Curiosity killed the Cat [Mushtoad's Adventures]

Mushtoad and Rio would retrieve their weapons from in inside the monkey that they had just slaughtered, the former letting the blood drip onto his skin so he could absorb some of the nutrients from it. That was until he saw the hungry look in Ruff's eyes as it looked at the body and would walk up to his new pet, stroking it's head. "Back at Patch, you will eat it. Not now." He would say to the pup before he would look over at the other two myconids. "Bring it along with us, after we find out whats over the hill, we will take it back to the patch so I can try and find out some use for it." With that, Mushtoad would lead the group towards the source of the mana he was detecting.

Upon cresting the hill, the band of Myconids and Wolf Pup would find a single orc sitting at the base of the hill. It appeared to be a female, slightly scrawnier than the hardy males, but clearly defined muscles still prevalent beneath the rough fur hides she wore as clothing. The orc sat on a down turned log, gnawing at some meat left on a creature bone. She looked about, clearly keeping an eye on the area, but for the moment had not yet looked up to the top of the hill. However, the myconids were to the side of her, so it was only a matter of time before she spotted them and they had little cover at the top to really hide or blend into. Another throbbing pulse echoed in MushToad's head, now very clearly coming from this orcish brute.

If Mushtoad had a mouth, anyone watching would be able to see a smile grow across his face, however,  simply finding this creature was the easy part. The more difficult task at the moment was trying to communicate with the creature without it turning into a brawl, he just had to try and figure out how exactly this was going to happen. "Circle around this thing as quietly as you can and keep an eye on me, the moment it attacks, I want you three to come in and help me out. Pea, you stay in this spot" Mushtoad would say through his spores to his group as they all moved as stealthily as they could to get into position as Toad would sneak up behind the orc that was feasting upon the piece of flesh. "Don't do anything stupid, you are surrounded by 20 other beings right now. We don't want to start a fight, we want to know if you want to come with us and never go hungry again" Mushtoad would say to the orc through his sporelingo, hoping that he would be able to convince the creature of coming with them back to the patch. "Besides myself and two others out of hundreds of my kind, we are the only ones who eat meat. So anything that you kill you get to keep as food or whatever it is you wanted to use it for. Nod for Yes, Shake your head for a No"

The orc mage would go rigid as a new voice entered her mind. She looked about, confused and noticed Pea attempting to move through the foliage. Unfortunately, she had been the only one in the party who hadn't been able to acquire sneak just yet, and as a result she stood out like a sore thumb. The orc grunted in annoyance, rising from her log and looking at Pea while Toad continued to talk in her head. Mhmmm OUT! She bellowed, No tricks in my head! The orc raised her hand, pointing at Mushpea. Magic energy swirled around her finger tip and then...fizzled out. This seemed to only annoy the orc further as she reached for a large stick resting on the log beside her and surveyed the area, swinging the crude magic staff about as she searched. Come out! No tricks! She growled towards the forest.

Spoiler:

Toad would let out a sigh as he would start waving his hands in order to get the orc's attention. "No, not a trick. Look down towards me." Toad would say still waving his hands hoping the rest of his party would stay back until it was absolutely necessary, but also to let the orc know it wasn't a trick. "This is just you and me right now, talking. Well more me talking, well more like asking if you want to come home with us. If you are nice we can give you food" Meanwhile seeing the orc try and cast a spell at her, Pea would just drop down into a crouch holding their head, visibly shaking in fear. So much has happened in the past few days since teaming up with Toad, and for the life of her, Magic was one of the few things she failed in. Rio and Ruff however were keeping their position, taking advantage that they weren't spotted. "If you're mean however, I promise it won't end will for you"

The orc would notice movement in the brush and turn her staff towards Toad, clear annoyance on her face. Tch, small pant. She lowered her staff, retrieving the food she had been eating before Toad and his crew arrived. She ripped off the remaining shreds of meat and tossed the bone to the side. Orc strong, no need small plant. She would turn, leaving her small makeshift camp area and begin walking away in the opposite direction of Toad, clearly uninterested in Toad's proposal. To the orc, Toad was nothing more than a puny plant and that meant he was weak, she had no time for weaklings. Whether that meant following weaklings or even wasting her time fighting with them, they were simply beneath her.

If you could see the expression on a Myconids face, you would be able to see the look of pure disappointment towards this orc. Dangerous thing to turn your back on something you perceive as weak, never know what exactly would happen when your back is turned. Which Toad as the Orc's back was turned, he would pull out his down locust mandibles keeping his eyes on the orc before moving silently behind it. Once stealthily positioned behind it, the mushroom would swing those blades at the ankles of the orc. Perhaps this would slow it down, if not get it to listen to him with a more open mind. "You see, that was the wrong kind of answer I was looking for." Saying that the myconid would say in the mind of the orc while walking around it. "Now I'm going to ask you again. Come with us peacefully, or we eat you Alive"

Bye Plant. Just as the swipe was going to pass through the orcs leg, she had built up mana in her body the entirety of the time she had been walking away, and leapt forward by a few meters. Almost into the brush. She was leaving. She had better things to do then deal with a measly plant. She'd jump up into a tree and began using her mana enhanced leaps to traverse. She was speeding away but not out of reach just yet.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would scoff at the orc as it had jumped out of the way of their combined attacks, and out motion for the others to come closer to him. "Orc Weak To Run From Plants!!!" He would spore shout towards the fleeing orc, then raise his hands to fire off 2 Mana balls at the orcs legs in order to prevent it from running away any further while the other three gave chase to the fleeing orc. Ruff getting that real hunger in it's eyes, while the two myconids seemed to start enjoying going out on their hunting parties with with their leader Toad. After firing off his Mana balls, Toad would too start to give chase to the magic using orc, Observing how the creature used it's Mana to leap into the air, and would channel Mana into his legs in order to try and boost his own speed. If he could move faster, perhaps he could jump farther next time he tried to jump, right?

OrcJanna had enough of this pitiful taunting. She heard the plant in her mind once again. As if screaming in her ear that she was weak. She stopped jumping forward and just as she were to jump in another direction, ‘BOOM’ The orbs filled with mana crashed into the Orc Mages’s Cloak. Nearly evaporating the poor thing. She slammed back onto a branch and boyo was she angry. She stood up and looked down to see the pest of a plant had friends and they were circling the bottom of the tree she was on. She looked over to where the plant would be that nearly destroyed her cloak. She got this off a giant Tanuki when she was just an orcling. Now this plant who she could see was trying to attempt to use a mana infused jump like her, get the concept but the output of mana in its legs was not adequate so it kept flopping. It could use mana to attack, so it was enough of a threat to warrant an attack of her own. ”This is your only warning. Leave now and you won’t die.” She pulled out a small fetish comprised of the top half of a skull of a wolf pup, shells weaved onto strings hanging off the fangs, attached to what seemed to be a nicely polished stone. Then continued her jump prior and jumped to the tops of the trees and would begin to sneak around. Getting a clear shot wouldn’t be so easy with her atop of the canopy.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad's stock would form a grin under his hollowed eyes as his mana balls would make contact with the orc's legs as it tried to jump away, and would look to the others as they formed a perimeter around the tree it was currently standing on. Keeping his eyes on the Orc as it spoke a threat the myconid would speak to one of his comrades. "Rio, if you see it or that weapon at all coming towards me as I make my way up, fire a mana ball at it" He would say as he would start to make his climb up the tree, thankfully he was more adapted to it at this point and would start to make his way up towards the top of the tree as fast as he could. Mushrio would nod to Mushtoad as he lowered his weapon and hold out his hands getting ready to fire at whatever came out of the canopy of the trees the moment something had come out while Mushpea and Pupruff circled the tree ready to attack the moment the orc came crashing to the ground. Meanwhile Mushtoad continued their climb up to the top of the tree but not making it's way there just yet, but making sure to not come out the same spot the orc did as it's weapon did seem rather menacing looking, and putting up it's own Mana protection over his own armour.

[[using those 500 bonus exp for Climb. Made it halfway up the tree]]

Suddenly something plunged toward the ground and MushRio had attacked the falling object. Her fetish! It was blown back toward the sky after the hit from the ball. Then OrcJanna dropped down, apparently the plant thought it was strong enough to fight her in the trees. "Tch... Annoying! Taste a real attack... She chanted a quick incantation and with a wave of her hand a sparking ball of mana shot out, it seemed the fetish was simply just for show, or was it. Aiming for the leader was traditional but why do that when their leader was helpless to aid his allies on the ground? It seemed the plants had another mage in their midst, the one who probably shot her before. "Die!" The sparking ball of mana was heading to MushRio and was coming in hot. She jumped from branch to branch in a large triangle, always keeping her eye on the one crazy enough to climb up the tree.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would head the orc say something as he climbed up the tree, and would look upwards towards the orc as it had formed a Mana Ball in it's hands, but it seemed to be different from the ones that he had witnessed or performed in the past. Then again, besides Rio, Toad hasn't seen anyone else perform magic, so it wasn't exactly too "Shocking" to witness this feat. However, that wasn't going to help the situation currently, and instead of continuing the climb up the tree he would instead jump off the tree in hopes of intercepting the Electro ball while putting up his own mana aura to try and protect himself from the attack at the same time. Hopefully while doing this his cap would be able to catch a bit of wind in order to slow his fall, however he was prepared for the worst in case it didn't while firing off his own Mana ball at the orc in the meantime. The other on the ground seemed to be rather helpless in the situation, But MushRio would stay true to their owrd and begin to fire off another Mana ball at the Orc who was now jumping around from tree branch to tree branch.

used:

The Orc saw as her Electroball had been absorbed into the little Mushbrat, appearing as if the electricity was consumed by MuhToad's aura and then the remaining manaball smacked into the Myconid. She was confused as the attack was supposed to be far more grand. In that one moment of confusion, dooounsch! MushRio's Manaball connected with the Orcs head and she began to fall to the ground. Then! CRACK!   Another Ball to the gut.

She crashed against much of the foliage, breaking several branches and taking a bunch of leaves with her before falling in a well placed bush of mod convenience. Having suffered the nasty fall. She immediately fell unconscious. Succumbing to the shock and probable internal bleeding. It seemed this victory went to the Mushrooms.

Spoiler:

Mushtoad would hit the ground with a resounding this, after doing so monumentally stupid as jumping off a tree without a plan probably wasn't his brightest moment. However with Rio's help, the green monster would hit the ground with an even louder this, followed by the sound of snoring. Which was a good sign for him, he made a promise to this being, and to his wolf pup. So the hunting party would gather around the motionless body on the ground, and Toad would motion for the others to cover a limb before stabbing down on it with their weapons. The two pickaxes would come down on the palms of this creature's hands, hoping this would wake the thing up enough for this. "I told you what would happen if you ran... Hope you stay alive for this, for the most part anyways. Enjoy the meal" He would say before the entire party started to devour the body of the Mage Orc.

The orc would scream in sudden pain, causing the forest to echo with the horrendous sound. She went to move out of the way, but her eyes were wide with panic as she found herself unable to free her hands from the pickaxes. While the wolf pup dove in head first and began eating the living creature like any other predator would, blood caking its snout and insides spreading across the forest floor, the myconids had a different style of easting. The small fungus creatures would gather around the orc and begin to drain the energy from her body. Her muscles would become strained and then relax, her bones would become brittle and she would simply begin to mummify and waste away. To any onlookers, this was truly a nightmarish sight.

As the hunting party finished their feast, their bellies full, Mushtoad would notice a strange stone fall out of the chest cavity of the Orc Mage, or what was left of her anyway. Regardless of what he did, the group had a decision to make. The sun hung low on the horizon and their travels had taken them far from home. If they turned back now, they'd make it back just before the creatures of night came out of their dens. Anything else and they'd be hard pressed to avoid the nocturnal monsters.

Gains from eating:

With blood dripping off the snout of Pupruff's snout, the wolf pup would look up at the others in the hunting party. The three myconid's looking a tad bit more plump after draining all the nutrients from the orc corpse, and give Mushtoad a slight nod before walking around the shriveled body and sitting at Toad's side. Who was now looking at the blue sparky stone that had fallen to the ground, picking it up in his hands, the myconid would place the stone in his gills in order to keep it with all of his other magic stones the group has collected. The leader of the hunting party examine the remains of the orc mage that had defied him, and would start to gather everything from the site before making the walk back to the mushroom patch.

[[Toad and Company exit]]