Scene 10: A Meeting of Scavengers

The lizard hasn't moved when you power back on. For a moment you wonder if it's dead, but then it snorts, shaking its head, and gives you a last glare before shuffling off to the far end of the temple. You watch as it arduously wriggles its way through a narrow tunnel you hadn't noticed before, its dark tail lashing as it slowly crams itself in. Presumably, the tunnel leads outside. You did briefly wonder how it got in here, and you suppose you just got your answer.

You, however, will need to use the door. It opens smoothly, as it had the previous cycle. The sky, though more clear than when you last saw it, bears heavy clouds fairly close on the horizon. You'll have progressively less time to move around the closer you get to Five Pebbles' facility grounds, and you're now on your way to the boundary between your facility grounds and his.

Before that, though, you have scavengers to contend with. You don't see any right now, but you'll inevitably run into a few sooner or later. At least you're almost fully healed by now?

>Can I go around to scout the road ahead?

With a flicker of its tendrils, one of your overseers zips off ahead of you. You watch it dip up and down across the marshy ground between you and the growing towers ahead, adjusting your focal length before it's too small to make out among the rest of your facility grounds. You sit down to wait.

A short while later, your overseer returns, relaying information about the several groups of scavengers it saw. Most of the packs are clusters of three to five, all of them armed to varying degrees. Some have explosives, but most are carrying around broken rebar fashioned into spears. You opt not to think about where they're getting their materials.

None of them have any particularly interesting features; they all sport brown fur of varying shades, with varying fur lengths. Their eyes aren't clear enough from the data you have for you to be able to determine if any of them have more peculiar eye colors either. A couple have longer tails, but tail length is highly variable and not generally unique.

There are, however, many more scavengers around this area than you previously expected. Some may be from Five Pebbles' facility grounds, but even so, there's clearly a sizeable population of scavengers on yours. You should have enough materials to pass safely, at least. You just didn't expect them to be this... prolific.

Dusting yourself off, you get up, doing a few test swings of your lance as you start heading towards the growing towers. Your overseer didn't report any other threats along the way. You hope it's right.

>Keep cherrybomb plant or flashbang close for trading. Best to save the empty pearl for a scavenger toll later on, and bomb will piss them off when they hardly know you. Also DON'T swing your giant lance at them. There's hope to see a blue eyed one!

To be honest, you really doubt there is a toll in this part of your facility grounds. What little you've noticed of their 'tolls' are discrete, usually disguised as a stray strap of plant matter hanging from a random rock. A few times, your overseers have caught trade happening at these locations, but they were quickly chased off by the scavengers. You, with your comparatively unorthodox appearance, are unlikely to be regarded as a potential trading partner. You're not even sure if gifts would grant you safe passage.

You keep an eye out for scavengers as you make your way south, holding your lance close. You're not sure what to expect. You know they're intelligent enough to understand that you could be a potential ally, once they can comprehend that you have no intention to hurt them. But you doubt they've ever seen something like you—like your puppet before. They could easily just choose to attack you no matter what. Maybe they would liken your appearance to a purple lizard?

Something pings off your lance, and you instinctively raise it as you look towards the source. The rock gently rolls to a stop in front of you; you look up to see a tan colored scavenger—dark eyes, short eartlers, a hint of a tail underneath the fur—glaring at you. It has another rock clutched in its hand, and it raises the rock in warning.

You hesitate.

>Oh dear, before anything, don't point your lance at it and don't make direct eye contact. Stand your ground though, since it's just rocks I suggest don't run away yet, let's see what its intentions are.

The moment your overseer pops out of the ground, the scavenger bristles and reaches for one of the spears on its back. You yelp, dodging in front of your overseer. The scavenger narrows its eyes to slits, and it rustles its back spines angrily as it points its spear at your face, a low, threatening chatter rumbling out of its throat.

Pearls, you have pearls. You shove your hand into your pockets and pull one out as fast as you can. The scavenger bristles again as you thrust the pearl towards it, shaking its spear, but then blinks as it recognizes the object. It looks between you and the pearl, still holding its spear.

You're gripping the pearl so tightly your hand is shaking. You force yourself to relax, offering the small diamond sphere palm up to the scavenger. Its lowers its spear slightly, but continues staring at you—no, your lance. You drop it, then wince as it sinks into the mud with a squelch. You have bigger problems to worry about, but you're not looking forward to retrieving it later.

The scavenger stares at you for a few more seconds, then begins slowly, warily climbing down towards you, its gaze flickering back to you with every step it takes. You let it approach, trying not to fidget. It's scared, and of course it is, but if this encounter is any indication of what the rest of your journey through this part of your facility grounds will be like, you would much, much rather this be over with sooner than later. Your overseer better have gone someplace where it's not constantly under threat of being stabbed by a scavenger.

The scavenger stops when it's about level with your face, hanging from one arm off the remains of the growing tower that you're standing next to. It blinks at you a few times, then snatches the pearl out of your hand and scurries back up the tower so quickly you barely manage to follow its path up. You get a closer glimpse at its tail as it scrambles away from you; it's definitely on the shorter end of tail lengths you've seen, but it's not startlingly short either. (-1 pearl)

You can't see the scavenger once it clambers up over the edge of the remains of the growing tower, but you can still hear it scuffling up there. At any rate, it probably won't bother you anymore. You sigh as you pick up your lance, wiping some of the mud off with your hand. You should get this cleaned off before the end of the cycle so it doesn't rust, but at the moment you need to keep moving.

You're at the start of where your hydroponics sector is—or used to be, judging by the state of this growing tower you're next to. Those closer to your can appear to have been more heavily damaged by the rain you produced. You can also see a lighting rod tower somewhat in the distance in a similar dilapidated state.

You scrape more mud off your lance and sigh again. You think the ground below you used to be soil plots; your sector was mostly hydroponics focused, particularly in the areas further south, but there were also some soil plots for crops that required the additional room for their roots. The rain hasn't spared any of it though.

>…sorry. I will go look around if there's clean water pool nearby....

Your overseer, peeking out from the base of the growing tower now that the scavenger is gone, waves its body in a way that implies shame. You huff, flicking your hand at it to dismiss it; it zips away with a brief impulse about searching for water. You scan the area quickly for other scavengers as it leaves, and you find none. With any shred of luck, your overseer shouldn't be threatened by them again.

You're going to need to be very careful with your overseers. You don't want any of them dying, and you can't replace any of them if they do. You don't even know exactly why the scavengers are so eager to attack overseers. It's some way of showing defiance, sure, but you'd really rather they opt for a different way of displaying it.

After a few moments and some fruitless scraping of mud on your end, your overseer returns, bearing no news of water. It does, however, show the tufts of worm grass growing around the lightning rod tower in the distance. You do need to stock up on food, and maybe there'll be supplies at the other tower. You hasten towards it with one last firm shake of your lance; much to your disappointment, none of the mud comes off.

You wipe some of it off the tip of your lance as you get to the lightning rod tower before swinging it at the worm grass, cleaving through a large swathe of the mutated wheat. Thankfully, the ground here is less waterlogged due to the abundance of worm grass, and you don't have to shake off as much mud before pocketing the sustenance. (+6 worm grass)

Then, you glance up, and you lock eyes with a scavenger, one that's hanging off the side of the lightning rod tower. It has dark fur, wide amber eyes, and a long, thin set of eartlers that rustle as it blinks at you. Three more scavengers, all perched at various locations on the tower, are also staring at you, all of them wide eyed. A grey one with bright yellow eyes chatters nervously at you, carefully pulling itself up into a sitting position. It seems they had a similar idea to get supplies from around this tower; none of them appear to be armed at the moment, though the white one—it has a pretty sizeable tail, you note to yourself—has its hands wrapped around some rebar that is jutting out of the tower, as if it was about to break it off... somehow. You've never actually watched them do this before, you realize.

The brown scavenger rustles its spines anxiously, rapidly blinking at you. None of the rest make a move. You stare back, a little lost on what to do. For all you've seen of the scavengers, you've never really thought about how to interact with them.

>Maybe walk around the tower in a wide circle? Ok I will go hiding nearby, be careful!

The scavengers chitter agitatedly as your overseer pops out of the ground, but none make any moves towards you or it. Without any weapons on hand, all they do is scramble higher up the tower and watch you as you begin walking in a wide circle around them.

You find yourself staring back at them as you walk. You know they live in groups, often in clusters of ten to twenty, though you know a tribe can be as small as five scavengers. It wouldn't be presumptuous to think these four are from the same tribe as that of the tan colored one you saw earlier. Could there be more than one tribe on your facility grounds? With how your farm sector is linked with that of Five Pebbles', there could easily be a mixture of scavenger tribes in this area, though you wouldn't expect scavenger tribes to migrate this far north unless they were driven by some great need.

The white scavenger, after blinking at you a few more times, turns back to the exposed rebar on the lightning rod tower and pulls something out of the belt around its waist. You focus on it, quickly tweaking your visual focal length. It's some kind of saw, as far as you can tell from this distance. The brown scavenger clambers over to grasp the other end of the saw, and together, they begin to work at the exposed rebar.

Obviously, some parts of your facility grounds are in less than ideal condition. You know certain sectors of your communications arrays have suffered extensive damage, and that loosened components enough that you've seen scavengers easily remove metal from the damaged machinery. But this lightning rod tower still looks mostly intact. The exposed rebar is definitely not weakened enough that they could break it off with their hands, and it likely won't be for a good amount of time.

However, from the way the scavengers are sawing at the rebar, it's clear that they've done this before. Their actions are deliberate and precise, their gazes focused. The saw itself looks well used, and though you can't make out much from this distance, you can tell some definite craftsmanship was required to make it. Their confidence as they work on the rebar... the knowledge on display is beyond what you could have imagined. You didn't know they were even close to being capable of crafting such elaborate tools.

With a clang, the rebar snaps loose. The brown scavenger catches it, passing it up to the grey scavenger, before moving the saw and repeating the action. The grey scavenger inspects the ends of the spear, scratching one end on the tower with a low chatter at its companions. From the way it hefts the spear, too, you can tell they truly understand what they're doing. It's incredible.

The grey scavenger then levels the spear at you, eyes narrowing. Flinching, you take a few quick steps back, clutching your lance closer. You forgot they were looking for supplies.

>(italics) Pops out next to the white scavenger (end italics) Ohhh primitive tool making! What did they made their saw out of, and how!?

The white scavenger shrieks and leaps away as your overseer abruptly pops out of the ground next to it. It immediately realizes its mistake as it plummets towards the ground, flailing as it falls, but it doesn't manage to grab onto the tower. It lands in a patch of worm grass, briefly stunned by the fall, but it begins writhing and shrilling in terror as the worm grass closes in on it.

Amid the screeching of the other scavengers, you run in, cutting the worm grass in your way with wide sweeps of your lance. The white scavenger thrashes harder as you approach, eyes wide in fear, but its entire body is stuck to the ground, held in place by the worm grass. You hesitate briefly; one wrong swing, and you could kill this scavenger, and its struggling is not helping you. "Stay still," you dumbly say, then remember that they can't understand you.

No time to lose, you're just going to have to go at it. You swing your lance at the patch around its head. It screams as your lance glances off its eartlers, but the swing successfully severs the worm grass holding its head down. "Sorry," you mutter, aiming at its arm. The worm grass falls away, and it rips its arm away from the remaining strands. Adjusting yourself, you swing at the other arm; the worm grass sags as you separate the writhing stalks from their roots.

There's a glimmer of understanding in the white scavenger's eyes as you glance at it again, though its chest still heaves in fear. It lifts itself up slightly with its arms, showing the worm grass attached to its back. You grip your lance more tightly. By the stars, this is hard to maneuver with. But you ready yourself, quickly judging the angle, and you swing, your lance going clean through the stalks without nicking the scavenger.

You waste no time cutting away the rest of the worm grass, now with the aid of the white scavenger carefully positioning itself. Its companions quiet as you work, though you hear one snuffling anxiously as you make the last swing, freeing the white scavenger's foot. The moment it is free, it sprints towards the tower, scrambling up towards its companions. Standing together in a clump, the four scavengers stare at you, spines rustling nervously. The grey scavenger is still holding the spear, but it's not pointing it at you anymore, at least.

A glint in the worm grass catches your attention, and you walk over to inspect it, cutting away the worm grass as you move in. It's the saw the scavengers were using. The handle is made of woven strands of some kind of fiber, hardened and shaped to be easy to hold. The saw part is a strip of metal, sharpened at the cutting edge. You can see the somewhat more blunted parts, a result of the sawing the scavengers were doing earlier. It's definitely not the most sophisticated tool, but it's a sturdy one, and—you flip it around to inspect the sides—it's designed such that the blade is replaceable. If you hadn't seen this, you would not have thought they were capable of crafting such things.

You hold the saw up to the scavengers. They stare at you a while longer, but the brown scavenger hesitantly reaches down to accept the offering. They continue staring at you as you begin to walk away, keeping your gaze on them. None of them make any moves to attack you, but they do not move from their perch either.

A distant rumble of thunder causes you to look up at the sky. It's grey, though the clouds are still approaching. You should start looking for a place to ride out the rain.

Though, you wouldn't know where. Presumably one of the growing towers around here would be a suitable place to stay, but you'd need to figure out which. You don't need it to be water tight, necessarily; as long as you're out of the rain and can stay dry in your little corner, you'll get by.

You cast a glance back at the scavengers, who are now climbing down from the tower, likely having come to a similar conclusion as you did. Perhaps you could follow their lead...?

>Follow them?

You allow the scavengers to get a head start, adjusting your senses as you wait. The four constantly glance back at you as they scamper off, but they seem slightly less afraid of you. Their urgency now is more driven by the rain than your presence, it seems. All the better; you’re not interested in making an enemy out of them.

At as slow a pace as you’re willing to maintain to not scare the scavengers any more than you already have, you trail behind them, glancing around you as you walk. You could have sworn there was… more infrastructure here, before. Or at least the growing towers were placed closer together. The crumbled remains of the towers are sprinkled around you generously, but they’re spaced further apart than you would otherwise have thought, and most are in far worse condition than you expected. You’ve not paid attention to the decay of your facility grounds for a long time now, but the extent of the damage comes as a surprise. You can’t imagine all of it has been buried under the mud…?

Then again, the layout of your facility grounds was always more peculiar than that of your siblings’. More of yours was repurposed from much older constructions, and swathes of the rest were left untouched. In particular, your farm sector, which was always designed to be shared with Five Pebbles, was not prioritized in your construction. It was never necessary. Maybe you’re just misremembering what your farm sector looked like.

The scavengers slow as they approach a comparatively less dilapidated growing tower, and, as you watch in bewilderment, crawl underneath the tower. You wait until they’re gone to approach, inspecting the small hole they disappeared into. Vines, slathered in dirt and mud, cover the entrance, making it less conspicuous at first glance, and the hole itself is relatively small. It would be a tight squeeze if you were to try to enter. Not that you intend to, but it’s an effective deterrent for larger creatures.

The entrance is open to the sky, meaning that it would flood, but you’re certain the burrow is larger and more elaborate than what you’re able to see right now. You’re not sure how, considering the infrastructure of the growing towers dig deep into the ground below, but clearly the scavengers have found a way to work around it. Perhaps some way to drain the water? You really can’t imagine.

For now, though, you leave the burrow alone, and cast your gaze up to the rest of the tower. This one is mostly intact, with only small cracks in the clear walls near the base of the tower. These towers weren’t designed to have external input, but you find a large enough crack in the walls for you to crawl through and enter the tower regardless. The plots in here are mostly mud and dust now, all traces of the hydroponics arrays drowned in an avalanche of silt, but—you wheeze out a breath painfully as you pull yourself up to the second level, your lungs reminding you of the remnants of the poisoning you gave yourself—the upper levels are pretty dry.

You peer down below you as you settle against the wall, as if you could see through the ground into the burrow below you. There were likely more scavengers in there than you could see. Or maybe this is just a temporary burrow. You don’t really know how the scavengers move around your facility grounds. Do they wonder how and why the rain has changed? They must have noticed it getting lighter since your own output stopped.

At any rate, you’re safe from the rain for now, and so are the scavengers. That’s about as much as you could hope for.

[Proceed to Status Update 10 | Return to Status Update 9]

(This is completely irrelevant to the chapter, but I feel the need to say that this specific update pushed the word count to exactly 42,000. I just think it's neat :))