The quills are a necessary deterrent considering they're Very fragile despite their size. They're about as fragile as Saint is.
This is very much a result to being an over engineered freak
Despite being as tall as Gourmand and as strong as Arti and Hunter, they still boast their ingame weight. This is a result of air sacs but also of bones that are rather low density. There have been incidents where their own muscles have broken their bones
And thats just one of the issues they have, of course
Anyway, unlike in-game Spearmaster they have a limit of only being able to make 5 needles per cycle. They can, however, use the same needle to feed from multiple corpses. This does mean they can't actually use the spears for combat
I can tell from here that your structure is under a lot of stress. If you were to push it much harder, that could lead to damage or a forced shutdown..
We really don't want that to happen. I don't want that to happen.
[HOLOGRAM MANIFEST]
[Echo takes Stories hands in hers, sitting on the floor of his chamber. She looks.. equally as tired.]
After all, I love you, don't I? There's no fun in shutting down and leaving me hanging!
....
Please, Stories, all I ask is that you be careful.
13ES: I... I will.
I'll be here... but... I don't know how things will go. Please be careful too.
There is a brief, tense moment of silence. Arti jumps down from the throne structure with a loud thud, then rushes towards the “guest” who, supposedly, has a scent just like her.
Marbles feels intimidated and she turns away briefly, unable to stand Arti’s sharp scent, which is filled with nose-burning cherrybomb-like powder. In turn, Artificer gives her a sniff back… and finds that there is something very familiar about it. She can’t put a finger on it, though.
Artificer: (in a stern voice) “You. Where you from”
Marbles: (quietly) “Um… outer wall… but born here”
Arti straightens up her posture, then points directly at Marbles.
Artificer: “You smell familiar”
Marbles: (a little unsure) “You smell… like cherrybomb?”
Now that Marbles can smell the scent clearly, something clicks in her mind. Suddenly, she remembers.
Marbles: “Cherrybomb powder and bloodtrunk…”
The scent brings back memories. Her mother used to craft makeshift grenades with cherrybomb fruit, but they had a hint of bloodtrunk in them because of how often she used its gel insides to treat light burns. This aroma combination is unmistakable, and the realization sets in.
Marbles: (in a shaky voice, eyes welling up) “…mom?”
The word echoes in Arti’s mind like a scream tearing through the deafening silence.
This strange slugcat fawning in front of her? She remembers her scent now.
Arti takes the Chieftain mask off her head, and throws it to the ground. The scavengers who gathered around look confused. Their infamous “ruler” was never seen in such broken state before.
The realization is too much for Artificer, and her mind shatters into a million pieces.
Artificer: (in a raspy voice) “Child…”
Artificer: (screaming her lungs out) “MY CHILD!!”
The sudden shouting scares Marbles, who curls up and shakes in fear.
This is nothing close to what One had planned. These two slugcats should be fighting to the death by now. One frowns, feeling that something is terribly off. Three looks back at them, not sure what to do.
Arti reaches out to Marbles. She slowly wraps her arms around her child, and pulls her close into her chest. Marbs recognizes her mom’s scent again, and calms down, then hugs her tightly.
The mother and daughter are finally reunited.
---
Artificer and Marbles communicate in Yongasabi, a fan-made conlang for the slugcats of Rain World, created by @opashoo. Because of this, the scavengers around them can’t understand what the two slugcats are saying.
This update is an improved version of an older comic that I posted on March 2024.
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