Thanks to a generous gift from a hunter’s spirit in a human and a spider’s image, their recent food shortage problems have been mostly calmed down. Formally declared by the witch doctor - the intermediary between the world material and immaterial whose words have great weight of authority - the newly met spirit who calls herself Alicia has become an official Loa in their beliefs. As for why a hunting spirit, in the culture of Sha’ko - a Taiga troll’s traditions - nets traps and spear fishing are an inseparable aspect of their everyday life. Unfortunately in this forest fishing seems to be nigh impossible due to unusual lack of life in the waters and so is netcasting for fish. Unable to continue their preferred method of acquiring feed, they had to adapt to more active hunting methods. Still using their spear, just now for something with more bite than a fish. To them their main Loa of belief are the spirits of the sky who perform their elegant dance after sunset, believed to be the spirits of their ancestors illuminating the dark skies and watching over their descendants. However this place was far from the brilliant lights of their ancestral lands.

These recent developments make them more receptive to adopting a new spirit into their beliefs. A spirit of hunting, symbolized by a spider, prime hunter with a net and fang, the connection was an easy one to make. Now a Loa the spirit was a popular figure amongst their communities. Even if she was in a new and unfamiliar form for Sha’ko who had the opportunity to meet her before she was an unforgettable being. Also by being saved by her grace this was doubly so. When receiving a request from the object of their admiration how could they have said “no”?

• “You wish to oversee our hunt?”
• “If you don’t mind, an explanation of ins and outs of it as well.”

• “It would be our greatest pleasure…”

And o what a momentous occasion it was…

• “Shall we begin with what we currently have here? We can then send it back home.”
• “Whatever you think is the best is fine.”
• “Then we begin with hultaya, rugged guardian.”

Kneeling near the fallen elk Sha’ko continued with his explanation:

• “To corner a predator you must learn of its behaviours. Know when it goes out, what it stalks, where it goes. You can learn of these from the remains it leaves behind. Dead tell no tales but their corpses tell a story about themselves. First identify the prey item. Pay attention to whichever sense you have that senses the animal first. Smell, sight, sound even taste in the air.

Antlers, strong smell of musk, male. Hultaya are fiercely territorial. Look at teeth.”

Sliding in a few fingers to its agape mouth to move the lips out of the way, he reveals the gums and the teeth more clearly.

• “Canines and fangs, tears into flesh, pointed molars, carnivorous. Long rounded teeth, good at grinding down something fibrous, herbivore. This has the shape of both; omnivorous. But no blood on the teeth or antlers.”

Shuffling around carcass Sha’ko examined the wound, sometimes putting his fingers deep into it.

“Studying the wounds tells you who killed it, how. Hind legs rows of deep puncture wounds, four of them, four canine fangs. Then smaller scrapes and scratches. Tore out flesh. Bleeding but not fast enough so more attacks to the hind bleed out faster. Lose blood, lose stamina sluggish now. Wear on the antlers, chips of wood. Tried to fight back, didn’t hit the aggressor. Attacker was faster, smaller and hard to hit. After its prey was tired enough. Finishing blow to the throat. Didn’t have enough strength to fight back from blood loss.

Not breaking his stride he moves onto the bloodied hares, about the size of dogs.

“Now we look at Çerbanog, killer hares dark brown coloration. Omnivorous too, has a taste for flesh, sometimes cannibalistic, aggressive. Teeth, strong incisors. Can chew through bones. Also no blood or fur on teeth. Aggressor bigger than it, went straight for the neck wounds similar in nature to Hultaya. Enlarged ears, alert to sound. Still caught off guard. Blood of the wounds are mixed. They all have the identical smell. All killed by the same attacker.”

Standing up to summarise his thoughts and to share his insight;

“The attacker is smaller than Hultaya. Fast enough to outrun it. But not strong enough to go straight for the kill. Sapped the strength and stamina first, understands how to harry. Larger than Çerbanogs, but couldn’t run them down. Stalked and took them by surprise. Çerbanogs are alert, but the attacker is skilled, got close enough to kill it in one pounce.

Considering the region there are two options; Sabrecat or Direwolf. Sabrecats prideful, wouldn’t harry Hultaya, attack head on, likely to have taken some injuries. Hultaya antler should’ve drawn blood. Too large to stalk up on Çerbanogs. Unlikely. That leaves direwolf. What I don’t understand is why it carried these into the net, motivations of it are unclear…”

Awestruck at how much information he could get from just two types of corpses Alicia forgot to tell him that it was her doing that they ended up in their nets… ‘I didn’t do anything and still feel like he can find some dirt on me if he tried hard enough…’ The grouse was completely ignored, perhaps for the best… ‘I have to think like I’m a forensics expert on a crime scene, easier said than done but I’ll figure it out, maybe…’

• “Whatever intentions it had, that does not matter anymore.
  Does the Loa find my observations acceptable…?”
• “Oh absolutely!”

A reserved sigh of relief escaped Sha’ko. Apparently he was worried about letting down Alicia.

• “Weren’t you occupied? I hope I’m not holding down any of you.”

Her eyes slowly passed over the other three who were silently kneeling, sometimes they stirred trying to catch a glimpse of the corpse. She hoped to gauge their reactions but their animalistic masks didn’t allow her to get a grasp on their facial expressions. As for Sha’ko he didn’t have it on currently as he had to get a better view on the carcasses.

• “Worry not, this was one of the last snares we set up in this area to check up on. Seems that we have enough so we shall quarter these and return home.”

‘Butchering, I need that!’

• “Can I watch?”

For them it was an everyday task without anything special, for Alicia it was an opportunity to learn and better herself. It goes without saying that they were baffled but also concerned; being examined by their patron spirit feels as if they were being vetted by their superior. Although she didn’t mean to unknowingly, she exerted some unseen pressure of inspection on them.

• “Of course… but before that, permit us to secure the perimeter. The sharp smell of blood is sure to attract unwanted attention.”

‘Don’t think you need my permission for that anyway… Actually wait a minute.’

• “I’ll handle that. Give me a moment.”

‘You guys heard him right? Spread out and keep an eye out. You probably can’t take anything dangerous directly so instead alert me.’

>Alert: Current conjured familiars unrecommended for combat situations.

‘Yes I am aware.’

>Recommendation: Improvement of skill ⟨ Kindred ⟩ and Educement 〔 Conjure 〕 will allow for retroactive evolutionary metamorphosis of current familiars for combat specialization.

‘And how much would I need for that?’

>Current projections predict an expenditure 9 points needed for adequate results.

‘That basically leaves me broke you know?’

>Notification: Any acquisition of allocation points through familiars will be channelled to administrators by use of connections established over skill ⟨ Kindred ⟩. Additionally new race specific abilities may be acquired through this method.

‘We’ll get their points earned? Kind of like a future investment? That does sound pretty nice. Though I’m not sure about being more ‘race specific’ sounds scary… What if I stop being human?’

>Elucidation: Administrator genetic similarity to known homosapiens 27.1% consistency. Conclusion: Administrator belonging to species H.Sapiens improbable.

‘I knew that and I didn’t mean it that way but you didn’t have to drive it in like that…’

>Multiple passive traits acquired, Compiling standby…

>New entries detected, Reformatting standby…

‘Well that was fast…’

>Ready to induce evolutionary metamorphosis. Awaiting designation…

• ‘Alright so here’s what we’re gonna do. I'm going to conjure four each of our new friends and I need two volunteers for the metamorphosis.’
• ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘…… ………’’’’’’’’’’

Cacophonous noises and imagery all overlapping in with the same intentions briefly drowned out her own thoughts.

• ‘MY EARS! My head actually… I didn’t expect you all would be this eager considering you all like to laze in my hair.’
• ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘………’’’’’’’’’’
• ‘Okay OKAY! Stop, I get it. I’ll just pick two at random.’
• ‘You and you’

The chosen two seemed to be quite smug, if such a thing was possible.

Two small spiders crawled out of her hair and quickly skittered down stopping at her flanks.

‘These two. And you heard me right? Make four of each.’

>Designated. Requisition accepted. Facilitating standby…

Trolls were visibly shocked to see spiders crawling out of Alicia’s hair but their astonishment was only beginning.

>Inducing metamorphosis to Cave creeper unit, specialization: Ambush and CQC..

>Inducing metamorphosis to Crypt weaver unit, specialization: Point defense, fortification, perimeter defense.

>@Echo on

>Epigenetic triggers……… Released…

?Insufficient material blueprint.

/Convert Energy.

?Insufficient energy reserve.

>Requesting Administrator energy transfer…

‘Yeah, yeah, I’m on it. Just like how I learned it the first time.’ Through unseen connection of kindred mass of energy was being funneled from her to the crawlers.

>Processing…

Starting to glow faintly, the two hex crawlers started to grow. Quiet crumbling sound could be heard from the old exoskeleton as it was absorbed.

>Trait inheritance: Enlarged Aranaeamorph.

Dramatically engorging by their size alone they were comparable to that of an adult human. Mixed emotions of awe, fear and morbid fascination enthralled the trolls to watch. They couldn’t look but they couldn’t look away either.

>Divergent Evolution…

The one on her left hand side, had its feet stretched out, though not spindly its long and slender segmented form elicited revulsion even so banded coloration of alternating white and dark gray like that of a zebra held pulchritude on its own right had it not for the primordial dread caused by chelicerae, sizeable fangs and the multitude eyes. On the other hand, this one grew in mass and height rather than length and width. Though not possessing as large of a leg span a huge bloated abdomen of it more than made up for lack of dimension with size. Amusingly looked like a mushroom cap had grown on top of it with the spots and intricate patterns of varying shades of whites and grays. Huge as it was, it was much more dedicated to weaving than fighting, however being part of Alice and Alicia’s genealogy it inherited some of their robust stats and just like any other spider; a formidable fang and venom.

Their transformation concluded the two seemed to be getting used to their body slowly and calmly. Au contraire all except Sha’ko was shaking holding their spears and javelins firmly. Even if their expression was hidden their body language betrayed their terror to Alicia.

>Metamorphosis induction complete. Template available for use.

The system’s AI like consciousness undeterred by their abject horror continued onto the second line of command; creating many more of them. Due to crowding, newly born familiars were instructed to occupy more spacious areas meaning they had to move. Slow and steady. Out of consideration of their hearts that Alicia could hear, she explicitly told them to swing wide and slowly. Unfortunately without communication, their actions evinced out of the gesture of goodwill from Alicia looked like they were spreading out to surround them. Their eyes were glued on them, their backs against each other only Sha’ko had the nerves to have a presence of mind.

• “It’s okay they’re uhm… domestic. I promise they won’t do you harm unless you provoke them.”

It was both a statement and an order to her familiars. “Do no harm unless provoked…” And a second one shortly thereafter;

• “They’ll secure the perimeter instead. If anything passes through I’ll know.”
• ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘………’’’’’’’’’’ Conveying their understanding each went on their own paths. ‘Oh why are you crab-walking. You’re freaking them out right now.’ Cave creepers with its unique leg structure could skitter away sideways. This sudden action made them all panic. Shaking of his chills Sha’ko:
• “I-if it not too much to ask. Would you be willing t-to have them carry our bounty back? They seem… onerous.”

‘Right they won’t need to quarter and carry it back if I have these guys help… Awww I was hoping to see how they cut up their catch. I mean I know how to work with a chicken, fish and maybe a turkey but whole elk would’ve been a sight to see…’

• “They sure can… Okay, Weavers wrap these up and carry it on your back. Uhm… Creepers can become a forward escort. Then shall we move after they bundle it up?”

The creepers shuffled out of sight and surrounded their position, legitimately this time. Being out of sight being the catalyst for the start of the Stealth skill they were soon imperceptible. Audible sighs of relief came from the group, one of them collapsing from losing strength in their legs.

• “Is he okay? Does he need help? I can make a stretcher if you’d like.”
• “Please… thank you.”

As making the silken bed was a simple task she only needed tough sticks to hold up the weight. While looking for candidates:

• “Say can you tell me more about things you hunted before? What were they like? Do they taste good? Oh how do you know which one is which-”

On the way back to their tribe Alicia learned much of what she wanted to know of through firsthand accounts. Later she realized she forgot to ask about what their race was until she learned that Mimicry had a new option of Taiga Troll mimicry…