Claypit dig site

Starting Point
The No-Tails are Destroying a hill. Like ants, they are carrying its vast corpse away one piece at a time to their Hive, perhaps to be eaten, though you know of no other animal which eats the very flesh of the Great Mother.

Most interestingly, they have unearthed something very strange in the process.

It seems to be some sort of large claw or fang, but its Essence is entirely alien - simply being near it makes your teeth rattle and your bones quake within you.

The No-Tails have summoned an authority among their kind to determine how to proceed.

(continue)

What will you do?

Options

 * Attack the No-Tail and seize possession of the strange object. (d11a)
 * Set fire to the hillside to distract the No-Tails. (Fire Check, 22 Fire poitns, d11bs) (Failed, d11bf)
 * If only you had more Water or Earth knowledge...
 * If Earth (20) Or Water (20) check success: Sing to the slave-beast the No-Tails have restrained nearby. (d11c)
 * Silently leave. (d11d)

Attack the No-Tail (d11a)
As soon as you reveal yourself, you are spotted by one of the Tailless workers, and they begin singing shrilly and launching hard things at you with their forepaws. A No-Tail carrying a fang on the end of a stick and protected by shinestone-studded coverings intercepts you, clearly meaning to Destroy you.

Engage in the Dance of Destruction with a Warrior No-Tail?

(Continue, Received 5 damage)

Options

 * Yes (d11aabegin)
 * No (d11ab)

Engage in the Dance of Destruction with a Warrior No-Tail?

Yes (d11aabegin)
As you begin the Dance of Destruction, the other No-tails close in around you. Escape will be impossible - it will be victory or death!

(Proceed to Dance of destruction, retreat blocked)

(If won fight)

Incredibly, you manage to Silence the Warrior No-Tail, ending its fell existence. The others break away in fear, throwing anything they can at you as they scramble, stumbling on their two legs as quickly as they can.

The leader drops the strange object and flees as well, leaving you to take the treasure.

(End Event)

Rewards
Add Threat by 5 points.

Obtained treasure Shakestick.

No (d11ab)
No-Tails such as this one destroyed a grown Kin on your first day of life. You are not stupid enough to take one on while still so small and inexperienced, and flee, living to see another Sun.

The Tailless are now more aware of your presence, however. From this, you learn to be more patient and not attack the treacherous and incomprehensible No-Tails so rashly.

Rewards
Add Threat by 2 points.

Add Earth mastery by 3 points.

Set Fire to hillside Success (d11bs)
Your powerful flaming breath soon sets the back of the gutted hillside alight, and the No-Tails scramble to investigate.

The Tailless leader drops the strange object on the ground, but the Warrior is still standing near it, only half-distracted.

What do you do now?

options

 * Snatch it away, quickly, and run! (Air check 25, d11bsas) (Failed, d11bsabegin)
 * Try to steal the object without being noticed. (Water check 28, d11waters) (Failed, d11waterf)
 * Use the Great Grazer to create a further distraction.. (Only appear after talking to Great Grazer) (d11bsb)
 * You know that you are not quick enough... leave while you still can. (d11bsc)

Snatch it away Failed (d11bsabegin)
You move swiftly, but the Warrior notices you coming. He shouts a warning to the others, but they cannot hear over the fire, and so he engages in the Dance of Destruction with you alone.

(Continue to dance of destruction)

(If won)

You have managed to Silence the Warrior and take the Artifact for yourself. As you escape with it, you are spotted by some of the No-Tails, but they are either too slow or too afraid to stop you.

The treasure is yours, though you have surely angered the Tailless this Sun.

(End event)

Rewards
Add Threat by 5 points.

Obtained treasure Shakestick.

Snatch it away Success (d11bsas)
Moving with the speed and grace of a Woodstrider, you sprint forward, snatch up the Artifact in your jaws, and run. By the time the Warrior notices you, you are too far away to catch, and the prize is yours.

(End Event)

Rewards
Add Threat by 3 points.

Obtained treasure Shakestick.

Use the Great Grazer as distraction (d11bsb)
You fill the Great Grazer slave's Mind with image after image of luscious grass. Unable to resist the temptation, it begins to move away, carrying the pull-vehicle along with it. The Tailless Warrior yelps and runs after it, leaving the Treasure unguarded. You snatch the strange thing up and are gone without even having been seen. Today, you have robbed the No-Tails of a valuable prize.

Rewards
Obtained treasure Shakestick.

Leave while you can (d11bsc)
Knowing your limits, you surmise that an attempt for the artifact will end in tragedy for you, and withdraw. At least the No-Tails were not aware of your presence. You resolve to become quicker.

Rewards
Add Air mastery by 3 points.

Set Fire to hillside Failed (d11bf)
Alas, the Flame Within is not yet powerful enough to create a true conflagration, and simply makes some smoking, withered vegetation.

This is not enough to fully distract them into leaving the artifact unguarded, but it does alert them to your presence, and you are forced to flee, as there are too many of them to fight.

You did, however, get some practice at focusing your flames, and will be better at it in the future.

(End event)

Rewards
Add Threat by 2 points

Add Fire by 3 points.

Sing to the slave-beast (d11c)
The Great Grazer placidly waiting nearby has a simple Mind, but with patience, you manage to get it to trade thoughts with you. It informs you that the No-Tails do not, in fact, eat the Great Mother's flesh which they pull from the hill, but fashion various things out of it whose purpose the Grazer does not know. It does, however, remember feeling this teeth-rattling Essence before, when it accompanied its masters to meet what it calls the They seem to be some kind of Other being, Tailless and yet not quite the same as the Tailless you know, who live far away from Sun and fashion great things out of shinestone and jewels. Whatever this thing is that they've found, it may have been lost by the "Diggers", and may be something of importance to them. At that point, the Great Grazer's thoughts and opinions begin to have more and more to do with Grass... it must be getting hungry... and you stop communicating with it after a few questions in a row are answered with nothing more than ''GRASS... YUMMY GRASS.''

(Go to d11cpost)

d11cpost
What will you do?

Options

 * Attack the No-Tail and seize possession of the strange object. (d11a)
 * Set fire to the hillside to distract the No-Tails. (Success: d11bs, Failed: d11bf)
 * Silently leave. (d11d)

Silently leave. (d11d)
The vibrations which shake you to your Core emanating from the thing they have found cannot possibly be anything good. Any action you take will expose you to the inscrutable and Law-defying wrath of the Tailless. You do not allow curiosity to get the better of you - you leave while still undiscovered, and suffer no harm that day.

(End event)

Rewards
Add Earth by 2 points.