No-Tail Children Playing

Starting point
You are exploring the warmward part of the valley, staying near to the stream (this Sun is particularly bold) when you hear a prolonged splashing sound. It is too irregular to be water running over rocks and too long-lasting to be a predator struggling with prey, and as you approach, the oily, Otherish stench of the Tailless fills the air.

These are smaller than the No-Tails which you saw before, their scents cleaner and newer but still disturbing. They may be hatchlings of their kind.

Two are play-fighting as young furbeasts sometimes do, honing their battle skills, while two more watch, emitting a whooping, barking song. A fifth sits alone on the bank, doing something strange with its forepaw.

What do you do?

Options

 * Attempt to communicate. (d10a)
 * Ambush them. (d10b)
 * Simply observe.(d10c)
 * Withdraw quickly to safety. (d10d)

Attempt to communicate (d10a)
With which one of their Minds do you wish to connect and Sing?
 * One of the play-fighting ones. (d10aa)
 * One of the ones observing the play-fight. (d10ab)
 * The one alone on the bank nearest you. (d10ac)

play-fighting ones (d10aa)
The Minds of the play-fighting ones are very focused on each other and whirling with strong emotions. When you finally do manage to project a simple image into one's Mind, it does nothing but briefly distract it, which the other uses to make it fall and lose.

The others make chattering ha-ha-ha sounds at it, and it begins to lash out in rage at its fellows.

Soon the play-fighting has become earnest fighting, and two of them are beating the very red Essence out of each other's muzzles. Dangerous-looking adults soon arrive to interfere, and you use the distraction to remove yourself from the area.

(end event)

Rewards
Add Fire mastery by 1 point.

Add Air mastery by 1 point.

Add No-Tail mastery by 1 point.

ones observing the play-fight (d10ab)
The attempt to sing into the hatchling's Mind is difficult - its thoughts and even its emotions are all tinged with a strangeness which makes it a difficult plane for you to inscribe images upon - and when it finally realizes it is being sung to, it begins waving its forepaws at its fellows and chattering agitatedly while attempting to shut you out of its Mind.

Soon, it has enlisted its fellows in a search for you... apparently, it could feel what direction your Mind-song was coming from... and the five hatchlings are swiftly closing in on your location.

Five at once is obviously too many, especially not knowing what strange powers these Others may have, and you make a hasty escape.

Rewards
Add Air mastery by 2 points.

Add No-Tail mastery by 1 point.

alone on the bank (d10ac)
Singing into its Mind is harder than you expected... the sheer oddity of its thoughts and emotions make it like trying to smell a stone underwater. Eventually, however, you feel some kind of connection, and paint a universal sigil for it to receive.

Slowly, the hatchling looks up, and then directly at you - it seems to be able to sense where you are from the communication. You expect it to panic or cry for help, but to your surprise, it does not, instead forming a strange sigil of its own inside the connection. You smell a little fear, but it still seems in control of itself. After some trial and error, you trade a few ideas. It does not seem to be able to communicate fluidly like a Draak, or even a regular Goodbeast, failing to intuit the meaning of many of your sigils, which you believed were written upon every Mind.

When it does respond, what it does communicate is lavish - it shows you a sunrise so rife with detail that you can almost see it yourself and a lightning-storm witnessed from inside a small cave.

Most oddly, at one point, it shows you what looks like No-Tails harming each other, an image of particular importance in its Mind, but you do not understand its significance. Maintaining the communication is deeply tiring for you... the No-Tail Mind is full of sharp needles of hardened information and quagmires of half-dealt-with fears. Eventually, several adults come to collect the hatchlings, and you were so distracted by the communication that you have now been surrounded. Just when you are to be discovered, though, the hatchling with whom you communicated barks at the adult about to stumble upon you, distracting it and leading it away. The hatchling has also left some shiny rocks it wore around its neck behind.

Soon, the No-Tails are gone and you are safe. This day seems to have bred more questions than answers... why did the No-Tail hatchling lead the adults away from you? It must have known you were dangerous, and would only become more so in time. The Mind you saw during your communication was deeply Other, and very difficult for you to connect with, and yet there was a glimmer of something beneath the overcomplicated morass.

Something like a bright stone hidden in a dark treetop at night, or a single lump of gold in the midst of a swamp. Like something good, something valuable, hidden in the most unlikely of places. Perhaps the lone Tailless was simply unlike others of its kind, or perhaps a long, long journey of understanding was begun this Sun. Time will tell.

(End event)

Rewards
Threat minus by one.

No-tail mastery add by three.

Obtain treasure Amber Circle.

Ambush them (d10b)
The lone one is clearly the most vulnerable, and you leap upon it, jaws wide, from cover while the four in midstream are particularly distracted. You close your teeth upon its slick, scaleless hide, viciously tearing at it with your claws.

The hatchling makes squealing sounds, but by the time its fellows notice, the sand is already red with its Essence. You think for a moment that they may try to fight you or launch things at you with their No-Tail magic, but instead, they panic and flee.

By the time they return with adults, you have torn the lone hatchling's life from its Body and consumed much of its flesh, taking it into yourself. It is a large and oddly satisfying meal... in fact, its oily flavor was downright delicious.

You leave what is left behind as the others approach, but you have a full belly and feel strangely joyful. There seems to be a kind of deep satisfaction to be had in the Destruction of these bizarre invaders of your ancestral lands. The hatchling also wore a string of shiny stones around its neck, which you keep as a souvenir.

(End event)

Rewards
Add Threat by 4 points.

Obtain treasure Amber Circle.

Add energy by 45 points.

Simply observe (d10c)
The Tailless hatchlings are more bizarre than you imagined. The four in midstream take turns battling each other... it seems that whoever makes the other one fall is the victor. Up on just two thin legs, it is a wonder they are not constantly falling anyway.

They continue to make sounds, some of which are picked up and repeated by others. The particular sound of one of their squeals or whines can cause very specific reactions in others, and you would guess that they are somehow communicating with a complex code of sounds. They seem to hate cool, clear Silence, constantly communicating when there is no clear need for it.

Even after a good while, they do not seem to smell you nearby... are they nose-blind?

The one not participating in the fighting seems to be creating a very complex pattern in the sand with its foreclaw, accenting it with small stones.

You try for a long time to discern what purpose this might have, but in the end are forced to give up... the sand-pattern doesn't seem to be doing anything at all, nor would such things have any application in natural life which you could imagine. Perhaps this one has a damaged Mind.

You are just beginning to learn a few of their basic gestures and sounds when a group of adults arrive from downwind, avoiding your senses until it is too late; you are now surrounded.

The hatchlings chatter at the adults, who seem to want them to stop play-fighting and follow them, but the hatchlings are daring to disobey, seemingly purely for the sake of fun, behavior which would be suicidal in any other species. A few are wandering close to where you are hiding.

What do you do?

Options

 * Stay perfectly still. (20 Earth check, d10cas) (Failed, d10caf)
 * Break from cover and run, relying on speed. (20 Air check, d10cbs) (Failed, d10cbf)
 * Use your fiery breath to create a diversion. (20 Fire check + 10 Energy, d10ccs)(Failed, d10cbf)

Stay perfectly still. Failed (d10caf)
You attempt to remain still, but your Mind is whirling with fear and trepidation. When the wind blows your scent in their direction, you panic, certain that you will be scented, and break from cover.

The No-Tails somehow launch small stones at high velocity from their forepaws at you, but you barely feel the pain as you flee in terror.

The injuries were not too terrible, but now they know that you were here. You take pains to make it difficult for them to track you back to your den, but you cannot be sure that your blunder will not have consequences. You are, however, now aware of why you failed, and will be better at such things in the future.

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

Add Threat by 2 points.

Add Earth mastery by 3 points.

Receive damage by 7 points.

Stay perfectly still. Success (d10cas)
You quiet both your Body and your Mind and become like a stone.

At one point, the wind blows your scent right to the Tailless, and you fear discovery, but somehow, they sense nothing - they must truly have no sense of smell, or almost none.

Though a few of them come near you, your total lack of motion and the shade of the bush you are hiding in do nothing to betray your presence, and the No-tail hatchlings eventually accompany the adults away, stumbling back towards their Hive on their stiltlike legs.

You have learned more about the No-Tails, and lived to perhaps one day put that knowledge to use.

(End event)

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

relying on speed. Failed (d10cbf)
You burst out of the foliage, trailing tiny leaves behind you as you make for the safety of the woods. Unfortunately, you are not quite fast enough to avoid catching a few projectiles which they somehow launch from their forepaws.

The injuries were not too terrible, but now they know that you were here. You take pains to make it difficult for them to track you back to your Den, but you cannot be sure that your blunder will not have consequences.

In the future, you will be a little bit faster, having learned from your failure.

(End event)

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

Add Threat by 2 points.

Add Air mastery by 3 points.

Receive damage by 7 points.

relying on speed. Success (d10cbs)
You burst out of the foliage, trailing tiny leaves behind you as you make for the safety of the woods.

So swift and sudden is your dash that the No-Tails have no time to attack you, although they bark and growl to each other loudly, pointing their foreclaws at you.

You are safely away before long, and take pains to make it difficult for them to track you back to your Den, but you cannot be sure that this will not have consequences.

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

Add Threat by 1 point.

Use your fiery breath. Failed (d10ccf)
You belch up the fireseed from your belly and breathe it out onto a nearby shrub.

Your breath, however, is not fierce enough to make the rain-watered plants catch fire. It is, however, bright enough to catch the No-Tails' attention, and soon you are running away as fast as you can as the Tailless somehow launch projectiles at you from their forepaws.

The injuries were not too terrible, but now they know that you were here. You take pains to make it difficult for them to track you back to your den, but you cannot be sure that your blunder will not have consequences.

You will, however, be better at focusing your fire-breath in the future.

(End event)

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

Add Threat by 2 points.

Add Fire mastery by 3 points.

Receive damage by 7 points.

Use your fiery breath. Success (d10ccs)
You belch up the fireseed from your belly and breathe it out onto a nearby shrub. So fierce is your breath that the plants catch fire, and soon the No-Tails are rushing to try to put the fire out, preventing them from counterattacking as you make your escape.

You are safely away before long, and do not believe that you were seen. Still, you take a long route back to your Den, in case you are being followed.

(End event)

Rewards
Add No-Tail mastery by 2 points.

Add Threat by 1 point.

Withdraw (d10d)
It is known that the No-Tails have ways of attacking without even being near you, and where hatchlings are, adults may be near.

Prudently, you remove yourself, continuing on.

Soon after you leave, fully-grown No-Tails wearing hardened skins and brandishing long wooden talons arrive to retrieve their hatchlings, and you reflect on the wisdom you showed in not getting involved with the bizarre things.

(End event)

Rewards
Add Earth mastery by 3 points.