>>4521624
explore the land

>>4521624
>Eat the remains of your egg.

>>4521627

The first thing one needs to get is their bearings, in a strange new world like this. And so, you rear your head and look around, slowly feeling around your environment with spindly digits.

You're currently within the bones of some long-dead Zerg, where your egg was nestled prior to hatching. Shrubs and grass have been flattened in a small area around you, forming a shoddy nest. There are hollow spaces in the tree roots around you, where you could potentially squeeze into. You could also attempt a foray into the tall foliage ahead, and leave your former nest behind.

As you explore, fat raindrops continue to drip down on you, chilling you to the bone.

>>4521630

Ever-present hunger overtakes you, and you greedily slurp up the remains of your birthing pod. The storm battles against you, washing away precious streams of nutrients. Still, you manage to slurp up the remains of your egg, and crunch down on the shell with relish.

> You have obtained enough biomass to evolve a small mutation.

>What do you do?

>>4521633
Into the foliage, I say!

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>>4521638

You make your way into the greenery, pushing through the shrubs with your front limbs. Already, you feel your claws strengthening, though your hind legs are still a bit wobbly. A streak of light tears through the sky of your homeworld, followed by a distant explosion that startles you and gives you pause for a moment.

The forest is like an endless labyrinth for a Zerg of your stature. Soon, you're coated in sticky mud, thankfully hiding your scent from any roving hunters. As you go deeper into the foliage, the sounds of crashing and splintering become audible ahead of you, followed by frenzied snarls.

>What do you do?

>>4521659
Investigate sounds

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>>4521662

Once you get close enough, you pop your little head out of the bushes and observe the source of the disturbance.

Two colossal brutes are duking it out in a clearing. Already, evidence of their battle mars the greenery. Broken trunks and shredded bark are scattered haphazardly, and bony spikes are embedded in the nearby trees.

You arrive just in time to watch the first behemoth slam the other into the earth. Before the pinned Zerg can struggle, the monstrous creature locks jaws with it. Its throat bulges as it spews acid directly into the maw of the other, dissolving it from the inside.

It looks like a slow, agonizing death. You have a feeling that if the big lug gets its hands on you, your own demise will be substantially quicker.

Fortunately, it's now focused on ripping apart the smeared corpse of its adversary. It hasn't noticed you just yet, and you're likely too small to even be a morsel to it.

>>4521669
Eat with him, cautiously and deferential.

>>4521669
Wait for him to finish maybe he'll leave something behind once his stomach is full

Gotta head to bed, but will tally votes when I wake upg. So far, got one vote for approaching and eating alongside the Zerg, and one for waiting on him to leave.

>>4521691
See you around, OP

>>4521669
Evolve your body to have the same ability's as a cat. Better claws for climbing, the ability to sense the world around you with whiskers, and the ability to go thru any gap or hole you find by compressing your body to fit thru anything.

With this evolution we can live and hunt in ways that the other Primal Zerg have most likely never even thought to as all they seem to care about is raw brute power more than anything else. And as we have seen with the death of the losing Indomilisk if you live and fight by the same rules as everyone else you are going to end up as food to someone that has a gimmick.

We need to use our brain more than our brawn if we are going to live long and grow stronger than the zerg that will want to eat us for easy food and power. Learning to hunt and hide in the tree tops is a good first step to growing stronger by using our heads.

>>4521696
+1 for mutation, plus brainpower.

>>4521669
>>4521690
Support.

I have never seen a Starcraft quest on this board before, I hope you keep running.

>>4521730
Despite the games only focusing on big 3 races Starcraft setting is big and full of lore so sky's the limit

Man, I used to be a Protoss bro until I started getting into biology. The Zerg are too legit, especially the Primal Zerg.

Good shit, OP. Hope you keep in it.

>>4521730
>>4521748
>>4521860

Thanks fellas, I'm hoping to keep this running for as long as I can.

>>4521690
>>4521730

2 Votes for Waiting till he's done, and the cat-like evolution.

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>>4521690

The creature greedily tears shreds from its fallen foe, crushing bone and carapace before your very eyes. You watch as it picks through the acid-burnt flesh for edible chunks, oblivious to the downpour around it. Eventually, when the carcass has been stripped of all the good meat, the Indomilisk tosses its head and wanders into the woods. You can hear the snapping and bending of trees and shrubs as it crashes through the undergrowth.

You approach the body. Due to your diminutive size, the scraps of leftover meat are more like entire fields of delicious flesh. Even with the juiciest portions scraped away, the remaining biomass is many times your size.

You get to work on the carcass, tunnelling into the meat and scraping bones clean with your mandibles. Nothing disturbs you as you feast, and soon enough, you're too stuffed to take another bite.

>>4521696

As you eat, your body begins to undergo several changes. You can feel the essence of the former behemoth unravelling within you, entwining its strands with your own being and becoming something greater. For the first time since your birth, you take a proper look at your own shape in the reflection of a nearby puddle.

You're as small as Zerg come, with four limbs and a front-heavy body. A short, stout tail extends behind you, not good for much at the moment. You have both jaws and mandibles, currently stained with gore and flecks of fat.

Before your very eyes, you see yourself growing thicker and stronger. Your back bulges with newly formed muscle, and a distinctive feeling of power shoots through you. As you snuggle up within the chest cavity of the creature, you think on how best to approach your new life. The ground is dangerous, that's for sure. Both beasts that you've encountered so far could easily snap a youngling up. Instinctively, your claws elongate and muscle growth focuses itself in your forelimbs.

Powerful arms, to better climb with. Perhaps the treetops will be less perilous.

You feel two protrusions burst from the sides of your snout, spreading out a thin filament of fibres from their midst. Instantly, you become hyperaware of the flesh surrounding you, of each groove in the chewed bone, of each chunk of tense muscle. The whiskers retract themselves after a moment, and you snarl in satisfaction.

> You are a Newborn
> You have no Injuries
> You have no Territory

>What do you do next?

>>4522223
We know basically nothing about the world we live in and our place in it. And that is surely the fastest way to die in this land. We need to learn all of the rules of this world so we do not brake them by mistake and get our selves killed stupidly.

We should go up into the tree tops and leap from tree to tree to work on our stealth skills, our agility and precision, and most of all we must spy on the other Primal Zerg of Zerus to find out how they live, how to hunt and kill them, and ultimately what mistakes they have made in there evolution and how to do things better than they do. You have got to be smart if you are going to start out as an ambush predator on Zerus.

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>>4522234

You dig your claws into the water-slick trunk of a nearby tree. It takes you a few moments of frantic scrabbling to get used to climbing, but soon enough, you're advancing up the steep surface. From above, you can see the trail of destruction that the victor left behind upon leaving. If you wanted to, you could trail the hulking predator.

You can also see several glowing spots on the branches around you. You watch as a strange, flat creature peels off a tree and takes to the air. It sweeps through the sky, leaving a bright trail in its wake. Those things look like prime candidates for prey. There are no apparent defences on them either.

You spend a few moments leaping from branch to branch, practicing your agility as you muse on your next action.

>What do you do?

>>4522275
We have no idea what this Spore Ray thing can even do and using our own body to find out what it can do to protect its self from predators. Us following the Indomilisk to both learn from it from afar and to pick up its scraps until we are strong enough to strike out on our own.

>>4522315
You. I like you. Say more things. Your plan though is risky. If that thing spots us it may squish us for sport. After all, might makes right so there isn't anything here to slap its dick and say "bad dinosaur". Maybe we should focus on acquring more biomass for another series of mutations?

>>4522275
Hunt that sporeray thing, see if that biomass grants us any nifty mutations.

>>4522315
+1, but keep your eyes peeled for the Spore Rays, as I'm morbidly curious as to how they conduct themselves, defense and eating habits, and such. Would want to jump atop tree just to get eaten by a flying predator now do we?

Also more brainpower mutation is good mutation.

>>4522315
>>4522331

You slowly angle yourself on the branch, wagging your tail in excitement. The Sporeray doesn't seem to notice you. In fact, they don't seem to notice much of anything. You watch a drifting one smack right into a tree while floating about.

Satisfied with their lack of sensory input, you wait until one of them drifts between you and your target branch. You leap off the branch, sending dollops of water cascading onto the jungle floor below.

Success.

You crash onto the opposite branch with the Sporeray clutched between your teeth. You scramble for purchase, clawing at the wood and nearly tumbling off it. Fortunately, you catch on to the surface and pull yourself up onto the safety of the branch, where you slurp the creature up.

It's easy prey. More jelly-like than meaty, but you can feel its essence seeping through you. With it comes understanding of the creature's role.

The Sporeray is certainly not a hunter. They drift aimlessly, filter-feeding off microscopic Zerg organisms. If you wanted to, you could copy their adaptations and form sticky membranes to passive snatch material from the air. However, it likely won't provide enough food for a creature of your size.

>>4522331
Thanks man. But the things we have to understand about our situation is one that we are at the bottom of the Zerg food chain. And for two we are a baby and have no experience about live or anything really.

If we are going to go after the Spore Ray then we are going to have to find out how it defends its self and how it hunts and kills on its own. Does it have horrible toxins, electric shock powers, or it just has a lashing tentacle barb it uses to piece its prays body to kill it. We have to first study our enemy and how it hunts and kills before we can turn it into food to power our own growth and straight.

>>4522342
Well the Spore Rays sure are disappointing to hunt. I mean it did not even put up any fight at all. Even its ability to filter-feed off microscopic Zerg organisms is such a low bar to live on that it has no drive or ability to evolve or grow any more than what it is now.

If we are going to take the sticky membranes from the Spore Rays for our selves than we need to change it to be more than just a dead end evolution that will take us nowhere. If we can change the sticky membranes from a food gathering food with out doing anything. Into a sensory organ like a nose that will allow us to gather more info about the world around us and the zerg around us as well.

>>4522342
We got any flight essence off of it? Does it use lighter than air gasses or something more exotic to achieve flight?
Idea for future: biojelly between armour plates for shock/kinetic force absorption

>>4522342
Mutation: Establish mutualistic relationship with photosynthetic autotrophic zerg microorganisms found in sporeray

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>>4522367

It's indeed a dead end, as you realise. In this world, there seem to be those at the absolute bottom of the pecking order. You sense so little intelligence from it that you hesitate to even consider it Zerg, like you know yourself as.

>>4522378

Still, even in the lowliest organisms, there's useful essence. You could adapt the stickiness of its membranes for your own uses in the future. It floats with a gas bladder, and with the flat sails that line its body. The bladder can't keep a creature of your size aloft, but perhaps the sails have gliding potential.

>>4522384

For a moment, you think on the possibility of utilising the microorganisms that the Sporeray feeds off of. Perhaps you could cultivate them on your own. You rip open the digestive cavity of the sporeray and extract the cultures of miniscule organisms.

You lack the knowledge to utilise them at this point, but you decide to store them in a specialised sac for future use.

> You are a Newborn
> You have no Injuries
> You have no Territory

> Adaptations: Climbing Claws, Whiskers, Agility. Microorganism cultures.

The rain finally slows to a drizzle, and the deafening cacophony of water on leaves slows to a halt. The sun begins to set, bathing the sky brilliant orange.

>What do you do next?

>>4522354
>>4522367
Eh, I guess you have a point. I still don't like the idea of trying to tag-along the bigger primal at this stage. I'd say try to learn from a smaller creature, but given how hostile Zerus is . . . unwise to bet against the odds. Survival of the fittest, after all.

>>4522389
>The sun begins to set
Uh oh and we don't have the means to see in the dark so how about we dig a hole for the night and cover it up with leaves

>>4522389
>>4522405
Hiding in holes in the ground is to exposed for us right now as all zerg can burrow under ground and many can even hunt under ground as well. We may be much safer hiding in the tree tops where we can at least run and hide if we need to get away from predators.

>>4522427
I second this. Treetops man.

>>4522389
Supporting >>4522427 and >>4522428

>>4522427
Ye, plus we might as well have a slight membrane adaptation to process some of the organisms in the air, if we're going to be traveling from treetop to treetop. Not to live off of, necessarily, but as a bit of a supplement to our diets, a little extra... energy and biomass for us. After all, ever little bit may mean the chance between life or death for us.

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>>4522427

Trees it is.

You curl up on a branch and hook your claws into the wood, making sure that you won't slip off in the middle of the night. Your whiskers fan out on either side, forming wide nets that sense the currents on either side of you. If something moves past, you're sure to sense it.

And indeed, you can sense the several Spore Rays flitting past you and filter-feeding in the evening light. Their glowing spots form eye-like patterns in the darkness, and you observe their motion silently.

You've made it further than many have on their first day on Zerus. Already, you have a respectable amount of essence for a newborn. While you're not powerful enough to stake your claim on it, the canopy that you're in is a decent nest for a young Zerg. Branches form natural bridges between the trees, and the spot you've chosen is wide and dry, sheltered from rain by the thick fronds above you. Prey is plentiful too.

> Nest gained! [Treetop Nest]

> You are a Newborn
> You have no Injuries
> You have a [Treetop Nest]

> Adaptations: Climbing Claws, Whiskers, Agility. Microorganism cultures.

>You have enough biomass to select adaptations.

You begin to feel more and more aware of yourself as you sit there, taking in the sights and sounds of early night. Already, you're growing in intelligence, able to make your own choices and guide your own adaptations. It seems like your brainpower is increasing gradually.

>What do you do?

>>4522451
Think about life and you purpose on this world of Zerus. Think about what it means to be a zerg and what that means to you. Get all existential with your thoughts and come to understanding about who your are. Give your self a name and be happy with it.

>>4522451
Feed till full, then sleep. Try and adapt a passive awareness sensor with whisker while asleep, potentially some flying squirrel type wings to better glide in the air, potentially with the membrane adaptation on them for minor microorganism processing (a diet supplement, if you will). Nocturnal Vision would be handy as well.

>>4522475
While we're smarter than the average Zerg, I doubt we have the mental capacity to identify with our existence outside of survival and adapting atm. Nice try though.

>>4522475

You spread yourself out on the branch and think. Your mind only wanders as far as your experiences so far. You contemplate the huge brute, the floating creatures, and the myriad of evolutionary paths ahead of you. You know that you are alive, you wish to be strong, and that your survival comes before everything else.

... A name? No such concept exists in your primal mind. Not quite yet.

>>4522477

You're spurred from your thoughts by a passing Spore Ray. It flies too close, and your neck shoots forward to snap it out of the air. The hunger gnaws at you again, and you spring to your feet to begin the hunt anew.

Soon enough, the Spore Rays in the area have thinned out. You've taken out a handful of them, but they seem to be avoiding the copse of trees that you're sequestered away in. You spot blinking patterns forming among their glowing spots.

Ignoring them for now, you begin to copy the membranes of the Spore Rays. A flexible, elastic layer forms between your forelimbs and your body, kept folded up when not in use. You spread it out experimentally, aware of the slightly sticky surface. It's too minute a change for you to take notice of, but you can tell that the membrane catches the same sort of microorganisms that the Spore Ray feeds off of, and absorbs them into your body.

You begin to feel sleepy. It might be time to turn in for the night, but you may have enough energy for trying one or two more things.

>What do you do?

>>4522497
>Look for prey to hunt tomorrow

>>4522497
Check our surroundings once or twice to make sure there are no predators laying in wait for us to let our guard down and kill us in our sleep. It is better to be safe than sorry after all. If we find anything out to get us we will have to find out if there is anything we can do about it.

>>4522507
>>4522513
+1, plus figure out the Spore Rays mode of communication and detection, as it seems they're not so stupid after all. If we can figure it out and copy it, we gain a mode of communication with a gourpof pray, and potentially a semi-useful as a limited scouts/early-warning/informants, potentially? We should atleast check out what we can do with them and how to use it to our advantage.

>inb4 we become sporeray farmer

>>4522542
Actually, this is good idea. You have my gratitude, good sir!

>>4522528
Hmm so a more colony inteligence? Hmm the sticky membrain could be useful sensory as its so good at catching microscopic particles just need some cells to pick up distinct chemical signatures. Hmm could be good as grip pads? Or the power of external digestion? or camo as the posibility of sticking dirt or sticks or small rocks to our body would give us a new texture and profile.
Hmm i am really interested in trying to cultivate stomach cultures to more effectively digest most matter and well having a more adaptive digestive system as they all digest what they are most adapted for. Hmm mini ecosystem that evolves to assist us as we are there perfect shelter and protection from the outside world. Hmm bacteria could possibly be used for a necrotic bite.

Anyways lets investigate there communications as while simple they must have a robustly adapted program they follow to survive possibly being used to locate any predator going after them and managing air quality?

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>>4522513
>>4522507
>>4522528

Your belly full, and your eyelids heavy, you give the area one final sweep. It doesn't seem like any other predators, or any other Zerg are in the locale at all, save for the floating filter-feeders. You dig your limbs into the wood and drift off to sleep, watching the beeping lights of the Spore Rays as darkness takes you.

You dream of hunting and chasing, imagining yourself tracking down an unknown quarry through the treetops. You lunge at it and sink your fangs into its neck, shaking violently and-

The dream changes. You stand alone in a clearing, watching a shadow move closer and closer. The behemoth from the morning slowly makes its way towards you, acid dripping from a gaping maw. It lets loose with a ear-splitting roar and charges at you, prompting you to turn tail and flee for your-

Once more, it changes. This time, there's no imagery. Instead, you become aware of something deep within the earth, churning and roiling. It groans in fury, struggling to keep its hunger in check. The being is too vast for you to fully comprehend, but you know for sure that it could swallow several of the behemoths in a single mouthful.

You awaken with a start. Overnight, you've been encased in some sort of solid shell. You spend a moment clawing and biting your way out of the cocoon, emerging into the morning light.

You're a bit larger than you were yesterday, but still too small to battle most of the jungle's denizens. Your features have become more pronounced, and your muscles feel more powerful. High overhead, the sun is just beginning to rise, bathing the world in its golden rays. Light streaks through the treetops, forming a dazzling pattern on the forest floor.

The Spore Rays have returned to the area in your brief absence. From your observations last night, you can tell that they have several patterns of flashing lights. It seems rudimentary. There's a pattern they flashed when you were hunting them, to indicate danger, and now, there's a pattern summoning others of their kind back to feed. You experiment for a short while, pinning and releasing them in order to get the different reactions from them. Once you're satisfied with your observation, you chow down on a light breakfast of Spore Ray and get ready for the day.

> You are a Juvenile
> You have no Injuries
> You have a [Treetop Nest]

> Adaptations: Climbing Claws, Whiskers, Agility, Sticky Glider Membrane, Microorganism cultures.

>>4522556
We'll, time to scout our territory, get the lay of the land. Let see what other Zerg we can find near us.

>>4522556
I think it is time to test out our new Sticky Glider Membrane to see if it works as we think it should. And if not then we need to work on them some more so that we can use them to glide as we want. We can not let our selves fall into a dead end path.

After that we need to move on to the hard task for today. We need to work out what to even do with the Microorganism cultures in us. Or if there is even anything we can do with them at all. We may have stumbled on to something we are in no way ready to handle much less work with at all when it comes to the Microorganism cultures we have. This seems like something we should leave for when we are a older and wiser Zerg than we are now. Unless the Microorganism cultures are far easier to work with and use than i think they are.

>>4522567
Hmmmm flying is kind of a dead end as you get larger due to exponential size requirements of wing area and weight limits

>>4522567

Indeed, you don't seem to have much of an idea for the microorganisms yet. The possibilities exist, but you can't quite imagine them on your own, much less guide them in such a specific way.

>>4522562

You spread your arms and take a deep breath, before leaping off the branch. Immediately, the updrafts catch on the sails, keeping you aloft and preventing you from crashing down onto the ground below. From your vantage point, you swoop over the carcass from yesterday.

Picked clean. In the night, Zerg have reduced the skeleton to bits of unpalatable carapace and bleached bone. You pass by it without a second glance. It'll serve you no further.

As you make your rounds over your nesting area, you hear the running of water in the distance. It might be good to check it out. While puddles are still plentiful from yesterday's rain, you'll eventually need to seek out a water source. Instincts tell you that water means life.

You land heavily on a branch, causing it to buckle from your weight. Gliding is exhilarating, and you feel your confidence in it growing.

>What do you do?

>>4522562
Second this guy. We should stalk the area and scout out a larger range of territory. We need more essence from other organisms.

>>4522582
Now that we have some good utility ability's we should go hunting for prey that is in our size range so that we can eat something we can have some pride in killing. Unlike these damn Spore Rays.

>>4522582
>>4522593 has a good point but i think that at some point we should copy the flashing the spore rays do, if we ever get injured or something having some way to draw prey to us could prove the key to survival

>>4522582
Look for water.

1 for continuing to scout, 1 for hunting, 1 for heading to the river. Will roll in about 45 minutes if it's tied
.

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>4522590
>>4522593
>>4522631

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>>4522590

The river can wait. For now, you're more interested in scoping out the entire radius of your territory. You don't have the strength to actually hold on to the land, but it would be good to take note of anything wandering through your new home.

You climb higher and higher, careful not to break through the canopy. Instinctual fear tells you that exposing yourself to anything above the treeline can't be good. You swoop from tree to tree, exploring the area and keeping an eye out for enemies. Soon enough, you catch sight of something flying.

It's quite a bit larger than the Spore Rays. In fact, it's about three quarters of your size! The thing seems to have full-blown wings, beating rapidly and creating a loud droning noise as it flies.

>>4522698
Try to follow it

>>4522698
>Follow and study it

>>4522718
>>4522707
I'm with these guys.

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>>4522707
>>4522718

The creature doesn't look that strong, but it's still safer to watch and wait before making your move. You stealthily glide through the treetops, dashing along branches and keeping pace with it easily. It seems to be making its way deeper into your territory. Soon enough, it reaches the copse of trees where you stationed yourself the previous night.

The creature alights on a trunk and rotates itself carefully. It then blasts out a thin spike of material, impaling a Spore Ray to a tree. Your Spore Rays! It's eating from the same flock that you've been harvesting.

This won't do at all.

> What do you do?

>>4522733
If we get the feeling it'll try to spear another one, pounce right as it fires, maybe there's a downtime. Alternately, if we think a single spore ray might fill it (unlikely) just pounce while it's distracted eating.

>>4522733
Wait while it gets closer to eat, then spring on it's back and dig it. Take out the wings first, they prey upon it at our leasure.

>>4522733
Attack it once it tries to eat >>4522745
Support

This quest reminds of good old Monster Quest - Dron MC edition

>>4522745
Supporting

>>4522570
Potential, potentially not. It's an advantage most Zerg don't have, and thus a significant one for us atm.

>>4522567
Patience, not all good ideas come with time. I'm personally wondering if we and inject these cultures with a bit of DNA of our choice, to make them stick to the membrane instead of being eaten, and have them naturally grow into some sort of sensory platform for the Spore Rays, to prevent our prey from being taken in by predators other than ourselves! A bit of an early warning system we can add on to our food, if you will.

>>4522601

Agreed. Communication, however rudimentary, is essential to begin herding our pray into easy groups, atleast!

>>4522745

The Locust alights itself on the trunk and spreads its mandibles victoriously. Two sharp claws pin the creature to the bark, and it reaches forward to eat.

Before it takes its first bite, you swoop down on it and crash heavily into its back. Your bulk pins it to the tree, and you immediately get to work on tearing off one of its wings.

Sour ichor sprays into the air as you shred its back. With a surprising amount of force, the lesser Zerg pushes off the tree, causing you both to crash through dozens of branches and land heavily on the forest floor. It scrabbles out of your grip, flapping its remaining wing in desperation.

You snarl at the beast and slowly stalk forward. You can see it preparing to launch another spike at you.

>>4522762
>Dodge as soon as it fires and then charge it.

>>4522762
Rush at it!

>>4522762
can we bait it to waste it's shot while we're partially covered, focus on the dodge, then spring on it?

Alternately, it's in bad shape, we could just back off and stalk it until we have a better angle on it?

Or do y'all just wanna bullrush it and take the hit?

>>4522760
Mutalisks made good use of it.

>>4522803
The first option, as there are other things we wish to be doing today, and it'll be a good chance to test out our reflexes!

>>4522821
AIGHT lez DO.

>>4522806
Mutalisk projectiles come from a symbiotic organism. Roaches however sometimes use microbes in their bile spit

>>4522858
I think he may have been referring to flight. But you are definitely on to something in both cases here...

>>4522901
Oh, in that case reminder what mutas fly in space by farting gas

>>4522927
lol I wasn't planning on going inter-stellar. Just, you know, being a flappy-cat. That may or may not have displacer-beast-like tentacles that fire spines now.

Now we are become Nightmare, destroyer of restful night's sleep for beings everywhere.

>>4522936
>finally committing to the dream

Reality takes presidence though.

>>4522762
Bumrush it before it rattles off another spike!

>>4522770
>>4522821
>>4522822

>>4522776
>>4522962

3 bait, 2 rush.

For a moment, you consider the possibilities. You nearly decide to charge forward and face the attack head-on, but think better of it and stand your ground. The whiskers on either side of your face fan out, spreading their pinkish filaments into the air and sensing the currents.

You feel it before you see it; an almost imperceptible rush of air is sensed by the whiskers. Your body springs into action, diving to the side and avoiding the deadly spike as it whizzes past you.

The beast barely has time to scream before you’re on it, slamming it into the dirt with a powerful paw. Your two front digits flex as they tear through the shell, smashing it into the dirt and shattering its carapace.

You throw your head upwards and roar at the sky, feeling truly victorious and powerful for the first time.

Gotta head off to bed again, will pick up soon. In the meantime:

> What do you do?

>>4523009
Hm, well I'll pitch two ideas for the other anons, with the understanding that it's too big to just swallow:
1.) We drag it back to our nest. It's within our protection, we'll get to eat as much of it as possible and prevent scavenging, but the scent may draw... competition. If not outright predators.
2.) We chow down on as much as possible here, acknowledging that we're going to lose some of our kill to scavengers when we have to abandon the carcass. BUT we don't have as much risk of drawing unwanted attention back to our nest.

Thoughts?

>>4523013
Split the difference. Eat as much as you can, then drag the carcass into a different tree away from the nest. That way we get the best of both worlds, without much of the drawbacks.

Also, what should our next mutations be?

>locust
If my Starcraft lore is correct then our little zerg is in certain pack leader's territory
Or it's just a locust

>>4523009
Excrete microorganisms over whatever flesh is left over

>>4523024
Good call. And if we can pick up a spine launcher, or even just spines, that might be a pretty big game changer. I like the idea of tentacle spine launchers, because it'd make us a zerg displacer-beast kinda thing, but just having a throat-cannon spine launcher would still be... pretty nightmare inducing. Also potentially easier to target. The spine launches out from our face, harder to disable, etc.

>>4523055
Yea. Plus, maybe some light segmented armor would help, not enough to impede movement, but some protection incase we get into a bind.

>>4523051

Brilliant call.

>>4523009
>Supporting >>4523024, >>4523055 and >>4523090

>>4523009
Eat as much as we can now and drag the remainder back to our nest.

>>4523008
Eat some of it now and investigate it,
Leave the rest on a visible place and wait until something interesting comes along to catch that too.
AKA eat some and use the rest as a bait while we creep on a tree

>>4523154
hm! That's an interesting idea. We could find out what else is haunting this jungle near our territory. If it's smaller we could eat it, if it's bigger we'd know what to look out for.

>>4523154
I'm voting for this course of action knowledge is power.

>>4523154
I'm gon have to go with this.

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>>4523024
>>4523097
>>4523154
>>4523120

You decide to tear straight into the meal before anything can snatch it out of your claws. You're not even sure that it's dead when you start feasting, but you're too hungry to bother.

Its essence unravels within you as you tear chunks of the body apart, crushing chitin and spitting out the unpalatable bits from between your mandibles. Immediately, you feel hot and enraged, with no discernible source. The anger and aggression is a completely new feeling to you, and you continue eating with renewed savagery. You can tell that this reaction was spurred from the creature's flesh. Your vision turns red and you pause your meal to stalk around the brush, snarling and ripping at the trunks of the towering trees.

The creature is smaller than you, so you can eat most of it without issue. You make sure to keep your whiskers extended as you eat, to sense any interruptions. Fortunately, none come your way.

Once you're finally satisfied, the anger has faded somewhat. You feel exhausted, and your blood is still boiling. You clutch the mangled thorax of the Locust and begin climbing a tree.

A minute or so later, you've set it conspicuously between a set of forked branches, serving as bait to any who may come looking. You conceal yourself in a nearby tree to observe- but not before you regurgitate your sack of microorganisms onto the corpse to let them do their work.

As you wait for your trap to be sprung, you renew the essence gained from the creature. It's a rather unstable life-form, actually. Its acidic blood was so filled with hormones that it surely would have broken down in another few hours. Just ingesting them brought such a strong reaction from you.

Its wings are made for a creature of its size, and likely won't help you to fly. But the muscles found in the wing joints are incredibly powerful, meant to vibrate rapidly enough to keep it aloft. Additionally, you're able to adapt its rapid calcification of material to fire off spines through a chosen appendage or orifice. This creature stored it in its throat. While its apparently limited lifespan would let it fire it with reckless abandon, you can tell that it would be a bit more taxing on you.

All in all, it was a strange creature that seemed like enough of a threat to you, but doesn't seem like it would survive all that well if let loose in the jungle.

> You are a Juvenile
> You have no Injuries
> You have a [Treetop Nest]

> Adaptations: Climbing Claws, Whiskers, Agility, Sticky Glider Membrane, Microorganism cultures.

>You have enough biomass to select adaptations.

>>4523544
Muscle adaptions, Spine launcher, some chitin segmented armor... and Spore Ray communication mutation.

There is a locust nest near us. Good intel. We should find out where and observe at some other time.

>>4523569
Support, but with the acid hormones put into some sacs to be used as adrenaline.

>>4523683
We could combine that with our current agility and buff up our leaping skills. Might help out in ambushes like this in the future.

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>>4523569
>>4523683

Your body continues to shift as you watch and wait. Armor plates begin forming along your body. You make sure to make them tough enough to tolerate being hit by one of those spines head-on. For good measure, you quickly retrieve the fallen spike to copy its shape for the future.

Any heavier armour might begin impeding your gliding abilities. The flexible membrane between your limbs may not fare so well if you become a bulky tank.

Your muscular structure changes, borrowing from the powerful wings and greatly improving the force of your blows. You also synthesise some of the hormones from the creature, storing them in a separate sac to be metabolised when you need a boost.

The beginnings of a spine-launching mechanism are grown within your body, but you need to decide where to manifest it.

Finally, glowing spots begin forming across your bod. This one is a simple adaptation, allowing you to flash at the Spore Ray and simply copy their signals.

As you continue evolving, a familiar buzzing noise sounds from below. You catch sight of yet another Locust making its way into your territory. And another. And another. And another. Is there no end to these things?

>>4523850
Swarm host incoming
Leap up a tall tree to see what's coming

>>4523904
Supporting

>>4523904

As you scale the tree, you watch the swarm make its way into your territory. They spot the corpse of their brood-mate, but seem to completely ignore it. The creatures zip right by your hiding place and make a break for the Spore Rays.

There are too many of them to battle head-on. Even with your newfound abilities, it's likely they'll be able to swarm you and blast you into pieces. You watch in fury as they assault the Rays again.

Rather than eating them, however, they each seize one in their jaws and begin flying back to where they came from.

>>4523939
Follow them

>>4523939
>Follow them and place the spike launcher so that can shoot them from your mouth

>>4523850
>>4524107
what do you think guys of manifesting it on top of our head so we aim where we look and it does not get in the way of our mouth?

>>4524108
How about from our tail?

>>4524127
well it would be behind us and would need ALOT of control and would not the organ shooting mechanism be a bit well big thus subtracting from muscle mass?

>>4524127
Like a Manticore?
>>4524131
IIs right but I still support it being on top of our tail

>>4524045
>>4524107

>>4524127
>>4524240

Tail seems to be the consensus.

Your short, stout tail blooms at the end. It unfurls like a flower, exposing the orifice beneath. A trunk of muscle bursts from the base of your spine, forming a flexible tail that you prepare to launch spikes through.

It'll help you steer mid-air too. You silently glide between trees, following the buzzing locusts. The advantage of your swooping is that it doesn't make noise, and you have the sense to not snarl despite your dissatisfaction.

You leave the first locust carcass there on its branch for now. Perhaps it might be good to check on the microbes you spat on it later, if you survive.

The locusts leave the copse of trees that you've claimed as your territory. However, you refuse to let them go so easily. They've come into your space and killed prey that you were saving for later. Wherever their nest is, you want to at least scope it out.

Soon, you watch them sag towards the floor and land in a small clearing. One of them bursts into a mess of viscera before your very eyes, dropping the Spore Ray onto the forest floor. The others are soon to follow, self-destructing and leaving their carcasses littered on the ground. Some split at the seams. Others keel over as their bodies give out. You stare at the corpses in confusion, wondering what exactly happened to them.

>What do you do?

>>4524252
watch they must be feeding something else

>>4524252
Wait and watch.

>>4524252
>Watch

>>4524252
Hide

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>>4524257
>>4524258
>>4524260

The ground seems to shake and bubble for a moment. It takes on an almost liquid quality, as something makes its way out of the earth. It swims through the soil with practiced ease.

The beast has four thick legs and a massive back, covered in strange-looking sacs. It doesn't look as dangerous as the big brute you saw, but it's still substantially larger than you. The creature begins reconstituting the dead Locusts, slurping them up with its gnashing jaws.

You still have no clue what's up with the Locusts and this thing. It seems to be a deliberate feeding, but you can't figure out anything else in regard to their relationship.

It's several times your size, and it would have the physical advantage in terms of weight. You aren't sure what it has up its sleeve, but there's a chance you could try your luck.

>What do you do?

>>4524287
run up and take a bite of those soft bumps on the back and then run away

>>4524287
Hit and run tactics don't seem like a good idea for this battle. The creature would just create Locusts to attack us and wear us down

>>4524293
>Support

>>4524287
Shoot a spike through a sac and gulp down what pops
It relies on locusts and seems quite slow plus add our stealth and hit and run seems feasible

>>4524306
i just want a taste of it and it seems kinda slow and those locust have a limited time to live

Oh shit. The OP unit known as Swarm Host?

Do we REALLY want to fight this thing? We're already smaller, and they pop Locusts like free candy. I really don't think y'all thought this one through.

>>4524293
Run up? Nigga WHAT?! You finnen to get murked.

Locking in the option with the most votes in about half an hour.

>>4524405
I dunno it takes a bit for SH to make locust so I think we have a good chance of popping a sac, drinking up it's essence and get the fuck out

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>>4524293
>>4524320

It's eating at the moment. And as you've figured, a hunter is most vulnerable when they're eating. That's when their guard is lowered. You slowly relinquish your grip on the tree and prepare to swoop down.

The sacs on its back bubble and twist suspiciously. You get a distinct feeling that there's something inside them. There has to be, considering that each one is almost as large as you.

You swoop down on it from above, using your glider wings to get as close as you can. The last few metres have to be covered on foot, so you spring towards it from behind.

A few steps from the creature, you realise that you've made a mistake.

The thing screeches as it takes notice of you. The reaction time is near-instantaneous, and the entirety of its back explodes into a shower of acid and steam. You're temporarily blinded by the liquid splashing against your carapace, sizzling against your thickened armour and making your eyes sting.

The next moment, you're being pelted with a barrage of deadly spikes. Two bounce off your armour, but a third stabs into your shoulder, stopping you right in your tracks. A hiss emanates from the organism, and you can understand the meaning behind it.

[I]"GO! GO, MY BROOD! TEAR THE INTERLOPER LIMB FROM LIMB!"[/I]

Ah shit, messed up the formatting. Heading to bed again, see you lads in the morning.

>>4524487
Yeaaaaaaaaahhhh
Rip the spike out with our teeth and RUN

>>4524487
>Run

>>4524487
Adrenaline is good.
Since we're cornered in their goo, the may have a harder time identifying us as the enemy.

>>4524487
If we have a spike loaded, fire one off at were the voice or sound noise is coming from, use the chemicals we saved to make us faster, and gtfo of dodge.

>>4524491
Goodnight OP

>>4524487
How do the locusts preceive the world around them? Sensory information and the like? We could use their blind spots to our advantage as we make our escape.

I don't want to say I told y'all so. But...my previous posts indicated a high probability of this going against us.

>>4524903
Eh. There was a good chance of it being distracted, or not caring about small fry like us. Didn't figure it would go bezerk and waste all it's 'ammo' with small fry like us. There is a good chance it may have made a mistake for other bigger Zerg to capitalize on.

By comparison, our problems are small. Numerous, but small.

>>4524487
Run and hide, but kill-eat some of this "brood" if you can seperate them

>>4524507
>>4524525
>>4524943

>>4524581

You release the hormones into your bloodstream, instantaneously diffusing them throughout your body. You twist your head and tear the spike from your body, before turning tail and fleeing away from the source. As you begin moving, you aim your tail into the mist and fire a spike of bone. A horrible screech seems to indicate that you've hit your target.

Spines and globs of acid rain down around you, as the swarm of locusts give chase. They keep up with you in terms of speed, and while you can't turn to look, you're clearly outnumbered. Perhaps you could beat two at once, but not the small pack hot on your heels. Not in direct confrontation, at least. The sound of buzzing wings come from above, as you weave through trees in an attempt to lose them.

Running towards your territory is the safest, since you have the lay of the land. However, leading them back there could reveal your nesting ground. Either way, you have to make a decision soon, regarding where you'll escape to.

>>4525023
run full tilt towards something like a tree, then make a sharp turn, hopefully splattering them on it

>>4525036
even if they are dumb enough to do that, I doubt they will splatter because of their chitin armor. Unless they are in late stage of decay and are about to go pop. In which case we only need to keep them at bay for a few hours at most. I say we dance around our territory, and see if we can lead it to other predators that wold much on them or just lead the around in a circle around our territory. Doubt the bugs are smart enough to figure out we are circling outside our home territory or adjacent to it.. Only the big bug would be smart enough, and that one doesn't seem very mobile.

>>4525048
You know, I was going to suggest that we go to ground (literally) but you make a good point. If we keep them occupied long enough, they will decay and die, leaving us (and other Zerg) to the spoils here.

>>4525023
>Move around the edge of your territory, focusing on dodging. But don't be afraid to to attack if you are absolutely sure you've separated one from the others

>>4525100
+1, if there's any confusion.

>>4525100
Gotta get those clicks per minute up, micro our guy around in circles and take a pot shot at the trailing units before running again.

>>4525133
Support

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>>4525100
>>4525114
>>4525133
>>4525194

You roll behind a tree just as a barrage of spines trail past. They quiver in the dirt, kicking up plumes of soil as they miss you. You turn towards your territory and begin to run, making sure to stay at the edge of it. As you make an abrupt turn, you spot the several locusts buzzing through the air. You crawl into a tree hollow for a moment, just to break line of sight.

When you peek out, you catch sight of them patrolling the sky in haphazard lines. It seems like they're just looking for you at random. One passes behind a particularly large tree, and you take the chance to slither out of the hollow log.

It alights on the branch to rest its wings. Before it can spot you, you raise your tail and blast a lethal spike right into it. The projectile pins it to the tree, eliciting a pained hiss from it. You scale the trunk and smash its head with a paw before it can alert the others.

The others are still searching, and the danger hasn't passed. Still, that's one down. You'll have to deal with them, and most likely the creature that summoned them. Hopefully they blow up again.

You can't fully understand what that thing was, but you know that it's a threat to your territory. And unlike the things you've hunted so far, you were actually able to understand its intent.

>What do you do?

>>4525100
I agree with the sentiment of kiting the bugs around/hiding till they burn out but really going around our area is little better than going in our area

>>4525207
Hide and eat, then hit and run tactics. Guerrilla warfare is our best friend here.

Make sure we release our microorganism cultures on the bodies.

>>4525207
Keep moving so they don't pin down our location by dead locusts we leave behind
Keep hiding and ambushing

>>4525216
We should also really slurp up ours we left on the tree they could have picked up some adaptations

>>4525232
Priorities. We'll do that after.

>>4525232
>>4525234
Can we not be the zerg equivalent of a scat aficionado?

>>4525241
>scat aficionado
Do I even want to know?

>>4525241
Kek. You made me spit my drink out. Kudos mate.

>>4525232
hmm could they have developed enzymes to break down the swarms carapace

>>4525249
Does your internet browsing history make Ohio seem vanilla and normal?

>>4525241

Fuck, that one got me.

>>4525209
>>4525216
>>4525229

Intuition causes you to spray the culture l on the corpse instead of eating it outright. You slide beneath a gnarled root as the buzzing of wings sounds from overhead, avoiding notice yet again.

The next few minutes are the most stressful of your life so far. You haphazardly dodge spines whenever you’re noticed, nearly being caught by the entire swarm at once a couple of times. Slowly and steadily, you whittle them down with well-placed shots and by gliding from above. One thing you notice is that they don’t seem to be aware of attacks from above. After all, as they’re already flying, they don’t expect the grounded you to climb up on trees and pounce. Eventually, the swarm either melts down or get taken out by you. As you’re finishing off a Locust, the final three land on the ground near you.

You’ve been found. They form a loose triangle, preventing escape. The four of you stare at each other, waiting for the first shot to be fired.

While you didn’t want it to come to a direct battle, it seems like you might have no choice but to finish this with fang and claw, rather than continue your successful campaign of stealth.

> What do you do?

>>4525360
Aim your tail at first, rush at second and brace for the third

>>4525360
>scat aficionado
Charge one of the and use it as a shield while you shoot at the other with your tail.

>>4525360
>>4525476
Idk why I answered to this

>>4525385
this sounds good

>>4525385
>>4525476
+1 on both tactics.

>>4525385

No time to think. You fire at the one that you were aiming at, shredding its carapace and debilitating it immediately. The others prepare to fire as you charge.

White-hot pain lances through your body, as the huge spike collides with your chest. Your plate cracks inwards, and the spike is embedded, but you've been saved from total impalement by your chitin adaptation from earlier.

You crash into the second one, its mouth still open from having blasted you with the spike. The two of you tumble in the dirt, each trying to snap at the other and do devastating damage with your mandibles. Its jaws close on your injured limb from earlier, beginning to slice through it.

The extended whiskers pick up a familiar rush of air. You collapse onto your back with the Locust on top of you, and use all four legs to raise it up as a shield. The spike from the third spears into its ally, taking down the gnawing creature and freeing up your arm.

The final one takes into the air again, flying in swift circles around you as it reloads. You push the corpse off you and eye it warily.

>What do you do?

> Your forelimb is wounded

>>4525505
Any cover around us?

>>4525510
well there should be trees all around us and we would outlast if but the question if more are sent in or if the sensible thing of lets not waste more resources on a minor thing

>>4525511
talking about the spawner

>>4525511
From what OP wrote it seems like we picked off all locusts but these 3

>>4525516
Stealthily

>>4525517
>>4525516
>>4525513
>>4525510
sounds like its prime time to slurp up the juices when we defeat this one as the bodies are dissolving soon

>>4525505
Finish him with a spike. Another question is, can we use the other spikes as ammo to lessen the tax of creating a new one.

And do we decide to spray our wounds with the microorganisms?

I'm still laughing at that scar comment from earlier.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy8kmNEo1i8

>>4525505
Snipe it, try to land spine shot where the head meets the body, get between the carapaces.

I think we can carve a serious niche with a focus on detection, evasion, and accuracy. Skill over brute power.
Of course, eventually having brute power to go with that will be nice.

>>4525510

Tons of trees, yeah.

>>4525505
Shoot it down.

>>4525541
An interesting Idea, what if we can just load ourselves up like a crossbow and fire instead of having to make ammo inside us all the time?

Perhaps even carry internal ammo in a magazine pouch organ thing.

>>4525689
+1, make it near the chitin armor for added protection.

>>4525689
Disposable chitin armor? Like wearing it like a suit of armor?

>>4525541

It's possible, yes.

>>4525584
>>4525689
>>4525823

Your tail whips around as it flies in circles around you, tracking its motion and aiming at it. Eventually, you notice that it's angling itself towards you and trying to make a pass overhead. It opens its mouth and screeches, firing another shot at you.

Your tail fires at the same time. Both shots connect near-simultaneously. The projectile that you fired tears into the bottom portion of the creature. Its body chooses that moment to give out, causing the entire thing to burst in mid air and sprinkle down as bits of goop and chitin.

Its spine jams itself into your chest again. This one goes a little deeper than the first, and the plate of armour protecting your chest shatters from the second strike. You stagger back in pain, already beginning the effort of pushing the spine out.

Victory! You look out over the scattered corpses of the locusts, in too much pain to snarl. The jungle seems to have come alive around you, and you can hear distant rustling. A couple of the earlier corpses are conspicuously missing.

>What do you do next?

>>4526002
Go back to our den and lick our wounds.

>>4526002
Eat all the nearer, more fresh corpses. Then when rustling becomes too close for them to hear us, climb up tree and hide to see what is eating our kills.

>>4526002
Eat what we can't carry of nearby corpses, and carry what we can into the canopy.

>>4526029
rip off a mouthful (never leave a fight empty-handed) and bounce-house.

>>4526002
Hide, eat, rest, heal. Observe the creatures who comes to eat our bounty.

>>4526002
Grab a bit of meat, then run back to our hole and heal up.

>>4526002
>>4526029
Changing to getting food before leaving.

>>4526002
Get food, hide and evolve

>>4526002
Eat one and go to rest

>>4526172
As is the way of the Zerg!

>>4526002
Grab them into our nest and eat it there.

>>4526031
>>4526054
>>4526089
>>4526095
>>4526098
>>4526133
>>4526172
>>4526221
>>4526392

Your whole body aches from the exhaustion as the hormones wear off. You lunge into action, shredding corpses and claiming as many as you can before they’re inevitably snapped up by other scavengers. The essence is the same throughout. It’s rather odd, actually. They all seem to be near-identical clones of each other, with only minute mutations in their essence. You have no time to think on that, however. You’ve got to eat and mend your wounds.

You snag one between your teeth once you feel like it would be risky to stay any longer. With the creature securely in your grasp, you drag the body up into a tree and observe the rustling brush.

Groups of slightly smaller Zerg crash through the undergrowth, yapping and clawing at each other as they run. They bear a slight resemblance to you, though less evolved for sure. Some of them snap at the bodies and start dragging them away, getting into noisy tug-of-war contests. Others go for loose chunks and swallow them whole before they retreat into the undergrowth. While they don’t seem to be allies, they’re not tearing each other to shreds, at least.

The scavenger swarm moves at a rapid pace, sweeping over the forest floor and scouring it of biomass. Noticeably, they hiss and shy away from the ones that you spat up microbes on.

Your wounds slowly knit together, but the damage will take a while to fully heal.

> What do you do?

>>4526416
What if we skewer a few of them and eat them?
Start pissing and shitting around our home like we own the place, because we do. But spread it out in a weird pattern so they don't know where we are exactly, only roughly the wider area.

Also why can't we make sishkabob with the bugs and bring them back with us that way? Easier to carry.

>>4526416
Explore in the opposite direction of the locust host

>>4526416
>>4526435
Support.

>>4526435
Support

>>4526416
Try coating our spike in the microbes, and launching it at a straggler/weak looking scavenger if you see one.

>>4526416
Hmmm... there is potential here, for... rapid expansion.

Insert Joker meme here.

We should keep them in mind. A pack would be easier to gather food with.

>>4526435
+1, take it easy and keep healing.

>>4526442
Support.

>>4526442
Support

>>4526416
Check on our microbes, including the one left in the tree earlier.
Good to know they discourage lesser scavengers. If we stay toward being light for speed/stealth/flight we're likely to start taking down more biomass than we can eat in one sitting. Keeping others off our kills will be important.

4 for attack, 4 for leave in the opposite direction. Will roll if tie isn’t broken in a couple hours

>>4526616
I think it's actually 3 attack, 4 leave.

>>4526493
>>4526495
This is the same poster. Unless I'm missed something here.

>>4526616
Explore

>>4526616
>in a couple hours
Screw that, change mine to leave
>>4526433

>>4526416


>>4526594
lets check up on our microbes
>>4526433
smart if we spike them we would carry one big meal instead of several small ones

>>4526654
What is with you guys and the microbes.

>>4526663
well the scavengers are repulsed by it and i want to somehow breed a plague to cleanse the universe

>>4526416
These smaller Zerg have just as much potential as we do. From what we have learned from the Primal Host those that hunt alone are doomed to die alone. Or at the vary least live much harder lives than they need to live just to get to the same point in life as everyone else that does work together as a pack. The Primal Host may be cheating somewhat with the way it spawns locusts to hunt for it. But at the same time this will in the end lead to the Primal Hosts death one day as ether a stronger predator beats its locust guard and then over powers it. Or a smarter predator gathers its own pack of zerg that work together to bring it down.

From this failure we will learn so many new ways to gain victory than if we had just beaten the Primal Host on our first go at it. For one thing we have learned that zerg can speak to and control one another thru will alone from the looks of it. If we can grow strong and smart enough then we can become the pack leader of the smaller Zerg scavengers that we have found. And if we hunt together with our pack then we can bring down much stronger prey than we can on our own.

All we need to do from the looks of it is become strong and smart enough to dominate the smaller zerg so as to be pack leader and have them do as we tell them to when we tell then to.

>>4526703
also a way to communicate but that seems to come naturally

>>4526703
The brute is a lot stronger that the locust host, besides we are zerg the point is division and to grow stronger and evolve.

Aight, locking in leaving in the opposite direction, and then checking on the microbe culture. Will write up a post shortly.

>>4526416

For a moment, you consider attacking. They don’t seem united, and you could break the little cohesion they seem to have if they think they’re in danger. However, you think better of it in the end. Better not to let them know you’re here, even if they’re stealing your kills.

You decide to continue this morning’s operation of checking out more of your own land. On the way to the opposite direction, you stop by the first cultures of microbes and take a look.

The hollow carcass of the Locust has become a cauldron of bubbling ooze. It’s vivid green, with orange spots lighting up intermittently. You prod at the goop and hiss in pain as it dissolves the tip of your claw. No wonder the scavengers steered clear. This is inedible.

The microbes seem to have reacted with everything in the corpse. Perhaps it was the aggression hormones spurring them into a frenzied state, or the acidic tinge of the blood, but either way, the mere cells have evolved significantly in the span of a day. It’s now a potent, self-maintaining acid, that you might even be able to cultivate by yourself.

This could be useful. Very useful. Pursuing it might distract you from exploring the opposite direction for a while, but you know for sure that you’ll be heading there as soon as you can.

> What do you do?

>>4526735
make another pouch for this and take the eccence from this living acid a good thing with bones is that they can have no living cells in itself so we COULD make acid immune spikes that cant get acid immunity copied from it

>>4526735
Definitely investigate this, flesh eating bacteria saliva is already good but stick it on a projectile and you got a scary combo

>>4526756

and it would be perfect for dealing with all of this pesky regeneration we could possibly hunt like on earth where animals bleed out

>>4526735
Evolve your projectiles to be filled with this acidic microbe culture.
Making it something like a grenade launcher.
Then continue on your way

>>4526771
Support.
Sounds metal as fuck.

>>4526742
>>4526771
+1

>>4526771
>>4526797

Yeah Support as well

>>4526771
Isn't this too advanced for us to think up right now?

We are like less than a week old.

>>4526823
Lets try it. If it doesnt work it doesnt

>>4526823
In Zerus, your practically an adult by then.

Welcome to evolution mate.

>>4526771
This, but we should try to evolve a resistance to it on the inside and outside first, we are not going to die because someone shot our acid tanks.

>>4526839
>Evolved to eat our waste.
Epitome of evolution folks.

Sorry for the slow replies lately, getting less and less free time each day. Will check back in with a post later.

>>4526742
>>4526756
>>4526771
>>4526797
>>4526821
>>4526822

Your immediate idea is to use this discovery as a weapon. By combining the culture sacs in your body with pockets of hyper-concentrated hormones, and then infusing your own essence into it, you’re able to make a concoction that starts reacting once all elements are introduced.

However, a second, more devious strategy enters your mind. Perhaps you could lace your weaponized spines with this, to make them even deadlier. Rather than creating any orifice to spew the acid, you link it to the glands at the base of your tail.

Perfect. It’ll need some refining, which you can do later, but you at least have a new tool to survive with.

With that done, you could either continue into the other far end of your territory, or spend more time recuperating or continuing to experiment. Either way, daylight is burning.

>>4527850
Might as well finish scouting. We'll recuperate and experiment after we get the lay of our land.

>>4527860
Seconded, but we practice launching our spears a bit, might be a good way to mark territory.

>>4527850
> continue into the other far end of your territory

>>4527850
Supporting >>4527860

>>4527860
Support. +1

>>4527860
>>4527884
>>4527902
>>4527923
>>4527941

That’s enough experimenting for now. You blast your spines at trees, leaving distinct burns that spread out to form patterns of melted trunk. The markings are a clear indicator of something in the area.

Opposite the Egg-spewing creature’s clearing is the rushing river from earlier. You decide to stay among the trees, though you can’t glide with your arm wounded this badly. It’s slowly knitting itself up, and it’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix, but it’ll debilitate you for now.

Your passage through the treetops is slower, but you reach the river without incident. It’s a little ways out of your territory, but a round trip shouldn’t take too much of your day. As you watch from the trees, a pack of quadrupedal Zerg graze by the edge of the water. They rip up large tubers from the roots and mash them up with triangular faces, stomping their feet in the mud of the riverbank.

Each is far larger than you, not to mention that they’re in a herd. It looks like something way bigger could hunt them, though.

> What do you do?

It’s worth noting that in terms of size, you’re about the size of a Zergling/Ravasaur, as were the scavengers from earlier.

>>4528139
Take note of this pack of quadrupedal Zerg for later when we are powerful enough to hunt them one day. For now they are out of our size range to hunt. At least by our selves that is. If we can gather a pack to hunt with us then if we work together and are lucky we can bring down one of the weaker quadrupedal Zerg that becomes isolated from its herd without having to make to many sacrifices of our own pack to take one down.

But this is all for later when we even have a pack to run with in the first place. Until then we need to find prey that is in our size range so that we can level up from our baby state and hunt bigger prey.

And if we want to gain the ability to use basic communication with the small scavenger zerg than the fastest way we can do that right now is to evolve the Spore Rays flashing lights patterns for our own. Then we feed the small scavenger zerg some Spore Rays so that they can copy our evolution's and communicate with us using the flashing lights patterns of the Spore Rays. That will be our first step to gaining our own pack of zerg pack mates. The second step will most likely be finding ways to improve our ability's to communicate with others to even have real conversations with others.

>>4528162
i think it would be best if we tried to get as much as possible in a as small as possible form so the environment dont limit our movements and so that we are harder to notice and i think very soon we will need to repurposed our gliding folds possibly as a sensory organ?

>>4528210
Oh definitely. Bigger does not always mean better. But at the same time we are so small right now that if we take a hard hit from basically any thing right now it can crumple us up like paper. So agility alone will not keep us safe forever if we get unlucky in a fight. But yeah going big right now is a bad idea and we need to work on making our selves a all rounder that has a answer for any situation we run into. So we need to find a real prey species we can go after to make our selves better. Or at least something better than damn Spore Rays for food.

>>4528139
OK time to sleep and Level up our size
rturn to the nest and sleep so we have at least a chance against anything
Zergling are literally the smallest things. We wont be able to hunt anything tht way

>Return home for rest, then mark our territory.

>>4528236
Eat more before we sleep.

>>4528162
I really don't think getting a pack is a good idea, less meat for us and might make us lazy. I say we still evolve the lights to lure the spore rays, but we use them to make traps for other zerg instead.

>>4528953
I disagree. We need some mooks so they can serve as a distraction for the bigger prey. Like the Locust Spawner.

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>>4528236
>>4528277
>>4528394

Its been an exhausting day. Even with the stamina of a Zerg, you’re starting to feel your joints ache. You slink through the trees and ignore the creatures for now. They’ll be there for you to hunt in the future.

You return to your tree, where you quickly lance a few spore rays with your spines. This time, you leave the acid out, so that you can suck their stomachs clean and harvest even more of the ever-growing cultures.

You curl up in the same spot that you slept in last night, drifting off to the blinking of the Spore Rays. Unbeknownst to you, your body goes still and your curled exoskeleton hardens into a solid cocoon, which you fix your wounds within.

> You are an Adolescent
> You have no Injuries
> You have a [Treetop Nest]

> Adaptations: Climbing Claws, Whiskers, Agility, Sticky Glider Membrane, Microorganism Cultures, Tail-Spike launcher, Super-Adrenaline, Acid, Bioluminescence.

>>4529332
Well, if there are any adaptations anyone wants, speak now. Otherwise, time to wake up, stretch, and feast on our breakfast before we start out day.

Btw, really enjoying the quest so far, QM!

>>452933
Let’s wake up and start patrolling our territory to show we aren’t to be messed with and check up on those cultures. Also I wanna try out our acid-spikes if we encounter anything, for practice.

Great game btw.

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>>4529369
Tentacle grappling tong or tails?
Become Zerg batman we are the Zartman!

>>4529332
IDEA: Reactive microorganism cultures, they remain dormant until a zerg approaches and touches them, if they detect its us, nothing happens, but if its not us, it either rapidly turns into acid or emits a odor we can detect from afar. (I'm assuming the cultures are a bit like goo) Great for setting up traps and storing food, won't even look all that suspicious if we implant them deeper, will just seem like a bunch of zerg evolved acid pouches.

>>4529570
Oohhh! I like that! I like that a lot! Have some react on a time so we can feed the swarmer literal acid. I love this idea!

>>4529369
>>4529485

Thanks fellas. Will post in an hour or two, gotta wrap up some stuff.

>>4529570
When reacting, they turn into a gooey layer, yep. Like slime mold.

>>4529332
After nearly being killed by Locust we now know that we do not run fast enough to get away when we need to. We should work on that some more.

>>4529369
>>4529485
>>4529570
>>4529629

Overnight, you begin introducing your own essence into the cultures, feeding them with your own body. The fact that you’re currently dissolving into goop and blood helps meld everything together. Before first light, you’ve been reconstituted in your cocoon, feeling stronger already. It won’t be long till you’re a full adult for whatever your strange fusion of species’ is, but you still have a long way to go before contending with the stronger things you’ve seen.

You burst out of your shell into the morning light. As usual, you slurp it up and eat the rest of it, before attracting Spore Rays with your lights. The ‘food here’ signal draws them in like flies, and you quickly pounce on one. Before they can start flashing for danger, you reassuringly give the ‘all clear’ sign, keeping them in the area.

You stretch languidly on a branch as you start warming up from the day. Soon enough, you feel yourself heating up as your metabolism goes into the typical Zerg overdrive. It’s time to explore. You begin your rounds.

Which way do you head first? Towards the river, or the swarm-creator?

>>4529737
>To the river, better leave the swarm-creator alone for now

>>4529737
The swarm-creator, lets scout it out and learn as much as we can about it.

>>4529737
>the swarm-creator?
Its payback time

>>4529737
payback against the swarm creator and i WANT THAT POWER

>>4529737
Frankly, I would rather try too build up our mooks before we deal with the swarm-creator, but it seems some anons want payback, and I'll rather not divide the vote in the hopes of a quick consensus. I would like to ask them, though.... how exactly are they planning to pull off this payback?

>>4529957
yeah okay its dumb
>>4529934
nullify my vote
>>4529764
>>4529855
>>4529918
GUYS how would we take them down what you think of trying to take over the swarm?

>>4529737
>Swarm creator pls.

>>4529964
Oh wait I changed my mind I want to go to the river now.

>>4529962
We'd probably need to observe the swarmer first. Identify habits, strengths, and weaknesses we can exploit. Preferably with a snack in hand to consume while observing.

>>4529966
Meant to cause voter confusion, merely trying to help. We'll be significantly more successful if we had a pack to direct, or some larger allies to help fight the swarmer.

>>4529970
*'Didn't mean to cause'

I swear, autocorrect will be the death of me.

>>4529970
sure i would like to dominate them but i also dont want the gliders to go extinct

>>4529975
They don't have to. We could even give them some glider essence visa our microorganisms to ensure pack cohesion and glider supremacy, if we wanted to. We could also try and observe the different Zerg that call our domain home too, maybe grab a snack if something interesting comes up. Not trying to limit our opinions here, but expand them.

But I am very interested in what adaptations we can use with some swarmer essence, and what creative form it'll take as well.

Again, I'm not trying to rock to vote, just presenting more options.

>>4530003
having the power to generate and separate essence is a must

>>4530013
Yes. The real question is, how do we get it without dying or being crippled? Or how do we defeat a swarmer with the resources available to us?

This isn't an insurmountable task, it just appears like that at first glance.

>>4530060
Evolve our explosive ammo more, maybe get wings or better armor to not be easily deafeated by locusts.
If we manage to produce and shoot armor piercing explisve ammo somewhere on his head he will die

>>4530095
That's good. What other ideas do we have, lads?

>>4530112
Let's scout the swarmer, maybe unload a few acid spikes on it, and watch. If we want to do anything bigger we do need his genes.

>>4530222
Alright. So, what's the census now, do we scout and observe the Swarmer or the River?

>>4530275
the swarmer

>>4530275
I think majority is scout the swarmer

>>4529570
What about some sorta parasite that lets itself get eaten and causes it to wander to our territory under a drunken or mentally impaired state for us to eat?

What about just creating minions to help us do our bidding slaved to us or made so they can't really evolve without us in a symbiotic relationship.

>>4530528
We would prob have to consume the swarmer for that big of a evolution jump.

>>4530275
Scout and observe, it might have exhausted it's brood from yesterday.

Are we sure this is OP? Different IP ID and no tripcode.
>>4529737

>>4529737
Wait a fuckin' second, are you even the OP? You don't even have the name or ID code

>>4530595
>>4530599

Check out a bunch of random posts from me. The ones from the past 4 days are mostly under different IDs, and I haven’t made a tripcode.

Been mostly posting from mobile this week, so I’ve got a Dynamic IP

>>4530847
*phew* Almost gave me a heart attack lads.

>>4530865

Though, I should get a tripcode if we get to thread two, to avoid this kind of stuff.

Replying once I’m freed up for the day. Seems like scouting the Host is the consensus.

>>4529764
>>4529965

River

>>4530222
>>4530311
>>4530594

Swarm

>>4529957
>>4530095

Other

You don’t need water for now, and the more immediate threat is the thing that can send its progeny right into the heart of your nest. You assume for now that it doesn’t know where you are, but that could change for the worse at any time.

Better to cut the problem off at the root. Like before, you stealthily slink through the trees and glide about until you reach the rough area that you found it in yesterday. From your treetop perch, you look down at the ground for any sign of the tunnel it made, or of any of the little bastards.

Nothing. You can’t seem to find the beast, and whatever corpses might have been there were definitely eaten by nocturnal scavengers.

You take a bit of time to explore the territory, making sure not to go anywhere remotely close to the ground. Down below, the foliage is far thicker than in your area. Wicked looking tendrils stick out from the ground, with large spikes on the edge of them. Apart from the spiky plants, the area is relatively quiet. There’s the sounds of smaller Zerg chirping and croaking within the trees and brush, but nothing big enough to be a threat.

Perhaps your enemy is off hunting. Or hidden somewhere. Either way, you don’t think you have the means to forcefully detect it at the moment. Still, it’s likely to be in the vicinity.

>>4531066
Sit high in the trees and wait.

>>4531066
Explore more in the same direction, then return

>>4531077
Support