2nd Contraption - Oh, Worm?!

[pineapplesalmon]

Who: César Salazar (pineapplesalmon), YOU, and a giant frigging worm
What: The larvae inside César from the ship mutates into a giant EVO worm when it encounters one of César's nanites, which activates
When: May 1st (May Day) for fight; May 2nd for revival, May 3rd (late) through 9th for mandatory vacation
Where: Battle mostly in the field and forest nearest the path to Pumpkin Hollow from the nearest trolley stop to César's farm
Warning(s): giant green worm/larvae (MANY many eyes, fourth human arms around its mouth, rows of throat teeth), burning worm flesh does not smell like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
NOTES: Harvey has given sign-off that some of this can be canned for later. Because. It's a lot. So bountiful groceries for the price of basic! Or free if you are a food producer.

1. [CW: Debugging, chest-burster followed by crushing death, worm warnings (see above), fire, violence, o] A closed log to Magne and Dabi. César's death with potential haunting of Magne to follow. You stay by your soil-mate's side, you know?

2. [CW: worm warnings (see above), worm on people on worm violence, holes, only attempted vore because it's in too much pain (UPON REQUEST), can spew dirt on you (emeto, UPON REQUEST)] BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF IT. Shorter threads because that bastard is gonna run away.

The Floor is Larvae

A shrieking roar in the distance and yelling from people breaks the peace of the afternoon, followed by a spray of dirt as the ground shakes. More commotions ensue. Then sudden, the earth begins to tremble, then rumble, and then shake. It's coming towards you.

With another shrieking roar, a giant grub slams out of the ground, spraying dirt and rock everywhere. It's angry. It's hurt. And it has just spotted you.

Everything's been attacking it, and so will you, so it must attack you first.

3. [CW: (now dead) worm warnings, holes, likely someone eating it] GENERAL MINGLE THREAD. Touch the body. Be glad you can't get nanites.

The Still Worm Body

The worm finally dove down into the earth and came back up in a place without anyone to attack it. Unfortunately for the grub, it was only to die. The body lies still in a field. It's four arms around his mouth are slumped down, it's dozens of red eyes are open in a death stare. The tusk-shaped claws close to its body and its hundred or so of throat teeth are almost all attached. Some of its flesh is burnt, some of missing, some of it punctured such that it oozes.

The corpse is ripe to be picked over. After all, its not using it anymore. It would be a bad thing to let this much raw material go to waste, unstudied and unused.

4. [CW: Nonconsensual vacation] I'll post this one a bit later! But wildcarding will be heavily encouraged. :) César's getting a mandatory vacation because he died and WON'T FRIGGING REST.

WORM GENERAL INFO

32 second YouTube Video of the Worm EVO in action - Attempted VORE
Here's a reference to caterpillar anatomy! And also a picture of its head. This is what the caterpillar USED to be.

The caterpillar is as tall as a single story when lying flat. Segmented. Green with some fuzz. Many, many red eyes. Four human arms have replaced its maxillary palps, two on each side of its mouth which leads immediately into rows and rows of very pointed teeth down its throat. The spiracles have become engorged yellow sacks. The true legs and protolegs are now capped off with claws.

CW: Talking about butchering of the animal in this section!

Worm body scavenging

PER talking with Drake, the CW: DEAD ANIMAL AS FOOD DESCRIPTION FOLLOWING THIS flesh is definitely a bit similar to the internals of lobster. So. Uh. Someone please don't let all this high protein stuff go to waste. It will respond well to canning. And there will be no nanites in whatever is canned. It will also give you the bonus of bountiful groceries for the price of basic. Which means if you get free basic, you'll get free bountiful! Or it can be used later.

The claws of the legs (the length of an adult human forearm) and the teeth (many fitting well in a human hand) are big enough to be very useful. And also the eyes are solid, so they might... be interesting to keep around? The skin would be more mammalian, so it can be used for making green leather.

EVO WORM PICTURES

Comments

The Floor is Larvae

[pineapplesalmon]

Fighting the giant hungry caterpillar goes here.

[astrogator]

They say a Tradeline officer should be prepared for anything, but really, when you're taking a pleasant country walk, glad to see that all the buildings are still mostly intact? The very last thing you expect to see is an absolutely enormous creature bursting out of the ground in the distance, showering dirt in its wake.

There's a split second where Ari Tayrey is shocked, bewildered, absolutely astonished by this sight. If she thought about it too hard, she'd run. Animals have always unsettled her. After recent events, normal-sized insects are getting squashed as soon as she sees them. A gargantuan worm-thing? Nobody wants to deal with that.

Except that it's her job. If she does nothing, and that thing hurts civilians, or destroys property, she'll blame herself. Tayrey draws her revolver, and, in defiance in all good sense, she heads towards it.

[pineapplesalmon]

This is more animal than most animals, at least by size. It's already burnt on one part of its body, the flesh oozing. It doesn't understand that the fatal wound will kill it eventually.

It shrieks again and sees movement out of the corner of one of its many eyes. Rearing partway off the ground, it swivels and looks directly at Tayrey, letting out a shrieking roar at her.

[astrogator]

She stares directly into that gaping maw and immediately regrets her decision. The thing is full of teeth. Its mouth is surrounded by arms. In that instant she sees it for what it is, a monster that wants her dead. She sees herself, nobly, foolishly getting in its path, and the terror of that makes her legs want to buckle. Darkness creeps in at the edges of her vision.

No, Tayrey. That is how you die. So it's tougher than you thought? Step up, and follow through. Like you're on expedition.

Willpower keeps her upright, and she narrows her focus. Nothing but her and the gun and the target. She didn't spend hours shooting at cans and improving her reload time for nothing.

She aims for the eyes. Easiest way to the brain, since she doesn't know how tough the thing's hide is. Cock the hammer, fire. Over and over. Six shots. Two miss their mark, lodging in the thorax. Two are very good shots. Two are perfect - but Tayrey doesn't stay to assess her work. As soon as the last shot is fired, she's dashing away, to the side, hoping the monster's size means it lacks maneuverability. There's an empty barn, and she silently apologises to the owner as she heads towards it.

[pineapplesalmon]

WHY does it suddenly hurt and why is its eyesight suddenly worse?! WHY?

The caterpillar shriek-screams and slams itself back onto ground and starts trying to rush away as quickly as it can. Running directly into a tree. SHRIEK.

[astrogator]

It's the opportunity she needs. Tayrey hears the collision before she sees it, but a quick glance over her shoulder is all that's needed. Time. Hopefully enough. Pressing her back to the barn wall, she feeds that gun of hers one cartridge at a time, as quick as she can.

All her practice seems to have paid off. It's done before the creature can recover and course correct. Barely.

Tayrey fires at it again, sacrificing a little accuracy for speed - but it's so big, it's easier to hit than the broad side of that barn. Less easy to target precisely, though. One more bullet hits one more red eye, but the rest are far more scattered. Now Tayrey's hoping to turn the corner, take shelter inside the barn.

She's quick. But it's still close, and wounded, and maybe angry. She doesn't wait to see where it's heading. She runs.

[pineapplesalmon]

He shakes his head to clear up the confusion and pain. It's unused to this body. This strength. These limbs in its face.

Tayrey fires and hits her marks again, and the thing is screaming anew. It doesn't understand why it's hurting. She's so small! Why is he losing?!

It has time to recover after Tayrey's hidden herself in the barn. The caterpillar whimpers and whines, reaching at its eyes with unfamiliar hands. She seems to be gone, it decides, as it turns its head this way and that way. It doesn't run away, because it thinks its safe, now. And it hurts to go into the soil with its burned side.

For right now, it stays in place, which is going to make escaping a little harder.

[astrogator]

To her surprise, she's able to get inside the barn without incident. Tayrey takes a few moments to catch her breath, and to once again reload that revolver, but she's beginning do doubt its effectiveness. It can hurt the thing, yes, but whether she'll be able to kill it this way is debatable.

What else does she have - a little belt knife? That's not going to be any use, because there's no chance of her getting close enough to the creature.

For now, she watches from the barn window. It seems to have thought better of continuing on towards town, which is good - but it's not leaving, either. Tayrey waits.

[pineapplesalmon]

Intelligent, this caterpillar is not. Perhaps it would be more formidable if its new form was more than an hour old and it wasn't already heavily burn on one side. And now full of bullets. It's having a very terribly bad day.

Unfortunately, this intelligence means it stops running when it stops getting hurt. It starts clawing at its face uselessly with arms mostly too short to reach its eyes. But there's nothing that can be done, so it looks around again, and starts off in another direction.

Because it would make for a very boring thread if it didn't, the caterpillar is heading to pass alongside the open barn, seeing an area it can actually get its body through. Underground is safer, but it hurts too much.

[dubiousfoodie]

This monster is strange in its features--those hands at its mouth do not make him feel good about where it must have come from--but it needs to be taken down, so he's going to take it down. He's fought things like it and stronger than it before.

He's so painfully short on supplies. No bombs, no arrows, no claws or teeth or horns to even fuse to what few weapons he has, not even a little bit of armor, but that doesn't mean he'll die. It just means this battle will take longer, but given the possibility for civilian death and collateral damage...

Link is on his feet with a blade in hand in a flash, racing down the pathways towards it. He'll break every sword he has to if it means cutting this short.

[pineapplesalmon]

It will eat people. There's no question about that. The transformation means that leaves is no longer enough to keep it alive. It will need to consume flesh.

Hungry and injured, it's both looking for its next meal and the next threat. The caterpillar sees Link charging towards it and turns, rushing on its legs and protolegs towards him in turn. Many legs make quick work.