The Spore Game: New Life on Planet Agaman

[C'nor]

Do we have the Stomach and Health to evolve, though?

[Kuma Da]

We're already asleep. I mean, I assume that if we wake up, we're going to have dwindled down to very little hp from starvation, but being able to metabolize the foods around us is the only way we're going to survive in this environment, short of Nargaal-on-Nargaal snacking action.

[C'nor]

Does it still take extra biomass to evolve? I'm not sure if we abandoned that with splitting or what.

[Cealocanth]

You have the option to split while evolving, but because of your Nesting Habits, that's rarely needed, as others of your species do it for you. Evolving can take place overnight, regardless of splitting.

The nauseating agent the Aquapede used was directly rejected by your body. As an arsenic based life-form, you couldn't digest the Aquapede's elemental base in his make-up. But the Aquapede, as far as you remember, ate creepers to survive, and you can eat their bloody sap with little problem. Perhaps a little dissection is in order?

[Kuma Da]

Thaaaaat works.

Fish around in the aquapede's guts for edible fragments of creeper.

[C'nor]

Seconded. Also, once we're fed, see if what it is about creepers that makes them edible by both of our species.

[Kuma Da]

Good call. Although I think this might just be due to the aquapede fortifying its body with inedible slime. If we could learn to metabolize it or ignore it, aquapede burgers would be back on the menu.

edit: mmmm, aquapede burgers. Gonna go make a pie now.

[C'nor]

But, remember, at the start we tried to eat one and the element was wonky.

Also: Sounds yummy. Though baking underwater could be tough.

[Cealocanth]

You wake from what seems like a coma-like state. Your body is becoming discolored and weak, and your comrades are barely still breathing on the floor of the cavern. Before you is the pool of black vomit that was once a spongey musclulature within the Aquapede. But, determined to consume nutrients, you charge at the broken corpse, and begin to search for even the smallest molecule of arsenic.

You dig your way past a spongey musculature that is excreting a black inklike substance into the water around you. Beneath the muscles you see a strange dark purple tube that seems to run up and down the creature. Small veins branch out of it into the muscles, but by the smell, you can tell that what you want is within the tube.

Jabbing it with your tusks, you tear out a soft membrane that surrounds the tube. Within it you see a thick slime-like purple goo that smells like Creeper roots. Although it's discolored and thicker, the smell of food is unmistakable. You dive right in.

You barely make a dent when you realize that your stomach is filled beyond capacity, and that absorbing even another molecule would send you into a coma. The thick goo within the aquapede appears to be the highly concentrated goo of a creeper, placed here for long term storage in order to sustain the creature for long periods of time without eating.

Full and awake, you wake your comrades as well, where they also attempt to eat from the Aquapede. When they appear re-energized, and you feel ready to take on whatever Agaman has to throw at you. Now, are you to return to the depths of the cavern, or leave the Aquapede nest?

You have 5 Health

You have 9 Stomach

You have 10 Endurance

You have 10 DNA


Your attempt at baking was unsuccessful, as the heat was not accesable near the cold insectoid corpse of an Aquapede.

[C'nor]

Investigate it to see why we can both eat creepers.

[Kuma Da]

Seconding C'nor, however since we have 10 DNA and a full stomach, we should consider evolving. The desert out here isn't going to get any easier, and anything that would help us survive in it is worthwhile.

Cealocanth, can you give us a run-down of available mutations?

[Cealocanth]

Once satiated, your natural curiosity kicks in. The body of the Aquapede, despite being of an element highly poisonous to you, can absorb the same arsenic rich food that you have come to use as your primary producer. You find this peculiar, and investigate the slowly rotting corpse again.

This time, you begin at the mouth, located on the soft brown underbelly of the creature. It's a gaping circular hole lined with flat, hard teeth that make it easy to consume hard-shelled creatures and membrane heavy Creepers. Digging further, you discover a small slightly purple tube that stretches from the mouth-hole to the thick goo fileld tube that runs the length of the creature. The small mouth tube splits as it hits the large vein and wraps around it, connecting to a smaller black tube running along the side of the large vein.

On the sides of the mouth tube are hundreds of small lumpy organelles that seem to still be excreting a clear substance even after the creature's death. Each of these organelles have tiny cappilaries that connect to the main vein.

The main vein also supports a set of large pulsating intestine-like tubes that connect to a series of small holes at the exoskeleton's underside.

You are confused by the inner mechanisms of the Aquapede, and your small Nucleus is failing to comprehend the use of all these veins and tubes. But the evolutionary chemicals within you tell you that the imitation of a complex cardiovascular and digestive system such as this would lead to dominince over many creatures.

You have 5 Health

You have 9 Stomach

You have 10 Endurance

You have 10 DNA



Availible Evolutions:

Grow Mouth: 2 DNA (Allows you to eat much faster)

Grow Nose: 4 DNA (Allows you to smell on land. +1 Perception)

Grow Ears: 4 DNA (Allows you to hear, +1 Perception)

Grow Teeth: 4 DNA (Requires mouth, increases attack by 1)

Grow Tusks: 6 DNA (Gives you a pair of long ivory or crystaline teeth that can be used for many purposes, like digging or attacking. Increases attack by 1. Requires Teeth.)

Grow Horn: 4 DNA (Gives you a crystalline or bone horn, increases attack by 1)

Grow Eye: 4 DNA (Allows you to see stuff instead of feeling it, increases Perception by 1.)

Evolve Digestive System: 6 DNA (Allows you to consume energy at a higher rate, making your Endurance decrease at a lower rate and allowing special adaptation to foods that are toxic to your species.)

Adapt Digestive System: 4 DNA (Makes you immune to consuming poisonous foods of a certain element base.) Requires Digestive System

Specialize Enzymes: 0 DNA (Choose a type of food (meat, plant matter, rocks, etc.) you gain extra DNA from eating that type of food but less from others. Costs 8 to remove.)

Grow Cilia: 4 DNA (Increases Agility by 1, increases movement speed.)

Increase Mass: 4 DNA (Increases your size, as well as increasing your HP by 1)

Increase Efficiency: 4 DNA (+1 HP/Endurance)

Thicken Membrane: 2 DNA (Thickens your outer membrane, increases defense by 1 but you cannot eat without a mouth)

Grow Tongue: 5 DNA (Allows you to better taste food and determine its qualities. +1 Perception.)

Grow Jet: 4 DNA (Greatly increases movement speed in short bursts.)

Improve Stomach: 6 DNA (+2 to maximum Stomach capacity)

Improve Vocal Cords: 3 DNA (Allows you to project sounds over long distances)

Prehensile Tentacles: 8 DNA (Your tentacles can be used to manipulate yourself and objects. +1 Attack. Can increase movement speed in complex situations.)

Darkvision: 6 DNA (Allows you to see in grayscale in complete darkness)

Improved Vision: 6 DNA: (Most things cannot damage your perception)

Evolve Bloodstream: 6 DNA (Allows you to use energy more efficiently, thus increasing movement speed and adding +1 Attack, but adding -1 Defense.)

Become Poisonous: 6 DNA (Damage is done to creatures that attempt to eat you and they become weakened. Requires Slime.)

Generate Slime: 3 DNA (Makes you unappetizing to predators)

[ThirdEmperor]

Evolve Prehensile Tentacles and Thicken Membrane

Thicken Membrane is a cheap defense bonus, Prehensile Tentacles is the first step towards crafting tools.

[C'nor]

True... But we can't use the tools if we starve to death, and it's looking like the Aquapedes may be our best food source.

Evolve Digestive System and Adapt Digestive System

[Kuma Da]

Seconding C'Nor.

Higher level consumers are typically omnivorous, and we're shooting for the top. Also, not starving in the wastes would be nice.

[Cealocanth]

By suddenly splitting, and releasing another Naargal to your horde of comrades, you feel your evolutionary enzymes begin to get to work on your Stomach, using your DNA to mimic the Aquapede's digestive system. Your stomach slowly splits into four separate organelles, one of which attach directly to your mouth, one that attaches to that same organelle, one that becomes large and hollow, slightly larger than your previous Stomach, and one that becomes a mes of coiling veins and tubes that eventually attach to your Jet flaps and begin to release waste products.

The sudden change to your body makes you slightly sick, but soon subsides, as the white fleshy membrane of the Aquapede now appears edible and delicious. Your species has begun it's path towards higher being as an omnivorous multicellular organism.

After your new Naargal sills himself on the remains of Aquapede and you make up for the lost mass in a similar way, your eyes suddenly notice a light creeping in from the open cavern entrance above you. It trickles blue and bright, and invites you to see the star of Agaman once again, now that the night has passed.

You have 5 Health

You have 8 Stomach

You have 10 Endurance

You have 4 DNA

[Kuma Da]

Daylight in the desert on the surface? No thanks.

Explore the caves, taking care not to agitate the thing in the big room from before.

[C'nor]

Send out one of the other Nargaal to see if growing an exoskeleton actually does let us deal with the surface conditions, then take all but one of the others into the caves.

After all, knowing whether or not we can leave during the day means that we can keep that in mind when planning.

[Cealocanth]

After you nearly died of exaustion in the burning desert sun yesterday, you have recently developed an exoskeleton, and you aren't sure it would be capable of defending you from the harmful solar radiation.

You issue a simple command and one of your Naargal comrades cautiously ventures out of the tunnels. As he leaves, you see him wince slightly as the sun touches his thick outer membrane, but he continues on untill he appears to be out of view. You issue a cry, expecting to be answered by the Naargal, but there is no response.

Minutes pass, as you await the return of your comrade. Eventually, you decide that the surface is unsafe and take the remaining Naargal down into the depths of the Aquapede nest.

Moving past the strange blue puddle that consumed the adolescent Naargal alive, you find that the cavern soon forks into two seperate passages. One is a large hole in the floor near the eastern wall that sounds like it descends several feet (keep in mind your creature is just a couple milimeters long), and the other passage appears to descend deeper into the nest. From each passage a faint blue glow trickles out.

You have 5 Health

You have 7 Stomach

You have 10 Endurance

You have 4 DNA

[Kuma Da]

Explore the vertical drop on the eastern side.

I'm not sure how many aquapedes we can take in one go, so I'd rather avoid the center of the nest until we've whittled their numbers a little bit.

[Cealocanth]

Your party cautiously moves toward the bottomless drop on the Eastern side of the cavern. As you approach, you notice that the faint blue glow is erupting from blue particles that are slowly floating out of the pit. As your naturally cowardly instincts tell you, you send a Naargal in to scout first.

It swims down into the vertical drop and after several minutes, releases a small squeak to tell of the pit's safety. You follow as well as the others and eventually find the Naargal standing on a thick sheet of webbing, suspended between the walls of the nearly endless hole. Further down, you notice a similar webbing. And even further lies another layer of webbing. You descend through the webbing.

Soon you reach the bottom of the pit, and your particle sense in the water tells you that you are farther below the surface than you have ever been. The darkness closes in besides the faint blue glow descending from above. You hear a skittering sound in the darkness.

You have 5 Health

You have 6 Stomach

You have 10 Endurance

You have 4 DNA

[Kuma Da]

Phalanx up. Wait for the Horrorlurk to reveal itself.

Proposing name: Horrorlurk.

[C'nor]

Seconding, both the name and the plan.

[Cealocanth]

Issuing a small squeaking command to the three remaining Naargal with you at the moment, you square up against the supposed direction of the oncoming creature and ready your facial weaponry. You attempt to orient your jets upward, but you find that they are ill suited to the purpose. Your jets are unable to propel your massive weight against the force of the planet's gravity.

Your cilia and tentacles are equally suited to the purpose of vertical movement. lacking prehensile tools used for climbing, you squat down low to the ground and orient your single large horn with your allies, appearing as a squad of heavy armored tanks.

Out of the darkness floats a small blue creature. It's spherical in form and featureless otherwise. It's virtual weightlessness is clear, as it floats simply on the water currents around you. A long winding flagellum is attached to the creature, and it wiggles around, clearly incapable of straightforward movement. It appears that the Horrorlurk, as you call it, has revealed itself to you.

You have 5 Health

You have 6 Stomach

You have 8 Endurance

You have 6 DNA

[Kuma Da]

Ain't nothin' in this burrow been good to us.

Send two Nargaal around the back to pincer it, going for the flagellum.

It's probably going to kill them with neurotoxins, since I'm betting it's a jellyfish, but we don't know that.

Also, Cealocanth, would you be up for doing a little bit of recruiting for this game? I was thinking of posting a recruiting thread to direct some more players this way. My ultimate goal is that maybe someone will overrule me on a decision.

[Cealocanth]

Sounds great. The game is created for several people, and right now we're working with two, or maybe three if we're lucky. I'd have no problems with a bit more traffic going through this.

You issue a squeaky command and you send your two remaining Naargal to attack the floating orb. You sense a weak spot in the Flagella and your comrades soon charge straight into the long tail, easily skewering it. The flagella doesn't break under the pressure, rather it appears to stretch around the charging Naargal's facial weaponry, like thick rubber.

When the Naargal remove themselves from the Horrorlurk, a sticky resin the same color as the Flagella stretches out like a rubber band. It lashes back, quickly, bringing the two Naargal back to the innards of the Horrorlurk. The desperate Naargal begin to thrash around, disturbing the serenity of the deep water.

You see the flagellum begin to collapse toward the glowing orb. It's length remains, and the orb remains in place, but each of them become closer and closer together. Out of the darkness, almost as if it is being pulled by the blue orb, is the true body of the Horrorlurk.

A massive black body with thick hardened plates attaches to the flagellum, with the blue orb dangling like a lure to attract unsuspecting creatures to it. Beneath the long line of rubbery membrane are three mouths, filled to the brim with several layers of long, greatsword-like teeth. The mouths are almost as large as the body it attaches to. You notice each mouth begin to froth and bubble, as you notice the web-like substance begin to take form within the creature.

You have 5 Health

You have 5 Stomach

You have 8 Endurance

You have 6 DNA

[Kuma Da]

Runrunrunrun whydoeseverythinghateus runrunrunrun!

Flee back upslope to where the cavern narrows.

Aptly. Named. Horrorlurk.

I'm putting up the new recruitment thread now. I'll link it to the first page here.

[C'nor]

Seconded! Run away! Run away!

Also, try to order the other Nargaal to form a loose cluster directly behind us as we flee; hopefully that will keep us from getting hit by the net-thing.

[Kuma Da]

New recruitment page established. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...9#post12072069

[Kazyan]

Thirded. I doubt that thing is going to be nice.