Myconid Patch

The Beastwoman would start to cry as one of the Myconid's brought a corpse of her fellow miners, and Mushgran would nod before looking at Mushtoad. "You know, she won't be able to understand you, perhaps when you rank-up you'll be able to actually speak for now interrogating her won't bring any results." it said before walking away to go to sleep. The other Myconid's would look at the sight before realizing that Mushautumn was draining one of the corpses, which would cause a particular Myconid to take offense. "H-how could you, that was a Mush!" Mushbaby said walking up to Mushautumn and stomping her foot in anger as she didn't think it was okay to just drain a fellow mush, her thoughts thinking back to Mushhat and even though he had initially hurt her he didn't need to die in such a way. If she hadn't been so scared she would of brought his body back to give him a proper burial. Meanwhile Mushtoad's idiotic actions would reduce his health to a dangerous threshold though Mushgran would quickly emit a pulse of mana before he perished healing him in the brink of time, still the trauma of almost dying would return in Mushtoad fainting on the spot not to awake until the next day.

Spoiler:

Autumn turned a sad look to her "I'm sorry...I just thought a bit of life could come from their death. I'll leave you to mourn." Mushautumn would move away from the Myconid corpses to those of the beastmen, acutely aware that their wounds hadn't healed. They reached out again, preparing to drain the corpses, but another idea came to them as well. They tried to summon their mana to the forefront as well, pushing it out into the corpse as they touched it in order to see if something, anything, happened.

This time it seemed that Mushautumn was actually on to something as while only one of the Beastman corpses were left due to being set aside by Elfkid while the other was taken deeper into the patch by Mushtoad it seemed that this time when he drained the corpse he would feel a certain amount of energy flow into him causing his injuries to hurt a bit less. Perhaps it was because it was already dead, and would work better with a living target, still Mushbaby would watch him closely before her eyes would widen as he did something she had been trying to do with Mushhatta before that unfortunate trip outside. She would begin to sulk once more before walking away going off to cry in her corner, as after it she had been terrified to head back outside and now just subsisted on the small amount of water she could find in the patch and whatever critters she could dig up from the ground.

Spoiler:

Mushautumn felt the energy flow from the corpse into themselves and repair some of their wounds. It caused a smile to blossom on their face at the success, but they noticed the reaction of Mushbaby. Their face twisted in concern, but Autumn had exerted themselves too much to think about anything other than sleep. They moved back to Elfkid and curled up next to them, using their shawl as a blanket to cover their forms before drifting off to sleep.

The Myconids would wake up the next morning feeling that familiar rush of strength that came with waking up for a new day. Mushgran would be milling about while it seemed that the Beastwoman hadn't healed from her injuries though Elfkid was nearby looking somewhat hesitant as he wanted to heal her but didn't know if Mushautumn wanted him to do so. Meanwhile two Myconids would crouch near Mushtoad staring at him as he slept with one of them reaching out to poke him in the cap. "Wake up we wanna know what it's like outside." Mushrio said while the other one nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yeah it has to be dangerous right but you seem to always come back so you know what your doing right?" Mushpea said pointing towards Mushtoad's loot and lack of deadness.

Spoiler:

Mushautumn woke up with a yawn and a stretch, looking around idly for Elfkid. They found the child standing next to the beastwoman, looking quite nervous. Autumn pulled their shawl back around their shoulders and stood up, walking over to Elfkid and the beastwoman. They reached out with both hands and released spores onto the so they could speak more easily "There, now you should be able to understand me for a bit." Mushautumn turned to the beastwoman "I am Mushautumn. This is...well I call him Elfkid. He doesn't have a name...at least I don't think he does. Anyway, we're you're companions now. I'm not gonna hurt you and I'm gonna do my best not to let anything happen to you. I'm gonna let the kid heal you now, please don't try to attack me or anything." Autumn nodded to the elven child to do his magic.

Spoiler:

Toad would slowly lift his cap as the young Myconids had become curious as to what the outside world was like, which made the memories of the previous day shoot through his mind. So he would push himself off the ground and look at the two young Myconids, seeing the same wanderlust he had experienced a couple of days ago. "I can take you two and anyone else out in a bit, but first I want to see if we can get anything out of this big furry beast....." He says looking from the corpse to the Beastwoman conversing with Mushautumn. "That took the lives of Mushthin and Mushbuff" With that he would take his locust mandibles from the pile of equipment, and would begin to make his way towards the corpse. However, he would notice the one called Mushbaby looking downtrodden in the patch, and would walk on over towards her. "Do you want to come with me? Perhaps we can both learn something from these things" Toad would say holding out a Mandible for Mushbaby to take.

"@###$#@" Slothtres said in response to what Mushautumn said her language being incomprehensible to his juvenile ears, so it seemed that she would have to settle for a name being given to her. Elfkid would move to heal her his restorative magic washing over her, but it seemed that it would take a while before she was fully healed, though she did appreciate it and while Elfkid almost exhausted his mp she was back to almost full condition. Meanwhile the two Myconids who were near Mushtoad would nod and follow him essentially flanking him, while Mushbaby wouldn't say anything but a shake of the head as she wasn't intending on heading out anytime soon.

Spoiler:

"I won't ask you to come outside, but maybe you can help me see what's in the big furry thing's body" Toad would say with a sympathetic look, knowing all too well what the myconid was going through at the moment. "How about this, I will go out into the forest and find us supplies to make the patch more safe, and you can stay in the patch trying to help make life for all of us a little better" He would wait for a moment to see if Mushbaby would take him up on his offer, whether or not she decided to join him Toad would make his way back towards the beastman corpse. "Come on you little stools, lets see what we can learn from this thing. The more we know now, the less danger we'll be in when we do go out."

Mushautumn would help the beastwoman up, as much they could anyway "It's annoying that you can understand me, but I can't understand you...I'll give you a nickname if you don't mind. The myconid thought for a moment before nodding "You're a woman and other kinds like gendering words and for women it's usually -tress so Slothtres would work. We're heading out for the day, now that we have another mouth to feed." Mushautumn would motion to Elfkid and start walking towards the exit of the patch "By the way, kid, what is your name? Do you have one?"

Mushbaby would look up at Mushtoad before nodding and walking over to the Beastman corpse, while the two Myconid's from before would perk up before walking up after him and one of them, the pokey one would poke the corpse with a finger before looking up at Mushtoad with confusion. "It's dead." Mushrio said with a confident expression in his eyes, while Muchpea would shake her head at the idiocy of her friend. "Obviously it's dead, that wasn't what he meant by trying to ugh never mind you are too dumb to get it." she said with a face palm and would begin muttering to herself. Mushbaby would look at the corpse intently before speaking up. "My Observe skills says that it's a Beastman Corpse, but that he was a Miner. We can drain nutrients from him. If you take off his coverings you can wear it to protect your body, and those two things are called Pickaxes and can be used to mine or as weapons.." she said before the little bout of energy would leave her and she would walk away sulking yet again.

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"#@#@$#er" Elfkid said his name a bit longer than the Beastwoman's but likewise Mushautumn couldn't understand his words which was pretty unfortunate. The newly named Beastress would sigh before nodding as she knew her fate and it was better than being used as a spore dump with this Myconid trying to keep her comfortable despite keeping her captive. Elfkid would glance at her with a smile, causing her to shudder as she didn't know what it was but it seemed like the elf was fully indoctrinated, was that to be how she was after a couple of days, she didn't know and truly was fearful of being so content with being a slave. Elfkid would point towards the exit of the patch and after she gathered her pickaxe he would start walking assuming that Mushautumn wanted to leave right away.

Mushautumn sighed "Right, I don't know why I thought I might understand now. I guess I'll give you a nickname too." Autumn would follow behind Slothtress, thinking "You're really pretty, even for a boy, so I think Beau will work for you. Let's go Elfbeau." With that, Mushautumn would leave the patch followed by Elfbeau, humming a cheery tune.

[Mushautumn & Co. Exit]

Mushtoad would hide the faint smile growing on his face, it made him happy that the young Mushbaby had decided to try and learn more about the world if only to make sure they never saw it again. Mushrio would make the obvious observation that the corpse was dead, and Mushpea would begin berating the young myconid. Toad would start stripping the corpse of it's gear, and would pick up his Mandibles he collected the other day. That is when Mushbaby would state what she has learned from just observing the beastman, then would try walking away. "Not so fast there Mushbaby, that was just the first part" He would say placing the second mandible on the ground for one of the other myconids to take it. "I got these tools from taking apart a bug the other day, so now we are going to try and gather as much as we can from this..... Beastman. Fur, Bones, any other nutrients we can gather from it" With that he would drive the bladed part of his Mandible into the chest of the corpse and would begin to Carve it. "Can one of you give me a hand with this?"

Mushbaby wasn't interested in do more than she had to "my work here is done you can enjoy your beastman tools" she stated before walking away from him. Being that his hands were in the mist of pulling the beastman apart he wasn't able to stop her from leaving however that same frustration of not being able to find something to say would lead him learning both the carve skill and gathering two carves from the beastman's body, the first was like a fur coat that he could wear to protect himself from others who had the potential to hurt him. The next was a claw from the beastman's hand, it was as good as the coat but it could still be used for something.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would smile as he had successfully gotten some decent equipment from the corpse laid out in front of him, and would put the vest on. After outfitting himself with a new vest he would look back over at Mushbaby, then back at the duo who were following him. "Okay you two, I want you to put on those jumpsuits and grab those wired shaped metal sticks." He would say slipping the two mandible in his vest as he held the claw in his hand. "Before we go out into the forest we should know more about what we're all able to do. Like I have been able to absorb bad stuff into my body and poof them out with my spores" He would say making his way back towards where Mushbaby was, urging any other myconids to come join them as they try to pool their skills together to try and make the patch even better.

despite the fact mushtoad didn't give off that feeling that he deserved respect, those within the patch would ignore him as if he wasn't there, well except for duo he offered the miner suits two. "Boss is the best" one spoke however would have the patch ignore her comment as well as they counldn't take the offer serious as he was the reason two of their siblings died, well he and the lack of being responsible. Mushbaby would release a sigh as by now it has been a while and she was unable to see mushhatt sooner or latter, she would have to go journey to find him in case the worse had happen to him.

"Well I guess I also learned how to focus my magic into balls that would help. I heard that there are many other uses for our magic skills though, so why do I show you three how to make the balls of magic, then we all try learning something else?" Mushtoad would say as he created a mana ball in his hands, holding it there for a couple of moments. "I got extremely lucky when I learned this skill, I was fighting a super scary bug and was afraid. So without thinking I threw my hands up and tried to make my magic help protect me." He would dispel the orb in his hand, watching the youngin's see how he created his main form of combat. "The thing I think of when I make these is well..... Protecting all of you" His voice would go quiet near the end, and a sad look came across his face. "I would suggest focusing on the magic in your body and try to bring it out to you hands."

mushrio would stare intensely at mushtoad as he showed taught them the skill, he would have an understanding of how mushtoad moved his mana around his body to eventually be able to preform the magic skill just like mushtoad had. He would hold the manaball in his hand before pushing it toward the entrance of the patch where no one was, before looking to mushpea who hadn't gained the magic skill he was aiming to learn. "so.. what do we do now"mushrio anked.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would nod towards Mushrio as they had been able to create a Mana Ball and place a hand on Mushpea's head. "Don't feel bad if you're not able to learn something right away, I'm sure with time and practise you will be able to figure it out" He said patting Mushpea's head for a moment before turning back to the rest of the group. "The Mana ball is useful for self-defense of course, but who knows what other uses we can come up with for it." Toad would remain seated as he looked over the group and would nod to himself knowing that with time he would be able to find uses for these ones. "Magic comes naturally to us as you've all realized. Finding it's uses is always good, but there will be times when you run out of magic. So I would like us all to try and see if we can sense or even absorb the mana in the world around us" He would say as he pulled out one of his beastman rations, absorbing the nutrients from within as he would begin to try and meditate, seeing if he can locate or absorb Mana.

the three myconids would sit there waiting patiently with their eyes closed, they would wait for 30 minutes, however mushpea would open his mouth to finally let out a word. "I Don't think this is working" he commented to mushtoad, his face showed disappointment from his lack of ability to actually learn the skill, however he would realize when mushrio release a sigh of disappointment as he too wasn't able to learn it. Mushtoad would go to test if he had the skill however, it would sadly fail. Mush baby sat against the wall waiting silently, she was couldn't find out who she was more annoyed with the fact that they sat there for 30 minutes with their eyes closed, or the fact she watched them sit there for thirty minutes with their eyes closed. however that wasn't the case as mushtoad had learned the skill but he just had been successful in using the skill correctly.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would smile as he would begin to feel the Mana flowing around his body, this would help him in the future in case he again ran out of mana in the forest. However, at the same time, he still needed to figure out a way to drain the mana from around him. That would have to be a job for later on as he would stand up and walk around the two Myconids that were feeling discouraged about not being able to feel it. "Try not thinking about yourself, let your mind wander for a moment as you feel around your own Mana. Then reach out as far as you can with your senses, you may just yet be able to sense it." He would say examining the two, occasionally looking over at Mushbaby who was looking rather annoyed. That is when he remembered her travelling companion from before, which made an idea pop into his head. He would go back to a sitting position as he was before and instead of trying to feel for ambient Mana, he would instead try and weave his Mana throughout his body.

Mushrio and mushpea would continue to sit on the ground for another thirty minutes as mushtoad had encouraged them, to them he was a safe and it would show during the time they waited as they tried to see the mana of those around them. It would seem redundant that they were kept in the dark, with nothing really being seen from them, they would look to mushtoad and wonder how he’s able to get a glow around her body. Mushtoad wouldn’t be able to see it yet the other around him were shocked by his ability to learn these magic skills.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would open his eyes after trying to focus his mana into his body, He really could feel more than a tingle at the moment, but at the same time he felt like, perhaps he could do just that little bit more. He really couldn't see the difference, but the looks on the faces of the other myconid told a different story. "Hey Mushbaby, the mush you were with the other day, didn't they have some super cool jumping magic?" He would say as he would look around the patch to see if there was enough space for the group to do some weapons training, but then again he did see the Beastwoman that was left behind. "Hold on, I'll be right back" With that he would dash towards the beastwoman as fast as he could before poofing out some sporlingo in her face. "I know you can't really talk to me, but do you think you could show us what to do with these sharp metal pointy sticks you........" For a brief moment the flashes of Buff and Thin, before snapping it out of his mind. "People were using" With that he would pull on the beastwoman's hand and pull her towards the group. "The furry one says she is going to help us learn how to use those pointy sticks better."

Mushtoad wasn’t inclined to answer any questions about her beloved friend who died a petty death and she hoped was living his best life in the stars above, she would look toward mushtoad then rolled her eyes, she was tired of being around the fool and would decide to go for a hunt to clear her mind. However his attempts to have himself heard would cause him to beastwoman to look at him in a confused manner, she was then dragged over to the two other groups. It would feel as he wanted her to spar with them but she was way above going their since hurting or killing them wouldn’t guarantee her freedom.

Mushtoad would take one of the Pickaxes from one of the two Myconids and hand it to the Beastwoman. "Can you show us what we can do with these things? Besides hurting others" He would say with wide eye holes, hoping that he could probably get her to train the others how to use this tool better. He would then step back a few feet with the others and would then await the demonstration on how to use the pickaxe. If the beast woman hesitated the Myconid would simply motion for the creature to begin to do what it does.