"Yeah, I get it, that was fun but how the hell are we gonna get it from under this rock?" BB asked as Vars was still laughing.
"Oh buddy, we are not eating this thing. No telling if the parasites in bear meat got stronger too or not. I'm adding it to my strength," Vars said as he touched the bear and activated {Stitched Up}.
The bear's body started to liquefy and wrap itself around Vars. The viscous liquid created a deep green, pulsating sort of cocoon around him.
"What the hell type of talent is that," Bloodbag asked but he didn't receive an answer.
He and Wormwood just sat and waited for Vars. BB checked by the rock for any talents but couldn't find any. Instead, he settled to check the Chronicle for info on Vars' talent while they waited.
Over time the cocoon began to change from a flesh-like sack to a hardened shell like an egg. About 5 minutes later the cocoon started to crack.
Breaking out of the shell BB and Wormwood had no idea what they looking at. They could clearly tell it was Vars but, he was definitely not the same.
What stood before them was a half-bear half-man centaur. Vars' upper half of his body was the same while his lower half was that of the Barkroot bear. He was smaller than the original Barkroot Bear being 6 feet long and around 8 feet tall. He also had an 8-inch sapling sprouting from his back.
"Well, how do you like the new look? It's cool, right? I didn't really have a say in what I would look like though," Vars asked while getting used to moving as a quadruped.
"Cool? Yes. I think you look magnificent Father." replied Wormwood.
"In my opinion, you kind of look disgusting. My real question is, do you have two hearts now or is it just your human one?" BB asked casually.
"You are such a hater and I do not in fact have two hearts. This is just a shield basically. If I get fucked up enough it'll break. It also takes a bunch of Cosmic Energy. I'm currently back down to about 15% but I do get some decent traits while in this form though," Vars answered back as he was checking the notifications the Chronicle gave after he "hatched".
{Stitching complete. You have gained the temporary stats and traits of a Lv. 7 Barkroot Bear.
Vitality: 23 (33) Endurance: 18 (23)
Strength: 18 (20)
Tree Body (passive): Your body has the same qualities as a tree.
Blood Sapling (passive): The bark armor receives nourishment through blood. As the sapling grows so does strength and vitality.}
'Chronicle add 2 stat points to strength, endurance, and intelligence for me.'
{Strength: 18 -> 20 (22) Endurance: 18 -> 20 (25) Intelligence: 20 -> 22}
"Ok, let's go hunting for real this time. BB can you freeze the top of Wormwood's ice just to be safe," Vars said as he began walking towards the east.
The forest has lit up with activity since the awakening. Even though on their way to the den they didn't run into anything that doesn't mean no one's active and that just goes to show how big the forest really is.
About 10 minutes into their walk Wormwood caught the scent of something. She said it was something with high CE or a group of things. Apparently, the undead can smell CE, and with Wormwood being undead plus a wolf her sense of smell is strong.
They tracked the scent for about 10 minutes before coming to a watering hole. Stalking in the brush they could see a herd of deer. Some were drinking while others were grazing. The way the sun hit their speckled fur seemed to make them shimmer. They were utterly breathtaking.
It was only about 12 of them in the herd. They all looked like regular deer. Also, oddly enough they were all does.
"Well, this should be easy," BB whispered to the pack.
"No, there is something weird with these deer. The Cosmic Energy I smelled earlier is coming from all of them. It's as if they are all the same deer. Maybe one of them is using a talent to confuse predators," Wormwood replied in her grating voice.
"OK, focus, which one of them has the strongest scent? Then one using the talent has to have a stronger smell since it's actively using CE. Focus and spot it out," Vars said giving Wormwood her first father-daughter lesson.
Wormwood closed her eyes and concentrated on taking in deep breaths. With each sniff, the picture in her head grew brighter and brighter until she could see the trails of CE in her vision.
Each deer had a thin trail leading to them from the doe furthest away. She was getting a sip of water with her eyes looking up watching out for predators.
"Found her. All the way to the end drinking water," Wormwood replied with a hint of satisfaction in her voice from her improvement.
"All right good job! You two quietly flank the sides and I'll stay here. Try to push her this way and maybe even freeze her legs. I'll handle the rest," Vars said as he tried to make his hulking body smaller even if only a little bit.
Bloodbag and Wormwood split up to get into position while Vars dug his claws into the ground setting his trap.
Wormwood was on the left behind the doe but mostly towards the herd while BB was up North closer to the doe. The plan was for BB to push her out while Wormwood kept her in line.
To start the chase BB shot a bit of ice on the doe's hind legs. Not enough to freeze her but enough to slow her down. Once that happened, the rear of the herd scattered in BB's direction.
The doe, even though slightly slowed, quickly joined the front of the herd and that's when Wormwood appeared to give chase.
The same tactic was used as the front of the herd ran towards Wormwood while the doe made a clean getaway, or so she thought.
Just when she was 10 feet from the clearing roots rose from the ground and twisted together into what looked like 2 5-foot needles. They quickly punctured the doe twice each.
Before she could even realize what happened she collapsed, rolling halfway into the brush.
Quickly losing the ability to breathe and still thinking about what happened. In her last moments, she got the answer when an abomination loomed over her as she took her last breath.