Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 5

Chapter 41

The two stopped and hunkered down when they saw a pack of strange animals. They were dogs of various breeds, but Iratus and Aestus did not recognize them, for they did not have dogs or that evolutionary line of wolf, where they came from. Iratus still had his white gambeson, torn but still quite capable padded armor, and Aestus still had her furs and leather chestplate. They were ready if a fight broke out, and one almost did when a large horde of twelve treeskins chased the dog pack.

The dogs barked and yelped, but eventually fled from the treeskins, their dark and smooth bark form relentless in their pursuit, though it was unlikely that they would catch the dog pack. The only downside is that now those monsters would be spreading out even more, which was on the minds of both Aestus and Iratus. Once the treeskins were long gone, Aestus asked,

Aestus, "So we are not going into the city?"

Iratus, "There were not this many last time. I thought that the battle between the monsters here would lower the treeskin population, but it looks like they recovered by growing new members."

Aestus, "And the cave."

Iratus, "Victoria was wanting some extra preparedness in our travels in hunting by exploring and feeling out any dangers first. We will start at the cave. The Iratus Cave, we can call it."

Aestus nodded, and then the two looked into the horribly overgrown wilderness behind them before turning to each other.

Aestus, "I'm not going through that."

Iratus, "Yeah, I miss a well-maintained wilds myself. Let's say a prayer for protection."

Aestus nodded, and the two began a short prayer asking for protection before continuing on.

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Chapter 42

The pair moved on the outskirts, mostly in plain view of the city. The two would look at the city and move slowly anytime a treeskin came into view.

Iratus thoughts, "With two armed people, one treeskin wouldn't be a bother, maybe even two, but I'm already not feeling my best. It must have been from hauling all of Victoria's prey back to the tower and other work these past few days. Combine that with this darn heat, and I'm starting to feel drained before working now."

Once the two got to the north side of the stone city, the foliage let up enough for them to slip into the woodlands.

Aestus, "Thank the Divine One, we didn't have to fight anything that time."

Iratus, "Well said."

The two of them would reach the river and stop for a break.

Iratus, "What we really need is another town or city. My cold hole can't be made with all the rain, and so I need lumber or sheets of wood—anything really. At this point, I might have to abandon my project. Bless it!"

Aestus, "Woh woh, don't bite yourself over it. Some ideas just don't turn out like we want them to."

Iratus, "Yeah, I know. It's just... I've already spent so much effort. Maybe I should just focus on paper making."

Aestus, "Paper...that is what is in books, right?"

Iratus, "Right, I am using papyrus stalks. Soak 'em and dry them out. Then you just crisscross the stalks into a sheet. I should be able to make a sheet per week."

Aestus, "Ok, but why do we need...paper?"

Iratus, "First priority is trade. I assume the ability to write would be valuable, even in this sad state of a planet. If there is a civilization, then paper would be huge. Priority two is self-use. My games and games that I know would be more possible to play with something to write on or keep track of information; maybe I could rewrite some books from my world. I think I can do it."

Aestus, "Oh, I see."

Iratus, "Come on, my cave is just up here."

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Chapter 43

After traveling another seven minutes, the party would arrive at the cave Iratus came from.

Iratus was looking for the treeskin corpse here.

Iratus, "Ugh, I think animals ate most of this thing."

Aestus, "Wait, do you smell that? Something is living here."

Iratus took a moment to walk up to the cave and then took a big whiff.

Iratus, "Hmm, fox, I think."

They slowly walked into the cave and didn't have to travel too far to see a wild fox, but a fox slightly smaller than that of a small horse.

It had the ability to growl, and growl it did.

Aetsus speaking lowly, "Geeze, look at that monsterous thing."

Iratus also speaking lowly, "Actually, it looks like a war fox from my country."

Aestus, "What did your people breed these things for?"

Iratus, "Yes and home pets are slightly smaller than this one."

Aestus, "But why? Really, pet foxes?"

Iratus, "They were smart. With enough coaxing and trust building, my ancient people domesticated a large number of foxes and bred them to keep watch over our animal herds and become our most useful hunting partners. The war fox here is as big as they come."

Aestus, "Crazy."

Iratus tried to reach out and coax the war fox, but it only growled some more.

Iratus, "Ok, ok, we are leaving."

And once they left the cave, "Dang it, I was hoping to get a war fox for us. It would have been a major boon."

Aestus, "Sometimes, things are just not meant to be."

Iratus, "Yea. Well anyways, we are directly northeast of the tower; let's start doing a peremitar sweep and see what we come up with. Use the road as a landmark."

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Chapter 44

Moving south, Iratus and Aestus would eventually be on the east side of the stone city, but far enough away that the woodlands blocked sight of the city. Once they hit the dirt road, Iratus spoke.

Iratus, "Ok, remind me again, what was down this road?"

Aestus, "Half day down is a destroyed tribal village turned into an Edax controled area. Road north leads to another river and a metal bridge."

Iratus, "Metal huh?" He sighed, "I remember hearing that part. Such strange things lay here."

Aestus nodded her head and continued, "Actually, it might be the same river that we have, or maybe it flows into it. Anyway, not too far from that bridge was where I hung out. The river and bridge were quite far from the village place. Anyways, east more is a small desert. Vicky knows the details about it. There was a second mountain range from the one you can see north of here."

She pointed to the north, where several mountains stretched like a wall.

Aestus, "And somewhere nestled in it is a tundra-like land. Again, Victoria knows more about those parts."

Iratus, "Screw gaming; I need that paper for a map. Any details about what was on the roads?"

Aestus, "Hmm, well... yeah, yeah. There was a BIG wasp hive near the desert, near the Edax Examina to fight with them. They never came over to the river, as far as I know. I think the tundra air made my place a little colder than the rest of the area. The last thing is that Vicky said that she had to hop from one snow cabin to the next in her tundra area."

Iratus, "Alright, thanks. Let's move onto the next area."

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Chapter 45

Southeast of the tower were just more woodlands. It was almost too thick to travel through.

Iratus, "Oh shoot, hold up. I think that's a snake."

Aestus did her best to look, "Where?"

Iratus moved closer until he saw a large, four-legged Edax sucking in the quite large snake, which was dead. The fungal creature, which was about the same size as Iratus, paid no mind to the two intruders but did watch them. There were a few trees around the area that were somewhat damaged and eaten.

Iratus, "I think we should at least kill it. This thing is worse than the treeskins."

Aestus nodded, and the two got into position, with Aestus holding the spear forward and Iratus with the bow. Iratus would fire a shot at the monster, scoring a direct hit. The creature let out a low rumble as it dropped the snake's corpse and lanuched itself into the air towards the pair. Once it landed, Iratus got another shot off before it got to them. The second arrow dived right into the creature's face, but it did not die, and once it reached Aestus, she held her spear ready to strike. The monster leapt through the spear, tearing some of itself from it, while Iratus pulled his longsword out and caught the Edax Examina with his sword.

Aestus dropped and crawled out of the way while Iratus bodied the monster until it was able to lift off the ground again and land on Iratus. Iratus had no choice but to drop his sword and use his knife to combat the monster as it wrapped around him and began to burn at the arm he was using to try to hold it off. Iratus got off one good stab to one of the creature's eyes before Aestus shoved her spear into its back, which seemed like enough to stagger the foe.

The Edax Examina lost enough strength for Iratus to mostly pull it off enough to get a better shot at stabbing it, while Aestus kept stabbing at its back. Soon enough, the monster finally fell and stopped moving, though Aestus and Iratus would give several more stabs before they stopped.

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Chapter 46

Iratus looked at yet another new hole in his padded armor. He also saw a bit of blood coming from his arm.

Iratus, "A bit of a sting, but other than that, I'll live. "Yeah, these things might be even more deadly than the treeskins."

Aestus, "I think the impailing sticks are worse, but it looks like the Edax are not too slowed down by armor."

Iratus, "Yea."

The two would eventually start their exploration again and continue on. To the south were woodlands that were not too dense. Once they got far enough out to be southeast of the tower, they saw a wide clearing being clutched by the woods.

Iratus, "These trees are different again."

Aestus, "Is that weird?"

Iratus, "I don't know the names of most of these things, but I recognize where they are supposed to be; I mean for things like climate, elevation, and such. These ones you'd find near temperate areas, unlike our area, which is hot and wet."

Aestus, "It is still pretty warm, though."

Iratus, "Huh, yea. Warm, but it feels not as hot."

Once the two got into the clearing, they stopped. They saw a campsite, though one that was too modern for them to recognize as such. The smell of oil and something rotten clung to the air, and movement could be seen inside the buildings.

The campsite was a large area containing several buildings and a few lodges. There were several cars parked around one particular building, and in the back could be seen a moderately sized lake.

Iratus, "That smell, by the thirteen, is nastey."

Aestus, "I think I saw people; look, someone is moving around in that building there."

Iratus, "Are you sure it's people?"

Aestus took another whiff of the air.

Aestus, "Oh no, I remember this smell. It is the metal men."

Iratus, "What even are metal men?"

Aestus, "Come on, let's see if we can't get a better angle, and I will show you."

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Chapter 47

The two slowly crept up to one of the older-looking buildings. They started to hear noises and quickly hid behind some trees. From the shadows, a figure slowly made its way around a corner.

It looked like the skeleton of some bipedal person, but it was covered in metal and black oil. This one wore more ragged clothing, something a drifter or traverler would wear in more dry areas, with its sturdy and brown look. The monster would sometimes give an errie exhale of breath, which sounded quite menecingly.

Aestus and Iratus would hide for a while and wait for it to pass by. Once it did, they slowly made their way back to the main treeline where they came from.

Iratus, "My God, how many different kinds of monsters dwell here?"

Aestus, "Technically, we don't know if it is a monster. For all we know, that thing could be friendly."

Iratus, "...Sure, one hundred percent possible. Now with that out of the way, how about we find another time to test that possibility because that thing scares me?"

Aestus, "Right. Now, what about this place?"

Iratus, "These buildings kind of look like cabins; if anything, this might be an encampment of some kind. It is hard to tell what some of the items around here are, and even those metal boxes over there confuse me. If I had to guess, they look like some sort of carrage."

Aestus, "Carrage?"

Iratus, "Like a wagon."

Aestus, "Oh, I see. Want to check out that lake?"

Iratus, "No way, like I said, something isn't right with those metal men. Maybe the three of us can check this place out again, but for right now it might be best to stay away from here."

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Chapter 49

The next goal was to walk all along the southern edge. Once again, there were mountains in the distance. As the two traveled from east to west, they were met with more dense foliage. Nothing of note was seen except for a few animals here and there, as well as some odd-looking bugs, most of which were quite sizable.

Once they got to another lake, Iratus saw a river going through it.

Iratus, "I think that river hooks up to the hot springs cave."

Aestus, "Let's find out."

Iratus, "Hold on, just make sure to keep your nose about you. The ebony creature was loose around here."

Aestus nodded, and the two followed the river to the large hills where it flowed into a mess of wetlands.

Iratus, "Here is where I gathered some papyrus. Perhaps I should grab a few more; we are going to need more paper."

As time continued, Iratus and Aestus would eventually run to the top of the hotsprings cave and then follow the river back home. They collected some more materials, like firewood, on their way back.

Once at the tower, they were greeted by Victoria.

Victoria, "What, no sheets?"

Iratus, "The treeskins regained their population, so I decided to just explore as per your request."

Victoria, "Perfect, what did you cover?"

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Chapter 50

Iratus and Aestus were recovering from their travels, just finishing debriefing Victoria.

Victoria, "An encampment and metal men? Well, at least it is another looting opportunity."

Iratus, "Yea, but twice as far as the stone city; combine that with the dense foliage, and the trip will take even longer. We might just do some slash and burn and clear out some chucks of trees."

Aestus, "And hope that we can contain the fire."

Victoria, "Maybe. Maybe we can obtain a machette and cut a decent enough path for now. An encampment in a forest is bound to have something like that."

Iratus, "I'd bet on it. There is still one more area left to explore, and that's the north. I'll be following the river up to see what we've got. Are you coming?"

Victoria, "Not this time, though I will follow for a little while because that's where I've set up a small tanning area. I'd forgotten how bad leather work is. Ugh."

Aestus, "Give me ten more minutes, and I'll be ready to go!"

Once the time came, the three set out. Once they smelled the foul smell of the makeshift tannery, Victoria headed to finish her work while Aestus and Iratus continued to follow the river. It curved around to lay near the stone city, only to whip back and eventually rise northward.

The two got quite far, lining up with the Fox Cave, before something happened. Gunshots—several gunshots—rang out, and they didn't sound too far away.

Iratus, "Firearms? Looks like we will be entertaining guests tonight."

Aestus, "What is going on? What is a fire in arms? People?"

Iratus, "That sound is shots being fired from a weapon. Come on, it sounds close by."

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EPISDOE 5: END

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Episode 5 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 14
Coverings: Blonde Fur, White Gambeson (lightly damaged, leather patchwork), leather gloves
Weapons: Long Sword, Knife, Bow
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 33 oval copper coins, 7 small silver bricks, 6 gemstones
Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, small metal pot, several leather items, a lot of animal bones, a lot of animal hide, 3 glass jar, 50 oval copper coins, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, trowl, woodcutting axe, several wooden spears, crossbow, some woodcarving pieces, wooden dice, lots of sheets, metal scrap.
Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area, Basic Butchering Area (few tools, smoking rack), Basic Workshop Area (some tools), Kitchen Area (many tools), Outside Makeshift Tannery, Muddy Hole
Wounds: flesh wounds (nearly healed), several moderate wounds (nearly healed)
Year 0, Day 7

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Special documentary on Nexus Prime
Author: [DATA ERROR]
Report #: 23
Treeskins, not what I'd call them, but it is a suitable enough name regardless. As mentioned in report #3, we are besieged by a number of beings created by our black hole, and through our own fault, we brought them to Nexus Prime, where they have, for the most part, taken over the whole thing.

The treeskins are plants made bipedal, and they spread plant life wherever they walk. Along with environmental changes, they also kill any non-plant-based lifeform they can reach, using their own mass to inject a clone of themselves into the organism. Without a heartbeat, these clones can grow unaided until they consume the whole body. The amount of mass consumed, among other variables, determines the speed at which a new treeskin will grow, starting first as a twisted tree.

Treeskins can live seemingly forever, as far as any of us have seen. They keep growing mass and going through several transformations into other forms with specific purposes, with their final form being that of a giant twisted tree, or the taking tree, as we call it. The taking trees soak up the resources of other flora in the area, killing off the environment they helped create to further their transformation, resulting in the birth of a new legion of treeskins.

The middle transformation is a branching one between a brute form, a speed form, and a giant form. Each is used for killing specific prey, with their third form being the taking tree, which if transformed into will see the end of that single treeskin as the tree itself is no different than any ordinary tree, save for the birthing of many new monsters.