hehe

Tussocks of fur dress skin stretched over taut muscle. Upright they stand, but they look ready to drop onto fours. Their snout snarls and their ears twitch. They bark, and their hyena tribeskin answer.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

odd trinket i found powers my bizarre contraption, my strange tubes, and even my weird artifact. never needs recharging or anything. as an added bonus everywhere i go i taste metal now

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 223:

lost, i wandered through the mountains. its natural structures make it an interesting biome to explore, but a difficult one. especially since the option to avoid enemies is not nearly as viable as it is in the salt desert or even marshes. i hiked along steppes, beating back ambushing cannibals.

as i continued on, i started to feel as though i were being watched. my head was filling with a curious pressure, as if something was circling beneath my skull attempting to gain entry. i sneezed and started to walk... my sneeze had blood in it? had i sneezed that hard? was it the altitude? another drop of blood disagreed with that theory. something else was afoot.

i was too far from any safe place to flee, so i walked onwards, the stream in my nose only being a signifier of my rapidly decreasing physical state. it was if my head were being constricted by a serpent. each step brought about a newly agonizing layer of pressure to my cranium. i could take it no longer. an exhausted sigh erupted from my body as a final drop of blood raced against gravity to beat my body to the ground.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 222:

my first scheme was to acquire Fasting Way by performing the water ritual with the village worm demigod. this would help my water resources stretch until i could find some notable loot to solve the risk of dehydration. you ever been lost while still IN the Stilt?? finding my way around was nigh-impossible for some reason, the dice were not in my favor. luckily, i accidentally bumbled into some desert ruins where there was a treasure trove worth of unguarded books, one titled "A Great Deal Of Time" which is exactly what it would buy me!

i dropped off the extras at the library for an admittedly disappointing amount of XP and adventured on, heading to the ruins of Joppa to collect the droid scrambler. while there i decided to explore the waterlogged tunnel under the old well.

things were okay at first. it was quiet, too quiet. then, at 2 strata deep the chaos began. bugs were slithering all over the tunnel, fleeing from the sounds of hissing snapjaws. seeds were ricocheting off of the cavern walls from every direction. the staircase was close so, practically burning through witchwood branches, i dove down deeper.

the fight that ensued below was mostly fleeing and manipulating friendly dogs and ricocheting seeds into killing the enemies in the tunnels. i let my guard down once they had thinned out and wandered into the path of a jilted lover where i was held in place while a nearby seed-spitting vine penetrated my skull at near point-blank range. my contents spilled onto the jilted lover's vines; blood transmuting into plant matter as it is absorbed by my lover's roots.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

i win again hehe

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 221:

i was okay at everything. no specific detriments, but nothing stood out. once at the Stilt, i was able to manifest the ability to fire lasers and reinforce my carapace. i journeyed south and while lost and wandering around in the dark got the opportunity to use my light manipulation as a torch substitute. though the range was impressive, it didn't stop me from bumbling into hostiles, as i stepped right in front of an insect hive, surrounded by its newly hatched 100-legged young.

too late to flee, i tightened my carapace... and nothing happened. these weren't my enemies. walking past them, i saw the rest of their company. it was a group of pariahs! their leader assisted me with directions and i was back on my way south. along the way, i delved into some underground tunnel 1 strata deep in the salt desert. there were a few easy enemies i got to test my laser on, but nothing notable loot-wise. at the village, i received a quest to pick up an implant from another town. i was probably going to have to purchase it... and there was no way i would have the water for that anytime soon.

nevertheless, i began my jouney there as it was very close. along the way i discovered the lair of a legendary glowcrow that was under assault from a group of snapjaws. there were a preposterous amount of them, too many to handle for me currently. nowhere to run and my vitals dwindling, i attempted to siphon life from a nearby enemy while tightening my shell to withstand their attacks. even though i had rapidly advanced my carapace, its armor was still insufficient to block even the pathetic strikes of snapjaws' fangs as they pierced my shell and greedily enjoyed the gooey fabric it had failed to keep safe.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 220:

i went to the Stilt for an early boost, predictably becoming lost upon the way. i fumbled around in the dark, narrowly avoiding a dawnglider's bite and fleeing to the north. once there, i... something was off.

i was still level one... i had forgotten to even talk to the mechanimist pilgrim in my starting village in order to obtain the quest to go to the Stilt. i returned promptly there and grabbed the quest. as i journeyed back north, my water reserves began to dwindle rapidly and before long i was stranded in the desert as the thirst began to grip at my heart and smother my mind. the salt ripped the moisture from my body and i joined the legion of skeletons guarding the desert.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 219:

decided to go to the Stilt as usual. Once there, i began heading south. eventually i found my quarry- a small band of issachari raiders. i threw myself into them, ignoring the lead slugs whizzing past from the northeast. my prize, easily redeemed, was a working rifle. the former owner had used all of the ammunition, but this was easily fixed.

heading further south still i came across some ruins. here a massive battle was to be taking place and i had just waltzed into the midst of it. baboons and naaphtali began heaving stones and loosing arrows at each other. whether intentional or not, i was caught in the crossfire and shredded by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 218:

i started my walk north listening to the beginning of Free Bird, narrowly avoiding early execution by a dawnglider as i was positionally trapped between it and a group of insects in the desert. once at the Stilt i headed back south and found a group of bionic Templars making camp. very close to town indeed. i made a mental note of the location and continued on. eventually i found what i had been looking for and then some- a large group of issachari. there was even a rifleman in a vulnerable position. i lined myself up and advanced. a slug ripped through me, taking with it most of my vigor. i had no recourse for the second salvo that pierced my skull. my eyes rolled back in my head as the vision subsided and i found myself where i had been some few moments earlier. precognition is a rudimentary mutation, but it has its uses. unfortunately, my revised assault on the rifleman took a different turn. the use of my psychic abilities had torn open a rift in spacetime nearby which immediately absorbed the issachari in its light-bending field, and i along with it, down into a cave 23 strata below!

luckily i had the foresight to reset my precognition before this. i appeared back on the surface intact once more. no more games. i baited the rifleman over the dune and then put him to sleep with my gas. simple as syrup, my reward sweet as pie. i planned to take out the rest of the raiders and take their daggers. more water for the journey south. unfortunately, the next use of my sleep gas sent me immediately into another heart-sinkingly deep cavern right next to a pack of life saps.

i couldn't precognate my way out of this. i made my best attempt to weave around them. they were resistant to my sleep gas, or perhaps it was just weak. a tremendous hole opened right where a life sap had been- apparently the ground zero of a catapult assault. a group of tar-covered slugs started advancing from the east, pinning me between the sleepy life saps. in my weakened state from all the bat bites, nowhere to run and with no more tricks to pull, i was easy food for a toxic slug that attached itself to my back and burned through to my insides.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 217:

i decided on a whim to try to descend down the tunnels beneath the rusted archway. to my surprise, it was incredibly easy. my foes were wilting beneath my blows and i had a good mix of armor and dodge. the difference equipment can make is astounding. speaking of, while heading down i made an incredible discovery. i few corpses, one complete with a laser pistol!

with this new tool, getting to the bottom was easy. i was already in the possession of a rifle which had allowed progression thus far but now i would springboard ahead. i went to a nearby historical site i had discovered the location of and plundered. the bats that had taken up residence there were no match for my shiny gear and budding skill. as a reward i received a musket that when held granted a simple electrical generation ability. a piece of a puzzle, but otherwise just a trinket for now.

i had no desire to do Argyve's bidding as it would surely lead to the ruin of all of my precious metal equipment. so instead i went to some jungle ruins. overconfidence had been seeping into me this entire run. i was immediately outclassed by a group of goatfolk. i jammed a hulk honey injector into my arm, and as my muscles bulged i thought i might have a chance. but the fine goatfolk bully shrugged off my blows and delivered its own; far more effective and fatal.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

so this is cool and i didn't know: grabbing the strange tubes you are sitting on knocks you down lol

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 216:

Traveling through the desert, i became lost in some ruins. i found an abundance of books, armor, weapons, and even water. no sign of any artifacts though. in fact, the more i wandered, the less signs of technology i found. it was as if i had been cast into a technostagnant world- the only industrial-age items in my possession were the ones i had journeyed into Qud with. my pack somewhat full of loot, i decided to see what i could barter for and explore the market of the Stilt.

a hundred drams for a bolt action rifle! can you believe it! i may as well kill for the thing. as i wandered directly south of the markets, murmuring to myself about the foul prices, i walked directly into a pack of dawngliders. i had no time to think as flames erupted from no less than 5 different directions at once. the baubles i had argued over in the market were dispersed amongst the sand in the form of ash as the harsh winds blew the flaky cinders to smithereens.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 215:

i was worried about getting lost on the way to the gem of the desert, my INT was admittedly fallible, i had sacrificed brains for brawn and a menagerie of physical and mental quirks. fortunately, i was a natural wayfarer, and wandered to the Stilt with ease. my only difficult was discovering a great many ruins. once there the desert sun baked into my genome the ability to shoot rays of flame from my hands.

i travelled back to Joppa, and there spoke with the tinker who bade me visit my many explored ruins for a 'nick-nack'. first one i went to had a chest full of shiny garbage. i schooped it all up and made my way back to Joppa. Argyve was thrilled. so thrilled he decided to make me his 'new apprentice' and send me to some nearby rust bogs. i got this. once there, i scanned the surface for wire to prevent having to go down there. no luck. i did find a corpse bearing a toolkit and a steel longsword.... Argyve's old apprentice...?

the plan was to remove all of my rustable gear to prevent it from rusting. a genuis-level idea. i dove into the red hole, straight down to the bottom and immediately found 100 feet of wire! i started sloshing my way around down there, looking for the way up. the walls were covered in the sticky crimson vines. i just made my way past them, letting my lacquered stillsuit reflect their grasp. ahead there was a pig, i reached into my pack to draw my new longsword and found it eaten away by a thick layer of rust, completely unusable. they had been digging through my pack as i wandered through their tendrils.

i hated it here. all of my artifacts, including a pistol- disintigrated to dust. i fled opposite the cave into an adjacent tunnel to search for the staircase. guarding it was a mighty snapjaw warrior who, with just a touch, i bade fall in love with me completely. we headed upwards; my new guardian hacking through the subterranean rust red jungle flora ahead. at the next bog, we didn't even have to go down to complete the collection of wire.

Argyve snatched the wire with filth-stained hands, clipping off a piece and attaching it to a strange device. i kind of zoned out, but he put a bunch of stuff into my hands and pointed me in the direction of a place where i could find more tinkers like him. i knew these incredible devices would be my salvation. i still had the rifle, at least. heading to the Stilt with my companion, i geared up for the trial ahead.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 209:

i decided to do the starting village quests before heading to the Stilt. the tasks were simple enough as usual- go to a location and grab a thing. i since i started with a variety of valuable grenades, i decided to trade them with the village merchant in exchange for a musket. funnily enough, the world responded by giving me a free combat shotgun at some abandoned ruins. my simple tasks finished, i decided to explore the rusted archway before heading to Grit Gate to decode the strange signal. i didn't get far down before i opened a door and encountered an entire room full of chaingun turrets.. backing away around the corner, i closed the door with the stock of my shotgun. as i explored more, i discovered even more. bullets ricocheted off of the cave walls as i tried to navigate some clear path through the hail of bullets to a staircase down. sprinting from cover to cover was effective enough until i allowed myself to be caught in the open. pursued by enemies, i had just stepped around the corner into the firing line of 3 fully-warmed up turrets. my rubber suit did nothing to block all three salvos of hot lead as it pierced through me.

gasping at the vision of the sphynx salt injector, a shiver ran down my spine as i collected my senses. not that way. perhaps i should leave this place? any implants i may find here will do me no good dead. as i left, i came across more turrets in the open, and i truly thought this was it. oddly enough, these didn't fire at me. when i examined them more closely, it seemed they had rusted through! i rebuked one, convincing it to hand over its chaingun and ammunition! i immediately found a quiet place and used the recoiler the village had rewarded me with to escape the cave. back at the village, i was able to repair a damaged glowsphere. this was very fortunate, as i was on my last torch. unfortunately, it seemed the village tinker didn't have the skill to repair my rusted chaingun. the Barathrumites would be my only hope. it was now a race against the clock to get to the bottom of Grit Gate before the minigun disintegrated in my inventory. there at Grit Gate, i realized the nature of this run when i opened a door and was greeted again by that awful sight. it was a room full of chaingun turrets, warming up as i stood in the doorway. quickly ducking for cover, the fullcrete around the doorway was shredded to ribbons along with several of the turrets trying to shoot at enemies beyond the doorway. i just stood and waited, occasionally peeking through the doorway and receiving an onslaught of lead slugs in response. the turrets were slowly but surely thinning out their numbers. there were only about 3 now, and only one of them possessed an automatic weapon now. this was still too much to deal with, and i could not progress. but the staircase had to lie in that direction... i decided to take some distance away in the same cavern and light a fire. there, i found a spot in the corner where the lead slugs couldn't target me effectively. i spent a great deal of time baiting the turret to fire, until eventually my masochism paid off. i approached the remaining two turrets, shrugging off their bullets as i quickly closed the distance and took them out. the remaining chaingun thrashed its weapon at me uselessly. i had waited until it had used up all of its ammo. i decided to leave the helpless thing, maybe i could take its weapon later. continuing onward, i made my way down, and into Grit Gate proper. i traded with Mafeo who was able to fix my chaingun... i had almost been stopped by this weapon, and now it would be my victory.

(to be continued)

[snapjaw-scavenger]

i left Mafeo and went to a nearby historical site, a prison. i fired the chaingun wildly through the mosquito inhabitants and pigs. with 4,000 lead slugs on my person, my new toy was well-fed. while sorting loot and disassembling scrap, i slipped up and accidentally jabbed my arm with a love injector. unsure of what to do, i checked my reflection in a pool of water and fell in love with myself. lovesick, i wandered the marshes until i came across an antelope who was hated by several factions. i decided to mow down the antelopes to bolster my reputation with some more useful creatures.

i was immediately surrounded. they were fast. it was all i could do to play keep-away now as i slowly bled out, jamming myself in the arm with stims. i turned the face of my carbide folding hammer onto the head of the antelope, only for it to bounce off of the horns of the beast. those same horns then gored me to death.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 202 (act three):

act two here

i went to retrieve the venerable banana as was my quest, but i didn't encounter a lot of resistance. in fact it kind of felt like grocery shopping. nevertheless, a job well done, i quested on. in my travels i happened upon the location of the snapjaw wielding the legendary energy shield Stopsvalinn. the wielder was powerless to stop me now. i had grown accustomed to this new body and grown quite powerful. focusing my psionic power, i walled myself off with energy and then focused the weight of my swollen consciousness onto the shoulders of the snapjaw hero. the meagre creature's ego erupted under the weight of my own and its head exploded. i claimed the relic as my prize and adventured on. the bugs nesting in the tunnels above the Barathrumite's base were trivial for me to slaughter now, and i was given the task of retrieving and repairing a broken waydroid from the bowels of the doomed city Golgotha.

i threw myself down the hole and let the conveyer belts usher me to the bottom. i was accosted by sentient bile the whole way down, my stomach churning with disgust as the amoebae forced themselves into my mouth. there at the bottom i quickly found my objective and walled myself off with a psychic forcefield so i could recoil myself to safety. there back at Grit Gate i was rewarded with a fine machine pistol and a new task filled with even more danger. i was to go to Bethesda Susa to commune with an ancient machine intelligence to decode the strange signal intercepted by the Barathrumites. first there was the problem of my rapidly stiffening legs. with every step, some sinister glue churned its way down my veins.

i thought yuckwheat might be just the cure to my malady, but it became apparent that this was no normal disease as i began to move slower and slower. desperate, i dragged myself to the village of Kyakukya in search of a healer. i traded with the village mayor for a book with the cure to common diseases and discovered i would need to create a remedy from gel and asphalt. i began the trek across the desert. there i would find both slime bogs and asphalt.

at the stilt, before trading for my medicine, i visited the sacred well. i was going to be visiting the mechanamist's most holy site soon, so being on good terms with them was a must. i tossed a bunch of junk down their hole- mostly unusable implants i was planning to sell anyways. my reputation impeccable, i began to rest up for my next journey, praying that the gel and asphalt treatment cured my rapidly stiffening hips.

(to be continued in act four)

[snapjaw-scavenger]

for 202 - or Niqat No More, recovering from ironshank was simple. after less than a week of imbibing the disgusting concoction that lit my insides on fire, the stiffness subsided completely. the longer my consciousness remained in this body and gained experience, the more powerful it became. i had now began manifesting additional physical mutations like multiple arms, in addition to the latent psychic abilities i was slowly awakening in Niqat's formerly dormant mind. i left for Bethesda Susa and made my way to the first troll. his axes flew wildly around me, not a single one even fell close to the mark as he spat out inferior clones. i walked up to him and convinced him to join me. the next hurdle would cause me to stop playing for several days as i worked on a strategy, with the exception of the daily...

i couldn't open doors. i was incapable. apparently, water vine farmers like Niqat aren't classified as "people" like mutants and truekin are. despite being a humanoid i didn't have the capacity to open doors. i had more than enough hands and the dexterity to operate the mechanism, that wasn't the issue, and neither was intelligence. i just didn't "get" it. through the eyes of a farmer, i kind of understood this way of thinking too. what was the point of this obstruction? destroying it was hopeless; it was tougher than the marble around it. luckily i had the foresight to buy a pickaxe while i was in Grit Gate. i tunneled into the stairwell, and down past the guards into Bethesda Susa proper.

the mini trolls did an excellent job of sacrificing themselves as i rushed the staircases to the elevator. one by one, my team of trolls created a toxic environment on each floor. the first elevator beckoned, and then it was a simple matter of making it past the freezers. i didn't dare wake anything, it was all i could do to keep myself barely thawed as i had to unstick myself from the floor every few steps. luckily i was rapidly warmed by a few direct hits from some strange tubes held by a hulking cannibal. steam flowed off of my body like an aura as i advanced on it towards the elevator. now that it was out of ammo it was an easy target at mid-range. i grabbed the missile launcher from the shredded corpse and pushed the button on the elevator. i had made it.

i put the chip to the inverted metallic lips of the batyl and let the aged phantom mind drink deep of its contents. satisfied my actions had some result, i prepared to withdrawal. because of my fame, i convinced a water sib Priestess to join me on my quest to discern the nature of The Signal through my fame with the mechanimists, as well as our newly forged water bond. confident we could take on anything, i made my way back to the museum of horror that was the frozen storage above. i had glanced a figure encased in the ice that had seemed almost familiar somehow. as we passed by the storage tanks it became apparent that the cannibal's explosive onslaught earlier had damaged some of the vents, allowing one of the captives their freedom. a terrrible horned beast lurched towards my new water sib. my mouth hung open in shock as i manifested my psychic barrier and recoiled my party to the safety of the Barathrumite lair. i reported my success, and with no further instruction, made my way to a cot and slept until Harvest Dawn; snoring while the signal was decoded.

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 214:

i felt weaker than usual for a truekin after my trip to the stilt. maybe the enemies were just hitting harder today. my toughness wasn't that low, and my strength was decent. for some reason the dice were just cruel. additionally, i was getting lost a ton, and becoming unable to regain my bearings. luckily, after deciding to plunder the rusted archway, i found a becoming nook with a free implant. using the license points i had just gained, i installed the implant, replacing my legs with high-speed tank treads. a piece of a larger puzzle became clear to me. at the stilt, there were a few turrets present. before i could attempt to disarm one, i would need to convince it to let me- otherwise i would risk being torn to ribbons by not only the turrets, but the inhabitants of the Stilt as well.

i begged and pleaded, rebuking the robot. "HUMAN I AM HUMAN VERIFY MULTIPASS" but my arguments did not compute. i couldn't convince a rifle turret to let its guard down- forget about the chainguns to the north. i had been handed the keys to the kingdom but didn't have the strength to push open the doors. frustrated, i delved into Grit Gate, knowing the tinkers would have firearms and at the very least a free implant and becoming nook. i was ill-prepared. my torch burned out on the first floor. there, where my build was reliant on dodging enemies using my speed, i was useless as i careened around in the darkness. an eyeless crab brought the motion of my treads to a halt with its jaws.

[maletolion]

caves of qud lore level 1: oh fuck it’s dune and i have a krys

caves of qud lore level 2: googling shedim and other hebrew words

caves of qud lore level 3:

[snapjaw-scavenger]

daily seed 213:

i had carbide hand bones, which is the ONLY viable implant to start with for a truekin. anything else is unusable garbage!!! unfortunately, i also appeared to also be as weak as i could possibly be strength-wise. spawning in, i decided to do the unthinkable since i was surely doomed anyway.

exploring the village, i located an apple farmer's daughter. i cast my eyes towards her...... nothing. i even struck up a chat and asked if there was work available in this town and was directed to the west. my heart sat cold in my chest. was i broken? frustrated by my inability to fall in love i decided to walk out towards the desert. i was headed that way anyways to drop a worthless bauble down a hole for a free four levels. while lost in some flower fields, i became surrounded by tumbling pods. as they exploded all around me, their detonations shredded my organs etc, etc, pic related.