a blanket, both to rest and to get closer to the scent trail. Their trail is hard to follow. It's easy to get confused in this soup of smells. Luckily the architecture doesn't leave many options for your prey to move, so you only have to focus when you encounter a crossroad to determine which path they came from. So now you lie on one such crossroad, trying to decide which way to choose, when-
"Ma'am?" you hear as something taps you on the head.
You swiftly poke your head out of the hood and turn it to face the creature. The biped is taken aback by the sudden movement. Was that not the right way to respond?
"Ma'am? Are you all right?" it asks after a second's hesitation.
The little green creature stares at you with its large compound eyes. Its iridescent chitinous body (at least the parts that aren't covered by clothes) reminds you of the little insects that fly around in the tunnels. It dances an exaggerated dance, its arms waving this way and that, its little wings flitting from time to time.
"Yes.""Oh. I was worried about your health."You stare at it. It continues its dance, but the rhythm and movements change, becoming more subdued. What does it want?
"Do you require assistance to get up?""No."You stare at it some more. You decide to ask.
"Why are you asking?""I thought you were hurt. I wished to help." the little creature says, bending its strange legs.
You consider what the right response should be for a few seconds.
"Thank you.""You are most welcome." the little creature says, shaking its hands in what you think is a display of happiness.
As you walk away, you resolve to try to avoid such situations at the next intersection by trying to kneel instead of just falling down.
...
It's a small establishment, some place selling warm food and hot drinks. The things and people in it look clean, shiny. A droid with human-like upper body that balances on a single wheel zips around, speaking to clients, carrying dishes and beverages from some hidden place in the back that smells of fire. It's the first time you've seen a droid wearing clothes, the black and white fabric looking strange against its shiny angular exterior. As you stare at it it approaches you, slowly coming to a stop before it collides with you.
"Greetings. Do you have a reservation?" it asks with its distorted voice.
Hmm. They were here. Maybe they left something behind. You could try to investigate this place for clues or try to glean some information from the people here. Then again, this place... it makes you feel like you don't belong. Staying here could cause trouble. Perhaps it would be best if you left and tried to pick up the trail again. They probably don't live here, so they must have come here from somewhere else.
Age: some months (wyrmling)
Size: about the size of a human (if bipedal)
Status: overfed
Health: fine
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: scales
Abilities:
- Short Flight: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances. You can even fly upwards for short distances. You can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your glide time.
- Basic Human Language: You are able to understand many of the most common words of the human language, including some that express more abstract things, though there are still a great many words and expressions that you have yet to learn. You can also read, though it takes you some time to understand the words. You can also speak, though it's sometimes hard for others to understand you.
- Communication: You have a knack for understanding other beings, even those whose language you don't know.
- Basic Nursing: You know the basics of caring for patients and preparing and maintaining equipment used in their care. You can also administer certain simple treatments. However you still lack much of the knowledge necessary for you to be able to determine what said treatment should be.
- Maintenance Tunnels:
- Large Sonic Rifle covered by old torn clothes
- 2 holdout blaster pistols (roughly 20 shots each, effective range 20m, HSB-200)
- Low quality vibroknife (low battery)
- Eiwhyl's Clinic:
- 576 credits (5 orange, 11 blue, 7 red, 4 grey, 6 cyan, 4 pink)
- 2 packs of smoke sticks
- small can of droid oil
- small metal toolbox
- Warm blanket
- Basic Datapad (contains datacard with encrypted files)
- Datacard with human medical information
- Datacard with human language dictionary
- Datacard with dragon info compilation
- Datacard with story about hunter of dragons
- Large hooded cloak (required)
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (equipped on left side, under cloak)
- Half-used medpac
- Purse with credit-reader:
- 155 credits (2 orange, 2 blue, 1 red, 1 grey)
- half-used roll of plastoid tape
- flashlight
- pack of smoke sticks
- lighter
- keycard with symbol
- small glass statue of bird
- Ali's Apartment: A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania. Room 327.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Eiwhyl's Clinic (Lair): Sells medpacs and other healing items and provides treatment. Warning: stabby. Room 509.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool: A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. Patrolled by hostile gunmen. A corridor leads to other rooms. Storage room. Processing room. Other rooms are unexplored.
- Iyran Grower Shop: A store located deeper into the tower's streets. Operated by a cephalopoid. The grower sells cheap synthetic meat, amongst other things.
Poll
1 (6.7%)
Author
Topic: Surviving in an Alien World [Suggestion Game] (Read 106889 times)