Option B is the only option with the end goal being Influence. It would be interesting to see what happens if there is enough ability to have the alarune be influenced to dig downward while "controlling" the fight with the necromancer via the harpy. I think having the harpy participate in any way in the likely upcoming fight would be catastrophic.
My goal is to basically find a way to annihilate all parties involved in the likely confrontation. Being able to advise the harpy that the necromancer would be under the influence of the other tentacle would give the insight to likely annihilate both, and go from there.
I would personally only be using the harpy for the short term for the battle, and would seriously consider killing either/both the harpy or warrior post battle if there were an opportune moment to do so.
Choice 4 wins - drain Ket, infrest Zelari. But what's the goal?
To answer questions, you can't communicate with perception, but you can communicate with your host using symbiosis (limited) and its followup, Influence (200 energy, but you have at least 160 incoming). With your basic aura sense you can also tell roughly when to stop draining.
New vote! Do you:
A.) Kill Ket with the drain, use her death to motivate the others.
B.) Drain Ket lightly, manipulate her indirectly when she wakes.
With energy absorption you have evolved to Young Tentacle! (-300 Energy, gain Influence, stats boosted)
Current Status:
Small Young Black Tentacle
Health: 50/50
Energy: 100/1500
Overlord Energy 125
Abilities: Stealth I, Infest I, Symbiosis I, Aura Sense I, Perception, Influence
Status: Dark Blessing
Host: Zelari – Harpy, great condition (unaware, symbiosis active)
DATA:
Time: Pre-Dawn
Allies: Hul’jet (Floor 1 Sigil Crypt); of Zelai: Cambor & Ket (F2 North)
Known Entities: Runestone (F3 North), Purple Spawn (F2 East), Green & Blue Spawn (F1 South?), Demonic Aura (F2 West), Adventurers (F2 Southwest), Three ?? Humanoid Males (F1 South?)
You quickly decide that the harpy poses your best chance of manipulating the group. She’d be a harder target than the mandragoran, though. Maybe if you drained a little from the plant-girl to boost your reserve. A wicked though enters your mind, and you slither over to her green form.
Like a shadow you rise over her. Tendrils extend from your back, piercing her flesh at the edge of her wounds. You feel the energy flow through them, a warm and comforting pulse like a lover’s heartbeat. You draw ever closer, basking in the green fluid that seeps from the wound. Such a wonderful elixir! To think that any mortal creature was so gifted, a thing of fleeting beauty just like the blossom on her head!
But the pulse weakens even as you revel in it. It wouldn’t do if this flower were to wilt too soon. Using a bit of your newfound energy you seal the wounds, watching to ensure she stabilizes.
Now for the main course!
Drawn by the sweet musky scent emanating from her loins, you creep up beside the sleeping harpy. You approach lightly, barely ruffling her feathers as you move over them. Like a thief in the night you crawl over her wings, down her thighs, until you rest before her most private place.
With a tendril you sample the intermingled fluids pouring from the entrance, then apply it atop the sap as one more layer of lubrication on your body. Then in an instant you penetrate her, sliding inside in one quick motion. The harpy gasps, and you quicken your pace in response. You can feel the smooth muscles of her vagina draw in against you as you move, until finally you reach the entrance to her womb.
Here you pause, undulating in motion with her breath as she drifts back into the depths of slumber. Just a little longer now!
When you’re sure she’s sound asleep you extend your tendrils one more time, twisting and them embedding them in her inner walls. A connection between your two bodies opens, and with it your infestation is complete! You can sense your host’s life force ebb and flow, strong, vital. Yours.
As the aphrodisiac seeps into her core you once again begin moving, a hypnotic dance bringing you in contact with all the right places. You sense the pleasure coursing through her nerves, feel the sensations on your skin echoes through her own. It is ecstasy. To be connected so intimately with another being, their impulses blending with your own, the pleasure that mortals dream of!
Responding to your desires and her own the harpy’s folds grow moist. You soak the fluid up greedily, surging with power as it passes through you. Far more than blood or residual auras, this is the energy source you were made for. You take it all in, increasing your stimulation, absorbing your host’s bliss and the residuals from her previous encounter. She moans, a throaty tone filled with desire. And you answer it, riding the waves of pleasure right to the crest of consciousness!
You can feel yourself changing, growing to accommodate the massive influx of energy, becoming stronger, more connected. More, more! With a final thrust you ride the waves over the edge, pushing the harpy over the edge of climax. Her pulsing muscles clamp against you, stimulating your entire body. With it you reach the height of glory, the next stage of your evolution. The last remains of your old self wash away with tides of the encounter. The world returns to silence, the steady breathing of the dreaming world.
*** Chapter 2: Infestation ***
In the wake of your transformation you feel a strange acuity. Emotions, surface thoughts, half-formed memories flowing across the link between you and your host. Your new world lies ripe with possibility.
You subtly probe. Sending a thought, an uncertainty of home, you receive an image of a nest in a crumbling tower, sky open through the ceiling high above. You press a bit more, willing a sense of comfort. The harpy breathes more deeply in response, traces of agitation and consciousness banished.
While your host slumbers your mind is racing. The purple spawn still has a lead on the runestone, but it’s bound to the necromancer in a path that will surely lead to more conflict. Fortunately, they seem to have stopped to rest on the third floor – you can faintly sense the necromancer’s aura, farther east from the runestone. It does mean they’ll be well rested. Decisions, decisions.
The most pressing issue is just how you’ll manipulate these mortals. Being undetected has its benefits, not the least of which being that unconscious influence is harder to detect by any means. But which direction to pull them in? You could pick the harpy’s mind for info while she sleeps, but it would take time. Time that could also be spent trying to probe the runestone more carefully or gain more energy…
First, though, do you want to evolve further?
A.) Morph I – 50 Energy – your body becomes nearly amorphous. You can fit through narrow spaces and adhere weakly to rough surfaces like a slug, allowing you to climb certain walls and ceilings. This makes it harder to detect physically while infesting someone, as you will displace your body mass. B.) Cock Tentacle – 75 Energy – delivery method – Your tentacle head evolves to resemble a penis. You are capable of cumming, but some denizens can use this to drain you. Cum can be used to deliver other evolved abilites. C.) Body Slime – 150 Energy – delivery method – see above, you're harder to grab. May evolve further as well – use your imagination! D.) Sleep – 150 Energy – status add (all status adds require a delivery method, either inhaled, eaten, injected, or skin contact) – this increases fatigue and makes the target drowsy, and can be used to numb a target to avoid detection. E.) Aphrodisiac I – 200 Energy – status add – increases the target’s physical sensitivity to stimulation. Your exposure to Ket’s vital fluids has allowed you to more easily evolve this, so the cost has been reduced.
Now what is your approach to the challenge before you? Feel free to add your preferred approach or desired info, good ideas will grant a bonus to the action.
1.) Runestone first!
2.) Target and eliminate purple!
3.) Focus on immediate energy so you can snag a few more evolutions!
4.) Get as much information as possible.
And how would you prefer to pursue it?
x.) Remain hidden if at all possible. Take advantage of your host’s slumber now, use subconscious influence later.
y.) Do whatever it takes to meet your goals more quickly.
I don't see any of those evolutions being handy unless we leave out new host, so let's leave those for now.
Option 2. If purple is resting, we should be able to get the first strike in, which will hopefully be decisive. That leaves the runestone open for the taking, so no worries there. I still have the boost to use for the combat, increasing our chances even further.
X. It would be harder to play the allies if we're open about it, we should be able to spawn more blacks soon, it will be easier to infest them if they remain unaware.
Evolving Morph is a given; since we are currently located in Zelari's cervix, the next time she and Cambor do the horizontal boogie, he might notice his dick poking a squishy blob that wasn't there before. Evolving the Cock-head also means that we can poke out of Zelari and rape Ket, the harpy being our possessed futa!
To take on the Necromancer with a Harpy and an Assassin would be a bit silly, but teaming up with those adventurers is an option. However, confrontation is always risky; better to avoid expending resources while letting our foe run dry, especially since a major power up is within our reach. Third, we don't know if we have to go through the necromancer to reach the Runestone.
Always remain hidden. Strike when the battle is already won.
A, B, 4, x
A thought came to mind: it may be the Necromancer's prisoner that is Purple's host. Just because it's not a natural ability for it, doesn't mean purple doesn't see the advantage in evolving Invest.
I'll go with Shrike on this one. Sleep sounds useful, but shit is it expensive. Do want some delivery methods and fun stuff to deliver, though... where's our stingers? I want stingers.
Why vote for 2? Thats just silly I think. You can just as easily influence the mandragora to dig downward. Win the race to the runestone on the floor below and then eliminating the purple tentacle/necromancer would be something of a foregone conclusion. Its a simple case of first things first.
If you do choose the combatitive route then you need to make damn sure that every one dies aside from the one person you are hoping to infest over the long term (the mandragora is best I think). So I have no problem sending the harpy and the warrior off to fight the necromancer while communicating that the necromancer is influenced by that purple tentacle.
If you choose to directly attack the necromancer and tentacle then you cannot choose X. For now..
Hello everyone, long time lurker here. But, I just couldn't stand the thought of letting this CYOA slip through my fingers like the other tent lair did.
I have to agree with taken and freeko, trudging head long into a battle with Purple and the Necromancer is just fool hardy at this point. We have only just barely infested our first host and our energy stores are low. Either working towards the runestone or just milking Zel and Ket to bulk ourselves up. Just simply thinking "O Purple is resting, sneak attack!" isn't very logcial, Purple started with Mana Drain I and it is paired with a necromancer. Something there kinda tells me that Purple has had a chance to gain a ton of power from the Necromancer's magic and the other girl, if she is magically inclined as well and Purple is hosting or at least feeding off of her then whats to say Purple hasn't evolved some way to mask its aura? Which would lead us straight into a losing battle. Digging down or in to power up seem like the only tactical options.
Taken had an excellent point on what evolution to take next, Morph would drastically improve our ability to remain hidden while our infestation takes deeper hold. The Cock Tentacle evolution just more seems like fun right now, maybe if we had more energy reserves first, no sense spending it all at once.(but have to admit I kinda fancied the possessed futa idea.)
Another point on evolution, is it at all possible to find out how much Infest II would cost, or any other prerequisites we might need.
Well to cut to the important stuff: A. 3. X.
I doubt many will side with option 3, so as a backup vote for a tie or whatnot, throw my lot in with 1
I will try to keep the posts a bit briefer in the future.
Honestly assuming there are no purples there yet, 1 and 4 seem more or less the same to me, so I say A: Morph then use our new found shapeshifting to squeeze through cracks and crawl along the walls and ceilings attempting to stay as much out if sight as possible and silently and slowly make our way to the rune stone for another good sized energy pump. IOW: A, 1, X.
Quick update: As Overlord, Shrike7 has unlocked the Spawning evolution tree and elected to share it with you. The bonuses of a beneficent rule!
Spawn I – 400 Energy – You spawn a small minion that obeys your orders mindlessly, acting on instinct outside of your control range. The evolution gives you one free minion, but the cost is mainly for the ability to do so – additional spawn are cheaper. They will lack most abilities, but they are available immediately. Ovipositor – 350 Energy – You grow an ovipositor tentacle and the ability to seed a host with eggs. These grow quickly, hatching into spawn which will draw strength from the host and gaining abilities as they grow. Fertile Cum – 300 Energy – requires Cock Tentacle – Your cum can impregnate the females of most species, though odds may vary. The resulting spawn will grow faster than normal, and may be enhanced depending on your connection to it’s host. Symbiote Servant – 800 Energy – Evolve the ability to split off another symbiote by mitosis. It can infest hosts on its own, holding most of your abilities, and can act on its own initiative. It is subservient unless it becomes markedly more powerful than you. As a separate approach, a symbiote grafting to a fetus or young child will form a hybrid that considers you one of its “parents” and is far easier to control. Once you have the ability, other symbiotes are cheaper. Core – 500 Energy – You evolve a solid core which stores energy. If your body is destroyed but the core is not, its stored energy will be used to spawn a new body some time later.
Holy crap those are expensive. I also have a personal pool of 100 energy to spend on just those, pretty sure.
Okay, we need more energy for that, I'll switch my vote to convincing ket to dig as well. I still vote on holding back on Morph or Cock tentacle, as we should have enough time to evolve those as they become needed.
So yeah, switching vote to 1 and keeping X.
EDIT: Sorry, just got an update, 200 personal energy for that tree.
...if I read it right, we currently only have 125 energy for evolutions. Therefore, Ovipositor (at 350) is currently out of our reach, as is many of the other "I want dis!" options.
My vote, for the current situation, is A - spend 50 energy getting Morph I, B - spend 75 energy getting Cock Tentacle, 4 - continue gathering information, and X - stay hidden. I rather like the_taken's reasoning behind the two evolutions.
Unfortunately, I don't see any easy way of getting Zelari to go after the runestone. As Hul'jet noted before, harpies are not known for their love of the underground, so getting her to want to go down floors is going to take some doing - or external reasoning. I want to know two things that this trio can answer... who injured Ket, and what was Cambor's barfight about? If it was the necromancer who hurt Ket, then we'll have more of an impetus towards going down.
Well, with my personal energy, we're only 25 short of Ovipositor, which we should be able to gain with just a nudge, now that we have a host. I would like to wait and save for the symbiote, as it would have better capabilities, but 800 seems horribly expensive.
Maybe ask if we can evolve ovipositor this turn, if we gain any more? Save us from doing it next turn, maybe gives us a chance at ket or blades before they wake up?
